Kitchen Boss Italian Food Recipes

Italian food has evolved through decades of political and social changes, with its recipes being traced back even in 4th century BC. Major changes took place with the origination of the New World that helped to shape the Italian cuisine with introduction of the items like tomatoes, potatoes, bell, maize and pepper, which are the main parts of the food although they were not introduced until 18th century. Italian food is not only very regional, but is also considered to be very seasonal with high demands placed by people for fresh seasonal produce.
Dishes and ingredients differ by region. There are many dishes that have now become both regional as well as national. Many recipes which were regional, have now evolved in different styles across the country. Wine and cheese are a major part of the food, playing a variety of roles both nationally and regionally. Coffee, or more specifically espresso, has likewise become an important part in cultural food of Italy.
Italy is a place with great variety, and food is another aspect of the diversity of the Italian culture, resulting largely from geographical differences and peasant heritage. Italian food consists of the fat, rich, baroque food of Bologna. Parmigiano, based on butter and meat; the tasty, light, mozzarella, majorly based on olive oil, spicy cooking of Naples and seafood.
The explanation of this is hidden in its history; the great variety of cuisine styles of Italy result from its great history. Divided for a long duration into several princedoms, duchies, states and kingdoms and often hostile to each other, the political unification did not took place in Italy until 1861. Many inhabitants have occupied the Italian territory in last three thousand years and each of them contributed their local traditions. And the natives, as well as the Greeks and Etruscans, left influences that are still seen today.
In many homes, the traditional Italian dishes are kept for events like weddings; whereas the regular menu includes only the first and the second course, which is coffee and side dish. One important thing of Italian food is that the first course is generally more filling dish and consists of either pasta or risotto, both rich in carbohydrates. Present day Italian recipes also include a single course, providing proteins and carbohydrates at the same time; like legumes and pasta.
The most famous Italian recipes are spaghetti and pizza. Differences in the omnipresent pasta is another example of multiplicity of Italian recipes. Hard boiled spaghetti in the south, egg noodles in the north, with every possible variation in shape and size.
Italian meals generally contain 3 or 4 courses. Meals are often seen as a time for friends and family instead of an immediate sustenance or just for the purpose of eating because one is hungry. As such, regular meals are generally longer as compared to other cultures. During free days, many family feasts last for long hours.

"Cake Boss" to "Kitchen Boss" TLC

On the season finale of chef Buddy Valastro's competition show, "Cake Boss: Next Great Baker" (TLC at 9), contestants compete for the $50,000 prize, and perhaps even more valuable, a job at Carlo's bakery.

Directly after "Cake Boss," the new show "Kitchen Boss" (at 10) airs a prime-time sneak peek. The cooking show - which will air at 5:30 p.m. starting Tuesday - features Buddy as he steps out of the bakery and shows off his other cooking skills, namely his family's secret recipes for Italian food.

In a new TLC cooking show, Buddy Valastro brings viewers into the kitchen, where he shares his family favorite Italian dishes. From his grandmother's secret recipes to simple tips to make a more delicious meal, Buddy cooks everything from pastas and proteins to sides and everyday desserts that make dinner a family event. To help spice it up during the series, various guests, including members of the Valastro family, join Buddy in the kitchen.

Buddy Valastro KITCHEN BOSS

CAKE BOSS has taken viewers behind the scenes of Buddy Valastro’s busy, family-run bakery, sharing the sweeter side of life. Now, TLC is heating things up with KITCHEN BOSS, a brand-new daytime cooking series that will showcase Buddy’s traditional Italian recipes. Both series are ready to be served up this month – KITCHEN BOSS premieres on Monday January 24 and season four of CAKE BOSS premieres Monday January 31.

In KITCHEN BOSS, Buddy brings viewers into the kitchen, where he shares his family favorite Italian dishes. From his grandmother’s secret recipes to simple tips to make a more delicious meal, Buddy cooks everything from pastas and proteins to sides and everyday desserts that make dinner a family event. To help spice it up during the series, various guests, including members of the Valastro family, join Buddy in the kitchen. As an added treat, TLC.com will feature recipes, tips, and behind-the-scene footage.

