Cooking With Brian Boitano
Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano has gone from triple axels to double boilers for his new Food Network show. But, Rachel Syme asks, can he prepare skate?
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Boitano prepares the cornmeal mixture for his "Polenta with Spicy Sausage and Red Pepper Relish Bites" which he says convinced a group of women to fall in love with his friend Tony. "I'm big on parties where you pass appetizers around. Then you get a little taste of everything." The relish, Boitano exclaims, "is totally bodacious."
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The author pitches in by swirling some eggs around. It was very hard work.
Nicholas Roberts for The Daily Beast
Boitano crafted an all-bacon menu for a group of roller derby girls that he met at a bar. "They were drinking bacon-bourbon martinis, and I invited them over for dinner, and they said, 'Make us bacon!'" So I made bacon corn muffins, bacon apple tarts, and candied bacon. There was a lot of meat."
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To put the savory cream cheese frosting on his bacon corn muffins, Boitano suggests a home ec trick of cutting off the corner of a Ziplock bag to make a de facto pastry bag. "It's little shortcuts like these that I hope I can teach people."
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Boitano, a new Food Network host, is still enamored with the treats he makes. Here, he hoists a corn muffin up to the camera, flashing his gold medal smile.
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The bacon corn muffins, complete with bacon bits and chives. These lasted all of 20 minutes during the shoot.
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If there is one recipe that Boitano is truly proud of, it's his sweet red pepper relish with mustard seeds. "Don't you LOVE the relish?" he asked. And also: "The relish is your favorite, right? It's my favorite too. Tell me it's your favorite." The man can land a Salchow and make a great condiment. What can't he do?
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Boitano conjured up his Mediterranean roots when slicing up spicy sausage for his polenta bites: "My father can eat a pound of pasta in one sitting."
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The skater is as graceful in the kitchen as on the ice--here, he stirs the relish after frying up cornmeal squares. "Cooking is like choreography. It's all layers."
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Boitano shows the author his secret method for perfectly garnishing polenta squares. Not that we can share it with you.
Nicholas Roberts for The Daily Beast
Boitano admits to not eating much of the heavy food he prepares. "I mostly eat fish. But I'm saving my own diet for a special episode of the show."
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Relish, parsley, sausage, and polenta. All who tried it went back for 10 more.
Nicholas Roberts for The Daily Beast
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