Yes I have worked on the line, I started in the food and beverage business when I was 15 (now I’m 25) and currently I am a sous chef. It is my goal to get my culinary degree in the future, either I will go to my county college or my real hope is to go to the Culinary Institute of America but its expensive.
I work at an upscale hotel in New Brunswick, NJ; I do mainly banquets now though.
Stir Fry? You could use pretty much any cut, even a tough shitty cut like top round or london broil. If you are using a cheap cut I would slice it very thin, pound it out flat with a mallet and then put a jackader to it (spelling is fucked on that, but basically its this plastic meat tenderizer with these metal spikes). Or you can do what I do which is get a london broil, marinade that thing for like 48 hours in my yakiniku sauce (check out page 2), grill that bitch till its medium rare, make the sauce, then slice it really thin after it has rested for about 10 minutes. You can then add the steak to your stir-fry, just make sure the steak doesn’t cook past medium rare or it will get tough as hell.
Or if you got the money to drop: Tenderloin, Sirloin, Ribeyes, etc.
good thread!
Clockw***0***rk
Anybody have thermometer recommendations, and a good place to buy them? I’m looking for a digital insta-read meat thermometer.
What’s a good place in general to buy quality kitchenware for cheap?
I hate those things. They’re buggy and slow.
Get a good old fashioned one. They’re cheap and easy to use. Just calibrate and go.
Check your local restaurant supply store, though Amazon will occasionally have hot deals. Do check that what you’re getting is quality, though.
It also doesn’t hurt to peruse the Asian/Oriental supermarkets. They may have things for insanely low prices, like decent vegetable cleavers.
BTW, just because not many people are posting don’t mean we don’t appreciate this shit. Just keep posting up the good stuff, there’s a ton of people lurking and getting good info from here.
Steak
Have a 12" cast iron skillet handy. If you don’t have one, get one - preferably pre-seasoned, since seasoning is a bit of a hassle and the smoke from seasoning smells bad. Get one with a big helper handle.
Set oven to 500 deg F/260 C.
Place pan in oven.
Bring steak(s) to room temperature - the fresher, the better, unless you happen to have aged beef.
When oven hits 500/260, move the pan to a stove burner/element set on the highest setting.
Coat the steak(s) with an oil like refined peanut/safflower/canola.
Liberally sprinkle kosher salt on both sides
Grind fresh black peppercorns on both sides to taste.
Now, check the size of the steak. Would you be able to fit two steaks of that size on the pan at once? If so, see a). If not, see b).
a) With tongs, place a steak on one side/half of the pan and DO NOT TOUCH for ~30 seconds.
After ~30 seconds, turn with tongs and place on the other half of the pan surface and cook for another ~30 seconds.
Alternatively, you can cook two steaks at once, but the sear may be compromised.
b) With tongs, place a steak in the center of the pan and DO NOT TOUCH for ~30 seconds. After ~30 seconds, turn with tongs and cook for another 30-35 seconds.
After about a minute on the pan, take the whole pan and put it in the oven for ~2 minutes (medium rare for a 1.5" steak)
Open oven door, flip steak, close door, cook for ~2 more minutes
Take pan out and repeat steps for more steaks if necessary
Now, with the steaks you just cooked in the oven, put them on a plate (warmed if you like) and let them rest for around 5 minutes. This’ll redistribute the juices and reduce the amount that escapes when you cut into it. Cover loosely with foil so that they don’t cool down too fast, but not so loose the water vapor gets trapped.
Seasoning cast iron
If you want to do it yourself, follow directions here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasoning_(cast_iron)#Seasoning)
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=372
Seasoned - http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001DJVGA.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Unseasoned - http://www.kitchencollection.com/prodimages/sm139898.jpg
Fettucine with alfredo sauce
Serves 4-6
(works well with chicken breast, asparagus tips, mushrooms, shrimp…)
Ingredients
12 to 16 ounces dry fettuccini pasta (depends on your preference of sauce/noodle ratio)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, minced (or, you know… to taste)
1 cup any ratio of Romano and parmesan cheese — MUST BE GRATED FRESH FROM BLOCK
kosher salt to taste
Procedure
-Boil pasta according to pasta boiling procedure here, though you will want to cook the noodles to just before al dente
-In a large saucier (saut pan if you don’t have one), melt butter into cream over low heat, stirring constantly with balloon whisk
-Add kosher salt to taste
-Remove pan from heat
-When noodles approach al dente, drain thoroughly
-Add noodles to sauce
-Stir in cheese over low heat and toss until cheese melts and sauce thickens to preference
Serve immediately on warmed plates
Koopa’s Real Jambalaya from the Ba-you
Ingredients:
Vegetable Oil
Random Seasoning
2 Bay leaves
1 Whole Onion- diced/chopped
4 Garlic Cloves- diced
1 Stick of Celery-chopped
1 Chopped Bell Peppers
2 Lbs of chicken (white/dark mix or 1/2 a chicken)
or
2 Lbs of Pork
1/3 Lb of Sausage sliced
1.5 Cups of rice
Chop up all Vegetables. Celery should be cut in half then sliced along a diagnol (sp?). Onion should not be diced too much for it will cook a while and nice size chunks add texture. Put oil down to coat pan and then turn the burner on Med-high. Once the pan is hot, add all vegetables except for 1/2 of the bell peppers and 1/2 of the garlic. Fry vegetables till onions become translucent. Then add the meat. Cook the meat for roughly 15 minutes b4 adding any type of water. Add salt and pepper. Realize the the pork should be fried for a slightly longer time (3-4 minutes).
