The art of cooking is a joy for many people, while some seem to dread it like the plague! Many factors contribute to this love or hate relationship that so many have with cooking; personality traits, prior cooking experiences, knowledge passed down from one generation to the next. Some non-cookers have simply never been taught properly in the ways to prepare food. Others simply were not interested in learning because their mother, father or other guardian always did the work. Yet, cooking can be made into an enjoyable experience with a bit of creativity and some knowledge
on the process. Those who cannot even boil water can learn, and with time, even become experts in the art of cooking!

Cooking With A Purpose And A Plan

Often, we stumble into the kitchen and open the refrigerator only to stare into it blankly with no idea of where to begin. We just want something, and we want it now! Yet, cooking with joy is obtained when there is a purpose for your cooking and a plan to help you. The purpose for cooking could be that you want to provide healthy, whole and nutritious food for your growing children and your husband or wife. You want them to have the healthiest bodies that they can, and you have a desire to see them thrive. This motivation can serve to give you joy in your cooking experience, knowing that you are giving them the best that their bodies deserve.

Another great way to begin to enjoy cooking is to have a plan. Having a meal planned out in advance takes the stress and struggle of deciding away from last-minute preparations. Planning helps to ensure that you will have the right ingredients on hand in order to make your dish, and you will not be frustrated with coming up with a meal and then give up. With a plan, you can calmly prepare the meal even while listening to music or talking to a friend on the phone. This will help you be more relaxed at dinnertime as well.

Having the right attitude toward cooking goes a long way in making it an enjoyable experience. It is true that some tend to be more natural when it comes to food preparation, but that is no excuse for not attempting to cook a healthy meal. Anyone can learn to cook simple and tasty meals for themselves and their loved ones each day. Do not let a long-standing distaste for cooking sway you into sticking with your TV dinner rut. This is not only bad for your health but it is an expensive way to eat. Letting your children help you in the kitchen can also create fun as well as become a great learning experience for them.

With all the easy and exciting ways to simplify your life, cooking should definitely be a part!

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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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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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Article by Kari Larson

July 3, 2010 — Last evening, “Top Chef” star/producer and restaurateur Tom Colicchio [pictured] told CNN’s Campbell Brown that, after having spent time in Grand Isle, La., with several other prominent chefs, he thinks seafood from the Gulf Coast is safe to eat.

“We spent a lot of time with fishermen, fishing families, and talking to them — just to try to get a better idea of what was going on there,” the award-winning Colicchio recalled. “And there’s sort of two stories right now that I think you need to tell about the Gulf.

“One is that this is devastating. It’s horrible what’s going on down there. They need to stop this oil somehow, some way. Hopefully, it will happen with this new well that they’re drilling.

“But, on the other hand, there’s a lot of hope. There are fishermen that are still fishing… The fishermen that aren’t cleaning up the oil, they are actually fishing. And the fish that’s coming out of the Gulf is safe.”

Colicchio went on to note that the multi-government agency response to the BP oil-spill disaster is well-coordinated, ambitious and ongoing.

“There’s five different agencies testing the waters,” he noted. “There’s tissue samples being taken every day. I think there were over 300 done so far since May.”

“And just to be clear,” said Brown, “they’re not fishing in the oil spill area.”

“No, no, no, no,” Colicchio replied.

To read the entire transcript of Brown’s interview with Colicchio, go to: http://bit.ly/ColicchioCNN.

For the latest information about food-safety issues related to the Gulf Coast oil spill, please visit: http://bit.ly/OilSpillUpdateFDA.

If you have questions or concerns about seafood, or wish to report any seafood you have purchased that you suspect of being contaminated with oil, call 1-888-INFO-FDA.

SOURCES: CNN, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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TAGS: BP oil spill, Bravo TV, Campbell Brown, CNN, cooking, culinary, EPA, FDA, fish, fishing industry, food safety, Gulf Coast, NOAA, seafood industry, Think Like a Chef, Tom Colicchio, Top Chef, TV, cable television, cable TV, economic development, economy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Environmental Protection Agency, federal agencies, federal government agencies, Gulf of Mexico, James Beard Foundation, Louisiana, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reality television, reality TV, restaurant owner, restaurant owners, seafood safety, small business, small-business owners, small businesses, tourism, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

About the Author

Kari Larson, editor and publisher of GoodBiz113 [http://goodbiz113.blogspot.com], is committed to showcasing socially responsible small-business policies, partnerships and practices that serve the greatest possible win-win-win good.

