Culinary Fashion Sense: Does this vegetable match my protein?

So, we have pots and pans, rasps and sieves, knives and tongs. We know that buying good ingredients will make our meals taste better and might even inspire us to cook more. And now, we move on to planning your menu.

The question I get asked most, whether online or in real life, is this: how do you come up with your menu? The restaurant where I work has a chalkboard menu. That means that every day, at the beginning of each shift, we decide what people will be choosing to eat at the restaurant that night. And it changes almost every day. There is a certain, loose formula to that decision. I like to have 6 to 7 main courses and I start with the protein element of the dish. There needs to be at least one vegetarian option. There should be at least one fish or seafood dish. There is often a burger of some kind. The rest depends on what we have in the restaurant that is fresh: beef, venison, elk, ostrich, lamb, pork, scallops, halibut, tofu, and so on. Once I have decided on the protein element of the dish, I decide how to prepare it and then I pair it with a vegetable or series of vegetables. This is the part in which people seem to be the most interested. How do you DO that?

The answer is that it takes some practice. Before I worked at this restaurant I just cooked what the chef told me to cook. It was his job to figure out the menu, it was mine to cook it properly. For my first week here, the chef did the same. He wrote out the menu, gave it to me and I prepped and cooked it. Easy. I’ve done this before.

Then came the night when he called from downtown saying he was stuck in traffic and wouldn’t be back for an hour and a half. I needed to come up with one item for the menu. The rest he had already written out. I panicked. PANICKED!! WTF?? Are you kidding me? I’m not ready for this! I can’t DO this!! He made some supportive comment like, “Don’t be so retarded. Of course you can.” Then he hung up.

Thus ended my orientation and training period. From that night forward I was expected to figure out what was on the menu. I was pretty cautious and I asked a lot of questions. Does this make sense? Will this work? Is this too weird? Eventually, I came to understand that planning a menu is much like learning a language. There is vocabulary to be learned (ingredients). There is sentence structure: some adjectives (accompaniments) just support a noun (protein) a little better than another. And there is learning to be concise: a plate with too many elements is like a run-on sentence; there are too many things happening and I just can’t comprehend it all.

There are literally thousands of combinations that work when planning a menu. Many are classical: tomatoes and basil, beef and potatoes, pork and apples, fish and lemon, game meats and berries, pasta and tomato sauce, lamb and rosemary, lentils and raisins. Many are found in dishes which may come from different ethnicities. For example, a curry can have sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower, lime, nuts, cilantro, basil, sesame and coconut milk. In other words, any or all of those ingredients will work together. A South American salsa might have pineapple, peppers, red onions, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, and lime and any of those combinations will work together too. The same goes with spices and herbs. If I want to give a dish an Asian twist, I may marinade pork in soya sauce with fresh ginger and lime and a few chilies. I might pair it with a sweet potato puree because you can find sweet potatoes in a Thai curry. Maybe I’ll add sugar snap peas. And to finish the dish I’ll use Thai basil and cilantro. The dish will be far from Asian, but it will be Asian influenced. Something with a Mediterranean flair will have olives and capers, lemon and olive oil, parsley and mint. Generally, things that are grown in the same part of the world will also go well together on a plate.

I’ve been asked to end each blog with a recipe of some sort. However, for this particular blog I thought I’d try something different. Lots of people have said that they cook the same things over and over. To help get out of that rut, pick one thing that you like to eat and I’ll come up with things that would go well with it, along with a recipe for how to prepare it. That way you’ll have (hopefully) a new idea for preparing something that you like to eat. And, if many people participate, then there will also be ideas for things that other people like to eat, which may help to open up your food horizons. Include any dietary restrictions as well so I know what not to include.

Annnnd … GO!

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Written by food_geek

food_geek was once a successful finance professional. Tired of money, nice things, equity, and the possibility of retirement she decided to pursue a career in the food industry at age 35. She is now a sous chef at a small restaurant in a tiny Quebec village where she works the fry station. She looks forward to being promoted to Manager, Drive-Thru. food_geek has been cooking professionally for 30 months.

Cheap & Dirty? You are what you eat

I remember eating dinner once with a friend’s family and hearing my friend’s 17 year-old step brother say, “It’s hard to make good food with bad ingredients.” Once I could hear again over the din of my gay-dar, I realized how right he was. I had made that discovery at 34, only a year or two before he made that dramatic statement across a crowded dinner table. I allowed him his early insight because he is a child of privilege. The son of two doctors. I grew up middle-class. In a family of 6, food was for survival. And not much else.

However, once I made this discovery, I couldn’t quite look at dinner in the same way. I knew if I spent a bit more on certain ingredients, meals would come alive. Food wasn’t entirely about survival anymore. It had started to become about pleasure. Spending a bit more on a good olive oil, using fresh ingredients instead of canned or frozen (both of which have their place), or buying good cheese; combined, all of these things made for a great experience.

