Recent Foodsville publications

Chef Career - Do You Have What It Takes?

chefgeorge@finestchef.com — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:11:37

Becoming a chef can be a good career move, but only for those of you who don't mind working on evenings and weekends (and almost any other time when the rest of the people are not working), standing on your feet for long hours, working under pressure, enduring burns and cuts, hot environment, smoke and fumes, noise and heavy lifting. To become a good chef you need much more than the knowledge how to cook different kinds of food. A good chef has many qualities and most of those qualities have more to do with management than cooking. He/she should be very familiar with food cost, labor cost, public health regulations, fire code, have great interpersonal skills, be able to plan and organize all kitchen work, develop new menus, cater for customers with food allergies and so on. I should stop with the heavy staff here, because my article started to look like a job posting in a government web site.
But, if you have the right kind of personality, becoming a chef can bring you many rewords, some of which are not necessarily monetary rewords. For example, the satisfaction of the job well done at the end of the night, the good comments of your customers, the camaraderie and team work in the kitchen, the possibility to apply your creativity, the life-long learning and the prospects of advancement.
If you are aiming to become an executive chef (chef de cuisine, corporate chef) you will need at least 11-12 years of very strong experience within the industry. Executive chefs are generally in charge of menu development, supervision of all food outlets and kitchens within the organization, ordering supplies, setting standards for all kitchen staff, coordinating efforts with the general manager and restaurant manager to promote a successful business model for the organization.
Chef de Cuisine is usually in charge of one kitchen within an organization. This position can be also called Sous-Chef at some places or Chef Tournant at other. The Sous-Chef is the second in command, regardless of the title of the head chef. After the Sous-Chef are as follows: Chef de Partie, Demi-Chef de Partie, First Cook, Second and Third Cook, Prep Cook. Sometimes in smaller establishments all non-chef kitchen positions are called line cook or short order cook.

On the job training is very common in the service industry, but if you have a dream to become something more than a cook, you will definitely need to attend a college or university to get more in-depth knowledge of the culinary arts.

Chef George Krumov
http://www.chef4all.com
http://www.finestchef.com

gearcheff's review of Hungarian Specialties Cookery Book

dfc1992@aol.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:33:36

This is a wondefull cookbook reading this book online i found it interesting that a lot of the food is simalar to traditional kentucky dishes. I greatly enjoyed the recipi on page 25 since my famlys favorate passtime is barbiqing we thout we would try it and i have to say it was a wonderfull meal. even better if u have freinds to share it with. I would highly recomend this book.

Not your everyday tuna fish

pinkney@meadandmikell.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:15:25

This is straight from Marcela Hazen's, Marcella's Kitchen.

Tuna spread with capers.
"A painter friend who is as gifted a cook as he is an artist asked me to have tea with him at a smart new Italian place on Madison Ave. With tea we had little soft rolls with a buttery spread. My friend marveled over the spread, asked what it was and could I get him the recipe. 'But it's so simple,' I said. 'It's just good canned tuna beaten with butter and capers.' 'Why have you never put it in a book?' he asked. 'It's so simple that I paid no attention to it.' I explained, 'but if you like it that well, I'll put it in my next book.' This is that book. The recipe is for Hector"

I make this somewhat regularly these days for small gatherings, when asked to do something as a house guest and sometimes just to have around. Marcela says if you put it in the refrigerator, bring it back to room temeprature before serving it. She likes to serve it already spread on crackers or bread. That's fine, but I usually let people help themselves. They start out light, like it, go to a heavy dollop and realize that's it's pretty rich and come back to a self regulated reasonable amount until it runs out. She allows as how it makes "a memorable tuna spread for sandwiches." It does, indeed, do that.

Autumn n spring apple cake

dfc1992@aol.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:33:41

this delectible rcipi is a wonderful dish for brekfast lunch or dinnrer bringing memories of crimson leaves cool fresh air and the beuty of fall. the best apple for this cake is rome or fuji which will retain a ceartan texture and moisture neededthis will keep refrigerated for full week .this cake is aseon kake which will take you back to when threr was flower s fresh air and forest chateter but is also great with a cup of coco on the dark winter snows.

CSA's shouldn't be a secret

yourchefej@gmail.com — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:26:12

CSA's, anybody ever heard of 'em? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture an idea that was brought to fruition by farmers back in the late eighties. The idea behind the CSA is to cut out the "middleman" a.k.a.-grocery stores, long travel, and pesticide laden foods. The way they work is similar to your local farmers market, except that you dont pick the produce(sounds kind of weird right?). A co-op of local organic farms puts together a box of combined produce from their farms and either delivers it to your door, or brings it to a reasonably convenient drop off point. You pay for it in weekly, monthy, or seasonal increments, depending on your CSA's billing choice.

