chromedome

That's a good feeling. I've never had the opportunity to remodel a kitchen, but I have moved more times than most people would in a few lifetimes (my lifetime average per location is about 16 months, and I'm 43...do the math). On that first day, no matter how frazzled things were, I always made a point of having a bit of time in the kitchen. When my wife (now ex-) and kids smelled the bread and soup coming together, they knew that they were home. It was a minor ritual in the midst of a major upset, but it made a world of difference. I'm moving again in a couple of weeks (long story), and bread and soup will be the first things I make in my new kitchen.

[shrug] I've worked with them, and I've worked without them. I'm more comfortable using a mixer with the shield, because I'm just enough of a klutz to catch my apron in it while it's running, or some damned thing... I also favour steel-toed boots for working in. Call me paranoid.

The Michael Ruhlman/Eric Ripert Return to Cooking does contain recipes, but the heart of the book is Ripert's creative process as he moves from place to place and season to season.

I use it in many of my cooking classes to give an example of how reductions work. All the flavour, without the water! At home I mostly use it in baking, but in my sessions I'll often use it to make a punchy mayonnaise or vinaigrette for winter vegetables. For one example, you could shred raw beets/carrots/white turnips on a box grater or a food processor, washing after each vegetable. A hint of ground coriander in the beets, nutmeg in the turnips, and toasted cumin in the carrots (just a hint, mind you); and toss each vegetable separately with the orange mayo. Stack them in distinct bands of colour, with the beets at bottom so their juices don't discolour everything else. I also use frozen OJ for a quick-and-dirty Maltaise, or for glazing roast pork. It's also good for making a quick orange-pineapple ice cream (pineapples are cheap and plentiful most of the year, up here).

There is substantial variation from one type of rice to another, from one brand to another within a given type, and of course the age of the rice is a factor. There's one other that hasn't been mentioned upthread...the quantity that's being prepared. As a rule, the more rice you're cooking at a time the less water you need. Assuming "ordinary" long-grain rice as sold in most North American supermarkets, the standard rule of thumb is two cups of water to one cup of rice. And this is fine...if you're using one cup of rice. If you're using two, you'd probably want to cut back a bit on the water to keep your rice from being mushy. At my work, we make rice in 4" deep hotel pans; the ratio there is two water jugs of rice to three (scant) water jugs of water. By water jugs I mean the clear plastic ones that sit on the table during meetings and seminars...y'know the ones I mean. (A point of semantic interest, Fat Guy...you add water, in search of "fluffy" rice, while I subtract...to me, the opposite of "fluffy" is "mushy," while to you it seems to be "dry.") In my cooking classes, I advise people who have trouble with rice to bring the pot to a simmer and then pop it into the oven, with the lid on tight, for the rest of the cooking time. I find that the all-around heat makes it easier for the unpracticed to have evenly-cooked rice, rather than crusty on the bottom and chalky/undercooked on top. Another point I stress is the importance of a resting time when the rice has finished cooking. At least five minutes with the lid off is important to allow the rice to dry and cool slightly. Attempting to "fluff" the rice with a fork or spoon, while the grains are still above the gelatinization temperature, does not give the desired result. Same thing as cutting into a loaf of bread while it's still hot, it'll always be a bit "doughy" even if it's been baked perfectly. The above applies to long-grain and basmati rice, the kinds I primarily cook with. I haven't played enough yet with shorter and Asian rices to comment on those.

I'm a pretty pragmatic person, where appliances are concerned. At my current workplace, where we serve roughly 2000 people every weekday, we use both heavy-duty and domestic appliances as applicable. Our microwaves typically last about two years, although the one elderly Amana is still plugging away after God knows how long (it may be original with the store, for all anyone knows). We have even gotten four years out of a cheap-ass low cost StarFrit mandoline. Go figure. I'm thinking that the smaller of those Warings would probably work well for what I intend (some broiling, the occasional rotisserie chicken for guests' picnic lunches). I'll also be picking up some low-cost Belgian waffle-makers, on the premise that at $30-40 for a domestic unit vs. $800-1500 for commercial ones, I can afford to throw away a lot of broken waffle irons and still come out ahead. Commercial units can wait for my kitchen reno (third year, hopefully) when I can make a proper spot for them. Life is filled with compromises, no?

