Scrap the fantastical scene running through your head of carving the giant turkey at the table.

For fall-off-the-bone dark meat, succulent white meat and unparalleled gravy, cook the turkey in parts this year.

You lose the carving photo opp, but “the payoff is tremendous,” says Allen Sternweiler, the chef and owner of the recently opened Butcher and the Burger, 1021 W. Armitage.

You think restaurants do the Normal Rockwell thing and roast their turkeys whole? Nope. In the kitchens of the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons Chicago, which combined will feed about 1,300 people on Thanksgiving, chefs break down the birds before cooking them, says spokeswoman Terri Hickey. It enables them to do all sorts of cheffy things, like debone the legs and thighs and turn them into a roulade.

The home cook need not get so fancy (and, in fact, could be spared from breaking down the turkey himself by buying turkey parts, or having the butcher break it down). The current issues of Cook’s Country and sister mag Cook’s Illustrated offer very manageable recipes, the former for turkey parts roasted a day in advance and reheated on Thanksgiving, the latter for braised turkey parts.

The logic of going piecemeal is simple: White meat cooks more quickly than dark meat on the whole bird, so when the breast is done, the legs aren’t quite. And when the legs are done, the breast is dry.

Even the Butterball sages, who year after year advocate a simple, open-pan, whole turkey roasting method but experiment with various techniques in the name of a better bird, are down with the cut-up-and-cook approach. This year, the assignment for Butterball test kitchen staffers was just that — to remove, stuff and roll the breast meat, and roast the rest of the parts separately.

“We’re also seeing that butterflied turkeys, turkeys cut in half — that’s an awesome way of cooking it,” says Mary Klingman, director of the Downers Grove-based Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

One chef’s approach

Sternweiler has honed his method since 2002, the year he got married and the first time he ever cooked a turkey at home. It takes some effort. If the side dishes mean more to you than the starring protein, it may not be for you. Then again, it may just convert you.

You begin the day before the holiday. Home cooks with decent knife skills and a very sharp knife can start by cutting off the wings, legs and breast. Slather the legs, thighs and breast with salt, peppercorns, garlic, olive oil and herbs such as sage or thyme; let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. (Or, buy bone-in parts and, while you’re at it, ask the butcher for extra turkey bones or chicken bones.)

With the wings, neck, giblets, backbone and, if you’ve got them, extra bones, make stock. Put all the pieces in a pot with aromatics — celery, onion and carrot, but also whole heads of garlic, skins on and cut in half, mushroom stems, herb stems, bay leaves and peppercorns — and enough water to cover. Simmer away for 3 hours.

“You’re not going to extract any more out of those bones after 31/2 hours,” Sternweiler says. Strain, cool and refrigerate the stock.

On Thanksgiving morning, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Take the legs and breast out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature.

Brown the legs on the stovetop in a roasting pan with olive oil and butter. Remove them, then add a few handfuls of chopped carrots, celery and onion and a teaspoon of salt. After caramelizing for 15 minutes or so, deglaze with a bit of white wine.

Add the legs back in with the stock from the previous day. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven to braise for, again, roughly 3 hours. (This is for a 16-pounder; figure a little less for a smaller bird, longer for a bigger bird, but really, there’s no need to worry about overcooking the leg meat.)

“Essentially, you’re making a double turkey stock,” Sternweiler says. And extremely tender leg meat.

Remove the legs and strain the stock, leaving a pile of mirepoix and just enough stock to slick the bottom of the pan. Turn the oven up to 350 degrees.

Lay the legs back down in the pan, skin side up, place the breast on top and roast for about 11/2 hours, or until the breast hits 155 degrees. It will reach 165 degrees, the target temperature, out of the oven, Sternweiler says.

Meanwhile, reduce the rest of the stock in a saucepan. Sternweiler likes to whisk in a few pats of butter and chopped parsley before serving. To go further, whisk some flour into buttermilk, then whisk that into the jus. Gravy, baby.

“Honestly, I don’t know how the hell you’re going to make a better gravy or au jus,” Sternweiler says.

