Food Everyday All day!!

Best Boxed Brownies ever!

2011-11-14T19:05:00.001-05:00

I am a dessertaholic, and brownies have always been a weekends. Although most of the time for convenience we bake them the box. I has found the best ever, Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownies. Wow! They will change your life!
Talk to ya soon

One Of My TOP 5 Things To Eat

2011-11-08T20:05:00.001-05:00

There is nothing more "American" than Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. I consider myself an expert in this category! I have had what I know of as the best cheesesteaks in the country. And I will continue to try and review cheesesteaks until they clog my arteries up in old age! ;-)

My top 5 favorite cheesesteaks so far are in this order:
Belly Busters- Oxford, PA
Pat's- Philadelphia, PA
DeSoto(Fred's) Philly Cheesesteaks-DeSoto, TX
Carl's- New York, NY
Geno's- Philadelphia, PA

But in addition to an awesome hot and cheesy steak sandwich, the house sauce at DeSoto Philly Cheesesteaks completely set it over the top! Tonight I got a cheesesteak at Lenny's sub shop, and besides the bread, it was a very good sandwich! Luckily we had some of Jeff's house sauce in our fridge! I posted a pic below of my dinner!!
Where was your favorite Philly Cheesesteak experience??
Thanks and I'll talk to ya soon!!
Chef Baz

Back in the action...

2011-11-08T15:50:00.003-05:00

Hey Guys, I know it has seriously been forever since I have blogged. WOW how life has changed since then. I became the chef of a Restaurant in SOHO and ran that kitchen until this past March. Then Britney and I packed up and moved back to the BIG D!!! after lots of job searching, we both found jobs, and even more exciting news-WE'RE PREGNANT!!! We have a little girl that is due on March 9th and could not be more excited. I worked for the great chef Kent Rathbun for about 3 and a half months, and now I am off to my next adventure. I will be The executive chef of 303 Bar and Grill in the Bishop Arts District. Great casual concept in an amazing up and coming area!! Who would have thought Id go from working in SOHO to Oak Cliff?!?!?! LOL But I am thrilled about the change and excited to see what all this opportunity will bring to my career! We are hoping to be doing a grand opening weekend starting on Thursday December 1st. I will keep you all updated as more info becomes available...
Thanks and I'll talk to ya soon!!!
Chef Baz

Lime and Cilantro FIRE CRACKER Shrimp!

2010-03-02T22:40:00.010-05:00

Hey Guys-

Im really sorry, I've been absent for about a month. Im ready to get back to action and Im starting it off with a video of dinner I cooked last night for my wife and friend and I.

Check out the video!!
Sorry for the quality it was taken on my wife's iphone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKyOs2T9fYM

Let me know what you think and I hope some of you attempt to cook this on your own. Its easy, really cheap and YUMMY.

NEW JOB!!!

2010-01-23T19:15:00.002-05:00

I have accepted a new position at an awesome little Italian wine bar in the west village. The chef and owner's name is Jason Denton and is a very well established restaurateur in NYC. I am very excited for this opportunity and eager to learn from this brand new experience! I wanted to share this with you guys and keep you posted on the details through my transition. I take this new opportunity as not only a great way to get more intimate with the food as its a lot simpler food, but also a great training in the managerial department. This man has opened and successfully ran this restaurant in Manhattan during a recession all while opening up new locations and restaurants in other neighborhoods thru the city. Thats huge! The room to grow with this company and expand with Jason is unlimited. He even has experience with writing cook books! great thing to know ;-).... I will be posting more pictures over the weekend and also updating you guys as I find out more about the next chapter I am starting in this exciting culinary journey!!
Remember to send me any questions you have to chefbazblog@gmail.com and I will answer them on my blog. Still have a few questions to address!!!
Talk to ya soon!!
Chef Baz

Taco seasoning & Chicken!

2010-01-18T01:35:00.006-05:00

Hey Guys--

I have a couple questions that I am going to answer tonight!

Sarah asked me 'what does usual taco seasoning consist of so that you can make it at home vs. buying the taco seasoning in packets?'.--- To successfully create a taco seasoning it is completely to taste. I have no idea a ratio to give you- you just need to mess with it and adjust it to your liking. The key ingredients you will need are cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and a little corn starch (optional). I highly recommend having each of these spices in your cabinet for anytime you need them and you could have set aside homemade seasonings- like this--(or maybe a different one for hamburgers) but keep them in your cabinet easy to use, instead of spending nearly a dollar to get a packet of it pre-mixed. I like to keep a little container of kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic and Lawry's seasoned salt--this is a great flavor combination that I like to keep that is easy and ready to use for any protein I decide to cook.

