Foodie Free

New Chapters

2011-05-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

As the current chapter of my life draws to a close, and a new one about to open, I can't help but think of the new relationships and experiences I have encountered and know that I'll never forget for the rest of my life.

It was summer of 2010, I was a server at an Italian joint in Cedar Rapids, IA. I was making money, but that was the only thing I liked about the job, I didn't like smiling while getting yelled at for not cooking this guy's steak well-done enough; running around the front, legitimately stressed out and in the weeds, but unable to get any help while trying to keep from breaking down. In the server world, no matter how much you say you're a team, there becomes a point in a busy night where its every man for himself.
I was one of those people that went into work, dreading it.

I realized then that it was time for a change, I wanted to do what I enjoyed. So I took my chef aside and asked him that the next time they had an opening in the kitchen that I wanted to be considered. Of course there were no openings at the time, so I was a little let down, but I didn't give up.

By November, I was set to have my first day in the kitchen. I was so excited that they were willing to give a person with no kitchen training a chance. I was so excited...I was an hour late for my first A.M. shift.

Its been 5 months now and I think I can finally handle things, I have made friends I'll never forget and will hopefully see or work with in the future. It's the hard times that bring out the greatest friendships, our boys overseas come home with friends they'll still talk to on a regular basis in twenty years. Especially with the implementation of social media, it is that much easier to keep in touch with someone across the country or world, phone numbers change, but facebook names stay the same.

In this world its all about who you know, throughout the many jobs I will have taken so many names and numbers of people I respect as cooks and hopefully, one day, I will make a few phone calls to recruit my all star team, or at least I hope they will do the same for me.

In the last 5 months I have grown so much closer to my fellow employees, they're my only friends in this city and I don't want that any other way. I will miss the bonds that have been created on Friday or Saturday nights, deep in the weeds and just wanting to catch up.

Where's this next chapter going to take me? Am I falling for the 'big city big dreams' cliche?
I would like to hope not, I hope that I have what it takes to tackle and succeed in the big city.

Chicago > New York?

2011-04-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Forty minutes of watching acre after acre of barren, cold land pass me by at 65mph, the child who is surprisingly quiet, the lack of power outlets, really helps someone with writer's block think. I go through things in my head, peruse every food related news article looking for SOMETHING to think about. Then it hits me, the kid on the bus threw a Nerf ball at my head, but then a thought comes to mind: "hmm I'm on my way to Chicago, there HAS to be something in that!" I think of every restaurant that I've possibly heard of and like a (insert epiphany related simile here) I realize that Chicago is smack dab in the middle of the country, almost equidistant from all directions of the country, so why does New York get all the fame?

Considering the centralized location of Chicago, its no surprise that you can get anything your heart desires within minutes. You want fast food? McDonalds' locations are every two blocks or so. Fine Dining/Modernist Cuisine? Alinea or Moto, which has tasting menus that cost an arm and a leg(arm $195, leg $300+).

You get the West with vegan and new age type restaurants, you get the east with seafood that was swimming 2 days before it made it to your plate. North? Fresh cheese from Wisconsin, and south with authentic Mexican food or BBQ as good as if you were in Tennessee yourself.

Any ethnic cuisine you can think of is readily available, and sometimes even delivers. And don't even get me started on the food carts, I seem to have an unhealthy obsession with meat on a stick, streetside.
Need some good hunting advice? Go down that alley (not the creepy ones) the ones that are well kept, few dumpsters if any, chances are you will find that burger joint that you fall in love with, the Vietnamese place that has Pho you cant even get in vietnam this good. The fine dining place that has Foie Gras (true story, in Evanston behind American Apparel)

I'm just passing through Crawfordsville, Iowa, with another 5 hours on this bus and so many thoughts going through my head to post about, might be a 2 post sort of day, who knows. But I leave you with this closing remark:

You don't have to be familiar with the restaurant scene there, realize that you can have food from any direction of the country. I would consider it the new melting pot, the new New York.

P.s.
Eat something you've never tried before today.

