• No Kitchen Required debuts on BBC America this week.  The show “seethes testosterone,” producers tell Chow.com. “The premise: Three chefs drop into exotic locations around the globe, get a taste of the local food, and then set out to forage and cook out in the open.”
• 

  Bottlehood recycled tumbers

  Recycled glassware company Bottlehood turns wine, beer, liquor, and soda bottles into beautiful repurposed vases, bowls, tumblers, pendant beads, and light fixtures.

• Eater.com offers a sneak peek inside Gordon Ramsay’s steak emporium at Paris Las Vegas, complete with “chunnel.”
• It may have started with throwing raw bones on the fire, but researchers say they have discovered evidence that human ancestors were cooking with flames as long as 1.9 million years ago.

• “Lady Hoggers” is A&E’s latest contribution to reality TV and features “another breed of hunter” (translated: “fine-looking southern women who like mud and chasing feral pigs around a swamp).
• Whole Foods cooks up a classic grilled ham & cheese with black forest ham and le gruyere cheese on crusty bread.
• Contrary to what “Lady Hoggers” producers might have us believe, Food Republic points out that “modern-day threat of death by wild boar is basically nil” as they serve up a dish fit for fantasy called “Baratheon Boar Ribs.”  ”Game of Thrones” fans rejoice. Or prove your obsession by buying the series Companion Cookbook.
• Eater.com interviews Chicago-area chef Paul Virant, whose new book The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-doux, will be released tomorrow.

• “You can use it as a sop for chili or as a napkin for ribs, as an accompaniment for fried chicken or gumbo, or for a simple lunchtime snack.” In The New York Times, Sam Sifton says the cornbread matters most.
• An advocate of family farms and ranches speaks out about “pink slime” and how Advanced Meat Recovery technology hurts all but the giant meat producers.
• Grilled meatloaf? Why not?
• Who would have guessed?  Certainly not vegetarians. “Dried, crushed cochineal beetles add the red tint to Starbucks’ strawberry and cream cappucino.”

Jeff W. Brooktree photo

• “Engineering specifications” for the Tim Tebow sandwich (“The JetBow“) on ESPN.com.
• Mark Bittman of The New York Times does Spring Veal Stew, “loaded with spring onions or shallots, fresh tarragon and peas,” along with a couple of variations.
• Jim Shahin of The Washington Post tells the story of “unorthodox blogger” Craig Goldwyn (aka “Meathead”) and his popular blog AmazingRibs.com.
• YumSugar suggests eight different ways to use up the Kimchi left over from your Korean barbecue.

• Which  salt is best?  Depends on what you are cooking, says The Virtual Weber Bullet.
• Grammy-winning country music star Miranda Lambert identifies the secret ingredient in her mom’s BBQ sauce: beer.  ”It was handed down from my grandpa’s days in the military.”
• William Grimes includes the “overengineered, overdesigned or overspecific” in his article in The New York Times about kitchen gear that goes unused.
• The Wall Street Journal‘s Nancy Matsumoto gives quick reviews of Top Chef University, Rouxbe Cooking School, and the Culinary Institutes of America’s Boot Camp.

photo by aroid