5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

It's no secret that Eatocracy loves to put some South in its mouth. We dig the panoply of dishes, the sense of living history it brings, the close ties between chefs and farmers and the fact that it plain old tastes like heaven on earth. This also tends to be food for thought - whether it's Hugh Acheson and Paula Deen's philosophical differences, ruminations on the future of Southern food, or meditations on the Southern mindset.

While Josh Habiger and Erik Anderson have done their tours of duty through prestigious kitchens such as Fat Duck, Alinea, Noma and French Laundry, they've found a new home to Nashville. There as co-chefs at The Catbird Seat, the duo's ever-changing seven-course tasting menu takes inspiration from influences as diverse as a Moroccan cookbook, a Pixies song or the memory of a grey day in Copenhagen and takes root in the fresh, abundant produce and ingredients of their adopted South.

Five ways the South is different from the rest of the country
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Two-time James Beard Award-winning authors Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg know a thing or two about matchmaking. They have been coupled both personally and professionally for the past two decades researching and writing their bestselling books such as The Flavor Bible, What to Drink with What You Eat, Culinary Artistry, and their latest The Food Lover's Guide to Wine.

While they are happy to share a few pairing tips on what underlies great matches, they insist that the real beauty is in experiencing these peak pairings for yourself to see how they work their magic for you and your palate.

And what better time to give a few (or all) of them a try than the days leading up to (or even following) Valentine's Day? After all, it's impossible for aphrodisiacs to do their thing if they're paired with the wrong partner - so there's plenty of motivation to find the right matches for your Valentine's Day repasts.

Here are a few of Karen and Andrew's favorite aphrodisiac food and wine pairings and why they work:
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Peanut butter and jelly: It's the salty-sweet combination immortalized in lunchbox lore that we always come back to.

And chances are, if you were a peanut butter-loving kid, you're now a peanut butter-loving adult.

Case in point, meet Lee Zalben. Zalben - appropriately nicknamed “The Peanut Butter Guy" - is the founder and president of Peanut Butter & Co.

While Zalben agrees nothing can replace the traditional PB&J sandwich, he's certainly not opposed to creating delicious riffs on the childhood classic.

These recipes are downright nutty by nature.

Five New Twists on PB&J: Lee Zalben
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Editor's Note: Jeff Faile is the bar manager of Fiola in Washington, D.C.

Before I was lucky enough to meet my wife and get out of the rat race otherwise known as the dating game, I dreaded Valentine’s Day. I hated being on the other side of the bar while all the happy couples celebrated their love, rubbing my face in it. Each February 14, I’ll admit it, I was bitter.

Looking back on it, there’s nothing wrong with it. To really appreciate finding “the one,” you have to experience the bad. So, let’s be bitter together.

Five Bitter Drinks for Valentine's Day
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Editor's Note: Raised in Versailles, France, Dominique Crenn is now the executive chef of Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.

French fries (or frites, as the French will say) are loved by many, including the queen herself, Julia Child, who once said, “Potatoes are strange animals.”

The French fry has a long history in the human diet. When I think of them, I recall my mother's crisp, perfectly salted, skin-on frites - never greasy, and made each Sunday with the Brittany-grown potato in my childhood home.

Because I grew up with what were surely the best and truest frites in the world, I tend to have very strong opinions on this matter, as admittedly, I have on many food matters. There will be no ordering of French fries anywhere unless I have done my homework. And just because an ingredient, like the potato, is “common” or humble does not mean that it should not be respected and cooked well.
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Editor's Note: Patrick Connolly is the Executive Chef at The Kitchen NYC. Patrick’s brother, Dan Connolly, is a starting offensive lineman for the New England Patriots.

Generally speaking, the Super Bowl is about three things: food, drink and excessive partaking of each (for a Sunday). This year is a little different for me as my youngest brother Daniel is the starting center for the Patriots (he’s the guy who hikes the ball to Gisele Bundchen’s husband).

