We are people, too!

I was talking with a super cool, hip dietitian from Wisconsin the other day about what she makes at home for dinner and then she said "I would be afraid to cook for a chef." 

We like to be fed, too! 

Now, I'm only speaking for myself but it's nice for someone to cook for me once in awhile. I'm sure a mechanic would love for someone to change their oil on their car from time to time so they can sit back and relax. Even though I love to cook and it's a great passion of mine, it's nice to not to do it when I get home. 

Many people are afraid of cooking for professional chefs because they are afraid of judgement. They are afraid the chef will judge their food and not like it. And that is probably true. BUT we do not judge because we want to put you down or make you feel like shit. We judge because that's what we are taught to do. We're taught to serve the best product we can serve. And how do we better ourselves? Constructive criticism. Don't get me wrong, if you invite me over for dinner I'm not going to tell you your chicken is dry (because it probably is). There's a difference between food that is offered to me and food that I am paying for. If I'm paying for a meal I do have a higher standard for that meal (depending on the restaurant) but the standard is obviously not as high when I eat over a friend's house. 

For the foodies. Please do me a favor. I know you like food and you like to cook and all that jazz. But if you're going to invite a chef over for dinner please understand what will happen if you ask "So how's the food?" I will give you my most honest opinion and that may or may not hurt your feelings. So if you're sensitive, keep your mouth shut. I have definitely ruined some dinners because of that question but I do not feel bad because it was an honest answer to their question. 

A lot of people always ask me why I have to be so mean. If you know me, I'm all about tough love. I want you to succeed but I'm not going to sugar coat anything. If you make a dish and it tastes like shit I'm going to tell you, not just because it tastes like shit but because it's a reflection of me. If I tell you it tastes good and you make it for someone else and you tell that person, "Chris said it tastes great!" I'm going to look like an asshole. I do not want that to happen. My brother in-law always gets on me because I used to tell my sister her cooking was either shit or OK. But luckily for him she's gotten much better.

I will only voice my opinion on bad food if you ask me but I will ALWAYS tell you if I think the food is good. And if I say the word "delicious" then I am absolutely happy with the meal. I think people should ask for opinions more often. Don't settle for mediocre. Always try to better yourself. Food is a huge representation of you and your drive to be better. So if you ever need some opinions, CALL ME! I'm always hungry!

-bien manger

Da Pan! Da Pan! Da Pan is on FIRE! So keep your eye on it!

I see too often the flame under a pan on a medium, sometimes a medium high heat. As an amateur cook I wasn't too sure why people did this as I was always taught to cook with a very hot pan. As I got older I would ask everybody "How come you don't put the flame on high?" and I always got the same answer, "I don't want the food to burn."
If you want to develop flavor, thicken sauces, sear, roast, or just cook well the flame plays a very big role the success of your dish. You won't be able to brown your meats and potatoes with a medium flame, you can't activate your roux with a medium flame, you can't lock juices in your steak with a medium flame. I get not everybody is a professional cook but you don't need to be! All you need to do is give your food the attention it deserves. Last week I witnessed someone get a pan hot, add their onions and garlic, and then walked away and started having a conversation with someone else. Naturally, when she returned, the onions and garlic were burnt. She looked at me with frustration and said, "Why'd you make me do that?!" Earlier I was explaining to her what a hot pan can do for a dish. She used to cook everything with a low flame and now I see why.
Cooking is like raising a child. You need to watch it and protect it so it doesn't get hurt. You wouldn't put a baby in a room and expect it to grow up to be an adult by itself would you? You need to nurture it, love it and want it to be great!

Go big or go home!

You know what really irks me? Putting a product on your menu just because it's a "rare" or an "exotic" item. That's all fine and dandy but if you're going to serve it, don't cheat the customer by serving a shitty product. 

If you saw a 12oz Kobe Beef Sirloin on the menu and it was only $20 you should be concerned. But this post is not about Kobe Beef, it's not even about how much it was. It's about being true to the ingredients and having some respect for yourself as a chef. 

The other night my girlfriend and I went out to dinner to a place that was known for their game proteins. Kangaroo, alligator, venison, etc. Now, one thing I did expect was the proteins were going to be dry. Most gamey proteins are very lean in general so moisture was not the name of the game. For appetizers she ordered Foire Gras over Heirloom Tomatoes and some type of dressing and I ordered the Grilled Octopus with melon wrapped in some type of cured meat. The only thing I liked about the two dishes was the melon, cantaloupe to be exact. The Foie Gras was seared nicely but the texture was very mushy, almost like an undercooked custard. Foie Gras is given 3 grades - A, B or C. A is the best, it's the fullest, most firm and has no blemishes. And I'm sure you can guess they get worse. I'm guessing they served us a C grade foie because it was so soft. It was served over half a less than 1/4" sliced heirloom tomato. Did I mention it was the bottom of the tomato? Now, you may be thinking "What's wrong with the bottom of the tomato?" Nothing, but if you're trying to offer a fine dining experience w white table cloth and servers with crumbers, you do not serve the bottom or top of tomatoes. Those are for stock.  The dressing tasted like balsamic and oil. 

Now, for the Octopus. I learned through my years of cooking when you cook invertebrates, you either cook it for 90 seconds or 90 minutes. Squid and octopus can become rubber very quickly as I'm sure you've all experienced here and there when ordering calamari. Well, this octopus was definitely grilled and wasn't tough, but wasn't tender. It was grainy, as if it was frozen, defrosted, frozen, defrosted, frozen and defrosted again. Everytime you defrost something it loses moisture and I've had octopus hat was frozen before. What I ate the other night was something else. I attached a picture below to show what I'm talking about. 

This post is not even about me being a pompous fuck who has to have perfect food all the time. It's actually for the people who want to venture into "nicer" foods. If someone wanted to try foie gras for the first time, I would want them to eat the best foie gras there is so they can make their own assessment about the product. It's kind of like someone who wants to try venison for the first time and gets served a well done piece of venison tenderloin from a deer who eats grass from the highway. They're going to think all venison is dry as shit and tastes like shit. 

Cooks, take some pride in your work. We work long hours, we endure constant pain and we get paid shitty. Show everybody why you became a cook and why all this pain is worth it. For me, it's when someone closes their eyes and sighs after taking the first bite of my food.  That's better than a paycheck.

