chef koo

Your basic formula 30, 30, 30. Meaning that of the revenue that comes in, 30% goes to food, 30% goes to overheads, 30% goes to labor and then the last 10 percent goes to profit. These percentages will vary depending on the business model. So when costing things out, just take the cost of the raw ingredients in a dish and times it by 3. So if the cost of the ingredients to make a steak, baked potato, and grilled asparagus with some kind of sauce came out to $33, the price that would show up on the menu would be about $99. Let's say $100 to make it simpler. After you've sold that steak, you then take the $100, and give 30% ($30) to food cost, labor and then overheads. If the overhead is a bit higher than what you made in money, you either give shit to your staff for leaving the water running or you adjust your costing. Hope that helps.

Hi guys I'm baking a croquembouche for a party. I just want some insight into my overall idea. It's a bit long so I appreciate your thoughts. I don't want chantilly since it's going to be a room temp for a while and I'm guessing that chantilly will soften too much and make the choux soggy. So I'm thinking of resorting to a mousse. Mousses made with gelatin hold up quite well I've heard but I've never made mousse like that before. What do you guys think of the chantilly vs the mousse thing? I was thinking of boiling the cream and thickening it with corn starch if I was making a chantilly. Would that work and if so how would it hold up to the gelatin stabled mousse? As for flavors, I'm going with 3. Chocolate, lemon and vanilla. The chocolate mousse will be standard or if it's a chantilly I'm just going to add cocoa powder to the chantilly. As for the lemon I was going to make a lemon curd once it was cooled I was going to fold in whipped egg whites and whipped cream For the vanilla, the chantilly would be self explanatory. For a mousse I was thinking of making a pastry cream and like the lemon, folding in egg whites and cream As for the choux itself, I'm going for flavor 100%. I figure it's going to soften anyways so I may as well not worry about it being crispy. So I'm going for my standard go to recipe 1 cup flour 125 g butter 1 cup milk pinch of salt and sugar 5 eggs And then it's just going to get baked the standard way. As for assembly, I don't want to use caramel. I'm thinking that if you use caramel that you risk the profiterole sticking too much and when you go to take one off you might tear it. I was thinking of studding the tower with tooth picks. But I'm worried that without anything to actually adhere to, that they might just fall off. Any thought? And lastly, how much choux should I make for 50 profiteroles? Thanks in advance

100 million views in 7 months?!!! These guys are geniuses

I'm leaving for the rest of the week and returning on the Monday. I need a rondeau. 20 quarts would be nice. Any leads would be appreciated.

I've worked in restaurants for about 12 years now. I've seen special requests of all sorts. Of course there's the common "sauce on the side". Is this a cultural thing? I haven't traveled abroad much but I have this prejudice in my head that it's North American thing. Reason I say is because when I go for Chinese they're alot less accommodating. Which is cool. Anyone from anywhere else in the world have any insight into this?

I have a friend who recently moved down to Costa Rica. She's working at a restaurant as a waitress to pay the bills. Although I'm sure it's a fine establishment, it's pretty mainstream. Crab cakes, ahi tuna, stir frys or what they call "woks", that kind of thing. I want to get into the heart of things. But I have no clue about Costa Rican food. What some quint essential things that a Costa Rican diet consists of. And where would you go to get the best of each of these? This is the place my friend is working seasidediner.net

To be honest, from my observations, in North America cooking seems to be a glorified hobby, where as every else in the world, it seems to be more of an extension of their culture and history. To say that this is a golden age would be a matter of perspective. Someones golden is someone elses dark age. I think the awareness of slow food and the environment at large is a big step in the right direction. But for the home cook and the consumer at large, in North America, there's still a huge lack of respect for ingredients, and cooking. The internet has given people opportunity to explore other cultures and such but when I see people "put their own spin on things" I wonder if it's for the better. You can see the frustration in a servers eyes when an ignorant customer comes into their sushi restaurant and turn the menu upside down. Imagine a pizza maker from Naples standing their listening to someone ask for pineapple on their pizza. I think we're just at the begining of a golden age but not quite.

Is it just me or is every form of maki sushi these days a reverse roll? As in the rice is on the outside. With the exception of a salmon roll and tuna roll, they're all inside out. Not that I care, and I've never been to Japan but it seems as if it might be another step for Japanese cuisine to be assimilated into the western world.

But... could you tell the difference in a blind taste test?

Anyone know how much of the market is made of wild salmon to farmed?

