KevinS

http://www.nrdc.org/health/foodmiles/fullyear.asp?state=1 Just pick your state and hit enter =D

Hey guys, I've been assigned with a task by the head chef at my job to compile a list of seasonal fish from the gulf coast. I have a very rough idea, but I'd like to get as specific as possible. I did find a rather nice chart for key west seasonal fishing (http://www.fishtripletime.com/key_west/fishing/calendar.html), and was wondering if anyone had a link to something of the like for the gulf coast. Specifically the destin/san destin area. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

I think I have the worst one of them all. I can't stand eggs. Boiled, scrambled, poached, fried, whatever, it's nasty to me. I DO like them if they are in little pieces in something, such as in fried rice, or in any other form other than pure egg (creme brulee, mousses, etc...). But I am so worried this is going to cost me a job in the future, because since I really just don't like them, I haven't spent my entire life cooking them like a lot of people. I can imagine having one of those "make me an omelet" interviews one day down the road. The ironic part is that an egg is probably one of my favorite ingredients. They can do damn near anything! I just can't eat them by themselves. My old boss hated the taste of garlic, basil, and one other thing that was crucial to Italian cuisine that I can't really remember. That made work quite interesting...

Awsome, thanks for the informative post! Can I ask you how long it took you until you could keep up with the rest of the sushi line cooks? I'm actually doing sushi training right now and I have to say it's F'n hard! I can do it, but I'm too slow. Just spreading rice on the seaweed for Maki will take me 20 seconds if I'm lucky. It takes "Pablo" about 6 seconds to do that. I've only been at it for about 5 days, but I'm already impatient and wondering when the heck I'll be able to do it as good as Pablo. ← I've been at it 2-3 shifts a week (back and forth between the kitchen) for about 9 months now. My speed has probably doubled or tripled but if we ever get REALLY in the weeds my boss "puts it into 6'th gear" and becomes stupid fast. The hardest part for me (speed wise) is still putting the rice on the nori. Yeah I can do it, and it looks good, but somehow the two other guys I work with have like a rice mind control ray that makes it lay on the seaweed in about 5 seconds. My boss can do 2 at a time also... Sushi takes time. A lot of time. It seems so deceptively simple, and it is simple to do a basic roll, but learning the small nuances about it are what make it a true art. I finally figured out that I was putting TOO MUCH tuna in my inside out tuna maki rolls. The ratio of tuna to rice just gave it a flavor that flat out wasn't as good as a standard tekka maki. It's little things like that. Also, doing perfect cuts for sashimi and nigiri, every time, while plating it thoughtfully, and creating discourse with customers, while also banging out the maki rolls is a true skill that takes years upon years to do well. All in all if you want a time frame I'd say use the old 10,000 hours addage. "There's one figure that everyone takes away from Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers: 10,000 hours. That, he says, is the difference between success and non-success, genius and mediocrity. Anyone from the Beatles to Bill Gates who has succeeded has done so on the back of at least 10,000 hours of practice."

