First Timers Cookbook

Egg Replacers

            I have a child that is allergic to eggs, milk, soy, etc. So I use replacement recipes a lot.  When I’m using egg replacers all the information says “choose your replacer based on whether the egg is acting as an emulsifyer, binding agent, or leavening agent.”  How am I supposed to know?  Also, which replacers are for which things?  Here are my (three) replacer recipes:

1.     1 tsp. baking powder, 1 T. liquid, 1 T. vinegar

2.     1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

3.     1 packet gelatin, 2 T. warm water. Do not mix until ready to use.

  Tiffany, UT

 

First Timers Guide to Using Eggs in Recipes

Eggs have a lot of different uses.  Namely, as an emulsifier, a binding agent, a leavening agent and not to mention just plain old eggs that you cook and eat.  Now, I’m sure that most of you are thinking, what is an emulsifier, binding agent or leavening agent?  Well, let me explain.

An emulsifier would be when you use eggs to make Mayonnaise, salad dressings or Hollandaise sauce.  It thickens and binds the oil or butter together.

The binding agent would be when you use it in something like meatloaf.  You mix eggs in with the meat to make everything stick or bind together.

Leavening agent is used when you want something to rise.  Soufflés would be good example of this (or any other dish you would add say whipped eggs whites into).

So to answer the question with your replacements, #1 would be an emulsifier, #2 would be a leavening agent, and #3 would be a binding agent.     

Dutch Oven Competition

Once again thanks to Camp Chef for providing a great time.  I thought I would post some pictures, just to show what a great time it was.

As I was just getting ready to do a little dutch-ovening, they annouced our secret ingredients . . .

We had to include beer, red-hot candies and maple syrup in our recipes.  A challenge-yes, impossible-no. 

Here I was making the topping for my dutch-oven cheesecake.  Pineapple and Blackberry in the topping, beer in the actual cheesecake.

Our second dish had to be a bread.  I couldn’t decide on which secret ingredient to use . . . So I used them all.  Introducing the Red-Hot Maple Beer Bread.

I smothered a little bit (and when I say a little I mean alot) of butter over the top to get that shine, and served some Strawberry Apricot Jam on top and in an orange half along side. 

Dish #3-The Entree

So this is where we got another surprise.  We had to use chicken and New Zealand Snapper for our entree.  We were given a whole chicken and a whole fish (which had only been caught just 72 hours before we got it) to work with.

What I found is that working with whole fish, draws a crowd.

So when everything was said and done, I poached the chicken in the beer, coated the fish fillets in a breading made from the red-hots and glazed it all with maple syrup.

 

All-in-all . . . It was a blast.

 

Camp Chef

I am a fan of the out doors, especially when the out doors look like this.

(Now before you even ask let me explain; The blue booties are because it was a nice house, and I didn’t want to hurt the floors.) 

Thank You Camp Chef

Working in the foodservice industry can be hard. Long hours, hot and sometimes hostile kitchens, disgruntled guests, etc.  But what makes it all worth it is when someone says “good job, ” or “thank you.”  Today I would like to say both to our friends at Camp Chef. 

Anyone who has ever cooked outdoors has probably heard of Camp Chef products.  They are heavy-duty, beautiful and just all around quality products.

Recently I was invited to attend a dutch oven cook-off sponsored by Camp Chef.  Just for participating, look at what they gave us as competitors . . .

If there is one things that I have learned, its that you need to be thankful for things.  So a big THANK YOU goes out to our friends at Camp Chef, who truly know what this industry is all about-service.

Check them out at  www.campchef.com

 

Tofu anyone?

My husband recently became a vegetarian. I would like to try cooking with tofu, but have no idea where to start. Can you give me some cooking with tofu tips? Thanks.

P.S. I love your book!

Jocelyn in Sunset, UT

Tofu is basically a protein substitute.  So for vegetarians who don’t eat typical protiens such as chicken, fish, or red meat; Tofu is a way to get the nutrition, without actually eating the animal.  Plus, for only about two dollars a package, you can’t beat the price. 