Let the meat rest for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing, says Sternweiler. While you’re at it, add any accumulated juices from the resting turkey into the now-concentrated jus.

And if you still crave a camera-worthy moment? Carve the breast, now textbook-tender, at the table.

Click here to read this entire article on the Chicago Sun Times site!!

Looking for holiday cooking tips, techniques and culinary advice — plus a raft of great recipes? So were we. For this year’s holiday guide we tapped local chefs and restaurateurs for ideas and inspiration. We came up with a heaping helping of appetizers and desserts from Dish D’Lish diva Kathy Casey; memorable main courses from the chef-instructors at Seattle Culinary Academy at Seattle Central Community College; satisfying sides from contemporary Northwest cookbooks; and a sideboard of standbys from The Seattle Times files. See you in the kitchen!

Yes, we talked turkey

“My grandmother was a great Cajun cook, and her chicken stew would bring you to your knees,” recalls chef Kevin Davis, a Louisiana native. “But mawmaw always overcooked the turkey.” Turns out mawmaw didn’t have the right tool: a digital thermometer. Today, “there’s no reason to be without one,” says her grandson, owner of Seattle’s Blueacre Seafood and Steelhead Diner. “It takes the guesswork out of everything.”

Speaking of guesswork, “Don’t buy a frozen bird and thaw it out under running water at the last minute,” he says. “Insist on a fresh bird. Make a point to figure out where you’re going to get it, and order it ahead of time.” To stuff or not to stuff? If that is the question, “don’t bother,” Davis says. “By the time the stuffing reaches the proper temperature, the turkey’s overcooked” — just like mawmaw’s. Prepare your stuffing separately, and if you miss that baked-in-the-turkey flavor, “just take the drippings from your pan — that’s the essence — and add it to the stuffing.”

Got gravy?

“Nobody ever makes enough,” says Kathy Casey, who entertains aplenty at home and at Kathy Casey Food Studios in Ballard. “The gravy-boat comes around and you say, ‘Well, that’s enough for me!’ ” That’s why she stocks up on turkey legs, prepares a rich broth, makes a big batch of gravy and freezes it in advance. “Right before serving the turkey, add wine and the thawed gravy to your roasting-pan drippings and you’ll have mondo gravy!”

And don’t even think about tossing the carcass after you’ve sliced off extra meat, made sandwiches to-go and sent them home with your guests, Casey says. “Whack it up right away, add water and get the carcass going in a pot for turkey broth. Keep it simmering while you’re having cocktails or watching football, and when it’s done you’ll have a broth for a delicious soup — or for more gravy!”

Make it easy on yourself

Why fuss with a big bird and elaborate preparations when you’ve got other options?

Emily Crawford, chef at The Corson Building in Georgetown, sings praise for a braise. “I love a long-cooked leg of lamb or a shoulder. You can prepare it in advance and it’s even better the next day.” What to eat while the braise is warming? Canned food.

Don’t scoff, says Crawford, who regularly loots her larder for “snacky morsels.” Some of them homemade (like her pickled peppers), others store bought (“even Trader Joe’s has decent smoked oysters”). And there’s always her “go-to quickie,” a Portuguese-style tuna mousse:

“Take a pound of oil-packed albacore tuna; ¾ pound of unsalted butter; six anchovy fillets; the juice and zest of a lemon; and Aleppo, cayenne or red pepper flakes to taste. Whiz it together [in a food processor], season with salt and serve on crackers. It’s as simple as it is delicious.”

Don’t forget the fresh seafood

“Who doesn’t love a big display of Gulf shrimp, Dungeness crab or lobster?” asks chef Davis. And if you’re saying, “Yeah, but who can afford a display like that?” why not splurge instead on Northwest oysters? “I love shucking oysters at a holiday party,” he says. “It’s a great way to bring people together in the kitchen.” Buy small oysters, Davis suggests, the better to turn first-timers into oyster lovers. “Don’t drink and shuck,” says Davis. And don’t forget to wear a protective glove or hold the oysters in several thicknesses of a clean bar towel while shucking.

