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Remember: It is not leftover, it is pre-cooked ingredients.
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I opened my mouth and…
… I am co-ordinating a friends wedding potluck. Yikes!
Just like with any food event, this has it’s pitfalls, but if this can be pulled off, I hope that the happy couple never know that anything might have gone wrong.
When doing a wedding, there are more things to keep in mind than with any other food-oriented event. Not only do you have to keep track of hot and cold food, drinks, desserts and condiments, you have to know when the wedding party arrives, when they want to do the different toasts and start the dancing. Dancing is mandatory at weddings.
Throw a potluck into the mix and it is chaos from the start.
For those of you who are reading this because of the notice on their website, please keep in mind a few things when you contact me. Tell me your name. I may or may not know you, or recognize you, when you call or email. Tell me if you live in town or are coming into town for this, and if you are day-tripping. What you are interested in bringing is the big thing, but the later you contact me, the more of that category we may have. It isn’t just food we will be interested in. Tea bags, flat ware and sundries are also on the list.
I know what to look for for some of the difficulties coming up. I just hope that some can be completely glossed over to make the day shine for the happy couple.
Chef Rena
Rena at nutbunnies dot com
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Drying herbs, car method
Depending on how you gather your herbs and how much you want to spend to dehydrate them, you can spend hundreds of dollars on equipment. I am someone who never knows what I am going to have to deal with next, from life or culinarily. Having multiple methods to do the same thing is always best.
To dry fruits and vegetables oven drying with a little heat or using a commercial dehydrator is usually recommended. The moisture that is in fruits especially can take days to dry out properly. Herbs are not as hard to dry, and as such, can be dried in just a few hours using most methods. Most dehydrators use some sort of heat to help dry things, using the oven, even with a low setting, can crisp herbs and possibly burn them if you are not careful.
When I am out in the field, gathering and harvesting things fresh for at home, I have found that most of the things I cut can be dried in a day in a car if the air temperature is above 60 degrees fahrenheit. I usually have water in the car for myself, so rinsing the freshly picked plants is easy.
I try to not leave too much in the car, but I really recommend having a roll of paper toweling to put under the herbs. It makes them easier to move and can absorb moisture that is squeezed out as the outer layers of green dries and shrinks. Putting the plants directly on the dashboard will take less time, but there is always the chance that a dried herb will scatter once the car turns on. There’s also dust and other contaminants, but how you clean your car is up to you.
I love drying flowers in the car for a natural air freshener without artificial sprays.
Once the herb is dried, you have the opportunity to crush the plant before putting in a container. Many herbs are good whole, but not as easy to use. Anything dried in this method should be labeled as to where it was gathered as well as the date so you can remember where you found it as well as knowing how fresh it is. Car-dried herbs usually have a shelf life of about 3 months to 6 months.
Have an eye out for herbs to preserve and have fun with the method.
Chef Rena
Label it, damnit!
This is a gripe of mine. When I go into the cooler at work or the refrigerator at home, I want to know what and how old the item I am looking at is. If it isn’t labeled in some way, I have a habit of just throwing it out.
It is not just the things in the refrigerator that need to be labeled. Dry goods should be labeled if they are transferred to a different container or portioned out. Things that have closer expiration dates should be kept towards the front of the shelf to be used first. Stores rotate things on the shelf for a reason – freshness. Do it at home and your cooking will be more consistent, letting you improve without fighting your ingredients.
How to label things? There are fancy systems that some restaurants and industrial kitchens use involving colored stickers with the day of the week pre-printed on them and places to write the actual date and what it is. There are some systems that go as far as to have bar-codes scanned in and then labels printed right there to put on items as they are checked in to keep inventory straight.
These are great systems, but I recommend starting with something simple and working up from there. Masking tape and a permanent ink pen, such as a Sharpie, is where to start.
The base of labeling is always the date you opened or portioned something and what is in the container, if it is not the original. When you are portioning things out, make a label out of a strip of masking tape to go onto the container. I like to put it on the lid, but you my wish to put it on the side if you stack many items. I put the date, what it is and possibly a use-by date. If it is going into the freezer, I put ‘into freezer’ and the date, even if it is already labeled with a date. There are variations, such as using different colored masking tape for different people or cuisines. It is up to you how you use it, but choose a method and try to stick with it.
When you have labeled things, it is easier to see what you have, which makes it easier to shop or order things. It also makes it easier to go through the old food and toss it if need be. This keeps things cleaner and you have a better chance to have fresh food, not things that have turned.
I bet if you went to your refrigerator and pantry right now that there is at least one container you have been eyeing for a while because you don’t know what it is. If you start labeling, that won’t be a problem.
Chef Rena
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Tagged budget, Chef Rena, food service, preservation, Rotation, Safety
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Customer service
There are times when I really don’t know why people complain about restaurants. Yes, food can come out wrong. Yes, sometimes things could be a little cleaner or a little faster. What I do not understand is when it is the wait staff and management that is complained about.
Being in food service, I have both a higher standard and a lower standard for dealing with others in the food service industry. I expect about one out of five orders I place will come back wrong, but that is because I am a subber. I know what I like and will add, sub, change and rearrange what I order until I get what I want. There are also allergies involved, but I do not press the issue, unless I have to. When I get an order I try to check it before I start eating. Most of the time, if there is a problem, it will be minor, like the onion straws not being on my burger. Easily fixed. If it is further into the meal and I find a problem, like the center of my ravioli are still frozen, I get the waitstaff’s attention immediately. Continue reading
Surprise desert
My client today wanted a crumble. Usually not a problem, but she only had three apples and the recipe usually calls for at least eight.
Hmmm.
Never fear, Fixer is here!
March garden shots
It is incredibly warm this year. That means that the perennial plants in the garden and yard have started to green and pop up far earlier than usual. Not that I am complaining, but I wasn’t expecting to have fresh chives and oregano in March!
There are also violets up already and I am not used to seeing their cheerful blooms until May or June.
I do cook with flowers by adding them to salads and candying them. I guess it is time to get out the sugar already.
Chef Rena
Burger King Frappe
I have to admit that I eat from fast food places. The one I eat at and from the most is Burger King. It isn’t because they make it my way or that they are better than anyone else, it is because they are the closest to my house.
Within the last month, Burger King has changed it’s menu. The side salads went up in price, and down in ingredients. The chicken fries have disappeared and onion rings have wiggled in. And the cold drinks have been refreshed just in time for the unseasonable hot weather in March.
I tried a Mocha Frappe from my local Burger King along with a new Chef’s Choice bacon cheddar burger. I should have gone back as soon as I had my first sip. The burger was thicker than their usual whopper meat, but the Frappe…
The only thing I could taste for the first few sips was alcohol. It changed to chocolate flavored alcohol, but it was not much better. The ice cubes were not ground up well and there were huge chunks that were blocking the straw until I just took the dome cap off. The whipped topping they used was warm and stiff. No, not as if it had warmed up, it was warm throughout and was keeping it’s sugary shape as I watched it. When I took a taste of the stuff, I was done. It was sugar plastic.
I like my local BK, and so I went back and talked to one of the managers. He wandered around in back, looking at ingredients lists and could not find alcohol on any of the packages. The BK website was no damn help as it does not even list the Frappes, just the Seattles Best cold coffee drinks.
I will still go back to BK because I am lazy. I just will not be ordering the Frapes any time soon.
Chef Rena
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Pantry Snapshot
I was coming into the kitchen this morning and was blinded by the sun. Looks like I need to dust and clean a little, as well as reorganize. Soda in with the cans?
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