(FoodBeast.com)
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
These Are Useful Cooking Tips
29 Cooking Hacks You Should Know By Now
10. The easiest way to check if cooking oil is ready for frying:
10. The easiest way to check if cooking oil is ready for frying:
“To check if the cooking oil for frying is hot enough insert a wooden spoon/ladel. If it starts to bubble around the wood, the oil is ready.” - Kashaf Syar, Facebook.21. The best way to save your fingers:
- “ALWAYS make sure you are constantly sharpening your knife. Using a dull knife is more dangerous than using a sharp one.” - maxieg710
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
You Never Know Where You May End Up
How Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine went from Mighty Ducks star to chef
It wasn’t the noise or the mess or the workmen tramping through the house that got to Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine when the New York City brownstone she’d just bought was being renovated last year. It was the month and a half without kitchen access.
For many people, takeout dinners and nights at friends’ houses would be a welcome departure. For Jacobsen-Derstine, 39, who has been a chef for much of the two decades since she starred as goalie Julie (the Cat) Gaffney in the Mighty Ducks franchise and as Becky Fraker in Rookie of the Year, it was more than that.
As she was getting started, a friend suggested she marry cooking and acting by auditioning for The Next Food Network Star. (“I didn’t know what reality shows were,” she says with a laugh. “If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have submitted a tape!”) She won the first challenge before being eliminated midway through Season 3. The behind-the-scenes experience was jarring—“In a movie you’re there to make each other look good,” she says. “On a reality show you’re with a bunch of people whose success depends on your failure”—but the show taught her to be flexible with recipes.
These days Jacobsen-Derstine puts her theories about food into practice for her husband, Jeffrey Lefleur, and their five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. She teaches in elementary schools in Harlem, gardening with the children and educating them about a different ingredient each week, which the schools’ chefs then use in the kids’ lunches. She’s also in the process of launching a series of short Web videos. There’s not much hockey in her life at the moment, although after six weeks of private tutoring from Blackhawks right wing Grant Mulvey for Ducks, she can still skate well. She played the role of Hailey in 2002’s Men in Black II, and still does voice-overs for Oxygen Network.
(SI.com)
It wasn’t the noise or the mess or the workmen tramping through the house that got to Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine when the New York City brownstone she’d just bought was being renovated last year. It was the month and a half without kitchen access.
For many people, takeout dinners and nights at friends’ houses would be a welcome departure. For Jacobsen-Derstine, 39, who has been a chef for much of the two decades since she starred as goalie Julie (the Cat) Gaffney in the Mighty Ducks franchise and as Becky Fraker in Rookie of the Year, it was more than that.
As she was getting started, a friend suggested she marry cooking and acting by auditioning for The Next Food Network Star. (“I didn’t know what reality shows were,” she says with a laugh. “If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have submitted a tape!”) She won the first challenge before being eliminated midway through Season 3. The behind-the-scenes experience was jarring—“In a movie you’re there to make each other look good,” she says. “On a reality show you’re with a bunch of people whose success depends on your failure”—but the show taught her to be flexible with recipes.
These days Jacobsen-Derstine puts her theories about food into practice for her husband, Jeffrey Lefleur, and their five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. She teaches in elementary schools in Harlem, gardening with the children and educating them about a different ingredient each week, which the schools’ chefs then use in the kids’ lunches. She’s also in the process of launching a series of short Web videos. There’s not much hockey in her life at the moment, although after six weeks of private tutoring from Blackhawks right wing Grant Mulvey for Ducks, she can still skate well. She played the role of Hailey in 2002’s Men in Black II, and still does voice-overs for Oxygen Network.
(SI.com)
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Some Real Truth - Chef's Edition
What’s it like to be a chef?
You will miss important life occasions
Birthdays; Public Holidays; Occasional Weddings; Parties; Christenings; Weekends.
Its unrealistic in this industry to assume that you’ll ever have these off. The rest of the world plays whilst you toil, weekends are almost a taboo – and this will generally eliminate most parties and birthdays as the rest of the world will want to do this onTheirweekends. it is possibly the biggest killer of potential chef careers. It can be a very lonesome and frustrating life to those who aren’t willing to make the sacrifice. Regularly I will forgo a friend’s birthday even though I had booked the time off 4 months prior to that occasion (to whom I still have to apologise to regularly) In most industries you can “pick up the workload” on another day if you are unable to work. a kitchen however is more delicate. they have exactly the right amount of staffone person missing can halt the entire functionality of a restaurant. which brings me to my next point.
