The Bitten Word

Fakesgiving 2016: Take the Pie Challenge!

Last month when we announced we were hanging up our blogging hats (can you imagine any less-cute hats than blogging hats??), we asked for any thoughts or requests about what you wanted to see before we go.

One thing several of you mentioned was a cook-along challenge, like the Cover-to-Cover Challenges and the Holiday Cookie Challenge we've done before.

We couldn't agree more. Those cook-along projects are some of our most favorites things to have come out of this blog. It's such a fun way for all of us to connect.

So we couldn't say goodbye without doing one final cook-along challenge.

And this time it's pie.

Here's how it's going to work:

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Food Photography

From time to time as we've been writing this blog, someone has remarked that our photo looked better than the one from the magazine. It's always been one of our favorite compliments to hear. Not because we're vain (although we totally are), but because we've worked really hard over this site's nine-year run to become better food photographers. 

And it's not easy to meet the quality of the photos in the magazines. Why? Well, for one thing, they use professional photographers with top-notch equipment and years of training.

But the other reason is that magazine food stylists are liars. But we are too. 

Let us explain.

Fried Chicken Cook-Off: Garden & Gun vs. Clay's Mom

Garden & Gun (October/November 2016) 

One of the first big projects we ever did on The Bitten Word -- all the way back in September 2008! -- was a fried-chicken cook-off that pitted famed chef Thomas Keller's extremely complicated fried chicken recipe against Clay's mom's recipe, which was decidedly simpler and more straightforward.

Now that we've decided to wind the blog down, we knew we wanted to do one more fried-chicken face-off before we say goodbye.

So this past Sunday, we had 9 of our friends come over for another good ol' fashioned chicken fry. (And to pose for chicken-leg portraits.)

This time around, we paired Clay's mom's chicken against the North Carolina "Dipped Chicken" recipe on the mouthwatering cover of the current issue of Garden & Gun.

Fire up your fryers, Bittens! This one's a barn-burner.