“Food is love, and my favorite family moments involve meals just like the ones I’m preparing on KITCHEN BOSS, and it’s great to be able to share these recipes with viewers” says Buddy Valastro.

A sneak peek of KITCHEN BOSS airs out of the finale of Buddy’s competition show NEXT GREAT BAKER on Monday, January 24 at 10:30pm. The series moves to its weekday home, 5:30pm, starting Tuesday, January 25. TLC has ordered 40 half-hour episodes of KITCHEN BOSS.

Buy Cupcake Online

If you are fond of eating, then there are many good dishes you can try. Looking around you will easily an end number of recipes that are enough to bring water in your mouth. Not just that if you are fond of desserts then there is a huge variety of websites available for you helping you to prepare or even buy the dish of your choice.

Gone are the days when it was really very difficult to find the products or services of your choice. Today with the help of technological invention called internet it is possible to get almost any product or service in no time. Not just that, today the services are so improved that if you want to order cupcakes online then even that option is possible.

There are thousands of online cupcake stores available over the internet. This is indeed a good indication but with good indications there are some bad ones as well! As there are so many online stores available offering cupcakes now the question arises which one is the best one and from which store the person should keep a safe distance?

The answer to above question is also available over the internet. An online cupcake store that has good recipes, good varieties and that is on the top position in various search options is indeed a good option to buy cupcakes. The reason behind this is that generally a website or an online store is on good ranking if it has a good number of visitors or hits. In addition to that you can also have an idea by going through the content that is available over the website.

Last but not the least; you can also go through the reviews or feedbacks of customers to know the quality of products or services being offered by the online store.

By keeping these points in mind it is sure to find a good online cupcake store that can help you enjoy the dish of your taste!

How to Make Fudge from Scratch

Are you tired of making burnt or tasteless fudge? Or are you tired of the same old fudge recipe?

I have been there and I totally understand your frustration!

No matter how hard I tried to make great fudge I always ended up with the same results.

I would try to whisk the chocolate fast then I would try to whisk it slow.

I would change the order in which I added the ingredients. I would even try to take out some ingredients that I thought was giving me unsatisfactory results.

I got to the point where I was beyond frustration.

But, I have to let YOU in on something. I OVERCAME this little bump in my candy making road and so can you!

I have learned a few secrets that made my ordinary candy into extraordinary delicacies.

Often times many candy makers encounter many challenges in their candy making endeavors. Especially when it comes to making fudge!

Here is the secret. I now use very strict temperature control when using any fudge recipe.

Mainly with chocolate because it can scold and burn REALLY easy. This can make a gross burnt overall taste and after taste.

No matter if you are cooking with white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate you need to keep your stoves temperature range at a low to medium setting.

Otherwise you will be wasting time and money because you will be left with a batch of candy that no one will eat!!!

Uneaten food will hurt any cook's feelings! LOL!

I control the temperature by using a candy thermometer. Most people believe they can make candy without it.

I am here to tell you that this little gadget WILL make the difference in the taste and texture of your homemade candy creations!

'Cake Boss' looks for recipe for good TV

  'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro shows a slice of his art.

CAKE BOSS. Monday at 9 p.m., TLC

If you think President Obama's got a lot on his plate, you gotta see the opening night of "Cake Boss."

It's exhausting just to watch.

It's also probably fattening just to watch, given that everything revolves around flour, sugar, eggs and icing.

Not that anyone at Carlo's Bakery has time to eat. Things are moving that fast for Buddy Valastro and the Valastro family, which, in just an hour tonight, has to handle two huge parties for the family and one for New Jersey's incoming governor, Chris Christie.

The Valastros are baking a cake that has to serve 2,000 people.

Buddy decides the cake will also be a celebration of New Jersey, which means the top will be decorated with sculptures of produce (the Garden State), lighthouses, New Jersey Turnpike signs and everything he or anyone else can think of.

Skip the toxic waste dump jokes, please. But there is a small sculpture of the governor, arm raised in "a little Jersey fist pump."

It takes about eight Carlo's employees to carry the cake into the Prudential Center, and when they get there, the gov loves it.

This is great promotion for the bakery, though it could have troubling implications for the show.

"Cake Boss" works because it's an engaging story about a family business and the family that runs it.

