In this episode of The Free Culinary School Podcast, listener questions about food and cooking are answered.
But first, let me apologize for my absence. It has been too long since the release of the last FCS podcast, but I have a really good excuse. As some of you already know, I have been working for the past few years as a Sous Chef in a fine dining restaurant. However, I just got hired for my first Executive Chef position at a local fine dining establishment.
This new position came right at the busiest time of the season for Lake Tahoe, so I’m just now able to catch my breath.
In this episode I answer listener questions on:
- What kind of salts do you really need, and what’s the deal with all those fancy sea salts?
- Why does blending your tomato sauce mute some of the flavors?
- Do corian cutting boards ruin your good chef knives?
- Does adjusting the baking soda in chocolate chip cookies effect their texture, and what’s the best method for making a chewy chocolate chip cookie.
- When should you add garlic to a dish, and how do you control its kick?
- How much bones do you need for chicken stock and can you use a leftover carcass from a roasted chicken dinner?
- How can a broke culinary school student expand his/her pallet?
- Are food allergies a deal break for aspiring culinary school students?
- How can you read a recipe to make it your own?
- What is tomato paste and should it be used?
- Can you use hydrogenated fat for frying and confit?
As always, you can e-mail me your questions and comments directly by clicking on the contact link at the top of the page, or you can leave your questions and comments by clicking on the comment button below.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m very happy to see that you have returned! Keep up the excellent work. You might want to think about setting up a sort of wiki community (although there are others on the net, I don’t know of any that cater to people who are professional and semi-professional). I’m looking forward to future episodes and possibly video episodes as you mentioned might be in the future.
Thanks Corey. I’ve actually been considering a recipe wiki and also a discussion forum. My only hesitation is that cooking forums have a tendancy to draw some really obnoxious people who think they know everything about food but can barely slice an onion.
Once I find a way to make a friendly cooking forum were people can discuss food in a civil manner I’ll definitely make it a part of this site. Right now though I’m going to focus on knocking out another series of podcasts for your listening pleasure.
Hi Jacob. Since this is the entry for a feedback episode, I thought it would be appropriate to leave some feedback here about how much I appreciate your podcast. I started listening about the time episode 5 dropped, and quickly caught up.
I have a little bit of garde-manger experience from an old summer job. It wasn’t much, but it gave me a decent grounding in a few kitchen techniques, a modest repertoire of salad recipes, and a lasting hobby.
Thanks to your podcast, I was inspired tonight to try making my first risotto: with chicken stock, diced red pepper, a few slices of crumbled bacon, and seasoned with a pinch of curry pepper. The rice turned out a little undercooked, but rereading your instructions I think I know what i did wrong. All in all it was a successful experiment, and one I’ll be eager to repeat.
Thanks again for the time and effort you put into this site. I’m really looking forward to your next series.
@ Scott,
I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast and blog. Next time you make risotto, I would just taste it as you go and continue adding your cooking liquid until it reaches your preferred texture. If you run out of cooking liquid you can always finish with a little bit of water. This might not be ideal, but it’s better than crunchy risotto.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
I made veal stock and when it cooled only had about a gallon of stock,I removed the fat when it cooled by skimming it off the top, can you give me some more ideas how to get rid of the fat. also when the stock was cool it was thick and gelatnis is this normal
@Bob0,
Simply skimming the stock during the cooking process will get rid of most the fat, but there’s always a little bit left over after cooling. The best way to de-fat your stock is exactly what you did; let it cool in the refrigerator and once the fat rises to the top and sets, go back and skim it off. The reason why your stock was gelatinous is because it was made properly. The collagen in the veal bones dissolves and is what gives you stock body. When your stock cools, a great sign that you made a good stock is that it will gel.