What did everyone cook today?
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Chef Hell Chef, most of us are considered old and “old fashioned”
don’t ever give it up. lost art is just that, lost. it is a beautiful creation and when your skills are asked of you, they will be greatly appreciated.Departing Contestant Thank you, that is very kind of you. I was trained as a chef that it is the obligation to the profession to help anyone seeking training, recipes, or techniques. It is through that aiding of other that we ensure that those talents are perpetuated over time and to future generations. I will state now that anyone who would like any tips or recipes that I may have is more than welcomed to them.
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Departing Contestant Thank you, that is very kind of you. I was trained as a chef that it is the obligation to the profession to help anyone seeking training, recipes, or techniques. It is through that aiding of other that we ensure that those talents are perpetuated over time and to future generations. I will state now that anyone who would like any tips or recipes that I may have is more than welcomed to them.
Chef What is your French Onion Soup recipe? I have made many different versions, and all have been great, as long as you add enough bread and cheese in the end!
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Departing Contestant Thank you, that is very kind of you. I was trained as a chef that it is the obligation to the profession to help anyone seeking training, recipes, or techniques. It is through that aiding of other that we ensure that those talents are perpetuated over time and to future generations. I will state now that anyone who would like any tips or recipes that I may have is more than welcomed to them.
Chef Ditto!
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Chef What is your French Onion Soup recipe? I have made many different versions, and all have been great, as long as you add enough bread and cheese in the end!
Tex_77 calldoctoday Funny, I just had some last night. One major secret that chefs at better restaurants typically use is a good soup base. I use Minor’s beef and chicken base. It has much lower salt and no MSG like other products. It is all natural. I typically make a 5 gallon or more batch and then can it to use over time.
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Caramelize lots of yellow onions in unsalted butter. You will likely use more than you think you need, they shrink in volume as the cook down. Love it when the sweet onions are available. A pound of butter to about 10 pounds of onions work well. If the sugars in the onions begin to stick to the bottom, just add a few tablespoons of water. Slowly getting to a golden brown on the onions may take 2 hours or so.
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add about 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of a dry sherry. Now this is for the large batch, in a small batch of 3# onions and one stick of butter, just add about 1/2 cup. Stir to loosen and deg-laze the pan.
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add 5 bay leaf, tablespoon of dry thyme or about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, water, and lastly, the beef base. and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. simmer about 45 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
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heat broiler. Toast buttered bread in the broiler. I like to crush garlic in the butter. Place toasted bread and soup into oven proof soup bowls and cover with cheese of choice. I like Gruyere, wife likes mozzarella, and some like provolone cheese. place bowls under the broiler until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
A dry white or red wine can be used instead of the sherry, it does change the flavor but some people prefer other wines.
To can, add the soup w/o bread to canning jars. I do quarts, and process at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes. Shelf stable for a good 5 years (yes I experimented) but usually gone in a few months. Toast fresh bread when serving
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Tex_77 calldoctoday Funny, I just had some last night. One major secret that chefs at better restaurants typically use is a good soup base. I use Minor’s beef and chicken base. It has much lower salt and no MSG like other products. It is all natural. I typically make a 5 gallon or more batch and then can it to use over time.
-
Caramelize lots of yellow onions in unsalted butter. You will likely use more than you think you need, they shrink in volume as the cook down. Love it when the sweet onions are available. A pound of butter to about 10 pounds of onions work well. If the sugars in the onions begin to stick to the bottom, just add a few tablespoons of water. Slowly getting to a golden brown on the onions may take 2 hours or so.
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add about 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of a dry sherry. Now this is for the large batch, in a small batch of 3# onions and one stick of butter, just add about 1/2 cup. Stir to loosen and deg-laze the pan.
-
add 5 bay leaf, tablespoon of dry thyme or about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, water, and lastly, the beef base. and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. simmer about 45 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
-
heat broiler. Toast buttered bread in the broiler. I like to crush garlic in the butter. Place toasted bread and soup into oven proof soup bowls and cover with cheese of choice. I like Gruyere, wife likes mozzarella, and some like provolone cheese. place bowls under the broiler until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
A dry white or red wine can be used instead of the sherry, it does change the flavor but some people prefer other wines.
