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‘“The Scoop” Kitchen Guide’ Category

  1. CHEF TIP # 1-512

    January 6, 2012 by Jarrett

    Most of us proPork with a Cider Saucebably grew up knowing the rule that pork needed to be cooked to a higher temperature than any other meat. I remember being told that I would get trichinosis if it was under-cooked, and though I had no idea what that meant, it conjured up horrible images. That being said, I was also taught not to eat shoe leather, so I have always heated it to 150 degrees.

    Everything changed when the US Department of Agriculture announced that it has lowered its temperature recommendation for cooking pork to 145 °F.

    The new requirements call for leaving the meat to rest for “at least 3 minutes” before carving, but most home cooks already know that.  Ground pork should still be cooked to 160 °F.

     

    Can Safely Cooked Pork Be Pink ?

    Cooked muscle meats can be pink even when the meat has reached a safe internal temperature. If fresh pork has reached 145 °F throughout, even though it may still be pink in the center, it should be safe. The pink color can be due to the cooking method or added ingredients.

     

    Partial Cooking

    Never brown or partially cook pork, then refrigerate and finish cooking later, because any bacteria present wouldn’t have been destroyed. It is safe to partially pre-cook or microwave pork immediately before transferring it to the hot grill to finish cooking.

    I hope this will dispell any rumors about the safe cooking prcedures for pork, and we can enjoy this tastey and tender cut of meat. No longer do we have to cook it dry and make it tough enough for shoe leather’

     

    Chef Phil

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  2. Tips For Opening Champagne Bottle Safely

    December 29, 2011 by Jarrett

    CHEF’S TIP #173

    Tips For Opening Champagne Bottle Safely

     

    Drinking this time of year can be dangerous, in terms of eye injuries.

    The American Academy of Ophthalmology said the incorrect popping of champagne corks is one of the most common holiday-related eye hazards.

    A cork can fly up to 80 miles an hour as it leaves the bottle, generating a force powerful enough to shatter glass.

    Below are some tips for opening bottles safely (courtesy of American Academy of Ophthalmology):

    • Ensure champagne or sparkling wine is chilled to at least 45 degrees F (7 C) before opening
    • Don’t shake the bottle
    • To open the bottle safely, hold down the cork with the palm of your hand while removing the wire hood
    • Point the bottle at a 45-degree angle away from yourself and from any bystanders
    • Place a towel over the entire top of the bottle and grasp the cork
    • Keep the bottle at a 45-degree angle as you slowly and firmly twist the bottle while holding the cork to break the seal — continue to hold the cork while twisting the bottle and continue until the cork is almost out of the neck
    • Counter the force of the cork using slight downward pressure just as the cork breaks free from the bottle
    • Don’t use a corkscrew to open a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine

     

    Enjoy the New Year,

    Chef Phil

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  3. Christmas Dinner Check List

    December 22, 2011 by Jarrett

    Just as I gave you a “punch list” for preparation of the Thanksgiving Day feast, I will pass this along for the Christmas dinner as well.

    Christmas Dinner Check List

     

    2 DAYS TO GO

     

    • Make a shopping run for the perishable items.
    • Chop, slice and dice the vegetables for any recipes that require them. Seal in bags or containers and refrigerate.
    • Prepare anything that can handle two days in the fridge, such as cranberry sauce and soups.

     

    1 DAY TO GO

     

    • If you’re buying fresh (not frozen) turkey, prime rib or ham, pick it up today.
    • Clean and truss the turkey and return it to the refrigerator.
    • Defrost pie crusts, bread, and appetizers. Refrigerate.
    • Prepare side dishes and stuffing. Refrigerate and reheat tomorrow.
    • Prepare salads. Refrigerate.
    • Bake pies.
    • Set the table.

     

    CHRISTMAS DAY

     

    • Early in the day, prepare your turkey, ham or rib roast for the oven.
    • Consider your “sit-down” time and check cooking times to ensure it will be done on time.
    • If you’re baking a turkey, don’t forget to baste it every half hour.
    • In the early afternoon, prepare any side dishes, gravy, etc. that you didn’t make previously.
    • Place beverages and white wine in the refrigerator to get them chilled.
    • Give yourself an hour to relax and ready yourself for company.
    • Have a very merry Christmas.