Next question--Amber asked 'How to cook chicken on a skillet vs. in the oven?'. There are many ways to prepare chicken on the stove top in a skillet vs. in the oven. One very simple and classic way would be to get chicken thighs with the skin still on, rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper (or your seasoning). With a little oil just to coat the hot pan, you put the chicken skin down to get nice color on the skin side of the chicken thighs. At the same time of getting good color and starting to cook the chicken you are rendering some of the chicken fat and creating what is called fond or carpet (as some call it). Everyone knows about fond, just no one knows that's what it is called. It is after you get a nice good sear of something or you just browned, like a nice fatty sausage and it left the layer of (flavor) along the bottom of the pan. You want to incorporate all that flavor back into your dish. So after you get nice color and rendering some fat, and making sure not to burn your chicken.---you can flip your thighs ( just to temper the outside of that side of the thighs so that it is not completely cold and raw while the others have started cooking). After a minute or two on the other side, you can remove the chicken on to a paper towel lined plate. Now with the fat that is in the pan, if needed add a time bit more--but only enough to sweat the veggies that you have chosen to eat with your chicken. You can never go wrong with classic mirepoix (2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery). After cutting them all in similar sized so that they cook evenly throw them in some garlic into the pan and sweat them which is releasing their natural liquids and adding more flavor to the dish. At this point you should have a decent amount of fond going in the pan. And once your veggies have gotten a little color and all coated in the oil--add some sort of acidity (my preference would be red wine). This is the de-glazing process, which is where you add acid to the pot you have started your cooking in to release all of the fond build up that you have on your pot. So once the wine added to a still hot pan--you want to stir it around and make sure you get all of it off of the bottom. At this point it is a good time to add chicken stock and maybe some potatoes and your chicken thighs back to the skillet. With everything submerged into liquid, put a cover on the skillet and maintain a good simmer until your chicken is cooked through. And then there is your meal---- and if you want to get fancy with it you can strain the cooking liquid from the veggies and boil it to reduce it's consistency--stir in a little butter once it has a sauce consistency and there is a little sauce for your chicken :).

Tomorrow I will be answering Jessica's question about cooking veggies and how to maintain and preserve the natural textures and colors while bringing out their flavors without over cooking them or over shadowing them.

Don't forget to e-mail me questions at chefbazblog@gmail.com

Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon-

Chef Baz

Phone Photos!

2010-01-17T13:35:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures that I had on my phone of some amazing dishes that I though I would share with you guys.-- more to come!

This dish is from Zylo the place I am currently working in the W hotel in Hoboken, NJ. This is a seared halibut on top of blanched kale and white beans with tomato confit and smoked tomato broth.

This is a special that we ran at Zylo. Which is spicy pan fried shrimp with a watercress soup and cucumber spaghetti with meyer lemon segments.

This is a dish that I had at Dean Ferring's restaurant in Dallas when Britney and I were visiting home. It was AMAZING. This is Dublin Dr Pepper braised short ribs with queso fresco whipped potatoes and cripy tobacco onions.

Just blogging...

2010-01-10T17:52:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, I am just checking in with you all and want to thanks you all for reading and following my blog. It really helps me to have more followers so please follow if you are not already. Its easy and free, just takes like 2 minutes. I loved answering the questions I have gotten so far and cant wait for the questions to start rolling in!!! This weekend I had off and I just enjoyed some Mexican food and a damn good cowboy game!! Im baking brownies tonight, nothing special, just have a sweet tooth...whats new, haha! Anyway please send my blog to anyone you think would enjoy it, and remember to send any questions you may have to chefbazblog@gmail.com.
Thanks and Ill talk to ya soon!
Chefbaz

Cooking with wine!!

2010-01-08T13:16:00.004-05:00

Hey Guys-

The question today has to do with cooking with wine-- Kelly B. asked me "How do you know which wine is best for cooking different recipes?".

This is a great question. An excellent cooking wine is 'Carlo Rossi'. This wine is inexpensive and it is usually sold in large quantity size bottles. As far as making a court bouillon or braising beef in a red wine, any red or white cooking wine will do. As far as making a reduction sauce or using a sparkling white wine in a fruit salad or things of that nature, you may want to get specific varieties of wine. The reason for wanting to specify the variety of wine is depending on what the dish is used with. You may want to accent specific notes in each dish. Sometimes you may want to pull out the smoky notes of a white wine when prepared with a fish, or you may want to produce a nice pinot for the spicy attributes it would add to a rack of lamb. Or you may want to reduce a sweet port with some berries to be topped with vanilla ice cream. Anytime your using the wine in a dish for it to be a specific component of a dish it IS important to decide on specific wines to use. On the other hand, anytime your using wine to de-glaze a pot, braise a lot of meat or create a poaching liquid etc. your normal inexpensive cooking wine will do.