I like a combination of roasted and raw for my stock. I'll usually roast the carcasses of my leftover birds and stash them in the freezer, each carcass divided between two freezer bags (for small batches I'll use one, for full batches I'll use two). When I've got a chicken I want to use (often a large "retired" hen) I'll typically reserve the breasts for another use, on the grounds that they don't add much flavour anyway. I simmer the rest of the bird with the roasted half-carcass and my mirepoix, until the leg meat is tender. Then I lift the bird from the pot and remove the legs, reserving them for another use. The rest of the fresh carcass goes back into the pot for a couple of hours, until I'm satisfied with the flavour of the broth. I find that the whole chicken imparts a better flavour, and the wings/bones etc give lots of body to the stock. The roasted bones deepen the colour (usually - but not always - desirable, to my mind), and add complexity to the broth with their toasty/caramelized overtones. When I have opportunity to plan my stock making, this is my ideal situation. That being said, I often have to improvise due to time constraints, so I go with whatever I have on hand. If I end up with a light-flavoured broth, I'll either use it for risotto (where that is preferable), or else when I make soup of it I'll be sure to jack up the flavour with other ingredients.

When I was in cooking school, I had great fun pushing my classmates' buttons in just that very way. We were debating the merits of organ meats one day, during a break (me in favour, everyone else opposed), when I got onto the subject of liver. "Best part of most animals, when it's cooked properly," I pontificated, "take seal, for example...the old-timers are all about the flipper pie, but I'll take a big plate of seal liver anytime." This, as I knew it would, provoked a mighty burst of outrage from my classmates, especially the younger female ones (y'know they're thinking about baby whitecoats, not big adults which are essentially 400-lb Rottweilers with short legs). Eventually one of the braver souls piped up and asked me what seal tasted like. "Darker and gamier than moose," I told them (accurately), "but not as dark as whale." Pandemonium from them, evil-bastard amusement for me...

I currently have a low-end model by Proctor-Silex, the third in a longtime series. My parents bought the first one and used it for several years, giving it to my sister, who eventually passed it on to me. Then I used it for another 4-5 years! It was ugly but durable, and made great toast. My second one lasted me for eight years, and was much the same as the earlier model. Simple and functional. My current one, OTOH, has been something of a disappointment. It is now microprocessor-controlled, beeps when the toast is done, and is frankly inept at a couple of core functions. The "toast" function, even when set on maximum, will not even begin to brown my home-made bread, and brings store-bought only to moderately golden. The "broil" function is similarly useless, as it will not give me any surface browning at all within a useful timeframe: I usually use the toaster function for broiling. For the mid-range temperatures, it does work reasonably well. I use it regularly to make biscuits, and have made cakes and pies (mine will accommodate only 8" pans) in it, as well as small roasts (my kids loved a good feed of "toast beef"). It's also very good at baked or roasted potatoes, chicken pieces (mine's too small for a whole chicken, though I could do cornish hens or quail, I suppose), chops, etc. I will say that chicken tends to spatter the toaster with fat, making a lot of smelly smoke, but for those of you who only buy BSB's that shouldn't be a problem. If you're using your toaster to bake or roast something originally intended for a full-size oven, you'll probably need to make a couple of adjustments. With the element being so much closer to the top of the food, you may find that it tends to brown more quickly than you'd like, especially in a "stripe" directly below the element. I deal with that by using square or round pans, where possible, and rotating them; also by covering things with foil or parchment as needed. If your oven will accomodate dishes with lids, that's even better for some purposes. I'll usually reduce the temperature 25F from what the recipe calls for, and find that the baking time will be a bit shorter than in my main oven. This is without convection or any other fancy features, so I think it's just a function of the elements being so close (or maybe the small space, which would have less temperature fluctuation as the elements cycle on and off). I'll throw out a question, though, for those of you who have higher-end units. I'll be opening the doors on my own restaurant in May, in a little boutique hotel in southern New Brunswick (just up the road from where fellow eGulletter Markian plies his trade). The kitchen is sharply limited, but I have space underneath the microwave for one more device of similar size. I've been thinking in terms of a broiler/convection/toaster oven, with or without rotisserie (price is a factor), to give myself a quick-and-dirty broiling option. How do these units stack up? I've seen then priced at anywhere from $80CDN at Wal-Mart all the way up into the $5-600 range. It seems safe to assume that the low-end models are not especially capable, but I'm curious how much I'd have to spend to get a good one; and especially curious in how the higher-end models compare. Upthread I see good things written about the Delonghi and Cuisinart...anyone using any of the others?

Your secret's safe with me...

