1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:01,400 Hello chefs. Welcome to chefs. 2 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:03,700 PS a podcast. I'm your host on Trina. 3 00:00:03,700 --> 00:00:05,800 Tara, on today's episode we're going to talk all about 4 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:07,200 ingredients. Stay tuned. 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,400 So before we get into it, here's a brief update on some things 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,900 that I was up to last week. I did an event. 7 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:26,700 It was called supper club. We did it. 8 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:28,600 Part of the Texas Food & Wine Alliance. 9 00:00:29,100 --> 00:00:31,300 We were out on the field, everyone was cooking. 10 00:00:31,700 --> 00:00:34,400 I was not one of the featured chefs but I kind of showed up 11 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,800 anyway to hang out, some Chef friends who were the featured 12 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,200 chefs and lend a hand in the kitchen. 13 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:46,500 Anyways good turnout yet chef Graham little Jacob Christian, 14 00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:50,000 he's the chef of Garrison inside the Fairmont, Austin would 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,700 birdie Richter from the emmer and regroup. 16 00:00:52,700 --> 00:00:55,600 In this case, he was on the meat course. 17 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,700 Michael photos a great chef here in Austin from Olam a restaurant 18 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,200 and Laura sawicki from oh say oh Karen, Austin was on dessert. 19 00:01:03,300 --> 00:01:06,600 Anyway, everyone got together was a great event part of the 20 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:08,900 Texas Food & Wine, a, lion's wine and dine series. 21 00:01:08,900 --> 00:01:12,600 It was a good event to kick off and these events are fun. 22 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,200 So I know I'd I've talked about this before that. 23 00:01:15,300 --> 00:01:16,800 You have an opportunity to go to events. 24 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,600 You should sometimes the price that you pay is that you got to 25 00:01:19,607 --> 00:01:21,900 clean up the mess. But nonetheless they're great 26 00:01:21,900 --> 00:01:23,700 events. We had some volunteer students 27 00:01:24,100 --> 00:01:26,700 from the escoffier culinary school here so I was working 28 00:01:26,700 --> 00:01:28,400 with some of them. I got to chat with them. 29 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,600 I enjoyed it so maybe they're watching right now. 30 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:37,600 I had fun good to meet you all. Anyway, we digress next weekend. 31 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,900 I will be in Dallas at Jose restaurant cooking with several 32 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:44,200 other chefs. And Associate Canon has is the 33 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,100 host at Jose restaurant. Rick Lopez from La condesa here 34 00:01:48,100 --> 00:01:53,100 in Austin, Texas, Philip Speer from Commodore myself from 35 00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:57,100 ships, PSA retired. Getting together to do another 36 00:01:57,100 --> 00:01:59,400 Supper Club, go get tickets. If you happen to be in Dallas, 37 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,600 reach out, if you want to do a cigar Sunday from Dallas, it'd 38 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,200 be fun to meet up with some of the Dow Chef Community. 39 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,900 While we're out there finally finished with all the books. 40 00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:12,200 So all the books are available in all formats, including audio 41 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,500 book. Well, not exactly the audiobooks 42 00:02:14,500 --> 00:02:17,000 are done during the approval process so that should get 43 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,800 approved any day. Now, typically it takes 10 44 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:24,500 business days and one is actually taken Almost 20 45 00:02:24,500 --> 00:02:27,100 business days to get approved. It's the kitchen Art of War. 46 00:02:27,100 --> 00:02:28,300 The audiobook, I had to redo that. 47 00:02:28,300 --> 00:02:30,100 I think I explained that another episode. 48 00:02:31,300 --> 00:02:34,400 But the bad sooo good. Chef audiobook will also be 49 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:36,400 available here in the next few days. 50 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,900 I'll make sure I announced it on Chefs PSA social channels. 51 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,700 The audio book is interesting so I know I've talked about this a 52 00:02:42,708 --> 00:02:45,600 little bit before. The audiobook is a conversation 53 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,000 between two chefs, so it's a mentor and a mentee and it's 54 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,600 basically to answer all the questions surrounding all the 55 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,400 fears that a chef would have when they become a sous chef. 56 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,700 So, if you're moving from culinarian cook to Sushi, Chef, 57 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,900 you probably have a lot of things going through your mind. 58 00:03:02,900 --> 00:03:04,700 Like what are my friends going to think of me? 59 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:06,300 How do I hold people accountable? 