Saturday, 11/25
Eat My City! Culinary Destinations: Chicago
Matt Nielsen, COO and third-generation co-owner of Nielsen-Massey Vanilla, the finest extract producers in the country. Since 1907, the family owned company – now in its third generation – has been making flavorings in the purest, most natural way in a Chicago suburb.
Craig, Matt and Beth Nielsen are following in the footsteps of their father and grandfather by using a proprietary, cold extraction process that gently extracts the complex flavor components (more than 300!) from the vanilla beans and then preserves them in jewel-like bottles to be sold for flavoring dishes from delicate pastries to sauces for lobster.
Cookbook author, Gale Gand, host of the Food Network “Sweet Dreams” and executive Pastry chef/partner at Tru Restaurant, says, “When I need to know anything about vanilla, I run to the Nielsen family.”
Craig, Matt and Beth take pride in the Pure Vanillas products they produce, as well as their discriminating customers who appreciate the quality, flavor and varied functionality. The United States consumption of vanilla beans is approximately 1,400 tons per year.
A favorite of kings and queens, the Nielsen’s can share with your listeners the romance behind the bean.
Listen to the TRB show as we discuss their new cookbook,
A Century of Flavors.
As an added treat: Executive Chef Craig Priebe shares tips for creating grilled pizzas and piadinas!
Chef Craig Priebe has grilled pizza for more than a decade and his pizzas have won numerous culinary awards. Chicago magazine called him a “pizza miracle worker” and the Chicago Sun Times a “pizza expert.” For seven years, Priebe owned C.K’s Grilled Pizza, a restaurant garnering acclaim from media including National Public Radio, U.S. News & World Report, Travel + Leisure, Delta Sky magazine, Atlanta magazine, Pizza Today, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pizza Today named his restaurant one of “the Nation’s Top 100 Pizzerias” for five years in a row and Pizza Expo awarded him Best International Pizza of the Year for the Gamberian pizza. He returned and won first prize two years in a row with the New Orlean and the Jamaican. Another grilled pizza, the Trattorian, won an additional award at the Mid American Pizza Championship.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution listed Chef Priebe’s restaurant on the city’s annual “Top 50 Restaurants” list and Travel + Leisure featured it as one of the best six pizzerias in America.
Currently, Priebe is the executive chef for Henry Crown & Company in Chicago. He lives in Elburn, Illinois, with his wife Karla and their two children.
In addition to his savory recipes, Priebe includes useful advice on such subjects as how to save time and stock the pantry, the basics of pizza and piadina, and how to grill like the pros. He shares his winning pizza dough secrets, offers tips on building your own pizzas, provides detailed instruction on various indoor grilling methods, and more. He even passes along helpful information on throwing unique pizza and piadina parties garnered after many years of catering special events.
Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas is packed with more than 75 quick and easy recipes, full color photographs, and all the latest techniques that will inspire a beginner cook or a seasoned chef to fire up the grill.
CONGRATULATIONS to the WINNERS of a copy of Chef Craig's book:
- Dr. Kim Bloomer
- Teresa Johnson
- Marie Robinson
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