It's your lucky day. I have actually done exactly what you are trying to do, but it was pure luck. I was/am a line cook at a place in Tuscaloosa Alabama that also does sushi. I worked my ass off in that kitchen and the head sushi guy noticed. One day he just came up to me and said "Kevin, Chris is leaving in 6 months, we will need a replacement. Are you interested?" And the rest is history. As far as difficulty. Rice IS easy. Any moron can make the rice good. What's hard is perfect rice. The first thing you will do is learn how to make the rice, and my instructions were, 'wash it till the water runs clear, put it in the steamers, and fill the water to the number 18 line, wait 40 minutes, put it in the hungiri (sp?) add 1.25 cups of our vinegar/sugar mix per steamer, make sure it's mixed very well, wait 10 minutes, flip the rice, wait 10 more, put it in the rice containers for service.' No, our rice is not perfect, but it is good. Some days it's really good. It really just depends on who makes it that day and if they actually take the time to taste the rice they made to see if it needs more or less vinegar. And also if they realized that one steamer is slightly wider than the other so it needs a little more water due to evaporation. Sheesh I didn't mean to write that much about just the rice. Our fish comes in half frozen, half fresh. It depends on the fish. But we are generally considered the best sushi in town hands down just because the fish we order is of higher quality. It does not come in blocks, it comes in giant sides which we have to trim down ourselves. When we get mackerel in it comes in whole and we'll come in on an off day and fillet all of them and debone them and then pickle them, and after that's all done we will freeze them until needed and I honestly can't taste the difference of the frozen ones and the first ones we use which don't get frozen. It's only really noticeable if you refreeze it, which causes ice crystals to form. Actually rolling the sushi and forming the nigiri is not too terribly hard. The hard part is doing it fast while making it look good. My boss is literally 3-4 times as fast as I am if he really goes all out and it all still comes out looking great, but he can't only go that fast for so long because it really tires him out. Like anything, speed comes with time. I am finally able to go reasonably fast while having everything look good. It's all about knowing exactly what your hands are going to do 8-10 steps before you actually do it. Probably the hardest part and the part which takes the most finesse is sashimi. I am still not allowed to make a plate of sashimi that is more than one fish, and for basic tuna sashimi plates my boss will still look at me every time I make one to make sure I am doing it correctly. To me, good sashimi presentation is the hardest thing to learn. One important thing you have to learn which you really may never think of is how to interact with people. You never really have to deal with customers as a line cook but as a sushi chef I really have to be a waiter also. It really teaches you how to force conversations and such. Hope this helps and isn't too wordy.

Long time no post I know, but I finally had my first real night on sauté. It was the end of rush for all the sorority girls in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which means they are all allowed to go out for a night, and of course they all come to the place I work at. Side note: I work at the best and busiest restaurant in town hands down. We did not expect it to be nearly as busy as it was and ran out of almost everything (read: 86 filet mignon...seriously????), but we got through it somehow. At the end of the night we did 330 covers and I can honestly say I didn't burn any of my dishes or myself once. I think it was my first real test and I passed. Though this coming Friday is our real test, as it's the day before our first home football game, and if anyone is familiar with the SEC, Tuscaloosa has a rather large football following.

This topic is actually relevant to cooking. I was reading another topic on here and just wondered...when you guys moved to a country (or heck, even learning spanish in american kitchens) where another language was required in the kitchen, how long did it take you to become confident in the language? Just curious Edit: I was really just interested in how long it took you guys to learn a foreign language in general, and what helped you do it. I was a German major in college (just got my BS, woo), and am still nowhere near fluent, even after living with a German family for a month in Munich last Summer (when my Germany was already good). In fact, I would say my German skill actually went down then because their dialect was so harsh. So I guess that is what this topic is about, stories or what have you on your journey to learn a foreign language, and tips you may have. Also, how do you guys deal with different dialects? Because last Summer I could hardly understand anyone while in Munich, but in Berlin I could understand and be understood very very easily. Hope this helps!

Ok so I can finally make a real reply to this. Friday night My boss informs me "Kevin, you're on sauté tomorrow," which kind of sucked because I had to come in 4 hours early to make bread (baker is on vacation for 2 weeks), but was awesome to finally get my chance, on a Saturday nonetheless. Everything went rather smoothly. I only burned one thing, which made me realize how easy it was to get out of sync, because before the burn I was doing 6-8 things at once and had a good rhythm, but like 3 minutes of forgetfulness cost me. Things are rather slow during the Summer though (big college town), so I still haven't experienced a real rush yet. We only did 200 covers, when during the school year we are used to 300-400 on a Saturday, and much more on game days (University of Alabama - huuuuge football school). Oh and I only burned myself once. I like to think of it as my battle scar. Is it sad that I kind of hope it doesn't go away for a while so I can look at it and have that memory???

Oh bother. That last recipe looks great, except now it made me realize that there is a difference between high gluten flour and bread flour. I asked the current 'baker' at work that and he said he uses them interchangeably!