60 00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:11,000 How do I become a great chef? All these little doubts are 61 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,500 going to creep in your mind. And this book is a conversation 62 00:03:14,500 --> 00:03:17,600 between a mentor and a new Chef to teach them. 63 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:22,000 How to go from bad sous-chef to good sous-chef. 64 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,900 Anyway that's that's the if you guys didn't get the title but 65 00:03:25,900 --> 00:03:30,400 that's the play on words there. But the interesting thing about 66 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,300 the audiobook is, you know, the narrator had fun with the voice 67 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:39,000 characters and it sounds like, like, Teenage Mutant Ninja 68 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,800 Turtles like Master Splinter talking with, you know, young 69 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,000 Ninja Turtle Apprentice. Anyway, it's fun. 70 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,600 I enjoyed it. I think it's I think it's 71 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,300 entertaining it's going to probably be one of the more 72 00:03:48,300 --> 00:03:49,600 entertaining. Any audio books that I've done? 73 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,700 Like I said this book is in the most different style from the 74 00:03:52,700 --> 00:03:57,200 other books in The Chef's PSA series, a lot of people have 75 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,700 told me, they really enjoyed it. People have told me they've 76 00:03:59,700 --> 00:04:02,100 cried after completing this book. 77 00:04:02,100 --> 00:04:04,500 This is the only book that I've made people cry. 78 00:04:04,500 --> 00:04:07,600 And so that's like the true test. 79 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,000 If, if it pulled your heartstrings, and it made you 80 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,300 cry, then I was a good book anyway. 81 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:12,600 I don't want to give away the book. 82 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,900 You should go get it. I've also I talked about this 83 00:04:15,900 --> 00:04:20,300 last week, my website went down and I had to rebuild it so 84 00:04:20,300 --> 00:04:23,000 chefs. PS a.com is redesigned 85 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 brand-new, I organized it. So it's much more easy to 86 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,700 navigate. There's the homepage, which kind 87 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:31,500 of tells you everything that I do the podcast page, which 88 00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:33,800 obviously is about podcasting the about. 89 00:04:33,900 --> 00:04:36,400 There's a page just dedicated to the books that I've written, 90 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,600 including the ebooks that are available for free on gumroad. 91 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:40,900 You should go get those, they're free. 92 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000 Go get them. What, why wouldn't you and then 93 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,100 a mentoring page for people? I keep asking me about the 94 00:04:45,108 --> 00:04:48,700 mentorship program, I am on a weight for people that are 95 00:04:48,700 --> 00:04:51,000 interested in mentoring. I've taken on a little bit too 96 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,400 many mentees so there is a little bit of a waiting list, 97 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,300 but for those of you that are interested in the mentorship 98 00:04:55,300 --> 00:04:59,700 program, you could email me on the website and you could get 99 00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:03,400 added to the waiting list if you are interested on to today's 100 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:08,400 subject ingredients now. I got to tell you when it comes 101 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,200 to ingredients. I've done a couple of chefs PSAs 102 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,600 on this, and I'm just kind of sticking my toe in the water, 103 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,500 but I'm not sure if it's really, making sense and resonating with 104 00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:19,400 everyone. Now, for the most part on Chefs, 105 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:21,900 PSA, I usually cover the do's and don'ts good habits, 106 00:05:21,900 --> 00:05:25,400 leadership best practices in the kitchen, but I don't often talk 107 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:31,800 about cooking specifically just because It's difficult to 108 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,700 articulate food thoughts for people to learn without actually 109 00:05:35,700 --> 00:05:39,400 seeing it and quite honestly, I'm not really going to get into 110 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,800 cooking videos because it's a big upfront investment for what 111 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,200 like 400 people to watch it. I'm alright you all can watch 112 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,400 someone else teach you how to clean an artichoke. 113 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,300 But the point being is that there's a couple of PSAs that 114 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:58,700 I've done one, and that is, if you want to be a better, Chef 115 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,100 use better ingredients, you instantly transform your food. 116 00:06:04,100 --> 00:06:07,500 And take it to the next level if you're using better ingredients. 