Always working on something. Life is always busy. Here is a sample of one of the banners we might be using in the future.
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Other things to do with food – Facial washes
Before you use any of these receipts, wash your face normally. Look at your face and if you see the problems that these concoctions are designed to help, go for it. Otherwise, do not over tax your skin with these or any other preparations. Soap and water for most people is the best way to help your skin clean and healthy. If you see dry skin, oily skin or a combination problem, go for it. By the way, oily skin sometimes likes the oil and dry skin sometimes likes the oatmeal. Have fun!
On post-catering chaos
Catering is one of those things that happens randomly. It is not making 50 plates a night. It is making 300 plates in an hour. Usually not in your own kitchen.
It is the last part that gets me into trouble.
I was recently putting together a bid for a gathering. I have a list of my catering supplies and I was going down what we had, the capacity, etc. with my client.
The food was set, the portions, the plating… Which was easy for me because most of it was in buffet form. I love buffets. You can add and subtract as needed without it looking odd.
I went through the things I needed a day before, putting things together as needed. And then I blew my top. Continue reading
Wheat biscuit variation
It was breakfast time and the night before I said I was going to make biscuits. I went for the self-rising flour and found that we did not have any. It was too early to go to the store, and too late to try for something else.
I made my own biscuit mix on the fly. We had unbleached wheat flour and a bag of whole wheat flour that I mixed together. I added salt, baking powder and sugar for sweetness to the flour and mixed it up. For fat, I used butter, cold from the refrigerator, cubed and put into the flour in our stand mixer. I let the mixer go until it was crumbly. Then added a container of buttermilk and let the mixer fold it in, but it seemed a bit dry, so I added some cream to bring the dough up a little more.
Using a 2 oz scoop, I made lines of the biscuits on the silpat. The oven had been warming at 420 and put back down to 400 when I put the biscuits in.
It only took about 10 minutes for them to color, but the whole wheat is deceptive. They were done in another 10, our convection on for the last five minutes.
I served them with sliced strawberries and un-whipped cream. They were a success.
Chef Josh
The business side of Cooking
Many people ask me when I am going to be opening a restaurant. I look at them and laugh.
To have a restaurant is the business equivalent of having a boat – a hole to throw money into. Most restaurants owned by the Chef do not do well. I do not know the percentages, but most that I know fail within about a year, sometimes less. Restaurants are a loss. You run a food establishment expecting to be running in the red and cleaning up messes, both real and financial, as often as you make a perfect plate.
I and my partner have many ideas for restaurants. They come out as easily as talking about the weather. I have the projections and plans for several, and the main thing about starting food service is the cost. A place to have it. Legal hurdles including licenses. Outfitting the kitchen and bar. Choosing the PoS system. Hiring and training at least two teams for front and back of house. Attending to finding your food merchants. And then there is the advertizing and merchandizing.
It is tiring just thinking about it.
I have been told that having a coffee shop would be the easiest. I raise my eyebrow to them and just smile. They don’t realize that a ‘simple’ coffee shop means much more of an investment than many other ‘simple’ food places. The big investment is the time. People who frequent coffee shops expect them to be open at un-godly hours, both early and late. That would mean three shifts of people, and only one of them would be the big rush in the morning. Coffee shops are places for people to get a little sustenance and then sit around for hours nursing the coffee they got so that they will not be kicked out. That is not profit. That is being a library with coffee.
Evening establishments are just as hard as daytime ones. The patrons see the place when they are seated. They do not see the people who have been there for six to twelve hours preparing what is to be served. And they usually are open later, making it hard to be able to do anything but work, go home to sleep and wake late to go to work the next day. It is stress in the restaurant and on the person. And, yet, many of us still love to go to work after not getting enough sleep.
Did you know that there are some states in the US that have restrictions as to what kind of alcohol you can serve when? As well as to whom? Knowing your local and regional laws can drive a restaurateur to distraction. Too many start out without knowing enough about the paperwork. Being about to make a meal is great, but if you are legally restricted from serving it, that could be a problem.
The business of a restaurant is complicated. Perhaps one day, when I win the lottery, I will have one. Until then, I will cater and work for other people in their kitchens
. Safer that way.
Chef Rena
Appetizer Crawl
Traveling meal, Progressive meal, Restaurant sampler
Appetizer Crawl. Whatever you call it, it is a fun way to explore the food available in your town.
Almost any town or city will have more than one restaurant. From dark bars with greasy grills to the four star $120 a plate sit down extravaganza, they all have the one or two things that make it worth going to them. Most of the time, those items are on the appetizer menu.
Several years ago, for a special evening, my husband and I went out to eat at a local fancy place. There were shrimp and veal and aubergine in the future… Until we found that the reservation had been made for the next night. The place was packed, but there were two places at the bar.
Most people don’t know that you can order the entire menu at most restaurants from the bar. We were able to get a bite there to share and enjoyed what we were served. We couldn’t loiter and so we walked a bit up State Street and popped into another restaurant. And had another appetizer to share.
It was a long, leisurely meal with walking and enjoying the night between courses. We stuck with appetizers, until a delightful small dessert we shared at the end.
Since then, we have done several ‘Appetizer Crawls’, some just ourselves, some with groups of people. I highly recommend it, as you can share things and not everyone has to order at each place if there are budgets to consider.
A few guidelines for a crawl:
- Do not order drinks. Stick with water. Getting the same iced tea at each place not only takes time, it will cost you about half the price of the appetizer just for drinks.
- Try to keep to one dish per person, or less if you have more in your group. Yes, you will be walking between eating, but you do not want to over-eat at the beginning and miss out on bites at the end. If you have five or more people, share dishes to keep the kitchen from having a back-up with the sudden rush.
- Tell your waitstaff that you are just there for appetizers. That way they will not try to make you order off the big menu and will not be hovering around waiting for your entree order.
- Early meals and late meals are good for this. Early to get in before the rush, late for after a show or gathering.
- Have fun!
Random Picture of the day – Chinese Appitizers
The same wonton skin can be used for many different delicious things. Shown here, Crab Rangoon, Egg Tart and a steamed dumpling hiding in back.
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A night with our Fish Curry
Curry is a wonderful thing. It is also both a specific thing and a general thing. Just like the term Salsa is used for many sauces, Curry is a fairly generic term for a type of entree that is made from blending spices, vegetables and sometimes meat. Chef Josh and I have a favorite curry we make at home, and we recently documented a variation of our Fish Curry.
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How to read a recipe on the Devastated Plate
There are so many websites, cookbooks and magazines out there that have recipes in them that there just isn’t a standard in their layout or instructions. We here at the Devastated Plate hope that our recipes are straightforward and have all the information you need to make wonderful dishes.
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mmmmm Chai….
I was thirsty this evening. It is still in the throes of Winter and Spring battling it out, so it was about 50 degrees during the day and then it went down to freezing again. I started through the recipes I still need to upload and found the Honey Chai recipe. I posted it and the Balsamic Granita recipe. And then I started playing with some of the functions in the site. And then…
This is a great recipe, and a great way to warm up without caffeine. Now I have to make some and remember to take a picture.
Chef Rena