I’ve lived with vegetarians. I even was one for a while. And I live with a vegan now. Cooking without meat doesn’t faze me. But it elicits quite a negative response from many of my fellow students. I don’t get it. So I’m getting on my soapbox. Chefs should be…
During service, stuff happens: Drinks spill, wine corks break, and food can have a hard time finding its way to hungry people. Nobody’s perfect. And there’s certainly no shame in confessing occasional instances of clumsiness and/or confusion. A simple apology — or any aplomb demonstrated through problem solving — can…
I’ve been taking a calcium supplement for years. It was hard to get into the habit, but the tasty chewable ones make it easier. Turns out that I was taking calcium every day but not in a way that was most effective. When you take calcium, what you take with…
If cost were not part of the equation, I’d choose to eat organic everything. After all, who wants to eat toxic chemicals or feed it to our children? But money does matter and, like most of the people I know, I am always trying to find my way to a…
It’s a pair like no other. Salt and pepper are so essential to cooking that one of the chefs even joked that culinary school is about paying big money to learn how to use them. I’ve always been pretty liberal with my use of salt and pepper, but I’ve said…
There’s no shortage of movies about food and restaurant life. I’ve seen almost all of them, and I relished the chance for a glimpse into a world I longed to join. Being a seasoned woman, I thought I had a pretty good handle of what was real and what was…
I work in a professional no-man’s land, a crossfire of commerce in which I negotiate dining room detente, and navigate all the bullshit bandied about back and forth. And from those I serve to those who sign my paychecks, all parties concerned keep me at the center of the minor…
Sure, it cost more. Yet for the past I’d-rather-not-say-how-many years, I only bought fish from the most expensive stores in town. I’d like to say that it’s because I preferred the quality…the truth is I didn’t trust my ability to choose fresh fish. Particularly in land-locked Phoenix. All I knew…
Is it possible to be a chef and care about animals? My questions started to surface the day I turned around in the walk-in and looked directly into the blank stare of the pig chilling until roasting the following day. It took all my self-control to not take off my…
Gold rushes unearth human nature horror stories. Precious few mine wealth from such circumstances. Many more are left to the muck and mire of greed and want. In the hospitality trades, the high roller is the rich vein of our gratuity-grubbing existences. Tap into the right one, we think, and…
There’s nothing quite like the taste of butter, but sautéing with it is virtually impossible. The milk solids just can’t take the heat; they burn at too low a temperature. For years, I adding a little oil to melted butter in an attempt to cook food at a higher temperature…
My ice cube trays recently came out of retirement. They were delegated to the back of the cabinet when my youngest daughter stopped eating homemade baby food, but they’ve been recycled and turns out they are used more frequently than ever before. What for? Stock. Making your own stock is…
For the movie version of my professional life, I’m tossing around ideas on whom I’d like to see in the starring role. Given the magnetic machismo he and I share, De Niro might seem an obvious choice. Still, juxtaposing my polished, fine dining persona with Robert’s renowned, raw pugnacity could…
I was afraid to taste it. Even though I enjoy poached salmon, this one was rosy pink and wet-looking in the middle. The other students grabbed forks and lined up for a taste while I hung back as long as possible. Eventually, I just took a tiny bit of the…
I just don’t get it. Sure, decorating a cake with icing is challenging. Rolling and shaping fondant is frustrating and burning your fingertips on melted sugar is brutal, but it’s part of the school curriculum. And it’s only for a couple of days. No need for drama. This week I…
Maybe this sounds familiar. You order a medium steak in one restaurant and receive meat with a fair amount of pink. Order it somewhere else and you receive just a tiny line of pink. Frustrating, isn’t it? Equally so for the chef who prepares a perfect medium rare burger that’s…
Before shows like Fear Factor and Bizarre Foods triggered mainstream gag reflexes, I toyed with my own notions of pushing the edible envelope. For much of the ’90’s, for example, I worked for a guy who allowed me the latitude to turn his specials chalkboards into an outlandish culinary canvas…
One of our classes closes with a market basket exam. You get surprise ingredients and have to cook with them. Our taste of life as a Top Chef contestant. In our version, each student begins by picking the name of a protein out of a hat. Next we are given…
As a waiter, Manuel was a marvel. While reciting specials and fielding menu questions, he dispensed information with the rote confidence of a Rhodes Scholar. When it came to taking orders and delivering the goods, he neither wrote things down nor screwed things up. It was at a chain Mexican…
It takes a lot to gross me out. Or so I thought. While filleting an Artic Char, one of other students decided to play bio lab and began investigating the fish’s eyeball and how it was attached. He poked, prodded, pushed and punctured. I was sneaking a glance in his…
Pillsbury pie crust has been a kitchen staple of mine for years. It’s quick, easy to unroll and it’s got a texture that works as well for quiche as it does for fruit pie. But those days are over. I now know the formula for perfect pie dough: 3-2-1. That’s…
Undercooked Pork = Trichinosis. I’ve known that forever. In fact, this lesson was embedded so deeply in my hard drive that I turned my back on “the other white meat” for decades. But the draw of Dim Sum in San Francisco’s Chinatown was too strong. I’ve indulged often, but until…
