A few weeks ago I went into a cleaning frenzy, and before I knew it, I had doused my entire oven in CLR. CLR is not exactly non-toxic, as you may know. I realized what I’d done almost immediately and began furiously wiping down the oven with cold water. An hour of scrubbing, several frantic Google searches, one call to my mother and one email to Jelmar (the makers of CLR) later, the oven still smelled of CLR and I wasn’t sure if it would ever be safe to cook in again. In the end I may have overreacted a bit—Googled turned up several forums with people who’ve cleaned cast-iron…
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A tribute to Rick Bayless
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that Rick Bayless is officially my new favorite celebrity chef. Sorry Paula. I love you too, it’s just that Rick has really won me over during his rise to the finale, and subsequent win on Top Chef Masters. Is it just me, or does he truly seem like one of the nicest, most sincere and passionate people you could ever want as a culinary idol? Of course this would mean nothing if his food wasn’t PHENOMENAL. Joe’s wins as my favorite Chicago restaurant, but only by virtue of their stone-crab stronghold. But Bayless’ Frontera Grill is right up there as…