The First Timer’s Guide to BasicTofu

Tofu will most likely be stored in the produce section of the grocery store (since its made from soy beans).  It will generally come in “firm” and “extra firm” (or super firm, which ever they choose to call it).  I usually go with the extra or super firm, since it seems to hold together better when cooking.

 

Open the package and take the Tofu out of the Container.

Cut the Tofu according to the desired size.  You can just cut off a piece of what you want to use and leave the rest in the storage container to use later.  I chose to use the whole thing, for demonstration sake.

After you have the size you want (usually bite size), you can put your finished product into a bowl for transportation and storage.

Grab a Pan and put just enough oil in it to coat the bottom of the pan.  This way the tofu won’t stick as much.  Once the oil is hot, drop your Tofu in and watch out, cause if the oil is too hot, it will splatter all over you.  Tofu has a lot of moisture in it and oil and water don’t mix well, especially when the oil is hot.  Hot Oil on your skin = No Fun.

Now that the Tofu is heating up, add some flavor to it.  Tofu is naturally kind of bland, but it absorbs flavor very well.  Teriyaki Sauce is one of the best flavorings I have found for it.  Here I am using a lite Soy Sauce (in keeping with the “heathly” undertones) and a little fresh garlic.

After having spent most of my cooking days in professional kitchens, I tend to gravitate towrds tossing my pans, instead of using a more common spatula or spoon to mix the ingredients.  Both ways work just fine (tossing is just a little bit quicker).  After it is mixed well, each piece looks nice and coated and is heated through, you can take it off your stove and out of the pan.

Now that your Tofu is ready just go ahead and serve it.  As you can see, I chose to serve it hot with wild rice and steamed vegetables-a great vegetarian dish.  Or you can even serve it cold (or hot) on a salad.  You can also grill tofu like you would a steak or hamburger, or put it in a casserole in place of say, chicken. Alot of people use it in classic Asian Stir-fry . . . The possibilities are endless . . .

Anyway you do it, you should be able to satisfy your vegetarian-man nicely.

Questions? We answer them.

You have questions?  We love questions!

February 21, 2009

A few months ago you said in one of your posts that if we had question you would be happy to answer them. . . When I cook fish it doesn’t come out very good, whats a good way to cook fish?  I have a hard time getting the skin off too, is there some kind of “secret” chef trick to this, restaurants always make it look so good. . .

Jeanne Hughes in Portland, OR 

I’m not sure about “secret chef tricks,” but I can try to shed some light on cooking fish . . . And maybe throw in a trick or two. . .

The First Timer’s Guide to Cooking fish in a Pan

   We will start by cooking a lite fish such as Halibut, and a fat fish such as a Salmon.  Lite fish cook up nice and flaky, while the fat fish tend to be meatier and more solid when they cook, like . . . Well, meat.

   Let’s start by adding some fat to our pan (butter in this case), so that our fish doesn’t stick, and then let the pan get hot.

   After the pan is hot, let’s add our fish.

Now that our fish is in the pan I would like to point one thing out.  I usually put the skin side down first.  For the pictures I have shown skin side up first, but only for demonstration, so that you can see the skin on the salmon.  When you try this, put your skin side down first.  Also, notice that I am using a non-stick pan to help the fish not stick.

Let it cook for a few minutes (2-3) one one side and then flip them on over.  What do you see?  Is the fish somewhat golden brown on that side?  If it is then you can say what I said . . . Awesome!  Nice color!  This is the color that you want when you flip your fishy over.  Did the fish stick and leave some remnant stuck to the pan?  If it did, you did not have enough oil/fat in the pan to prevent it from sticking (the non-stick pan makes a big difference too).  Once again, let the fish cook on the opposite side for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Now that we have cooked the fish on both sides, we will throw in a little “secret chef” trickery.  Flip the fish back over and having cooked the skin side for a few minutes, the skin should now just pull right off.  At this point you can flip the fish back over and get a little bit of brown color on the skin side (now that the skin is gone) if you would like.  If not, you just pull it out of the pan and let it sit for a minute and finish cooking.

