Slashfood

A few of the best links on the Web this week:

• Food bloggers get a shout out in the new Taco Bell commercial.
• Vodka cocktails are making a comeback.
• Gordon Ramsay's Top Chef knockoff Master Chef is confirmed to debut Jul. 29 on Fox.
• A $13 cup of joe makes its entrance at the Baltimore coffee house, Spro.
• The top 20 booze trends to avoid in 2010.

For most seafood eaters, the connection between healthy coral reefs and what's on their dinner plate is pretty much non-existent. Consider coral, and things like jewelry, souvenirs, or home aquarium tank decorations come to mind first. But scientists warn they're worth significantly more alive and healthy than they are as fancy wall hangings for your guestroom.

Coral reefs make up only one percent of the vast ocean floor, but support 25 to 33 percent of all marine life, and provide important habitat and nursery grounds for many fish, including some favorites like grouper and red snapper. Coral is also used in medicines, it provides income through tourism, and protects fragile fine sand beaches from storm damage. And while coral may look like just a rock or a plant, they are actually formed by tiny colonies of animals called coral polyps, whose skeletons form the coral we recognize.

But serious pressure from the jewelry and home-decorating trade, damage done by unsustainable fishing practices, and climate change (which is contributing to ocean acidification), means their continued survival is in serious question, and has some scientists sounding alarm bells, including dire warnings of severe hunger for coastal populations and political instability should coral reef declines continue.

Slashfood contributor Jennifer Iserloh , a.k.a. the Skinny Chef, is one of those cooks who somehow makes food that isn't drenched in oil, butter or any of those other fattening things that taste delicious. Her latest book is called Secrets of a Skinny Chef: 100 Decadent, Guilt-Free Recipes. In an interview she explained her philosophy and gave a few Skinny Chef tips.

Slashfood: What makes your cookbook different from the million other diet cookbooks out there?
JI: There are a lot of unusual flavor profiles. For example I have turkey tacos, but with star anise. The French toast I make is with orange marmalade and cardamom. So there are a lot of fun little twists with flavors. Making it a little bit more special, getting people accustomed to using spices and herbs in a new way but within the confines of the food they recognize.

I look beyond stats like fat and calories. I'm looking at things like iron content, vitamin C and fiber. So instead of using iceberg lettuce in a taco, I use spinach which is crazy good for you and it's going to boost the nutritional content.

Also I used to work in restaurant kitchens. I think a lot of the healthy cookbooks out there are done by nutritionists who don't necessarily have my food background.

Crème Yvette's rebirth this year excites cocktail enthusiasts. The liqueur is made in Bordeaux, France from an all natural blend of four berry fruits from Burgundy: blackberry, raspberry, currant, and wild strawberry. This Victorian romantic-at-heart liqueur combines all those luscious berries with dried violet petals from Provence and a final touch of orange peel, vanilla, and honey.

Although it was first sold in the USA around 1890, the rare liqueur was taken out of circulation in 1969. Rob Cooper of Cooper Spirits has had the recipe and a few old bottles in his family stash for years and heard the cry for its return, researched its rebirth, and proudly delivered a gorgeous package to hold its equally pretty liquid contents. This is the same company, after all, that brought us the beautiful bottle of St. Germain elderflower cordial.

Although the liqueur once boasted sales around the world, its relaunch has currently been limited to New York and California at first with a later debut scheduled for Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington DC.

Find the recipe for Crème Yvette after the jump.

In 2007, the Guinness Book of World Records certified that the Bhut Jolokia pepper (a.k.a. the ghost pepper), which can be found in the Assam region of India and parts of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, is the hottest pepper in the world.

How hot is it? It's so hot that the Indian government announced that they would use the chiles in smoke grenades as a device to force terrorists out of their lairs and to quell rioting mobs. In northeastern India, the peppers are daubed on fences and mixed into smoke bombs to keep wild elephants at bay. That's right: The pepper is so potent it can control feral pachyderms.

It's also irresistible to chile thrill seekers. If you are such a person, then Chunky's Burgers in San Antonio is worth a trip. Joey Prado, owner of Chunky's, is using the Bhut Jolokia in a burger; he was playing around in the kitchen and devised it as a kind of dare.

"I was thinking, 'How hot can I make a burger?' " he told Slashfood. "I get the peppers from an importer in New York. We have one or two people every hour coming in to try it."

Rhubarb grew abundantly in the corner of my granny's garden. I remember getting a sour whiff once of the dark green umbrella-like leaves that my grandmother warned me never to eat, since they are toxic. The reddish-white supertart stem on the other hand makes luscious sweet desserts if combined with sugar and sweet fruits, like apples for example. Cobblers instantly bring warm weather to mind and this one is a version that I have been making since I was in high school. Pouring boiling water over a topping made with cornstarch creates the amazing "shell" that guests at your dinner table will not forget once they've tasted it.

A lot of friends and readers ask why I call for margarine in my baked good recipes instead of butter. I'll admit, that I love the taste of butter but sadly it's extremely high in saturated fat. In just one serving of most butter rich desserts you can max out your saturated fat limits for the entire day, which means bad news for your heart. If you're having trouble preparing baked goods with margarine that melts a lot faster compared to butter, here's an idea. Freeze the margarine before you mix to improve texture of the dough comes out its best. Be sure to look for "trans-fat free.

Find The Skinny Chef's Rhubarb Cobbler recipe after the jump.

• You know you've done it -- buying beer solely for the label. Beer makers design their labels with that in mind.
• And as long as we're talking about beer, want some beer candy? The dessert tray is growing a beer belly.
• Caffe Roma, like other Beverly Hills residents, recently had a face lift -- but the menu didn't.
• Looking for Creole cooking? Bayou Grille in Inglewood has your back. (The po' boy is "nothing short of magnifique.")
• When the James Beard nominations were announced, L.A. got the cold shoulder.

Where do you go to unwind after a stressful day of stock market ups and downs? Try NYC's Exchange Bar & Grill, where you can follow the menu's ups and downs. In what may be capitalism's finest hour, customers will be able to decide the value of their drinks and eats based on market demand, complete with the aid of a genuine ticker tape.

Take the Stella Artois on tap, for example. It might be $4 or might be $8, depending how many customers are thirsting for it that evening. (Presumably this means the Amstel Light will be more expensive on ladies' night out.) Food prices, too, will fluctuate in 25-cent increments, depending on who's hungry for what on any given night. Crafty consumers might find themselves eavesdropping on the next table's order for hot tips. (Did they all order chicken wings? In that case, the smart money's on the fried calamari -- its relative unpopularity will result in a price crash.)

The bar's grand opening bell is set to ring on April 1 (no joke). The owners, Levent Cakar (a restaurant veteran) and Damon Bae (an MBA, of course), admitted to ABC News that the price structure may be kind of gimmicky. "Its definitely something a little bit different," said Bae. "There is a little bit of a twist." Still, they've got a great location in Gramercy Park, and they hope their burgers and bargain pints will win customers over. Remember: buy low, sell high. Cheers.