     

    All of us here at J.E.S. wish you & yours a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year !

    Chef Phil

    Category "The Scoop" Kitchen Guide, Kitchen Guides, Quick Tips | Tags: , | 1 Comment

  4. Steps for Deboning a Chicken Breast

    December 12, 2011 by Jarrett

    De-boning Chicken is a task that many people think is much more complicated than it truly is. In this video we head to the Test Kitchen to learn how to the be a do-it-yourself cook, while saving money, and getting more control over your ingredients.

    For this technique all you’ll need a clean cutting surface and a sharp boning knife. Be sure, as always, to clean any surface that the raw chicken touched – keeping safe from food-borne illness.

    This video is the first part of our Chicken Gumbo Video now up at the JES YouTube account. Don’t forget to subscribe for more great videos.

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  5. Turkey Brining recipe

    November 18, 2011 by Jarrett

    Here is a tip to serve the “best bird” on your Thanksgiving day table…

    TURKEY BRINING RECIPE

    INGREDIENTS FOR BRINE:

    • 1 small onion, diced
    • 1 stalk celery, diced
    • 1 medium carrot, diced
    • 3 garlic cloves, sliced
    • 3 bay leaves
    • 1 tbsp. black peppercorns
    • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
    • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
    • 3 sprigs fresh sage
    • 6 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
    • 1/2 cup iodized salt
    • 3 gallons cold water

    TURKEY PREPARATION:

    • 1 (16 lb.) whole turkey, brined (neck and giblets removed and discarded)
    • Salt and pepper, to season turkey

    IN THE BIRD:

    • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
    • 2 celery ribs, roughly chopped
    • 1 apple, sliced into wedges
    • 1 orange, sliced into wedges
    • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and whole

    UNDER THE BIRD:

    • 1 medium onion, diced
    • 1 medium carrot, diced
    • 1 stalk celery, diced
    • 3 garlic cloves, whole
    • 3 sprigs fresh sage
    • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
    • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
    • 6 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
    • 3 bay leaves

    ON THE BIRD:

    ¼ lb. Unsalted butter, sliced into pats 5 cups chicken stock or chicken broth, divided.*

    *Brined meats tend to be salty, I suggest using store bought, low sodium chicken stock.

    PROCEDURE:

    BRINING TURKEY:

    • ONE DAY BEFORE baking turkey, prepare brine. Combine all the brine ingredients. Place the turkey in a bucket or very large pot and pour brine over turkey to submerge. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. Remove turkey from brine; dry off turkey with paper towels. Discard brine.
    • Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
    • Brine turkey as instructed above. Salt and pepper the brined turkey and cavity. Fill the cavity with carrots celery, apple, orange, and garlic; bind the legs with kitchen twine.
    • In a large roasting or braising pan (or disposable aluminum pan), spread onion, carrot, celery, garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley and bay leaves.
    • Place the turkey on top of the bed of vegetables and herbs.
    • Put butter on turkey, or between skin and breast meat.
    • Place the turkey in the oven and roast 45 minutes. Pour half the chicken stock over the turkey; roast 45 minutes. Pour remaining stock over the turkey and roast 45 more minutes; it will start turning golden brown.
    • Baste with pan juices, cover loosely with foil and roast an additional 45 minutes. When the turkey has reached and internal temperature of 165 to 175 degrees, remove from oven, keep covered, and let rest at least 10 minutes before carving. Transfer to platter.

    TO MAKE SIMPLE GRAVY:

    From the bottom of the roasting pan, discard herbs and measure out 1 cup of vegetables and 3 cups of pan juices; puree in blender. To thicken, add more vegetables; to thin add more pan juice. pour through a mesh strainer to make a smooth gravy. Makes 4 cups.

    TIP: For silken gravy, forget the flour. Avoid using flour, because that’s usually what causes lumps. Instead, puree the vegetables you roast along with your turkey; they become your thickening agent. That, along with your pan juices, becomes your gravy. You can strain it through a mesh strainer, or use cream and reduce it.