Homemade jam Really, really stinky cheese (any cheese, really, but those especially) Canned tomatoes, cold and straight from the can. Bacon. Baconbaconbaconbacon. Any other cured meat, in the absence of bacon. Garden fresh tomatoes. Roasted garlic Sardines Anchovies Tapenade Hummus Muhammara Leftover romesco sauce. Leftover pasta sauce. All the gravy left on my plate, the pan the gravy was prepared in, my kids' abandoned plates...you get the idea. The drippings in the bottom of the roaster. Sambal Oelek (nothing like a sambal sandwich to wake you up in the morning!) Whatever leftovers the fridge yields, tossed into the frying pan with an egg.

One of my clients is right across the street from the CP - next time I'm up for a meeting, I'll have to haul Nessa across the street. If there's chocolate involved, I don't think I'll get much of a fight... The Inn at Bay Fortune gave me the best meal I've had in two years; the five course tasting menu was out of this world. Pearl barley risotto with wild mushrooms, two perfect Malpeque oysters, some sort of sake-poached haddock, beef tenderloin and cappucino pannacotta for dessert...fabulous. Although my favorite part was wandering through the monstrous herb garden with a perfect gin and tonic in my hand before dinner...they know how to make you feel welcome and spoiled all at once there. As for Fran's, I don't know if it's still there or not - haven't been by in about five years, I guess - but my Dad was convinced that it was the one decent chinese spot in the Maritimes. That was probably because it was the only place you could find ginger beef done "Calgary" style - deepfried, then stir-fried in the spicy ginger sauce. I remember their cashew gai ding being exactly like this amazing dive near our old house. Next time I'm through Halifax, I'll find out. As far as Saint John goes, I'm actually quite impressed with what's gone on since I left five years ago. This town was always a culinary wasteland, with the exception of Suwanna (upscale Thai, and very, very good). I've heard good things about Opera but haven't gotten there yet; also heard good things about Lemongrass, but wasn't overly impressed when I went. My go-to around here has been the Saint John Ale House, which does pub food very, very well (another innovation to the culinary map down here). The kettle chips are fantastic, the calamari's very nice, and I'm a big fan of the pulled pork sandwich (needs a healthy kick of Tabasco when it hits the table, but it's damn good) - and they've got St. Ambrose Oatmeal Stout on tap, which I used to have to go to the Lunar Rogue in Fredericton for. My girlfriend put me onto a little convenience store with a lunch counter in the back that does great cheap thai food, too...and the lunches at The Infusion (top of the City Market) are simple and excellent. Last time we were in, my girlfriend had a beautiful squash & ginger soup that made me sorry I ordered the (also quite good) beef stew. They also have a ton of non-caffinated tea, which has been great for me since the doc's got me off the caffeine... And Reggie's still makes the ultimate hungover breakfast. Corned beef hash, a couple eggs, a cup of chili and a good cup of coffee...bliss. ← Glad to get the input on local stuff, Tmac...I'll be moving down there in mid-April, opening my place (just outside SJ) in May. Few things in this world I like better than corned beef hash for breakfast.

I don't yet own my own place (less than two months, and counting) but I expect to make periodic visits FOH. At my current employer, I have been able to see and witness the impression I make on our guests; anywhere I've been sales have gone up. Casual twice-a-month diners have become every day regulars, after a few minutes' conversation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to schmooze for the sake of schmoozing. But if a guest wishes to talk to me about my food, I'm all for it. I know that I can communicate effectively with my clientele, and I know that nobody will "sell" my passion and perspective the way I do (at my last cooking class, a client devouring my roasted-beet salad implored me to "Never tell my mom I'm eating beets..."). I've cajoled my frequently conservative, meat-and-potatoes clientele into trying any number of unusual things, some of which have become major "fan favourites." I'll be more than happy to come out of the kitchen and talk to the guests at my new place, as the workflow permits (I won't have much help in the kitchen for the first year). I can only see it helping my business (won't be "making the rounds" just 'cause, though...).

Arne, you are a genius. Trust a kitchen designer... As an avid home cook turned professional chef (soon to become chef-proprietor), I've often wondered how I'd lay out my dream kitchen if I got to build one. So many of those "dream kitchens" I see in magazines are simply laughable - do they wear roller skates to get around? Ride a Segway? - that I'm often at a loss to think what the owners were thinking, unless it was impressing the neighbours. Local star chef Larry Stewart (the Hardware Grill) and his wife have a tap over their stove, for filling stock pots. I like that. Your separate pieces suggestion has just joined it in the "permanent ideas" file. For my current usage, I favour the good ol' traditional top-freezer style. I haven't liked any of the side-by-sides I've used so far (sorry Jaymes) and with my preference for room-temp water, I wouldn't use a water tap or ice maker (I use about two dozen ice cubes a year, max...). I've used bottom-freezer units a couple of times, at various catering functions, and frankly I find them a pain in the ass. I have an action-packed schedule at the best of times, and I only get out shopping once or twice a week. I tend to stock up on things and freeze them, meaning that I'm into my freezer every weeknight for dinner makin's. I'm probably about 60% refrigerator usage to 40% freezer usage, not counting my upright deep freeze in the basement. For me, top freezer just makes sense. However, as previously observed, that's a personal thing.

