Easy Artful Plate Design

One of the things I like best about working in a restaurant is that it simply isn’t enough to make food that tastes great–it also has to look good.
Everyone eats first with their eyes (and arguably, with their noses), long before the first morsel passes their lips. And there are few things more satisfying […]

Chefs And Profanity: Some Thoughts

Pete Wells wrote an interesting piece for the New York Times last week on the subject of chefs and profanity. Entitled, “Too Much Heat in the TV Kitchen?,” the article notes that while extreme language in the kitchen is nothing new, largely unedited consumption of it by the media, and then the reading/television viewing public […]

Weekend Kat Blogging: Finished Quilt–And A Nightmare

We picked up Kat’s quilt from the woman who does the professional long-arm quilting (machine quilting on a large machine that allows easy, free-motion designs full of simple or complex curves and whorls) in Nelsonville on Wednesday.
As you can see, Kat loves it, and has been cuddling it at least a little bit every […]

Another Step for Reducing Waste in Restaurants: Cross-Utilization and Repurposing of Food

Cross-utilization and repurposing are two words that get used by chefs and cooks, but not so much anyone else, so let me first define them for you.
Cross-utilization means using an ingredient, sauce, or condiment that is usually used for one or two specific dishes for another dish or two where, perhaps, they are not expected, […]

The Next Step to Avoiding Food Waste in Restaurants: Utilizing Surplus

Sometimes, even though proper inventory and ordering procedures are followed, a restaurant will have a surplus of perishable ingredients. In these cases, there are a few things that a resourceful cook or chef can do to alleviate the problem before it becomes a case of unnecessary food waste. (Sometimes, it isn’t an accidental overstock that […]