-bien manger 

Learn How to Follow Directions!

Most of you know how I feel about recipes. I believe cooking is an art through which people may express themselves, so how can you do that by doing the same thing someone else is doing? How often have you followed recipes that asked for an ingredient you've never used before? How many bottles and bags of spices and sauces are hanging in the pantry that you've used once or twice, tops? Recipes are a good foundation if you don't know what you're doing, but don't stress yourself if you don't have that one teaspoon of cardamom. How often have you followed a recipe and it calls for a certain ingredient that you've never used before?...pretty often. And after about 5 different recipes your pantry is full of bottles and bags of sauces and spices you've only used about once or twice in the past 9 months.

That being said, I'm not saying you should never follow recipes, but you should always be open to trying different things.

And with THAT being said, most of you know how I feel about baking. The two things I despise most in the cooking world are 1. measuring and 2. following a recipe to the T(easpoon). #seewhatididthere

The Pastry Arts are a science. Although there is a lot of creativity aesthetically, there is very little you can do with changing a recipe to make it your own (unless you are a pastry chef with 20 years of experience, which you are not). The temperature of the eggs, the softness of butter, clumps in the flour, overbeating, soft peaks, hard peaks, speed of adding sugar...what does this all mean? Science. Mess one of these things up in the recipe and you're failure rate will start to rise even before you put it in the oven.

So where am I going with this? Not really sure, I lost my train of thought for a second.





...Ok. Now I remember. If you're going to follow recipes, at least follow recipes that give you weight measurements. You want to look for recipes that call for grams, ounces, and pounds. These are THE MOST ACCURATE units of measure for cooking/baking. Think about it this way: Space is a pastry chef's worst enemy. How much does air weigh? Nothing. How many air pockets can you have in a cup of flour? Don't know. So does a cup of flour with air pockets weigh the same as 8 ounces? (1 cup = 8oz) NO! Because there is not the same amount of flour! Also, if you're making a pie and it calls for 3 cups of apples. Are you actually going to mash all those apples into the cup until there's no space? Or are you going to slice them up and put it in a cup with a few apples sitting past the 1 cup line? Any change in the recipe could result to disaster. Ever wonder why your cookies were flat or too hard? Probably because you used a tablespoon of baking soda that wasn't leveled. Who knows? Next time you buy a recipe book or look one up online make sure the units of measure are in grams, ounces or pounds. Screw the teaspoons, tablespoons and cups, they're not your friends.

So how am I going to weigh everything out? With a scale duh! Some of you might think it's a little over the top to buy a scale JUST to weigh out some food. I think it's a little over the top to buy a quart of apple cider vinegar because the recipe called for 2 tablespoons. And plus you can buy a little pocket scale for $20.

To all my pastry friends hope I didn't sound like an asshole but...
...you already know I am :)

Bien Manger

- Cwis

And This Little Piggy...

If you know me, then you know my love for pork. It's like the other red meat but cheaper. You can braise it, stew it, roast it, eat it medium rare. The list goes on and on. All the cuts of pork are very similar to that of beef. There's tenderloin, sirloin, shoulder, etc...but there's one thing that a pig has that a cow doesn't--pork belly! "What's so special about that? It's just fat", you say? That's where bacon comes from, duh!

My tattoo 

Bacon is made when a cut of pork is cured for a period of time. The curing process draws moisture out the meat by dry packing it with salt or letting it sit in a brine. In earlier years curing was the only form of preserving food.  The most traditional form of bacon we know today is smoked or half smoked. This is when the bacon is smoked for a short period of time so that you would have to finish it by cooking it. Other forms of bacon like fully smoked bacon (bacon bits) or boiled bacon, do not require cooking. Never heard of boiled bacon? Yeah, there's a reason...yuck!

Here are some tips for cooking bacon.

• Place your bacon in the (cold)pan before putting it on the heat. This will 1) allow you to utilize all of the pan and 2) prevent you from burning yourself. What this does is allows the bacon come up to temperature with the pan as it heats up so you don't get burnt bacon. 
• Keep the fire at a medium to medium high heat. Theres no reason to go full blast with the flame. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. 
• As the fat renders off the bacon, try to remove some of the fat by tilting the pan using a spoon to scoop it out into a bowl. You don't want your bacon to BOIL in its own fat. 
• When the bacon is cooked to your liking, place it on a paper towel on a plate. This will suck up any excess fat leaving your bacon crispy (if that's how you like it).

bien manger

-cwis

Get A Grip!...or Spatula.

If you've ever poked your head into a professional kitchen nowadays, what's the one utensil you see most cooks use? It'll most likely be their tongs. Tongs for a cook is like an extension of their hands that has no feeling. They can grab food out of the fryer, they can stir with it, they grab hot pots, pans, or plates,  they can even use it as a hammer! (Not recommended) Even though tongs are super versatile, there's no place for them in fine dining. With their thin edges and non pressure sensitive metal, tongs can actually damage your food more than you think.

The other day I was watching a cook sear scallops and it broke my heart. The cook used his tongs and squeezed the shit out of the sides and proceeded to flip them. I walked over to look at the scallops and of course I was right. A huge gash on the side of the scallop laughed at me as I examined its now oval-shaped body because this careless cook had no respect for himself. Someone else told me to go easy on the guy. Why would I go easy on him when I just paid over $16/lb for these delectable ocean treats? (Scallops are my favorite seafood).

How are you supposed to flip scallops? Easy, with a spatula! A fish spatula, preferably. The less the food is touched with the utensil the better. Just slip it under and flip and that's it. I remember another incident where I saw one of my cooks extracting poached eggs out of the water, with tongs. I asked, "Why are you using tongs?" He replies, "What am I supposed to use?" I handed him a slotted spoon. 

There's a reason there are so many utensils for cooking. Each one has its purpose even if it is only for one thing. If you use the right tools, the end product will always turn out great. Unless you suck at cooking.

Last note: I think the most common mistake people make is using metal utensils in non-stick pots/pans. Metal will scratch the shit out of your non-stick pans. PLEASE use a rubber spatula if you're going to make contact with the cookware. If you don't have one then a wooden spoon will suffice (I still don't recommend it, but it is softer than metal).

bien manger

-cwis

Green means GO, Ice means STOP

When was the last time you ate a green vegetable that was mushy? When was the last time you ate a brown vegetable that was supposed to be green? When was the last time you even cooked a green vegetable?