I was talking to a friend of mine who was romancing the idea of how organic everything tastes better than their non counterparts. I asked her if she could tell the difference between organic and a non organic carrot. She couldn't. So I proceeded to list off foods and she admitted that she had never really tasted alot of them side by side. My question for everyone here, is that if you were in a blind taste test, with a line up of about 20 different pieces of salmon, could you pick out the farmed from the wild? How about other things like carrots? Onions? Bread made from organic and non-organic flour. How would the best non-organic match up with crap organic? Can you tell the difference between organic pasta and non? BTW I'm not advocating anything. I'm just curious what people think.

The matchup is just as important as the judges I think. The result is basically shows the demographic of the people eating it. If you had a group middle class americans from the south judge a competition between Paul Prudhomme and Joel Robuchon, I'm sure the votes would be vastly in favor of the former. Also the criteria. With 2 chefs at the top level competing it really is a matter of who the judges happend to prefer. And what if the culinary philosphy of a particular chef doesn't fit the criteria? They're screwed. What if it's a timed competition. Some chefs have food that takes hours to prepare.

To be honest I'm kind of surprised that Egullet hasn't been graced by these guys. I'm not going to say anything else. Just watch the vids. This is a link to their channel. They haven't been around for along time but I hope they will be. They're an inspiration. http://www.youtube.com/user/EpicMealTime

Wow. Didn't realize. Dumb question but if you were to bake a pastry crust of some sort, like a sweet dough, if you kneaded it forever and broke down the gluten of the flour, would it be really tender and not shrink at all? And this isn't necesarily for pastry but I've seen machines kneade pasta for hours. Does the same idea still apply?

So I was watching an episode of "Good Eats", and Alton was saying something about gluten, saying that if you over work it, the gluten disintegrates. Is this true? And if so can anyone elaborate on what that means? Does it mean that if I knead a dough long enough, it won't hold it's shape?

I'm getting that feeling. I've seen a few clip of "The French Chef" on youtube but the only show I've ever seen on TV with her was that one where she would have a guest chef on. I've seen her with Jacques Pepin alot as well. @ScoopKW That's what I mean by "same reverance as mother Teresa". To even question why she's held with such high regard is sacrilege, and is met with the attitutde that you're either a dick looking to provokate or you're too dumb to understand and don't deserve to breath.

I was watching a re run of a special on Julia Child on PBS. They had alot of chefs offer their thoughts on her. After reading up on Julia and watcing as many youtube videos on her as I could, I'm still confused at how endearing so many people are towards her. People seem to hold her in the same reverance as mother Teresa. But I found her recipes and techniques no more or less interesting than any other chef. Am I missing something?

THanks for the info. I was just really intrigued by the lady in the first video. The way she was stuffing the pasta into a bowl. It didn't lose it's shape or stick together but it was still flexible. I've never seen or been able to achieve that.

I'm looking for a good recipe. I can think of one to a degree but I want one that will give me a specific texture that I haven't been able to achieve. Take this lady at 0:11 for example Or like this Anyone got any advice?

I made fried chicken today and it was good except that the skin was too dark. Now I don't mean the crust. The crust was perfect. It was the actual skin of the chicken. It was so dark. I soaked it in buttermilk and dredged it and deep fried it. I've made it before perfectly, but the last few times I've done it, I've gotten the same result. Anyone have any ideas? I don't think it's the recipe because I literally have used the same recipe, every single time. It mihgt be though, you never know. I saw this thread but I think it's more an issue of the crust itself.

I've been to alot where they bring the steak on a small cutting board with a carved out groove to catch all the blood.

I want to try making this but I'm wary of putting in the financial investment, only to mess it up on a recipe that could be alot more complex than it's deceptively simple steps would suggest. Anyone try this yet?

Thanks for all the responses. Does clam chowder come to mind when you go to a steakhouse? It didn't really for me, but it was the most "American" soup I know so I thought it might be.

I've been thinking about an old episode of "Hell's Kitchen" I saw where they turned the restaurant into a steakhouse. I can't remember what they had specifically on the menu, but I began to think about the big 80's phenomenons that you don't see anymore. So I'm here to see how many you guys can remember and help me make my quintessential steakhouse menu. This is purely for recreational purposes. I have no intention of opening a steakhouse. Starters Shrimp Cocktail Caesar Salad The Wedge Cobb Salad Do they serve soup at steakhouses? Sides French Fries Onion Rings Sauteed Mushrooms Pearl Onions? Dessert Chocolate Brownies Black Forest Cake Sundaes Anything else I'm missing? Or is there anything on there that doesn't belong?

Edit: When I mean dry I used a food dehydrator at the highest setting. If you care about uniform pieces cut them before drying, as the intense drying will make them brittle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVAWPf5J9Is