    Enjoy,

    - Chef Phil

     

    This will surely make more a very moist and flavorful turkey.

    Category "The Scoop" Kitchen Guide, How To's, Recipes, Turkey | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  6. Thanksgiving Timeline Planning

    November 18, 2011 by Jarrett

    Planning a timeline for Thanksgiving Dinner Festivities

     

    In the restaurant/food service business the key to everything being done at the same time is pre-planning.  As hectic as it is around many homes during the holiday season I thought that I would lay out a little timeline to help relieve some of the stress and make the day a little more enjoyable for all concerned.

    Here’s my Plan for the week. Obviously, it needs to be tweaked to fit the individual family.

    Saturday:

    • Take the turkey out of the freezer and put it into the fridge to defrost slowly
    • Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven until they’re fork tender. Refrigerate them until next week.
    • Make a menu
    • Go shopping (Make a list)
    • Make sure the tablecloth is clean

     

    Sunday:

    • More planning and/or shopping
    • Make cranberry relish

     

    Monday:

    • Peel and cook white potatoes. Refrigerate in tightly covered container.
    • Bake fresh pumpkin until fork tender. Clean and process and refrigerate
    • Bake dinner rolls and freeze, tightly wrapped  (The oven will be quite full on Thanksgiving day)

     

    Tuesday:

    • Mash up white potatoes and make garlic mashed potatoes
    • Mash up and make sweet potato casserole
    • Cover both dishes and refrigerate until Thursday

     

    Wednesday:

    • Make green bean casserole. Bake. Refrigerate and reheat Thursday.
    • Make pumpkin pie

     

    Thursday AM:

    • Prep turkey for or roasting, make stuffing
    • Cut up veggies for veggie tray
    • Remove dinner rolls from freezer
    • Start cooking turkey

     

    Thursday PM

    • Heat garlic mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole in oven
    • Heat green bean casserole in oven
    • Put veggies and dip on tray
    • Put cranberry relish into serving bowl
    • Carve turkey
    • Make gravy
    • Heat dinner rolls
    • Put everything on the table with serving utensils

     

    Eat dinner!!!

    • Clean up leftovers
    • Clean up kitchen
    • Go for a long walk or take a long nap

     

    Thanksgiving evening:

    • Heat pies
    • Make whipped cream
    • Make coffee
    • Serve dessert
    It’s entirely possible that I’ve forgetten steps.  For me, one of the most important steps of planning is shopping. Almost every year, I come up with something critical that I’ve forgotten to buy. Finding stores open on Thanksgiving Day isn’t easy. Writing everything out ahead of time really helps to avoid that last minute panic and dash to the store for whipping cream.
    Perhaps the biggest benefit is taking some time NOW to plan for Thanksgiving Dinner is that you can really will be free to spend some time reflecting on all the many reasons you have to be VERY thankful!
    Good luck, and happy holidays from Chef Phil and the entire staff here at J.E.S. Restaurant Equipment.
    - Chef Phil

    Category "The Scoop" Kitchen Guide, How To's, Kitchen Guides | Tags: ,,, | 1 Comment

  7. CHEF’S TIP #172

    October 17, 2011 by Jarrett

    A nonreactive pan—stainless steel, enamel-coated or glass — is necessary when cooking acidic foods, such as cranberries, to prevent the food from reacting with the pan. Reactive pans, such as aluminum and cast-iron, can impart an off color and/or off flavor in acidic foods.

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  8. How to Roast Peppers

    August 30, 2011 by Jarrett


    CHEF’S TIP #17

     

    HOW TO ROAST PEPPERS:

    Roasted peppers are a wonderful addition to many meals. Roasted peppers are great in pasta sauces, salsas, pasta salads and just about anything else that you’d like to add a sweet, smoky flavor to.

    These days you can buy many types of roasted peppers in jars at your local grocery store*, but it’s easy and much tastier if you make your own at home. Roasted peppers are not hard to make. In fact, it’s the one time burning something in the kitchen is the goal.
    There are several ways to make roasted peppers, depending on the equipment in your kitchen. If you have a gas stove, you can roast peppers on a burner. Just turn the flame on medium and place the pepper directly on the burner. Use tongs to turn it every few minutes until the whole pepper is charred black, but the flesh beneath still feels soft.