I will admit that not everybody is on the same page when it comes to texture. Some people like their pasta soft and some people like it al dente. Some people like their steak well done and some people like their steak rare. I will also admit admit that those people who like their pasta soft and steak well done SHOULD EAT AT MCDONALD'S FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.

That being said...

I'm so amused at how everybody comes and tells me about the dinner they cooked last night. I guess because I'm a chef people think that I love to hear about their "gourmet" dinner they made last night with couscous and dried fruit (cool bro).  I was talking to a coworker the other day and she was telling about her dinner she had cooked for her and her family. "Everything turned out well except for the green beans. They were brown and mushy." At that moment I knew exactly what she did wrong but first, I had to assess the situation. "How long did you boil the green beans for?" I asked. "The recipe said two to three minutes." she explained. Without knowing what the recipe said I asked, "Did you put the green beans in the ice water after the two to three minutes?" She said, "...oh"

When cooking green vegetables such as Asparagus, Green Beans, Broccoli, Spinach, etc. remember these two words; Blanch and Shock. 

Blanching is when you submerge the vegetable in boiling water for a short period of time before it is fully cooked. You are not BOILING it. When you boil something you are cooking it all the way through like boiling potatoes. 

Shocking is when you take the vegetable out of the water and submerge it in ice water immediately. Green vegetables are very fibrous and dense so even when you take it out of the boiling water it is still cooking in the inside. So throwing it in ice water will stop the cooking process. This will also keep the vegetables color and crunchiness. 

(What green vegetables should look like when you shock them...green.)

So I discovered that what my coworker did wrong was that she put the green beans in the boiling water and then turned it off after 2 minutes and did laundry...LEAVING THE VEGETABLES IN THE HOT WATER. And then when she got back she then put them in the ice water.

(When I went to googled "overcooked green beans" this image came up and it's an actual dish that some made and was proud of. This is HORRIFIC.)

Here's a little tip for blanching and shocking. Recipes will tell you to salt the water. How much salt do you use? It all depends. You're not going to use a teaspoon for 3 gallons of water or 2 cups of salt for 1 quart of water. Put enough salt in little by little to make it taste like OCEAN WATER. Yes, that's right. Ocean water. Trust me on this. And also put just a pinch of salt in your ice water. When you take the vegetables out to shock them, you're throwing them in plain ice water where it's going to wash all the flavor off. So just a pinch, nothing crazy but enough to help retain flavor. Remember, salt doesn't make food taste salty, instead, it brings out flavor.

Blanching and shocking isn't JUST for vegetables. Have you ever boiled an egg and when you crack it open the outside of the yolk is green? If you've read my past blog on how to boil a perfect egg, it means it OVERCOOKED. So same thing applies here. Boil the egg and throw it into ice water ASAP.

Hope you enjoyed this one. Only took me 2 hours to write it! Until next time.

bien manger

-cwis

How to break down a chicken

Enjoy peoples, leave me comments to let me know what I could've done better. I need the feedback!!

bien manger

-cwis

More Videos!

Enjoy Guys!

When In Season! (When In Rome haha...no?)

I know Valentine's Day is tomorrow. So what are the two things a person (girl) receives on Valentine's Day? Flowers and Chocolate! And if the guy wants to take that extra step, how about some chocolate covered strawberries? I mean what says love more than a sweet, delicious strawberry covered in a dark (or milk) chocolate? Mmmm, sounds awesome, right? There's just one problem - it's February!

The other day I was in a mall and a girl was trying to sell me some pastries they make in house. I explained that I'm not big on sweets and she said, "Well, we have these beautiful chocolate covered strawberries we dipped ourselves. They're very big as well!" I give her credit for trying to sell the product, but I had to ask a few questions. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Oh wow, they are big! Are you a foodie?
Her: Yeah, I love food!
Me: Cool, so are you big into the organic foods? You seem like the healthy type.
Her: Oh yeah, it's so much healthier without all that stuff they spray on the food.
Me: Well, we all grew up eating that stuff and we turned out OK, don't you think.
Her: Yeah, but we didn't know any better so if I can, I'd rather not eat that stuff.
Me: Fair enough. Are you big supporter in local farms?
Her: Definitely! I try to go out to the farmer's markets when I can, you can get some great food out there.
Me: Absolutely! So what farm do you guys get your giant strawberries from? Do you get them from a local, organic farm?
Her: Oh, I'm not sure if they're organic but they ARE local.
Me: That's crazy! I didn't know you could grow strawberries in the winter time.
Her: Of course you can, let me show you the container it comes in.

(Now, I didn't want to be a dick, but I knew what she was going to show me. There was a 99% chance it was going to be a Driscoll container. Driscoll is a company that farms berries in California and some countries in South America. They say they're organic, but I think that's bullshit. I'll get into my views about Organic some other time.)

Shows me the container.

Me: Oh! Driscoll. Have you been to their farm?
Her: No, unfortunately. Have you?
Me: Yeah, it's in Watsonville.
Her: Oh, where's that? Is it far?
Me: It's in California. 
Her: Oh.

Every fruit and vegetable has its season. Of course there are green houses and this and that, but there's nothing more natural (and organic har har har) than fruits and vegetables growing when they're supposed to. Have you noticed that you can really only get watermelons during the summer time? Or that berries and stone fruit taste best when the temperatures are high?

It just doesn't make sense to me when I see "fruit salad" that consists of honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple in the winter. Why? Because they're Spring/Summer fruits! They taste the BEST during those seasons. During the winter when you see them in the super market, they most likely came from a South American country. What's so bad about that? Nothing honestly, except for the fact that it won't taste as good and you're probably going to pay almost double fr mediocre produce.

Think about it this way - have you overnighted something from another country? Ever buy something on Ebay and it came from China and took about 3-4 weeks to get to you? There's nothing different about these fruits. In order to prevent these fruits from going bad before they get to your supermarket, a lot of these companies will actually harvest these fruits before they are ripe. This is a big risk they're taking. In their minds, the fruit will ripen while it's being transported. Some of it will, and some of it won't.
I'm sorry, let me rephrase that last sentence.
Some of it will, and a lot of it won't. Those kinds of fruit in the winter taste like shit. Almost like cardboard. Not only are we getting bad tasting and unripe fruit, but if the company that's producing them are 'organic,' then there's a chance we might get some foreign bug along with our fruit.

