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Poor John T. Edge.

The food writer who has headed up the Southern Foodways Alliance has issued a pronunciamento so misguided that he must have made it with a foot shoved halfway down his throat.

In the Wednesday New York Times, Edge has an article on breakfast tacos in which he declares, “When it comes to breakfast tacos, … Austin trumps all other American cities.”

And he seems to base his argument on the fact that he was able to find breakfast tacos at a few different places across the city.

Gee!

If he would come to San Antonio, he would obviously find breakfast tacos on most every street corner, many with handmade corn and flour tortillas as well as exceptional salsas and fillings.

But that doesn’t seem to be on his agenda or the New York Times’. In the mind of many at the Gray Lady of American journalism, San Antonio doesn’t exist. (One other example of this comes from the fact that another writer for the paper, Jayson Blair, felt he could plagiarize an article from a local publication and no one would know it.)

Both are interested in Austin only because the hipoisie are gathering for South by Southwest, and minor attention must be paid to the quaint customs of the area during that time.

Obviously I disagree with Edge’s assessment. But what do you think? Is Edge right? Is Austin the breakfast taco capital of the U.S.? Where in Austin can you find a breakfast taco that outshines San Antonio’s best? Please, post your answers below.

This shrimp dish from chef Michael H. Flores comes together quickly and requires only one pan, so cleanup is easy. Serve it as a main course or as an appetizer.

Shrimp With Garlic and Vegetables

1/2 cup olive oil
15 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon crushed red chile flakes
1 zucchini, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup fish stock or clam juice
1 pound raw Texas shrimp, peeled, tails off
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves, packed
2 teaspoons salt

In the olive oil, sauté the garlic and chile flakes for 5 minutes over low heat. Add the zucchini and bell pepper and continue sautéing for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 more minutes. Pour in the wine and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add the stock or clam juice and bring to a boil. Once it has boiled, add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Squeeze in the lime juice and add the cilantro and salt.

Serve immediately with crusty French bread for dipping.

Makes 6 entrée or at least 8 hearty appetizer servings.

From Michael H. Flores.

Photo and recipe supplied by Texas Department of Agriculture (www.GoTexan.org).

Panna cotta, which is Italian for “cooked cream,” is one of those desserts that cooks either get so right you want to play kiss the chef or so wrong that you want to deliver a swift kick.

There is no in-between. I’ve had versions ruined with the likes of grana padano cheese, rosemary and pistachios, which destroyed both texture and flavor. I’ve also ruined one or two myself by using too much gelatin. The end result was more like Cream Jell-O rather than a dessert that can be a form of culinary seduction.

I was surprised to discover just how easy Thomas Keller’s version was in “Ad Hoc at Home.” The celebrated chef, who also owns the French Laundry, didn’t dress his panna cotta up, except by using sour cream, buttermilk and crème fraîche to give it a tangy taste.

His version doesn’t really “cook” too much, which is fine. Just don’t expect to up-end this version onto a serving plate. It’s better to use a martini glass or a special bowl for each serving.

As Keller says, “Panna cotta can be served plain or enhanced with a compote or a sauce.” And I’ve included my own at the end.

Panna Cotta

1 1/2 teaspoons powdered, unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon water
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk or 1/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream

Put the gelatin in a small cup and add the water. Let stand for about 5 minutes to soften.

Meanwhile, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla and sugar in a medium bowl.

Spoon about 1/2 cup of the mixture into a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring, just to warm. Add the softened gelatin, stirring to dissolve. Rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers; it should not feel gritty. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes; then stir the gelatin mixture into the sour cream mixture.

Whip the crème fraîche in a mixer until it thickens and holds a shape. Fold in the sour cream mixture, a little at a time, until fully incorporated. Spoon into six 4- to 5-ounce martini glasses, ramekins or bowls. Refrigerate for at least 5 hours or up to 2 days.

Top with your favorite sauce. For one variation, see below.

Makes 6 servings.

Adapted from “Ad Hoc at Home” by Thomas Keller

Blueberry Sauce

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sweet wine, red or white
1/4 cup sugar
1/4-1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
About 1-2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat, but don’t let it burn. Add white and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then reduce by half. Add blueberries, a generous squeeze of juice from a lemon, a pinch of salt and freshly grated nutmeg. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

From John Griffin

Texas Farm to Table at the Pearl Brewery, 312 Pearl Parkway, will close May 29, according to a message posted on Facebook.

