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Archive for November, 2007

In a world where the idea of a four-year college is often pushed onto high school kids as their only viable option, an education from a culinary school might not seem valuable or even necessary. However, a degree in the culinary arts can enrich many facets of your life simultaneously. With a cooking degree, you can start a brand new career, or work toward advancements in your current position. Even if you don’t want a career in the culinary industry, taking cooking classes would allow you to discover and pursue an exciting hobby. Either way, you and your family are sure to benefit, as you are able to provide meals that are both more nutritious and more tasteful than the usual fare.
For many students, a degree from a culinary school is a way to help them break into the food service industry. A degree demonstrates to an employer that you already have the skills required for the job. This helps the employer by reducing the amount of training you will need before you will be a fully functioning member of the team. It also helps you by making you qualified for the more desirable jobs. Aside from the education itself, cooking schools also offer students a number of resources to help them find jobs in the field. Connections with local culinary businesses, a host of available internship opportunities, and job placement services will increase your chances of quickly breaking into the industry.
An education isn’t just for those who seek new careers or career changes. For someone who is already working in the food manufacturing and service industry, an education from a culinary school can also be used to earn career advancements and promotions. Not only does a culinary education give you the knowledge necessary to do a higher-level job, it also demonstrates to your employer that you have ambition, determination, and abilities that are constantly growing and expanding. Even if your current employer does not appreciate your efforts, you will be able to use your education to possibly find a better job someplace else.
No matter how much you enjoy cooking, a career in the field might not be for you. Culinary school isn’t just for people who want to cook for a living. Plenty of people take cooking classes as a hobby, simply because they enjoy cooking and want to improve or add to their skills. An education in the culinary arts can perfect the skills you already have, as well as teaching you new skills or introducing you to new equipment. Even if you think you don’t like to cook, try signing up for a cooking class. Most people don’t like to do what they feel they can’t do well. In other words, if you learn how to cook better you might just find that you like it more than you thought!
Even if you don’t want a culinary career or a hobby, you have one good use for an education from a culinary school: just like every single other person in the world, you have to eat to survive. Why not make it interesting by learning how to properly prepare your food with some imagination and flare. If you are like most people, you probably enjoy the taste, texture, and presentation of well-prepared food.
Regardless of what your hopes and dreams are, you can realize them at a culinary school. Conjure up that most cherished food related dream, whether it is of owning your own catering business or just getting a raise. Maybe it’s to impress your friends and family with gourmet dinner parties or elaborate holiday meals or just being able to make that favorite restaurant dish in your own kitchen whenever you get the craving. If you want that dream so bad you can almost taste it, perhaps it is time to consider how a culinary education could make it a reality.

Written by Andy West our expert of the day.

I’d like to share this chicken fried steak recipe because my family loves it and they always ask me to cook it again. It can be served at home, potluck, or special party.

Ingredients of chicken fried steak recipe:

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 pounds boneless beef round stead, cut 3/4-inch thick

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups beef broth or stock

Step by step of chicken fried steak recipe:

Combine flour and seasonings in a small bowl.

Cut steak into 6 serving pieces. Dredge steak with seasoned flour, pressing as much flour as possible into meat. Reserve any leftover flour.

Heat oil in a skillet.

Add steak and cook until brown, about 5 minutes per side.

Transfer meat to at least a 3-1/2 quart slow cooker. Pour in the broth.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours.

Most people nowadays have busy work schedules and full personal lives. This does not leave much time for planning out one’s meals, much less having the time to plan out healthy ones. This is when quick and healthy cooking becomes a wonderful addition to one’s life!

Quick and healthy cooking solves so many daily dilemmas and they are, as the name suggests, easy! The next question is, where do you find these quick and healthy cooking solutions?

Quick and healthy cooking techniques, tips, menus, and solutions can be found within internet searches, at bookstore, libraries, and health stores, etc. In other words, you can find quick and healthy cooking ideas in many different places and the more you search for them, the more you will find!

There are many people in the health field who are working diligently to provide as many tips for such a popular need. They know that quick and healthy cooking is one of the most popular desires and as such they want to do their best to cater to it. They will suggest simple life changes for those people who want to make changes but do not want to completely alter their eating habits like eliminating butter, mayonnaise, and fattening salad dressings from one’s diet. These simple changes make huge differences in one’s appearance and health. This is truly important for people who want to make quick and healthy cooking changes.

Mexico of course lies next door to the United States of America. This means the people frequently cross the border and so, all over the states, even as far north as Washington State, one can find ‘Mexican ‘food.

But this isn’t quite the same food that is eaten south of the border. The Conquest of Mexico early in the 16th century gave rise to one of the richest ever culinary mixes in history. Cortez and his followers came to the new world in search of gold. They found rather a great wealth of culinary specialties such as chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, beans, squash, avocados, coconuts, corn and tomatoes. In return turn the Spanish brought to the Americas products pork, beef, lamb, citrus fruits, garlic, cheese, milk, wheat, vinegar, spices and wine. The result was Mexican cuisine as we now have it, and explains why it is difficult to decide what is authentically Mexican and what is not. Basically it is the food of the poor – meat is there, but vegetables and maize flour predominate.

Roast Pepper Dip

The pie is a ubiquitous symbol of both Italian cooking and Americana. Oven-baked, thin-crust or deep-dish, round or square, it is a common favorite throughout the United States, with a wide number of regional variations.

The most traditional pie is the pizza Napolitano, or Neapolitan pizza. Made of strong flour, the dough is often kneaded by hand and then rolled flat and thin without a rolling pin. The pizza is cooked in an extremely hot wood-fired stone oven for only sixty to ninety seconds, and is removed when it is soft and fragrant. Common varieties of Neapolitan pizza include marinara, made with tomato, olive oil, oregano, and garlic, and marguerite, made with tomato, olive oil, fresh basil leaves, and mozzarella cheese.

New York was home to the first pizza parlor in the United States, opened in Little Italy in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi. It is not surprising, then, that New York-style pizza dominates in the Northeastern part of the country. It is thin-crusted, and made with a thin layer of sauce and grated cheese. The dough is hand-tossed, making the pie large and thin. As a result, it is served cut into slices, traditionally eight, which are often eaten folded in half. It can be served with any number of toppings, including pepperoni, the most popular topping in the United States, or as a “white pizza”, which includes no tomato sauce and is made with a variety of cheeses, such as mozzarella and ricotta.

Do you need easy Italian recipes that you can cook up fast that are delicious and inexpensive?

Below are three very simple Italian recipes that do not require much time to prepare and only use several ingredients that you may even have on hand.

This is the beauty of Italian cooking. You do not need a ton of ingredients to cook up a delicious meal.

The key with cooking great Italian food is to use fresh quality ingredients, like fresh herbs and fine olive oil. And the number one most important ingredient in any type of cooking is of course Love!

Enjoy and Buon Appetito!

EASY ITALIAN MARINARA SAUCE RECIPE

Here is a great recipe for marinara sauce using canned tomatoes. This marinara sauce is delicious over your favorite pasta, on top of pizza and over mussels and shrimp. The beauty of this sauce is that it can be used with a number of other recipes, so it’s a great starting point in Italian Cooking and it is very easy to make.