Foreign bug = possible diseases.

Then you have the companies that spray the shit out of fruits with crap to keep the bugs away. So what's the lesser of two evils?

But don't let this steer you away from eating honeydew, cantaloupe, and pineapple. Like I said, every fruit and vegetable has its season. Even though Spring and Summer time is the time for berries, melons, mangos, avocado, and stone fruit, Winter time is the time for citrus. Lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, kiwis are best during winter time. And you can't forget about Fall time - pumpkins, gorges, apples, pears, figs and certain berries are best during this severe season change.

Remember, I'm not telling you how to eat. I'm just simply helping you - of course some of us are ok with settling with mediocre, but those people aren't reading this. When you buy an apple, you want the sweetest apple that's going to crunch when you bite into it. When you buy a water melon, you want the juiciest watermelon there is. When you buy a crate of tangerines, you want the most succulent little orange balls there is.

So the next time you're out shopping for fruits and vegetables, whether for dinner or just to have in your fruit basket, remember what season we're in. And if you're craving an apple during the spring time, chances are it's because you remember how delicious that Pink Lady Apple was a couple months ago, and chances are it won't taste the same as you remembered, and chances are you're going to pay more for it, and chances are you're going to be disappointed just like your last boyfriend or girlfriend. Just saying.

Need help knowing what fruit and vegetable belong in what season? Check this out. 

bien manger

-cwis

Going against the grain

So we already know the importance of letting meat rest before we cut into it, right? NO?! well here's a video.

So now we know why we let meat rest. GREAT! So now, do we know why we slice meat against the grain? Wait, what?! NO?!

Ok, no worries. You're not the only one. Whether you're working with beef, chicken, pork, or even fish, you always want to cut across the grain. What does this mean? See the lines that run left and right on this piece of flank steak? They're fibers that run in a certain direction almost like muscle. Now the lines are the "grain"and the direction the lines are "going with the grain." Make sense? Cool.

Now what do you think cutting against the grain means? It just means cutting across the fibers. By doing this, you shorten the fibers in each piece - making it easier to eat.

Think of it this way - I'm sure you've eaten celery before. When you bite into a stalk of celery, have you ever experienced that string that comes off the celery? Think of that as a fiber in the meat. When you cut the celery against the grain it makes the string shorter, making it easier to eat, yes? Same thing with the meat. But instead of preventing eating string, you're preventing eating chewy meat.

So remember this kids: next time you cook meat whether it's roasting, searing, braising, broiling, whatever...remember to let it rest FIRST for about 5 min and then when slicing it, cut against the grain. Same thing goes for food prepping. Even when the meat is raw, always cut against the grain. We don't want chewy food! Think about it the next time you have a steak in front of you with a knife in the right hand and a fork in the left hand. 

I'm glad I added pictures or this shit would've been boring! Left side correct slicing, right side incorrect slicing.

bien manger

-cwis

Let's cut to the chase

Knife purchasing is very easy yet complicated at the same time. Think of it like buying a new car. In your mind you have an idea of what type, what brand, how big, how small, etc. But you won't know if you really like it until you test drive it. It's the same thing with knives. You can look at customer reviews all you want. You get an idea of what steel is best, the different purposes of the knives, and how many is too many knives to own. But you won't get the full effect until you have a knife in your hand.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is "how often will I use these knives?" I mean actually use, not "oh well I use it to open boxes!” I mean cutting actual meat and vegetables. If you're only using your knives 2 or 3 times a month, then a 2pc knife set from Ikea would be perfect for you. Any brand new knife of any brand will always be sharp no matter what. Now, how long it'll stay sharp for is another story. The second thing you need to ask yourself is do you use a plate as a cutting board? If you use a plate to cut food on then buying a "nice" set of knives would be pointless.
Maintenance on knives is not complicated but is required. Here are 3 basic tips to getting the most out of your knives.

1) Dry after washing (by hand). Though most knives have some sort of coating to protect the knife from rusting, the coating will wear off over time and water will eventually start to rust it. After washing your knives always dry it off with a dry towel before putting it back in the knife block. Never let water sit on the knife in your dish rack. Muy malo para el cochillo.

2) Keep your knives sharp. Hunting stores sell a hand sharpener that works very well. Almost looks like the handle of a carpenter's stapler. You can run it on the blade 1 or 2 times before you put it away. Most accidents occur when using a dull knife rather than a sharp knife.

3) Always use a cutting board. Whether you're cutting a lime for your Corona or dicing beef cubes, using anything other than a cutting board will damage the knife. I suggest buying 3 boards. A small, medium, and a large board for all sizes of food you'll be cutting.

I was going to explain the importance of keeping a knife sharp but I figured a video would be more efficient (is that the word?) And plus I need to use all the features of this MacBook Pro. So here it is!

I know...I talk fast. I'll slow down next time...if there is a next time.

So now that you know the 2 basic questions of what you need to ask yourself, it becomes a lot easier from there. You can start shopping around, reading reviews, etc. But like I said before, you won't know if you like it until you test it out. Go to your local knife shop or William Sonoma and ask to see it. Hold it in your hand. Feel it. Touch it. Love it. Want it. Whatever. Just make sure you're comfortable with it. Is it too heavy? Is it too light? Do you like wooden handles? Do you like metal handles? I DON'T KNOW! All these questions will be answered with your own personal preference.

Personally, I like a soft and light metal with a wooden handle. Light because I'm a small guy and soft metal because it's easier to sharpen. And wooden handles just look better. But the down side to these are you need more "umph" when you're cutting something bigger because a lighter knife won't do it. Soft metals tend to dull faster and wooden handles are more prone to bacteria hiding in it. Like I said, it's all personal preference when it comes to knives. But if you're not going to take care of them or use them often don't bother buying a "nice" set. That 2 piece set from Ikea will work JUST FINE. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. It took me 3 months to write this! FACK!

Wok, Don't Run!

I know it looks really cool and all when you see a chef tossing food up in the air and shaking it around a pan but if you're not experienced please don't try it yourself. And I'm not saying this because I think you suck at cooking, but chances are you're probably not doing it for the right reason.

