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| Weir Cooking in the City: Press Release |
CELEBRATED CHEF JOANNE WEIR EXPLORES THE CULINARY TREASURES OF A THRIVING AMERICAN CITY IN A BRAND NEW COOKING SERIES FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY Produced by KQED and Available on Public Television Stations Nationwide in April 2004
San Francisco, California -- Want to master flaky phyllo dough, prepare jalapeño-jack scones, fold simple soufflés or make rice paper shrimp rolls with fresh ingredients from your local Asian market? Join
beloved chef, educator, and award-winning cookbook author Joanne Weir for an unforgettable, tour de force cooking series that celebrates the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the urban landscape.
Shot in Joanne's hometown, San Francisco, WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY (kqed.org/weircookinginthecity) invites viewers along for a 26-part series that offers more than eighty recipes and follows Joanne as she prepares fresh and exciting dishes based on seasonal ingredients and drawing on the full resources of a culturally diverse city. She makes perfect picnics, explores city neighborhoods, and rides her shiny red scooter to farmers markets and local artisanal stores, uncovering the city's culinary delights. Back in the kitchen, Joanne teaches viewers in an approachable and vivacious style how to turn their own city's unique tastes and flavors into treasured recipes.
A production of KQED Public Television, which has produced shows from such culinary talents as Jacques Pépin and Martin Yan, WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY will begin airing in April 2004 on public television stations nationwide via American Public Television. This easy-to-follow program features the enthusiasm, knowledge and skill of Joanne Weir, host of the highly successful APT series Weir Cooking in the Wine Country and Weir Cooking in the Wine Country II. With teaching appointments that span the globe and a cooking background that includes Alice Waters' legendary restaurant, Chez Panisse, Joanne combines a unique blend of accessible instruction, reassuring confidence, evolved technique, zest and flair that makes for an ideally engaging host.
The series is a paean to the diverse ingredients that give a city its texture, and Joanne, with her extraordinary knowledge of food cultures, is the perfect person to go exploring. Her adventures in the city include patting tortillas into shape at a small store in the Latino district, after which Joanne is inspired to go back to her kitchen to make Tortilla and Tomato Soup. She also pays a visit to a small butcher and a local baker that culminates in a meal of Grilled Lamb Chops with Green and Black Olive Salsa, and Asparagus Salad with Brown Butter and Meyer Lemons, after which she makes Reisling Poached Fruit. In North Beach, the historical Italian district of San Francisco, Joanne finds inspiration in Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store's famous paninis before she goes back to her kitchen to make Fontina, Capocollo and Roasted Pepper Panini and Panini Caprese, with a classic fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil filling.
WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY also highlights the celebratory side of cooking, which is of course, eating. Joanne has many special episodes where she shares meals with friends and family and which emphasize the bonding and emotional benefit of food. She invites friend and chef Gary Danko to her city loft for an elegant meal that includes Oysters with Champagne Mignonette and Individual Warm Raspberry Souffles. She also breaks bread with her brother, her god-daughter, a group of her fun single friends and a blind date who ends up devouring Chocolate Hazelnut Biscottió, a Joanne Weir specialty.
Many episodes illustrate Joanne's expertise on how to choose, prepare and cook the freshest ingredients found in a city. Joanne is skilled at seeking out the artisans and shops that inspire her urban menu, and she helps her viewers to become equally adventurous. She guides the audience in discovering their own city's signature foods and makes suggestions on how to discover new ones. Her tips are clear and concise, and she encourages everyone to experiment with her recipes, making them their own.
And what's a meal without wine? Joanne suggests wine to accompany her recipes in all 26 episodes. Her pairings match the sophistication of her recipes and complement the complex flavors she produces in the kitchen: Navarro Gewürztraminer to accompany her Cracked Crab with Lemon and Drawn Butter, and Laurent Perrier Brut Rosé Champagne to go with the Oysters and Champagne Mignonette as well as a Frei Bros. Reserve Pinot Noir for the Truffle Scented Cornish Game Hens with Prosciutto and Wild Mushrooms. In a chatty and fun manner, she makes suggestions about recipes and meals, and pairing suggestions that help make organizing dinners and parties easy and attainable.
WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY offers more than a hundred new recipes that emphasize fresh, seasonal ingredients. There are meals that are cooked in harmony with the earth and with the seasons, and which are a recurring source of renewal, satisfaction, and celebration -- and they're all made with ingredients available in the city.
WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY has a companion Web site (kqed.org/weircookinginthecity) that features interactive step-by-step recipes from the television series that can be easily downloaded in a printer friendly format. The site also features further information about Joanne and her latest book, also entitled Weir Cooking in the City, published by Simon & Schuster.
Joanne Weir is the host and co-producer of WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY. Tina Salter is the series producer. Danny McGuire is the executive producer.
WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY is made possible by generous support from Sur La Table, Libbey, Inc., Turning Leaf Coastal Reserve and Thai Kitchen.
WEIR COOKING IN THE CITY is produced by KQED Public Broadcasting in San Francisco in association with Joanne Weir and is distributed nationally via American Public Television (APT).
KQED Public Broadcasting operates KQED Public Television 9, one of the nation's most-watched public television stations during prime-time, and KQED's digital television channels, which include KQED HD, KQED Encore, KQED World, KQED Life and KQED Kids; KQED Public Radio, the most-listened-to public radio station in the nation with an award-winning news and public affairs program service (88.5 FM in San Francisco and 89.3 FM in Sacramento); KQED.org, one of the most visited station sites in Public Broadcasting; and KQED Education Network, which brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and media professionals through workshops, seminars and resources.
For 41 years, American Public Television (APT) has been a major source of programming for the nation's public television stations. APT has more than 10,000 hours of available programming including Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter, Globe Trekker, Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World, Nightly Business Report, Rick Steves' Europe, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, Ballykissangel, Brian Jacques' Redwall and The Three Tenors Christmas. APT is known for identifying innovative programs and developing creative distribution techniques for producers. In four decades, it has established a tradition of providing public television stations nationwide with program choices that enable them to strengthen and customize their schedules. Press should contact Donna Hardwick at (617)338-4455 ext. 129 or via email to donna_hardwick@aptonline.org. For more information about APT's
programs and services, log on to aptonline.org.
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