I'm still a bit curious on why I'm still having problems signing into my blog.
I have to change my password every single time that I log on to it. I eventually
get on, but it is a tremendous hassle. I had a blog before and had no problems
and I can't seem to get an answer from the "report a problem" forum from blogger.

Fish Aren't The Only Ones Who Have Scales

    When I was still in cooking school, learning the basics of French cooking,
one thing I took for granted was all of the equipment that was there. I didn't
even think about it. I just went about my day; chopping and peeling and
weighing and measuring all of the prep for that day's service. That's just
how it was, I didn't have to think about it. I just did it, and the equipment just
seemed to magically appear when I needed it.

    Fast forward a few years and I found myself purchasing equipment for our
many, rather large, restaurants. At first I didn't like it. It wasn't cooking, and
that's what I was damn it, a cook. That was until I got involved with the actual
costs of opening a restaurant. I had to think about every step the cooks were
going to take while cooking, to make sure they had the right equipment when
they needed it. I must have opened 18 or 19 restaurants in my lifetime, many
of them from the ground up. And to say that I would spend over $100,000
equipping some of the kitchens, wasn't unusual. From the stoves, ovens,
prep tables and the small wares, it was a small fortune. And I became good
at spending a small fortune.

    Since I retired from all that glorious work, I'm now in the process of scaling
down all of my recipes to more manageable amounts, so I can share them
with all of you fine folks. In professional kitchens we weigh everything. But
now I'm putting things in measuring cups or measuring spoons. It sounds easy,
but it's not. I had to break down a recipe that I have for making 14 Key Lime
Pies, to making just one, while changing the measuring techniques to boot.
It's a very tough life being a chef. You don't understand the stress I'm under.

    One of the most important thing's that I've bought for my home kitchen was
an Oxo Electric Scale. I got it at William Sonoma for about $29. I should have
done my homework though, because at Bed, Bath and Beyond, I could have
used one of those 20% off coupons that they're always giving out and saved
a few bucks. Oh well. Anyway, if I could convince everyone to use a scale,
then maybe I wouldn't need all of those measuring cups and spoons that are
filling up my kitchen drawers, and maybe my life wouldn't be so stressful.

Fruit Packs A Mean Punch

    One of the great thing's about chefing for a living is that very rarely do thing's
stay the same. Chef's and owners change their menus and decor based on the season's.
Whatever's available at the market usually mean's it's in season, therefore fresh and ripe
and not grown in a hothouse somewhere. At this time of the year, autumn fruits and
vegetables are flooding the markets. As a chef, I like walking around these places for
inspiration. We all try and stay current with the "Cooking Trend Du Jour" and apply it to
whatever is available at the market. The colors and smells that are associated with
autumn make it a great time of year to cook, and be creative.

    We have an outdoor produce market down here called Rorabeck's, and I come here
often just to see what's coming out of the ground or off a tree. I know a lot of the
stuff they have here is grown around this area. We have a tomato farm a mile from
my house, a mango farm a few miles away, an herb farm, and a strawberry patch
all very close by. So I know that it's grown locally, and that's been the mantra of
chef's the past several year's. Purchased and grown less than a hundred miles from
where your restaurant is, when you can of course.

    While I was at the market the other day and I got smacked in the nose with the
smell of plums. Now I know plums aren't grown here, but my nose told me they were
ripe and ready. Your nose is one of the great tools to use when you're buying fruit.
Just smell the fruit, if it doesn't sock you in the nose, then maybe it's not ripe enough or
not in season. But if it does, buy it, and have your way with it., like I did with those
plums. I made a simple pound cake recipe flavored with cinnamon and dotted with
perfectly ripe plums. How bad can that be? AND when other fruit is season you can
use that fruit, like peaches or apricots or mangoes.

    Maybe you've heard this before, but try and wait a day before you eat it. You'll
be glad you did. Because as the cake sits, all of the juices mix with the cake and
make an almost gooey, puddingly texture. It's great, trust me.

    There's basically two types of plums out on the market, the dark purple European and the
Ruby Red Japanese kind and a whole bunch of hybrids, and they all taste great. The ones
used to make prunes are the European kind, because of their sugar content and skin thickness.
Other than that, have you way with them.



Plum Torte

1 cup all purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar, plus a little more if they're too tart
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
8-9 plums, cleaned, split in half and seeded
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 350 and prep a 9" spring form pan ( I use Pam)
2. Sift the flour and baking powder
3. Cream the butter and sugar (that means mix them until fluffy)
4. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well then scrape down the bowl.
5. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
    -If you over mix it the torte will get tough, and who likes a tough torte?
6. Pour the batter into the spring form pan, level it with a spoon.
7. Arrange the plum halves on top, sprinkle top with lemon juice
    add the cinnamon and sugar.
8. Bake about 45 to 50 minutes, let cool on a rack.
    Remember, try and wait a day, but if you can't eat it and make another.

*This is a basic cake, it's very good. What makes it great is ripe fruit!




.

Good Food Good Mood?

    Why can't I make a simple meal for my family? My family beg's me for a simple roasted
chicken, but can I oblige? No, I can't. I reach for the truffles and the roasted garlic or I put
tandoori spices on it or I have to make ricotta gnocchi with it. I CAN"T HELP MYSELF!
I might need "Chef's Anonymous" or something. But I personally don't see the big problem
here. When I was growing up, putting salt and pepper on my food was a big deal, and I
think we had garlic powder. That was about it. I just want to make dinner-time a really
good memory for my kids. Instead, I think I'm traumatizing them. My son's pretty cool,
I have to say that he'll at least try anything I make. But my youngest daughter...Nope. She
flat out refuses to try some of the thing's I make. Now I can see if I'm making Frog's
Legs or Veal Sweetbreads or something out of the ordinary. But I'm talking BBQ
ribs or meatloaf or steak of some sort. She'll eat these thing's at her friends houses all day,
but here...Nope.
    Now my wife has expanded her palette since we've been together, but in the beginning
it was like pulling teeth. She was very picky, she didn't like fruit with her main course, I
mean how can you not like apples with pork or apricots with stewed chicken. But she's
come around, slowly, and she's trying different thing's. There's a few things we're still
working on like lamb and duck, which I happen to love. But we're getting there. In fact,
sometimes she criticizes me like she's a judge on Iron Chef. And I think " Oh no, I've
created a monster".
    But, with all that being said, simple thing's are no longer in my repertoire. My secret
weapons are fresh herbs and every type of wine or alcohol there is. Not to mention the
 teachings of my old buddy Escoffier, who did all of his work without any modern
conveniences. You see I owe it to him to keep my meals as complicated as possible.
....What?...OK Dear...I have to go now and make grilled cheese for dinner.

What Crisis?

    Well, a small crisis had occurred and I was forced to change a few thing's like the name of the blog and my e-mail. It's too bad because I liked the original name, thank's again Noel. I'm glad this blog was only up for two days when it happened. But unfortunately I did have a few posts that went unpublished and I seemed to have lost them in this electronic wasteland I live in. So I'll begin work on this, again, after I stop crying. It will take me a day or two to re-copy and re-post what I had. But better this happened now rather than two or three months from now, I suppose....