My favourite thing at the T & T here in Edmonton is the tank full of shrimp. I'm probably just twisted, but I find all those beady, worried little eyes irresistibly humorous. I imagine them whispering, "Have you tried the chicken? The chicken is good..."

The generally-accepted ratio for stock making is water at 100%, meat/bones at 50%, and mirepoix at 10%. In other words, if you've got 4kg of chicken to work with, you should use no more than 8L of water. I find that wings and legs provide lots of gelatin in a stock, but I'm too damned cheap to use the legs. I'll occasionally poach chicken legs or "parts" in the nascent broth, along with the backs/wings/necks/other cheap stuff. I fish them out when they're cooked and use them in other dishes, but in the interim they've enriched the stock. I'll also usually throw the bones back in, after deboning the legs. I'm spoiled at my current workplace. Y'know how you get a tablespoon or so of pure chicken jelly in the bottom of your roaster? Well, we roast off 600-800kg of chicken some weeks. I get 20L buckets of the stuff to work with. My customers think I'm a soupmaking genius...

In April I'll be moving to a small New Brunswick village, just up the coast from where Connor Bros can sardines in huge quantities. I'm hopeful that, since many of the local fishermen supply that monolithic cannery, I'll be able to buy a few dozen fresh ones here and there to put on my menu. After eating several dozen myself, for experimental purposes, of course...

I have never dined at your restaurant, chef Cantu, and given my budgetary and geographic constraints it is unlikely that I will any time soon. Aside from any consideration of agreeing or disagreeing with your philosophy, though, I have to respect anybody who can stir up so much heated debate on this forum! I can certainly agree with the notion of patenting an invention or innovation first, and then throwing it out to see what people do with it. The laser itself, after all, was derisively described as "a solution in search of a problem" when it was first invented. My concern, with many of these high-tech solutions, is that the industrial apparatus necessary to create the solution entails significant problems in and of itself. Even a relatively low-tech piece of "greenery" like biodiesel poses questions (how to raise large enough oil crops without massive use of petrochemicals, in the current fashion of large-scale agriculture?). It's a difficult thing to think through. How much gas would one laser in one restaurant save, as opposed to the emissions and energy usage involved in the manufacture? (Not being obstructive, here, but curious)

Yeah, then bring your machete to my parents' place in Nova Scotia to stock up on mint. My father says he nearly falls off the riding mower, trying to subdue the mint in their back yard down by the lake. I'm looking forward to visiting them, this year, to harvest my own winter supply. Maggie, we definitely do things the same way; I've got thigh-sized bunches of savoury and tarragon hanging just a few feet from my head as I write this. Of course by now, I should long since have stripped the leaves and packed them into something air-tight, but I've been too damned busy. Also, these are the last few bunches, and I've already packaged/used up/given away about three times the quantity I still have hanging. I never knew tarragon would overwinter so well, here in the frozen wastes of Alberta! It was a friggin' jungle, I kid you not...a six-foot high thatch of tarragon before even my radishes were up! I had to cut it down and dry a bunch already by the first week of June (for the benefit of you non-Canadians, that's only about two weeks into gardening season where I live). I tend to freeze more of my sage than I dry, because although I like both flavours I use the fresh sage more. I also freeze cilantro (I plant it two or three times, because I use a lot of the leaves and also a lot of the coriander seed), dill, fennel fronds, and fenugreek (I planted some seed from the packet I bought at the spice shop, just for shits and giggles, and got nearly 100% germination...that's what I call fresh spices!). Thyme and oregano I usually dry, though I do like to freeze a bit of oregano too for its different flavour. I normally freeze basil, too, but that was a moot point this year as for some reason my basil only got about two inches high (too close to the all-conquering tarragon, I think...).