A lot times I see people moving the pan way too much. Why do you think chefs move the pan so much? Go ahead, think about it for a second. I'll wait................
If you answered "to look cool" then you're right! Just kidding. We shake and toss and flip for one reason, to move the food. It has nothing to do with faster cooking or adding air into it. It's just for moving the food, literally. If you put a handful of onions in, you want to flatten it out so it can cook evenly. So to flatten it out, you shake it. If you add some parsley to your vegetables you just sautéed and don't have a spoon, toss it around. I think you get my point. But please keep this in mind and I will try to explain this as simple as possible. In order to cook something, the product must be heated and the pan transfers heat directly into the product. Now if you keep tossing and shaking the pan the less time the product will spend touching the pan which means a long cooking time.

"What about those Asian chefs who use woks? They're always tossing food around." This is true but the reason they do this is because their wok is about 10 times hotter than the pan you use at home. Woks and the stoves they are heated on are designed for fast cooking. How do you think your Chinese food comes out so quick? Woks are made of a different metal to heat up fast and the shape is designed for hot spots and cooler spots.

So the next time you add a new ingredient into the pan, give it a quick shake to level everything out and let it cook. I briefly touched this subject in my mushroom post if you want to read back on it. Just remember though, the more movement, the longer the cooking time.

bien manger

-cwis

Soup: a lost art

Does anybody remember the story of the "stone soup?" Travelers were passing through a village with empty soup pots. As they arrived the villagers refused to give them anything to make soup with. Then they said, "screw this"...not literally. So they went down to the stream, filled up their biggest pot with water and dropped a large stone in it to cook. As they were cooking their soup one of the villagers came by with curiosity and asked what they were making. They said they were making stone soup and it tastes wonderful. But if they had a few other vegetables it would make it taste much better. So the one villager didn't mind parting with a few carrots he had. So a long story short, the other villagers heard about this "stone soup" and contributed with little vegetables they had and of course at the end of it all they all created this wonderful soup just from some random vegetables and...love.

I'm sure there's some type of meaning behind this story but this is my blog and I blog about food.

Soup to many people is kind of like Fried Rice to Asians. When you look in your refrigerator you see a little bit of this, half of that, leftovers from the other day and a week old container of something. So what do Asian people do with all of this? Make fried rice! Because we always have rice in our refrigerator. Same goes with soup. Soup is that one dish that really teaches you how understand food. How do I develop more flavor? Do I use water or broth? Did I use too much liquid? How do I make it thick? How do I make it thin? Should I season more? So there's so many factors in making soup "taste good."

As anal as I am about cooking, I will say this. There is NO WRONG WAY to make soup. BUT, there are better ways of making it. Instead of corn starch, use a roux. Instead of dumping food into boiling water, dump it into cold water and then turn it on. Instead of using water, use broth. Instead of using broth, use stock!  Haha!

Honestly though, making soup really is a lost art. With all these packages of chicken base where all you add is water and you get chicken broth...it's all garbage. These little packages are filled with all kind of stuff like MSG (monosodium glutamate), which has been banned from a few states, sodium and of course more stuff that you can't even pronounce. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a Cup of Noodle once in awhile because I grew up on the stuff. But if you have any type of respect for yourself and the people you're serving then you can make me happy by staying within these few guidelines.

-Flavorful liquid.
Whether its chicken broth, veal stock, vegetable broth or even water. Please make sure there's as much flavor in it as possible. If you don't know how to do that then you can read back on my entry about stocks, read back on my risotto entry or just ask! The liquid is going make up about 70% of the soup. So keep that in mind.

-Make sure everything is the same size.  
When you cut your vegetables or meat for your soup make sure they are consistent. By doing this everything will cook evenly and your diner will be able to fit a little bit of everything on their spoon. Nobody wants to eat a BIG piece of potato and a small piece of chicken at the same time...nobody.

-Don't use so much oil.
If you think what you put in the pot isn't enough, then it's probably enough. A little bit of oil goes a long way. Remember, if you're cooking meat too, then there's a good chance that meat will give off some type of fat. There's nothing worse then oil floating at the top of your soup. If you notice that there's too much oil/fat in the pot before you add your liquid, there's a neat trick to get rid of it and give your soup some texture. Add a little bit of flour to the mix. The flour will soak up all fat and dry out your pot (which is good). And this of course creates a what? A ROUX! So if anything, it'll actually thicken your soup just a little bit.

-Cook your food before adding your liquid.
As I said before, there is no wrong way to make soup. Of course you can take your broth and dump and bunch of vegetables and meat in it and put it on the fire. I'm sure it'll taste fine. But if you saute your food before you add your broth, it'll be ten times better. I promise (I never promise). By cooking your vegetables and protein just a little before adding the liquid will break down cell walls in the food releasing natural oils and sugars that will go right into the soup. What do you like better? Caramelized onions or raw onions? I thought so.

-Do not boil your soup.
After you've added your liquid, bring it to a boil and immediately turn it down to a simmer. Don't let it boil for too long. You don't want your vegetables to turn into mush and you don't want to overcook your proteins. That's right, you can most definitely overcook meat in soup. Even though it's in a liquid, it can still get tough and rubbery. Seriously, don't let it boil.

-Let it cook.
You can't rush perfection. After it's come to a boil and you've turned it down to a simmer, let it cook for awhile. 10 minutes, 15 minutes...whatever you want. Just know the longer you cook it, the more flavor that will come out of the food and into the soup. Think of marinara sauce. Though it's not a soup, it's the same concept. Allowing it to cook for awhile marries all the flavors together. But unlike marinara, I do not recommend cooking your soup for more than 25 minutes after you've turned it down to a simmer. Anything after that, we're venturing off into stewing..and that's for a different entry.

-Don't use corn starch to thicken.
If you go back to my "Don't be so roux-ed"entry, that'll show you how to thicken properly. Corn starch makes things gummy. To me it doesn't thicken properly. Ever have chinese food and there's some type of thick sauce that looks a little runny? Almost %99.999 percent of the time they used a buttload of corn starch to thicken it. That's not how you want your soup to look like. Trust me.

It seems like a lot to remember. But if you follow at least one step every time you make soup you'll notice a difference. I promise.

