All posts by blogger

Culinary Arts and The Famous Chefs of History Like Careme, Escoffier, Ranhofer and Julia Child

The French have been the leaders and are recognized as the innovators in the culinary arts scene since the beginning of time, and most of the famous chefs in history are French. The well known and famous chefs that are not French, nevertheless, are trained in the art of cooking with the classical French style.

Antoine Careme well known as the “King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings,” and who began as an abandoned child. It was Paris, in the 18th century, where Antoine Careme was left alone at the door step of a restrauteur, and became the father of “haute cuisine” in the 19th century which is the high art of French cooking. French statesman and Diplomat Talleyrand-Perigord, the future King George IV, Czar Alexander I, and James Rothschild a powerful banker, Careme was the Chef to these world leaders and aristocrats. Careme is well known for his famous writings on the art of cooking, included in the writings is the famed “The Art of French Cooking” or L’Art de la Cuisine Francaise. The masterpiece contains five volumes of information and knowledge on the history of French cooking, table settings, menu planning, recipes in the hundreds, and much more.

George Auguste Escoffier, who is also French, in the late 19th and early 20th century modernized Careme’s elaborate style of cuisine by his ingenious simplification of the food. With partner Cesar Ritz, and as a chef George Auguste Escoffier lent his culinary skills and talents to open the Carlton and Ritz hotels, and on the German Passenger Liner (Imperator) , 1913, went on to impress passengers such as Kaiser William II of Germany who was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia. The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by chef Auguste Escoffier, and Escoffier created this famous treat for Australian singer Nellie Melba. Escoffier is well known for such famous treats as Peach Melba. Escoffier wrote volumes on the art of cooking, but within the commercial kitchens, Escoffier was largely responsible as the mover and shaker in the improvement of the working conditions. Escoffier was a stickler for cleanliness, and Escoffier demanded the same cleanliness from the working staff. Escoffier was also against any type of swearing or violence from his workers and all these types of behaviour was forbidden, and at the time swearing or violence was common in the kitchens among apprentices and older cooking staff.

The grandson of a chef, and a restrauteur’s son, Charles Ranhofer will go down in history as one of great chefs, and the very first French chef to bring the style and grandeur of France’s cuisine to North America. Charles Ranhofer was the head chef, and ran its kitchens at the famous Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York for over 30 years. Charles Ranhofer culinary creatations such as Baked Alaska and Lobster Newburg, plus many others were introduced and served to a host of foreign dignitaries, President Andrew Johnson, President U.S. Grant and Charles Dickens, among others.

One of the most famous and gifted chefs of all time is not French, her name is Julia Child and she is an American, author, and television personality, who introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream, through her television programs and many cookbooks. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is one of the more famous cookbooks that Julia Child wrote in 1961, and with the series The French Chef, showcasing her sui generis television persona, which started in 1963.

Born in California, and at the age of 34 Julia Child started her cooking career, and a move to France where she had her grand epiphany, a sudden realization that good food is more than mashed potatoes and roast beef. Julia Child enrolled and got a culinary arts education at the esteemed Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Later, with two partners, Julia Child wrote the cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, and became the very first “celebrity chef” with more cookbooks, television programs, newspaper columns, and magazine articles. She received the French Legion of Honor in 2000 and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003. Julia Child also received honorary doctorates from Harvard University, her alma mater Smith College, and several other universities. Julia Child brought to North America exquisite French cuisine as much with her “have-a-good-time” attitude toward the art of cooking as she did with her cooking skill, talent and expertise.

To all of these great chefs who have turned cooking into a real art form, and for their incredible talents, giftedness and tireless contributions to cooking, everybody owes a Hugh debt. James Murray is a successful writer and online Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) expert providing valuable tips and advice for those interested in seo and sem strategies. His numerous articles found on the Internet, provide useful and factual seo and sem information and insight. Some of his websites are : http://www.seo-worldwide.net , http://www.atclickbank.com , http://www.website-submissions-worldwide.com

Oxy Powder And Colon Cleanse Care

The treatment of ailments goes back as far as mans very existence and different methods have been used by different races at different times to heal wounds, reverse internal problems, and merely to relive pain.

Flora, herbs and plants have been used over centuries to varying degrees but many very effectively to cure ills. We shudder nowadays at some of the treatments employed years ago, leeches for sucking blood and detoxification being just one example. However, some of the natural medicines from the forests and meadows have remained in some form or another ever since.

Herbs have a medicinal value, but also a culinary value, flavouring for everything from drinks to meat, vegetables to fish. Bland food can be transformed with the simple addition of a single extra natural flavour.

