AnxiousCowboy

Thanks for the ball park... I'd rather be heavy than light. Can't wait to have some bread this week.

One of my favorite parts of the day is making family meal. I usually make the side dishes and love to try to make a wide variety of different things. It would be cool to hear some of your family meal recipes. I'll start out with my basmati rice. All the recipes I do are usually enough to fill a 4-6" full hotel pan which is usually enough to accommodate the restaurant I work at. 1 deep 1/6th pan of dry basmati rice Enough water or stock to cook it a deep half hotel pan of aromatics and veg--I like to use fennel, onion, garlic, carrots A good handful of mustard seeds Garam masala (I usually just blend up fennel seed, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, turmeric, some all spice) Peas and squash sometimes. Get a rondou hot, add oil then mustard seeds to make them pop pop pop Add aromatics and sweat half way out Add rice and stir Add water, bring to a simmer for a couple minutes, add peas and squash, put a lid on it and throw it in a ~400f oven until pilaf is done Fluff up a bit after letting it sit and throw in a hotel pan

What weight of dough would I need to produce one sheet pan of focaccia? Been wanting to make focaccia awhile now for family meal but can only find bulk recipes that just say how many pounds of dough the recipe produces, not how many sheet pans; and as young entremetier I don't know too much shit about baking in a restaurant beyond the mixing and baking part. I wish I actually saved the recipes I used when I worked in a pizza place/bar a few years back. I'm beginning to realize that I won't remember shit forever just because I did it every day a few years back! Time to start writing shit down!

I not only have some, but the chef at the kitchen where I work insists that they are the spoon we use.

It's awesome. I work there.

I will be finally graduating culinary school in a few weeks and need to start sending out my resume. I want to work in NYC at a job that pays and is fairly upscale. Does anyone work or have worked on the line any place in NYC that they recommend? I was hoping to do Italian cuisine, but since I am not picky, I just can't wait to get back on the line or in a prep position.

wow, that sounds like it would be a great experience. Does she have an email address which I can reach her at?

I am learning Italian. What do the apprentices do? Is it just a farm or a restaurant also?

Are you talking about the Slow food school? I would love to go to that but I am just coming out of CIA ( I am still in NY ) and that would be impossible to do since I have to start paying back loans :-\ I have a friend who externed in a spot in Umbria. He worked 100 hours a week, only got free housing and family meal, no pay. Is this expected and typical in Italy? I don't mind working working long hours, i prefer it, but I would rather get paid enough to afford a shitty apartment and buy my own food... I feel that would be an important part of my Italy experience since I want to adapt their culture as well...

I'm getting to the tail end of my education at CIA and I am looking to go to Italy to learn more. It has been a dream of mine to work in Italy and is part of my 5 year plan. Has anyone worked in Italy before? How did you get started working in a new country as far as finding work...

I'm working on a project for school at CIA and I'm trying to get some projected numbers together. I want to plug in some projected data to a P&L for my business plan. Any chef owners in NYC area would be of great help! Here's the skinny. It's going to be a 100 seater tapas-based restaurant in Greenwich Village. I'm currently costing the menu out to get an idea of Cost of sales. I will have most of the Operating expenses, except Utilities, Promotions, Direct Operating, and Employee benefits. Where most of my concern is is occupational expenses. I'm hoping someone from the area can tell me property tax, rentals, liquor license, insurance, long term interest, and depreciation. I know it's probably a long shot that someone can give me these numbers first hand, but if someone can at least point me into the right direction in how to research these numbers that would be awesome!

Thanks for the advice. I know ask about pay here so I know what to expect--It's not my only concern, but either way I don't have mom and dad paying for a place to live. I'm working on developing a savings so I can go to far out places and stage. When you have gone overseas to places like fat duck and el bulli, how did you land stages like that, how did you afford to live (did you establish a savings like I am trying to?) and how long did you end up working there? Overseas is definately in my course of action although not until I get that diploma... but finding out how to do it now can only help, right? Thanks for any info you can give me! It would be a dream to work $100 a day 7 days a week for me.. I have off today and I can't stand it.. I'm bored without work. I would have no problem living on a $100 a day or $9/hr budget I would imagine since I am fairly good with my budget.

So what is the pay like? I'm making 10.50 here... I would have imagined NYC would pay more than a shithole like Wilmington, DE. Even some of my extern friends in philly are making around 9-10.00

I'm currently going to CIA and am on my externship at Hotel DuPont. I am finishing up my externship here and want to do a double extern in a restaurant. I'm thinking I would like to go to NYC... These are the places where I'm thinking of inquiring for an externship position. I am looking for mostly contemporary italian type places, but I am up for any place that will be a good experience. This is my list to inquire so far: Del Posto Cru Babbo Esca Felidias Po Alto Borgo Antico Fiamma Are there any anyone recommends I add/subtract from the list? I formulated the list from some researching and a couple places I've eaten.

I went to Cafe Atlantico a couple seasons ago and had scallops that were garnished with "crispy rice" I've been looking for a recipe for awhile since I could not think of how they were made. There were grains of rice that were krispy similarly to a rice krispy. I finally found a recipe from Morimoto: 2 cups steamed white rice Vegetable oil (for deep-frying) 1. Set the oven at 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Spread the steamed rice on the sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and let the rice continue to dry in the oven for at least 8 hours or overnight. Set the dried rice aside at room temperature for up to 12 hours until ready to fry. 2. To fry the rice: Heat about 2 inches of oil in a large saucepan. In batches, carefully add a handful of rice to the oil and fry for 2 minutes or until golden. Using a fine wire-mesh skimmer or a heat-proof (no plastic) wire sieve, scoop out the rice and drain on paper towels. So yesterday I did the whole overnight process with sushi rice that was rinsed very well before steaming. Today I fried it and it looked very similar to the crispy rice in question, but after tasting it... it was nearly as hard as raw rice... I had to experiment more... After almost breaking my teeth I tried Morimoto's technique on two other rices that are in the oven now: Arborio and Uncle Ben's Long Grain. I'm thinking maybe the starch heavy rice becomes harder after drying because the glue like starch hardens... I'm not sure.... What do you guys think. Has anyone done this before? I will update tomorrow night after I've tried the next two.

I'm looking to design some menus of my culinary ideas... Is there any good software to put together nice menus? I'm guessing photoshop and word, but if there is any all in one type software that would be great... I'm also looking for some software to record my recipes... Any ideas? Word and Excel are too primitive... I'd rather something actually meant for recipe organization.

I'm new to the forums. I am a culinary student doing my externship at Hotel duPont. I want to do a second extern and am looking in the philly area and NYC. I'm looking for upscale dining restaurants. The ones I am currently going to send my resume to are Lacroix, Vetri, and Le Bec Fin... Are there any others worth checking out in Philadelphia?