“Thanks so much for all of your support,” owner Brian Mongtomery writes. “I love you all! Don’t worry though … I’ll be back soon, I promise. In the meantime, I will keep the food good, I promise! ”

Texas Farm to Table was the first restaurant to open at the Pearl Brewery and one of the first in the city to focus on locally produced food.

The following cocktails are updated versions of old favorites using whiskey, specifically Canadian Mist.

Mistopolitan

2 ounces Canadian Mist
3 ounces cranberry juice
1 ounce triple sec
Splash of lime juice
Lime slice

Combine whiskey, cranberry juice, triple sec and lime juice with ice in a shaker. Shake well and strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with lime.

Makes 1 cocktail.

From Canadian Mist

Mist Fizz

1 ½ ounces Canadian Mist
5 ounces ginger ale
Lemon twist or cherry for garnish

Pour whiskey and ginger ale into tall glass of ice. Garnish with lemon twist or cherry.

Makes 1 cocktail.

From Canadian Mist

When Steven Hughes was growing up, he never dreamed his studies would lead to a job with the title master blender/spirits scientist.

Likewise, Tim Laird’s visions of being a CEO had little to do with being “chief entertaining officer.”

Yet that’s what the two have become for Canadian Mist. Together, they’re a sort of a contemporary Martin and Lewis, traveling the country to extol the virtues of the whiskey cocktail in a manner that’s tasty, humorous and maybe even a little enlightening.

The duo will be at the McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels, this Thursday for a special presentation that benefits the museum, “Mistology: The Science Behind the Cocktail.”

The purpose? “We want to get you thinking differently about your whiskey cocktails,” Hughes said in a telephone conference call recently.

To do that, they talk about a few favorites, such as the old fashioned and the whiskey sour. Hughes presents the science behind the distillation of whiskey as well as the history of the cocktail, while Laird provides “the entertainment.”

“Did you know that the original whiskey sour was made with egg whites?” Laird said, adding that the recipe was once a mixture of whiskey, simple syrup, egg white and freshly squeeze lemon juice.

The perfect simplicity of that drink, like many other potent potables, got corrupted over the years with the introduction of corn syrup-filled mixers, prefab citrus products that have no real citrus in them and other shortcuts that cut the cocktail short on flavor.

But with a growing interest in handcrafted drinks across the country, thanks in part to period movies on cable and shows like the two-martini lunch world of “Mad Men,” an increasing number of people are refusing to settle for a second-rate drink.

That’s where Hughes and Laird step in. “We want to take the intimidation away from making cocktails,” Laird said. “We want you to have fun at home and entertain with these things.”

One drink on the menu is sure to be a surprise to some in attendance. The duo plan to present a whiskey version of the cocktail that practically flows in our veins here in San Antonio. I mean, of course, the margarita.

Their variation is made with Canadian Mist, a Canadian whiskey, as well as lime juice and agave nectar. Laird assured me that it was not meant to replace our old standby, but merely to offer a new way of thinking about it.

Whichever way you make it, don’t forget to use freshly squeezed lime juice, both said. It makes all the difference in the world in terms of flavor and is one of the basic building blocks of an outstanding cocktail.

“If we can get you to be more conscious of simple, fresh ingredients, that’s a great first step” Hughes said.

Only a few tickets remain for “Mistology: The Science Behind the Cocktail,” which begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at the McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels. The event is open to anyone 21 years of age and older with admission of $8 per museum member or $10 per non-member. All proceeds benefit the McNay. Call (210) 805-1763 or e-mail reservations@mcnayart.org.

For a pair of recipes for Canadian Mist-based cocktails, click here.

A food processor is a big help with chopping the onions and mushrooms to the fine point you want for this soup.

Mixed Mushroom Soup

1 ounce butter
1 pound onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 pounds mixed mushrooms, finely chopped (see note)
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
3 ounces flour
2 pints vegetable or mushroom stock
1 pint whole milk or fat-free half-and-half
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

In a large stockpot, melt the butter over a very low heat, add the onions and cook gently for 10 minutes or until translucent. Raise the heat, add the mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes or until the juices start to run, then stir in the flour. Lower the heat and cook, stirring continuously, for about 8 minutes. Combine the stock and milk in a separate pan and bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Gradually add the stock and milk to the mushroom mixture, whisking to avoid lumps. Heat the soup at just below simmering point for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme, check the seasoning and serve.

