The BG Cookbook!~

[Daydreamer]

touche.

and yeah it's seriously awesome.

Btw what school you going to? I'm going to guess it's not CIA because if that were true you would have said 'number 1 cooking school' as everyone from there does. J&W? One of the many places in NYC? Somewhere completely different that's just slipping my mind?

[Xfaustx]

Btw what school you going to? I'm going to guess it's not CIA because if that were true you would have said 'number 1 cooking school' as everyone from there does. J&W? One of the many places in NYC? Somewhere completely different that's just slipping my mind?

The best part about the school I'm going to is it's not technically a culinary school. But it's Schoolcraft College in Michigan. It has the highest Master Chef to student ratio, more-so than even the CIA and are running with a Master Baker. It's basically where all the culinary tests are written and taken, but no one ever hears of it. Currently were pushing to convert it to a culinary school, but it won't happen by the time I'm out, which is a bummer. The Schoolcraft culinary program is very hard to get into though due to the wait-list and to how few students they can move through the program at a time. The school pretty much devotes all their money towards the culinary program and might as well be a culinary only school. I was thinking of transfering to the CIA just because of how worldly recognized it is, but most people I hear from prefer Schoolcraft over CIA student due to having a less cocky attitude from the time they leave schooling.

[Daydreamer]

Don't do CIA. I know it has recognition, but the ONLY thing that will get you is your first low paying job. Once you get an 'in' in the industry you don't need culinary school. It doesn't matter how good the school was you went to, the only thing it does is get your foot in the door. It's all about how much drive you have to do your best and show what you got.

This is going to sound arrogant as hell, but out of the like 4 guys at work that have been to a culinary school I know I know more than all of them simply because I've read countless hours over any cooking theory book I can get my hands on and have a true understanding over the science of the fundamentals. The biggest tip I can give is know why everything you are doing happens.


Your school does sound fun, and because it's not a culinary school it's probably cost efficient, unlike CIA which is like 60k for one of their degrees and closer to 100k for the other. FUCK THAT. That's 3x as much as my actual college degree....

[Xfaustx]

Your school does sound fun, and because it's not a culinary school it's probably cost efficient, unlike CIA which is like 60k for one of their degrees and closer to 100k for the other. FUCK THAT. That's 3x as much as my actual college degree....

yeah the school is cheap as hell. lol it's technically a community college. the best part is we have 4 CMC's and 1 CMPC, and currently one of our CEC's is working on his CMC title and about to become the world's youngest master chef. The school has a higher master chef and master pastry chef to student ratio than the CIA, and the highest ratio in the country. Currently only 1 of the chef's I work with went to culinary school so I know it's not needed, more for the fun of going to the school and my own enrichment. It's true you get a lot more practice actually working in the field than going to school. They just redid the kitchen completely, so the test kitchens look like a scene out of Food Network with cameras all over where the chefs are demonstrating.

here's a quick article going over the school for anyone interested in culinary schools and are looking for a good place to go.

Schoolcraft College VisTaTech

To keep with the theme of the thread.

A good quick easy chicken recipe, which I stole from a local chain.

Get some Prosciutto, Fontina Cheese, some chicken breasts, a nice white wine (don't cook with anything you wouldn't drink), lemon juice, onions, garlic, mushrooms, salt/pepper, basil.

Butterfly chicken over grill until cooked (generally around 5 minutes MAX, especially since they're butterflied), stuff with small amounts of prosciutto ham and fontina cheese, close with toothpick. Keep warm while making the sauce.

For the sauce, in a saute pan, sweat your garlic and onion in a clarified butter. Deglaze pan with white wine and a pinch of salt/pepper, then add mushrooms and add tablespoon of lemon juice with a couple leaves of basil that have been cut chiffonade. Heat until the mushrooms are soft. Poor sauce with mushrooms over the warmed chicken breasts, and serve with the garlic mash potato recipe I listed earlier.

