chef koo

the naam?

alchemyst, this is all dependant on the individual personality of the chef. some chef's like to comprimise. some don't

when i gratin i usually slice the potato paper thin. this helps it keep it's shape. but when i was in school they we had to do it al a minute. and this by far is the best product i've had. when i open my own restaurant and if i have gratin dauphinois on the menu this is the way i'll do it. basically you have you potato pre sliced. and then you use a 1 inch ring mold to cut little coins of potato. have a pot of whipping cream on a simmer. have ready some 3 inch ramekins. when you get an order take how ever many potato slices you need and dump it in the cream. tehy shouldn't take long to cook since they are cut thin. when 80 percent cooked taken them out and put them in the ramekin arranging them so that they make an even layer through out with out any spaces. make sure the top layer is very presentable. sprinkle with parmesean and into the oven it goes for about 5-10 minutes. use a toothpick to test it. the whole process takes about 20-25 minutes so it's best to serve it with steaks and such things that take a while to cook anyways. people ask me, "why not make it ahead of time? well every chef has their thing. why does joel robuchon make his mashed potato a la minute? it's just the way he does it. it's the signature dish at his restaurant and people flock there to try it.

i think i might be breaking a rule by bringing back a dead topic but i love this type of topic and wanted to include my two cents. someone let me know if this is agianst the rulse please. but anyways, something i just learned about the legal side of giving the customer what they want is that if a customer asks for something off of the menu and after completely finishing the meal decides that they don't like it can actually refuse to pay for the meal. i beleive the legal term is know as "invitation to treat". so if you're a chef like me and a customer asks for something off of the menu make sure it's not an asshole customer. but on the side of the whole "customer is always right" thing, i consider myself to be a very stuborn man when it comes to cooking. since i do'nt have my own restaurant i'm at the mercy of my superiors. if i were to lose business over that than so be it. if you don't like my cooking i'm not offended but nor will i change what i do. i know there are people who will be disgusted with me, raise their noses at me, and judge me as arrogant but i don't find this arrogant at all. i simply want to showcase what i can do. not what the customer wants. no one tells a painter how to paint. no one tells a musician what to play. no one tells a sculpture how to sculpt. tehy simply buy from who they like. if they don't don't then dont buy. why is a restaurant any different?

i'm with lucky here. in fact for anything less than 10 kg, after being gutted i do'nt think it should take longer than an hour and a half. seasoning? salt and pepper of course. and than anything you want. i like a glaze to get an extra crispy skin. try sugar and vinegar. but just salt and pepper is good too

oooh. almost forgot. fried chicken wings and frank's red hot eggs and tobasco

same. haven't been there in a long time. although i'm starting to prefer no. 9 these days. the food isn't as cheap but it's open 24 hours. os it really depends what time i'm hungry at

nuts and chocolate M&M's with peanut butter the BLT combination french fries and ketchup bread and butter maple syrup with bacon and/or breakfast sausage kraft dinner with cut up wieners and ketchup

You can tell more about a man by looking into his fridge than looking into his eyes. Cindy convinced herself of this after her dreams of being the head foodies within her friends were crushed one educational evening. Cindy had know Roberto for a while now. She met him through a friend. She'd already eaten at his restaurant many times and from there her passion for food and wine grew. This all out of a new found respect for her new chef friend... or more? She knew when she looked in those eyes She bought wine book after wine book, pulled out her untouched cookbooks and started to learn. One Night at Roberto's restaurant Cindy and a frined thought they'd splurge a bit. After all being a foodie calls for a bit of extravagence on their part once in a while. So she decided to order the special. "Poached Langouste, with a Black Truffle Risotto, Caviar Beurre Blanc, Suateed Foie Gras and Braised Fennel". Her jaw dropped at the notion. All three of the worlds delicasies on one plate? She couldn't resist. Did she have a choice? The plate came out. For foodies. moments don't get much more memorable as this, for this was Cindy's first tast of truffles, caviar, foie gras and langouste. The moment the steam hit her nose she was in awe at the savory aroma of the truffles. She smply stared at the dish for a few moments. She then nervously tasted the risotto. Her eye closed to concentrate on teh flavor. "amazing" she thought to her self. She then tried a bit of the foie gras. She enjoyed every moment of it from the time the velvety foie gras was put into her mouth to the point it finished cascading down her throat. The saltiness of the caviar was so profound. And the langouste was perfectly poached. Roberto came out of the kitchen to say hello. Cindy couldn't hide her gidiness at tasting that dish and told Roberto how amazing it was. "Well if you would like, why don't you come over to my place and i'll show you how to make it?" Roberto asked. Her blushing was not a result of the wine she's been drinking. "A chef just asked me out! I get to see a chef's house!!! I get to see a chefs kitchen!!! And i get to see ROberto!!!". she couldn't resist, but then again, did she have a choice? "I'd love to" Cindy responded with a huge smile on her face. "Great. Well i'm off this thursday. 6 o'clock? My place?" "I'll see you there" Cindy went home and called all her foodie friends to tell them of the recent promotion from food to "Foodie Godess". Thursday night came quickly. She Arrived at Robertos place and sat down on a couch. Robert offered her a glass of wine. She took the glass, sniffed it and responded "Tokay?" Rpberto's eye's lit up "You know your wines eh?" "Well i've tasted a wine or two in my day" she said with her head cocked slightly upward. "Well how about we get to it then shall we?" "Yes. I can hardly wait" Roberto explained how to make the black truffle risotto and she went on to stir the rice and add the stock. As this happened the phone rang. "Excuse me my dear". "Of course" Cindy responded. A minute has passed and Cindy realized that had forgotten to add the parmesean to the risotto. She looked around and couldn't find it. She decided to be bold and to look in his fridge for it. She Often had this idea that you never ess with a Chefs' cooking area. She opened the fridge and looked inside. Imagine you're on a roller coaster about to take that initial dive. that stomach feeling is what Cindy was expiriencing. Her heart sank like a rock. In the sparcely inhabitied fridge she saw a half bottle of tokay wine, a rotting onion and tomato, a jar of expired store bought mayonaise, a bottle of kahlua and vodka, a jug of expired 1% milk, and frozen microwaveable pizza. with the fridge still open she stummbled back wither her hand conering her mouth. She looked up at the cupboard and opend it as well. She forced her self not to gasp to loudly. There she saw a box of childrens cereal, a bag of animal crackers, and about 3 flavors of juice flavor crystals. Cindy heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. She quickly shut the fridge and cupboard. When Roberto came into the room he inquired about the pale look on her face. "Yah i'm really sorry Roberto but i think I've come down with soething. I really have to go". Roberto leaned for a hug but was denied as she was pacing too quickly towards the door. She didn't look back. She got into her car, Still shocked at what she had seen. And that's when she knew, you can tell more about a man by looking into his fridge than looking into his eyes. Cindy convinced herself of this after her dreams of being the head foodies within her friends were crushed that particular educational evening.