Bradley Dickinson, chef and co-owner of Pearl Bar & Dining in Bellevue, agrees that crab is a crowd pleaser. But unlike Davis, who cooks and cracks his own, Dickinson buys crabmeat by the tubful. In fact, he buys several, available at quality seafood counters. Seek out crab legs, not the picked-over parts, he says. “Put out some cocktail sauce, and you’ve got one less thing to worry about.”

Think like a professional

At home or in a restaurant kitchen, “planning and preparation is key,” Dickinson says. “It’s all about what you’re going to do two days out, one day out, that morning.” Make lists. Check them twice. Read recipes in advance.

And if you’re a novice, schools Kaspar Donier, chef/owner of Kaspars Special Events & Catering in Lower Queen Anne, “Don’t go out and buy Bon Appétit magazine, see their big feast and think you can get it right the first time.”

Consider space restrictions in the fridge, on the stove, in the oven. Make pies and casseroles the night before. Prep your ingredients in advance, chopping, mincing or blanching, then refrigerate them in lidded plastic containers.

And don’t forget to delegate. “Why do it all yourself?” Donier asks, plugging for a potluck. “Make one or two items and ask everyone else to bring the rest.”

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com

To read this article on the Seattle Times website click here!!

Tom Colicchio

In 2001, Tom Colicchio had already spent decades working his way from a Jersey seafood joint to helping create the now-iconic Gramercy Tavern. But it was with the arrival of Craft that year that he gave a new vision of fine dining, one stripped of tablecloths and butter sauces, one in which even the lightbulbs went naked. Colicchio wasn’t the first chef to shop at green markets and source ingredients impeccably, but he was the first to make the establishment take notice. He now owns restaurants across the country and a bald pate recognizable from Seattle to Savannah. In this role he’s redefining another term: chef. He is living proof that being a great contemporary chef can encompass what happens behind a stove as well as away from it: mentoring chefs de cuisine, managing kitchens with the right mix of authority and humor (I know, having once worked for him), advocating for food issues, and inviting the masses watching TV into the world of food. —Elizabeth Gunnison

Frank Stitt

In 1984, when the words Southern and cuisine were rarely used in the same sentence, Esquire named Highlands in Birmingham one of the Best New Restaurants in America. I wrote that chef-owner Frank Stitt’s bistro appealed to “the affluent suburban crowds coaxed out of their clubs to come downtown and eat well for a change” — Georgia Bay scallops with basil, for example, and local baked oysters.

Back when Paula Deen was working as a bank teller, Alabama-bred Stitt was already at the forefront of New Southern cuisine. Since then, he’s opened two other excellent restaurants and racked up awards. But what he hasn’t done is also remarkable: He has not left Alabama, instead staying put to turn out highly personal food that has inspired a wave of Southern chefs. And yet like any great chef — and any true Southerner — he keeps searching for better ways to do things, which means his days of influence are far from over. —John Mariani

To read more, click here!

Lily Ko wants to go vegan, but please don’t push her to explain why. “I like to tell myself I care about animals,’’ Ko, 26, said on her maiden trip to Peace o’ Pie, a gourmet vegan pizza restaurant in Allston. “But I don’t know if I actually do yet.’’

Here’s what Ko, a research assistant from Quincy, does know: Eating meat is bad for the environment.

“But I don’t know where I got that from,’’ she said, looking at her boyfriend for backup. “Fast Food Nation’’? he suggested, naming the 2001 best-selling takedown of the fast food industry. “Health is a pretty big thing,’’ she added confidently, although a minute later, she turned wistful. “The other way is a lot more convenient. McDonald’s is open 24/7.’’

It’s too soon to declare that America is having a vegan moment. After all, a scant 1.5 percent of the population is vegetarian, at most, according to food researcher Harry Balzer, a senior vice president of the NPD Group, a market research company. And the number of vegetarians who take the no animal flesh diet that much further by shunning dairy and eggs, and sometimes honey or refined sugar, is simply too small to count, he said.

