BOITANO RECEIVES HIGH MARKS FOR DELICIOUS DISHES by AMY ROSEWATER


I


t’s a fairly frequent occurrence for someone to see Brian Boitano and recognize him as the Olympic gold medalist figure skater that he is. It’s been his identity, after all, since the 1988


Olympic Winter Games. But recently he’s been recognized for some of his off-ice bit of fame, as a TV cook on Food Network. Just as Kristi Yamaguchi gets noticed for her spin on “Dancing with the Stars,” Boi- tano chuckles that now fans know him as a cook. Never mind that they’re pretty good skaters, too. “Tat’s actually happening a lot,” Boitano said. “I was at the gym the other day and the woman working there looked at my card and said, ‘You know, you have the same name as that Food Network star.’”


Boitano, who continues to skate about three


days a week in addition to exercising at the gym, has been busy with his new career as a cook as well. Not only has he been busy with his show (which, by the way, has moved to Te Cooking Channel), but also he is working on a cookbook. Te show, complete with new promos, began air- ing on Sundays at 4:30 EST in May. Upcoming episodes in June are “Street Tweets” on June 3, in which he sets up his own food cart in San Fran- cisco; “Cuban Salsa Party” on June 10; “Band Aid” on June 17; and “Kristi (yes, as in Yamagu- chi) Comes to Dinner” on June 24. Te cookbook will include about 100 reci- pes, and Boitano has been keeping a notebook in his San Francisco kitchen so he can keep tabs on any recipes he might concoct. Te cookbook is expected to be released early next year. Some of the recipes come from his show


titled “What Would Brian Boitano Make?” which is a takeoff of the South Park film in which there was a song called “What Would Brian Boi- tano Do?” Other recipes, however, remain in the works.


Boitano comes from a proud Italian heri- tage, but his cooking spans all sorts of styles. He will make pasta, but he doesn’t shy away from salmon and boasts a mean pork shoulder dish. He also has a sweet tooth and the cookbook will feature several decadent desserts. And he has sev- eral cocktail recipes (One is appropriately named “Te Gold Medal.”)


22 JUNE/JULY 2012 “Te most fun thing for me is experiment-


ing,” Boitano said. “Tere are things people would have around the house but wouldn’t think of using in a dish. I sort of have this sixth sense about what might work. I will start cook- ing something and say, ‘Oh, I should put a little bourbon in there.’” One of his go-to recipes is a pork shoulder


that is slow-cooked in pineapple juice. “It is crunchy on the outside and it is so


good,” Boitano said. “Every time I make it, peo- ple love it.” For the most part, Boitano makes his recipes


relatively simple for the average television viewer to make in his or her kitchen. In fact, this intrep- id reporter tried the pork shoulder recipe with her 10-year-old daughter with impressive results. He also likes the idea of entertaining while he cooks, often showing off a sillier side of his per- sonality than he usually displays on the ice. Boitano rarely can cook a meal without finding someone to be his guinea pig and taste it. “I never struggle with that,” he said. One favorite taster is his longtime coach


and manager, Linda Leaver. One of her favorite Boitano dishes is “Coq Au Vin-guine,” a pasta takeoff on the famous French chicken meal. For dessert, she likes his Bourbon Bacon Apple Tarts. “My first thought was bacon for dessert sounds awful, but they are so good,” Leaver said.


“Te best thing about his cooking shows is that I get to taste the food.” But when Boitano cooks for someone in


particular, he tries to match his recipes with that person’s taste. He will make pasta for his father, for instance.


Boitano has learned much about cooking on


his own. He has taken some cooking classes and is friends with several chefs, but said even when he is around other chefs he doesn’t


try to discuss


various techniques. What he does do is constantly search for new types of foods, especially at farm- ers’ markets, and then experiment with various flavors. Sometimes he will make dinners with friends and everyone prepares a dish. One thing that has kept him especially busy


is preparing dinners to raise money for charities. He helped raise about $20,000 for Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation when someone bid on him to make dinner. He has done about 10 such charity dinners in the past year. One of the most interesting of those dinners


was when he prepared some of his favorites for 12 in the home of two-time Olympic champion Dick Button. Te charity benefit was part of the RISE fundraiser for the Memorial Fund, which provides funding for skaters in memory and honor of the members of the 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating Team killed in a plane crash en route to Prague. RISE was a documentary that was released in February 2011, marking the 50th anniversary of the crash.


Although Boitano has known Button for decades, he had only been to Button’s New York City apartment once before, so it was an excit- ing event not only from Boitano’s perspective as a skater but as a cook. “It was an incredible experience on many


different levels,” Boitano said. “I was making dinner for Dick Button and Janet Lynn, and I was at Dick Button’s house all day. He has some fantastic skating memorabilia, things like Sonja Henie’s skating dress and bronze sculptures. It’s really amazing.”


Boitano, who had skated in competitions


Legend Dick Button couldn’t get enough of Brian Boitano’s culinary delights.


numerous times with Button as the TV broad- caster, had known what it takes to impress But- ton but knew this time that the skating legend would serve as a judge of his cooking.


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