ChefJB

One of my co workers with almost identical experience as me tried and she was told that she had too much experience. Take it for what it is worth, but it seems to me that they will end up with a bunch of 20-30 year olds and maybe one token older person again. But who knows, I wonder if there has been any comment from Andy about his menu winning top chef?

One possible undoing for chain restaurants is the need to depend on the cheap readily available industrial food chain. As food borne illness get stronger and more prevelant, the possibility for outbreak becomes higher in chains etc...... smaller independent restaurants are more able to rely on local food chains, and hopefully those are safer than the large ones.

I think that before we look at our recipes we should look at our dependence on the industrial food chain. Start by buying local food and boycotting products made with commodity corn. Read to Omnivores Dilema, it will change your life if your a cook and want to be socially responsible, it changed mine.

I dont have a template per se, but I am a professional banquet chef, feel free to email me any ??s johnbrown at neci.edu (not that I think there are spammers on here..... but just to be safe)

Make a pureed sauce out of verjus, capers and golden raisins excellent with seared scallops. Use in vinaigrettes, or use in anything to help balance flavors it is a nice source of sour without being too acidic.

You dont have to use wine, I some times use lemon juice or nothing at all and just start adding the stock. When I make risotto out of the rice that my truffles have been stored in I just use water. I find that the flavor comes out better. my .02$

I am toying with the idea of going to open call in vegas, but am not sure I want to be on TV if they chose to cast me. After season one, I would have but after this last season I dont know. Although I did just watch somebody win 100K cooking dishes off of the menu from the restaurant he is a cook at, makes me think...... Edit* ps where is th eother topic?

In the last year my students have cooked for, Scarlett Johannsen, Mickey Hart, Mike Gordon, John Fishman, Laurah Bush, David burke, and Paul Simon. I may be missing a few. When I was a private chef for a ridiculously rich guy: The hilton parents, George Bush senior, Colin Powell, The owners of Heineken, Swiss Army people, a Ford, and probably others I did not even know about. Funny the only one I wanted to go meet was David Burke, hehe

He refers to him self as a Master Cook, not the same thing. As far as I can tell it is the title of a software package as well as a Union designation. It is only meaningful to him and the payroll department, nothing more. ← A master cook is a designation of a level of station cook used in some kitchens with a large brigade. I had a student last semester who did his internship at Nob Hill in Vegas and they also have master cooks. You have a certain amount of work time invested in a kitchen, then you take a test/practical and if you pass it makes you a master cook. You probably get a bit more $$, vacation etc... the restaurant gets less turnover, something that is always good.

Hello all, I am trying to get some input. I am 35 and have been working in the industry since I was 12, I currently have an Associates degree from one of the bigger culinary schools, and am a teacher at a culinary school. I am thinking about going back to school to get my bachelors in Hotel and Restaurant management. I am leaning towards trying to move into the top of the house, just wondering if anybody has more than a 2 year culinary degree and if it is worth it. Most of the programs out there are 20k ish to finish, and with a child at home and trying to think about saving for his college I just wonder if the benefits outweigh the cost. I learned alot at culinary school, but sometimes wonder if I just should have moved to NYC and worked 16 hours a day in an upper tier restaurant. I feel sometimes that the cost did not outweigh the benefits. Thanks in advance for any input. John

I like some fresh ground black pepper, and some really good salt. Or sometimes if the stock class makes an especially good glace, I might grab a cube and serve a bit of glace du veau with it. Usually though a good steak IMO only needs some really good salt.

I know that according o HACCP it is baaaaaad to cryovac raw seafood, I would guess that this is due to anaerobic bacteria. All they ever say thou is that it is bad. I am somewhat of a germaphobe, but I would suggest not vacuum sealing it, plastic or the wet sunday times. That is just my.02 and I am a germaphobe.

First, what cut of meat are you using? Try to make sure you are getting meat with enough connective tissue, sometimes this is easier said than done. Next crucial element is the sear on the meat, dredged in flour and seared but not burned. I like to caramelize my mirepox next in the rendered beef fat. When my mirepox is nice and brown I add my beef back to the pot and pour in a bottle of a good port style beer(guiness is ok too). I let this reduce Au Sec(almost dry) this part is important because it imparts alot of flavor and depth to the stew. Then I add the stock and simmer for 4+ hours, season however you like, i usually just use S&P and bay leaf at the beginning. If it is growing in my window box I add some fresh parsley at the end. I LOVE beef stew.