As exploration of the World took place, adventurers brought back many things to the maritime countries of Europe that have remained part of the diet, and of medicine ever since.

Studies have involved observing animal life, often such observation identifying a change in dietary habits when the animal seems to be feeling ill. Bitter plants are selected in those instances of illness so is there something in the bitterness that assists a cure.

In culinary use, there is a tendency to use the more strongly tasting herbs and spices with meat, more prone to deterioration, than vegetables. The problem of what we eat, and how it affects our bodies is one we wrestle with each day.

There are many options that come from the old world and the new and oxy powder and colon cleanse are just two of the solutions.

Thyme is as old as time, being used by the Sumarians 5,000 years ago. Egyptian medicine used such popular culinary herbs as mint and coriander, and of course garlic while around the same time there is evidence of tumeric being used in Indian medicine.

The diet of the Indian sub continent has travelled the world. Richly spiced and flavoured it is thought that the most popular single meal in the UK is chicken tikka marsala, having overtaken roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and fish and chips on the nations dinner table.

The flavours of India are perhaps out of necessity to mask the quality of meat, the culinary herbs and spices of other famous cuisine are perhaps more subtle. Life expectancy in Sri Lanka has been in the mid seventies for many years now, in advance of that in the more modern and wealthy West. That factor is surely due to the range of naturally growing herbs used in medicine in that small Indian Ocean Island.

The natural needs to be used in many parts of the world where finance dictates lifestyle. As many as 80% of the worlds population are thought to use herbs in some form for basic health care while oxy powder, colon cleanse and other remedies all play their part in keeping us healthy.

How To Make Authentic Mexican Food At Home

We all love tacos, enchiladas, burritos and mexican rice dishes. The only problem is the cost of these Mexican favorites at a fine restaurant. What makes the food at a Mexican restaurant so appealing? Surely not the cost of the dish at your local Mexican restaurant!

You can prepare the same dishes as you get at a good Mexican restaurant yourself and even make them better than the chef. It all comes down to having the right ingredients and cooking the meat stock the right way. This simple cooking method can be used for almost all Mexican dishes that call for meat in them.

At the heart of the Mexican recipe is the preparation of the meat stock. Whenever you see the word ‘carne’ on a Mexican food menu, this refers to the type of meat used in the dish. This is usually chicken or beef. When you prepare your meat for the Mexican dish that you want to serve, you have to begin with an authentic Mexican ‘carne’ recipe. This includes different peppers, onions, other ingredients and requires the right simmering time to build the right flavor into the meat.

Although every recipe is different, many Mexican foods use common ingredients that you will need to prepare the carne meat. The use of chili peppers, tomatoes and onions, along with garlic are usually a part of most Mexican food recipes. Some other common ingredients include black pepper, oregano, paprika, parsley, cumin, lime juice, salt, sugar and cilantro. You will also need to keep some light olive oil on hand to prep the skillet.

First, coat the skillet with some light olive oil. Then start by browning the beef or chicken. After the meat is browned, drain off the oil residue into a disposable container. Then add approximately one half of a cup of water to the skillet. Adjust the heat of the stove to low. It is best to have a skillet with a lid, or some way to cover the meat stock while it is simmering.

The secret to great home prepared Mexican food is in the added ingredients you use while simmering your carne meat. For beef dishes, it is recommended that you simmer the browned meat for 35-45 minutes on a low temperature to extract the flavor of the spices. You want to take your time and prepare a lot of stock at one cooking session. The meat stock can be used again after it is frozen.

With chicken carne stock, you can reduce the simmering time to 25-30 minutes. The chicken will absorb the flavor of your spices faster and be ready to add to your recipe sooner. These rules of thumb can be adjusted as needed depending on your taste.

As a basic recipe for preparing Mexican carne stock, use the following ingredients in this order:

* Add 1 tsp. salt

* A few squirts of lime juice

* A dash or two of cumin and oregano

* Black pepper the stock to suit your taste

* Add hot sauce to taste and blend the stock and spices well

* Finally add a few diced green and red peppers.

Then spread chopped and diced onions evenly around the meat. The onions help to release the flavor of the other spices and transfer it into the meat. This is a secret to building a flavorful Mexican meat stock. Your beef or chicken will taste authentic and full flavored.

These are the basics of starting your Mexican cooking. Now all you do is use the meat stock you have prepared in your favorite Mexican recipes. This will start you on your way to cooking the best types of Mexican cuisine. You can save money by cooking at home and enjoy the great Mexican food you love more often.