After frying all sides of the meat for this time then add 1/2 a cup of water. You should bring the liquid to a boil to get the juices off of the sides of the pan. You should boil the liquid down and you can repeat the 1/2 cup of water process for how tender you would like your meat. The more times you do it, the richer the flavor will be. You should add the 1/2 of garlic and bell peppers somewhere in here.
While this boiling down is going on, you can get creative with you seasoning. Basil, Oregano, creole mustard (Grey poupon), paprika, bay leaf, red pepper, tabasco, vietnamese cock sauce, etc. are all great additions to the jambalaya at this stage. I don’t recommend too much salt b/c the sausage will naturally bring this flavor in. The flavor should be roughly 2-3 times as spicy as you would normally want. This is because the rice reduces the intensity of the seasoning when added.
After you are satisfied with the flavor and texture of the meat, you should add your 1.5 cups of rice. The pot should be very hot when you add the rice. Let the rice simmer for roughly 1-2 minutes b4 adding 4 cups of water. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes stirring every now and then. Rice should be dark and cooked to desired consistancy.
Key points for a jambalaya. You should have a strong meat flavor throughout every bite of this dish. Crushed or fresh tomatoes can be added with the rice for a “red” jambalaya. The rice consistency should be slightly tough and the bottom of the pot should be darker and tougher. This is very hard to achieve and should only be tried after cooking the dish several times. Basil is a key ingredient as is cayenne pepper.
I know this recipe seems long and drawn out, but there are many things that i find hard to explain b/c this is my first shot at a recipe. Let me know if anything is confusing, and if anyone is interested I can post many more Creole/Cajun recipes and tips for I have been cooking this ethnic food for about 6 years now. I have tons of different variations for all types of jambalaya, sauce picante, etouffee, gumbo, stews, oyster dishes, fried fish, shrimp dishes, etc. Just let me know if ya’ll are interested.
Thanks for the recipe. 
Putting that on the first post
Garlic bread
Ingredients for method 1
1 loaf of French or Italian bread
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
Butter
Garlic cloves, minced (to taste)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Procedure for method 1 (with cheese)
-Slice the loaf into 3/4" thick sections diagonally
-Mix the minced garlic with the butter, melted or solid, doesn’t matter
-Spread/brush butter/garlic mix on the bread
-Lay out bread slices on a cookie sheet
-Add salt to taste (I doubt you need any if you’re using salted butter)
-Put cookie sheet under oven broiler (about 6-8")
-Broil until slightly toasted, then remove and grind pepper on to taste
-Add cheese, put the sheet back in the oven and broil until cheese melts
-Otherwise, broil until golden brown and then remove from heat
-Serve immediately
If you don’t want cheese, just broil until golden brown when you put it in the first time, and add pepper when it’s done. The reason I’m suggesting to add any pepper under the cheese, or after broiling, is because I don’t want it to burn.
Ingredients for method 2 (no cheese)
1 loaf of French or Italian bread
1 garlic bulb, sliced across its waist/equator, bisecting all the cloves inside
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
Butter, melted OR extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Procedure for method 2
-Slice the loaf into 3/4" thick sections diagonally
-Lay out bread slices on a cookie sheet
-Put cookie sheet under oven broiler (about 6-8")
-Broil until golden brown, then remove from heat
-Scrape the cut end of the garlic across the top of the bread slices a few times
-Brush on melted butter/EVOO if desired
-Add salt and grind pepper on to taste
Wow I didnt know why Green was called the cooking master in chat till now…
Got any tips/good recipes for Chicken? Preferrably fried, bbq isn’t bad either.
I’ll burn you the Good Eats fried chicken episode.
As with most things, it’s important to not overcook food, but I found that it is especially true with chicken. Chicken has a great texture when properly cooked, and a not so good texture when overcooked. Brining works wonders too. Sometimes I get lazy and don’t brine the chicken, but when I actually do, I’m always glad I did.
Alton Brown recommends heating chicken to internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Get a thermometer use it to get feel for temperatures when making a particular dish so you know when you exactly hit done. Eventually when you make the same thing a lot you may be able to skip the thermometer. Also note that if you want to have a final temperature of 165 degrees, you actually have to remove the food from heat BEFORE it hits 165 degrees because of “carry over.” After you remove the food from heat, the temperature will continue to rise (because of “momentum”), and you could over shoot the desired temperature. Exactly how much carry over occurs depends on the mass of the food. Bigger food, more carry over.
New-york cheesecake(i got this recipe from another website)
INGREDIENTS
15 graham crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan.
In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press onto bottom of springform pan.
In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving.
At some point I developed the idea that fried sushi would be a good idea. I told my friends about this and they gave me that “uhh I don’t think so” vibe. This thread got me interested enough to do some research. Apparently it’s not a new idea and New Tokyo Restaurant(whatever that is) dips sushi in tempura batter and deep fries them.
I’m gonna try this soon. I have no idea what tempura batter consists of so I’ll just use flour and eggs.
^ I’m pretty sure there should be bread crumbs in there somewhere.
Cool. I’m adding that to the recipe.
