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[thestarvingchef]

I really love baking using yeast, but my bread tends to be quite dense. It still tastes good, and it's not like a solid block, but I feel like it could be a lot more fluffy. Any tips as to make sure to get the dough really fluffy and light?

Hey!

Interesting question, it can be hard to diagnose such issues without seeing the product, but my main 3 notes are these. Is your yeast alive? When mixed with sugar and warm water does it become frothy? Are you using the right flour? Strong flour develops more gluten which helps to trap gas that makes it fluffy and light, if your using a low protein flour it may struggle to keep itself stable and trap gas leading to density issues. The other main concern I have is whether you under or overmix your dough. Therefore overdeveloping gluten making it tough and dense or under mixing meaning it can’t develop structure so it falls under its own weight.

[thestarvingchef]

Hi! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes and your wisdom, I've really enjoyed reading your blog.

From what I've heard, professional kitchens are kind of notorious for being high-stress work environments. In your experience, what's a "normal" amount of stress in a kitchen, and what are red flags that something is wrong with the kitchen's management / work culture? What about green flags?

Hey!

Love this question!

Kitchens are super high stress at times, red flags in management in my experience is most obvious in scheduling. If you aren’t given proper rest times/breaks, working super long schedules without a day off etc. I’m always wary of the cliche “We are a family”. This is generally a manipulative technique to make you feel obligated to the job more than you should. Chefs are also prone to anger but unsubstantiated anger or physical violence is a massive red flag. I’m also a massive naysayer to personal attacks. Sure if you overcook something you might deserve to be told off, but that doesn’t mean your height/weight/religion/race should be attacked for it. Basically a good sign of red flags is if it seems like people are trying to be Gordon Ramsay.

Green flags in my opinion; If you make a mistake the time is taken to teach you properly. The bosses concern themselves with your well being and actively work to prevent fatigue. Also massive green flag, they pay you for all hours worked at a deserved rate due to your experience.

If anyone in notes/reblogs has some red or green flags feel free to add them on!

Thanks for a lovely question!

Cheers

Tay

[thestarvingchef]

what tools would you recommend for someone who really wants to get into baking?

Pardon my reach Chef, but I’m going to add a kitchen scale

BRILLIANT! One I completely forgot about!

Good catch!

[thestarvingchef]

Hi,

Beyond bowls and measuring cups, what tools would you recommend for someone who really wants to get into baking?

My goal: be able to make just about any kind of bread, cookie brownie or cake.

Also, any opinion on Teflon vs non stick?

Hey! Fantastic question,

A beautiful spoon never goes amiss, a bread tester/fish tester, a bench scraper, a nice comfy whisk and a rolling pin are in my mind the other bare essentials, I also really recommend a bench mixer for quicker and more accurate mixing, and my personal biggest reccomendation, get yourself a few nice sized baking sheets of good quality, and a silicone mat. Trust me it will help a tonne!

I won’t lie and will admit fault in that I don’t know enough e out Teflon vs Non Stick to have an opinion. I generally have one teflon pan for eggs etc and then I use mostly stainless steel or Cast Iron. For baking id suggest Tefal which I believe is teflon, but really take good care of your equipment and use paper as required and it won’t matter a tonne.

Thanks for the great question!

Cheers

Tay!

[thestarvingchef]

Hey I’m a culinary student at college rn and I was wondering what your best advice would be for what I should do coming out of college

Hey! First off welcome to the trade! My first biggest tip is this. Cooking is a career of passion. You will most likely never be famous, you’ll work harder and longer than most people think is possible and get paid almost nothing for it. If you love it though it’s all worth it.

As someone who has been involved in the hiring process before, one thing you need to understand if having college is great fundamentals, but you must understand that the kitchen is a meritocracy. You earn your respect by doing. Don’t flaunt your education, the best thing to do is keep your head down and work hard and absorb all the information you can. Try and get a job at the best place possible, reach out to other chefs and offer yourself humbly for the chance to learn from them.

