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YoChefGregg

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Posts posted by YoChefGregg

  1. We have our lutefisk ordered and dream of eating our yearly portion.

    Being of Swedish heritage, we prefer a white sauce; adding rustic mustard, wasabi or some other ingredient to give some flavor to our fish.

    What condiments to you serve with your Christmas Eve lutefisk?

  2. We prepare and eat a Mid-western smörgåsbord every Christmas eve.

    One of the main items is lutefisk.

    As kids we might put a piece on our plate, totally covered in a very thick béchamel sauce, but probably wouldn't eat it.

    As time pasted, our defenses were worn down and now, most of us, even our spouses, and child, and now grandchild, eat their share of this Scandinavian delicacy. Or at least have a serving on their plate, totally covered in a very tasty béchamel sauce.

    I have taken over the lutefisk cooking duties from my 75 year old mother.

    We now heavily salt the raw lutefisk, placing it on a grate to allow the flesh to loose lots of its moisture. We rinse the lutefisk then place on a grate again and into the oven, 350ºF until flakey, oh god, we hope that it's flakey.

    We now top ours with a béchamel that's got dijon mustard, nutmeg, onion and a touch of white wine added.

    It's really quite good.

    Göd Jul

  3. I don't think that cooking schools are overselling our profession.

    But there are a lot of naive people that enroll in culinary programs, they have no experience in our field and have the impression that getting an executive chef position is easy.

    Hey Carrot Top, nice Carl Larsen picture.

  4. I was Sous Chef at an event arena in West Michigan, here are a few of the folks that I cooked for:

    STP, Aerosmith, Laura Bush, Bush, Barry Manilow, Clint Black, WWE,

    Elton John, Neal Diamond, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey

    Circus, James Taylor

    Most of the performers were quite nice to the staff of our facility.

  5. Two real quick examples, dill and cilantro.

    As a child I didn't eat dill pickles because of the dill. Couldn't stand the flavor. Now I make inlagd gurka, a quick swedish pickle, a couple of times a month and use about a cup of fresh dill.

    And cilantro. The first time I purchased fresh cilantro, 10 years or so ago, the smell gave me a stomach ach and I through it in the trash. Now, posole wouldn't be posole without a good sized portion of fresh cilantro added just before digging in.

  6. Cleaning a commercial kitchen grease trap, mid August, temp. 88ºF, humidity above 90%.

    Hehe, I was the Sous Chef and was supervising. Bad enough just getting within 10 feet of the pit.

    After cleaning the pit, I allowed my crew (2) guys, to take the rest of the day off. It was a slow day anyway. I'm such a nice guy. :blink:

  7. To use gelatin, use the following proportions:

    Heavy Cream 1qt

    Gelatin 1/3 oz

    Cold Water 2 oz

    Soften the gelatin in the cold water, then warm it until the gelatin dissolves. Cool it, but do not let it set. Beat it into the cream just as the cream begins to thicken.

    From, "Professional Baking", Gisslen.

  8. Buenos Tardes,

    Thanks so much for everyone’s input.

    We will be noshing on tamales that my daughter is bringing from home, her in-laws. I’ll request that they try and have the filling a little wetter than normal, since using a salsa will be very difficult while driving.

    We would love to just fly into Morelia, but that adds about $500.00 per person to our cost. We got a fairly good price on the route that we choose.

    Our choice of flights were Chicago to Morelia, or Grand Rapids to Mexico City. I’d rather fly from home and have to drive on the other end of the trip than to drive and park in Chicago. We will also be able to use the van for side trips.

    Ok, which direction do I take when exiting the airport? :rolleyes:

  9. On Christmas day, my wife, Sudanese foster son and I will be flying into Mexico City, renting a van, and driving to Morelia.

    Is it safe to eat tamales while driving?

    Is it safe for a gringo from Grand Rapids to drive in Mexico City?

    We will have my daughter and Mexican citizen son in law with us. They'll take a bus to Mexico City and meet us.

    We've heard all sort of horror stories about driving in, "The City".

    What do you think.

    Can you help a fellow egulleteer out?

    Muchas Gracias,

  10. I worked the 1997 meet at Saratoga, in the main kitchen.

    Being from the mid-west, I was damned surprised at the graft and corruption going on there. Not just the money captains were extorting from guests.

    From what I was told, it was difficult doing business with the track unless there was some sort of consideration given to management.

    I have only third hand knowledge of this activity, but all of the long time food service employees had similar stories.

    It was a weird weird place to work.

    I'm glad that I only had to work there for 4 weeks. :wacko:

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