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Article by Trevor Stephens

There are many reason in favor of and against starting a personal chef career. It is an exciting time to get started with your own business and control your destiny.

There are many positives arguments in support of starting a personal chef business. One such argument is it allows you to be actively involved in the culinary industry. An industry that is rapidly growing and involves creating good meals.

The personal chef field is growing quickly. More and more people don’t have the time or the ability to cook meals for their family. Imagine a family of six with both parents working full time. They want healthy food but they don’t want to cook. Insert your business providing healthy food and great cooking.

Another reason is starting your won personal chef business allows you to become your own boss. One other good reason for starting your own personal chef business is starting your personal chef business allows you to become your own boss. This provides the further advantage of Creating your own hours as well as controlling your pay rate, that could protect against making the mistake of getting paid too little for too much work.

A third reason if you love cooking you get to do it every day. And then there’s try cooking meals you might not have ever done before. That’s critical because it can increase your skills, as well as get you more clients if you have a wider area of expertise. Whenever you take that into mind, then it’s wise to start your own personal chef business.

The points above show the positive aspects of a personal chef career. There’s a bad side too. Here’s a discussion of some of the drawbacks.

The first negative reason is you have to train in order to be a personal chef. If you ever start a personal chef career, that might produce the effect of you having to train in order to become a good chef. There is no way that that could be a good thing. It could be enough reason for avoiding doing it at all.

Secondly, you need to learn a lot about food safety. Food safety is very important whenever you are a working in the culinary industry. If you don’t pay attention to it then you can have bad experience as a chef. Imagine that same family of six again getting very sick. Bad news!

Another negative is it can be very tiring work. A final reason to avoid a culinary career is it can be very tiring work. Everyone ought to consider this point very carefully, mainly because it may lead right to Tired feet from standing all day and lack of desire to cook at home if you want to start your own business in the culinary industry anyway.

So there you have it. We have looked at and examined the pluses and minuses of starting a personal chef career. May possibly not be what’s right for everybody, but it is unquestionably acceptable for lots of people. You’ll want to think about the info presented and make your own personal selection, for or against. Hopefully your final decision process is going to be helped greatly because of the pro and con info provided here. Your own business can be very rewarding especially when you get to cook for lots of people.

About the Author

For more personal chef training tips please visit us at Personal Chef Academy. Visit us for more personal chef training.

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Ever say to yourself that perhaps you should be a personal chef ? That exact same idea has occurred to a lot of people. Some went ahead and did it. Some never did their homework to get more info and so couldn’t know enough to generate a serious start.

Let’s see now, are those reasons really valid? Did they really consider the positive side? Did we look at the “pro” side or simply the “con” side? Maybe we should have a look at that. Let’s examine 5 positive reasons in favor of attempting thinking about meal plans when training to be a personal chef and see which ones ring true.

First, personal chef training has to include meal plans. I understand fully your hesitancy when considering getting started creating meal plans. Yes, this is a valid observation, but look at it this way, you are just mapping out what you do every day if you love cooking. And moreover, one should consider how easy it makes your personal chef training if you already have your meal plans created.

Second, you can easily figure out what each meal will cost so you can let your clients know. The leading benefit to doing this would be giving your clients more control over the cost of their meals.. And in addition you have a better understanding of how long each meal will take you to cook.

Third, having standard meal plans also allow you to easily advertise your costs. Plus it gives you the ability to add customizations to the standard plans for more money!

Fourth, this frees up your time on the cook date

And Fifth, this free time allows you to focus on cooking the meal. Not how much you will charge your client or how long will cooking this meal take you.

As you go through the reasons and evaluate them, I expect that you will have to admit that a persuasive case can be made for thinking of how you can create your meal plans while you are going through your personal chef training.

O.K. After looking at all that info, what do you think now? Isn’t that a strong case in favor? Maybe you really should get started creating your meal plans!

