shaynecolin

[shaynecolin]

Shayne Colin Blog #2 52454 H134

At the beginning of march last year we saw our first outbreak of a serious epidemic that affected us all globally and distanced us from our families and loved ones. Covid has strained and put a lot of stress on many industries in our society from local eateries to clothing stores and local businesses, and most importantly the medical field, but coming in behind that was the food and restaurant industry. Since the beginning of this pandemic we all have been struggling in many ways, but not more than our local businesses, as many people flocked to support our local businesses by ordering takeout from the restaurants big businesses like “Uber eats” and “skip the dishes” began to supply people with codes waving the delivery fee for all locally owned restaurants in your area and are now offering free delivery for all locally owned restaurants. These systems may have seemed to help some local businesses but not all, studies from health ontario showed in Canada that 53% of food businesses closed their doors for the last time at the end of march 2019. As a result of these 53% closing down we saw even worse numbers in unemployment, an article from “Restaurants Canada” showed that a rough estimate of 800,000 food and beverage employees are laid off or out of work due to covid at this moment. Those are shocking numbers for such a crucial industry in our current society, more importantly these numbers for unemployment are not just in restaurants ex. chefs, servers, management etc, these numbers also count the suppliers for all these restaurants and businesses such as food delivery, food packaging delivery, linen services and many more companies, which most likely means less deliveries, inflation in delivery costs, slower shipping and overall diminishing business numbers. I believe that there may be many solutions for these problems that this epidemic has caused us but not enough willing people to act out on these solutions, instead of buying food off of popular and unethical apps such as uber eats you could call your local restaurant and order for pickup or see if they offer delivery, for someone that personally worked in this pandemic early on I can assure that uber eats and skip the dishes is not a good way to support your local business as they do take 5% of all sales for their fee and there are many other underlying charges for these businesses. Another solution for locally owned business would be to offer takeout in surrounding areas, with everyone ordered to stay home and the weather getting colder many of us are not enticed to go out into the freezing cold, a solution would be to hire a worker, which would make more jobs for locals or have an employee make deliveries for a small charge in surrounding areas. I believe the food industry has a lot to lose from this pandemic and staying shutdown and further lock downs will continue to drive this industry into the ground because we strive off of human interactions and populations to compensate costs for rent and utilities and much more,being a chef I can share a small insight of how this has affected so many of us food and beverage workers with short cut work hours to finding new jobs every month this pandemic has not been fun for me, I started to lose shifts at the start of the pandemic working in a local restaurant and hoped it would be a short lived thing but after a month I was laid off from my most favorite job yet, moving on I went to look for more work finding a job at a local italian fine dining restaurant and worked for 2 months before the next wave and lockdowns begun after slowly losing shifts over the span of 2 weeks I was out of a job again and to say the least it has been on and off since then. I hope by this summer this pandemic will come to an end and this beautiful industry can once again begin to flourish.

Labs, W. (2020, June 08). The ongoing impact of covid-19 on the food industry and its supply chains. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/98915-covid-19-will-continue-to-make-an-impact-on-the-food-industry-and-its-supply-chains

R. (2020, May 17). Impact of COVID-19 Devastates restaurant industry. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.restaurantscanada.org/resources/impact-of-covid-19-devastates-restaurant-industry/

Charlebois, S. (2020, March 30). COVID-19 will forever change the food industry. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.canadiangrocer.com/blog/covid-19-will-forever-change-the-food-industry-93894

R. (2020). Restaurant outlook survey 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://members.restaurantscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ROS-Q3-2020-Final.pdf

Somaiya, J., & Wei, J. (2020, July 09). COVID-19 hits the Canadian food industry. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://canadianfoodbusiness.com/2020/07/09/covid-19-hits-the-canadian-food-industry/

[shaynecolin]

The flat iron steak is a cut of beef originating from the top blade portion of the cow, this cut of meat has been overtly avoided by most restaurants and cooks alike, the reason being is there is usually a very large tough connective tissue that runs throughout the entire steak. When butchering this steak one must remove this very large tissue in order to cook this cut of meat, when removed you will end up with 2 separate cuts of meat one being the flat iron steak and the other being called a top blade steak. I chose this cut because it is very underrated and overlooked in the culinary world and hopefully we can utilize this beautiful cut of meat moving forward to create less waste. The typical price for this cut of meat ranges from 7$ to 8.50$ (can) for an 8 oz portion from a typical grocery store, however if one was to order in bulk from a butcher for a restaurant I'm confident prices would deflate which leaves a very open space for a profit margin. This cut of meat is best used in marinades and sous vides and cooked very fast on a hot cast iron or grill (mostly cooked in a pan) the reason being is because it is a very thin steak. The recipe provided was one made by myself,

Step 1 - place steak in zip lock bag with 2 cloves of garlic, 1 twig rosemary, thyme, and 2 tbsp olive oil, drain all air from bag in place in fridge for 3+ hours

Step 2 - when ready to cook, preheat a cast iron pan and wipe down your steak removing all oil and aromatics

Step 3 - rub a tsp of oil on both sides of the steak then season with salt and pepper, place the steak in the preheated pan and sear until just undercooked to desired temp, take off heat and place 1 knob of butter in pan along with 1 smashed garlic clove, 1 sprig rosemary and begin to baste, place back on low heat for about a min continuenly basting. Take off heat, let rest

Step 4 - (salsa verde) finely chop ½ cup of mint, parsley, basil and one clove of garlic. Into a large metal bowl combine all ingredients by whisking, along with a large drizzle of olive oil, a small sprinkle of black pepper, lemon zest and a pinch of salt.