So now let me tell you about my cool encounters with food yesterday!! :)----

When I walked into the kitchen to prepare for service on both pasta and fish station, I see a hotel pan of veal sweet breads soaking in water. My immediate reaction was to run to my Chef and ask him what we get to do with the sweet breads. Sweet breads are a delicacy that began in the 16th century. There are 3 different kinds of sweet breads which come from mammals; There are sweet breads of the thymus glands, the pancreas, and the heart. The most commonly ate now days is the thymus gland. In all honestly, it is a really good version of something that tastes like CHICKEN. It's name originates from 'sweet'; meaning how light and airy the texture is as opposed to how dense and rich the savory part of muscle is that we normally eat. And 'breads'; came from the word 'braed' in old english meaning flesh. I should have taken pictures of this, I will try to today. But when looking at eat, one would think I was a brain. The graphic truth aside, if I fried some of this up and didn't tell you what it was--you would think this was the best chicken nuggets you've ever had. The sweet breads are going to used in what Chef called a "surf and turf". The bottom of the dish will have a muscle puree with white wine steamed muscles on top and golden fried nuggets of sweet bread. Around it with bright colors and bold acidity a medley of veggies that started being pickled last night. I can't wait to try the finished dish today and I will keep you posted and try and get you a picture of the dish.

Please don't forget to send your questions to chefbazblog@gmail.com

Thanks and I'll talk to you soon-

Chef Baz

Happy New Year!---and happy steaks!

2010-01-06T00:41:00.003-05:00

Hey everybody--

Sorry for the long break! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and ate great food! If you didn't I ate enough for you :)

I had a few questions while I was away. One was 'what is the best way to grill a steak?'.

My answer to that is pretty simple. Grilling is a very straight forward method of cooking. It is a dry heat cooking method with contact heat to the surface of what you are grilling. In all honesty the best way to have a good grilled steak relies mostly on the cut of meat and quality of beef you are buying. I recommend to try and find 100% angus beef. This is hard to find because in USDA standards the cow only has to be 50% or more of the angus breed. If it is 100%, it will be marked as such. Also, there is the dry aging process that adds more flavor than you can imagine, and a lot of butchers now have that option. Dry aging is storing your meat in a dry place where most of the moisture is pulled. It is left in this dry place up to 20-30 days and it holds so much of the beef flavor. To answer this question, its all in the quality of what you're grilling. You don't need awesome marinades and soaking your meats in different things if your cooking the best product. Simply generously season both side of the steak with salt and pepper and grill it evenly on both sides to your desired temperature. I know your first thought is probably this better quality meat will be more expensive. 9 times out of 10, that is correct, but if you consider not having to spend extra money on any ingredients to marinate or any pre-made marinades its worth the experience. After you try this, you will more than likely what to throw your steak sauce from the fridge away and do this anytime you grill steaks. My philosophy on cooking is to of course push the limits with the ingredients of what we cook with but balance that out by broadcasting the natural flavors of the food we use. Simplicity is not a bad thing...to perfect the flavors of simple food is key to building a complex palate.

Thanks William for your question!

On another note I would like to share with you guys something I did at work tonight.-- This is one of my top 5 favorite things! I made duck confit. Its an amazing preparation from classic french cooking where you take the duck meat and cure it in salt over night. When taking your meat out of the cure you season it and cover it in it's own fat (rendered duck fat). You cook it low and slow for about 3-3 1/2 hours. Then after letting it cool, you cover it in it's own fat again and store it that way in the fridge for another night. Tomorrow I will go and literally pull the tender duck meat off the bone and come up with something very tasty with this amazing treat! :) If you ever see duck confit as a menu option or any part of a dish on a menu it's in your best interest to try it!!

Don't forget if you have any questions for me you may send them to chefbazblog@gmail.com

Thanks and talk to you soon-

Chef Baz

Long day...

2009-12-18T02:18:00.002-05:00

Oh the life of a chef! After 10 hours of being on my feet, commuting in 20 degree weather and cooking for nearly 200 customers tonight, I am exhausted. Great night of service over all and I have received a new question that I plan on addressing first thing tomorrow. The question was: What is the best way to prepare a steak on the grill? So look forward until tomorrow's topic: STEAK!

