Devra First's Favorites

December 27, 2006

Has the cooking competition/reality show "Top Chef" jumped the shark already, in only its second season? It's too early to say for sure, but a little less bickering among the contestants and a little more focus on actual food would be nice. Still, for every irrelevant cooking-in-firepits-on-the-beach segment, there's a making-amuse-bouches-with-only-vending-machine-ingredients challenge, and that's good TV. Even at its least compelling, "Top Chef" gets you thinking about how you would make, say, your own cutting-edge Thanksgiving. So when Marcel turns in yet another riff on foam, you can sniff and think how much better your roast turkey pho and sweet potato tempura maki would have been. Who deserves the title of Top Chef? You, of course. "Top Chef" airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 10 p.m. and repeats throughout the week.

I recently ventured into the world of candy making for the first time since childhood. Then, my mother and I would whip up batches of marshmallows or Lucy's Lemon Lollipops, a recipe from my "Peanuts" cookbook. (Yes, it was the '70s.) Now, I'm more interested in fleur de sel caramels, a version of the French caramels au beurre salé. Like pretzels with vanilla ice cream or peanut butter and honey sandwiches, they satisfy a salty-sweet tooth. They're also incredibly easy to make. (Or, even easier, order the award-winning version from Seattle-based Fran's Chocolates, which are $22 for 15 pieces.) I wasn't the only one obsessed with these candies this year: The month I made my first batch, both the Globe and The New York Times ran stories about salted caramels. Why the zeitgeist? I'm guessing it's because they're good. Chocolate-covered gray salt and smoked salt caramels are available at Fran's Chocolates, 800-422-3726, or franschocolates.com.

Petit Robert's frisee salad (above) is the most decadent salad ever. The bistro classic -- frisee with lardons and a poached egg -- already perverts the American notion of salad as health food. But Petit Robert Bistro, in Kenmore Square and the South End, adds its own twist. The chefs take that poached egg, dip it in the Japanese bread crumbs called panko, and proceed to ever-so-quickly deep fry it. Health food it's not. Sheer genius it is. That crunchy, runny egg makes the salad. With a glass of wine, it's my favorite lunch of the year. Frisee salad is $7.75 at Petit Robert Bistro, 468 Commonwealth Ave., 617-375-0699, and 480 Columbus Ave., 617-867-0600; petitrobertbistro.com. Salad available at lunch only.

In its original incarnation, the Chowhound website had its own crazy charm. Screen after screen of blue subject lines scrolling down a gray background, it had a sort of antistyle style. It was slow and difficult to search. But if you could get past these obstacles, its riches could be yours: recommendations for secret holes-in-the-wall serving authentic Uzbek or Laotian dishes, recipes for the best pots de creme and Japanese okonomiyaki, sources for cereal no longer in production. Then, in March, it was bought by CNET Networks, which wasted no time in redesigning the site. OK, Chowhound's new format feels a little less underground, a little less like a cult community. But heck, you can search it. With ease. Quickly. Those Uzbek restaurants and esoteric recipes are now much more accessible, and the discussion around them is far easier on the eyes. After a few weeks of adjustment, even detractors had to admit it was an improvement. Chowhound is at chowhound.com.