chefwhoiscrying

[chefwhoiscrying]

Blog 3 - Sensory Evaluation

During the second lockdown (November 2020 - June 2021) I found myself bored at home missing my job and craving chocolate chip cookies. So in true “chef stuck at home” fashion I decided that I wasn’t just going to make any old chocolate chip cookie recipe but instead develop one of my own. After 10 batches, almost all of which I have frozen sample cookies from I finally perfected the recipe, made it something special - even if it is JUST a chocolate chip cookie. 

So for this post I decided that I would do a comparison of those batches (with the notes I took after baking them) to the popular store-made version and the Pillsbury “homemade” version of the same product.

Starting with the Chips Ahoy! brand cookies, I find that they’re very bland, there’s no real depth and they’re pretty generic. They fulfill the “store-bought” expectation very well. They’re sweet, the chocolate isn’t amazing quality, but it’s not horrible and they by no means taste bad but they’re not great. By way of texture, they’re pretty dry, very crumbly. 

The crumbly texture probably comes from the fact that there aren’t really any animal products in these cookies, the only thing listed is “milk ingredients” so because of this they are shelf stable but that leads them to have a more dry texture when eating as well as to the touch.

The Pillsbury brand cookies, come in a raw dough tube format. These also have very little animal products listed, but they do contain dried egg, meaning that the fat from the egg yolk adds to the depth of flavour while keeping the product shelf stable. 

These cookies always come out the same, baked at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes gives you cookies that cool to be soft in the middle and crispier on the edges - which is what most people like. They don’t really get a lot of rise and usually come out pretty flat but thats more to do with the lack of freshness of the batter. 

I have always liked these cookies, there’s something nostalgic about them, probably because the taste has never changed, the consistency is good.

Now for the fun part - my personal recipe development!

I have the tendency to become a little obsessive about things, my job included so it came as no surprise to anyone that I took it upon myself to re-write a classic recipe. 

I started with researching different versions and for the most part they were all along the same line, butter, sugar, flour, eggs etc etc, nothing overly special or complicated. So I made a control batch - then used that and branched off, changing the types of butter (grass-fed, brown, salted or unsalted), the sugars, (all white sugar or all brown sugar, demerara, golden brown) and even the eggs, duck eggs, regular chicken eggs, whipping the whites, creaming the yolks, you get the picture. I dove head first into this, every few weeks making a new batch and changing something else. Keeping what I liked from the previous and discarding what I didn’t. It gave me some interesting outcomes, some expected and some not so much. 

I ended up with 10 batches, the tenth one I made at work for my chef while we were trying to develop an ice cream sandwich. 

Batch number 3 is notable because i have some of the raw batter in my notes (gross yes, but apparently necessary for the process). This batch got good rise and crispy edges. This was the batch that had only brown sugar and brown butter, giving the raw batter a much deeper flavour but lighter colour as we see in  my notes.

The brown butter and brown sugar really made a big difference in the depth of flavour in the final product so those two stayed in all the batches after this one. 

In another batch I decided to add molasses and Grand Marnier, this made the cookies good when they first came out of the oven, soft and chewy with a darker colour but after they cooled they became very crispy and chewy - although the addition of alcohol balanced the sweetness quite nicely. 

Some batches were very good and others not so much but it was the tenth batch that turned out the best - I discovered that maple brown butter is the best for this recipe, adding a nice depth and richness while remaining not overly sweet. They had great rise when the dough was left chilled before going into the oven. The centres were chewy and soft but didn’t fall apart or crumble. They were the perfect 10. 

Throughout this process I discovered that my palate has changed in the sense that I no longer like the overly sweet, highly processed chocolate cookies but prefer a more well-balanced and refined cookie. I guess I’m a chocolate chip cookie snob now. 

If it wasn’t glaringly obvious, I love chocolate chip cookies and I will probably make my perfect 10 recipe again and again because it is really good. The store bought versions aren’t bad and I’ll eat them because they are easily accessible and quick.

[chefwhoiscrying]

Blog 2 - Making Soup

Let me just preface this entire post by saying that I completely forgot to take photos of the soup making process because taking photos while I prep isn’t something that I’m accustomed to doing, but I do have photos of the final product. 

The soup that I chose to make is something seasonal and filling - acorn squash carrot and ginger soup. My mother really likes this soup and I used to meal prep for my parents and she would ask all the time for me to make some version of this, wether it be with sweet potato or butternut squash instead of acorn squash, this is one of her favourites and something I’m very used to making this time of year. 