But you wouldn’t know that by looking at cultural indicators. Vegan cookbooks make the bestseller lists (Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet,’’ and the “Skinny Bitch’’ series). Vegan or anti-big farm documentaries such as “Food, Inc.,’’ “Forks Over Knives,’’ and “Farmageddon’’ grab high-profile attention. Former omnivore Bill Clinton considers himself vegan. So many CEOs have gone vegan (Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, casino magnate Steve Wynn, hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons) that Businessweek identified a new group – “power vegans.’’

Ellen DeGeneres is a vegan, so are Natalie Portman (although she gave it up during her recent pregnancy), Bob Harper, the trainer on “The Biggest Loser,’’ and, rumor has it, even Alec Baldwin (yes, you can be a chubby vegan). In Boston, new vegan or vegan-vegetarian restaurants have opened in the past few years. There’s True Bistro and Pulse Cafe, both in Somerville, Red Lentil in Watertown, and Veggie Galaxy in Cambridge’s Central Square. Even non-vegetarian restaurants are starting to label some items “vegan.’’ A local image consultant, Ginger Burr, has added “vegan consultant’’ to her resume, and she hosts a monthly Internet vegan radio show, “Vegan and the Living Is Easy.’’ (The August guest was a vegan bodybuilder).

In perhaps the ultimate signs that veganism has arrived, there are vegan Groupons and vegan jokes on Twitter. “How to comfort a vegan after a breakup,’’ a recent tweet read. “Don’t worry, there’s more kelp in the sea.’’

To read the rest of this article click here!!

According to the latest edition of the Michelin guide, dining in New York got a little finer over the last year.

The city is now home to seven restaurants that earn the French dining guide’s three-star designation, its highest rating. Last year, the culinary guide said that five New York restaurants merited three stars.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park, which has made dramatic changes to its menu under chef Daniel Humm, is arguably this year’s biggest winner, jumping from one to three stars in Michelin’s view. The new guide, to be released Wednesday, also bestowed three stars on Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, an 18-seat restaurant that is part of a Downtown Brooklyn grocery store. Chef’s Table was last year’s sleeper surprise when it earned two stars. Other restaurants in three-star territory include Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Per Se and Masa.

Now in its seventh edition in New York, the guide’s anonymous inspectors review hundreds of restaurants. This year 62 city restaurants received stars, up from 57 last year. The guide is closely watched by chefs and food-world insiders. While chefs frequently grumble about the guide’s sometimes arbitrary designations, celebrations nearly always ensue when a restaurant receives a star.

Cesar Ramirez, chef at Brooklyn Fare, was still in disbelief when reached by The Journal Tuesday. “We really put all our hearts and souls into it and to do it right, to cook the best things with the best ingredients and the best techniques and really to do it very simply and very minimalist with a lot of care and love,” he said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I believe that this would happen. I think it’s a great thing for Brooklyn.”

Other notable winners this year are L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and SHO Shaun Hergatt both of which rose from single to two-star status. A number of ethnic restaurants received stars for the first time, including a trio of fine-dining Indian restaurants: Junoon and Tulsi, which opened last year, and Tamarind Tribeca. Japanese restaurants – which have long had a strong showing – earning one star included David Bouley’s Brushstroke and Tori Shin and Rosanjin. Danji, a new, modern Korean restaurant, received one star, as did Heartbreak, an East Village eatery that highlights dishes from Continental Europe.

The only losers were Picholine, which lost one of its two stars, and Shalezeh, a Persian restaurant on the Upper East Side, which lost its sole star.

Click here to view this article on the Wall Street Journal website!!

THERE are white-meat people and there are dark-meat people; there are those who swear by the drumstick, thigh or breast.

And then there are skin people. They are the ones who cannot help themselves around roast or fried chicken, ripping off the crispiest bits of skin before the bird makes it to the table.