[Raiko]

Daydreamer, blanching is the process of "sealing" veg in rapidly boiling salty water and dropping it into an ice bath afterwards to cease the cooking process if you're getting technical about terminology >.>

In most fine dining places now, they steam their pomme neuf as it allows the fries to get all nice and fluffy in the middle and then fry for a nice crispy outside. (My old place won UKs best Steak & Chips award, and Ramsay came up to see us lol)

And wtf is all this masterchef talk? it's not the TV program is it? lol

[Vandalhart]

Sweet.. a recipe thread.
I was hoping we'd get one.

Now I need to remember some of my recipes.

Here's one of my wife's:

Martha's Casserole

1 lb Ground Beef
8 oz block of cream cheese
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
1 can of tomato soup
1/2 bag of a broad egg noodles
1 cup of cornflakes (possibly more, possibly crushed)

Brown meat, add in tomato soup, worcestershire sauce and cream cheese.
Cook all together until the cheese has melted in with the liquids.

Cook noodles in a pot until desired tenderness.
Add noodles to meat mixture.

Now here's where I'd personally deviate from the way my wife makes it.
She just stops here and serves it up on plates, the original recipe calls for
you to throw it into a casserole dish and put corn flakes on top then back
in the oven for a while. I've never tried it that way, but it sounds good.

I would even say to maybe try adding some more cheese (mozarella or
chedder), then throw the corn flakes on top and bake for 10-20 minutes
and see how that works out.




Note: Sorry if I happened to mix Imperial and Metric measurements in the recipe.

[Norellicus]

Sweet.. a recipe thread.
I was hoping we'd get one.

Now I need to remember some of my recipes.

Here's one of my wife's:

Martha's Casserole

1 lb Ground Beef
8 oz block of cream cheese
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
1 can of tomato soup
1/2 bag of a broad egg noodles
1 cup of cornflakes (possibly more, possibly crushed)

Brown meat, add in tomato soup, worcestershire sauce and cream cheese.
Cook all together until the cheese has melted in with the liquids.

Cook noodles in a pot until desired tenderness.
Add noodles to meat mixture.

Now here's where I'd personally deviate from the way my wife makes it.
She just stops here and serves it up on plates, the original recipe calls for
you to throw it into a casserole dish and put corn flakes on top then back
in the oven for a while. I've never tried it that way, but it sounds good.

I would even say to maybe try adding some more cheese (mozarella or
chedder), then throw the corn flakes on top and bake for 10-20 minutes
and see how that works out.




Note: Sorry if I happened to mix Imperial and Metric measurements in the recipe.

Replace cornflakes with crushed ritz crackers imo, and yeah bake it until browned on top~

Here's one I've always liked:

Pink Lemonade Pie
- 1 can (14 oz?) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
- This last ingredient is sketchy in my memory, and recipes for similar things across the net disagree on what to use here; my brain wants to say cream cheese, but it may just be cool whip...use what you like, I suppose. Whatever it is, about 8-10 oz, just something to thicken up the mixture and give it a key lime pie sort of consistency.

Mix all of it together, pour into graham cracker pie crusts, refrigerate for like 8 hours until completely settled.

[Vandalhart]

OoOo.. Ritz crackers.. that's an interesting idea.

[The Blackrose]

This is a recipe that was sort of passed on by my father because I loved it.

Cut up some chicken into cubes. Preferably no greater than 3/4 to 1" pieces, although you can go a little larger. Just expect more time to cook. Store these in a plastic container.

This part I usually do on the fly. I rarely keep measurements except for the base 3. There's room for experimentation here:
2 parts white wine.
2 parts dressing (preferably Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar).
1 part soy sauce.
Dash of Worcestershire and teriyaki.
Spoonful of garlic.
1-2 tablespoons of corn starch.
Nature Seasoning, Old Third World (acquired from the Spice House, The Spice House - Merchants of Exquisite Spices, Herbs and Seasonings).

Mix the ingredients except for the chicken into a shaker in the above order. Usually for 3 chicken breasts I go with 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar and 1/8 cup soy sauce. Try not to use too much Worcestershire and teriyaki. Once in the shaker, shake vigorously until you have a sort of brownish composition, then pour over the chicken. Seal the container and store in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.

