Wayne, Engelbert--You’re NextJust when you think you’ve...

Wayne, Engelbert--You’re Next

Just when you think you’ve seen everything, along comes the Gorme Collection, a line of nonstick cooking ware under the names of Vegas fixtures Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. “This partnership with Steve and Eydie is a natural business alliance,” says Bill Frieder of Wearever with a perfectly straight face.

OK, so the perennial singing duo (100 albums in the last 35 years) is not synonymous with gourmet cooking in the public mind. Wearever is a respected name, and the pans seem to be of good quality--heavy, with removable heat-proof handle grippers. At bottom, it comes down to whether you’re comfortable about going to a cookware store and saying, “Could you show me the Gorme Collection? You know, the Steve and Eydie pans?”

Let Pork Be Pork

People want everything to be low fat these days, so the pork industry has been producing leaner and leaner meat--which also, unfortunately, has less and less flavor. Hormel is dealing with the dilemma by flavoring its Super Select line of convenience pork cuts (all less than 5% fat) in peppercorn, lemon-garlic, mesquite barbecue, teriyaki and Italian marinades. There’s also a “roast pork flavored pork loin roast,” which doesn’t sound like so much of a stretch.

Eat All That You Can Eat

The Army’s combat rations (MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat) have been upgraded. Beef teriyaki will replace creamed beef, and tiny containers of Tabasco sauce will be included.