Nate Gutierrez, the chef and owner of Nate’s Taco Truck and Nate’s Taco Truck Stop in Richmond, Va., could not stop snacking on the skin left over from his roast chickens. So about six months ago, he decided to make the skin crisp on the flattop and offer it in a taco. The chicken-skin tacos sell out whenever they are on the menu.

By using chicken skin for its texture and powerful flavor in all sorts of dishes, chefs are legitimizing what used to be a guilty pleasure, whether they call it gribenes, yakitori kawa or cracklings.

There is no more-committed evangelist than Sean Brock, executive chef of Husk and McCrady’s in Charleston, S.C. If it can be done in the kitchen, Mr. Brock has done it to chicken skin: He marinates it in buttermilk, then smokes and deep fries for a crunchy appetizer served with hot sauce and honey. He layers it with rabbit in a terrine. His twist on Southern chicken and dumplings includes a block of braised shredded chicken thighs sandwiched between rendered sheets of the stuff.

“Everyone knows deep down that they are closet chicken-skin lovers,” he said. “They just need some help.”

The appetite for chicken skin is a logical outgrowth of fried chicken mania and the fashion for over-the-top foods. Last year, in the aftermath of the KFC Double Down sandwich, a rumor that the chain was testing a “skinwich” flew around the Internet. The rumor was met with disgust and excitement before it was proved to be false.

But the skinwich seems practically restrained next to an invention by Jesse Schenker, the chef and owner of Recette in the West Village: deep-fried, chicken-skin-wrapped gravy, a crunchy parcel with a molten interior. The dish, served with roast foie gras and a black pepper biscuit, is one of the richest in New York and is the only item on Recette’s menu that routinely elicits loud, happy cursing.

“If it weren’t so time-consuming, I’d offer it as the ultimate bar snack, 10 to an order,” he said.

One frustration inherent in cooking with chicken skin is shrinkage. When you render the fat from a piece of skin, it shrivels to about half its size, so you need a lot of it. Most chefs buy it in bulk from distributors when possible. It can be tricky to find a steady supply because the skins left over from chicken processing, like that from the boneless, skinless breasts that dominate the market, usually go into products like chicken sausages and nuggets, or are rendered for animal feed.

Steve Gold, vice president for sales and marketing at Murray’s Chicken, said that he always receives a spike in requests for chicken skin around this time of year, from cooks planning to make gribenes (chicken cracklings) for the Jewish holidays. But he said bulk orders for skins from chefs have increased to two or three a week from near zero a year ago. (Among those chefs is Mr. Schenker of Recette, who buys Murray’s chicken skin through the distributor Endicott Meats.)

“A year ago it wasn’t even on our map,” Mr. Gold said. “We would have thought a chef was crazy.”

Retail sources for skins are harder to come by, at least for the moment, and most home cooks will find it easiest to buy skin-on chicken and reserve the meat for another use.

Even with the advantage of buying in bulk, Hugue Dufour, who was the chef and an owner of M. Wells in Queens, said it was a hard ingredient to manage. “It was difficult to get enough skins to keep up,” he said, speaking of dishes like chicken-fried chicken skins and a chicken soup in which slippery skins stood in for noodles.

There’s nothing new about eating chicken skin. Just about any region that customarily eats chicken has a way to use up the skin.

In Japan, and in Japanese restaurants like Yakitori Totto in Midtown and Yakitori Tori Shin on the Upper East Side, one of the most popular kinds of yakitori is grilled chicken skin, often accordioned onto a skewer and grilled until crisp-edged.

Deep-fried chicken skin is a favorite snack in certain parts of the Philippines, where it’s called chicharon manok. Maharlika, a new Filipino restaurant in the East Village, serves chicharon manok with spiced sugar cane vinegar as a free pre-dinner treat until they run out of it (they do most nights). Nicole Ponseca, an owner of Maharlika, said the restaurant’s dish is a strictly traditional version of the snack, which she grew up eating while playing mah-jongg with her family.

In European Jewish cooking, chopped liver is often served with gribenes; at Sammy’s Roumanian on the Lower East Side, the classic chopped liver and gribenes has been on the menu since the restaurant opened in 1975.