Once you've got the hang of understanding soups and flavor development, etc...then you can pretty much apply that to anything that has liquid. Poaching, stewing, braising...you'll be a pro in no time. But remember, you won't get it the first time. Expect to fail to succeed.

bien manger

-cwis

'Tis the Seasoning

Attention: if there is some type pre-made seasoning that is available to you at this moment please get it now. Please do this before proceeding. Thank you.




McCormick, Lawry's, Mrs. Dash, Montreal...what do they all have in common? Garbage.

In the years that I've worked, I've encountered many different kinds of pre-made seasonings, rubs, blends, etc., and I've come to the conclusion that I'm absolutely against most of them. If it's a seasoning made with dried herbs then it smells and tastes like cardboard. Oh, and you shouldn't using dried herbs anyway. Shame on you! If it's a seasoning made from spices then probably 99% of the time it will be filled with mostly...well you'll find out. If it's a seasoning with both then you'll have nasty cardboard.

Did you know that the ingredients on the label are listed in that order for a reason?

Ingredient lists start with the largest amount of ingredient first and works its way down to the ingredient with the least amount. So right now, I want you to take a look at the ingredient list on the bottle of seasoning you have with you and tell me what the first ingredient is...go ahead. I'll wait here...

Most of you will probably say...SALT. "What's so bad about salt," you ask? Nothing except for when you use too much of it. Companies fill these seasonings up with salt because it's a cheap filler. Looks like you're getting more seasoning, but you're just getting a lot of salt. If you remember my blog about salt, it's there to bring flavor out. Not to make things salty. Some people like the flavor of these seasonings so they put more on thinking it'll taste better. It actually makes it worse because they're putting more salt on. When I make some type of seasoning, I keep that and salt separate. I always seasoning my food with salt and pepper first, then I seasoning with my mix. You want the salt to season the food and draw moisture out so that the moisture can mix with the seasoning and caramelize when it cooks.

Very rarely do I use any other seasonings besides salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. I believe that you should be able to taste the food rather than masking it with other flavors. Don't get me wrong, I do like a little bit of curry or cumin or paprika sometimes but most of the times, you'll only see me use salt and pepper. When I was living on my own (I now live with my mom and dad. (and I love it)) I always had a mix. It was a 2:2:1 ratio of garlic:salt:pepper. I used that more than anything else. Of course sometimes a dish need a little more salt or a little more pepper but I always had those on the side too. But the garlic is what puts it right over the top.

So all in all if I see pre-made seasoning at your house I'll probably get very angry inside and I won't do anything because well...at the end of the day, you are your own boss. Just know that I'll be staring at it and will empty it the second you turn around.

bien manger

-cwis

Slow and Steady Wins the Race...

A lot of people ask me, "What's your favorite thing to cook?" Usually, if it's a woman I say, "Anything you want." If it's a man I say, "Anything the customer wants."

...ok that was a bad joke.

I can remember the happiest day in culinary school (even happier than graduation). I walked into class with a binder in one hand and the best French coffee I've ever had in the other. This coffee was so good I used to drink it black with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Yeah, that good.
Anyway...when I sat down I looked up at our daily menu and I saw (written in French) "Mango Risotto". My eyes lit up and I knew that today was going to be a good day.
I'll be honest, I don't remember the first time I ate risotto. I just remember that I loved it and that was probably the one dish I looked forward to learning how to cook. It's starchy, yet creamy. It's filling but not heavy. It'll take on whatever flavor you throw in with it. It's not the best looking, but it's definitely the best tasting. I remember scooping out little tiny balls of mango for the garnish. Even though it was only the side dish, it was the best part of the dish. In fact I don't remember what the protein and vegetable were...and I don't care!

If anybody remembers awhile back, I did a little culinary trivia contest where Shawn won a bottle of Truffle Oil. One of the questions was, "What's the difference between Risotto and Arborio Rice." The reason I asked this that there are a lot of people who don't know the answer to this question. So here it is. Risotto is a dish that is made of an Italian short grain rice called Arborio Rice. It comes from a town call Arborio (go figure). It has a very high starch content because it is not milled as much as the typical long grain rice. The starch is what gives it its creamy consistency. And just like pasta, it's cooked al dente, which means it should have a little bite.

When preparing risotto you need to understand that it's going to take a little while and a lot of love...seriously. Love is the main ingredient in all my dishes. Risotto cannot be rushed or you'll get really nasty mushy...I don't know what it'd be but I know it's not going to be good. It must be cooked at a medium to medium high heat. Never full blast. Make sure the liquid you are using to cook it has a lot of flavor. If it calls for chicken broth, make that Swansons or College Inn chicken broth awesome by buying chicken wing tips or chicken wings (they're cheap) at the super market, putting it in the broth and cooking (not boiling) it for 15-20 min. That'll give your broth a lot more flavor.

Moving forward. Make sure you have a pan or skillet. Something that low sides and a lot of surface area. There are 3 reasons for this.

1) Low sides promote fast evaporation (which is what we want). Ever wonder why stock pots have high sides? Because you don't want fast evaporation.
2) More surface area means fast heat transfer. The wider the pan the more metal to rice action will go on and it will cook faster.
3) If you see that it's starting to overcook you can turn off the heat and it will actually cool down faster.

If you look up a recipe for risotto I can almost guarantee you will see 6 cups of broth and it will tell you to add maybe 3/4 cup at a time every 2 or 3 min. This cooking technique is what makes risotto so delicious and I believe a lot of grains should be cooked like this. By adding small quantities of stock at a time it will reduce faster. Because broths are about 80% water and 20% flavor this process will take out the water and only leave the flavor. You're pretty much concentrating the flavor of the broth. The recipe will also tell you to constantly stir. Some may say every 45 seconds give it a stir and some may say stand there the whole time stirring. If you've never made risotto before, I suggest you stand there the whole time stirring. The starch that's cooked out rice will mix with the concentrated broth and give it it's creamy texture. But because there is so much starch in the pan it can easily burn if it sits too long.

You'll probably be stirring for about 14-18 min. Remember, you cannot rush risotto. Every so often, taste it. This is one the very few dishes I would say to wait till the end of the cooking to season it. Because you are concentrating so many layers of the broth that the flavor is going to change throughout the cooking process. Don't season at the beginning because it tastes bland. It will develop flavor as you add more broth. Like I said, you want to cook the risotto al dente. Once you've gotten your bite, stop adding broth and taste. Season as needed and you're done. The consistency of risotto should be thicker than pancake batter. When you spoon it onto the plate it should be able to fall by itself. It should never hold shape. If it does, then fix it.