I found that competition is natural in a kitchen. Pick someone to work “against” try and work faster, cook better, season and taste better. Then when tou teach others skills teach them with the goal of creating a new rival.

I’d love to answer anymore questions you have about becoming a chef and working in restaurants. Feel free to ask or DM me any other questions you have! I look forward to seeing your career unfold

Cheers

Tay

[thestarvingchef]

Hey All!

Sorry I’ve been so sparse lately work has been kicking my proverbial. I will eventually get back on the horse and post more stuff. Finding the energy to take care of myself and work on top of this is jsut really challenging at the moment. A small little note that’s completely out of my usual league. I’ve become obsessed with a new artist who I’ve actually become quite close with! I know music isn’t the face of my page but check them out if you want, just a TW though his music can get a little dark and experimental! Before it’s asked, no this isn’t sponsored. I just think my friend is amazingly talented and wanted to share it.

[thestarvingchef]

Anytime! Bartending is super similar to coffee. My suggestion is to watch some YouTube on alcohol and see what you think about it. HowToDrink is my main one, super knowledgeable highly entertaining and just seems like a chill nice guy. As your not in USA I’d also highly reccomend look at some drink menus in your country, (I’m not American either so I don’t know to much there), learn the drinks that are common near you then when you go to work for the first time in a bar you already have an idea!

Cheers

Tay!

Have you ever worked as a barista?

I've spent a bit more than a year and a half as a cook at fastfood place (basically burritos), and now work in a coffee shop, and i do like the job, but am not sure if it's possible to — get somewhere from here?

Sorry for rambliness, have a good day.

Hey!

No need for an apology, I love ramblings it’s often where purest thoughts come from. I spent time as a Barista in a trendy cafe/brunch place for a while, super fun and pretty relaxing. Generally with that sort of work you have two options. You became great at coffee, become invaluable and work to be manager. Do that till you have enough experience to either buy a partnership or open your own place. A really close friend of mine took another path, they worked as a barista in the morning and as a bartender at night, eventually this turned into him becoming what was nicknamed a “Hospo Legend” basically he made enough connections and had the skill to basically become a Substitute bartender/barista. He’d charge 35 an hour and would work “hero shifts”. Someone calls in sick, he’s called in, advertises it on his socials and drags in his following. I also believe there’s the Coffee Olympics (IIRC) where people compete for best coffee best art etc. Feel free to hit me up again if you want any more info or ramblings from me!

Cheers

Tay!

[thestarvingchef]

Hi! Do you have a good recipe idea I can add to my meal prep for work lunches routine? Currently I rotate like a chicken and rice dish, and a like peanut sauce thai inspired kind of dish with rice noodles, sometimes I do pulled pork and rice if it's in sale and I make it. I put them in the freezer and just pull one every day as I make my lunch. Just looking for some other ideas that are cost effective-ish and healthy =) I'd love some tips or judgement on the aforementioned meals!

Hey! Great question!

I meal prep a lot and while I cook what you do too, I often include a fish dish, my go to is usually salmon fillets cooked super fast so they are still mostly raw for when they are reheated, rice/Cous cous, garlic mushrooms and broccolini, I dress it with soy sauce and sometimes Mayo or sriracha. Simple easy and pretty cheap tbh.

Cheers

Tay!

[thestarvingchef]

Have you ever worked as a barista?

I've spent a bit more than a year and a half as a cook at fastfood place (basically burritos), and now work in a coffee shop, and i do like the job, but am not sure if it's possible to — get somewhere from here?

Sorry for rambliness, have a good day.

Hey!

No need for an apology, I love ramblings it’s often where purest thoughts come from. I spent time as a Barista in a trendy cafe/brunch place for a while, super fun and pretty relaxing. Generally with that sort of work you have two options. You became great at coffee, become invaluable and work to be manager. Do that till you have enough experience to either buy a partnership or open your own place. A really close friend of mine took another path, they worked as a barista in the morning and as a bartender at night, eventually this turned into him becoming what was nicknamed a “Hospo Legend” basically he made enough connections and had the skill to basically become a Substitute bartender/barista. He’d charge 35 an hour and would work “hero shifts”. Someone calls in sick, he’s called in, advertises it on his socials and drags in his following. I also believe there’s the Coffee Olympics (IIRC) where people compete for best coffee best art etc. Feel free to hit me up again if you want any more info or ramblings from me!