117 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,700 Now, this is something that's highly misunderstood with a lot 118 00:06:10,700 --> 00:06:13,000 of cooks because they think when you get the ingredients you have 119 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,100 to do more to them for them to shine. 120 00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:18,500 And the reality is you probably need to do less to really good 121 00:06:18,500 --> 00:06:22,100 ingredients and you need to do more to ingredients that are not 122 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:26,000 that good when a tomato is absolutely perfect in season, 123 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,400 right? You could probably just drizzle 124 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,100 it with a little bit of olive oil and some good salt and it's 125 00:06:31,100 --> 00:06:33,800 going to be amazing when the tomato is out of season. 126 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,400 It's a little under ripe. You bought it in bulk. 127 00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:41,500 You probably have to do a lot more to that tomato to make it 128 00:06:41,500 --> 00:06:43,500 taste good, right? A lot of people say, all these 129 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:46,900 Tomatoes suck or maybe they don't like this specific dishes, 130 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,500 has usually to do with the ingredients. 131 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,800 Good ingredients. You don't have to do much to 132 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,700 another thing that I've talked about, is, if you want to 133 00:06:53,700 --> 00:06:57,400 understand food, better, plant a garden now, I used to have a 134 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,600 garden and it was on the rooftop and we used to plant all sorts 135 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:06,800 of things for herbs. Strawberries Tomatoes squash has 136 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,900 cruciferous vegetables. I had a couple of trees out of 137 00:07:10,900 --> 00:07:12,100 Bailey. Tread of fig tree. 138 00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:15,200 I had mustard growing anyway. What you start to understand 139 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:19,100 when you grow food is that you understand when it's right? 140 00:07:19,100 --> 00:07:21,700 When it's under right? When it's perfectly on, right? 141 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,200 You understand that things, sometimes have multiple Seasons, 142 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,600 so maybe they bloom once and then they go away and they 143 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:31,500 produce fruit and then they produce fruit again. 144 00:07:31,900 --> 00:07:36,100 I learned that about a fig tree so I had figs in the spring and 145 00:07:36,100 --> 00:07:38,500 then I had figs in the late summer and I thought that was 146 00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:40,300 interesting. I didn't realize figs. 147 00:07:40,300 --> 00:07:42,600 Did that twice when I grew watermelon? 148 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:47,000 For example, everyone thinks a watermelon as a summer fruit. 149 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:50,900 When I grew watermelon, late September, it was absolutely 150 00:07:50,900 --> 00:07:53,600 perfect. But it was short-lived Those 151 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,600 only for like 30 days at the watermelon was good and then 152 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,000 after that it wasn't so good. Seen herbs, when they go to 153 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,800 bloom and knowing that you got a manicure them and take care of 154 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,000 them. There's a certain way to cut 155 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,700 your herbs, understanding, when several groups of fruit and 156 00:08:09,700 --> 00:08:12,300 vegetables come in season together that you probably want 157 00:08:12,300 --> 00:08:15,900 to group those together. You could learn a lot about just 158 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:18,400 paying attention to Nature and I could really geek out on this 159 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:24,900 and get into it like I used to have thoughts like okay you 160 00:08:24,900 --> 00:08:27,600 should pair things together with how they grow together. 161 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:33,900 So, If all things grow on vines and they probably taste good and 162 00:08:33,900 --> 00:08:35,799 then you can look at like inverse color. 163 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:39,400 So something red might pair well with something green. 164 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,200 So, classic example is basil and tomatoes, right? 165 00:08:43,500 --> 00:08:45,900 Both of them are extremely beautiful in the summer. 166 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,500 Hence white, it is a classic pairing. 167 00:08:49,100 --> 00:08:51,400 You look at something like sushi. 168 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,600 Fish are underwater typically, they're the third stage of 169 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,000 sunlight, same thing with the seaweed the Nori that goes with 170 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:00,800 it third. Stage of sunlight. 171 00:09:01,900 --> 00:09:05,500 You pair that with Wasabi a rhizome grows in the dark 172 00:09:05,500 --> 00:09:07,700 underground. Third stage of sunlight, you 173 00:09:07,700 --> 00:09:09,200 pair those together, you have a classic combination. 