But chefs like Ilan Hall, who were exposed to traditional preparations as children, spin the ingredient in directions that their grandparents wouldn’t have imagined.

One of Mr. Hall’s signature dishes at the Gorbals, his restaurant in Los Angeles, is a take on a B.L.T.: a gribenes, lettuce and tomato sandwich, served on rye with horseradish mayo. “Fallen Jews love the G.L.T.,” he said. “Because it’s funny. Familiar, but taken out of its element.”

Mitch Prensky, a chef in Philadelphia, also grew up eating gribenes and likes to try unusual uses at his restaurant, Supper. He puts chicken skin in his spaghetti carbonara, cures and smokes it like pastrami for Reuben sandwiches and crisps it into tuile-like garnishes for summer salads.

“It’s the Jewish bacon,” Mr. Prensky said.

But even chefs like Marc Forgione, who uses chicken skin as a delicate wrapper for monkfish at the restaurant in TriBeCa that bears his name, resists the inevitable comparison.

“If I could marry bacon, I would,” he said.

To view this article on the New York Times website, click here!

1. Working in a Restaurant

Cooking at home is a chore for some people, and for others, it’s a way to unwind for a couple of hours, especially if you’ve been sitting all day with little physical activity to break the monotony. Chances are, if you’re thinking about going to culinary school, you’re part of the latter group. You can’t stop daydreaming about idyllic farmers’ markets while stuck in your cubicle and the smell of basil gets you excited. Really excited. That’s great. (Photo courtesy of flickr/architekt2)

But allow me to make a suggestion: If you’ve never worked in a restaurant, try it before you apply to culinary school. It’s not as hard as you’d think to get a part-time entry-level job as a prep cook at a small neighborhood joint or even a large chain. It’s normal for restaurants to have high turnover, so the good news is, you should be able to land something in no time, as long as you’re not picky.

You’ll learn things about working in a restaurant that will remain just as much a part of reality when you make it big in some Michelin-starred joint. You’ll get to experience the typical, 12-hour shift; the heat of the kitchen on a sweltering summer day; the sheer physical nature of carrying heavy pots filled with gallons of hot soup, used cooking oil, or boiling hot water; taking things in and out of ovens using only flimsy side towels (no floral-printed oven mittens here); cutting or burning yourself on a regular basis; the power of the professional stove (low heat feels like maximum on a lousy home stove); and simply standing all day. If it gets busy enough, you might not even have time to eat, ironically.

After all this, reflect upon whether you feel like you’d make a better customer than a cook. You may realize you like eating at restaurants more than you like cooking in them.

Related: Food Myths, Debunked

2. Not Every Chef Went to Culinary School

If you took my advice and schlepped your way through the bottom ranks at some diner, and you still want to go to culinary school, congratulations. You made it. But what you’ll probably find at the end of school is that you learned more useful things in the two months that you were working at that place than in six months at culinary school. And for that reason, you’ll understand why there are some chefs out there who never bothered — they’re perfectly successful without having gone. Experience filled in most of the blanks for them, but they were willing to start off as dishwashers.

3. The Reality of Working for a Chef

The truth is, traits that would render someone unemployable in other industries are generally considered pluses in the restaurant world. Joining a kitchen is a lot like joining the military (only, theoretically, the food is better). Chefs tend to see things in black and white, dislike long explanations (whether they are correct or not), and are sometimes confrontational, aggressive, and controlling. They expect people to read their minds, and whether you realize it or not, no matter what else they’re doing, they’re always watching you out of the corner of their eye. You won’t notice though, until something goes wrong. And if something does go wrong, punishment comes swiftly and usually involves some combination of humiliation, verbal abuse, and the assignment of a menial task such as crushing 60 heads of garlic. (Photo courtesy of flickr/US Army Korea – IMCOM)

This is the sort of environment that makes it especially difficult for office people to make the transition because it’s the complete opposite of what they know. But these things shouldn’t come as a surprise — it’s understandable that the relentless competition, low pay, long hours, and hectic pace would wear on even the hardiest personalities. It’s only human to vent one’s frustrations. And the nature of the restaurant business requires speed. Which brings me to my next point.

