Setting a Humane Table for the Holidays
Robin comes at you live from Capitol Hill in Washington, site of American Humane Association’s congressional briefing on the importance of serving a Humane Table this holiday season. On this week’s show she chats live with farmers and food company executives committed to raising animals humanely and also speaks with “Top Chef Masters” season 5 winner Chef Douglas Keane on what it means for chefs to serve humanely raised food. Chef Keane also shares a delicious new recipe he created just for the event. It will be a tasty episode!
BIO:
Douglas Keane's interest in cooking developed as a young boy helping his mother in their Michigan kitchen. His desire to get a date in high-school, however, led him to enroll in a culinary class, where he scored the date, but also realized he wanted to cook. Close family friend and renowned hotelier, Stan Bromley, further influenced his desire, encouraging him to enroll at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, where his fascination for the culinary arts took over. After graduating with a degree that would allow him to work in any hotel of his choosing, he decided to follow his heart to the kitchen.
Keane proceeded to work for a decade in some of the best kitchens of the United States, each adding a layer to the chef and entrepreneur he is today. At The Four Seasons in New York City, he learned to adapt to the pressure of cooking in a high-powered, fast-paced, three-star restaurant and his eyes opened to the bounty of pristine products available to cooks. After saving his meager chef's earnings to dine at Gary Kunz's Lespinasse, he concluded the food was so good he'd better work for this chef or quit cooking altogether. He secured a position and was inspired not only by the exotic flavor combinations but by the technique and precision which the fine cooks possessed.
Today Keane owns Healdsburg Bar & Grill, a popular destination where locals and tourists alike enjoy his take on American comfort food. While Douglas develops new concepts like DK Wings that opens in November, he also makes plenty of time for his other passions: dog rescue and rehabilitation; playing with his own dogs: Finnegan, Cash and Piglet; and testing out the grill and pizza oven with his wife, Lael, on their new patio overlooking Alexander Valley. On any given day, you can also see Keane, a Dearborn, Michigan native, driving around idyllic Sonoma wine country in his prized 1997 Ford pick-up truck.