AAQuesada

LOL. Buick Regal, Late 70's, Enchiladas Suisas at Sanborns in Tijuana with the family. Good times! 2 tacos and a sourdough chicken really hit the spot at 130a after working 12+ on the line. There food is okay for a fast food place. Their Cubanish sandwich someone else mentioned really is pretty good. That is a nice quality pickle.

You would be taking a chance that the chef would take it as pretentious name dropping, especially if he was hired their at an entry level position. Culinary is a small town chances are he'll be applying with chefs who worked there before. I would still mention it in the interview, but not on paper. Just my opinion. Arturo

What are your standards for Quality? I usually judge a stock by:Color, Clarity, Flavor, Aroma, gelatin content (for meat stocks). Like Paul mentioned traditionally a stock in the French style is meant to be neutral so that it takes on the flavor or what ever you use it with. I use a lot of bones + Chicken feet + stewing hen (usually a 'retired' laying hen) Covered barely with cold water. Salt. Bring up to a bare simmer (180-190). Skim regularly (scum NOT fat) top off with cold water as needed to keep covered. Add Mirepoix @4 hours 1:1:1:1 Leek, Onion, Celery root, carrot Add a Fat Bouquet Garnie @5 hours: Thyme, parsly stems, 2 bay leaves tied in leek green. Carefully, strain and cool.De-fat the next day. Reserve fat for cooking. * If you really want to you can add a whole head of garlic halved, or a Tablespoon of soy. Also you can reduce stock by a 1/4 the next day. * Save bones and make remoulage. Re cook bones/feet as a base for your next stock.

I wouldn't list a place you were at for 2 weeks. You might mention it during the course of an interview, as a point of reference to the kinds of places you would like to work at. Of course that the restaurant closed down won't count against you. Eventually the fast food places will fall off your resume of there own accord. It's important to try to take away something positive the experience and don't be ashamed of it. Please make sure that you are choosing restaurants that you can be at AT LEAST 1 year and preferably 2. Build your resume the right way. Try to progress through the stations as well as the seasons. Build diversity in your resume especially early on. Personally I wouldn't list skills. List accomplishments. Were you promoted? Did you work through all the staions? Did you create any menu items or specials. Did you help prevent waste and how. How many languages can you say 'Yes Chef!" in? ;^) Good Luck

For me it's all about freshness, I try to look for olive oils as close to harvest date as possible. And try to avoid those that don't give you that information. From California I like Bariani who put dates on the FRONT of the bottle! (Yay) http://www.barianioliveoil.com/catalog.php Katz is really good. You can taste the freshness. Not sure harvest date is on the bottle, but it is listed on the website. http://katzandco.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=133&osCsid=bdb531f3126c13a483017b7f8c0eec31 Valderrama (from Spain) First tasted this at the salon gastronomie in San Sebastian. Still a favorite. http://www.valderrama.es/us/produccion.asp

Economies of scale mostly. Feel free to ignore me! of course. I have to say I had a laugh with David Lebovitz when he posted this on his blog the other day :^D "I was thinking of having "If you change the ingredients in a recipe, results will vary" tattooed on my forehead, but there wasn't enough room."

Interesting, I'd love to hear more about the combo technique or Scottish technique. Usually what I do is make a dry cure 6 to 1 sugar to salt ( 4pts white 2 part brown)+ Dill, white pepper, all spice. Cure 2 days unpressed. Rinse, dry, form pellicle and cold smoke 1 hour. Generally my preference is not to add too much flavor to the salmon to let garnishes add the accents. But sometimes I'll do a more Cali take and add fennel fronds and preserved lemons to the cure.

LOL! Now that is a debated you are NOT going to get me to step into Since this is the 'recipe instructions and quantities you routinely ignore' thread. My point was NOT about the superiority of one type of egg over another but the importance of NOT ignoring recipe instructions and quantities If one routinely swaps XL eggs for standard Lg eggs it will make a difference in the recipe for a home cook, Especially when you go to double the recipe for a family gathering or what not and you double the mistake. I'm not saying never make changes, just be careful to fully understand those changes, especially in baking where there formulas& procedures are very carefully balanced out. Of course this is predicated on the assumption that the formula or recipe is well written and tested in the first place!

Best Yuzu juice around. Well worth the cost for commercial use! If you try it report back, http://www.chefswarehouse.com/Yuzu-Juice-750-ml/M/B00202SZ2Q.htm

You are correct. Weighing is always more accurate. Conversions like that are seen as with in the margin of error. The egg industry is remarkably good at its size/weights over a dozen. Individual eggs may be off, by a but but the bigger issue is not getting all the egg out of the shell. You would be surprised by how much you can leave behind if you are not careful!