Sunnyvale High School Seniors Consider Culinary School

Sometimes it’s hard to see how calculus or nuclear chemistry affects your daily life, but there are some subjects that are clearly practical. Everyone understands the joy of preparing fine food, serving it to friends and savoring every bite. After four years of high school education in subjects ranging from mundane to arcane, consider a different kind of coursework in culinary school. You’ll get practical, hands-on teaching in subjects that produce visible — and edible — results. Choosing Sunnyvale cooking schools keeps you close to home while providing you with access to some of the finest raw materials in the country.

What You Learn from Culinary School

The primary goal of culinary school is teaching you to cook. Even if you already cook well enough that your friends and family praise you, culinary school gives you the skills and technique you need to turn out polished, professional dishes. A typical first semester encompasses coursework on food safety, knife skills, culinary math, the fundamentals of pastry and the basics of stocks. Attending Sunnyvale culinary schools makes ingredient identification coursework especially useful for locals. The Mediterranean climate lends itself to growing some of the world’s best produce, so the ingredients you’ll find in the classroom are the same ones that great chefs throughout the country use.

As you progress in your courses, you’ll learn about culinary history and gain an understanding of where the food you prepare and eat originated. History classes hold more interest when you can see, smell and taste that history on your plate. Practical instruction in calculating food costs and maintaining a pantry prepare students for cooking on a professional scale. You’ll also focus on a specialty such as regional cuisine or pastry preparation as you build on the fundamentals you’ve learned. Regardless of your specialty, you’ll have a unique advantage at Sunnyvale culinary schools because of the quality and availability of your raw materials.

Beyond the Culinary School Courses

Cooking school gives you more than kitchen instruction. You’ll become a part of a team, working together regularly with other students. Your lab partners are your entire group of classmates, all of whom must work in concert to turn out professional-quality service. You’ll also get to showcase your creativity, assembling dishes of your own design as you develop your palate and learn new techniques. Sunnyvale cooking schools give you the chance to build relationships with instructors who are also professionals in the restaurant business. Because California is home to so much of the world’s best cuisine, these professionals are at the pinnacle of their respective fields.

This article was written by Eyeflow for the advertising benefit of The Art Institute. Eyeflow LLC has been compensated to produce this article.

Why Your Macarons Are Going Wrong – The Most Common Pitfalls

Making macarons is not easy – anyone that tells you otherwise has either never trued making them or is lying for some reason. If some of the world’s greatest chefs admit that they often struggle to make perfect macarons, how can any of the rest of us claim otherwise?

However, the good news to come out of all this is that making decent macarons you don’t in fact intend to serve to members of the aristocracy or sell to the public doesn’t have to be an unmitigated nightmare. The basic recipe is pretty simple and so too is the process of putting the ingredients together – tasty and pretty macarons do not demand a degree in the culinary arts.

So, you may ask, why are you coming out with pure garbage pretty much every time you try? Well, the simple answer is that you’re most likely making once of a few extremely common mistakes and not even realizing it. So if you happen to be guilty of any of the following, you probably have your answer as to how and where you’re going wrong:

1 – Fresh, Cold Eggs The most common pitfall of all that’s happening all over the world right now as you’re reading this is the use of fresh eggs straight from the fridge. Any good recipe will tell you that it is preferable to use fresh egg delivery that have been -aged’ for a few days to get the right texture for your batter. It will also tell you that using eggs that aren’t at room temperature is inadvisable. Of course, some see it as easier to ignore the rules than to delay their baking any longer, so they end up with a batch of bothersome biscuits they have no use for. Ignore this tip and you’re wasting your time.

2 – Weak Whisking If you don’t give your egg whites enough time and attention with the whisk, your batter will be a disaster. This is pretty much the be all and end all of your macarons after all, so be prepared to really go for it and not stop until you know you’re on the money – even if you’re getting sore and bored. Just to coin a comparison, you’ll know you’re heading in the right direction if and when the mixture looks similar to shaving foam.

3 – Timing the Sugar Call it dull and boring all you like, but if you don’t time the adding of the sugar exactly, you’re in for a disappointment. You need to add the icing sugar – NOT icing mix – after you’ve been beating the egg whites for about 30 seconds-no more and no less. This timing is essential to ensure the right consistency, so don’t ever overlook its importance.

4 – Oven Issues About half way through the cooking process, you should open the oven door and rotate the baking trays. Why? Two reasons – one being that you need to let the excess moisture escape from the oven and the other being the importance of even cooking across the board. Ignore either and you may end up with half your macarons fit for a king and the other half not fit for the dog.