Step 5 - slice steak in ½ pieces on a bias and lay on plate, drizzle over salsa verde and serve.

CITATIONS

Riches, D. (2019, June 27). Flat iron steak: Tender, flavorful and great for the grill. Retrieved February 04, 2021, from https://www.thespruceeats.com/flat-iron-steak-for-the-grill-336349

O. (2020, July 27). The butcher's guide: What is a flat iron steak? Retrieved February 04, 2021, from https://www.omahasteaks.com/blog/what-is-flat-iron-steak/

LLC, C. (n.d.). Certified Angus beef ® Brand: Basics of Beef Cuts. Retrieved February 04, 2021, from https://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/cuts/Detail.aspx?ckey=99

How to cook the perfect flat iron steak. (n.d.). Retrieved February 04, 2021, from https://gridironmeat.co.uk/recipe/flat-iron-steak/

[shaynecolin]

Experience

I feel my palate is always developing and it helps by trying many different foods to understand different flavour profiles such as the ramen that has a very unique flavour profile. I absolutely enjoyed this dish and would have no problem eating it again. I found the fungus/mushrooms they put into the soup gave it a weird bitterness and earthy flavour but regardless I didn't hate it. I think i'm going to try to attempt to make ramen soon because I was so surprised how complex the flavour profile was and how much umami it had.

[shaynecolin]

Blog assessment of Chashu Ramen

Although I have had ramen before I decided to try a new location that opened up near me, after trying it I would say it appeals to almost all five basic tastes, the saltiness coming from the broth and the braised pork belly, the grilled corn had a sweetness to it, i didn't find anything sour but i noticed the fungi (mushrooms) had a bitterness and it definitely has a lot of umami from the ramen broth. The taste was fantastic it was not bland or flat, I seemed to recognize the taste of dark soy, pork in the broth, and sesame oil and that was all I could detect. This food is very special to Japanese and Chinese culture with it originating in china and making its way to japan after world war 2, food was scarce so japan's imports for wheat went up for producing ramen after the war because it was a very easy and cheap meal to make and tasted amazing. 

[shaynecolin]

Reflection

The soup was a success and I learned it is better when using bacon and not pork belly because the flavour profile was very different (not in a bad way) and I can now apply that to next time I make this soup to improve.

[shaynecolin]

Challenges And Changes

It seemed there wasn't a lot of challenges with this recipe considering how simple it is, If there's something I would change or do differently it would be to use smoked bacon because I only had access to pork belly. Overall I thought the soup was a success with no problems 

[shaynecolin]

Friendly Review

“very tasty and salty with a creamy base and the bacon brings out a lot of flavour and the potatoes are cooked very well”

[shaynecolin]

Sensory Evaluation

AROMA- sweet, salty, creamy smell

TEXTURE- smooth and creamy with bits of bacon and potato

TASTE- salty, starchy, creamy and full

APPEARANCE- creamy white soup with diced potato and bacon

[shaynecolin]

cooking process

[shaynecolin]

Soup Recipe

start with couple pieces of bacon then render off fat, save fat and take out cooked bacon, add white onion and some garlic and minimal salt, sweat onions and garlic, then add potatoes, some chicken stock and some milk, bring to boil simmer till potatoes are cooked then serve and sprinkle bacon and black pepper on top when plating

[shaynecolin]

Selected Soup

I chose to go with a simple potato soup because it's personally one of my favourite soups to eat that was made by my mother when I was younger and i'll always have a special spot in my heart for it

[shaynecolin]

Nutrition Website

credible:  food-guide.canada.ca

To me this website is credible for the following reasons: It is a government website, and the date and author is stated (Health Canada, Jan 2019).

non-credible: calorieking.com

I find this website to be non-credible because it lacks of supporting facts to the statements, no given author, no citations and no date of publishing - so readers don’t really know how relevant or reliable this information is.

[shaynecolin]

Nutrition In The Culinary Industry

I personally believe that nutrition will always play a roll in the culinary industry, and certainly in the future where we’re more likely to be more attentive to certain aspects of our diets. I think personally we will always be trying to improve and refine our diets and the way nutrition plays a roll in our daily lives, whereas some people may not agree with this point and may not focus or pay attention to theirs. Currently, a majority of people may not be focused on nutrition for themselves and family; due to the pandemic and inaccessibility to certain ingredients and items. 

[shaynecolin]

Topic Of Nutrition

I would like to say the topic of nutritional ingredients in food interests me the most seeing the different compounds that make up the ingredients that are put into our dishes. Such as carbohydrates,fats, fibers, salts and additives, and different types of proteins. Another subject I would like to learn more about is dietary supplements and how we are able to supplement a certain food or nutrient if we are unable to obtain it.

[shaynecolin]

Blog

https://www.davidlebovitz.com/

I found this blog after searching for a bit, and  seemed to prefer this one compared to others, the reason being that they have plenty recipes from different cuisines and many different dishes as well as pastry dishes. I could say that they could improve their website design a bit more because it seems out of date.

[shaynecolin]

https://www.alinearestaurant.com/site/cuisine/

[shaynecolin]

Why Did I Become A Chef

Plate after plate and dish after dish after cooking for a couple of months as a cook I fell in love with the idea of cooking and being able to turn raw ingredients into something that is a work of art and tastes incredible. Anywhere from that rush on a friday night service to the free meals and endless jokes I have always felt at home when working in a kitchen.