Well my roommates are raving over it. I did ... 2 pounds bread flour 1 tbs salt 1 tsp olive oil (only thing I had on hand) 1 egg 1 packet (1/4 ounce) yeast, activated in 1/2 cup warm water 3 additional cups of water. 7 oz (1 pack from the store) sharp cheddar I think I went a little overboard on the water. It was just a little too sticky. I added everything except the cheese to the mixer. And I'll be honest, I just moved so I seem to have lost my 'junky spring scale' (by junky I mean it only weighs up to like 6 ounces...so yeah, was junk) so I had to go by wikipedia saying that 1 pound is around 3.75 cups (yes I'll weight it when I have a scale, PROMISE!). Anywho I added everything except the cheese, one by one, until everything was nice and mixed. I let it rest for about 20 minutes until it got big, then I took the dough out of the bowl and put it on a plastic cutting board and added the cheese and folded it in, taking into consideration the comment about how sharp cheeses can mess with gluten structures early on. Then I let it sit again under a damn towel. Then I formed into rolls, let it sit again (no proofer at home, didn't know what else to do, so I let it sit under a damp towel). Scored, and baked. I baked it on a pizza stone (not really sure why, it just seemed to fit for some reason) at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I think the temp was too low. It was definitely better than the stuff we currently make at the place I work, but still not quite what I'm looking for. But right now I think the problem is in my technique for forming the rolls. Anyone have any advice for that? Or a good link perhaps? Also feel free to comment on my recipe I posted above. I'm sure it can still be made better.

AH HA! This is something we did not think about before! Very interesting point.

I can probably get by with omitting the sesame seeds. I do need to talk to the guy about the seeds though, because I'm not too crazy about them either, and honestly 1 cup of them in a batch that makes 75 rolls is kind of pointless, especially when he doesn't toast them first to get the oils flowing. Oh and we do add 3/4 of the cheese at the end. The beginning addition is to chop it all up and really work it into the dough, the end is so there are still big bits in there. As I said before, we aren't bakers and are only making the bread because we're being told to by management. I will try a new mini batch tonight and see how things turn out.

Yeah I know one of the big problems is that we don't weigh the flour so it's not possible to be consistent every time. I've been meaning to pick up a good digital scale (my current one is a junky spring loaded thing), so it seems like today is the perfect day to do it.

There are a few ways to tenderize the dough. You can take a portion of the water and replace it with milk or add more oil. If we were talking about 2-3 loaves, then I'd be quick to suggest specific measurements and tweaks. Would you be able to take the baker's percentages to scale down the recipe and make smaller test batches? ← Well I have the recipe in front of me and it's my birthday so I have the day off of work. So, I see no reason why I can't do a small home test batch to start my dinner off tonight. Note: This is just me being excited and in no way related to the topic, but my FL cookbook finally came in today, and I'm most definitely treating myself to this tonight http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.com/2008/...-confit-of.html to go with the bread =D

Yay tips! I shall keep these in mind and definitely try them out next time when cooking. I should have posted that after we mix we proof, then size out and roll, proof again, then bake. We do not score these as we want them to be more like rolls, though I may score a few of them in the next batch to see what kind of different it would make. Any ideas as to the correct measurements (or better ones) for the yeast, salt, oil, and water?

So at work the usual guy that makes the bread is taking a vacation, so they are getting me to make it while he is gone. Me and the guy that make bread (I do not refer to him as a baker because he himself said he is not one and only makes the bread because that is what the bosses ask him to do) both discusses how crappy our cheese bread is. The management has never said anything, but both me and him seem to agree that while the bread has an ok flavor (could be better though) it just gets so dry and has a bad texture. I was wondering if some of the more experienced bakers here could help us out and tweak the recipe, or offer advice. Here's the recipe. 5 oz yeast, activated in 2 cups of water 32 cups high gluten flour (I Know we should probably use weight, and this is probably one of the things we need to correct) 1 bag (it's a rather large, restaurant size bag of cheese) sharp cheddar 1/2 cup kosher salt 10 eggs 1.5 cups oil (I think we use an 80/20 blend of vege and olive) 1 cup sesame seeds. about 12 cups of warm water, depending on humidity. Pretty much we just add all the ingredients to the jumbo mixer we have and let it knead away until it seems ready to roll. Then we roll it into 5 ounce rolls and proof it in our big humidity box thing (I am not a baker, so please excuse my lack of terms, or basic knowledge of the subject). Then bake for 17 minutes at 350 degrees. Yield: about 75 loaves. If anyone could help us out with a tweak on the ingredients or a better method we would really appreciate it!

