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Is Organic Food Really the Healthier Choice?

May 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Article by Chef Marty Rich

People are exploring the world of organic food and discovering the many benefits of eating organic health foods. Many people try every diet possible to lose weight and many different food combinations in feeble attempts at eating better without changing much in terms of the actual food. The newest trend in food is eating organic food and for good reason. Eating organic means, in English, that you are being better to yourself and the earth because you’re putting cleaner food in your mouth. Let’s discuss organic health food as a better food choice.

You may be asking yourself why “organic” matters in terms of it being a healthier choice. It means produce has been raised without pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals commonly employed on commercial farms to ward off pests, inject nutrients into the soil and encourage growth. Dairy products are raised without the hormones, such as bovine growth hormone, or BGH, that some commercial farms employ to get more milk out of their dairy cows, which translates into buttermilk, cream and cheese among other products. Cows, goats, chickens and other farm animals are raised in clean environments, fed organic, mineral rich feed and permitted to roam freely. They are not given hormones of any kind or contained in pens, stalls or cages, as some animals are on commercial farms.

When you’re eating organic food, what is not in them is as important, if not more so, than what is in them that benefits you. Artificial colors and flavors, artificial sweeteners, additives and preservatives are all prohibited in organic farming. This is important, especially for children as studies suggest artificial colors and preservatives, among other ingredients, may contribute to hyperactivity in children.

Another important reason why organic health food is better for you is what it lacks. Organic farmers rotate their crops to allow the land to recover and fertilize the land with compost which means everything is natural and chemical free. Birds and other natural pest control methods are used on organic farms in lieu of pesticides and herbicides. When these chemicals don’t touch the food you eat, they don’t touch you making organic health food a healthier choice for you.

About the Author

Have Knives, Will Travel. This is the basis of my culinary experience. I love to move from place to place and cook interesting foods, with interesting people. I like to teach culinary basics to people who find cooking challenging and also teach chefs how to find jobs if they want to make their careers more exciting by traveling. Ultimately, I want to do both as I continue traveling around the country/world. http://www.chefmartyrich.com

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May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you enjoy eating out at restaurants quite regularly then you will undoubtedly have your own favorite restaurants and favorite dishes you always order when you go there. Eating out at restaurants all the item can become costly after a while, sure it’s great to get out, but if you are doing it 3 times a week or more it can add up quickly.

A solution is to enjoy your favorite meals at home by using restaurant copycat recipes. A copycat restaurant recipe is a specially researched and reverse engineered recipe created by experts through trial and error in order to capture the taste of a popular restaurant recipe that would otherwise be kept secret. Big chain restaurants and even smaller restaurants will jealously guard their recipe secrets so as to not lose business.

You have probably sat there trying to work out just what has gone into the dish, what sort of ingredients are they using.. Maybe you have even cheekily tried to ask the waiter or the chef for the recipe it was so good! Chances are they didn’t give you the recipe, and probably for good reason, if they did give it away to every person who asked for it, they would soon be out of business.

Recreating Famous Dishes

Step 1:
You are going to have to do some research and track down some information or recipes for your favorite dish. This will mean maybe getting friendly with a chef who works at you favorite restaurant and then try and coax out some hints as to what the dish ingredients are and how its prepared. This is probably the hardest method depending on how persuasive you are.

Your other option here is to track down a copycat restaurant recipe book which will eliminate the need to friendly up to the restaurant staff.

Step 2:
It is important to wherever possible use the exact ingredients described to you. If the recipe calls for white pepper for example, don’t use coarse black pepper just because it is the only thing you have on hand. It’s a simple tip, but if you are trying to faithfully recreate famous dishes you will need to stay true to the originals and avoid improvising too much with the ingredients. The same goes for quantities of the ingredients, if the copycat recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of Tabasco, you should probably use only 1 teaspoon.

