I have accepted a new position at an awesome little Italian wine bar in the west village. The chef and owner's name is Jason Denton and is a very well established restaurateur in NYC. I am very excited for this opportunity and eager to learn from this brand new experience! I wanted to share this with you guys and keep you posted on the details through my transition. I take this new opportunity as not only a great way to get more intimate with the food as its a lot simpler food, but also a great training in the managerial department. This man has opened and successfully ran this restaurant in Manhattan during a recession all while opening up new locations and restaurants in other neighborhoods thru the city. Thats huge! The room to grow with this company and expand with Jason is unlimited. He even has experience with writing cook books! great thing to know ;-).... I will be posting more pictures over the weekend and also updating you guys as I find out more about the next chapter I am starting in this exciting culinary journey!!
Remember to send me any questions you have to chefbazblog@gmail.com and I will answer them on my blog. Still have a few questions to address!!!
Talk to ya soon!!
Chef Baz
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Taco seasoning & Chicken!
Hey Guys--
I have a couple questions that I am going to answer tonight!
Sarah asked me 'what does usual taco seasoning consist of so that you can make it at home vs. buying the taco seasoning in packets?'.--- To successfully create a taco seasoning it is completely to taste. I have no idea a ratio to give you- you just need to mess with it and adjust it to your liking. The key ingredients you will need are cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and a little corn starch (optional). I highly recommend having each of these spices in your cabinet for anytime you need them and you could have set aside homemade seasonings- like this--(or maybe a different one for hamburgers) but keep them in your cabinet easy to use, instead of spending nearly a dollar to get a packet of it pre-mixed. I like to keep a little container of kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic and Lawry's seasoned salt--this is a great flavor combination that I like to keep that is easy and ready to use for any protein I decide to cook.
Next question--Amber asked 'How to cook chicken on a skillet vs. in the oven?'. There are many ways to prepare chicken on the stove top in a skillet vs. in the oven. One very simple and classic way would be to get chicken thighs with the skin still on, rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper (or your seasoning). With a little oil just to coat the hot pan, you put the chicken skin down to get nice color on the skin side of the chicken thighs. At the same time of getting good color and starting to cook the chicken you are rendering some of the chicken fat and creating what is called fond or carpet (as some call it). Everyone knows about fond, just no one knows that's what it is called. It is after you get a nice good sear of something or you just browned, like a nice fatty sausage and it left the layer of (flavor) along the bottom of the pan. You want to incorporate all that flavor back into your dish. So after you get nice color and rendering some fat, and making sure not to burn your chicken.---you can flip your thighs ( just to temper the outside of that side of the thighs so that it is not completely cold and raw while the others have started cooking). After a minute or two on the other side, you can remove the chicken on to a paper towel lined plate. Now with the fat that is in the pan, if needed add a time bit more--but only enough to sweat the veggies that you have chosen to eat with your chicken. You can never go wrong with classic mirepoix (2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery). After cutting them all in similar sized so that they cook evenly throw them in some garlic into the pan and sweat them which is releasing their natural liquids and adding more flavor to the dish. At this point you should have a decent amount of fond going in the pan. And once your veggies have gotten a little color and all coated in the oil--add some sort of acidity (my preference would be red wine). This is the de-glazing process, which is where you add acid to the pot you have started your cooking in to release all of the fond build up that you have on your pot. So once the wine added to a still hot pan--you want to stir it around and make sure you get all of it off of the bottom. At this point it is a good time to add chicken stock and maybe some potatoes and your chicken thighs back to the skillet. With everything submerged into liquid, put a cover on the skillet and maintain a good simmer until your chicken is cooked through. And then there is your meal---- and if you want to get fancy with it you can strain the cooking liquid from the veggies and boil it to reduce it's consistency--stir in a little butter once it has a sauce consistency and there is a little sauce for your chicken :).
Tomorrow I will be answering Jessica's question about cooking veggies and how to maintain and preserve the natural textures and colors while bringing out their flavors without over cooking them or over shadowing them.
Don't forget to e-mail me questions at chefbazblog@gmail.com
Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon-
Chef Baz
I have a couple questions that I am going to answer tonight!