This all may sound a little strange in the midst of a recession. Aren’t we supposed to be cutting corners? Living more simply? Saving what we can so we don’t get into trouble again? Have you learned NOTHING food_geek?

Well, perhaps.

But say it’s Friday night. You order a pizza ($20) and pick up a 6 pack of beer ($10). You’ve just spent $30 on food and drink that will feed maybe 2 people. Do you have any idea what ingredients you can buy for $30?? I catered the following 5-course dinner party for 15 people just before Christmas:

Course 1. Fresh fig wrapped in prosciutto with balsamic and honey glaze
Course 2. Roasted beet salad with chevre, fresh dill and lemon
Course 3. Seared scallops with cauliflower puree and wilted arugula
Course 4. Pork tenderloin with oyster mushroom and green pea risotto
Course 5. Rum & raisin bread pudding with butter sauce and fresh whipped cream

Five courses for 15 people cost me $100. One hundred dollars! Six dollars and 66 cents per person. For five courses!!

So how WAS that pizza, anyway?

I’m not saying that you need to break the bank on everything. But the following are things for which I will pay good money. For the most part they are like an investment because, properly stored, they will last awhile.

Olive oil: I have a relatively inexpensive bottle for cooking and an expensive bottle for garnishing soups, making vinaigrettes, and finishing tomato sauces

Butter: I like the taste. I also tend to like things that are bad for me. And a little goes a long way.

Dijon mustard: French’s mustard = blech

Good rice: Basmati, Jasmine, Arborio

Black olives: nothing from a can

Balsamic vinegar: the older it is, the sweeter and more flavourful it will be. Look at the label, it should show how many years it’s been aged, displayed either as a number or a number of barrels. 8 years and up is good.

Peppercorns: I don’t buy pre-ground pepper because while there is heat, there is little flavor. And I like controlling how big the grind is. Some things, like steak, should just have larger chunks of pepper.

Salt: Sea Salt, not table salt. I like it a bit coarse.

Maple Syrup: the real stuff

Spices: Everything! I prefer whole seeds - like coriander, fennel, cumin, etc. They stay fresher and hold far, far more taste than their pre-ground counterparts. Grind them in either a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle (but only as much as you need for whatever you are making).

Fresh herbs: Nothing lights up a dish like fresh herbs either thrown in at the end of the cooking process or added, freshly torn, to the plate. It can be difficult to buy fresh herbs in quantities that won’t go bad, so I usually have a small garden (indoor in the winter, outdoor in the summer) of my favourites… Italian parsley, thyme, basil, cilantro and chives.

Having certain ingredients in the house, for me, is an invitation to start cooking. Sometimes, when I buy something special, like truffle oil, I’ll just uncork the bottle and smell it. It smells rich and earthy and extravagant and it makes me want to find a reason to use it. Good ingredients can be a source of inspiration to create something wonderful. And they are extra special if you are creating it for just yourself.

Roasted Beet Salad

1 bunch of organic beets, with beet greens attached
Good Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1 lemon
1 package of chevre (goat’s cheese)
Fresh dill

Preheat oven to 375F
Cut off beet greens and save for another dish (they are delicious cut up and sauteed briefly in olive oil or butter).
Peel beets and cut into quarters.
Drizzle with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper and wrap in aluminum foil, shiny side IN. Place in oven for approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour. You’ll know when they are done by sliding a knife into the center. If the texture feels consistent the whole way in (firm, but not crunchy), they are done.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. They can be served either warm or cold.
Get yer rasp out and remove the zest from lemon. Mix zest with beets.
Squeeze a little lemon juice and drizzle a little more olive oil over beets - enough to coat
Roughly chop fresh dill and mix with beets. Quantity depends on how many beets you have cooked, and how much you love dill.
Taste and add more salt or pepper, if required
Plate beets either alone or on a bed of arugula, also dressed lightly with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Place several small pieces of chevre on top and around beets. Or don’t and make it vegan.
Garnish with larger piece of dill.

Serve and enjoy.

Written by food_geek

food_geek was once a successful finance professional. Tired of money, nice things, equity, and the possibility of retirement she decided to pursue a career in the food industry at age 35. She is now a sous chef at a small restaurant in a tiny Quebec village where she works the fry station. She looks forward to being promoted to Manager, Drive-Thru. food_geek has been cooking professionally for 30 months.

food_geek’s Ladder: The Steps to Heaven are built on Good Pots

food_geek spoke.

She said, “Let there be food.” And there was food.

She said, “Let there be cooking.” And there was cooking.