174 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,700 So, when you start to pay attention, how people put 175 00:09:11,700 --> 00:09:16,400 together food and flavors that work together, you start to see 176 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,500 the combinations and your mind really starts to run with them 177 00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:23,000 your creativity. You'll understand as they say, 178 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,300 when it grows together goes together, things that are in 179 00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:29,800 season go together, Etc, but a lot of chefs discount the fact 180 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,000 that having good This is like a superpower. 181 00:09:33,900 --> 00:09:37,800 When I was in California. One of my very first trips, I 182 00:09:37,808 --> 00:09:40,100 was in San Francisco and we were at the farmers market. 183 00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:42,600 I'll know I'll never forget this because I was coming from Texas, 184 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,900 moving to California and we're walking down the farmers market. 185 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:49,200 And there's this farmer selling grapes and one of my chef 186 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:52,600 friends that I was with went and tried the grape at the person 187 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,100 was like do you want to try? Grapes was like I'm alright I've 188 00:09:55,100 --> 00:09:57,400 had grapes before. So my friend tried the grape, 189 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:58,800 you know, to placate them whatever. 190 00:10:00,100 --> 00:10:03,200 And my friend was like, you need to try this great and I'm like, 191 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,200 I'm okay, I've had a great before and he's like, no, you 192 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,300 really need to try this great. I was like, man. 193 00:10:08,300 --> 00:10:10,500 I'm alright because like just try the great fine. 194 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:15,100 So I tried the grape and I was like, oh shit, that's a really 195 00:10:15,100 --> 00:10:18,900 good great. And I'll never forget, because 196 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:22,600 it was like a grape times 10. It was like, it was almost like 197 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:23,900 great bubble gum. I couldn't explain. 198 00:10:23,900 --> 00:10:27,000 It was like, it was a grape that tasted like what you imagined a 199 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:28,500 great should taste like, but not what? 200 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:30,700 Grapes. Usually tastes like and it 201 00:10:30,700 --> 00:10:33,100 piqued my interest. So then I started really trying 202 00:10:33,100 --> 00:10:35,600 the food and and they're at the farmers market. 203 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,300 And what you discovered was that what they were selling Had a 204 00:10:40,308 --> 00:10:43,600 completely different flavor profile than what I was used to. 205 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,400 So then, when I became a chef in California, I remember we were 206 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,800 getting produce deliveries and I was talking to my sous chef at 207 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,700 the time and he was really upset at the quality of yellow squash 208 00:10:54,700 --> 00:10:57,500 that we had received. And he was like, oh, these are 209 00:10:57,500 --> 00:10:58,600 crap. I'm going to send him back. 210 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,700 And I remember looking at the squash I was like, these might 211 00:11:01,700 --> 00:11:03,500 be the most beautiful I've ever seen. 212 00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:05,600 He's like, no, these are shit. These are like number 2's over 213 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,000 here. Now, what was the number two 214 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,700 would have been like a number 1 + + where I was coming from and 215 00:11:11,700 --> 00:11:13,200 I'd it was like one of these moments. 216 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,500 Like you really saw how the quality of ingredients made such 217 00:11:17,500 --> 00:11:20,400 a big difference, and this was like a pivotal learning point, 218 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,700 like every now and again people talk about growth spurts that 219 00:11:22,700 --> 00:11:26,300 they have and their career. This was a growth spurt that I 220 00:11:26,300 --> 00:11:29,000 had in my career to really appreciate ingredients and 221 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,200 understand, there's levels to this game when it comes to good 222 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,700 quality ingredients and farmers and Artisans that can create 223 00:11:35,700 --> 00:11:40,600 exceptional product, really? You can't compete with So, an 224 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:45,400 argument could be made by a chef that says I can reduce my labor 225 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,100 cost by having better ingredients because it requires 226 00:11:49,100 --> 00:11:53,100 less manipulation to get to the end product. 227 00:11:53,300 --> 00:11:55,300 All these things are very important when it comes to 228 00:11:55,300 --> 00:11:58,300 creating delicious food. What I would think about growth 229 00:11:58,300 --> 00:12:02,200 spurts that I've had as a chef, I could think about different 230 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:07,000 ingredients that Have given me challenges or have challenged me 231 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,900 as a chef you know early on when you're first learning how to 232 00:12:10,900 --> 00:12:13,400 cook in your in culinary school. Or you get your first couple of 233 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,400 restaurant jobs, it's a lot of the same repetition. 