My wife enjoys the Show Chopped on Food TV and I must say it is nice to see a food based tv show that is basically about skill and has very little drama. While I do have a good amount of respect for people who put themselves out there by going on the food reality shows I have a huge amount of respect for people who compete on a show involving a mystery basket.
For anyone who has cooked out of a mystery basket before you know it is difficult and the difficulty is only compounded when you are being timed and watched by some very well respected culinary personalities.
I wish I had more opportunities to cook from mystery baskets because they really do challenge your creativity and resourcefulness plus it is a blast to work with ingredients you are unfamiliar with.
Amazingly I do have a point here and that point is that if you love cooking and want to challenge yourself at home have a friend or loved one make some mystery baskets for you to cook dinner from. You will be challenged and learn a lot in the process. Just make sure the person putting your basket together isn't too mean because some of the items I have seen chefs stuck with on Chopped are truly cruel.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Decrease in Soda Consumption
I saw an interesting article today that overall soda consumption was down last year in the United States. The story also talked about how 4 of the top ten selling sodas are now diet sodas for the first time ever.
I am wondering if anyone has performed a study tracking overall sugar intake in this country. Now I know that would be difficult but I would be very interested. I am sure we have all seen or heard of the studies that claim diet soda actually increases the craving for sweets and can lead to increased sugar consumption in other areas.
I am very curious if we are as a nation in fact decreasing overall sugar consumption or simply shifting where we consume our sugar. Are people drinking less soda but more juice? Or perhaps eating more candy. An interesting point about candy is that even when economic times are tough candy sales never really drop the way that other consumer goods do. We see people eating less expensive food when they have less money but you rarely see them eating less candy.
In a related note I have noticed that many major companies are now marketing their product as not containing High Fructose Corn Syrup. I must say I feel this is wonderful because HFCS is just scary stuff but remember they are replacing the HFCS with sugar. This doesn't mean you can eat more of the product because it still has sugar and too much sugar is not good. Of course too much of anything isn't good for you so do enjoy sugar and all these wonderful new HFCS free products just please do so in moderation.
I am wondering if anyone has performed a study tracking overall sugar intake in this country. Now I know that would be difficult but I would be very interested. I am sure we have all seen or heard of the studies that claim diet soda actually increases the craving for sweets and can lead to increased sugar consumption in other areas.
I am very curious if we are as a nation in fact decreasing overall sugar consumption or simply shifting where we consume our sugar. Are people drinking less soda but more juice? Or perhaps eating more candy. An interesting point about candy is that even when economic times are tough candy sales never really drop the way that other consumer goods do. We see people eating less expensive food when they have less money but you rarely see them eating less candy.
In a related note I have noticed that many major companies are now marketing their product as not containing High Fructose Corn Syrup. I must say I feel this is wonderful because HFCS is just scary stuff but remember they are replacing the HFCS with sugar. This doesn't mean you can eat more of the product because it still has sugar and too much sugar is not good. Of course too much of anything isn't good for you so do enjoy sugar and all these wonderful new HFCS free products just please do so in moderation.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Revenge of the Pizza!
I just re-posted the awesome Pizza video as a public video on you tube so check it out and share it with all your friends!!!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Airline Food
My post about hospital food garnered a comment comparing it to airline food which brings up a question. What is the state of airline food today? I am asking because I haven't been on a plane since about 2 months after September 11th.
In the comment my friend attributed the awfulness of airline food to the fact that the audience is captive. I am going to posit another idea. Airline food is awful for three reasons:
a) the airline is trying to appeal to a very wide range of clients with widely ranging tastes
b) the food must be stable for long periods of time and easy to transport
c) generally speaking higher quality food is more expensive while highly processed food is less expensive
At one pastry shop I worked in we made some desserts for airlines and they were the most terrible, horrible, tasteless desserts you could imagine. Imagine making dessert out of raw meat, garlic, unsweetened chocolate, and fish sauce. Got that image in your head? Well what we made for the airlines was even worse.
The main problem was that the airlines provided the recipes and who knows what type of trained ape formulated them. Most of the desserts were mousse based and the flavorings were all artificial and there was enough gelatin in there to gel the great lakes. All of them! You could seriously bounce these mousses off the wall. Truly scary stuff.
The reason the airline wanted them made that way was stability. The more gelatin in the mousse the more stable it is and the easier it is to transport and hold for service.
If anyone out there does travel frequently I would be very interested to hear about the state of airline food because I have to go on a trip this year and would love to know which airline is going to give me the best meal. Thanks!
In the comment my friend attributed the awfulness of airline food to the fact that the audience is captive. I am going to posit another idea. Airline food is awful for three reasons:
a) the airline is trying to appeal to a very wide range of clients with widely ranging tastes
b) the food must be stable for long periods of time and easy to transport
c) generally speaking higher quality food is more expensive while highly processed food is less expensive
At one pastry shop I worked in we made some desserts for airlines and they were the most terrible, horrible, tasteless desserts you could imagine. Imagine making dessert out of raw meat, garlic, unsweetened chocolate, and fish sauce. Got that image in your head? Well what we made for the airlines was even worse.