 

Now check out that Halibut!  The color has gone from a somewhat translucent white to a nice deep white and is consistent throughout (meaning that the color is the same all the way through.  You don’t want the outside a deep white while the inside is still translucent).  The texture is just right, nice and flaky and ”flakes” into small chunks as it is cut into with a fork.  Now how about our Salmon?

It looked so good I decided to eat it.  The texture was nice and flaky, it had changed from a dark orange color to a nice pink throughout and I decided to try it out.  We paired it with some potatoes, asparagus, broccoli and then finished it with a nice Hollandaise . . . Move over Rachel Ray, we did all this in about 25 minutes . . . Anybody want to learn how to do this? 

Now, I had some left over fish, so I thought I would store it to use another day.

So as you can see from the pictures I simply wrapped the fish in some plastic wrap and placed a bag of ice over the top of it, before putting it in the refrigerator.  Why?  Fish comes from the water, so we store it with water.  If I had the same ability at home that I do at the restaurants, I would actually put ice all around the fish, but since I don’t have the same tools at home as I do the restaurants, I do what I can with what I have.

Hopefully that sheds some light on your fish cooking efforts.  Once again, if you have questions, all you have to do is ask. . .  

Breading

So let’s talk breading. 

Last week in my classes we spent some time breading vegetables, meats, fish, potatoes and even some fruits.  It caused me to reflect on breading and what it does and why we do it.  So for all you who are wondering the same thing, here’s why.

Breading items protects them against harsh cooking methods like frying.  By putting a protective coating on our food we make it so the interior item can stay moist and not get too beat up.  It also adds a unique flavor and texture to the item(s) as well.

Now, the question is how do you bread something? . . . Here’s the most common way.

 

Standard Breading Procedure

When you step into a professional kitchen you are expected to know some “standards.”  Like for example, a standard breading procedure.  That way when the chef says that he wants you to bread something you can say, “OK.”  Anything like, “Ok, but how?”  Does not fly and can be cause for the chef to ask himself, or to you directly (if you have a chef who thinks out loud, like most do), why he hired someone who doesn’t even know the standard breading procedure?  So let’s solve that dilemma. . .

 The standard breading procedure is first flour, second egg wash and third bread crumbs, in that order.  I like to season the flour with some salt and pepper beforehand so that you have some flavor in whatever you are breading. 

 

The egg wash is simply whole eggs beaten and whipped into scrambled eggs. 

The breadcrumbs are what gives you that nice familiar crunchy texture and can also be seasoned with whatever you would like.  If you want it hot put some Tabasco sauce in it, if you want it cheesy, put some grated parmesan cheese in there. 

So you might be asking yourself why do you have to do it in the flour, egg, bread crumb order?

 

The flour aids in making the egg wash stick. 

 

That’s why you put it on before you put the egg wash on.  The egg wash does the same thing for the bread crumbs, by making them stay on too.

 

But wait!  What if the breading isn’t thick enough, then what do I do?  Simple.  Just double bread it.  You just stick your already breaded item(s) back into the mixtures for another go around.  You don’t really need to do the flour again, but if you want to you can.  In fact, if after another coat of egg and bread crumbs you still don’t think its covered enough-do it again!  You can do it as many times as you feel it needs it. . .Just don’t get it too thick.  Very few people like more breading than actual product.

So now that you item(s) is covered with a nice, flavorful breading you can proceed to cook it.

Here we are going to be pan frying.  Pan frying is going to be cooking the item in a decent amount of fat, but not totally submerging it in the fat.  Here we are using a 75% butter and 25% canola oil mix of fat.