This soup is warm and fragrant, because of the seasonality of the squash it has a very “fall” taste, it’s also a burnt yellow, mustardy colour and that helps with that feeling as well. The ginger hits the back of your throat and leaves a warm tingly sensation which is really comforting on a cool, rainy fall evening. I like to run the puree through a fine mesh strainer to ensure that there’s no chunks and that the mouth-feel is velvety smooth. I had my parents over for dinner the night I made this soup and they both really enjoyed it, my mother of course wants me to make more for her and I’ll get around to that when I have more time. 

I think in the future when I make this soup again I might play around with the garnishes. But again I’ve made this soup so many times and in so many variations over the years that I’m not sure how much more I can actually change it. 

I garnished my soup with rosemary infused chilli oil, toasted pumpkin seeds and some smoked maldon salt.

Here’s my recipe for Acorn Squash Carrot and Ginger Soup:

- 1 Acorn Squash, roasted until fork tender

- 500g shredded carrot

- 50g ginger, raw, skin on

- 2 bay leaves

- 1 peeled shallot, halved

- 1 clove + skin of black garlic 

- 1 litre of water

- Salt and Pepper to taste 

For garnishing oil:

- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary

- 40g canola oil

- 20g chilli oil 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut acorn squash into chunks and remove seeds, oil, salt and pepper them, roast in oven until fork tender (about an hour), flipping halfway through so one side doesn’t burn.

3. In a stock pot add 1 litre of water, carrots, bay leaves, shallot, black garlic and black garlic skin, simmer until 1/4 reduced, add salt to taste

4. When squash is done remove from oven, let cool a few minutes (until you can pick it up comfortably) and using a spoon scoop the innards out of the skin. place these in stock.

5. Let squash simmer in stock for 15-20 minutes or until you can see the squash starting to break down in the water, at this point throw in your ginger nub.

6. Once ginger is added let simmer another 15 minutes

7. Remove from heat and ladle the contents of the stock pot into a high powered blender, blend on high for 2 minutes.

8. Using a fine mesh strainer pour the now blended soup back into the stock pot, straining out any chunks and fibres from the garlic skin or squash. This process with make the final product very smooth when eaten.

9. Add salt and pepper to your liking, reduce for another 15 or so minutes, taste and serve with infused oil, toasted pumpkin seeds and smoked maldon salt.

To make infused oil:

1. In a small saucepan add canola oil and fresh rosemary

2. Heat on low until the rosemary browns slightly, you’re not frying it so the heat must stay pretty low

3. Remove from heat and add in chilli oil 

4. Let it sit and cool, once cooled remove rosemary and pour into a squeeze bottle or jar

I really enjoyed making this soup, it reminded me of my parents and how when I was a child around this time of year my dad would make all different kinds of soups and stews. It was nice to share this meal with them and I’ll be making this soup again for friends and family soon.

[chefwhoiscrying]

Credible Nutrition Information (Blog #1 - Nutrition and Wellness)

There are many aspects of nutrition that interest me (hence why I decided to take this course) but specifically women’s nutrition and the lack of real research surrounding it. A lot of the information you find with a simple google search is often related to diet culture and the idea that “thinness” is the ideal - as opposed to health. Advertisements for supplements and diets are really the main things that that search yields. In a culture that is so health conscious and concerned with longevity and how to maintain the “ideal body” we really lack when it comes to the way that women should be eating - because it differs from men. We have a hormonal cycle that changes weekly and in order to maintain optimal health we should be eating foods rich in the nutrients we need depending on the stage we are at in our menstrual cycle and the stage we are at in life. As a woman it would be in my best interest to learn how to eat to properly fuel my body instead of learning to eat to maintain a certain ideal of attractiveness. 

As someone who currently works in a kitchen and has for the last almost 8 years I can say that I have seen a shift within the culinary industry towards a more healthy way of menu writing and cooking. People are now more than ever very aware of the foods they choose to eat. And more so now I think because of the pandemic and lockdowns a lot of people really learned that the way they were eating wasn’t sustainable or healthy but rather for convenience. With that awareness comes the desire to make better choices now that restaurants are open again, the shift towards healthier options will only continue to take hold. 

Making healthy choices isn’t only for when we are in our homes but also for when we are out as well. There’s nothing wrong with indulging but moderation and balance should always be kept in mind. 

When it comes to credibility of a source, looking for information from places like the Government of Canada and Dietitian’s of Canada is where I choose to go to find information with substance and research backing because much of the information that we are fed in the media through magazines, blogs, vlogs and even word of mouth are not evidence based. When I was younger I would get my nutritional information from a lot of magazines (Cosmopolitan, Chatelaine and even Women’s Health) and this information wasn’t always the most credible. Based on the fact that it wasn’t coming from a doctor or a real research study. But rather from a societal outlook that dictates what women should look like, eat like, train like and be like. A big difference that I notice is that credible sites and sources generally tend to not use the “thinness” and “diet” rhetoric to influence its audience into believing that these things are the epitome of health. 

