pet peeves.

i think i'm a reasonable person.  i think i have realistic views.  there aren't a lot of things that really get me steaming.  but two things really, really do.


1.  steak temperatures.


ok, let me fist start of by saying that i know i'm not perfect.  i strive to be, but know that i'm only human and mistakes are sometimes made.  however, i know how to cook a steak.  having over 15 years of professional experience, i can tell you what the temp of a steak is just by touching it.   and sometimes i can tell you by just looking at it.  now, i'm not bragging.  there are many of us professional cooks who can.  there are many who cannot.  i'm in the first category, just so we understand each other.


the other night, a guest ordered a medium steak.  meals went out in a more than reasonable amount of time, everything cooked to my liking.


a few moments later, the steak dish comes back because the guest felt it was overcooked...  like i stated above, i'm only human and occasionally make mistakes.  in this case, it was not my mistake. the guest had cut into the outer 1/4" of the steak.  (for those of you unaware, the proper method of checking your steak is by cutting into the center of the steak.)  so naturally, i cut into the center to see that it was indeed a perfectly cooked medium steak. ( had the person done the same, it would have saved us both a lot of irritation.  ) at that point, it was said that "the customer is always right." (see #2)


for those of you who don't know, and a refresher for those of you who do....

needless to say, i re-made the steak (cooked to medium rare) and everyone was happy again.




2. "the customer is always right"  


working in restaurants for half of my life, (literally) there are certain things you become accustomed to hearing.  one of those is things is that the customer is always right.  


the hospitality industry is about giving each and every guest a great experience, be it at the neighborhood sports bar around the corner... or one of the top fine dining restaurants in the world.  


here's a great article i read about the "customer is always right" philosophy, but to sum it up, the article pretty much says that the saying is out-dated and wrong..  i urge you to take the time to read it.


i whole-heartedly agree with that article.  the customer is always right, except when they're wrong.


take for example, the steak fiasco from above.


the guest wasn't mean or ill-tempered or horrible in any way (that i heard about anyway...) they were just uneducated on how to properly check the done-ness of their steak and what actually wanted.  its the guests that become nasty, and rude to the waitstaff where i would draw the line.  there have been a few times i have been tempted to stroll out into the dining room and pull a catherine zeta jones stunt from the no reservations flick. but alas, the customer is always right..  (see where it gets frustrating??)


i guess my point is this..  as a chef, it is my duty to educate.  it is my job to cook your food to your specified liking. so if you ask for a medium steak, you're going to get it.  (but if you actually prefer medium rare, and don't know it... see above diagram.)  it is my passion to bring you good food that hopefully sparks some sort of emotion.  and hopefully when i cook for you that passion is evident.  and hopefully my food makes you smile.


when that happens, a smile lands itself on my face.

something from nothing.

today i got in some new butterscotch ice cream.  still had a little left in the old container, but didn't want to waste it.  but, i wanted to use the butterscotch in a savory dish... so i decided to make some raviolis.  


first, i had to decide what would go with butterscotch.  decided to go with the butternut squash.  i roasted them on an open flame to get a nice smoky flavor and add some depth to the squash.

then i threw them in a large metal mixing bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and let the squash soak in some of that charred flavor. then, cleaned off the charred bits under some cold running water, seeded and cubed it.  finished cooking the squash on the stove in some buttermilk and melted butterscotch ice cream.  when it was cooked to my liking, i added some seasoning, parmesan and feta cheese, and some parsley.  pureed.  let it cool down. caramelized some shallots and added it to the puree.  THEN, started making the raviolis.  i used wonton wrappers.

after the raviolis were made, i made a butterscotch cream sauce.  i'm not going to tell you how i made it...  but lets just say it's pretty freaking amazing. 


after the sauce was done, we fried up some raviolis and plated our final product.  

butternut squash & feta fried raviolis with butterscotch cream, balsamic reduction, smoked paprika oil and arugula.  deeeelish.

pumpkin biscuits

i love christmas time. its my absolute favorite time of the year. here's a recipe for some pumpkin biscuits that are great by themselves, or awesome in a brunch item twist. first the recipe.

here's what you'll need.