    If you don’t have a gas stove, you can make roasted peppers in your oven or toaster oven. Preheat the oven to 400 and cook until the skin is blistered. You can also use the outdoor grill or a grill pan on your stove top to roast peppers in the same manner as on a gas flame.

    After they have charred, remove from heat and put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to cool The heat and steam will loosen the skin for easy removal.

    The biggest mistake people make is to rinse the pepper with water to remove skin and seeds, this washes away a lot of the flavor that comes from the release of the natural oils.

    Enjoy,
    Chef Phil

      If you use store bought, they will more than likely be pack in oil. SAVE this oil, it is great for sautes of meats etc.


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  9. CREPE MAKING QUICK TIPS

    July 6, 2011 by Daniel

    CECIJ4 Eurodib Krampouz Electric Crepe Griddle

    Making crepes is not hard. If you can make pancakes, you can make crepes. Before we start, we at J.E.S. Restaurant Equipment have a few tips:

    Don’t worry about getting the thinnest possible crepes. I have had people tell me that when they make crepes, they aren’t thin enough. Crepes don’t need to be perfectly thin, and they often aren’t. When I ate crepes from a street vendor in Tel Aviv, they were about the same thickness as the ones I make, and they were not thin as paper. Relax, your crepes are not too thick.

    You’ll probably mess up a couple of the crepes when you make a batch. So what? I’ve made lots of crepes, and I still mess up at least one per batch. Sprinkle some sugar on it and enjoy it as a snack. Don’t let it worry you.

    If you’re making enough crepes to serve a lot of people, there are three easy ways to handle it. First, you can stick the crepes on a plate in a barely warm (200°F) oven, where they’ll stay warm until you are ready to assemble them. Second, you can serve them as you make them. When serving family on a busy night, it’s sometimes okay if people eat them as they are served. Third, it’s not a big deal if the crepes cool down a little bit before you eat. If the filling is warm, it makes up for it.

    Although crepes are fairly easy to make, there are devices now on the market to simplify the process even further. These are crepe makers and they come in a variety styles, sizes and capabilities.

    Now, what is the difference between a crepe pan and a crepe maker? A crepe pan is essentially a shallow, steel frying pan or a griddle, which heats quickly and bakes the crepe, under some supervision, of course. The electric crepe maker does most of the work as far as cooking the crepes is concerned. It signals you as to when the temperature is just right for cooking crepes, as well as when the crepe is cooked.

    Rest assured that however you want to get into the crepe making process we, at J.E.S. Restaurant Equipment and Kitchen Emporium have the knowledgeable people and the equipment you will need to get started. Do not hesitate to call or shoot us a question on the web site.

    Thanks for reading,

    Chef Phil

    Category Quick Tips | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  10. CHEF’S TIP: COOKING TIME FOR STANDING RIB ROAST

    April 26, 2011 by Daniel

    Thank you for the question Nancy,

    First thing that we have to understand is that any chart or recipe giving cooking times is based on the premise that the meat is at ROOM TEMPERATURE, so allow the meat to set out for at least 1 hour.

    After you have prepared the roast with your chosen spices, coat the roast with the seasonings, put it in a preheated 450 degree oven,
    let it roast at that temperature for 15 minutes. Lower the oven to 350 degrees and cook for 25 minutes/pound for RARE or 28 minutes/ pound for MEDIUM RARE. To insure against over cooking, I would start checking the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer about 15-20 minutes before the time is up. You will be looking for an internal temp of 125-130 degrees. When you reach that temp, pull it out of the oven, put an aluminum “tent” on it and let it rest. Two things will happen, 1) carry over cooking will take the temperature up another 10-12 degrees due to residual heat in the roast, and 2) the juices will settle back into the meat so you won’t lose the flavorful juices when you carve this “king of the roasts”

    I hope this answers your question, and enjoy your roast !

    Chef Phil

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