Hello chefs?

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Tall_Timbers

Tall_Timbers

Well-known member
#41
Mar 31, 2023
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Cheyenne WY
christiancommunityforum.com
#41
Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

1 bunch Kale, picked over, cleaned, and torn into bite sized pieces
9 whole red potatoes, sliced thin
1 whole onion, chopped
2 pound ground Italian sausage (1 spicy, 1 mild)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 tbsp bacon pieces
5 cups chicken broth
2 cup heavy cream
4 cups water
Oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Touch of garlic



Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate.

In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 minutes or until the onions are soft.

Add chicken broth and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil

Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour

Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated

Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through, and serve..
 
Eli1

Eli1

Well-known member
#42
Apr 5, 2022
4,227
1,557
113
46
#42
All chefs in this forum, question:

Can a good chef turn something stale or average into something good?
 
JohnDB

JohnDB

Well-known member
#43
Jan 16, 2021
6,096
2,429
113
#43
Eli1 said:
All chefs in this forum, question:

Can a good chef turn something stale or average into something good?
Click to expand...
Yes,
Stale rye bread, anchovies, eggs, olive oil and parmesean....
Romaine lettuce....

Caesars salad.....invented by Chef Caesar because it was all he had.

Creme Brule is rather simple and ordinary but elevated.
Same with bread pudding. It too can be elevated.

I've always specialized in taking the mundane and elevating them to a high level of deliciousness to where EVERYONE notices the difference and discovers WHY these things were made popular to begin with.

The obscure dishes with obscure ingredients you have never heard of? Nobody really likes them and causes all kinds of fear for diners.

But lasagne?
When the noodles are fresh and not store bought....
When you grab 10lbs of fresh tomatoes to make the sauce with fresh herbs....
When you grind your own Italian sausage and ground beef.
Fresh baked bread turned into garlic bread....(I love sourdough baguette)



That's when you figure it out....there's a lot of something more here. The frozen bricks at the store? Your mother-in-law's made from canned sauce and dried herbs? Yuck!

There's no comparison.
 
Eli1

Eli1

Well-known member
#44
Apr 5, 2022
4,227
1,557
113
46
#44
JohnDB said:
Yes,
Stale rye bread, anchovies, eggs, olive oil and parmesean....
Romaine lettuce....

Caesars salad.....invented by Chef Caesar because it was all he had.

Creme Brule is rather simple and ordinary but elevated.
Same with bread pudding. It too can be elevated.

I've always specialized in taking the mundane and elevating them to a high level of deliciousness to where EVERYONE notices the difference and discovers WHY these things were made popular to begin with.

The obscure dishes with obscure ingredients you have never heard of? Nobody really likes them and causes all kinds of fear for diners.

But lasagne?
When the noodles are fresh and not store bought....
When you grab 10lbs of fresh tomatoes to make the sauce with fresh herbs....
When you grind your own Italian sausage and ground beef.
Fresh baked bread turned into garlic bread....(I love sourdough baguette)



That's when you figure it out....there's a lot of something more here. The frozen bricks at the store? Your mother-in-law's made from canned sauce and dried herbs? Yuck!

There's no comparison.
Click to expand...
Thank you for confirming.
This is always a fun conversation when i try to tell people that the chef can turn something that's bad into something nice, but someone who doesn't know how to cook, it would be pretty hard to mess a fresh seafood dish or meat (steak or lamb).

This is a convo i usually have with people in Greece or Albania or Boston area. These are coastal areas.
So, near the coast, i can tell that even someone who doesn't know how to cook, the food is still pretty good because it's fresh.
Calamari, scallops or seabass etc, all taste pretty good despite someone not knowing the fine details of that dish.
But if you go inland, for example i went to Chicago once and oh man oh man, the fish there was horrible.
Not only they didn't know how to cook it, but it was also stale from a 2-5 day shipment from wherever it came from.
The steak was pretty good there though, being Chicago after all.
So a good chef can turn anything into something enjoyable, but a new chef cannot ruin a fresh produce despite trying :)
 
JohnDB

JohnDB

Well-known member
#45
Jan 16, 2021
6,096
2,429
113
#45
Eli1 said:
Thank you for confirming.
This is always a fun conversation when i try to tell people that the chef can turn something that's bad into something nice, but someone who doesn't know how to cook, it would be pretty hard to mess a fresh seafood dish or meat (steak or lamb).

This is a convo i usually have with people in Greece or Albania or Boston area. These are coastal areas.
So, near the coast, i can tell that even someone who doesn't know how to cook, the food is still pretty good because it's fresh.
Calamari, scallops or seabass etc, all taste pretty good despite someone not knowing the fine details of that dish.
But if you go inland, for example i went to Chicago once and oh man oh man, the fish there was horrible.
Not only they didn't know how to cook it, but it was also stale from a 2-5 day shipment from wherever it came from.
The steak was pretty good there though, being Chicago after all.
So a good chef can turn anything into something enjoyable, but a new chef cannot ruin a fresh produce despite trying :)
Click to expand...
In New York pork was usually low quality and not as popular as here in the South. So it seldom sells well. They have lots of Asian and Italian foods. Also bakeries everywhere.
BUT
I took a loin and turned it into a sheet then filled with apple and ginger roasting it after rolling it up and served it with a type of caramel sauce.
Spicey. Sweet and the tang of apples....

These people in Georgia never had anything like it. And they have piles of pork in their stores. But they don't have the crossover cuisines. Or a lot of high end Chefs. (Like me)

Fresh ingredients definitely helps. But with shipping just about anything can be overcome. Just super expensive. Maine lobsters cost nothing up in NY....but $21/lb down here.
I can get mussels and clams here but not like I can there.
Gulf seafood is more common here. Meaning the paella looks a bit different.
Saffron from Afghanistan instead of Iran...(everyone has been suffering from that)
Local wines are trash. Local bourbon is good though.

Pecans and peanuts, peaches, plums are all locally produced. Milk comes from North Florida. Oranges and citrus are also staples here.
Sugar cane and syrups are also locally made. The coffee warehouses in New Orleans are gone. So it's difficult to get the good stuff roasted here. Chattanooga area has the Apples....but it's a day of traveling.
 
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