True, Carlo's provides specialty baking for unusual occasions, and that's part of the drama. But if the show becomes exclusively about catering to the stars, or politicians, it becomes a very different show than if it's about a place where ordinary people walk in wanting an extraordinary cake.

Tonight, Buddy is also working on a 30th-birthday surprise for his wife, Lisa: a life-size cake sculpted to look like her, in her precise dimensions.

One of the minidramas in this process is the all-important facial sculpture, which Buddy entrusts to a new hire, Ralph, who looks like he walked in from the set of "Guys and Dolls."

So it's fun to watch Lisa's cake double come together, though one suspects Buddy doesn't really want dozens of people to come through the door asking for similar sculptures of their own spouses.

Weird cakes are definitely part of the fun. If they become the whole show, though, that's like too much icing. It could overpower a good thing.

Bravo aims to take the cake with new 'Top Chef: Just Desserts'

If it's anything like the original, Bravo's new 'Top Chef: Just Desserts' will be more tart than sweet - and that's a good thing.

Life is about to get sweeter for "Top Chef" fans.

Bravo announced a new series Monday that will take the "Top Chef" formula and turn it into a competition for the spun-sugar and pastry flour set.

The spin-off, "Top Chef: Just Desserts," will premiere in 2010 with the same basic structure of the hit on which it's based. An undisclosed number of contestants will live together and compete in various challenges under the supervision of judges and a host, complete with quickfire challenges and eliminations.

The sweet tooths who will fill the host and judge roles have yet to be announced.

Casting calls for the dessert themed show get underway Monday October 26 in Chicago, Bravo announced, in most of the same locations where "Top Chef" season 7 hopefuls can attempt to impress with their culinary resumes and best TV personalities, since they don't actually cook at the tryouts.

New Yorkers who harbor dreams of sauteing, basting or baking their way to reality TV fame, on either the dessert-themed spin-off or the original, will have their chance at Craftsteak on Sunday November 8.

"Just Desserts" arrives amidst plenty of competition, including TLC's "Cake Boss," which has its season premiere Monday night at 10 p.m., and the Food Network's "Ace of Cakes."

The Bravo show was inspired in part by the difficulty that desserts have posed for "Top Chef" cooks, Frances Berwick, Bravo's vice president and general manager told Variety.

"Their Achilles heel is usually the desserts," Berwick said of the "Top Chef" contestants. "As this has gone on, we've been thinking that it would be fun to do a 'Top Chef' with experienced pastry chefs. We've had a few pastry chefs on 'Top Chef,' but they haven't gone too far. It's just a different skill."

With "Top Chef: Just Desserts" and the recently renewed "Top Chef Masters," which puts established chefs head-to-head in cook-off competitions for charity, the network hopes "Top Chef" will become a year-round presence.

"There is a phenomenon going on right now, where people are very interested in the cooking space," Berwick told Variety. "I have to believe this is recession-related. People are enjoying the experience of cooking at home, because it's cheaper than going out. We're building off that phenomenon."

'Cake' is tasty, but not filling

  TLC series 'Cake Boss' returns Monday night for its second season.

CAKE BOSS
Monday night at 10, TLC

"Cake Boss" makes you hungry for something sweet, which is good.

It also can make you hungry for something with a little more TV substance.

Buddy Valastro and his posse are all back Monday night to launch season two of "Cake Boss," a reality show centered on the fun that apparently never stops at Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken.

Valastro and his extended, often quirky Italian family rarely allow a dull moment. They're an animated bunch, not reluctant to speak up. They also work overtime to convince us Carlo's is not one of those bakeries whose daily production is rolls, bread, pastries and a couple of personalized birthday cakes.

Valastro has a client who wants to propose to his girlfriend in Carlo's. This client also wants Valastro to bake him a cake that replicates an engagement ring box, and put the actual ring inside. So he does, and it looks great. Problem is, this isn't like when your mom made a cake and you felt involved because you could lick the bowl. This is more abstract, like watching the construction of a house.

At another point, Valastro and his team assemble a cake for a Brooklyn botanical event whose theme is "Wicked Plants." Valastro's cake replicates a Venus flytrap, with a long winding stem that resembles an uncoiling cobra. The combination of flour, sugar and eggs doesn't bind strongly enough to support that kind of stem, so he makes it from PVC pipe.