Step 3:
Always follow the original cooking methods. This is particularly true for recipes that rely on a certain cooking technique to impart the original flavor. It is no use pan-frying a beef patty if you are trying to copy the Burger King flame grilled whopper taste. You would be better using a BBQ for this task, if you are not set up at home with a flame griller.

These are simple suggestions but important factors to consider if you want to attain accurate facsimiles of restaurant recipes at home. Following other peoples copycat recipes will take out all the guesswork from cooking your favorite dishes at home. Stay true to the recipe instructions and you won’t and up wasting your time with trial and error trying to find the exact method to recapture a classic meal.

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Chef Uniform – Finding The Right One

April 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you are a wanna be chef, you will need a chef uniform before you start your training. Prior to purchasing one, you should learn about the uniform, its types, fabrics and the need to wear it in the kitchen.

A chef uniform includes toque or hat, a double breasted jacket, trousers and apron. Wearing the perfect uniform will not turn you into an expert chef, it will only make you look like one. There are other reasons to wear the professional uniform in the kitchen. The hat keeps your hair on your head and out of the food. The coats and trousers are designed to keep you cool in the hot temperatures that are prevalent in the kitchen and apron so that you don’t get stains on your clothes. The main purpose for wearing a uniform in the kitchen is to set standards. When you wear standardized clothes, you have the least chances of meeting accidents. If you wear clothes that are made of inflammatory fabrics, they can catch fire. So wearing a chef uniform is mandatory. The basic parts of a chef uniform are discussed below. Toque
A toque, traditional name for chef hat, is the symbol of the chef’s caliber. The size of the hat is based upon the rank in the kitchen, the higher the rank, the larger the hat. Smaller hats are generally worn by cooks. When you walk in the room, you know who the head chef is only by taking a good look around the room. It is believed the folds in the traditional chef hat represents the number of ways a chef can cook eggs.

The basic reason behind a chef wearing a hat is not let a single hair fall in the food. A hat is also useful to keep the hair coming on to the face and eyes. If you want better protection, you can wear a hair net to cover your hair and tie your hair tightly so it doesn’t move at all. This helps in retaining the good food quality. Before making a purchase, measure your head right to ensure the toque isn’t loose. If it’s loose, it will keep bothering you while you are cooking.

Chef Coats and Pants
It’s gonna be hot in the kitchen, so you should wear clothes that are made of pure cotton or cotton mixed with other fabrics to keep you cool in there. Chef pants basically come in black and white checks, that look great with the white chef coats. Some people don’t consider wearing chef pants essential. You should, however, wear traditional chef pants as these are made of fabrics that maintain a good airflow and keep you cool.

The chef coat is basically double breasted so it can be worn either of the both sides if one is stained while preparing food. Wear a coat that fits you well so you can work comfortably. Coat that are too tight will not let your hands move properly and the ones that are too loose will keep sticking out resulting in covering the cuffs with gravy stains. Well fitted coats with fold back cuffs are the perfect choice. The two rows of stylish buttons add class to the perfect look.

Aprons
Aprons are the savior that shield the uniform from the food splatters that leave behind stains. Gravy and coffee stains are the hardest to remove from the clothes and aprons save the clean uniform from these. The aprons are made of fine quality cotton so these don’t get faded even after many washes. Some aprons are available with small pockets to keep things that are needed at regular intervals.

When you shop for your chef uniform, ensure that the whole ensemble looks great with another. Even if you are working in a kitchen, doesn’t mean that you should not look stylish. Online shopping is convenient, easy and gives you exemplary choices. So you should visit a good online store and purchase from the exclusive variety of both men and women’s chef wear at affordable prices.

This article has been written by an expert associated with Chef Threads, a leading online store that offers high quality chef uniforms in various designs and styles.