Well ok apparently I had it a bit wrong. I wasn't working the sauté station like I said, just starting training on it, but this totally works for me! Mondays are really the only time I'd really have to train, right now I'm just learning the recipes and such and the various cooks are showing me various techniques to cook them. Once tonight though all the hot line cooks left to smoke (It was like 9:30 and we were slow, so no biggie) and told me to take over, and like a 4 top ticket came in. I thought it was good practice because a) it's not in a rush, and b) it's just enough to give me a very small taste of timing. Everything came out great and I thought my fish was better cooked than some of the other cooks. I can be a little arrogant at times, but gahhh I work at a place that specializes in fresh fish and so many people overcook it! ← Keep up that arrogance brother.... If only I had a line cook like you, I wouldn't have to fight my chef for Vacation time. A cook with initiative, makes it possible for a cook like myself to tie some knots, throw some flies, and catch some trout. Not to mention Paddle some canoes, start some fires, and pitch tents. don't get me wrong, I love to cook.... Yet, when there are only two people capable to run the show. Especially during the summer time it gets rough. Even with a staff of ten+. Really? i can't take a week off to go canoing because chef is elsewhere? Man, its draining. Your only young once. And I'm getting old, two more years and I'll be thirty.... It's time all you culinary grads start pushing it, take control. It should be easy!!!!!! Yet, when the rush is on, I find myself saying it shouldn't be that hard! lets do it! ← Hah, where do you work? I'm in need of somewhere to move to in the future (I am actually semi-serious about this statement). I know exactly what you mean about the rush. I love the rush. I really don't care how far behind I am I just see it as a challenge, but so help me god if another sever asks if I can move their order ahead because of the wait. I don't think they understand that if I do it for them I have to do it for everyone except the people that'd be too nervous to ask, so instead of everyone having an equal wait there'd be some people with insane waits and some people with no wait...

My favorite thing that I dine on is avocado topped with goat cheese, a smmmalllll dash of salt, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Soooo good. I got most of the wait staff addicted to them as well. New recent creations are deep fried artichoke hearts (canned, but they work better for this because the brine plays well). I should note that this NEEDS marinara sauce for dipping. It completes it. Also I like to get goat cheese (I just love the stuff), fresh basil, and a tiny pinch of salt and batter and fry it. Let it cool just a bit so it's gooey but not molten. They pack a huge punch so make them small. By far the best thing though is the pizza guys Thai Chicken Pizza. It is hands down the best pizza I have had. It's a peanut sauce base, with the usual cheese, grilled chicken, red pepper (roasted would probably make it better, but he uses raw and it's still yum), and carrots that are run through a zester to make super thin juliennes. It's just so good. We use it as a special all the time, and it will hopefully eventually get on the next print of the menu.

Well ok apparently I had it a bit wrong. I wasn't working the sauté station like I said, just starting training on it, but this totally works for me! Mondays are really the only time I'd really have to train, right now I'm just learning the recipes and such and the various cooks are showing me various techniques to cook them. Once tonight though all the hot line cooks left to smoke (It was like 9:30 and we were slow, so no biggie) and told me to take over, and like a 4 top ticket came in. I thought it was good practice because a) it's not in a rush, and b) it's just enough to give me a very small taste of timing. Everything came out great and I thought my fish was better cooked than some of the other cooks. I can be a little arrogant at times, but gahhh I work at a place that specializes in fresh fish and so many people overcook it!

It was a rather slow night last Saturday so me and my boss got to talking about what I am going to do in the future now that I'm not going to culinary school, and he said if I wanted to stick around a bit longer he'd be more than happy to move me up. His exact words were "You'd be a great sauté or grill cook with a month or so of training." I took this as "you're a good employee, and I know you want to get out of Alabama, but if you stay just a bit longer I'll give you a real taste of things to come." I accepted. I'm glad I'm starting out on sauté and not grill though. At my restaurant that means only 4 dishes to worry about, and not like 10 or so on the grill, and it's a Wednesday, so not the busiest time. Also sauté is generally a station that is quick to prep (1 - 1.5 hours, as opposed to my guaranteed 2.5+ hours on garde manger...), so I can ask many questions before service and probably get the chance to demo a few dishes.