234 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:20,900 It's potatoes, it's tomatoes, onions, garlic shallots, and you 235 00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:24,400 get really good at working with these vegetables and fruits then 236 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:26,600 all of a sudden you get introduced like I said you kind 237 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,400 of level up and you get introduced to new things so 238 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,700 maybe these are mushrooms. And when I first started working 239 00:12:32,700 --> 00:12:35,300 with shiitake mushrooms, I'd never worked with shiitake 240 00:12:35,300 --> 00:12:37,300 mushrooms. Before I was a green Cooks out, 241 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:40,600 cook them and I ate one. I was like, this is fucking 242 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:41,800 disgusting. I didn't like it. 243 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:43,900 I was like so chewy and Woody and dense. 244 00:12:44,300 --> 00:12:46,800 And then someone came up to me, like you got to remove the stem. 245 00:12:46,900 --> 00:12:48,900 You don't eat the stem of the shiitake mushrooms. 246 00:12:49,500 --> 00:12:53,000 I didn't know that all of a sudden understanding that you 247 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,000 can't treat a shiitake mushroom. Like every other mushroom. 248 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,400 I needed to remove the stem because it didn't taste I could 249 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:05,200 have had another use for it, but not How we were serving at that 250 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,400 time. When I first worked with fava 251 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,500 beans fresh fava beans, I had never worked with fava beans 252 00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:15,800 before, and I remember at peeled them, the first year out of the, 253 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,500 under the husk. And the person next to me, kind 254 00:13:19,500 --> 00:13:21,500 of cracked a joke because I didn't know what I was doing, 255 00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:24,400 fava beans, I didn't realize you had to peel them a second time 256 00:13:24,900 --> 00:13:26,200 because I thought they were good to go. 257 00:13:27,700 --> 00:13:30,400 And again, like I said, you're leveling up in complexity when 258 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,400 you start introducing different ingredients to your skill set, 259 00:13:33,500 --> 00:13:34,800 knowing how to work with fava beans. 260 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,800 All you got to, you got to shock them once and then you have to 261 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,800 shuck them again. Now a lot of people will tell 262 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:41,700 you there's a lot of different ways. 263 00:13:41,700 --> 00:13:44,000 Maybe you blanch them prior maybe you don't blanch them, 264 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,600 prior doesn't matter? That's your choice, individual. 265 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,300 Kitchens are going to have different opinions on it, but in 266 00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:56,600 my case where I was the chef, we would blanch them and then shuck 267 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,400 them the second time. And then it's, it's these things 268 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,100 that are important. Like when you're creating, if 269 00:14:02,100 --> 00:14:05,500 you're doing big pot, blanching as they say, the water needs to 270 00:14:05,500 --> 00:14:07,500 be salty, and it should taste like the ocean. 271 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,200 Well, how do you know that we you taste the water, right? 272 00:14:11,300 --> 00:14:13,700 You taste the water and you make sure it tastes like the ocean. 273 00:14:13,900 --> 00:14:16,200 A lot of people would say to me. Well, how do you know when the 274 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:17,500 water is salty enough as it will? 275 00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:19,200 Did you? Did you taste your pasta water? 276 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:20,700 Did you taste your blanching water? 277 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:22,800 No, I didn't. Well then how do you know if 278 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,100 it's salty enough? It's part of a chef's 279 00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:29,100 understanding of things to taste everything. 280 00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:31,200 When you go down the line, you taste everything, but that 281 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,700 includes the pasta water when you're setting it up for cooking 282 00:14:33,700 --> 00:14:36,700 pasta. Blanching green vegetables. 283 00:14:36,700 --> 00:14:40,100 Whatever the case may be I'll never forget when I first was 284 00:14:40,100 --> 00:14:42,500 introduced to artichokes. There's this video right now. 285 00:14:42,500 --> 00:14:46,200 Going around Instagram for this guy is like with a knife 286 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,600 cleaning an artichoke like I don't know like in 20 seconds or 287 00:14:48,608 --> 00:14:50,600 whatever and then he gets a spoon and then he carves out the 288 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,600 choke and like how fucking sharp is that spoon. 