BRC's Thanksgiving Pig Dinner; Media and Female Chefs

WASHINGTON CORRIDOR— Get a head start on your Turkey Day dinner—without the turkey. Tomorrow (November 13) BRC will be hosting this month's pig dinner with a Thanksgiving twist. Green bean casserole, roasted pork and bacon apple crumble with bourbon sorghum ice cream are just a few of the items on this updated Thanksgiving menu. The dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. Call (713) 861-2233 to make reservations. [Eaterwire]

DEBATES— Eater National's Paula Forbes discusses the media and its approach to female gourmands. This comes as a reaction to the now infamous Time "Gods of Food" issue that snubbed female chefs. "If the restaurant world has a shortage of celebrated female chefs, what is to blame? Is it institutionalized issues blocking women on their way up? Or is it the fault of those doing the celebrating, the awards committees and festival organizers and, yes, the media? And how best to fix the issue? By making a concerted effort to include women alongside their male counterparts in lists like Time's family tree? Or by releasing women-focused features, like a corresponding 'Goddesses of Food' issue, as some have suggested? Is coverage separated along gender lines a necessary evil? Or is such a separation an insult to women?" [-EN-]

DISH WIRE— The Houston Chronicle's Alison Cook tells locals to try the water-boiled fish at Chuan's in this "Eat This" installment. Cook writes: "The central layered pile of mild white fish slices and huge yellow bean sprouts gets a crowning carpet of crushed red chile pods and Szechuan peppercorns, toasted to bring out the depths of the ma (numbing) and the la (spicy-hot) effects that are central to Sichuan cuisine. The tongue numbing sensation comes from a chemical compound in the round Szechuan peppercorns; while the spicy heat springs from good old capsaicin in fresh or dried chiles." [Houston Chronicle]