Culinary Black Market

2011-04-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Next Restaurant, a brand new restaurant in Chicago run by Chef Grant Achatz and partner Nick Kokonas, Just started selling dining seats for opening night. But they're doing things a little-- scratch that, completely different from any restaurant. Instead of the usual "pay after the meal" that were all very much used to as diners, you buy tickets for a certain time and table (less for a two top, more for a four top, and much more for the Chef's table). This is a pretty genius system because they can inflate or deflate the price based on the day and time. For example, 2 tickets would be less expensive on a Monday then on a Saturday.

This brings to mind the idea of 'scalping'. You've been to those college/pro games where you saw the guy on the corner of the stadium with a sign in his hand that says he has tickets and will sell them to you more than box office price, call it a 'convenience charge'. Well for the first time that I've ever heard of, possibly in history, this is actually happening for a restaurant. I predicted this, so the day after the tickets went on sale, I searched Craigslist for Next Restaurant, below is what I've found, which is a step above the guy on the corner with a sign, which would turn anyone off a restaurant, unlike a Cubs game.
Keep in mind, the basic tickets are ~$85. I haven't seen an exact price for the Chef's table, but I'm certain its not $3000.

Then, like sport scalpers, you have to take into effect the validity of these tickets, some are selling the tickets along with the confirmation e-mail, but that can be easily faked. I'm sure someone is going to lose money on this, unfortunately.

Chef Achatz has accepted nothing but perfection and I'm sure, even with a smaller price tag than Alinea (by about $100), that this will be no different. I'm glad someone has realized that there are people who can't afford a $400 tasting menu with wine pairing, but can enjoy the food more than those that can.

This is a new and exciting chapter in the industry and I'm sure Chef Achatz won't be the last one to use this system. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce you to the Culinary Black Market.

Sauces 101

2011-04-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Its hard to go one week eating food without having at least one meal that has some sort of sauce on it. In the culinary world, sauces are divided into 2 categories: Mother or Leading, and Small or compound. Sauces are an amazing thing because there are five sauces that you use to make basically any other sauce. Those five sauces are: Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato.

Now, I'm not going to tell you about every single sauce, because thats just too much to read and type (a couple of my books have twenty page chapters devoted to sauces), so heres a brief about Bechamel!

I could tell you what to look for in a perfect bechamel, but you will know when its just right. No chunks, rich flavor, thats all you need. Heres a pretty basic recipe.

1 Onion Piquet(This is half an onion with a bay leaf pinned to it with a clove)

1/2 Gal Milk (I prefer whole, but its up to you, remember, the less fat in the milk, the harder it is to thicken)

4 Oz. Flour (not a good time to use whole wheat or anything fancy, just all purpose will do)

4 Oz. Clarified butter (Melt 4 ounces of butter, take the white stuff out, voila! clarified butter)

Salt, White Pepper, and Nutmeg to taste

So you have a saucepan with the milk, add the onion piquet to that and let it simmer for about 20-25 minutes. I cant stress this enough, this isn't a set and forget type thing, set the heat really low or else you risk a massive boil over!

In a different pot, combine the butter and flour and on medium heat. This is where you create the thickener known as a Roux. You'll wanna stir constantly until its a little bubbly in appearance. USE YOUR SENSES! The smell should somewhat resemble a light smell of popcorn and a pale yellow color.

Now while whisking pretty heavily, add some of the milk to the roux pot, make sure there are no lumps and bring it to a boil. transfer the milk/roux back to the big batch and whisk some more. Let it simmer for about a half hour, strain, and boom! Bechamel sauce. for storage pour a little melted butter on the top to stop that nasty film from forming.

This single sauce can compound into a lot of different sauces like: Modern, Cream, Mornay, and Cheese.

Hope you learned something today!

Why cook?

2011-03-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

I started off my restaurant career as a server. Which from my perspective now, is the easy route. When I switched from serving and making on average 14-20 dollars an hour, to 10, people would (and still) ask me why I switched. I joke around saying, "Oh, I've decided I was making too much money." But really I decided I want to do now, what I plan on doing the rest of my life, and I love it. Sure, I'm living less than paycheck to paycheck, but I for sure don't dread coming in to work every day for long hours and hard work with minimal pay. I would say its an even trade.

It's not only a passion thing, its also the fact that I look up to so many Chefs, I follow their ever

y blog p

ost, every tweet, every news story. Below are a list of just a few Chefs that I see as role models and strive to be.