If you happen to examine the different reasons and evaluate them, you’ll have to admit that a very compelling case can be made for beginning  your planning right away!

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Article by Matthew Bass

There’s a saying that states, “You can take the chef out of the cook, but you can’t take the cook out of the chef”. A chef may have been a cook at one time, but made his/her way through the ranks to being a chef, while cooks on the other hand may have never achieved the chef status.

Yep, it’s true that your mom, your Uncle Joe, and your friend can cook – Mom’s pancakes are superb, Uncle Joe’s barbequed pork makes your mouth water, and cousin Jerry’s pasta sauce should be mass produced and sold in stores – but alas, they are still merely cooks, not chefs.

Chefs must not only be wonderful cooks, they must also develop menus, stay on top of food costs, manage a staff – plus wear the hats of human resource professional, accountant, teacher, sometimes Mom and Dad, and sometimes friend (or enemy), as well.

Creativity plays a major role in a chef’s profession. Not only must the food be impeccably prepared, but also its presentation must be artful and designed to appeal to the most discriminating taste buds. Chefs are also expected to create new, never-before-seen dishes and for this, a mastery of all types of foodstuffs is required – meats, fish, poultry, herbs, spices, even wines.

These descriptions are, of course, for Executive Chefs. There are a plethora of underlings that also retain “chef” as part of their official title: sous chef, pastry chef, saucier chef, garde manger chef, and more.

Chefs needs years of training and apprenticeship to earn their certification as “chef”, while a cook just has to like working in the kitchen – almost all of it done on his or her feet.

One way to look at it is this: Any good hamburger flipper can be a cook, but a chef is the one who created the “Imported Gruyere Cheese With Porcini Mushrooms Hamburger Deluxe” on the menu at the five-star restaurant you visit only on Mother’s Day or on a very hot date.

Of course, there are the rare occurrences where a really good cook – the so-called “gourmet cook” – should, for all practical purposes it seems, be classified as a true “chef.” But, alas, without that stamp of approval, the certification from an accredited culinary school or college, the gourmet cook must remain satisfied with the little-lower-than-the-angels “cook” designation. And one must remember the other requirements of managing a kitchen, staff, and the ability to create – not merely follow a recipe. A true chef MAKES the recipes, THEN follows them.

Even the act of creatively and exquisitely preparing food does not a “real” chef make. Chefs are a breed apart. Absolutely passionate about food, if they were not creating dishes for pay, a true, dyed-in-the-wool chef would be inventing sumptuous gastrointestinal delights just to appease his or her innate preoccupation with food, and the creative preparation and presentation thereof.

So if you feel you can tell the difference now between a “cook” and a “chef,” you are at least part of the way toward an understanding of this prestigious profession. If not, stick to the fast-food joints and greasy-spoon diners where your talents will be better appreciated.

About the Author

Bring Italy into your kitchen! Get an Imperia Pasta Machine SP150 at Imperia Pasta Machine and create your own unique variations of great Italian pastas.

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Are you planning to buy a chef uniform for your new restaurant? Well, there are various uniform pieces that, after combining, make a complete chef uniform. But what you want to wear? Well, the following article will help you in making up your mind as it has all the relevant information about a chef uniform.    

For every amateur or professional chef, his uniform is very important as every chef wants to look impressive and elegant. The chef’s job is very interesting yet hectic and difficult on the other hand. He has to be in the kitchen the entire day, look after the food, serve the people and do much more. So the whole day, he needs to stay comfortable in his chef uniform and look pleasing to the people in and around the restaurant.

A chef’s uniform is an essential part to be considered seriously by every chef as it is the uniform in which he has to work the whole day and thus has to take care of it as well.

A chef’s uniform includes multiple pieces of clothing to complete the whole attire. It depends on the chef and the restaurant’s rule that what all would he wear as his chef’s uniform. The chef can get a variety of beautiful uniform ensembles from a chef hat, bandanna, scarf, to bow tie, apron, coat, pant, gloves, belt and chef’s shoes.

Amongst all these uniform ensembles, a chef’s hat, scarf and a chef apron are the essential parts of any restaurant or hotel. But nowadays, the chefs put on additional clothing like ties, neckerchief and scarf’s in order to look elegantly impressive and cool.  