The end result is impressive.

But again, here, the creation process feels more like an engineering lesson than Willie Wonka.

Since TV interactivity has not reached the point where we can actually taste the cake, the livelier part of "Cake Boss" is the interaction of the family - and, tellingly, the highlight of Monday night's episode is a moment that feels wholly staged for the camera.

We won't spoil it here, but it goes back to last season's infamous "Cake Drop" episode. Anthony and Danny were carrying a tall Sweet 16 cake down a flight of stairs when they lost their grip and the cake went down the stairs without them.

Fans have argued whether it was more Anthony's or Danny's fault. Monday night, we find out where Valastro comes down on that one. It's an amusing enough scene. It just feels like it was dreamed up for the TV camera.

"Cake Boss" has engaging passages. Too often it feels like cotton candy.

'Cake Boss' Buddy's got a lot in the oven

'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro has new show cooking for TLC. He also has a new line of cake-decorating tools in the oven.

TLC's "Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro has more cooking up his sleeve.

Indeed, the popular bakery chef could someday expand beyond cooking sweets. Think of the foods that come long before dessert.

Valastro told an audience at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank last weekend that he's working on a cooking show for TLC.

"Stuff that your grandma would make, that's what I'm going to be doing," he said.

Valastro fielded questions from the audience during the first in what will become a series of stage performances by the head of Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken.

He also said he's working on a line of cake-decorating tools and his own line of fondant - the sugary paste used to decorate cakes on the hugely popular TLC show.

During the stage show, Valastro led audience members in a cupcake-decorating competition, had men make chocolate roses and took questions that ranged from would he be in the bakery on certain dates to his relationship with a woman best known as "Bridezilla" on the show.

Fans of "Cake Boss" called her that after she demolished a cake he made for her wedding.

Valastro joked that he initially wanted to react badly to the cake bashing, but remembered that cameras were rolling. The woman, he said, was lambasted by viewers, who left threatening messages on her Facebook page.

"I felt so bad," he said of the unexpected fan reaction.

"Maybe scare her a little bit," he joked, "a pie in the puss maybe, but I didn't want her to be killed."

He said he and the woman are now friends and he's since made other cakes for her.

The Red Bank performance, before a soldout crowd of 1,500, comes just before Valastro and his team start production on a third, 26-episode season of "Cake Boss."

"Buddy and his team are true artists and have created the most amazing cakes this season - including a life-sized NASCAR cake! We can't wait to see what's next for the entire family at Carlo's bakery," Nancy Daniels, TLC's senior vice president of production and development, said in a statement.

Valastro is expected to do another 10 stage performances after shooting ends, and then do more following the launch of a cookbook he's working on.

During the stage production, Valastro got emotional talking about his father, whom he frequently credits with guiding him into the bakery business.

And he took a good jab at the Food Network, where he was first exposed to TV audiences as a competitor on the network's cake competition.

He lost several times before finally winning.

He said he also submitted a videotape of his family bakery as a test for a potential reality show. The Food Network passed, and he was picked up by TLC.

"They actually thought ["Ace of Cakes"] Duff [Goldman] was better," Valastro said, adding, "We know how that turned out."

A real cakewalk of "Cake Boss" to huge success

Buddy Valastro, the star of the TLC reality series 'Cake Boss' and owner of Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, puts touches on another creation. He's gearing up for the third season of his show.

"Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro is enjoying his growing fame, but not all of his longtime Hoboken customers are thrilled with the transformation of their local bakery into a tourist attraction.

As the 1-year-old TLC show shoots episodes for its third season, Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop is pulling in hundreds of fans a day. Some come from as far as Canada, Europe and even Asia.

On a recent Sunday, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Valastro, hungry to sample his baked goods, waited on line in the rain. On sunny days, the line often snakes around the block.

"We came from Ontario - this is our first stop!" said Charlene Pellarin, 47, adding her daughter Jenna, 12, is a "big 'Cake Boss' fan."