Note: This recipe was tested with a mixture of button caps, brown mushrooms and portobellos. I stirred porcini powder, available at specialty supermarkets like Central Market, to enhance the place. I used thin slices of button cap as a garnish.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Adapted from “Avoca Café Cookbook” by Hugo Arnold with Leylie Hayes

Last summer I made a goal. After seeing the movie “Julie & Julia,” I told myself I was going to cook my way through an entire section of a cookbook. The book I chose was the “Avoca Café Cookbook,” a treasured volume I had picked up in Ireland a few years ago, and the section was on soup. (Click here.)

It took several months and not a lot of discipline on my part, but I’m happy to report that the last new soup has been made and consumed – and it was as good as the best of the lot.

I learned as much about making soup as I learned about one kitchen’s approach to this labor of love. Quite a few of the recipes begin with softening an onion in olive oil, which provides a natural sweetness. A good vegetarian stock is added later and magically, the flavors blend together, changing with each ingredient.

But most of all, the recipes were simple and straightforward, not fussy yet full of flavor. If this is what Ireland treasures, then it shares something wonderful in common with that other “I” country in Europe: Italy. The emphasis is on layering a few fresh ingredients in a manner in which they all complement each other, so you can enjoy the best that nature has to offer.

It could be something as comforting as cauliflower and cheddar or something as offbeat as parsnip, rosemary and olives.

Along the way, I revisited some old favorites, such as Courgette and Almond, just to make sure they were as good as I remembered. I also was forced to revisit a few vegetables, such as turnips, that I didn’t care for as a child and have largely avoided as an adult. (I still don’t care for them, but soft baby turnips have a more pleasant flavor than their rock-hard adult cousins.)

Some of the journey was frustrating. I had had a stand of lemongrass in the backyard, but the ugliest of winter freezes took care of that. So I had to buy fresh lemongrass from the market for the Sweet Potato and Lemongrass soup. (I also didn’t have time to visit an Asian market, so I probably paid twice the price for the stalks I needed.)

Most of the recipes were vegetarian, a few were even vegan. The lone exception was a Tuscan Bean Soup that required bacon in it. And what an impact that bacon had on the final product! After the first taste of the meat boiled into the broth, I could understand why a few – not all, mind you – of my vegan friends will have the occasional piece of pork. I will remember the richness and depth of flavor it brought to the soup and use that in other ways.

I made the most of these soups during the worst of the winter, when I had a seasonal job. To save money, I would bring a jar of soup each day and pop it in the microwave. The aroma of Potato and Fennel Soup or Aztec Corn would fill the break room and often drew questions from co-workers who wanted to know where I’d bought it.

The last recipe in the section was Mixed Mushroom, which I made with button caps, brown mushrooms and portobellos. Rich and creamy, it was a fine end to a most tasty experiment.

Another goal I wrote about recently was planting a garden so I could enjoy some freshness from my own backyard.

I’m happy to report that the radishes, lettuces and arugula I planted survived the snow/sleet/slush that fell several days after planting. It’s almost time to thin some of the sprouts, which will make a great addition to a salad.

In the meantime, the potted tomatoes are thriving. I know some friends who have planted theirs in the ground already. I’m not quite ready to do that, but I do have them clustered in near the backdoor so they can get some light.

I also planted a pair of olive trees I picked up at Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard. I planted the arbequina, which should survive our freak freezes and bear fruit in a few years. I would appreciate that. The loquat tree I planted eight years ago is only now ready to bear fruit, and I fear I lost some of this year’s potential harvest to the cold.

But that’s the nature of gardening, isn’t it? We never know what nature has in store for us, no matter the goals we set.

H-E-B’s Alon Market, 8503 N.W. Military Hwy., wants to help you get ready for your Passover Seder with a show of kosher foods this afternoon.

This is the second time the market has offered such an event, which is sponsored by Manischewitz Foods. Product samples from eight kosher vendors as well as recipes, wine tastings and tips on floral arranging will be offered.

Alon Market has more than 150 kosher wines, including many not available elsewhere in the city.

The event begins at noon and continues until 5 p.m. today.