Also, chefs now prefer to wear aprons since they feel more comfortable in these rather than in chef’s coats and jackets. These aprons and bibs are designed specifically on order according to their taste, matching with the color of the restaurant furniture, kitchen and décor. Since the uniform is fixed but not the color of the aprons, so the chefs get an easy choice to don the colors that they love.

In addition to the chef apron, they wear hats which can make them look stylish as well as prevent their hairs to fall down while cooking or serving.   

Although there are no specific rules for the style of chef pants but the most popularly worn pants are those of cargos and baggies as these give a loose and extremely comfortable fit and also make the chef look distinguished among the rest of the staff.

One can choose from lighter to darker colors of chef pants suiting his taste and that can go well with the other restaurant items. Last but not the least, to complete the whole attire; the unique chef uniform is incomplete without shoes. One can get a huge variety of chef shoes in a number of designs and colors, but he is suggested to look for such shoes that are actually comfortable and have a perfect grip since the chef has to work the whole day wearing those shoes so the decision of selecting the best chef shoes should be taken seriously.  

A chef is the most important person in any restaurant or hotel and hence must look extremely distinguished, elegant and impressive. He must be able to work comfortably in his uniform so that he can enjoy his job as well as please others too.

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Uniforms are integral to any profession and give a neat and distinctive look to any person who is wearing them. It also makes it easier for other people to identify what profession they are in. Likewise, chef coats and pants are fundamental to any food preparer. They are the symbol of cleanliness and professionalism. Lately a chef uniform has been transformed in such a way that it has started giving rise to new trends. No longer is it a standard plain uniform, but has been transformed into classy, unique looking attire which is available in various colors, styles, designs and sizes.

Evolution of the Chef Uniform

It might interest you to know how chef coats evolved over a period of time. In the beginning of 1800′s, the chef coat took on a contemporary look, when a chef named Marie-Antoine Careme changed the basic color of the chef coat from grey to white. This transformation was done contemplating that the white color demonstrated the cleanliness of the kitchen. It was around that time that double breasted jacket and hats in different sizes had also been pioneered. Hence since 1980′s, modern looking and cheap chef coats and chef attire have largely become popular with several options being available in the market or on the web stores. The numerous options include denim jackets, pinstriped pants, or novelty printed attire such as pasta and chili peppers and most importantly flags.

Change Which the Evolution Brought

Thanks to Marie-Antoine Careme, chefs can now express their individuality without compromising on comfort. Many double-breasted chef Coats and jackets are easily reversible so that the stains and spills could be concealed. This change has been done keeping in mind the requirements and specific purpose of the chef uniform. The fabric of the chef coat is generally the double-layer of cotton which is meant to protect them from the heat from the ovens, stove tops and grills. Then there is the knotted cotton buttons which were arranged to hold up to incessant wash and dry cycles, as well as wear and tear and stress which comes from daily use. Many chefs are also wearing neckerchiefs to get that sturdy, practical and accentuated look.

Sleeve Types of Chef Coats

A number of markets and websites offer different sizes of chef sleeves for instance ¾ length sleeved chef coats is mostly worn by the chefs where as pastry chefs wear short-sleeve chef coats which are comfortable and provide ease of movement. These sleeves are available in a variety of styles like French Cuffs, which provides a two layered protection from hot liquids and grease spatters.

Transformation in Chef Pants

The trend in chef pants has also transformed drastically. Some people think that giving importance to chef pants is not necessary however they are equally essential. Chef pants also come in distinctive styles and patterns such as basic baggy pants, traditional chef pants with elastic waist, etc. These pants provide mobility and are highly flexible. They come in several colors ranging from white, black, to denim blue.

Be it chef pants, chef coats, aprons, neckerchiefs, etc. the quality of the fabric is as crucial as various patterns and styles. Select the best website for chef pants and chef coats which can provide you exclusive deals or offers on the chef uniform. You can also get a customized range of pants with the logo being displayed in different piping and embroidery options. Buy coats, aprons, uniforms, etc at unbeatable prices, with several options to choose from. We all want to look presentable and professional at our work place however choosing the right kind of uniform can make a difference and can build your own identity. So all the chefs out there go for it and purchase a classy and comfortable uniform today.

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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.

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