289 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:59,100 He just he just pulls it out like butter or how soft is the 290 00:14:59,100 --> 00:15:01,500 artichoke one way or the other. Anyway, he just does like a 291 00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:05,200 pristine job with the artichoke and artichokes is one. 292 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:07,600 Of those ingredients that trips a lot of chefs up because you 293 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:09,600 don't work with it. You go through your career and 294 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:11,800 you may have only worked with artichokes out of a can. 295 00:15:12,300 --> 00:15:14,100 And then all of a sudden someone gives you a fresh artichoke 296 00:15:14,100 --> 00:15:15,400 here. Like what the hell is this 297 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,800 thing? It's so large and it's thorny 298 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,500 and then you start clean as like what's going on here. 299 00:15:20,700 --> 00:15:22,200 There's a lot of different ways to do it than it starts 300 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,700 oxidizing. When I used to do cooking 301 00:15:24,700 --> 00:15:27,700 interviews for executive chefs or any position really in the 302 00:15:27,700 --> 00:15:29,200 kitchen. I always give them an artichoke 303 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,100 so I'd give them a couple of different things. 304 00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:32,700 A whole chicken, a whole lobster. 305 00:15:33,500 --> 00:15:35,500 A whole fish, and a whole artichoke and say you do 306 00:15:35,500 --> 00:15:36,900 whatever you want. I just want to see you, 307 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:38,900 fabricate, these and then use them in a dish. 308 00:15:40,300 --> 00:15:43,700 And the artichoke was usually the one that would throw 309 00:15:43,700 --> 00:15:46,600 everyone off and I'm talking about like executive chefs shut 310 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:48,400 the Cuisines. Did it matter what position you 311 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,900 were in the artichoke was always the Achilles heel for most 312 00:15:51,900 --> 00:15:56,300 chefs. I've had chefs be like, oh, 313 00:15:56,500 --> 00:15:58,500 sometimes I would give them like a Comey Helper and they would 314 00:15:58,500 --> 00:16:00,700 like, give their artichoke to the Comey like, hey, can you do 315 00:16:00,700 --> 00:16:01,800 this? Because I'm really busy, right? 316 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:02,900 It's like it's not that they're busy. 317 00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:05,300 I just they don't know how to clean an artichoke. 318 00:16:06,300 --> 00:16:09,000 I had one Chef one time. Executive. 319 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,500 Chef tasting candidate won't say who Honestly, I don't remember 320 00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:15,900 the guys name, so I guess it doesn't matter, but he was 321 00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:18,300 interviewing for an executive chef position, and I was hiring 322 00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:19,500 him and I gave him the artichoke. 323 00:16:19,500 --> 00:16:23,900 And as he cleaned it, when he was done with his dish inside 324 00:16:23,900 --> 00:16:25,600 the artichoke is what they call the choke. 325 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,400 And they're very thorny thistles. 326 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,900 And he garnished his dish with the choke. 327 00:16:36,100 --> 00:16:38,600 And I just remember asking him like have you ever eaten that 328 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:40,100 and he's like no I just thought it looked pretty. 329 00:16:40,100 --> 00:16:43,600 I was like well you know there's a reason it's called an 330 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,100 artichoke, right? He didn't know, you'd never 331 00:16:47,100 --> 00:16:48,800 worked with an artichoke. So it's one of those things you 332 00:16:48,808 --> 00:16:50,400 have to expose yourself to any ingredients. 333 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,400 You can learn these little lessons and little Nuance that 334 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,300 goes with cooking different ingredients. 335 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,000 We're talking about mushrooms and I did a chef PSA on this on 336 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,400 a two days ago. About cleaning the grit out of 337 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,200 your morel mushrooms. Now, when I first worked with 338 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,599 morels, I'd never worked. Then we got the dried kind, so 339 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:14,300 we had to rehydrate them in warm water and then we strain the 340 00:17:14,300 --> 00:17:16,599 water and turn that into like a mushroom stock or something like 341 00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:18,099 that. But then, eventually you 342 00:17:18,099 --> 00:17:20,300 graduate to the fresh morals and you don't know. 343 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:23,099 Like there's sometimes, there's little creatures living in those 344 00:17:23,099 --> 00:17:25,000 things. And you gotta soak them to pull 345 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,500 them out. So the way I would do it, as I 346 00:17:27,508 --> 00:17:30,500 would soak my morals in a couple of changes of clean water and 347 00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:33,500 you lift them out gently. So all all the grit and sand 348 00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:38,200 kind of stays on the bottom. Until the water is clean, after 349 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,900 about three changes, then I would lay them out on a, on a 350 00:17:41,908 --> 00:17:45,400 small tray with like a, either Serbia at or some towels. 