The aforementioned magazines offer sources but the validity of said sources has always been questionable. Many of these magazines cherry pick information and choose data that doesn’t have proper backing to use as source material. Because the regulating of these things often slips under the radar. Over the years I have googled these sources out of curiosity and those searches never yielded any real studies more often than not it was a lot of third-party data collection. Meaning that the data wasn’t collected directly from the intended audience. 

Credible sources like government websites often will have multiple streams of information regarding the topic at hand, whereas a less credible source will likely only use one or two resources that will conveniently line up with a product that they are trying to sell. Because when you really look at what you’re consuming in women’s magazines it’s more often just advertisements for supplements and products as opposed to information that is useful and applicable to everyday life. A credible source usually (there are always exceptions) isn’t trying to sell you something, but rather inform you and educate you on a specific topic. 

As a consumer it is always difficult to gauge what the credibility of a source is when you’re constantly being told different things. So using discretion and trying to do as much research as one can about a topic will usually lead to the most successful results. 

[chefwhoiscrying]

Culinary Biography

 My name is Rebecca Brown, I’m a 27 year old chef in Toronto, Ontario. I’ve been working in the casual fine and fine dining industry for almost eight years.

A photo I took of myself at Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie in July 2020

I’ve worked in many restaurants all over the city and over the years I’ve learned a lot about both myself and food. I wanted to be a chef when I was a child and after a brief stint at OCAD University when I was just out of high school ended up - by accident - in a kitchen, helping out at a job where I worked front of house. The rest is history, I never left. Falling in love with food and devouring (pun intended) any and all culinary knowledge and that I could get my hands on in form of books, the internet and of course the incredible chefs that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. 

For me, when it comes to food and this industry I have always said that if you’re not constantly learning and evolving as a chef then something is wrong. This is an industry that allows for growth and expansion in a way that not many industries do. There’s always something new to learn, a new technique, a new recipe, a method of doing something you’ve done a million times that can be done better or differently. I learned so much from young cooks when I was a Sous Chef just simply because I kept an open mind and allowed for them to be creative in their process while working towards a common goal - successful service and happy guests. 

From my blogging experience I hope to have a way to look back on the things I learn at George Brown and also for future me to be able to have a way to see how I’ve evolved and grown as a chef over the years. 

This is a photo of the kitchen team at Miss Thing’s on Queen st. W in September 2017

Now if I’m being completely honest I don’t read any culinary blogs. I’m more of a traditionalist with my food knowledge consumption. I own quite a few cook books and have used them on many occasions as resources for menu inspiration and even just for general reading - I really am a little obsessive about my chosen career. Although when I’m not in a reading mood, I love to watch food vlogs and videos on YouTube and have enjoyed many of the cooking series’ that Netflix has put out. Some notable vlogs for me are Joshua Weissman - I enjoy how he takes fast food dishes and elevates them while explaining what he’s doing in an approachable way, he also has many informative series’ on his channel about techniques and skills that he learned while working in restaurants. I think especially during the pandemic I found that watching content creators with prior industry experience really helped me see a light at the end of the tunnel when going back to work seemed like an unattainable dream. Some of his content I find a little basic, for me watching cooking challenges with people who can’t cook is entirely frustrating but thats just my personal opinion. 

Of course the classic Anthony Bourdain shows like Mind of a Chef and Parts Unknown have been binged many times over; just simply because of the way Bourdain engages with the guests and talks about food but also because (in Mind of a Chef) the scientific breakdown of food and technique I find to be particularly fascinating. My only wish is that there would’ve been more seasons and episodes of these shows filmed before Bourdain’s tragic passing in 2018. 

Some notable mentions (and shows that got me through the first leg of the pandemic) include, Top Chef Canada, MasterChef, Bon Appetit’s YouTube channel and About to Eat. 

Image by Joshua Weissman, from the video “Gua Bao 2 Ways”, August 2021

As for culinary quotes, the words that inspire me most are not from celebrity chefs, but from the people I work with 5 days a week, 10 hours a day. The sarcastically said inspirational quotes like “be better, do better” and “do what makes you happy” that fly out of our mouths at the funniest - and perhaps most inappropriate - moments are what keep me going. The little spoonfuls of encouragement that my chef (Andrew Wilson) will drop in the middle of a busy service like “good food takes time” and “guys, remember, IT’S JUST FOOD” are the words that have been seared into my memory as “quotes to live by”. 

The BOH message board at Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie got a glimpse of our punch out photos as encouragement during the pandemic, pre second lockdown, Fall 2020