There is no such thing as sick
If you are not on life support, then you are fine. Cut your finger off? put a band-aid on…or better yet cauterise it on the stove both fast and effective. you have the flu? no you don’t it’s a cold, and even if it were the flu – put a mask on and get your arse to work. In my career, closely drawing a decade now, I’ve had two sick days: both times I was in hospital. If your feet can carry you, you can work…and you will work, nay not even from obligation, but from an odd combination of fear, guilt and compassion. Fear that your family will fail without you, fear that you will return having let them down.
Relationships will be difficult
Unless your partner is understanding you will have a string of unfortunate relationships. Another common misconception when someone goes into a relationship with a chef is that we will cook for you constantly. Though we are passionate about food, generally we will be working when you want to be fed. I’m one of the only chefs in my circle of peers who still cooks “properly” at home on a regular basis; most survive on a diet composed of instant meals, take out and dregs of half eaten chip packets. One must not fail to mention that most chefs are courteous and sociable on seldom occasions generally, and they are worse post a shift; only further propelling this relationship over the proverbial waterfall..this babies going over!! Bail overboard whilst you still can!! Time however is probably the biggest killer of relationships in our industry. It is difficult for most (not all, there’s still hope kiddies) to be with someone who is consistently never there, someone who (it seems) is more dedicated to his or her profession than the potential love of his/her life. Time will always be an instigator of hardships when it comes to chefs. which progresses to the next point:
Your hours are fucked
Though many people will regularly complain about an 8 hour day (inclusive of 2 to 3 breaks) or even god forbid a 10 hour day, you will savor the rare occasion you get an 8 hour shift with no break whatsoever. The average shift for a chef is around the 12 hour mark (according to a recent census) though I personally and quite regularly work more. You will stand on your feet all day, sweat, and toil. Your entire working career will be an endurance marathon for both your body and mind. cuts, burrs, burns they are all part of the process.
Complete list (CavemanCircus.com)
You will miss important life occasions
Birthdays; Public Holidays; Occasional Weddings; Parties; Christenings; Weekends.
Its unrealistic in this industry to assume that you’ll ever have these off. The rest of the world plays whilst you toil, weekends are almost a taboo – and this will generally eliminate most parties and birthdays as the rest of the world will want to do this onTheirweekends. it is possibly the biggest killer of potential chef careers. It can be a very lonesome and frustrating life to those who aren’t willing to make the sacrifice. Regularly I will forgo a friend’s birthday even though I had booked the time off 4 months prior to that occasion (to whom I still have to apologise to regularly) In most industries you can “pick up the workload” on another day if you are unable to work. a kitchen however is more delicate. they have exactly the right amount of staffone person missing can halt the entire functionality of a restaurant. which brings me to my next point.
There is no such thing as sick
If you are not on life support, then you are fine. Cut your finger off? put a band-aid on…or better yet cauterise it on the stove both fast and effective. you have the flu? no you don’t it’s a cold, and even if it were the flu – put a mask on and get your arse to work. In my career, closely drawing a decade now, I’ve had two sick days: both times I was in hospital. If your feet can carry you, you can work…and you will work, nay not even from obligation, but from an odd combination of fear, guilt and compassion. Fear that your family will fail without you, fear that you will return having let them down.
Relationships will be difficult
Unless your partner is understanding you will have a string of unfortunate relationships. Another common misconception when someone goes into a relationship with a chef is that we will cook for you constantly. Though we are passionate about food, generally we will be working when you want to be fed. I’m one of the only chefs in my circle of peers who still cooks “properly” at home on a regular basis; most survive on a diet composed of instant meals, take out and dregs of half eaten chip packets. One must not fail to mention that most chefs are courteous and sociable on seldom occasions generally, and they are worse post a shift; only further propelling this relationship over the proverbial waterfall..this babies going over!! Bail overboard whilst you still can!! Time however is probably the biggest killer of relationships in our industry. It is difficult for most (not all, there’s still hope kiddies) to be with someone who is consistently never there, someone who (it seems) is more dedicated to his or her profession than the potential love of his/her life. Time will always be an instigator of hardships when it comes to chefs. which progresses to the next point:
Your hours are fucked
Though many people will regularly complain about an 8 hour day (inclusive of 2 to 3 breaks) or even god forbid a 10 hour day, you will savor the rare occasion you get an 8 hour shift with no break whatsoever. The average shift for a chef is around the 12 hour mark (according to a recent census) though I personally and quite regularly work more. You will stand on your feet all day, sweat, and toil. Your entire working career will be an endurance marathon for both your body and mind. cuts, burrs, burns they are all part of the process.
Complete list (CavemanCircus.com)
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Simple, Yet Effective Advice
Best culinary tip for the home cook:
Have fun, experiment and keep cooking. Remember, food should be appreciated.
(OCWeekly.com)
Have fun, experiment and keep cooking. Remember, food should be appreciated.
(OCWeekly.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)