Grant Achatz

Pronounced to rhyme with "rackets" this Chef has some story about him. He's the single fastest rising chef, working at the culinary Mecca called The French Laundry at age 22, and owning his own restaurant at the age of 30. Shortly after his restaurant opened, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer, there is no stage 5. He was given only months to live, but underwent an experimental procedure involving Chemotherapy radiation, as opposed to losing his tongue and part of his jaw.

This Chef creates the most outrageous gastronomic creations in the country, with influences such as Thomas Keller(French Laundry), and Ferran Adria (El Bulli, Spain) breaking down and reassembling simple meals into complex works of art. From what he's been through, to the food he creates, every ounce of his lifetime effort saturates each plate that walks out of his kitchen.

Anthony Bourdain

The culinary badass and creator of Kitchen Confidential, the book that tells the real story of what goes on in a kitchen, from the 'left over bread' conspiracy, to the brunch fiasco. To explain what I'm talking about, you will have to actually purchase the book, and it is well worth the read. Chef Bourdain has the life I want, traveling to all four corners of the world at least twice all while eating local cuisine, no matter how crazy or taboo, and drinking local adult beverages (copious amounts to be exact)

Aside from writing the single most accurate book about a kitchen, I wouldn't say he's done anything "majorly groundbreaking" in the culinary world, but I would without a doubt say he is formerly known as the best line cook, EVER. Working at a restaurant, open to close, while tackling over 1500 covers on the day; Oh and by the way a cover is a single person, no matter how many courses/plates they order.

These two are the ones I've looked up to most, I'm not looking to follow in their footsteps, I plan to create my own path so I can one day write a book about my journey and inspire someone in my position.

Take #2

2011-03-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've totally forgotten about this thing!

Well lets start off with a how-to, shall we?

This one started off a couple of days before St. Patricks Day. I was bored and so far doing nothing on my day off; I've come to feel more useless when I do nothing on my days off so I always have a project lined up usually food related. This time, I decided to try to smoke something. Not having smoked anything animal related I researched how to do this. Below I'll show you how to create a makeshift smoker.

Things you need:

Oven safe brownie sheet that you don't mind ruining (its still useful afterwards though)

Bag of woodchips, your choice (I used appplewood, really good for pork

Water

Propane grill

Fill the sheet tray with the wood chips and water. let them soak in there for a good 30 minutes. Drain half the water so much of the chips are exposed, place on grill. Turn the grill on to low heat and make sure your tank is filled, because smoking takes at least 3 hours. Place protein of choice on top rack. I used a 5lb corned brisket so I had it on for about 4 hours til it hit 165F.

For the brisket, I wanted to play it safe in seasoning so I used equal parts of cinnamon, thyme, chili powder, salt, cracked black pepper, deli style mustard, and a little horseradish.

This is the messy part:

Coat the meat with a generous portion of the mustard and the horseradish, 100% coverage

Take the seasoning blend (for me it added up to about 4Tbsp of the blend) and rub it all over the meat.

And you're done, its weight determines the cook time, for pork and beef it should be 165F which is well done but dont worry, it will be fork tender.

Hope you enjoyed this post, better planned and more interesting posts to come!

Introductions!

2010-04-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings food freaks,

I'm just starting to get this blog off its feet, in the near future there will be videos, polls, links, and maybe even cake! (you have to make it yourself though)

Let me tell you about myself!
I am a 21 year old culinary school student at Kirkwood Community College, I've been interested in everything food my whole life. Since I remember I would beg to help my mom cook dinner and basically since the age of 7ish, I've been cooking on my own. In high school I participated in a food program called ProStart, to which I owe all my beginning knowledge of cooking for the general public, we hosted fundraisers to help pay for our trip to state cooking competition in Cedar Falls, IA where we won entry into National Competition in Charlotte, NC. We felt like we were on top of the world. We hosted even MORE fundraisers after that because its quite expensive to fly ten kids across the country. Long story short it was the best experience of my life, even though we took 17th, we still had a blast!

But for some reason, I didnt realise that was my true calling, I went to a local private college for studies in accounting, I learned that it was time to go back to what I do best: COOKING!

So I leave you with this

Even though you think you're made to do something, its not bad to have other hobbies, who knows, it might turn into your career

also, email me with any food questions you have, I'll do my best to answer them, maybe I'll even do a blog on it!

Keep Eating!