The beautiful thing about all of this is, it teaches you to cook seasonally, you learn to utilize the produce given to you by becoming creative with what is available. This also supports your community, economically and locally, instead of sending your money (via the grocery store) thousands of miles away. It is educational as well as healthy and supportive of locally sustainable agriculture. It also protects local farms when crops are destroyed by frost, pests etc. These groups share their profits to support eachother and sustain a movement.

Call me a hippie, i dont care, this is a great thing. You can fing these CSA's on line at www.localharvest.org

EJ's review of Culinary Artistry

yourchefej@gmail.com — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:37:52

For any cook/chef that wants a detailed exceptionally brilliant reference on food combination, seasonal ingredients, philosophy of cuisine and a new kitchen companion, this book fits the bill. I love this book so much I have two copies, plus, I have bought the book for other people as a gift. I have seen some greatly celebrated chefs use this book as a daily reference. If you are considering buying this book, stop, and just get it. Trust me, its worth it.

Farmer's Markets. IT'S TIME!

pinkney@meadandmikell.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:13:25

    The stalls at the farmer’s market are getting bigger each week because they have more and more stuff to sell. Being as how we are in the high season of the farmer’s markets here in the lower Hutson Valley when the produce starts to overwhelm the farmers, the vendors and the consumers the time seemed right for a completely local dinner.

   Thirty minutes at the Hastings market provided us with the following; two young chickens fresh from a chicken yard, Several pounds of heirloom tomatoes, red, green striped and yellow; A half dozen ears of corn, two pounds of “The country’s best mozzarella”, a locally baked baguette, several pounds of bright green beans, some raspberries and blue berries and some Jersey peaches. The one thing I would loved to have found, but haven’t ever seen at these markets, is butter. The butter came from I know not where.

   Not available at the market, but still local, were two Magret of Duck from the Hutson Valley. Pantry items included onions from who knows where, olive oil from Fairway and alledgedly from Italy, sweet garlic from France and some little odds and ends, like walnuts, flour and parmesan and Romano cheese. Heinz produced the cider vinegar.

   The garden came through with an abundance of basil and rosemary as well as some parsley and sage. The feral cherry/grape tomatoes produced a quart of nice pre-prandial bites rolled in sea salt. Okay. The salt was from France and is a pantry item.

   So dinner for six – all local. H’ors d’houvres consisted of lightly toasted thin slices of the baguette topped with smoked maggret with a tiny nubbin of sweet soft goat cheese. Other little nibbles were made from the same toasted baguette with pesto from the garden and some toasts with just duck or goat cheese.

   The salad was made with chunks of the local tomatoes tossed with a glug of cider vinegar, salt, local cucumbers, slivers of onion, corn kernels and a little basil. This combination makes it own dressing and a piece of white baguette dipped in the residual liquor is a thing to remember.

   We pushed limbs of rosemary under the breast skin on the chickens and placed some more in the cavity along with a head of garlic sliced through the equator; Lots of salt in the cavity, too. The chicken fat was placed on top of the chickens and the whole thing sprinkled with smoked paprika – a pantry item. After about an hours roasting time, potato wedges from the valley were added and cooked in the chicken drippings along with some more rosemary and salt.

   The market had produced some beautiful local corn. That was briefly exposed to boiling water and brought out to the table with butter.

   Desert was the cobbler I wrote about a few days ago from the food channel’s Paula Dean. It can be found here. It was made with the Jersey peaches and the New York State blue berries. This time I used the correct ingredients and as good as it was the last time, it was better this time around. The out of town addition was Hagen Das vanilla ice cream although whipped local cream would have been good, but like butter, I am not seeing any whipping cream in the market.

   Several folks requested a dose of espresso afterwards and I was too happy to oblige. I think espresso can be enjoyed after dinner as much of the caffeine has been cooked off in the roasting process. Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I’ m sticking with that belief as it works for me.

   This is the time to get to the markets. The foods are fine and fresh. The fruits and vegetables are exploding. Come on – go get yours while it’s out there.

ZABAGLIONE

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:45:16

I have served this over fresh berries in season. You can pour over grapefruit sections and brulee in the salamander. I also use this same recipe for my semi freddo. You can use, sambucca, Gran marnier, chamborg in place of the marsala if you like.