4. Speed is Everything

It all boils down to speed. How quickly can you clean 10 pounds of squid, supreme 14 grapefruits, and reduce five pounds of fennel to itty-bitty, perfectly cut two-millimeter cubes? If your answer is, “by tomorrow,” forget it. They’ll find someone else who’s faster. If you’re at all the sensitive, reflective type, don’t bother applying. Get out. If you’re reasonable and logical, also look elsewhere. Impulsive, hasty, and egotistical move to the front of the line. (Photo courtesy of flickr/sally_monster)

5. The Pay

Starting pay in a major metropolitan area is generally between $9 and $12 per hour. Assuming you didn’t take out a loan, or have an interest-free loan, how long would it take to make your tuition for culinary school back? Assuming it was roughly $40,000 for six months, and you were working 12-hour shifts, it would take at least four to five years, allowing for very modest living expenses of about $20,000 per year. If you’re lucky, you’ll get time-and-a-half for anything over 40 hours a week. If not, well, you’ll work more than 40 hours a week anyway.

6. Work/Life Balance

There isn’t much of one in most cases. It’s rare to get two consecutive days off in a row, and you can definitely forget about weekends — most restaurants get most of their customers at busy dinner services, where complete dining room turnover can range anywhere from three to nine times in one night depending on the nature of the establishment.

Most sane people develop some sort of escape plan as they advance in their career — a golden parachute if you will. Some chefs choose to teach, allowing them to maintain a more family-friendly nine-to-five schedule. Others choose to go into corporate dining, where weekends off are a norm, benefits are provided (even a 401(k) if lucky), and hours are shorter. And some chefs try to get their books published.

To Continue reading this article click here!

By Bill Daley, Tribune Newspapers

Marja Vongerichten’s new cookbook and public television travel/culture/cooking series share the same name: “The Kimchi Chronicles.” The choice of kimchee in both titles was easy.

“Kimchee is so distinct to Korea,” Vongerichten says. “It’s the first thing people think of. It’s a great attention-grabber.”

The condiment stars in Vongerichten’s book, “The Kimchi Chronicles: Korean Cooking for an American Kitchen” (Rodale, $32.50). A self-described “staunch” traditionalist, she likes kimchee as a side dish, stirred into stews and spooned over noodles.

Perhaps not surprising given that her husband, Jean-Georges, is a chef famed for his East-West creations, the book also features recipes for a fast no-wait kimchee, a kimchee relish for hot dogs, even a cucumber kimchee martini.

Marja Vongerichten believes it’s time for kimchee to be discovered and enjoyed by more people. “I think it’s got huge potential,” she says. “People just don’t really have a knowledge of it.”

Indeed, nothing looks, tastes, feels or smells quite like kimchee, a pungent, pickled, fermented condiment that is served with nearly every Korean meal. (It’s also spelled kimchi or kim chee.)

Made year-round, kimchee has hundreds of variations that depend on the season and the available produce, which can include cabbage, radishes, green onions and cucumbers. Many kimchees are fiery in flavor and color thanks to the liberal application of red chili powder. It can also be stinky, but Vongerichten notes the same can be said for a number of fine French cheeses.

“Be adventurous,” she urges. “Close your eyes and eat it.”

Mark Miller, a restaurateur and cookbook author in Santa Fe, N.M., says the vibrantly flavored condiment feeds a hunger for “more complex flavors with less fat and salt.” He’s included kimchee in a book due out in October, “Salsas of the World” (Gibbs Smith, $19.99), written with Robert Quintana.

“Kimchee is becoming more mainstream,” Miller said. “The idea of fermenting things and creating more umami flavors seems to be something resonating on the American palate.” Umami is the fifth taste, a sense of savoriness.

“Korean flavors are big flavors,” he adds. “There’s a verve in those flavors resonating in the culture now.”

Making kimchee at home is “fun and completely doable,” Vongerichten says, but most Koreans buy it prepared at the market.