the main reason is convinience. after the whole garlic head is roasted the flesh becomes very soft and if you try and cut the top off it'll be much more difficult and also alot messier.

i agree. i go to knifex for all my knife needs. especially sharpenings. $3.50 a knife? can't beat it and of course you can buy knives from him as well. if he doesn't have it ask daryl to order it and he'll be more than happy to

i got 2 choices. first is a greasy spoon restaurant in richmond on alexandria called kam do. you'll most likely get a stomach ache from the food but for $10 ill get ful and have left overs. and i'm 6', 120kg. my second choice is my schol. the pacific institute of culinary arts. on mondays they have a two for one. so for about $20 you and a friend can have a fine dining full course meal.

this place is a pizza joint but they have other items such as italian soups and salads and such it's coming to you straight from naples. give lombardos a try. it's on first and commercial. it's in a little plaze. guy who opened it opened it with his wife. they had a divorce so he left and opened a new place across the stree called marcello's. they both use the same recipe for the crust and the sauce. even if you hate pizza it's a good expirience to go and just watch these crank out these pizza's by hand

i think it maybe due to the fact that they don't want the extra fat but they want the flavor of the seasonings in the fond. just so if there's a deglazing step involved in the recipe

basically anything savory that you would make, jsut add some shallots. soups, salads, dips, stews, sauces, braised items, roast em, fry em, mix em in mashed potatoes, put in with your rice, pastas, use it for marinades, put it in salad dressings, stuff meats with it, grill them, use it as a veg on its own, stir fry it with other veg, put it into savory tarts, stuff other things into the shallots... did i say make sauces with it? put into sandwiches, mix int bread doughs, mix it into pasta doughs...gasp

for me i've always prefered the dark meat over the breast. it's falvor is more defined, it's more succulent, more fat so it's more moist and flavorful. but as i said when i roast a bird the breast comes out just as the dark meat. something that really bugs me is when the breast is clearly over cooked. it's dry and it's stringy and someone says they still prefer it over the dark meat. this drives me nuts becaue 99% of the time it's due to their dietary mindset of less fat. so they try to convince you that they prefer the breast in order to convince themselves that they prefer it. who you tring to kid?

i used to think the same way you guys did about the breat but if you do it right i find that the breast becomes just as moist and succulent as the dark meat. no joke.

what kind of fish are you gonna cook? also no matter what fish it is i'd suggest romoving the bones. it's so much easier to eat and serve. if you want to keep the shape of the body with the head just start boning from the belly up

this is another one from my blog http://chefkoo.blogspot.com/2004/08/my-cro...chievement.html

i think ti's alright to post links so i'm going to post a link to my blog. i have a post about roasting chicken. i'm not a big fan of stuffing the bird or rubbing seasonings between the skin. http://chefkoo.blogspot.com/2004/10/perfec...st-chicken.html

well i've had both and can't complain about either. when it comes to the cooking of it do'nt ask me. i leave that to my mom. she'd lock me up if i posted something wrong about korean food

to be honest i don't think anything about food offends me. you can send you an overcooked plate of the wrong food and serve it ice cold and i would'nt complain. i would however complain if that dish of french fries cost a million dollars.

yah my mom cooks them in soysauce and sugar until you end up with a sticky product which you eat with rice or whatever. my mom also uses it as a base for stocks.

hi i'm new to te site. well i think that when it comes to pasta i think people are very inside the box thinkers. flour and egg is the staple. basically i simplify it down to this. if it has guten and you add liquid to it and make a dough... you can make a pasta. in your kitchen aid have you flour, durum flour, durum wheat, or whatever. and add you liquid, wether it be egg, water milk, juice, veggie puree of some sort and mix it. if it's too loose and wet add more flour, if it's too dry and more liquid. edit: of course there are steps you can take to truly perfect it but for everyday consumption this is unnecesary.