After elapsed time, pull the container and fire up either a frying pan or a wok. Stir fry the contents (be sure to use water to help determine the thickness of the accompanying sauce), just avoid trying to get too much of the marinade into your implement. Serve over rice.

[Seraph]

Not-Quite-Aqua-Teen Taco Pie:

The first phase of this recipe is prepared as if you were making normal soft shell tacos. Suggested ingredients include:

- One 9" wide and ~2" deep cake baking tin per person.
- One bag of 9"+ soft shells. Two shells are needed per person.
- 3/4 pounds of 90% lean ground beef per person.
- Taco seasoning as applicable
- One chopped tomato
- One chopped yellow onion
- One can black olives
- One bag of baby spinach leaves (trust me, infinitely better than lettuce)
- One bag of shredded cheese (I prefer the 'taco' blend, but its up to you)
- One container of sour cream.
- Hot Sauce / Taco Sauce / Salsa as applicable.

Now, I usually prepare this with two people. I have one person prepare the ground beef, as if we were making regular tacos. The second person chops up and washes all of the vegetables to save time. An additional tip I can offer is when you are done cooking the beef, strain the excess grease into the olive can instead of dumping it down your sink. This will keep it from clogging up, and you will thank me later.

Once the beef is about half cooked, start preheating the oven to 375 degrees F. Once the beef is cooked and seasoned and everything else is prepared, take one of the 9" cake tins and place one of the soft shells at the bottom. Then place about 3/4 of a pound of beef on top of that. At this point, add any other ingredients from the prepared list that you desire. I find placing the following on top of the shell in order leads to the best results: beef, onions, cheese, olives, tomato, baby spinach leaves. I suggest not placing sour cream, salsa, or hot sauce on the dish until later, as the baking process tends to ruin it if its too soggy. Each person can prepare their own 'pie' to their whims.

Once assembling the contents of your pie is complete, the ingredients should be almost to the top of the baking tin. At this point, carefully place a second soft shell on top of the dish like a pie crust. Place in the oven, and let cook for about 20 minutes. You can leave it in longer if you really want the crust to be very crunchy.

Once the pie is finished cooking, take it out of the oven and flip it onto a plate. The 'crust' will be crunchy, but the inside will have the texture similiar to that of a taco. Cover your new creation with any sour cream, hot sauce, taco sauce, or salsa as desired. Enjoy awesomeness, and have a nice nap afterward.

[Yuri-G]

Maybe it's just because I'm hungry (which I am) but that pink lemonade pie sounds delicious... I'll have to try it sometime. Sounds easy too.

[Maguspk]

Tried something really random tonight but it worked well:

1 Can Tunafish
Few Squirts Sriracha
1 Big Spoonful Mayonnaise
little Paprika
little Seasoned Salt

+ Buttered Toast and a slice of cheese

= FUCKYESWININSIDEMYMOUF

Note: Makes up to two tasty sammiches. For optimal enjoyment eat alongside Cape Cod Potato Chips and maybe put a few on the sammich itself.

[yayaok]

god this thread is made of win

[Kiro]

Tried something really random tonight but it worked well:

1 Can Tunafish
Few Squirts Sriracha
1 Big Spoonful Mayonnaise
little Paprika
little Seasoned Salt

+ Buttered Toast and a slice of cheese

= FUCKYESWININSIDEMYMOUF

Note: Makes up to two tasty sammiches. For optimal enjoyment eat alongside Cape Cod Potato Chips and maybe put a few on the sammich itself.

Holy fuck do want NOW.

[Syntex]

Tried something really random tonight but it worked well:

1 Can Tunafish
Few Squirts Sriracha
1 Big Spoonful Mayonnaise
little Paprika
little Seasoned Salt

+ Buttered Toast and a slice of cheese

= FUCKYESWININSIDEMYMOUF

Note: Makes up to two tasty sammiches. For optimal enjoyment eat alongside Cape Cod Potato Chips and maybe put a few on the sammich itself.

ROFL, that is too funny,...

I will have to try this...

[Akumaronin]

Random shit I put together using chicken breasts.

Tequila Chicken (2 ways)

First incarnation
This will be spicy, it WILL be spicy.