Hmm... I remember reading the braising threads, but I don't remember the "no wine" part, but I read them while they were originally active so that's been a while. I personally love what the wine does in this dish, both color and taste, and I start with it reduced by at least half, although my frozen stocks are fairly strong to begin with. I suppose I could add less stock or pre-reduce that as well. I've also thought about using a roasting pan for the reduction since it's 2x the surface area, and I can get 2 burners going under it since my stove is a little underpowered. My usual target is to have the amount of liquid such that whatever I'm braising peeks out, maybe right around 2/3 of the meat covered. Let's say you did use 300 mL of reduced wine, and ~ 1L stock, leaving maybe 1ish L of liquid after straining and defatting before starting the sauce building. How much final sauce would you shoot for? I ended up with about a cup and a half of strong gravy / weak sauce, so I guess I did a 3:1 reduction. Is it okay to reduce at an angry boil, or does that affect the flavor? Perhaps next time, I'll uncover for the last hour to get a jump on the ol' reduction and I'll shoot for halfway up the meat instead of 2/3. ← At school we teach 1/3rd to halfway up the meat for a good braise, one of the best parts of a good braise is the different textures, the falling of the bone tender and the crispy of the exposed meat IMHO. Also when you reduce at a lower heat you are able to skim off impurities that are just re-incorporated into the sauce when you reduce it fast.

slice it thin and serve it on crostini with a tarragon mustard, a little fluer de sel and some fresh pepper. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I usually use reduction to thicken my braising liquid or Jus Lie. If I needed a large amount I would use either roux, or an arrowroot slurry depending on if I was going to use it all right away or re use it. Another way that you could get some body and not use starch would be to puree the mirepox into the liquid, although I usually remove it, puree it, and use it on the plate itself. edited for spelling.

Hello all, I need some foam help or brainstorming. I need to find a way to serve a warm parmesean foam for 80 people, so I need it stable enough to sit for 5 minutes. Before anybody gives me grief for trying to serve foam on a large plated function, it is a coworker asking for help for a very special menu, I did not write it but I think it can be done without too much trouble. So far I have made the foam base and tried soy lecithin granules 2 TBS per cup and then charged it in my ISI with 2 charges, it gives nice consistency but it is liquid within 1 minute, my next thought is agar, or I have some Gellan? I have never tried foam this way, usually for warm foam I froth with my stick blender and plate it as the server is taking it away. Any thoughts, Xanthan, Methocellulose, etc? Thanks for any input. John

You are not necissarily creating a new emulsion, by gently working the butter in you are allowing the already present emulsion(butter) to have more of the water(figurativley speaking) phase added to it thereby changing the flavor and consistency. That is why you use cold butter to make buerre blanc, melted butter doesnt emulsify as well besause the emulsion is already broken. I hope I am making sense, My copy of On Cooking is in my desk at work, I usually refer to Harold as he has such a nice way of explaining this.

I am a instructor at one of the big schools mentioned, and my $.02..... Work for a year before you make that decision, IMO 5 months is not enough time to decide if you want to do this for a career. If you do decide to go to school they all have pros and cons, culinary school is what you make of it. I see students that I know will end up working in construction within 5 years, and I see others who will go on the grace to covers of magazines. Best of luck to you. top three schools in my opinion CIA= name, prestige but big classes J&W= Academia but not as much real world experience NECI= Small classes and hands on experience, but not as much academia Those are my top three in no particular order. John

To answer the question about the act of finishing a sauce with butter or a buerre blanc Buerre fondue etc..... the reason that these work is due to the fact that butter is an emulsion to begin with. *edited for spelling*

Bryan, What I was trying unsuccesfully to explain was using the Gellan in place of the alginate as I seem to remember reading that it will behave the same as alginate in the chloride bath. So when you drop the melted butter into the bath it will for the polymer skin, it should set up in the cool water.You could then perfect the shape then the high melting point of the gellan might allow you to heat it without bursting the skin. It was just a thought I had when I read your butter woes.

Bryan, have you thought about mixing a small amount of gellan with the butter, letting it cool down to become more solid. Then shaping it and warming it to get your liquid center? Just a thought.

I read this thread with great interest as I see these same questions everyday on the faces of the students I interact with. I am an instructor at a culinary school in the northeast, and it never ceases to amaze me what the students try to do. I know that the things we are doing are far from cutting edge, but it is truley amazing to watch from a bystanders perspective the wonderful thing that is inspiration and creativity. I take my hat off to all of you who are pushing the envelope, and have to thank you in advance for what you will do for cuisine if you keep it up.

I love the way that Lobster and Morels go together, for our 25th anniversary gala at work our 2nd course was a lobster ravioli, with morels and sauce americana. It was fabulous, each plate was garnished with a morell stuffed with a wild mushroom duxelle, truley decadent.

The basic recipe I use for savory custard in the rest. is 12 yolks to a qt of cream then add flavorings. If the flavoring is of a high fat content omit a yolk ie; in the case of foie gras custard. Mix the custard base put into a mold or cup then cook in a h20 bath at 300* until set, custard is set when the jiggle test reveals at most a dime size of loose custard in the middle of the mold. Bear in mind this is for a soup cup size mold, smaller molds are less than dime size. Good luck.