351 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,700 So, they dry and then we'd use them there. 352 00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:51,400 Someone commented on Chefs, PSA. So I apologize. 353 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,300 I remember who commented so this for you, they said to put a 354 00:17:54,308 --> 00:17:57,200 couple of drops of vinegar in the water when you're soaking 355 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,500 were also want more. My thoughts on that, except I've 356 00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:01,600 never done it. So I don't know what would 357 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,500 happen? It sounds like in theory that 358 00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:07,400 would help with the cleaning. The morels, but I really don't 359 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,200 know. But understanding when you're 360 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:10,800 working with different ingredients. 361 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:15,500 So like morels or like truffles like People that don't know this 362 00:18:15,500 --> 00:18:17,700 if you don't work with truffles, what's the number one rule? 363 00:18:17,700 --> 00:18:23,700 When the Truffle person comes in You way the fucking truffles if 364 00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:26,100 you bought a pound of truffles, when the Truffle guy shows up, 365 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,400 you pull out a scale and you weigh, you make sure that you 366 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:32,400 have a pound of truffles. Like that is truffle 101 and 367 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,200 then you check them, you make sure that they're not slimy. 368 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,900 I've had, I've had vendors come in and try and Pawn off, slimy 369 00:18:37,900 --> 00:18:41,300 truffles. But if you don't know what 370 00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:44,500 you're looking for, you're going to end up with a bad product. 371 00:18:44,500 --> 00:18:48,400 So understanding, and having experience with a variety of 372 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,000 ingredients is very important. Like they say when you slice the 373 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,800 Truffle and half it should almost look like wag you write 374 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,900 with all the striations of white throughout the Truffle. 375 00:18:59,900 --> 00:19:03,100 That's that's usually the indicator of a good truffle or 376 00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:05,500 like matsutake mushrooms. Anyway, we could get into the 377 00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:08,500 creatures that are living in matsutakes or tuna or whatever 378 00:19:08,900 --> 00:19:11,800 but understanding How to inspect food when it comes in as 379 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,500 important. And sometimes it's just the 380 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:17,800 littlest thing. A big mistake that I think is 381 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,200 pretty common that. I notice it a lot of new cooks 382 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,500 is just they don't know, right? Maybe because they haven't eaten 383 00:19:23,500 --> 00:19:26,700 the item. Or they just haven't worked a 384 00:19:26,708 --> 00:19:29,300 lot with an item but like the little adductor muscle that's 385 00:19:29,300 --> 00:19:32,100 attached to the scalp knowing that you should remove that 386 00:19:32,100 --> 00:19:35,700 before you cooked the scallop. A lot of people don't do that. 387 00:19:36,900 --> 00:19:40,300 Usually because they don't know, prosciutto is another one to 388 00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:43,200 remove the hard skin before you slice it or salami and you got 389 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:47,400 to peel it sometimes. A lot of people just serve that 390 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,200 prosciutto with the exterior skin on. 391 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,700 It's like you can't eat that someone's going to choke. 392 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:55,200 But again, these are things that when you're in experience with 393 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,600 food until you start exposing yourself to a multitude of 394 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,700 ingredients, you just may not know in addition to transforming 395 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:08,000 the ingredient to refine them, to a level where they become 396 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,700 more beautiful. That's really, what is a big 397 00:20:10,700 --> 00:20:13,900 secret of fine dining? It's that they refined something 398 00:20:13,900 --> 00:20:17,000 to the point of perfection. Ian and Excellence or at least 399 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,100 close to it right to the idea of perfection. 