“When buying ready-made kimchee, make sure there’s plenty of liquid in the container,” she says. “Don’t get one that’s too dry; the liquid is an indicator of how fresh it is.”

Vongerichten encourages experimentation. Buy a number of different small containers of kimchee and discover what you like best and what you like to serve it with.

“I love to put it out with barbecue,” she says.

Spread it around

Spoon kimchee alongside grilled steak, breaded chicken, fried fish, macaroni and cheese.

Stir into cooked noodles, soups, fried rices, stews, pancake batter.

Pair with assorted small plates in the Korean style, such as cold, steamed broccoli; sauteed shiitake mushrooms; bean sprout salad; stir-fried spinach; even a mayo-based potato salad.

To finish reading this article on the Chicago Tribune’s site, click here!!

Next week, ABC’s All My Children will be replaced after four decades on the air by The Chew, a lifestyle show whose hosts include three chefs and which stars the food in your refrigerator. Who could have predicted that network TV would trade sex, scandal, and drama for dough hooks and mixing bowls? But consumers’ relationship with food now has less to do with lining stomachs and more to do with entertainment and reaction to an economy that fosters domesticity.

It stands to reason that food media would be doing quite well—and it is. Food related TV programming has exploded; themainstay stand-and stir cooking shows are expanding and splintering into myriad permutations, fromreality shows and competitions to, at last count, 11 shows just aboutcake and cupcakes. Culinary apps on how to braise beef or make agraham cracker crust are proliferating almost daily (MarthaStewart’s Smoothies and Cookies hit No. 1 in paid iPad lifestyle apps this summer), and a plethora of blogs leaves no food need orfetish untouched.

Even battered print media is doing fine when it comes to cuisine. “For the first time since I started tracking magazines in the 1980s, food has become the No. 1 category for three years in a row,” says Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi School of Journalism.

While it seems the interest in food is reaching a peak, it has gone beyond mere fad and become, at its base, a lifestyle shift.

“I believe this new food moment is really just us catching up,” says author, former Gourmet editor-in-chief, and Gilt Taste editorial adviser Ruth Reichl. “Other countries have been thinking about food in an interesting way for most of their history. ThatGourmet started in 1941 as the first epicurean magazine in this country is absurd. In France, one of the great cookbook writers did recipe radio in the 1930s.”

From a TV perspective, the shift is part of what journalist and food author Michael Pollan has called the transformation of cooking “from something you do to something you watch.” Behind us are not only Julia Child and the Frugal Gourmet—and the housewives they catered to—but also the Food Network’s original stand-and-stir recipe of prime-time shows. Yes, its daytime programs lean toward how to cook—albeit quickly and effectively, cutting corners encouraged—but also how to wear the new fall clothes and how to improve your sex life. Its prime-time offerings? Shows such as The Great Food Truck Race and Restaurant: Impossible.

And, of course, given both the recession and the growing number of foodies who also want to cook, how-to shows have not lost their allure. Despite an increase in two-income households and the number of prepared and prepackaged foods in the aisles, an economy as flat as a kimchi pancake means more meals at home, and, in turn, the trying out of recipes and the need for food budget tips. According to a 2011 Food Marketing Institute U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends study, for instance, 61 percent of households with kids are preparing more meals at home than they did last year.

Entertainment, however, rules. Ratings for many competition shows are going strong. The Next Food Network Star’s seventh season finale drew 4.23 million viewers, according to Nielsen, approximately 1.91 million of which were 18-49, nearly doubling the June 5 season premiere’s audience of 2.23 million viewers. That it includes viewers relatively young is no coincidence; the food space wouldn’t have expanded and splintered without a corresponding change in audience. According to a 2010 Harris Poll, 50 percent of Americans watch TV shows about cooking and no, they weren’t all women. Forty-six percent of men said they watch cooking shows very often or occasionally, 57 percent of boomers watch cooking shows very often or occasionally, and 43 percent of the 18-33 crowd do the same.

To read the rest of this article click here!!