FoodWire offers a monthly update on what’s cooking on
The Food Channel®, as well as a quick preview of what’s coming soon to our menu. The latest recipes, the hottest trends—it’s a quick and tasty buffet you can scan at a glance.

Cooking Videos from a New Perspective

Visitors to The Food Channel are now starting to see new “how-to-make…” cooking videos that let you watch a recipe come to life from a different yet familiar perspective: yours. It’s called First Person Cooking and the concept enables the viewer to feel as if he or she is dicing the bell pepper or sautéing the shrimp. Inspired by the technology behind first-person shooters and other video game genres, First Person Cooking trades in the video gun or machete for a knife—a paring knife—or a spatula or other kitchen utensil. You really should check it out. After all, “The eye is the best pupil.”

Here’s the trailer for the new video series, and here’s one of the newest how-to videos, showing how to make a Vegetable Frittata—in First Person.

A Smoking Good Deal at The Food Channel Store

Our Food Channel Store is up and running now, so you can “shop like a chef” 24 hours a day. Just click on the SHOP tab at the top of the page and you’re there.

Our goal is to hunt down and bring you the best new and useful products on the market, and we’ll try to bring you some of the best deals we can find, too. Right now you’ll find an exciting combo offer on a spiral-sliced hickory smoked ham and premium pound cake on the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse page. You save $25 when you purchase this combo package deal—perfect for your Easter dinner, and available while supplies last through Easter Sunday.

Gulf Update: A Year After the Spill

It’s been nearly a year since the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. The news networks are planning their anniversary special reports, and other interest groups are planning to mark the occasion in various ways. ABC News is asking its viewers to submit questions they’d like to see answered in the network’s upcoming coverage.

The Food Channel has dived deep into the subject with a documentary video series coming soon. Get an advance look here.

The Food Channel has been keeping readers updated on the region’s comeback for many months, and will continue to do so. Much of our focus has been on the perception problem that exists regarding the safety of Gulf seafood in the wake of the spill. Although the shrimp and other fish have been tested more than any in history—and found to be safe (and delicious)— many consumers remain skittish. One restaurant outfit that’s unafraid to feature Gulf Seafood is the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group. We recently visited Brennan’s newest venture, the Heritage Grill in New Orleans. Chef Haley Bitterman took us through the steps of making BBQ Shrimp, Cajun style. You can view the video here.

Easing Into Easter
		We’re trying to make your Easter dinner as delicious and stress free as possible, starting with a ham recipe that’s so simple, it almost doesn’t qualify as a recipe. You need do little more than heat up the fully-cooked ham, add the glaze that comes with it, and serve.
Asparagus with Chopped Eggs Our recipe for Asparagus with Chopped Eggs delivers a handsome plate presentation and a tasty way to use some of your leftover Easter eggs.	Walnut Oil Vinaigrette Want a special dressing for your spring salad? Try this Walnut Oil Vinaigrette. You’ll love the light nutty flavor and so will your guests.	Easter Pound Cake For a holiday-worthy dessert, you can’t go wrong with this Easter Pound Cake. The addition of fresh raspberries gives it maximum flavor and eye appeal.
Get the very latest on what’s happening and what’s going to happen. • Welcome to Closed on Mondays • No Ketchup. No Substituting. No Customizing. • What’s on the Menu at the Ballpark in 2011?
Surfing The Channel
	Vote for Mixologists and Singer/Songwriters Food Channel readers have two opportunities to be part of the star-making machinery thanks to stories on the site right now. You can help pro and amateur mixologists earn a trip to next month’s National Restaurant Show in Chicago to compete for the $5,000 “Star of the Bar” competition, by voting for your favorite signature cocktail presented in the bartenders’ videos. And you can also vote online for the ten singer/songwriter finalists in the Folgers Jingle Contest. The best part of this contest is voters have a chance to win, too—a daily prize of a $100 grocery store gift card, plus a chance to win the grand prize of $10,000.
	VIDEO: An Interview with Top Chef Rick Bayless You’ve seen him on cooking shows like Top Chef and maybe own one of his cookbooks. Chef Bayless took the time to visit with us on The Food Channel and encourage people to grow their own recipe ingredients in their backyards this summer. And he demo’d a new Rick Bayless recipe for Chipotle Shrimp. You can also check out our review of his cookbook, Everyday Mexican, as well as a review of his newest Chicago restaurant, XOCO.
	Ralph Brennan Group Opens Heritage Grill Check out the latest venture from the renowned New Orleans restaurateur.
	Feeding Your Facebook Appetite Network with fellow foodies from around the world. Check out the Food Channel’s Facebook fan page.