Well, yeah, sleep. And to relax after a hard week of cooking and baking at work, I like to, uh...cook and bake. Pathetic, isn't it? There's also a lot to be done around the house at any given time, since my ex has been laid up with a broken leg and my kids are always off doing something or other. My major recreation away from work is reading: I average something like a book a day year in and year out, though since my last promotion that's declined to maybe three hundred a year or so. Of those about 60% will be related to food and cooking, as will about 40% of my online time. As for the rest, well, my curiosity ranges pretty widely. I might be reading anything from a biography to a sociology textbook to the latest Terry Pratchett novel. Right now I'm into the last nine weeks (OMG!!) of planning and preparation to open my own restaurant. This entails learning the regulatory environment of another province (I'm living in Alberta, but moving to New Brunswick) as well as finishing my cashflow projections, finalizing the financing, planning the initial menu, contacting suppliers, establishing some food costs...y'know. Stuff. Then, utterly exhausted, I get to open the doors and deal with tourist season.

Your design looks great! I'm not personally a fan of tile anywhere but the floor (tile counter and backsplash are something of a pet peeve, in fact), but it's your kitchen so my preferences don't count. It will certainly will be beautiful when you're done. My kitchen was designed by some architectural criminal genius back in the 1950's, and my only workspace is my table or a slide-out cutting board. Everything else is taken up with appliances, because I also don't have (nearly) enough storage. About half of my kitchen stuff is on shelves down in the basement. [/envy][/selfpity]

Personally I like to taste the rice, so I use a very light broth and usually skip the wine altogether. The exception would be when I make a risotto with seafood or saffron, in which case I'll use whatever white I happen to have on hand (but if I don't have one, I'll skip the wine without a second thought).

Who does the cooking in your home? Mostly me. My daughter will usually pick up the slack, if I'm not home, or else they'll just pick at whatever's around (or use up the week's worth of cheddar on grilled cheese sandwiches). My son and ex will cook once in a blue moon if the mood strikes. Do you eat foods from take-out or restaurants or buy ready-made foods often? Almost never. Do you cook absolutely "from-scratch" using unprocessed ingredients often? Almost always. Are you single, married or living with other(s)? Oh, um.... Well, I am still living with my two kids and my ex-wife (long story) until mid-April. Do you have children? Yes, as above. What sort of work do you do? I'm a chef. Do you feel you have enough time to cook the sorts of foods you like to eat? Only some days. Usually I'll find a way to break up the prep, if necessary, so that I can make what I want. For the past several years, it's been less a function of time than of catering to the tastes of wife and kids. That means nothing too spicy, no lamb, no fish, no spinach, no organ meats, no olives, no anchovies...meh. I'm interested in the questions of time, culture, society, money and class. As they relate to food and how it fits into our lives, of course. Ex and I both come from blue-collar backgrounds; my father was a sailor, and hers was a truck driver. We both grew up in basically meat-and-potatoes households, although in my case my parents were beginning to experiment with different things already by the 1970's. As a question for "extra credit" , is the form of your daily cooking/eating/dining different than it was in your family when you were growing up, and if so, how is it different? Much more diverse. I tend to keep lots of Asian and Middle Eastern ingredients on hand, and use them regularly. We also eat a lot more pasta and rice, as opposed to potatoes. I buy my long-grain rice in an 80 lb sack from the local (Afghan-owned) convenience store, as well as my basmati; I go to one of the local chinese stores for sticky black rice (I like it for desserts). I also, once in a while, will do a flat-out restaurant style plated meal, just 'cause I feel like it ("Sorry guys, it's 'chef food' again..."). ←

Harking back to the timer thing: at my workplace we use dozens of them, and the brand we buy does indeed have the count-up feature (a lifesaver, for sure). We order them from Starbucks, theoretically just for timing coffees (yeah, right!). I don't remember the brand, but I'll check for you on Monday. I'm sure they'll be available from other sources, and they are not overly expensive. They are small, about...(thinks frantically about inch conversions...) 2 3/4" by 1 3/4"; eminently pocketable, and have both the magnet and the stand/clip on the back. I usually use the clip to attach the timer to my apron if I'm walking away from the ovens, since my hearing is not so great and I work in a noisy place several hundreds of square feet in size.

Every area is different in some respects, I guess, but there is one bottom-line reality that I think most kitchens face. Unless you are a world-famous star chef, there is only so much you can charge for a plate. Here in Canada, for example, the glass ceiling for entrees seems to run about $30CDN. There are exceptions, like Susur Lee, who can charge more, but for "ordinary" fine dining outside the core of Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver that's it. So, in an industry where margins are already tight, where does the extra money come from for labour cost? Don't get me wrong - as a "grunt" chef I get paid dirt, I'd love to see wages higher - but I also know how much work it takes to get and keep labour costs in line. If I don't make a profit, in short, I don't get to come back and do it again tomorrow...and I really want to. If anyone's got a good answer to this, I'd dearly love to hear it.