She said, “Let there be a blog”. And there was a blog.

And it was good.

And so we begin. At the beginning. Genesis, Book I, if you will. Like all Good Books, we begin with nothing. Or at least we can pretend that we do. Let all of your previous negative experiences with food be wiped away. You have been absolved of your cooking disasters. Your fears of trying something new are gone. You are left with nothing but the desire to try.

Can I get a “Hallelujah!”?

When I say we begin with nothing, I am assuming that we are, in fact, starting with nothing. No tools. No food in the house. No experience. This is obviously not true. Most people own at least a knife of some sort. Hopefully people have some food in the house, even if it ’s just an old bottle of ketchup. And just about everyone has some cooking experience, be it good or bad.

As I was thinking of writing this blog, I went through my own kitchen and its groaning array of miscellaneous crap that I have accumulated there. The thing about being a chef is that everyone thinks you want some gadget or another. So for every birthday and Christmas for 5 years I received some sort of kitchen … thingy. I now have 5 cheese knives, all with handles that displays some cute thing related to cheese … fruit, swiss cheese, a mouse. And really, a normal knife works fine. It really doesn ‘t cut cheese any worse than a “cheese knife”. All that to say, if I had to start over, I would buy the following items for my kitchen. I ‘ll break them down into three categories: Tools, Gadgets and Appliances.

Tools

A knife. On this particular item, I would spend a lot. That ’s me. But a knife is something that you will use pretty much every day. I would buy a chef ’s knife, either 6″, 8″, or 9″ for the size queen. There is no brand that I would recommend, but I would suggest that you ask to hold several different makes and models because the right one should feel balanced in your hand. Not too heavy. Heavy does not necessarily equate to high quality. A good knife will run you about $100-$150. A lot? Perhaps. But, properly cared for, a chef ’s knife will last you your entire life.

So, if you have a knife, now you need …

A Cutting Board. Depending on your dietary choices, I would suggest several. One wooden board for cutting vegetables and any cooked meat. One (plastic) for raw meat. Another (also plastic) for raw fish. The plastic ones can go in the dishwasher. The wooden one should be washed by hand so it won ‘t dry out and crack.

A Cast Iron Pan. I cannot live without this. I have a cast iron pan because many normal frying pans are so thin that they get too hot and burn what I am trying to cook. I also have a regular stainless frying pan, which I only use for vegetables, because they don ‘t need as much heat.

A Roasting Pan. I have two kinds. The thin, black, speckled, light-weight one that everyone has and a “Le Creuset”. The Creuset is great because it has a cast iron bottom which means it can go from stove top, direct heat, to the oven.

A General, Everyday Set of Pots. Not too thin or lightweight, but you really don ‘t need to break the bank. If it has a bit of heft to it, it ‘ll be fine.

A Stock Pot. It won ‘t be part of an everyday set that you ‘ll buy at Walmart. It ’s taller and a bit thinner.

A Non-Stick Pan: No, it ’s NOT so you don ‘t have to use butter or oil. I like non-sticks for all things eggs.

Mixing bowls. Mine are aluminum. Not because they are better, but because they were a gift (see above). I have a set of 7, which I find quite useful.

The Small Stuff:
Tongs (a must!)
Rubber Spatula
Wooden Spoon
Sieve
Whisk
Flippers (one metal, one plastic - for the non-stick pan)
Vegetable peeler

Gadgets

Rasp (it ’s a small hand-held grater for zesting citrus or grating nutmeg)
Grater - for cheese and other grate-o-licious things
Ricer - ONE of the secrets to the best mashed potatoes on the planet …
Pepper grinder - pre-ground pepper is an anathema
Mortar and Pestle - a big clunky one that doesn ‘t crack in two the first time you try to crush coriander seeds with a bit of enthusiasm

Appliances

Blender or a Hand-held blender - for soups and/or sauces
Mini-chopper - like a small food processor with about a 1 cup capacity. I do use this at home regularly to make vinaigrettes.
Pasta roller - for the more adventurous.

There are a few other small items which are perhaps obvious … sheet pans, 9×9 square pans, cooling racks, casserole dishes of various sizes, including a 9×13 glass casserole in which I make lasagna.

I ‘ll end off saying that you don ‘t HAVE to have these things. And it ’s also not an exhaustive list. But these are my top choices.

So if you had to choose, what kitchen tool, gadget or appliance is a stepping stone to your heaven?

Written by food_geek

food_geek was once a successful finance professional. Tired of money, nice things, equity, and the possibility of retirement she decided to pursue a career in the food industry at age 35. She is now a sous chef at a small restaurant in a tiny Quebec village where she works the fry station. She looks forward to being promoted to Manager, Drive-Thru. food_geek has been cooking professionally for 30 months.