Why butter and oil?  Butter, because I want the flavor that butter has.  Oil so that the butter doesn’t burn.  As the fat heats up it has what is called a smoke-point, a point which when reached creates yep, smoke.  Oil has a higher smoke point than butter, so by using a combination of the two, I can get a buttery falvor without burning it.

 

After letting the breaded items hang out in the fat for a minute or two, I flip it over whn its a nice golden brown color to get it to cook evenly on both sides.

So after they have cooked for a few minutes, and have theat nice golden brown color and crisp texture, I pull them out onto a pan.

After it comes out of the frying pan and on to the sheet pan, you can do a couple things.  First, take the internal temperature using a thermometer.  Now, if the temperature is when you want it, in other words if it is as done as you would like it, then you are done.  Go ahead and serve it.  If not, you can always put you item(s) into the oven to finish.

So there you have a first timer’s guide to breading.  Want to know the best way to get really good at this, go out and try it until you get good at it.  Practice, practice, practice.

Coming soon to a kitchen near you. . .

First off, I’m sorry for being so out of touch with everyone for the last few months.  No blog posts, no random pics of whatever I might find food wise.  Although I have been gone, hopefully I’m not forgotten.  I have been so busy these last few months that I have hardly had time to breathe, let alone compile my thoughts into an electronic form.  So what has kept me so busy?  Cooking, of course.

I have started teaching Culinary Arts at The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institute in Salt Lake City, which I thoroughly enjoy.  I also have been doing some catering, and some writing.  Since The First Timer’s Cookbook is the first in the “First Timer’s” series, I continue to pump them out, so that you don’t have to wait so long in between books.  Bye-the-way, I have been told by my wonderful publicist Karen the beautiful, that March 2 we will have books!  Yes printed, bound and tangible books! So for all those who have pre-ordered, we will have them soon.  For those who haven’t, now is your chance to get on the pre-order train and save yourself some money.  Those who pre-order won’t pay shipping and have a few other perks as well.

Thanks for being so patient through all of this for joining our ever growing group.  Each day more people join and we here at First Timer’s industries couldn’t be happier or more excited to get out there and get you all cooking!  MArch 4th will be the first of many events.  I will be teaching a cooking class at the Macy’s Little Theater in Ogden Utah, so if you want some tips on how to make (or improve) your cream soups and sauces, c’mon down.  It starts at 6 pm and will go as long as we need to.  Seating is limited, so get there early.

Thanks again for your patientce and support and look forward to some more tips, techniques and tricks here at First Timers. 

Chef of the Month

If you are interested in some date ideas, just look to “The Chef of the Month.”

http://savvydaters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=90

While you’re there. . .Click on the “recipes” tab to view The Chef’s latest contributions. . .

Seasoning. . .Keep it Simple!

Check out Shawn’s guest post over at our freinds at the “Collegiate Gourmet!”

  http://www.collegiategourmet.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=When-it-Comes-to-Seasoning-Keep-it-Simple-Stupid.html&Itemid=1

. . . and remember, Cooking is fun, so keep it simple!

Toasting, tis the season.

It has been a little while since I last posted, to which I apologize, but I have been working diligently to get the book done and available.  But enough of that. . .Let’s talk Christmas!

This month I will try to post some interesting topics that involve “the most wonderful time of the year.”  So, to start things off. . .Let’s do some toasting!

There are many different thoughts and opinions as to when and where “toasting” actually began.  That’s all well and good, but for us, let’s just focus on how to do it.

There are books written on the subject you can purchase, and there are very in depth online guides to giving the proper toast but, as you know, we like the basic, to-the-point, how-to guides.  And since I don’t want to take credit for something that I did not do, I will simply direct you to the simplest and probably the best guide I found out there.  It comes to you from our friends at about.com, one of the better online guides for just about everything.

Check it out: http://cocktails.about.com/od/toastsjokes/a/tst_tps.htm

Hopefully this will be the saving guide for many of you when making your holiday toasts!