It was the incident at Boy Scout camp that sealed forever the sense of culinary purpose that informs Ted Allen's life and work today. There he was, encamped with hundreds of boys in a Midwestern cornfield, hours from the nearest organic market, when some uncouth Tenderfoot left a can of cooking spray too close to the fire. The barbeque tragedy that ensued nearly took out Troop 199. Worse, the blast rendered Ted's exquisite Western Scramble completely inedible with rancid, oily fallout.

Thus the young Ted found a new, urgent challenge: share some culinary knowledge with his contemporaries before somebody gets killed, or at minimum, nauseated. Today, he combs the world with his longtime partner, Barry Rice, in their never-ending quest for the perfect roast chicken.

A Chicago native, Ted has been a contributing editor to Esquire magazine where he is co-author of the "Things a Man Should Know" column-an irreverent guide for men on such items as fashion, sex, business etiquette, and cocktails, and co-authored four books that grew out of that series. Before joining Esquire Ted was a senior editor and restaurant critic with Chicago magazine where he wrote stories for the dining department. He has interviewed such food luminaries as Mario Batali, Martha Stewart, Paul Bocuse, Trotter, Rick Tramonto, Gale Gand, and Rick Bayless.