2 cups all-purpose flour (and maybe a little more, see instructions) 

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (homemade!... canned if in a hurry)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter

first, you'll need to preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

then whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. put flour mixture in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add cold butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. should look something like this...

now, this is the part that will take the most time. you need a fresh pumpkin, cleaned and cut into cubes. or you can just cut the thing in half and scrape out the seeds and throw it in the oven. either way works.

you want to cook pumpkin until its just tender, so about half an hour...depending.

then throw that in your food processor and puree until its nice and smooth. should look like this...

ok. you still with me?? take your flour mixture and stir in pumpkin and milk. mix just until moistened and a soft dough forms. if the dough is too wet to handle, stir in more flour, just enough so you can handle it without it falling to bits.  next, roll out dough to 1/2-inch thick on a lightly floured board...should look like this.

using a floured biscuit cutter, cut into 2-inch circles. if you don't have a ring mold you can use any round tube or cup, but you'll need to make sure it can get air in there so you may have to sacrifice a plastic cup or something.....then place cut outs on greased pan 1 inch apart and brush with melted butter. bake for 8 to12 minutes, until golden brown. 

and viola! pumpkin-y biscuit-y good-ness. 

now here's where we get to have some fun

most places have really, REALLY boring brunch. i mean, you could go to just about any place in the u.s. and get the exact same, boring offerings.

wake. up. your. taste. buds.

demand better.

i demand better of myself, i refuse to conform. (to a point.)

here's my take on a traditional brunch item. the eggs benedict.

pumpkin biscuit (from above!), york ham, poached egg, citrus brown butter hollandaise, beetroot vanilla bean chutney, arugula.

now tell me you aren't hungry.

christmas cookies. queens head style.

- chocolate, orange, bacon 

- apple, pecan, stilton 

- cherry, hazelnut, buttermilk

finishing a dish...

as promised...  here's what happened with the bread i made yesterday.

when i was making this bread yesterday, i had absolutely no idea what it was going to turn out like, or what i would do with it.  i had a few free moments this evening to finalize the ideas.  here's how it went.

fried apple butter bread roll, carmelized apple, apple butter, apple cider caramel, butterscotch whipped cream. 

pan fried melba bread roll, warm english custard, whipped cream, toasted hazelnuts.

 and last but not least...


carmelized shallot & stilton bread, balsamic reduction, balsamic butter, arugula oil.

they didn't last long.

the dance... and playing with food.

i live to be elbow deep in the weeds.  cooking is what i do.  and when there is a full rail of tickets, and more coming in...that's when its really fun.  maintaining the standards you've put in place, while pushing out plates upon plates of food.  there's no better feeling in the world.  rocking out a busy friday or saturday night, flames going full tilt.  sweat pouring down your face into your eyes.  burns. cuts. the smell of singed hair.  smoke from hot saute pans.  tossing said saute pans across the kitchen into the sink.  


all the while the symphony of tickets running through your head.  


working in a professional kitchen, one must learn to dance.  no.  not the samba.  and don't even mention the macarena.  but this dance is more beautiful (in my eyes) than any ballet.  the dance between cooks.  you have to learn your partner.  he/she has to learn you.  and when those cooks are in tune with each other, the symphony takes over.  standards are upheld/exceeded.  guests are happy.  and when they are happy, i'm happy.  


once in a while, you are blessed with a slow day.  all the prep is done, just did the deep clean...paperwork is caught up.  inventory?  check.  what about...? nope, that's done too.  don't get me wrong here... i love being busy, but every so often... it's nice to be caught up.  and when you're caught up, that's when you get to play with food.


today was one of those days.