Once risotto is cooked you really only have about 6-7 min to serve it without it stiffening up on you. Remember, it must fall by itself.

As much as I love risotto, I would never order it at a restaurant and most certainly never have it at a catered event. The way restaurants deal with risotto is that they partially cook a big batch half way and cool it down. When an order comes in they scoop out a portion and reheat it in a pan with broth. The problem with this is once you've cooked and cool risotto you've lost its "wow" factor. I'm not sure what happens but there's a huge difference between risotto being cooked in one shot and risotto that's been cooked, chilled, and cooked again.

I hope you learned a little something about risotto in this entry. Like I said, risotto is so versatile. Let your imagination go when you're making it. But please don't overcook it and don't serve it stiff. Or I will kick you in the face.

bien manger

-cwis

Will you Marry-nade me?

So a friend of mine, Heather S., is a big foodie just like most of you. She posted on my facebook an interesting topic for this blog entry. 


Heather - Another blog idea might be about meat and vinegar... ((Unless you have a definite opinion against using vinegar.)) 
My mom told me that the vinegar "tenderizes" the meat (or something like that). I need to Google the why and how questions... But I was wondering if you had any advice on the cooking aspect of it, flavour, etc. I know, K.I.S.S., and not overcooking beef/lamb/etc... But I've found I do like the "softening" effect. =)

Me - ok let's talk about marinades for a second. I was always taught that there had to be 3 main ingredients in ANY marinade. 

1) Oil
2) Flavoring
3) Acid

Oil to keep food moist
Flavoring to..well give the food flavor
Acid to break down cell walls/membranes of the meat.

that's why you see a lot of people will just use "dressings"...even though they are for salad they do have all 3 ingredients in them.

your mom is absolutely right. It does make the meat a little more tender, but only over time. You can't just dip a steak in some vinegar and cook it, that won't really do anything except leave a very acidic taste in your mouth.

Personally i'm not a fan of vinegar, i've never been a fan of vinegar. When i marinade i like to use fruit acid. Lemon, lime, orange, tomato, etc. That way you're adding your flavor as well as your acid.

I hope this helps!...i'm making this a blog.
----------------------------------------------------

Let me add just a little bit more to this...

By using fruit acid such as lemons, limes, oranges, kiwis, etc...you will get the natural sugars from the fruit. So when you sear, roast, fry...whatever your meat it'll naturally caramelize your meat leaving a nice little crust on the outside (crust depends on type of meat and cooking method). 

bien manger 

-cwis

Don't drown your mushrooms

Please people. When you're cleaning mushrooms, DO NOT soak them or run them under water. When you "cook" something you are extracting moisture with heat. Thats why when something like chicken is overcooked, it's dry. By adding water to the mushroom, you're actually prolonging the cooking process and chances are, you're probably going to BOIL your mushrooms. Mushrooms are sponges and they will absorb anything and everything. Has anybody ever told you to use more oil when cooking mushrooms? No? Well, that's why. 

If you want to take that little spec of dirt off the mushroom because you're a wuss then take a very lightly damp towel and brush it off. THAT'S IT. Now stop freaking out and get back to cooking.

bien manger

-cwis

"The cow is already dead, you can't kill it again"

If I ruled the world I would get rid of the terms "medium well" and "well done" and punish anyone who would recite those words ever again. It truly breaks my heart when I see a ticket ring up 1 filet mignon, well done or any type of red meat at that (veal, lamb, venison, etc). When I used to work on the line, I would refuse tickets that would say medium well or well done. I've gotten into plenty of fights with servers because they're dumb enough to allow the customers to order such a catastrophe. You might say to yourself, "Well, isn't the customer always right?" Yes and No. Yes because they know what they want, but No because they might not be educated on why people eat medium rare meat. To an uneducated diner they're thinking that anything under medium is a raw product.

This is going to sound racist (I'm not racist) but whenever we see a ticket that rings up well done we assume the diner is African American or Latino. Please correct me if I'm wrong (I don't want to sound like an ignorant prick), from what I understand the majority of the countries in Africa and South America are considered Third World Countries yes? So because they are so poor, most people cannot afford some type of refrigeration therefore they must cook everything all the way through to kill the bacteria. Not only that, but chickens are also easier to raise and cheaper to buy thus the reason African Americans and Latinos eat a lot of chicken. Don't get me wrong, a lot of Asian and Middle Eastern countries are very poor as well. I grew up eating EVERYTHING well done and I liked it! Only because that was the way I was raised and that was the only way I knew how to eat. I was not educated.

Please bear with me as I jump around from subject to subject, I'm not a writer damnit.

"Educate me then..." says the ignorant diner. Ok fuckface...

Chicken and Turkey, dead or alive, contain parasites and Salmonella. Why? I'm not a biologist. Google it.
Duck, Pheasant, and other types of poultry on the other hand can be eaten "undercooked." Why? Google it.

Pork also contains parasites and bacteria but not as severe as poultry. BUT did you know you can actually eat pork loin medium, even medium rare? Well now you do! Because of the change in the way pigs are raised nowadays pork can be eaten "undercooked." If a restaurant has any respect for themselves, they will ask you, "How would you like your pork cooked?" But I recommend pork loin and pork loin only. I do not suggest asking a restaurant to cook your bacon medium.

Fish, depending on the fat content, can definitely be eaten "undercooked" or even raw. Heard of sushi? No? You're ignorant. The reason we can eat Tuna and Salmon raw is because they have a high fat content. One of the things bacteria does not like is fat. They cannot produce on it, they cannot live on it. That's why some families don't even refrigerate butter. Also, what fish do you know lives in "warm" water? I'm not sure if you know anything about the ocean but it's COLD. Bacteria can't live below a certain temperature (I'll give you a little lesson on bacteria in a little bit). When you go to the super market you usually see fish on ice right? Now you know why. Here's a little fact about shellfish. If you are going to eat shellfish raw (like at a raw bar) they must still be alive. When shellfish hit a certain temperature they die and then bacteria starts to take over. This goes for all seafood (the whole certain temp thing, not that they must still be alive). Seafood in general does not have a long shelf life. So once you buy fish, eat it ASAP. It'll probably go bad within 3 or 4 days in your refrigerator. And don't freeze it, you'll hurt my feelings. Really, you will.