400 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,000 It's peeling Tomatoes, The Little cherry tomatoes, making 401 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,400 sure that they're the perfect tomato, and then removing the 402 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,600 Skins, to make sure that they're easier to chew through or easier 403 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,800 to digest. That's a level of refinement 404 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,800 that you see. In high-end restaurants, it adds 405 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,700 a different texture to a tomato dish if they're peeled versus 406 00:20:37,700 --> 00:20:40,600 unpeeled. And then you have to question, 407 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,900 how are you going to peel them? Are you going to blanch them 408 00:20:43,900 --> 00:20:47,500 first? Concourse a style or do you peel 409 00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:49,700 them from raw, much more difficult? 410 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:56,700 But leads to a better texture. So food, for thought things that 411 00:20:56,700 --> 00:20:58,900 you have to consider when you're creating dishes, more 412 00:20:58,900 --> 00:21:01,200 labor-intensive, better end product. 413 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,100 Then there's the considerations of extending shelf life so you 414 00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:07,400 could compress things. So I used to compress 415 00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:10,900 microgreens often so in ice water so they could hold longer. 416 00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:14,000 A lot of people just put micro greens or garnishing, herbs, and 417 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,200 Ice Waters with a crisp up, great tactic. 418 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:18,500 You could also, if you have a cryovac machine, you could 419 00:21:18,500 --> 00:21:22,200 compress those so they last longer But then you could even 420 00:21:22,300 --> 00:21:26,100 go further, maybe you could compress lettuces, maybe you're 421 00:21:26,100 --> 00:21:29,400 doing garnishes with hearts of Romaine. 422 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,600 You could compress your cucumbers in ice water and it 423 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,100 completely changes the look of them. 424 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:40,000 There's also compression without Ice water and maybe your 425 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,000 infusing flavors. So maybe you're adding a little 426 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,100 bit of a brine or a marinade or something to something that 427 00:21:46,100 --> 00:21:48,100 might not be as good. Sometimes your peaches aren't so 428 00:21:48,100 --> 00:21:51,100 great so you might need to infuse a little simple syrup and 429 00:21:51,100 --> 00:21:52,400 compress them to make them better. 430 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,600 Peaches are one of those like it could be peach season in the 431 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,600 peaches are shit. Especially in Texas. 432 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaking of peaches, you know, again I was I was talking with 433 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,000 some of the other day. It's like they had no idea that 434 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:06,800 the stone inside, the peach, you crack that open. 435 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,100 There's like a little almond to I don't know what it's 436 00:22:09,100 --> 00:22:11,300 technically called, which is like a little almond inside the 437 00:22:11,300 --> 00:22:16,300 peach pit and that is like the that's like the cyanide, the 438 00:22:16,308 --> 00:22:21,900 B-17 amygdalin flavor, what they usually have for almond extract 439 00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:23,400 flavor that usually comes from peaches. 440 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,200 So but it's like, it looks just like an almond careful. 441 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,200 Don't go out and eat that because it is poisonous. 442 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,600 So, It's my warning, do not eat that, but it's again just 443 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,800 exploring food to its fullest potential. 444 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,800 And after you've worked with different types of ingredients 445 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,000 and you understand produce is, you could learn so much from 446 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,200 produce and you have your cooking methods and you have a 447 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,300 firm understanding of different ingredients and how to 448 00:22:49,300 --> 00:22:53,500 manipulate those ingredients, that's really where high-level 449 00:22:53,500 --> 00:22:55,500 cooking comes in. It's not always about just 450 00:22:55,500 --> 00:22:58,300 adding everything to a pan with some oil and tossing it and put 451 00:22:58,300 --> 00:23:01,300 it on a plate. Times there's a level of 452 00:23:01,300 --> 00:23:03,100 refinement that comes into preparation. 453 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,900 Anyway, this was a food episode. Hopefully, you could take away 454 00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,400 some good tips or at least maybe I'd piqued your interest in 455 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,800 exploring food and different ingredients to learn from. 456 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,000 Maybe haven't worked with an artichoke. 457 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,300 Go work with artichokes, it's on the culinary decathlon. 458 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,700 Anyway, that's it for today. If you want to support the show, 459 00:23:22,700 --> 00:23:24,800 if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you leave a thumbs up. 460 00:23:25,300 --> 00:23:28,800 Subscribe to my YouTube page. 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See you next week, hit the porno 472 00:24:02,900 --> 00:24:03,400 music.