Sarah asked me 'what does usual taco seasoning consist of so that you can make it at home vs. buying the taco seasoning in packets?'.--- To successfully create a taco seasoning it is completely to taste. I have no idea a ratio to give you- you just need to mess with it and adjust it to your liking. The key ingredients you will need are cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and a little corn starch (optional). I highly recommend having each of these spices in your cabinet for anytime you need them and you could have set aside homemade seasonings- like this--(or maybe a different one for hamburgers) but keep them in your cabinet easy to use, instead of spending nearly a dollar to get a packet of it pre-mixed. I like to keep a little container of kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic and Lawry's seasoned salt--this is a great flavor combination that I like to keep that is easy and ready to use for any protein I decide to cook.
Next question--Amber asked 'How to cook chicken on a skillet vs. in the oven?'. There are many ways to prepare chicken on the stove top in a skillet vs. in the oven. One very simple and classic way would be to get chicken thighs with the skin still on, rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper (or your seasoning). With a little oil just to coat the hot pan, you put the chicken skin down to get nice color on the skin side of the chicken thighs. At the same time of getting good color and starting to cook the chicken you are rendering some of the chicken fat and creating what is called fond or carpet (as some call it). Everyone knows about fond, just no one knows that's what it is called. It is after you get a nice good sear of something or you just browned, like a nice fatty sausage and it left the layer of (flavor) along the bottom of the pan. You want to incorporate all that flavor back into your dish. So after you get nice color and rendering some fat, and making sure not to burn your chicken.---you can flip your thighs ( just to temper the outside of that side of the thighs so that it is not completely cold and raw while the others have started cooking). After a minute or two on the other side, you can remove the chicken on to a paper towel lined plate. Now with the fat that is in the pan, if needed add a time bit more--but only enough to sweat the veggies that you have chosen to eat with your chicken. You can never go wrong with classic mirepoix (2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery). After cutting them all in similar sized so that they cook evenly throw them in some garlic into the pan and sweat them which is releasing their natural liquids and adding more flavor to the dish. At this point you should have a decent amount of fond going in the pan. And once your veggies have gotten a little color and all coated in the oil--add some sort of acidity (my preference would be red wine). This is the de-glazing process, which is where you add acid to the pot you have started your cooking in to release all of the fond build up that you have on your pot. So once the wine added to a still hot pan--you want to stir it around and make sure you get all of it off of the bottom. At this point it is a good time to add chicken stock and maybe some potatoes and your chicken thighs back to the skillet. With everything submerged into liquid, put a cover on the skillet and maintain a good simmer until your chicken is cooked through. And then there is your meal---- and if you want to get fancy with it you can strain the cooking liquid from the veggies and boil it to reduce it's consistency--stir in a little butter once it has a sauce consistency and there is a little sauce for your chicken :).
Tomorrow I will be answering Jessica's question about cooking veggies and how to maintain and preserve the natural textures and colors while bringing out their flavors without over cooking them or over shadowing them.
Don't forget to e-mail me questions at chefbazblog@gmail.com
Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon-
Chef Baz
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Phone Photos!
Here are some pictures that I had on my phone of some amazing dishes that I though I would share with you guys.-- more to come!
This dish is from Zylo the place I am currently working in the W hotel in Hoboken, NJ. This is a seared halibut on top of blanched kale and white beans with tomato confit and smoked tomato broth.
This is a special that we ran at Zylo. Which is spicy pan fried shrimp with a watercress soup and cucumber spaghetti with meyer lemon segments.
This is a dish that I had at Dean Ferring's restaurant in Dallas when Britney and I were visiting home. It was AMAZING. This is Dublin Dr Pepper braised short ribs with queso fresco whipped potatoes and cripy tobacco onions.
This dish is from Zylo the place I am currently working in the W hotel in Hoboken, NJ. This is a seared halibut on top of blanched kale and white beans with tomato confit and smoked tomato broth.
This is a special that we ran at Zylo. Which is spicy pan fried shrimp with a watercress soup and cucumber spaghetti with meyer lemon segments.
This is a dish that I had at Dean Ferring's restaurant in Dallas when Britney and I were visiting home. It was AMAZING. This is Dublin Dr Pepper braised short ribs with queso fresco whipped potatoes and cripy tobacco onions.
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