No Hoboken residents were on the line - they tend to sneak into the 100-year-old bakery during off hours to pick up a box of cannolis, a crumb cake or lobster tail pastries, all made from scratch.

"It's very hard to go there anymore," said attorney Lisa Beckerman, 47, who has lived a block from the bakery for 22 years. "I used to go there every week. Now that line is so daunting. It used to be you'd just walk in, and maybe the line was five people."

The out-of-towners, however, are thrilled. When Valastro, 33, finally showed up that Sunday, sneaking in through a back door in the alley, an electric buzz surged through the crowd. Valastro waved and took pictures with fans. "I'm sorry you had to wait in the rain!" he called.

"We came all the way from Toronto just to meet Buddy," said Jane Strong, 43, who was there with her two boys. "We're very excited!"

With the reality show's third season kicking off May 31, the excitement likely will grow - along with the line.

The show - which came about after Valastro submitted a video of the family bakery to TLC - follows the master baker, his astonishing cake concoctions and the antics of the many family members of his who work there.

The exposure already has given business a big boost. "We were busy before - now we're like a busy bakery on steroids," Valastro said.

The shop, which Valastro's father, Buddy Sr., bought in 1963 and Valastro took over at 17 after his father died, produces 50 to 70 specialty cakes a week and 500 to 700 birthday cakes with a staff of 110.

Valastro, who lives in East Hanover, N.J., with his wife, Lisa, and three young children, has made specialty cakes for celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Britney Spears. The really ornate ones go for as much as $15,000.

Among his notable cakes, he has made a New York cityscape featuring nine 5-foot-tall buildings and - the largest yet - a life-size race car weighing 20,000 pounds.

TLC serves up more 'Cake Boss' in food drive

Batter up: 'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro is the poster boy of TLC's push to expand its food programming.

"Cake Boss," premiere on May 31 at 9 p.m. on TLC

TLC will kick off its summer lineup with the third season launch of "Cake Boss."

The show comes back May 31 at 9 p.m. and is being used to drive more food-related programming on the network; not, however, at the expense of regular shows like "The Little Couple," "LA Ink" and "Toddlers and Tiaras."

"The whole food thing I think people are going to like," said "Cake Boss" star Buddy Valastro. "What goes better with family than food? TLC put a lot of good stuff on the menu this season. I've seen some of the shows, and they look pretty good."

Valastro believes his show's third season is better than the second. "We went back to the roots and we just cranked," he said. "It's so authentic and so right."

Valastro, the network's most visible star after Kate Gosselin (who returns next month), is the main attraction in TLC's food drive.

Food is a hot genre. Besides the Food Network, ION launched a show with Emeril Lagasse, the Fine Living network is being converted to the Cooking Channel and Bravo and Fox have food competition programs.

"I always catch myself wanting to see a cooking channel or show," Valastro said. "You want to see how things are made. It's such a good feeling."

Among TLC's new food offerings is "Inedible to Incredible," airing June 21 at 10 p.m. It follows chef John Besh as he visits the homes of people whose cooking needs help.

Also on the way is "Fabulous Cakes," featuring cake bakeries (June), and "Cupcake Dreams," about the sisters who run Georgetown Cupcake in Washington (July). They join the returning "BBQ Pitmasters."

There's also a handful of specials. "Food Buddha" has chef Rodelio Aglibot going to restaurants and ordering one of everything. He talks to the chef, then creates his own dish. "Mega Bites" features folks who think big, like the Flintridge, Calif., residents who built "the largest Rice Krispies Treat" for a fund-raiser.

"The old-fashioned straight-to-the-camera cooking shows are a little boring, unless you're a die-hard cook," Valastro said. "I want to see something a little more fun, with people who are into it."

For Valastro, being TLC's poster boy is just the latest step in a meteoric rise. Last Friday, he was on "Orpah" for the second time, he's got another show in development and a book on the way, and lines at his Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken can be hours long.

"I keep trying to up the ante and do things I've never done before," he said. "Season three is that. You have the family stuff, but I'm really challenging myself as a cake artist and professional. I really think the cakes are insane."

Valastro said he's not feeling any more pressure. "I'll tell you the truth, I'm the type of person that deals with pressure," he said. "I really believe this is 'Cake Boss' summer."