So I am finally moving up from the salad/dessert station at work to something more fun, sauté, and am in need of any tips or advice you guys can give. This will be a vastly different experience than what I am used to at my current place because, where I work, salad/dessert is completely independent from the rest of the hot line. I have my own ticket machine and only talk to the expediter when someone orders a shrimp Caesar or such, and that's rare. I realize I'll be in more of a team environment tomorrow instead of being the lone wolf, but I am curious as to other tips you guys might have to keep me out of the weeds and keep my head clear. Thanks!

That's pretty much what I've been thinking. I am going to leave my first job after 6 months (June), but I told the boss long in advance and it's really only because I want to get the hell out of Alabama (also this will open up the CIA req if I decide on that). We're dead as far as food is concerned. So, instead I try to advance myself by reading as much as I possibly can and cooking as much at home as I possibly can to try to perfect my skills. I've been trying to find new basic skills and perfect them as much as possible during my off time. I once made hollandaise every day for a week, and asparagus every meal to go with it. Got kinda old, but now I know how to make a great hollandaise and am much better at blanching that I once was. Practice, practice, practice.

So, this may seem silly to a lot of you guys, but I am having serious trouble being consistent with my Crème brûlées at the place that I work at. I do not cook them, I only put the sugar on the top and torch them before sending them out, but they seem to never be consistent. Sometimes they come out beautiful and perfect, sometimes it seems to be way too thin, sometimes the sugar never sets, and I'm pretty sure I'm doing the same method every time! I have such different results during the same day, so I know something like humidity probably isn't to blame. I'm sure it's me, I just don't know why. Any ideas? P.S. My method for sugaring them is to pour the sugar on top, turn the brulée to let it get everywhere, and turn it upside down to let the excess fall off, and then repeat, then burn. This is how I was shown to do it, if anyone has any better ways I am totally open to suggestions!

So, as a follow up. I just got off the phone with some other admissions councilor about my decision to not enroll. She said she is required to call to make sure I want to do this (i.e. convince me to stay), and her methods seemed quite ruthless. She actually guaranteed me that 5 years from now with no culinary diploma I will be stuck making the same hourly wage I am making now with no big name places giving my application a second look. I find this odd considering the chef at my current restaurant looks to me, on salads/deserts (Hey, don't laugh, I'm just starting out!) for ideas for specials and ideas using not so common ingredients for the area. Hell, he even asks my opinion personally on anything new he cooks because he knows I care about what we do and will give him an honest opinion. I flat out told her what you guys said about ambition and hard work over a diploma, and she assumed I was speaking with other cooks from Alabama, and when I mentioned it wasn't she was quite taken back. I think I've made the right choice for now. Of course a CIA diploma would help me if I decide to go there, but I just can't afford it right now unless I got close to a free ride, but I'll totally look into it. But I also think you can build up your own resume and connections over time. When it comes down to it, CIA/JW/etc are great schools, but they are really just jump starts. I do find it funny that the admissions lady said I'll never get a good job with no diploma, and mentioned big hotels specifically, when I already have a cook job and possibly a supervisor position lined up for June (when I graduate from college + move) thanks to my own connections.

Thanks for all the honest opinions guys. You have all helped me make the decision to put culinary school on hold for now, because there is no way I can imagine affording it, and I do not want to try to sucker my parents into anything. Also, thanks to that link that was posted, I really think my school would have been pretty crappy and fraudulent because it ends up being owned by the same people that own CCA, something I did not know previously. Also, thanks a lot to Chefpeon, and anyone else who said this, you guys are absolutely right about the work ethic thing, and I see how it could make you weary. Though honestly my plan for a while for a while was to graduate from culinary school, whereever it may have been, and then beg and plead with Keller for a job, any job, dish washer for a few years before moving to prep before moving to the line, for him, sounds fantastic! So, hopefully my work ethic is up there. I have no problem doing whatever needs to be done, not complaining, and trying to do whatever is asked as if if I do a bad job, the place will close. I can't remember which chef said it, but "Work like you own the place." is generally a motto I try to go by.