14 Comments for “Ask the Chef”  

1. Elizabeth Apr 16th, 2007 at 8:46 pm

   I love the thick and creamy balsamic vinaigrettes I get at restaurants, but I can’t find any recipes like those. How can I take my own vinaigrette and make it thicker?

2. Chef Apr 16th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

   Use a machine. Combine the vinegar and seasonings in a food processor or blender. Turn the machine on. Slowly pour the oil through the feed tube. The dressing will be much thicker. Alternatively, if the dressing ingredients are already combined, use an immersion blender to thicken the sauce.

3. Ivy D. Apr 28th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

   I have a cheesecake recipe that I have used for many years with good results. I want to update or modernize it and try to calculate time and temperature using a water bath. The recipe is very simple. It calls for cream cheese, eggs, sugar, butter, flavoring and cooked for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then cooled for about 8 hours. I have tried putting a pan of water under the rack for 10 minutes and the cake did not cook very well. I do believe that a longer cooking time would work but how much longer? Also how do you make a chocolate crust? Any suggestions will be helpful since I am experimenting with a chocolate filling also.

   Thank you.

   Ivy D. (Home Baker)

4. Chef Apr 28th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

   Cheesecake is a custard and requires slow, gentle baking. I recommend 300-325 degrees, not higher, so that the filling is creamy. Do not overbake the cheesecake, or it will crack and the batter will separate or curdle. Placing the cheesecake in a hot water bath will protect the filling from the heat of the oven. When a custard is baked at too high heat, the proteins (egg) squeeze out the liquid and the result is holes in the batter and little rivulets of water pooled in the baked product. I find that baking the cheesecake at a high temperature can overbrown the top of the cheesecake, if you are not very careful.

   To determine when the cheesecake is done, it should jiggle just slightly in the middle. Baking time will depend on the dimensions of your cheesecake.

   For a water bath, use a baking pan that will accomodate your cheesecake pan and fill it with hot water about an inch up the sides of the cheesecake pan. The easiest way to do this is to place the baking pan with the cheesecake in the oven first and use a teapot or glass measuring cup to pour hot water into the baking pan. When the cake is done, remove the cake pan, leaving the baking pan in the oven with the hot water to avoid burning yourself.

   Use chocolate cookie crumbs, such as Oreo’s, to make a chocolate crust instead of graham cracker crumbs. The Nabisco Famous Wafers also make an incredible crust. When using a sandwich cookie, do not add as much melted butter to the crust as you would for a graham cracker crust. When using the Famous wafers, also add a pinch of sugar.

   I add melted bittersweet chocolate to the cream cheese filling to make a chocolate cheesecake. Do this by adding a portion of your plain batter to the melted chocolate and stir until that is smooth and well combined. Then add the rest of the batter. That way of combining batters will allow the mixture to blend more easily. ENJOY!

5. mark Aug 21st, 2007 at 2:34 am

   Hello, my name is Mark Lingoes and I am from Michigan but I currently reside in the Dominican Republic. I am constructing a Subway-style restaurant in a large mall here. Instead of the traditional chips that Subway includes with their meals, I have chosen fries. There was a restaurant in Hastings, Michigan that carried a product called sour cream-and-chive fries produced by Gordon food cooperation. To this day those were the best fries I have ever tasted, so of course I would like to use them in my restaurant. Even thought the company still manufactures this product, it’s not cost effective to ship it to the Dominican Republic. I really need an exciting product to set myself apart from other restaurants here, so I have been searching high and low for a solution but with no results. I have decided to buy normal French fries in bulk here from the local wholesaler hoping that with this email your experts can advice me on a way to possibly make some type of sour cream-and-chive batter or seasoning or something that will allow me to simulate the wonderful taste of the fries from my past. Perhaps a rub, seasoning or batter will help me resolve this problem. I would be serving these fries in large quantities just in case that would affect your potential recipe or advice.

6. Chef Aug 26th, 2007 at 2:20 pm

   The sour cream-and-chive flavor probably comes from a synthetic seasoning mix and is similar to the seasoning put on packaged potato chips. You could purchase the synthetic mix and put it on the fries or offer your customers freshly made sour cream dip flavored with chives for their fries.

   Another way to set your restaurant apart from competitors would be to serve homemade fries, not frozen fries. Few restaurants bother with home fries because the potato has to be fried twice, otherwise they will not be crisp. On the first fry, at 300-325 degrees F, the potatoes cook but do not brown. Then drain the potatoes and brown and crisp at 375 degrees. They are totally delicious.

   Good luck with your enterprise.

7. wendy Aug 29th, 2007 at 7:44 pm

   how do I melt carob chips?

8. Chef Aug 29th, 2007 at 8:00 pm

   It’s not easy. Try adding vegetable oil or shortening to the carob.

9. Drew Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

   I am making sourdough bread at home. In the past, starters I’ve used were generally flour and water with a few tablespoons of milk.

   A new recipe I found for starting the chef calls for a pinch of cumin. Is this a necessary addition? Also, will this change the flavor of the final product, or will the flavor eventually dissipate after refreshing the chef?

10. Chef Jan 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    Thank you, Drew, for your question. Although I have never seen a bread recipe that calls for cumin, there is a good reason for adding it. Cumin retards the growth of bacteria. So in a starter (particularly a starter that sits at room temperature for several days), the yeast can develop without competing with unwanted bacteria.

    The food preservation qualities of cumin are one reason why cumin is so heavily used in Indian and Mexican foods; cumin inhibits the growth of bacteria, which was very important before refrigeration. The other reason cumin is used is for flavor and aroma, but adding a pinch to starter will never be tasted.

    One spice that you should never add to a yeast starter is cinnamon, which does inhibit the growth of yeast.

11. captain Jan 28th, 2008 at 6:29 am

    When a recipe calls for
    2 tablespoons dry Italian herbs (thyme,basil,oregano)
    does it mean 2 tablespoons of each or something else?
    I appreciate your help.

12. Chef Jan 28th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    Yes, recipes can be confusing because recipe authors assume too many things. That phrase means a total of 2 tablespoons, which could be made up of thyme or basil or oregano or a combination of herbs. Otherwise, the recipe would call for 2 tablespoons each of thyme, basil, and oregano.

    Punctuation is important in recipe writing. When a recipe calls for “1 cup sifted flour”, sift the flour before measuring. But when a recipe calls for “1 cup flour, sifted”, measure the flour and then sift.

13. Drew Apr 11th, 2008 at 10:01 pm

    I have been studying my various sauces based on the inclusion of wine. My question is regarding wine pairings to accompany such a sauce.

    As these sauces concentrate, the flavor of the wine included in the sauce is stronger. In this instance, what is the best wine to pair with the food?

    So far, it seems that when the same wine is served as was included in the sauce, the wine/sauce overtakes the food. Any suggestions here?

14. Chef Apr 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am

    Generally the best wine to pair with a wine-based sauce is the same wine, or at least a wine made from the same variety of grape. When the wine is reduced to make the sauce, yes the flavor is more concentrated, but it is then usually diluted with other flavors — such as stock or butter. The sauce should never overpower the food or the wine, the sauce should compliment them. So I suggest that your sauces might need the addition of cream or butter to smooth out the flavor.

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