Normally, I’d be spending the day in the kitchen then plopping myself on the couch with a sandwich the size of a coffee table just in time for a butchered rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by an American Idol. This year, however, I’ll be spending the day with my family on the heated streets of Indianapolis and plopping myself on a cool plastic seat in Lucas Oil Stadium.

So, as I lose my voice during yet another big championship game I’ve road-tripped to, I hope you will enjoy two or 20 cold beers, something nice between pieces of bread and a big ol’ plate of nachos. Perhaps Doritos and shredded cheddar in the microwave is your style? Or maybe you’re a nacho overachiever and pull off a nine-layer dip? But if you’re looking for something a little outside the box, may I suggest one of the following:

Five Nacho Variations
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

A nervous drinker walks into a bar...

OK, we got nothing - but what we lack in punch lines, we're about to make up for in advice.

Whether you're a bona fide professional bartender or just like to stir things up as the barkeep in the comfort of your own home, you're likely to encounter a guest who doesn't quite know what to make of modern cocktail culture.

As a bartender at a busy hotel bar, Jamie Sanford from Vesper Bar at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas regularly serves cocktail fetishists and booze neophytes alike – and manages to make both feel just as welcome.

Learn his tips to set an anxious drink orderer - and drink maker, for that matter - at ease.

Five Ways to Put a Nervous Drinker at Ease: Jamie Sanford
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

January 26 may have already come and gone for our mates down under, but here in the U.S. of A., the Australia Day party is just getting started.

Help us commemorate the first British settlement in New South Wales some 224 years ago with the folks - and Aussie expats - of Kingswood restaurant in New York City.

We're off to eat the delicacies, the wonderful delicacies of Oz.

Five Recipes for Australia Day: Lincoln Pilcher (pictured), Nick Mathers, Nick Hatsatouris and Chef Michael Hamilton
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Cocktail menus aren’t what they used to be: branded ingredient lists with suffixes like "tini" and "rita" to give you a sense of how a drink might be presented, not how it would taste.

Don’t be afraid though, it is an absolutely great time to be alive if you love good drinks.

The cocktail menu can still be your guide; even if you don’t understand 50 percent of what the heck is printed on it, you can gain a pretty good sense of what a cocktail is going to be like with the other 50 percent.

Here are a few tips from Jackson Cannon, owner of The Hawthorne and bar director of Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar, to help you along the way.

Be brave, and remember after you’ve done a bit of reading and deciphering, it is always OK to ask for some guidance.

Five Tips on Reading a Craft Cocktail Menu: Jackson Cannon
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

(Left to right: Christophe Hille is the Chief Operating Officer, Hadley Schmitt  is the Executive Chef, and Chris Ronis is the Managing Partner of Northern Spy Food Co. in New York, New York.)

There’s much high-minded talk in the food world about eating “mostly plants” (per Mr. Michael Pollan’s counsel), but judging from the slick of animal grease on our collective food biz lips, we’re deep in the throes of a meat moment. Meatballs, meatopias, and meat weeks; the cottage industry of top-ten burger lists (as a college professor once said to me in a different context, “I think we’ve taken enough rides on that pony”); and around every corner, another young cook with tattoos of cleavers, solemnly cutting up a pig (note to the non-cook reader: it’s not that hard.)

Our mid-winter redemption for editorial and gustatory carno-chauvinism lies in greenery. Dark, sulfurous, bitter greens, to excise the sins of the flesh and remind ourselves that while any shoemaker with salt, a Boston butt and an oven can make a passable pulled pork sandwich, it is through vegetables that cooks show intelligence and intuition.

To wit: five different ways to eat your greens this winter (not necessarily vegetarian, mind you). The methods are adapted from things currently or recently on our menu at Northern Spy, which in no way means that they’re inviolable. Mess ‘em up. Put the kale where the chard goes and vice versa.

Five Ways to Cook and Eat Dark Greens in Winter
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