To can, add the soup w/o bread to canning jars. I do quarts, and process at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes. Shelf stable for a good 5 years (yes I experimented) but usually gone in a few months. Toast fresh bread when serving
Chef Thank you, I really appreciate that. I like making home made bone broth on a regular basis for Beef, Turkey, Chicken, & pork. I use onions, carrots, & spices in it & let it simmer for a couple of days. We really like it & drink some when it is done & freeze the rest in Quart or Half Gallon jars to use as a base for various recipes, soups, beans, etc. Yours sounds very good though & I like it.
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Tex_77 calldoctoday Funny, I just had some last night. One major secret that chefs at better restaurants typically use is a good soup base. I use Minor’s beef and chicken base. It has much lower salt and no MSG like other products. It is all natural. I typically make a 5 gallon or more batch and then can it to use over time.
-
Caramelize lots of yellow onions in unsalted butter. You will likely use more than you think you need, they shrink in volume as the cook down. Love it when the sweet onions are available. A pound of butter to about 10 pounds of onions work well. If the sugars in the onions begin to stick to the bottom, just add a few tablespoons of water. Slowly getting to a golden brown on the onions may take 2 hours or so.
-
add about 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of a dry sherry. Now this is for the large batch, in a small batch of 3# onions and one stick of butter, just add about 1/2 cup. Stir to loosen and deg-laze the pan.
-
add 5 bay leaf, tablespoon of dry thyme or about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, water, and lastly, the beef base. and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. simmer about 45 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
-
heat broiler. Toast buttered bread in the broiler. I like to crush garlic in the butter. Place toasted bread and soup into oven proof soup bowls and cover with cheese of choice. I like Gruyere, wife likes mozzarella, and some like provolone cheese. place bowls under the broiler until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
A dry white or red wine can be used instead of the sherry, it does change the flavor but some people prefer other wines.
To can, add the soup w/o bread to canning jars. I do quarts, and process at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes. Shelf stable for a good 5 years (yes I experimented) but usually gone in a few months. Toast fresh bread when serving
Chef I’m going to have to step up my canning game, I’ve never used a pressure canner. Thanks for ypur recipe!
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Chef I’ve been teetering on the edge of getting a pressure canner, and you just may have pushed me over the edge.
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Chef Thank you, I really appreciate that. I like making home made bone broth on a regular basis for Beef, Turkey, Chicken, & pork. I use onions, carrots, & spices in it & let it simmer for a couple of days. We really like it & drink some when it is done & freeze the rest in Quart or Half Gallon jars to use as a base for various recipes, soups, beans, etc. Yours sounds very good though & I like it.
calldoctoday I like that as well. I can typically make enough chicken, turkey and pork stock for just the family, and back when I had a 300 seat restaurant my butcher always kept me stocked with all the beef bones I needed for the restaurant. Let them simmer for several days, but don’t have access to that volume of beef bones anymore. I do can stock as well. Then, if there is a problem with electrical service, my inventory is safe on the shelves. I have kept experiments going with several products when I first started, but after 10 years on the shelf, I stop checking for longevity.
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Chef I’ve been teetering on the edge of getting a pressure canner, and you just may have pushed me over the edge.
TexLaw If you take the plunge for a pressure cooker I strongly suggest the All American Pressure Cooker Canner. get as large of one as you can. Mine does 14 quart jars at a time. The way it is designed all parts that wear out are very easily replaceable, and the system is fool proof safe. Best part is cooking dry beans. Perfectly cooked at 15 psi for 18 minutes. Never scorch, always just right and very fast. Makes the best red beans, charro beans, any dry beans ever. I have had mine for about 15 years and used it in my restaurants for a good bit of that time on a daily basis.
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TexLaw If you take the plunge for a pressure cooker I strongly suggest the All American Pressure Cooker Canner. get as large of one as you can. Mine does 14 quart jars at a time. The way it is designed all parts that wear out are very easily replaceable, and the system is fool proof safe. Best part is cooking dry beans. Perfectly cooked at 15 psi for 18 minutes. Never scorch, always just right and very fast. Makes the best red beans, charro beans, any dry beans ever. I have had mine for about 15 years and used it in my restaurants for a good bit of that time on a daily basis.
