Friday, September 30, 2011
Kitchen Lessons I Just Learned & A Good Smoked Salmon Recipe
So I am reading the book Kitchen Confidential by Anthony
Bourdain and let me just say it is not for the faint of heart. It is a book
that has foul language, sex, drugs and rock and roll but it does give a truly
honest portrayal of the restaurant industry. I have to say I have found it to
be pretty entertaining however it does make me wonder if this depiction is more
NY restaurant scene as I have always imagined the CA restaurant scene to be
more warm and fuzzy but that can be me projecting. I really did enjoy his writing style and his
honesty as he is sarcastic, funny and blatantly in your face.
However, there were a few really good restaurant tips to
live by in order to avoid illness and I thought I would share them to help you
all avoid the pain and suffering often accompanying food poisoning.
-Do not order fish on Mondays. He said normally Chefs order
their proteins on Thursday for the weekend rush and by Monday they are using
the leftover from the weekend rush. And seriously no one wants 5 day old fish…the
thought kind of makes my face crinkle in disgust
-No mussels in restaurants. Guess they are too easy to be
bad and all it takes is one bad muscle to make you deathly ill. This is really
too bad as I love mussels in marinara sauce and I haven’t been brave enough to
tackle trying to make them at home. Guess I need to conquer this fear or just
take my chances at a restaurant.
-No hollandaise sauce as he says this is a cesspool for
bacteria. This one almost made me cry because I absolutely love eggs benedict
and sure I have an easy recipe for hollandaise sauce but some things are just
better when someone else makes them for you. I absolutely love the eggs
benedict at the café at MGM in Vegas and I just didn’t want to deal with this
reality…I may leave this one behind and just pretend I never read it...ignorance is bliss.
-The above lesson also leads to the next lesson-no brunch. I
am not a huge brunch fan like at a restaurant but sometimes it is a fun
tradition-ya know good mimosas, eggs benedict and fun company. However, he said
that the best Chefs work Friday and Saturday night so you get the dredge
of Chefs on Sunday morning or they are
hung over and not at the top of their game and who really wants a mediocre
Chef. But really if I am hungover too I might not care if my Chef is mediocre I might just need a mimosa to nurse the headache.
-Bread is reused. They take the bread baskets and they reuse
the bread but his feeling is that its not a big deal. Guess I won’t stress about this one, but I am
also not a germ phobic person. And when was the last time you saw someone lick every piece of bread in a bread basket and put it back, right?
-Only eat at restaurants with clean bathrooms. Um no duh!
-No swordfish and I can’t remember why probably because I
never order swordfish so I didn’t lose any tears over this one
-Be careful of specials like shepherds pie as this is the
Chef unloading ingredients they couldn’t sell. That makes sense…those dishes in
which the ingredients are disguised are good ways to hide extra stuff. However,
again this is the type of food I cook at home and not the stuff I eat out.
Hope these life lessons help us all stay safe, healthy and happy eating at restaurants. And if not just remember I did not write the book so don't kill the messenger or since I always jack up sayings "don't kill the one who brings bad news."
This week I found a really easy and amazing smoked salmon pasta recipe from Sunset Magazine. It is completely not low in calories or fat but its creamy, smokey and really good comfort food. This recipe says its makes 6 servings but they are either monster servings or it makes a lot more. The recipe does call for vermicelli and we used spaghetti because the grocery store didnt have vermicelli and I don't know how many of you really care, but I wanted to be honest with my blog readers...ya know. Here is the recipe for: Smoked Salmon Vermicelli
Hope you all have a fun filled food weekend...going to a beer tasting tonight...super excited. Cheers!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Visit My Website!
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
I need to know why no swordfish. I loooove swordfish!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when I read the part about the hungover chef... That was exactly what happened with the Chef I know after our Reunion party. He crawled himself in to work the brunch the next day... Poor guy! LOL
Great, informative blog. My only complaint is you don't write often enough. I know you are a busy person but I really look forward to reading your blog and this one is the perfect example of why I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteOk Erin you asked for it....no swordfish because the guy he buys fish from says he won't eat it because he has pulled too many 3 ft parasitic worms from the stomachs of swordfish. And anonymous thank you so much and believe me I wish I could write more...this blog is definitely my labor of love
ReplyDelete