2 chicken breasts.
2-3 limes
Salt
Serano peppers
Tequila
A touch of olive oil. (Or whatever you use to keep the pan non-stick)

Preheat a flat, large pan.

Dice the peppers, add to a mortar.
Add lime juice, salt and a bit of the tequila.
Grind it into a paste which you can apply to the chicken breasts, don't be shy about doing this.

Add a bit of olive oil to the pan.

Toss in breasts, squeeze some lime over them, add more tequila, salt.

Cover for a bit.

If you're cooking with gas like I do, remove cover in about 3 minutes.

Add more tequila, begin jostling the pan like you're going to flip the chicken.

Watch as flames shoot up over the chicken and make shit look cool, be sure your guests are in the kitchen when this happens so you get awesome points.

Go ahead and cover again, making sure to flip every now and then.

Add tequila every now and then to keep it juicy.

Serve when done.


(Second incarnation)
2 chicken breasts
2 limes
As much tequila as you like, either for yourself or the chicken.
Salt to taste
Red chili pepper flakes

Preheat a large pan or wok (I prefer the wok as it allows the juices to collect better on the bottom, creating more flavourful and juicy chicken).

Cube chicken breasts into smallish chunks, enough that each one is about a bite.

Squeeze limes into a container, add tequila, salt and red pepper.
Mix it all together for awhile.

Add a dash of olive oil to the pan when it's hot, throw in chicken and the "sauce".

Cover.

Keep adding salt, lime, tequila and SMALL amounts of olive oil.

Keep covered.

Once it's done (you'll know, if you've ever cooked chicken), go ahead and place it into a seperate unheated pan, cover it to keep it warm.

Reduce the juices still in the pan in whatever way you prefer, turn it into a thickish sauce.

Throw chicken cubes back in and toss in order to glaze them.

Serve on rice, with rice, on salad, with salad, whatever you want.

[Akumaronin]

Another thing, I just used it on chicken, but I'm sure somebody can think of something better to do with it.

Ginger Sauce

Lots of fresh raw ginger, one 2" chunk should do it.
Brown sugar
Mollasses
Dash of salt
Bit of garlic, maybe 1 small clove.
Rum

Throw everything in a blender, blend for a long time.
Add 1/4-1/2 cup of water to cut down the ginger flavor. (Yes I know you could use less ginger, but I've done this once)

Blend for a while longer, until it looks like brown watery..stuff.

Put it in a saucepan and reduce however you like.

Tada, you'll now have 3/4 of what you had to start with, but it SHOULD be fairly thick now, like BBQ sauce. Make sure it's mellowed out a bit and smells and tastes good.


Alternatively, you could throw chicken in a pan, put the original watery sauce in and cook the chicken with it.
This will give you a nice mellowing flavour over the ginger, and add delightful little chunks. Reduce it after to serve over the chicken.

I'm currently waiting to receive my small container of it from my girlfriend, who's had it in her fridge since monday. Wondering how it will taste after being cold for so long

[millionsknives]

Millions' Rich Tea Pizza snacks~

Need:
Rich Tea Biscuits (I don't know if they're called this / exist in America)
Sun-dried tomato paste
Cheddar cheese
Herbs
an oven!

Spread some of the sun dried tomato paste on the biscuit, add enough cheese to cover it and a few herbs on top. Stick in the oven on 200 degrees C and cook for about 5/10 mins until the cheese has melted. A magical reaction will take place.

Eat. Its awesome. Trust me.

[Kiro]

Sounds like english muffin pizza to me. >~>

[Raiko]

Here's a quick, simple soup, which is really nice.

1 Butternut Squash
1 Large Onion
1 Sweet Potato
Seasoning
500ml veg/chicken stock


Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Deseed and leave the skin on the butternut
Chop the other veg into fairly big chunks (Gonna slow roast in oven, so dont want them to shrivel)
Place veg on a baking tray and put in the oven for 1 hour
Once veg is done, drop into a blender with the stock, blitz and season to taste.

There you have a nice soup. Try this with a variety of veg, it's simple soup which I hope will encourage the non cooks here to try cooking a bit (For anyone interested I could post Cullen Skink, a traditional Scottish soup)