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Sharpening Knives With A Chefs Choice 130 Sharpener

April 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

Are you tired of knives that don’t lower correctly? The Chefs Option 130 Sharpener is terrific for most people who adore to cook, hunt or camp. For slicing, dicing and skinning, you need to have sharp knives in order to get great thoroughly clean cuts. A boring knife usually requires plenty of force and may likely slip leading to a sloppy minimize. If you have ever experimented with to cut a challenging vegetable this kind of as a Yam, you might possibly have observed how complex it can be. No make any difference how extravagant and effectively built your knives are, they will at some position shed their effectiveness and use down. It can end up particularly irritating when you want to cut anything that usually requires a sharp blade and your not prepared. Sending your knives out to a certified store is also inconvenient.

 

It is really good to have your very own device that sharpens knives immediately and exactly. Whetstones are rather decent but need a great deal of work and talent. It is also really time consuming. There are a couple of fantastic electrical knife sharpeners on the industry that will enable you help save time and work in restoring the precision of your blades. For those who have read through Cooks Illustrated could possibly have witnessed the favourable assessments about this products. It was rated as the #one electric knife sharpener and I am confident you will see why. When you go through and comply with the instructions cautiously you will learn about how to make your knives more beneficial than factory grade. Serrated edges, steak knives, bread knives, santoku blades and other cutting devices will be restored to a specialized complete in no time.

 

I would certainly not trust my Henckels or Wusthof knives to a low-cost sharpener. Plenty of evaluations have proven that this merchandise is high superior, most definitely the 120 and 130 types. Boring knives can realistically be a whole lot more hazardous than sharp knives. You have to have to use significantly more strain and might lead to extra damage than good. Consider what it would be like to get ready a meal with ease, cut your steak with razor sharp dealing with, and slice your meat correct down to the bone.

 

You’re sharpening your knife and have examined it to validate for sharpness. You know that you’ve attained it considering that you’ve located a burr on the knife’s edge. This burr is how we know that the edge has attained the position of absolute sharpness. It confirms it. Have to you give up there? Oh, but you will need to. There’s only so very much sharpening that can be finished to an edge. To proceed immediately after that only benefits in unneeded reduction of metal on your blade edge. To carry on gains absolutely nothing. Are you finished then?

 

You’ve obtained a burr on your blade edge and it might be eliminated. When you’ve achieved that, the edge will usually have small bits of metal even now clinging to it. These bits experience like sand on the edge. But you’d like to get it as good as it can be, even slippery sharp at that.

 

It’s possible you’ve got knives that are going on exhibit. Perhaps they’re heading to be incorporated in a ceremony of some type. Or it’s possible you’d just like to indicate off your great knives to your good friends and spouse and children. I’m confident you’d want your edges to shine, to make them silky smooth. Properly, then. It’s time to strop it.

 

Stropping is a tactic utilized to thoroughly clean off a blade’s edge following sharpening. It is meant to bend and twist individuals clinging metal items until eventually they fall off. It’s also completed to realign the microscopic teeth made on the edge despite the fact that sharpening. Stropping is performed by swiping both sides of your blade’s edge above a leather strap. When you can no lengthier feel clinging bits, you have effectively stropped your blade edge. It should certainly be shining good and bright at this level. This is how stropping was invariably achieved in the past, but occasions are modifying.

 

Did you at any time feel that you can a single day be capable to electrically strop an edge? I guaranteed didn’t. The earth of electrical knife sharpening has come a fairly extended way. Some electric knife sharpeners are very extraordinary. A lot of of the high priced sharpeners are outfitted with their own stropping abrasives. How about that? It’s genuine. Spend anywhere kind about to a handful of hundred on an excellent electrical knife sharpener and it’ll the two sharpen and strop your blades for you. Just like that. Sure, I know. It would seem like an terrible great deal of money for just an electrical knife sharpener. But if you’ve received the signifies and don’t care to diddle with it, electrical knife stropping is surely attainable now. It is totally up to you.

 

Let’s make a single position fairly clear. Stropping is not sharpening. It isn’t, certainly. But stropping with a polishing compound or an abrasive compound positive is. When you do this, when you add these a compound to the strap, the stropping has now developed into its very own type of sharpening. Considering it can now remove metal from the edge, it is a sharpener. All by by itself, still, the strap can do no a great deal more than strop an edge. Therein lies the variation.