PANNA COTTA

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:35:31

This is a very easy recipe. The gelatin is just enough to hold this together. If you make the Amaretto flavor I suggest crushing some amaretti cookies to garnish with. It adds a nice crunchy texture to this smooth and creamy dessert. Buon Appetito!

FOCACCIA

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:02:25

I love this bread. I learned the finer points of producing foccacia from two people. The first was Francesco Ricci, who made some of the best bread I ever tasted. The second was a pastry chef that I met while on a short stint in a hotel early in my career. She was actually trained in Italy to make this bread and taught me how important the use of olive oil is to a good foccacia. This bread bakes up so light and airy and just sucks up the xvoo. I can't stress enough the importance of high quality bread flour. For me, it means the difference between a great bread and a mediocre bread.
When I took the Executive chef position at Harry Browne's restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland I got rid of their bread program which was costing me up to $50 dollars a day and started baking this foccacia daily which cost me about $5 dollars per sheetpan. But, my customers loved it especially right out of the oven!

chef4cook's review of Bouchon

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:07:40

Along with the French Laundry cookbook, Bouchon is a look into precise technique. Sure, the food is less complex than that of the French Laundry but, the same principles and techniques apply. Having cooked French fine dining and Bistro cuisine I find this book very interesting and informative. One thing is certain, you won't find anything being done half assed relating to Thomas Keller.

chef4cook's review of Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:54:44

I enjoy the Spanish style of cooking. It's very close to Italian in a lot of techniques and produce. Spain has really come onto the gastronomic scene in the past 10 years with chefs like Adria getting press and promoting Spain and Spanish cuisine. Jose Andreas is a Spanish ambassador. His tiny culinary empire here in DC is turning out some very satisfying and popular cuisine. I met him back in 97' while I was a cook at Pesce in DC and he came in for dinner. A very nice and easy going person. Not yet famous, he was starting his move up the ladder in this city. This is a very interesting read.

Greatest Brewery in America?

yourchefej@gmail.com — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:24:18

In the last year, I have sampled not hundreds, but thousands of beers. Mind you, this does not make
me an afficianado, nor a critic, I have only been enabled to better serve my taste buds when standing in front of the beer cooler.
Recently, I fell in love with Dogfish Head Brewery, a micro-brewery in Delaware. They make extremely well balanced beers of all shapes/sizes/strenghts/styles. They even have 3 different types/strengths of IPA! One of their most impressive beers I have tasted to date is called "Midas Touch." The history behind the beer is awesome, and a great conversation point. Some years back, archeologists discovered King Midas' tomb, inside they found the "largest Iron Age drinking set ever found--157 vessels, including a ram-headed and lion-headed situla--for preparing, serving, drinking and libating a special beverage at the funerary feast of the king. The secrets of the beverage were revealed by the new methods of Molecular Archaeology. Dr. Patrick McGovern of the Museum discovered that the residues inside the vessels belonged to a "Phrygian cocktail," which combined grape wine, barley beer and honey mead. Starting with the ancient chemical evidence, Dogfish Head Brewery "re-created" a marvelous golden elixir, truly touched by King Midas."
You can find this beer occasionally in wine and beer stores, usually the supermarket doesn't carry it. The beer is supposed to be served in a large wine glass, or something similar to those glasses that you get sometimes with Stella Artois.
This beer is expensive, usually about 14$ for a four pack, and I have seen it on tap for 7$ a glass! But I do urge you to give this beer a try, something wonderful and truly unexpected.

works cited-
http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/Midas_Touch_Golden_Elixir/1/index.htm

CHOCOLATE PECAN TART

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:52:52

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TART. I DEVELOPED THIS TART FOR MY THANKSGIVING DAY MENU AT THE COEUR DE LION RESTAURANT. IT WAS SO GOOD THAT I KEPT IT ON THE MENU FOR THE REST OF THE WINTER.

MARYLAND STYLE CRAB CAKES

chef4cook@yahoo.com — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:33:31

The Best Crabcakes you will ever taste! I have made crabcakes alot of different way's at alot of different restaurants but, I like this recipe the best which I developed while Executive Chef at Le Tire Bouchon.
I prefer my shallots and bell peppers to be uncooked. In the past I have cooked a sofrito of onion, celery, garlic, carrot, bell peppers but now, I find that less is more in that the fresh veg adds texture and a cleaner flavor to the crabcakes.
I usually serve them with a spicy aioli or a straightforward tartar sauce. However, I last did them with a sweet corn ragout and a corn sauce with white truffle oil that was pretty kick ass!