Chef ok now you might have sold me with the beans, I’ve seen alot of old presto cookers, I’ll have to look for the brand you recommend
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Chef ok now you might have sold me with the beans, I’ve seen alot of old presto cookers, I’ll have to look for the brand you recommend
Tex_77 I stay away from the old presto pots. See them all the time in 2nd hand stores usually for less than $15 Always a bad experience I hear from those who used to use them.
https://www.goodmans.net/d/117/all-american-pressure-cookers.htm I have the model 930, but if I got a new one I would go for the 941. There is one on ebay now.
This is an item your great great grandchildren will use. -
Tex_77 I stay away from the old presto pots. See them all the time in 2nd hand stores usually for less than $15 Always a bad experience I hear from those who used to use them.
https://www.goodmans.net/d/117/all-american-pressure-cookers.htm I have the model 930, but if I got a new one I would go for the 941. There is one on ebay now.
This is an item your great great grandchildren will use.Chef Those are some serious pressure cookers!
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Tex_77 They are serious. They do, however, pay for themselves, at least the way I shop. If boneless skinless chicken breast go on sale for $0.99, I get all I can and can it. so simple and can be used for so many recipes. When roast go on sale, I can pot roast or beef stew. Every so often asparagus will sell for 79 to 99 cents per pound, I always pickle and can them, one of my favorite snacks. I usually save the cost of the pressure cooker in one year. Any left over are fair game as well. I even canned peach cobbler and it was great for about 6 months.
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Tex_77 They are serious. They do, however, pay for themselves, at least the way I shop. If boneless skinless chicken breast go on sale for $0.99, I get all I can and can it. so simple and can be used for so many recipes. When roast go on sale, I can pot roast or beef stew. Every so often asparagus will sell for 79 to 99 cents per pound, I always pickle and can them, one of my favorite snacks. I usually save the cost of the pressure cooker in one year. Any left over are fair game as well. I even canned peach cobbler and it was great for about 6 months.
Chef Wow, Canned Peach Cobbler! That is amazing! Strawberry, Blackberry, & even wild plum might be good then too.
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Chef Wow, Canned Peach Cobbler! That is amazing! Strawberry, Blackberry, & even wild plum might be good then too.
calldoctoday I have a fair size fig tree. Make fig preserves every year. Absolutely a great flavor combination is grilled chicken glazed with the fig preserves. Add it at the end so the sugar will doesn’t burn. I also make strawberry topping and strawberry preserves. I have canned plums and blackberries as well. Can also can dry sausage, jerky, well, nearly anything.
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Daughter and I made 80 pounds of fresh smoked pork sausage. Cold smoke to impart smoke without cooking.
Much easier with the help!
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calldoctoday I have a fair size fig tree. Make fig preserves every year. Absolutely a great flavor combination is grilled chicken glazed with the fig preserves. Add it at the end so the sugar will doesn’t burn. I also make strawberry topping and strawberry preserves. I have canned plums and blackberries as well. Can also can dry sausage, jerky, well, nearly anything.
Chef Oh YES! We have a large Celeste Fig that we typically make all sorts of preserve varieties from every year. I think I will scale back this year though as the ripening stage seems very spread out, compared to other years of various ripening stages. I have also used the wood from it when pruning to make for an interesting smoke for fish & lamb. We also have a Mission Fig that is finally just starting to bear & I am really looking forward to tasting some of those as I have not had them in a long, long time. I am still enjoying a half dozen or so figs picked right off the tree when mowing grass. That has ended up being my current favorite method of eating them, vs cold from the refrigerator for years. I want to try that on the chicken though for sure as that sounds real good!
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Daughter and I made 80 pounds of fresh smoked pork sausage. Cold smoke to impart smoke without cooking.
Much easier with the help!
Chef Absolutely, Good Help!
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She looks like she is having fun too & that is just about the most important thing for getting good help.
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She looks like she is having fun too & that is just about the most important thing for getting good help.
calldoctoday She’s 26 now I began dating her mother when she was 9 and she has become quite the cook. Okay, this is a brag, but allow me to share this story. I was really the only man in her life. When she turned 18, she wrote me a letter that had me in in tears. The letter ended with a request for her birthday, she wanted me to adopt her so she could graduate with my name. The court was so generous and got it done in two days so she could get her diploma changed.
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