 

For fine knife sharpening, stropping is constantly the final stage. It is accomplished after absolute sharpness has been reached. It makes every single knife edge as very good as it can be. They will shine and shine. Isn’t that exceptional?

 

For a lot alot more specifics, you ought to pay out avisit to – Sharpening Knives With A Chefs Selection 130 Sharpener

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www.sharpeningsupplies.com Chef’s Choice electric knife sharpeners quickly and easily put a razor-sharp edge on your knives. These high-quality electric knife sharpeners are safe to use on kitchen knives, sporting knives, pocket knives, and even serrated knives. In less than 30 seconds they will make even the dullest knife sharp again.

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Chef Uniform – Finding The Right One

April 9, 2011 By 2 Comments

Article by Chef Threads

If you are a wanna be chef, you will need a chef uniform before you start your training. Prior to purchasing one, you should learn about the uniform, its types, fabrics and the need to wear it in the kitchen.

A chef uniform includes toque or hat, a double breasted jacket, trousers and apron. Wearing the perfect uniform will not turn you into an expert chef, it will only make you look like one. There are other reasons to wear the professional uniform in the kitchen. The hat keeps your hair on your head and out of the food. The coats and trousers are designed to keep you cool in the hot temperatures that are prevalent in the kitchen and apron so that you don’t get stains on your clothes. The main purpose for wearing a uniform in the kitchen is to set standards. When you wear standardized clothes, you have the least chances of meeting accidents. If you wear clothes that are made of inflammatory fabrics, they can catch fire. So wearing a chef uniform is mandatory. The basic parts of a chef uniform are discussed below.

Toque

A toque, traditional name for chef hat, is the symbol of the chef’s caliber. The size of the hat is based upon the rank in the kitchen, the higher the rank, the larger the hat. Smaller hats are generally worn by cooks. When you walk in the room, you know who the head chef is only by taking a good look around the room. It is believed the folds in the traditional chef hat represents the number of ways a chef can cook eggs.

The basic reason behind a chef wearing a hat is not let a single hair fall in the food. A hat is also useful to keep the hair coming on to the face and eyes. If you want better protection, you can wear a hair net to cover your hair and tie your hair tightly so it doesn’t move at all. This helps in retaining the good food quality. Before making a purchase, measure your head right to ensure the toque isn’t loose. If it’s loose, it will keep bothering you while you are cooking.

Chef Coats and Pants

It’s gonna be hot in the kitchen, so you should wear clothes that are made of pure cotton or cotton mixed with other fabrics to keep you cool in there. Chef pants basically come in black and white checks, that look great with the white chef coats. Some people don’t consider wearing chef pants essential. You should, however, wear traditional chef pants as these are made of fabrics that maintain a good airflow and keep you cool.

The chef coat is basically double breasted so it can be worn either of the both sides if one is stained while preparing food. Wear a coat that fits you well so you can work comfortably. Coat that are too tight will not let your hands move properly and the ones that are too loose will keep sticking out resulting in covering the cuffs with gravy stains. Well fitted coats with fold back cuffs are the perfect choice. The two rows of stylish buttons add class to the perfect look.

Aprons

Aprons are the savior that shield the uniform from the food splatters that leave behind stains. Gravy and coffee stains are the hardest to remove from the clothes and aprons save the clean uniform from these. The aprons are made of fine quality cotton so these don’t get faded even after many washes. Some aprons are available with small pockets to keep things that are needed at regular intervals.

When you shop for your chef uniform, ensure that the whole ensemble looks great with another. Even if you are working in a kitchen, doesn’t mean that you should not look stylish. Online shopping is convenient, easy and gives you exemplary choices. So you should visit a good online store and purchase from the exclusive variety of both men and women’s chef wear at affordable prices.

About the Author

This article has been written by an expert associated with Chef Threads, a leading online store that offers high quality chef uniforms in various designs and styles.

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