The main problem was that the airlines provided the recipes and who knows what type of trained ape formulated them. Most of the desserts were mousse based and the flavorings were all artificial and there was enough gelatin in there to gel the great lakes. All of them! You could seriously bounce these mousses off the wall. Truly scary stuff.
The reason the airline wanted them made that way was stability. The more gelatin in the mousse the more stable it is and the easier it is to transport and hold for service.
If anyone out there does travel frequently I would be very interested to hear about the state of airline food because I have to go on a trip this year and would love to know which airline is going to give me the best meal. Thanks!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
My Profile Picture
Some people have asked what the hell my profile picture is. Well truthfully nobody has asked but I just feel like sharing because I just found all these old pictures (well actually they were sent to me thanks to an old school friend) and I feel like doing something with them.
This cake was one of the first cakes if not the first cake I ever covered in fondant. Now a quick word to the wise. Fondant is stupid. It looks nice if you know how to cover a cake with it but basically it is stupid. Fondant is much to sweet and has the consistency of leather if you boiled it for a really long time. At least it is what I imagine boiled leather to be like. That is to say fondant is unpleasant. The end. As a home baker avoid the stuff because it just isn't worth the money and making it yourself never yields the high quality results you see on your television or on professional cakes (because ALL professionals buy their fondant). So focus on making your cakes taste delicious and let them look like they were made with love and fresh, local, great tasting ingredients.
Now back to the happy green cake :) This was a spring cake so I piped my own Peeps on top and made fake jelly beans for the side. I would have loved to make jelly beans and peeps but this had to be done in a day and those tasks have an overnight drying stage.
So there you have it, all of you wonderful readers who don't bother to ask thoughtful questions, the answer to your unasked question. Just don't ever ask me to make you a cake like this one because I won't :)
This cake was one of the first cakes if not the first cake I ever covered in fondant. Now a quick word to the wise. Fondant is stupid. It looks nice if you know how to cover a cake with it but basically it is stupid. Fondant is much to sweet and has the consistency of leather if you boiled it for a really long time. At least it is what I imagine boiled leather to be like. That is to say fondant is unpleasant. The end. As a home baker avoid the stuff because it just isn't worth the money and making it yourself never yields the high quality results you see on your television or on professional cakes (because ALL professionals buy their fondant). So focus on making your cakes taste delicious and let them look like they were made with love and fresh, local, great tasting ingredients.
Now back to the happy green cake :) This was a spring cake so I piped my own Peeps on top and made fake jelly beans for the side. I would have loved to make jelly beans and peeps but this had to be done in a day and those tasks have an overnight drying stage.
So there you have it, all of you wonderful readers who don't bother to ask thoughtful questions, the answer to your unasked question. Just don't ever ask me to make you a cake like this one because I won't :)
Monday, March 14, 2011
Why to Measure Ingredients by Weight
As a loyal reader of this wonderful space you have noticed the recipes posted or offered via video use weight measurements. Weight measurements are used because they are more accurate than volume measurements. Four ounces of flour is four ounces of flour is four ounces of flour but depending on how you fill a one cup measuring cup with flour you can get anywhere between 4 and 5 ounces of flour.
There are too many variables that are difficult to control when measuring ingredients by volume-- especially dry ingredients. Using a digital scale can cut back on mistakes and help make your baked goods and desserts more consistent.
The world of baking and pastry relies on consistency and the precise scaling of ingredients. A confection like a pate de fruits is something you need to have measured out accurately and volume measurements just do not cut it at that point.
Many people think that digital scales are too expensive but you can find ones that are not. You can find a good digital scale for between $20 and $30 at your local kitchen supply store or online.As you start to use your scale you will see how easy it is and how quickly you will get your money's worth out of it.
When buying a scale just make sure it can measure in increments that work for you. Some scales can only measure in 2 gram or 5 gram increments. There is also always a max load for the scale so make sure the scale can weigh enough product at once for you. Most digital kitchen scales can measure at least 7 or 8 pounds at a time. There are also small scales you can buy from specialty scale retailers if you want to get crazy accurate but for 99.99999999% of your kitchen tasks a scale you can find in almost any store will work.
Scales: They just aren't for drug dealers anymore!
There are too many variables that are difficult to control when measuring ingredients by volume-- especially dry ingredients. Using a digital scale can cut back on mistakes and help make your baked goods and desserts more consistent.
The world of baking and pastry relies on consistency and the precise scaling of ingredients. A confection like a pate de fruits is something you need to have measured out accurately and volume measurements just do not cut it at that point.
Many people think that digital scales are too expensive but you can find ones that are not. You can find a good digital scale for between $20 and $30 at your local kitchen supply store or online.As you start to use your scale you will see how easy it is and how quickly you will get your money's worth out of it.
When buying a scale just make sure it can measure in increments that work for you. Some scales can only measure in 2 gram or 5 gram increments. There is also always a max load for the scale so make sure the scale can weigh enough product at once for you. Most digital kitchen scales can measure at least 7 or 8 pounds at a time. There are also small scales you can buy from specialty scale retailers if you want to get crazy accurate but for 99.99999999% of your kitchen tasks a scale you can find in almost any store will work.
Scales: They just aren't for drug dealers anymore!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)