i've been on a bread baking kick the last few days, so i decided to play with some dough.  i took some pictures, and i'll even give you the recipe if you want to try it yourself.  i wanted to do a savory bread and a sweet bread so here's what i did:

carmelized shallot & stilton bread

i'm not one to really use recipes, except when it comes to baking.  here's a basic white bread recipe that i've found that works pretty well.  oh, and i use a kitchenaid mixer...


click here for basic white bread recipe

once you get the dough mixed i added:


2 cups minced carmelized shallots
4 oz crumbled stilton (any blue cheese will do.)


add flour/water to get desired consistency.  take dough out of mixer, and knead for about 5 minutes.  when you are done kneading, it should look like this.

next, divide dough up into about 2-4 oz portions and roll into balls.  you can use a regular muffin tin. spray muffin tin with pan spray.  place one dough ball into each spot.  spray dough with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap.  should look like this...

let the dough proof for about half an hour, or until dough has doubled in size.  preheat oven to 400 degrees.  when dough has proofed, brush with eggwash.  if you want to get funky, you can drizzle some balsamic reduction over dough prior to baking.  (i did.)  bake for about 20 minutes.  check for done-ness by sticking a toothpick into center of bread.  if it comes out clean, you're done!  this is what your final product should look like.

 now eat it!


melba roll


on to the sweet!


working in a british restaurant, i get to try things i probably wouldn't have had i not been employed here.  melba sauce is one of those things.  although, it's really just a smooth raspberry jam with a funky name.  (leave it to the brits...)


anyway, start off with the same basic bread recipe from above.  then divide it into two equal dough balls.  like so:

now, roll each out so they are rectangular in shape, and about a 1/4 inch thick.  spread with melba sauce, or any other jam/preserve you would like.  (i also did one with apple butter that i made).  once its spread you should have something like this....

now, i must warn you.  this was my first attempt ever at doing a rolled bread.  apparently you don't really need a whole lot of melba....


anyway...  start at one end and roll tightly.  place on a cookie sheet or sheet tray that has been sprayed with pan spray.  spray dough with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap.


holy crap.  i just said spray like a billion times right there.


moving on!  once the roll is wrapped, let it proof!  should look something like this.

after proofing for about an hour, pull off plastic wrap.  brush with egg wash and toss in the oven.  25-30 minutes at 400 degrees should do it.  when the times up, check with toothpick.  AAANNDD... now you have this....  

slice this bad boy up and... 

eat it.


now that you're a professional baker, what are we going to do with all this bread?  


tomorrow brings another day.  just wait to see what i have in store for this beautiful yeasty goodness.

post #1

hi.  i'm chris.  nice to meet you...unless we have met before, then.. nice to see you again.  

ok i'm not going to try to pretend and make you believe i know what i'm doing here..so bear with me.  

i guess first things first.  why am i doing this?  well, that's easy.  i wanted a place where i can share ideas, thoughts, insights, pictures and whatever else i feel like sharing.  mostly this blog will be about food.  it will give you a glimpse into the life of a chef (me), and my journey.  i should have started this thing years ago, but i suppose i'm a late bloomer...

so a little about me...

you can read my profile to get the basics, but this is more important.

this is me and my awesome wife katie.  she is amazing.  she keeps me going.  without her, i couldn't do what i do.  period.

these are our kids.  also amazing.  they are the light in my eyes, and make me push myself harder to be a better person, chef, and just all around human.

this is where i work.  if you've never been, shame on you.

this is me with the owners not too long after the restaurant opened.  good people.  great friends.

this is one of the dishes i did recently for a special tasting menu.  beet textures-roasted, meringue, puree and gelee.  with feta, balsamic reduction and truffle oil. 

another dish i did for same tasting.  buttermilk braised chicken leg. fried heirloom tomatoes. bacon cheddar chive muffin. butternut squash puree.

anyway, welcome.  hope you enjoy what i do here...because i enjoy what i do.