Now onto red meat. Red meat is generally very dense and as we all know (I hope we do), bacteria lives only on the surface. Don't be afraid. When animals are slaughtered and everything, the slaughterhouse has to go through a procedure of breaking down the animal and chilling/aging it ASAP. Most, if not, all slaughter houses always have an FDA or Health inspector on site during this process.
How can we be certain there is no bacteria? How can we be certain that washing lettuce with water will make it bacteria free? WE CAN'T! So suck it up and stop complaining.

I'll lightly go into why I eat beef rare. And notice how I said "why I...", everybody has their reasons. Eating food medium rare and rare if more of a textural thing for me. Flavor has little to do with it but texture is everything. I mean, what would you rather eat? Something that is soft and melts in your mouth or something that requires you to chew it at least 20 times before swallowing? If you picked something that requires you to chew, I hate you. But hey, everybody has their reasons. When you cook something; anything, it takes moisture out of the food. Ever heard of chicken being dry? Yeh, not cool. So please stop cooking the food before you've removed all the moisture. That's my two cents.

Ok so bacteria (and this paragraph is completely off the top of my head and what every chef should know). In culinary school I was taught there is a temperature range that bacteria reproduces the quickest called the "danger zone." Any type of protein (i.e. meat) left out between the temperatures of 40°F-140°F for more than 4 hours should be cooked immediately or thrown out. How cold do you think your refrigerator is? Probably anywhere from 37°F-39°F because...? You're right! It's under the danger zone. Now let me make this clear. Obviously food can still spoil in the refrigerator, but the bacteria is not reproducing as quickly.
There are 6 things bacteria needs to reproduce and when I quiz myself from time to time I always think of the acronym FATTOM.

Food - Bacteria needs some type of food to feed on to reproduce
Acid - Acidity helps with the reproduction
Time - Longer sexy time
Temperature - Danger Zone
Oxygen - Why do you think we cover food when we store it?
Moisture - Example, does beef jerky need to be refrigerated? Exactly.

How you eat your food is up to you. But if I ever find out you ordered Venison Well Done, I'm going to kick you in the face. 

bien manger

-cwis

You think you got what it takes?

Aside from cooking, another thing I also love to do is teaching. I love being able to educate people especially if they're really into it. Now I'm not talking about teaching math or science (I'm not that type of Asian) and I'm not talking about just cooking. I'm talking about the whole business.

Recently, I had a conversation with my friend's dad's friend. He's an older gentleman, about 50 years old. We had started a conversation about cooking and my career and he tells me his son is thinking about going to school for culinary arts. As gung ho as he was about his son going into culinary, I gave him my card and told him to tell his son to give me a call before he applies for school.

I've had this conversation with a lot of people and I've given the same speech over and over again. It's not that I don't want people to aspire to become chefs, I just want them to know what they're getting themselves into. A lot of people who go to culinary schools and such really don't know what the life of a chef is. I read an article about a group of culinary school students who are suing their school because they were "mislead" by statements made by the school. I also blame it on the media and these TV shows (though I love Top Chef). They see these TV chefs and they think they live these lavish lives with the traveling and white coats and nice aprons...and they do. But how do you think they got there? They didn't wake up one day and say, "Hey, I'm going to open up 4 restaurants and they're going to be successful!" That's not how it works. When you open up a restaurant it's a guarantee you won't see any kind of profit for the first 5 years. There's so much stress involved because of food waste, trusting employees, and just the job itself. But opening a restaurant is for another blog.

Quite frankly the life of a chef is really shitty. Our hours are shitty (70-80 hour weeks), we get paid shitty, we work weekends, we work holidays, your days off are when everybody else works, and if you're working in an a la carte restaurant, chances are you probably don't have any benefits. Sure they'll take care of you if you get hurt at work but what if you get into a car accident? Get outside insurance? How are you going to afford health insurance making $10/hour?

From the time you step into work till the time you leave, it's nonstop work. Starting with the trucks that come in the morning to deliver your food...you have to check for quality, date each item so you know when it came in, put all the food away properly. After that, you still have to prep your station for service. Most of the time you only have about 2 or 3 hours to prep which seems like a lot but it's really not when everything has to be made from scratch everyday. After that, it's time to get your ass kicked during service. That's about 5-6 hours of nonstop someone yelling at you, orders coming back because it's not what the customer wanted, potential running out of food, 100 degree heat from the ovens, grill, and stoves, and of course stress. AND THEN you have to clean up which is about another hour or two and by the time you know it, it's almost midnight. After a night of service all you want to do is go home and sleep. But when you go home you realize you did absolutely nothing all day except work because you wake up later in the day so you can be rested for service. So you get home and you feel like you have to do something because nobody wants a wasted day. You might drink a couple beers, order some take-out, pop in a movie. And finally you get to sleep about 3-4am. Next morning you wake up around 9-10am to do it ALL OVER AGAIN.

Why would ANYBODY want to become a chef then?

Some people just really love food, some like being creative, and there some sick people out there that like being on the line during the dinner rush. For me, it's about the customer's satisfaction and knowing someone loves your food. When I see a plate come back clean, that's a reward all in it's own. I believe that chefs are a different breed of people. I mean, just reading from above who wants to stress and get yelled at in that kind of heat every single day? WE DO. Though I knew I wanted to cook from a young age there are people out there that went through regular college and worked corporate America. I know people who've made over $100k/year sitting at a desk with a computer in a suit, traveling every other week and now they're not even making a fraction of what they used to make. And I ask all of them, why would you give up that life? They all give me the same answer, "I couldn't take it anymore, it just got boring." We need some sort of an adventure everyday and that's what you get in a kitchen. Some may be good some may be bad, but whatever the case may be it's still something different happening everyday. I could never become a "paper pusher"...sorry to all the paper pushers in the world hahaha.

I love what I do. I love cooking, I love food, but most importantly I love making people happy. I will always cook for someone else before I cook for myself. Though the job is very stressful and there are days when I want to just shut down, I do it for myself. This is me and this is what I love to do and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm one of the few people in this world that can say "I love my job."