Alton Brown Talks Turkey; Google Launches New Tasty Features

Alton Brown? At the Googleplex? And I’m invited?!?

Yup. And I was sitting front and center as Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of Search Products and User Experience, introduced new food-inspired gadgets and themes for iGoogle, and Alton Brown matter-of-factly discussed why stuffing is synonymous with Satan.

As Marissa described, you can now add gadgets to your iGoogle homepage like Supercook, where you input ingredients you have on hand, and it spits out possible recipes, and Urbanspoon, which helps you choose a last minute restaurant. Foodzie designed a gadget, making it easy to find delicious gifts for the holidays. Pick a category, and up pops a featured product – like the insanely luscious blueberry disarranno jam pictured below (If you buy this for me, I’ll be your best friend. Promise.) Click on “see all” and a whole slew of goodies appear right on your iGoogle homepage. Super cool stuff.

Google landed pretty big names to design themes for your iGoogle homepage – Sara Molten, Cat Cora, Alain Ducasse, Michael Mina, Paula Deen, Jamie Oliver and the star of day, Alton Brown.

I wish Alton was part of my family. He cooks awesome food, he’s hilarious, approachable, and just slightly off his rocker. He could be crazy Uncle Alton. You know, like Bill Murray.

Alton dove right in to Turkey 101. Brining, frying and steering clear of stuffing were his top three tips, and he even provided a slide demonstrating how to avoid burning down your house:

As Julia Child is to French and Marcella Hazan is to Italian, Alton is to meat. And as a meat man, the one food he could never do without? Steak. And keep it bloody please. During the Q&A, one inquisitive Google employee asked Alton how he felt about last summer’s Michael Pollan article, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch,” where Pollan claimed that American families watch more food on TV then they cook in the kitchen. “First off, Pollan, wrong.” Alton said. “I think he was looking for a really good story, so he went out and found some research that proved exactly what he wanted it to.”

“I talk to home cooks all year long,” Alton continued. “I have more exposure to actual real people than he will meet in his entire life. And even if half of them are lying to me, I know that people are cooking more than ever before.”

After the demonstration, I was looking forward to some alone time with Alton. One-on-one, Alton and me, Local Lemons and Good Eats, the exclusive interview. Maybe he would divulge an embarrassing kitchen catastrophe, or expose who he secretly thinks is the ultimate Iron Chef. But my Katie Couric daydreams came to a screeching halt when a Google employee pulled me as aside and said, “Alton is signing books now, but we can pull him aside for questions.”

Uh oh. Google employees wrapped themselves in a line snaked throughout their vast cafeteria, and Alton had to stop signing books just to talk to me.

“Sooo sorry everyone,” Alton yelled out. “I have to stop signing books to talk to press. What’s your name?”

“Um, Allison.”

“Allison, everyone, her name is Allison.”

“I write a food blog, Local Lemons.”

“Oooo, she writes a food blog,” Alton yelled out to the crowd.

So here we are. Me, Alton and 200 snarling Google employees. I did manage to get some good stuff out of him, although he wouldn’t reveal his favorite food blogs/websites.

Me: What do you suggest for a vegetarian Thanksgiving?
Alton: Well, you  can have side  dishes, but you’ll have a big gaping hole in the middle of your plate where the turkey should be.

In a moment of seriousness, Alton did confess that he ate 75% vegetarian while trying to lose weight (he lost 50 pounds in 7 months), and that he continues this way of life because it’s the healthier way to be.

Me: What do you consider to be the tipping point in your career – when you considered yourself a success?
Alton: I’m not there yet. Maybe next year.

Me: How do I convince my father, the old school Italian man that he is, that stuffing is evil?
Alton: Sometimes, tradition outweighs good food. So eat your father’s turkey and like it.

Google employee: …I’m gonna stuff her in a turkey if she doesn’t let Alton sign my book.

Before I shattered any possibility of one day working at the Googleplex resort, or leaving in one piece, I let Alton go.

And I was getting hungry.

Google supplied tasty treats for the event, including Alton’s pumpkin bread, pecan and sweet potato tarts, and this autumn fruit salad created by Preeti Mistry from Top Chef, who is also Exective Chef at Google.

So what did I learn from this exciting opportunity? The Googleplex is as mind-blowing as I imagined, Google now offers cool new features for the home cook, and Alton Brown is even funnier in person than he is on TV.

View the entire presentation on YouTube: Google and Food Network Celebrate Thanksgiving