Ever since Fire, Flour, & Fork was announced, I have been struggling to choose a schedule from the culinary and cultural tracks.  With so many great choices, the task of narrowing down each time slot to a single talk became very overwhelming. If you look at my printout of the schedule, there are several check marks all over the place.

Last week I took you through my Friday picks for Fire, Flour, & Fork culinary tracks. We will look at Saturday next but first let’s review my selection rules:

1. As much as I love our local dining talent, I will look for speakers coming from out of town.
2. The topic needs to be of personal interest to me, in that maybe I could learn techniques to put into practice in my own kitchen.
3. No beer. Yep, I said it. Yes, I could listen to our local breweries talk about beer all day long and sometimes I do.

Now on to Saturday, November 1st.

10AM

My Pick
Flavor Flours — Flour is essential to baking but what happens when the flour is not your typical wheat base? Maybe Alice Medrich can educate this amateur baker.

Runner-up
Fork Over The Hanover Tomato — If you love tomatoes, surely you’ve heard of the Hanover tomato.

11:15AM

My Pick
The Tao of Bark — Texas barbecue in Virginia?! Sign me up!

Runner-up
DamGoodSweets — I hear they’re…well, I think you can see where I’m going.

2PM

My Pick
Fork In The Road — I love mushrooms and would love to some day try and grow them myself.  Until then, I’ll just eat Dave and Dee Scherr’s mushrooms.

Runners-up

• Apple Stack Cake — I bet you were thinking apples only went in pies. Travis Milton will teach you about different heirloom apple varieties and how he uses them.
• Smoked and Charred Cocktails — T Leggett’s cocktails. Nuff said.

3:15PM

My Pick
Burning Desire — I will have my chocolate! If you’re lucky, I’ll save you some Gearhart’s. Maybe.

Runners-up

• On a Roll — I first had Drew Thomasson’s baking at D’lish in Chester, VA. To say I miss having that lunch option is an understatement.  I’m happy to see Drew put his bread stamp on Richmond.
• The Three Sisters — Someone put a beer in my pumpkin. Someone put pumpkin in my beer! It’s the fall how could you not indulge.

There you have it; that’s one possible plan for navigating Fire, Flour & Fork. Use my plan or make your own rules and pick out a schedule.  Tickets are $70 for one-day Friday or Saturday tracks or $130 for both Friday and Saturday tracks. Get your tickets here.