Not true. Most kitchen recipes are standardized for large eggs which are a standard 24 oz per dozen (or ~2oz per egg)it makes it easy to scale up or down w/o weighing. Most kitchens i've been in still use # of eggs (each)UNLESS they are using liquid egg products. Usually for hollandaise, where food safety is more the issue. I've never worked in a kitchen that used anything but Large AA eggs. I certainly haven't been everywhere, but that is my experience.

Make to coffee cakes or cupcakes..scoop and weigh, then whisk the ingredients together. The other weigh then sift before proceeding with your method. See if it notice a difference, I always can tell the difference in the crumb. YMMV. I hate shortcuts. Leads to bad kitchen habits. [shrug]

I guess sloppy technique is not the end of the world when you are just cooking at home, but things like the wrong size eggs or taking short cuts in procedures really add up in production. The difference in 3oz per dozen between egg sizes may not seem like much to a home cook, but when you are dealing with standardized recipes its everything. Really you master a few basic mixing methods, and you never take short cuts IMO it frees you up to be more creative. And you won't really have to follow the instructions, because they all fall into just a few categories.

For me it's not about clumps it really is about aeration. Where I really notice it most is in quick breads, (pancakes, muffins ect..) and Cakes,(genoise, cupcakes, sheet cakes). It's because mixing methods are so important you want to take as much care as possible with out babying your batter. Why do you get a lot more volume when you sift? it's the air, take the care to keep it in your batter.

Plus.. Sifting makes a big difference in the final product. Skipping steps like that in baking is just foolishness. Will the formula still work, sure, but like staining sauces its a point of refinement. Do I really need to rest my bread dough in before shaping?.. {sigh} There are lots of times when you can change recipes or procedures, it's prudent to understand what they are there for.. often it's more than just the obvious.

Wow! that looks great, and I love the label too. I'll second the preserved myer lemons. I do a really plain recipe just salt, lemon or bay leaves, a dried chile or two and thats it. I do the standart eureka's as well as the Myer lemons and I love preserved myer lemon for vinaigrettes, myer lemon aioli, Salad's like Tabbouleh....

I pretty much stick to the classic gazpacho myself, there are so many updated versions around I feel more innovative not innovating! But then I do like Lopez de Heredia too ;^) For me its not gazpacho with out the 'pa' for pan. Veggies got to be raw, it's hard to get the right green peppers out here for spanish cuisine though. I don't know how to describe them but they are thin skinned and not as bitter as the ones you see here. Finished with good olive oil and sherry vin. I'm okay with the lurid orange color, the bread gives the whole thing a creamy texture that balances the sweetness of ripe veg and acidity. Arturo

Mrs. Wilkes country kitchen. Wow. Excellent, best fried chicken I've had. Incredible variety of veg, delicious collards.. Be prepared to wait in line.

His book is really good, there are some pretty good ones bread books out there, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I learned a lot and found the short video very helpful. Rarely use my KA for bread anymore.

You'd be surprised how few people can make a standard rice pilaf! Cooking whole grains.. Issues: to soak or not. You could do puffed rice Pate a chou is pretty amazing and very versatile.

I have been filling in my home bar to be more well rounded (Just got back from K&L in Hollywood). The last couple are still open. I admit to mostly sipping straight, although I do love classic cocktails. Maybe not the cheapest list, but I think a value list anyway. 1 Herradura blanco 2 Wild Turkey 101 Rye 3 Ron Zacapa 23 4 Flor de Cana 5 Prunier Liqueur d'Orange 6 Calvados LeCompte 7 Lillet (instead of white vermouth) 8 Dolin Vermouth Rouge 9 Gin * most likly Hendricks, although I'd like to try Junipero 10 Scotch *likly something from bowmore. Legend is a good blended 11 ? I see Maracino liqueur on a lot of list should I pick some up? Mixers: Citrus, soda, tonic, frozen fruit purees Am I missing anything major?

To who ever asked, yes CPK is from California, LA to be more specific. It started of as a take on Wolfgang Puck's famous salmon pizza (sometimes called 'jewish pizza'). The CPK founders hired WP's pizza chef as a consultant and the rest is history.

I am sure you'll get some great answers. For me California cuisine is greatly influenced by the early influence of the Spanish, Italian immigrants you can see the with Mediterranean ingredients here (oranges, olives, sage). As well as the influence of early immigration of Chinese and Japanese. Of course the food of mexico, chile, tortillas, Avocado ect.. California cuisine is a continuing mix of ethnic influences, the use of fresh veggies and fruits, a culture of high heat grilling. Encarnacion's Kitchen is an interesting book on early california cuisine... http://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520939332

Suck it up. pretty much. Silver sulfadine when I get home.

Wow! Fast becoming one of my favorites. The recipes really work, def Pro's only though with a well equipped pastry shop. I've used more than a few of the formulas as teaching tools and never had any problems. LOL, As always... YMMV!