Talk to you soon!!
-Chefbaz

Boiling Eggs Question.....

2009-12-16T12:37:00.002-05:00

New question: When boiling eggs why is it that some shells peel off perfectly while others you end up having to take little chunks and it pulls part of the egg with it?

Answer: I will tell you how to hard boil eggs completely perfect! First put the raw eggs in the water before turning on the heat. Then turn the heat all the way up. Once the water reaches a boil, turn the heat off, cover the pot and keep them covered with no heat on for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes you want to get the eggs put into an ice bath to "shock" them. This will stop the cooking process and shrink the white from that annoying membrane you are talking about.
Eggs are extremely delicate and need to be handled with a lot of love. After the eggs have completely came down in temperature (about 10 minutes) then you are ready to start peeling them. If you are boiling some for later. For freshest results don't peel until ready to use/eat. next is to make sure you have a medium flow of running COLD water from your sink. After lightly banging the egg around its entire shell, hold the eggs under the water and gently start peeling the shell off, allowing the cold water to assist in getting between the membrane and the egg white. If all steps are done right, you should have no problem peeling the eggs perfectly, and also cooking the eggs perfectly as well. A nice pale yellow yolk, instead of that grey color we all know about that isn't near as appetizing!! Have fun trying it out, and let me know your results!!
Thanks and Ill talk to ya soon,
Chef Baz

Great day behind the line!

2009-12-16T00:16:00.003-05:00

Tonights dinner service was fun. It started off extremely slow, but we ended up doing 85 covers. It was just a solid 2 hour rush, so everything was happening at once. I worked the pasta station tonight, which normally isn't my station, and I rocked it out! My favorite pasta dish on our current menu is called the spaghetini. Its spaghetti, confit tomatoes, garlic, torn basil, lump crab meat, and a pan sauce that is made to order using our crab stock and mounting it with a saffron compound butter. Its garnished with torn basil and bread crumbs. GREAT DISH!!! I am back at sautee/fish station tomorrow, gotta gear up for a busy weekend!! Remember to ask me anything that you might wonder about any past experiences with food, or maybe you are planning on roasting your 1st turkey this holiday season, whatever it is dont hesitiate to ask because there are no dumb questions or questions off limits!! Goin to get some sleep!
Talk to u soon,
Chef Baz

First Question---Guacamole!!

2009-12-15T12:59:00.002-05:00

Hello All and thanks for your support. I have already been asked my first question and It was how to make your left over guacamole not turn brown, or at least not so fast? Very good question! A follower responded to use lime juice, This is my response.

Actually lime juice will help, but essentially just as much as putting tomatoes in your Guac. The acidity helps oxidization but very minimal. I personally Put both tomatoes and lime juice in my guac, for the acidity balance and flavor they bring to the bold favorite dip! The real trick to adding at most a day or two more without oxidizing, is to not use normal tupperware when storing it, it should be in a bowl where the contents stay deep. This will make it so that when it does start to brown, Only a small layer at the top will be brown, but once stirred up its all good. Next is cover with plastic wrap, but also not like normal. Actually adhere the plastic wrap to the top of the dip eliminating a gap of air between the dip and the cover of the bowl. Last but not least Im sure we have all heard to keep a pit in the dip for longer shelf life as well. This does help, but not because of it being the pit, but because of its shape/surface area. A golf ball will help this all the same! With these 3 things you will definitely notice a 1-2 day difference of the freshness of Guacamole, and lets face it,i ts so good, its not gonna last much longer than that in your fridge! Thanks for the first question Britney!!
Chef Baz

Getting Started!!

2009-12-15T01:41:00.001-05:00

Hello Foodies!!!
I am VERY EXCITED to start this blog!! I will be blogging about any random thoughts or knowledge I have about food daily, and I am hoping for participation from all of my followers. I want to create somewhat of a network completely around food. I know everyone, including us professionals, have questions daily and learn new things daily. I am lucky to have such an exciting career and I love the momentum that this industry has and how interested the general public has become with food in this country. There are no Questions off limits and I will make sure to find answers for anything that is asked. I am new to this blogging thing, so I will be learning things with this as well!! I will be updating daily with pictures and thoughts, and hopefully soon I will be answering any questions yall might have!! Thanks for following me and feel free to share this blog with any of your friends and family. Feedback is great as well, discussions about food are exciting and completely welcome! I cant wait to get started, and I hope to be in full fledge starting in the new year!
Thanks and Ill talk to you soon!
Chef Baz