Without Restaurant Kitchens, Twin Cities Professionals Share Their Skills Online

Chef Sameh Wadi wants you to throw away that ground cumin that’s been sitting at the back of your pantry since who-knows-when. The executive chef of World Street Kitchen, Milkjam Ice Cream, and Grand Catch is just one of many local personalities sharing skills and opinions on how to cope while staying at home and inside during the Coronaviurs pandemic.

While there are cookbooks and local bloggers to turn to, these entertaining new videos share useful techniques as well as fun from others trapped inside, unused to this much solo time.

In addition to Wadi’s pantry-useful recipes, there are cocktails, baking techniques, and baking while drinking shows to tun into while we’re all stuck at home, scrolling through our phones.

Social Deliciousness

Sameh Wadi

Chef, owner World Street Kitchen, Milk Jam Ice Cream, and Grand Catch

Wadi is already an accomplished cookbook author, in addition to being an incredibly smart, highly opinionated conversationalist. In his new Instagram stories series, he’s reaching into his pantry and putting together easy-to-building pantry dinner ideas like a Lao-leaning tuna salad, cacio e peppe omlete, and shakshuka - which really requires using cumin seed. That cumin in the back of the spice drawer is a sad representation of what the spice. Chuck it! Then create a deeply spiced tomato broth to simmer eggs into a one-pot meal.

Karyn’s Crisis Kitchen

Karyn Tomlinson

Chef Corner Table, Uffda

The former chef at Corner Table and the Nordic heart of Travail’s Uffda even has her own opening music for her new online cooking series. She pulls together a gorgeous tomato soup using pantry staples with some chef-friendly suggestions like rinsing out the can of tomatoes with a little red wine. She pairs her dish with a recommended wine thanks to Erin Ungerman. There’s only one dish for now, but more are coming.

Daily Wine Pairings

Erin Ungerman

New France Wine

What to drink with end of time vibes and a dinner of canned tuna fish? Erin Ungerman’s Instagram is filled with her soothing voice talking through various wine suggestions for dealing with cabin fever, pandemic concerns, and weekdays. Ungerman is a well known wine rep who has supplied some of Minneapolis’ finest dining establishments with gorgeous wines from around the world. She specializes in finding under-the-radar sips that are completely affordable.

Coping Cocktails

Jon S. Olson

Bartender from places like Esker Grove, La Belle Vie, and more

Olson appears in a window because who would recognize a bartender with visible legs? From there, the familiar face from some of the top bars around the Twin Cities mixes up classic and potent cocktails including helpful how to’s with useful explainers on the spirits he uses. Important note for home bartenders, MN Pure Clear Ice is still making deliveries and liquor stores, like Zipp’s that are stocked with most of his suggested ingredients, do curbside pick up.

The Bitter Baker

Tiffany Norton

This local comic is working through her emotions on her You Tube channel with plenty of Oreos and a glass of wine. Watch her wurr through the aforementioned cookies for a death by chocolate or whip up an ungodly shade of green cake pop in celebration of the St. Patrick’s Day that everyone had to spend inside. Her hilarious asides and decadent dishes are perfect for when all you want to do is eat your feelings.

• Travail’s Final Pop-Up Combines Grandma Chic with Modern Fine Dining [ETC]
• Minnesota Bloggers to Follow for All Your “Distractibaking” Needs [ETC]
• Sameh Wadi on Family, Saffron, and the New Mediterranean Cookbook [ETC]