Cheers

Tay!

[thestarvingchef]

This. So totally this. In the last few months of my time as a head chef, I added wine to a pan, went to light it for theatrics and caught a towel on fire. It went up quick. For a moment I watched the flames, as they creeped along the counter I felt content. This was the moment I knew I couldn’t continue. The fire in front of me didn’t match the fire inside anymore.

I started a fryer fire, night after I won Food & Wine’s ‘Best New Chef’. Nearly burned the place down. For real? For real.

THE BEAR (2022 – ) 1.05 “The Sheridan” / 1.08 “Braciole”

[thestarvingchef]

Sorry to hear about the shadow ban, that seriously sucks. I’m cooking solid foundations lead to success. I’d happily take a cook/chef that can cook a perfect scramble and not something fancy like the cliche beef Wellington than someone who can cook fancy but has no fundamentals. Complexity comes with time. Basics are much much more important.

chef dude :0

I am chef.

[thestarvingchef]

chef dude :0

I am chef.

[thestarvingchef]

"I am become Chef" made me chuckle, have you watched Oppenheimer? If so did you like it?

Hey!

Yeah I enjoyed it a bit though my attention span/ADHD made is a little hard to sit through at times!

Highly recommend it as a film. Though he prepared to sit for 3ish hours.

[thestarvingchef]

Absolutely love these ideas!

Hi how do i eat healthy on a budget??

Hey! Thanks for the great question.

I like to switch to more complex carbs, brown rice lentils beans etc. Much cheaper and good sources of protein. Also don’t fear using canned/cheat products. Soup flavour packs with yoghurt makes an amazing dip while stretching the cost far. Ethan Chebowski on YouTube has some wonderful recipes for healthy budget meals. SortedFood on YouTube is the same, Sorted even has a meal packs app which helps a tonne. Controversial opinion but meal kits/boxes also help a tonne, meals are pretty good nutritionally and you get lots of value for money. (My personal recommendation is Dinerly)

Thanks for the great Ask!

Cheers

Tay

[thestarvingchef]

Hey Tay! :]

One tip that might be helpful for recipes and other long posts: if you're on the app, you can add a 'keep reading' button by writing :readmore: in its own line and then hitting enter, or it should appear as a squiggly line among the media options at the bottom of the post box on browser. I didn't figure this out until many years of being on here.

Also, would you perchance take a request (maybe just for advice)? I've got an ingredient I don't know what to do with yet; I won't bog down this ask with the details for now, just want to check first.

Looking forward to reading (and learning) along as this blog grows. Cheers!

Awesome thanks so much for the tip! I will certainly make use of it. Feel free to request anything! If I have experience I’ll help as much as I can!

Cheers

Tay!

[thestarvingchef]

Hi how do i eat healthy on a budget??

Hey! Thanks for the great question.

I like to switch to more complex carbs, brown rice lentils beans etc. Much cheaper and good sources of protein. Also don’t fear using canned/cheat products. Soup flavour packs with yoghurt makes an amazing dip while stretching the cost far. Ethan Chebowski on YouTube has some wonderful recipes for healthy budget meals. SortedFood on YouTube is the same, Sorted even has a meal packs app which helps a tonne. Controversial opinion but meal kits/boxes also help a tonne, meals are pretty good nutritionally and you get lots of value for money. (My personal recommendation is Dinerly)

Thanks for the great Ask!

Cheers

Tay

[thestarvingchef]

Rum Baba soaked in an orange rum syrup served with creme anglaise and a rum caramel. Delicious light and satisfying treat.

Ingredients

For the Rum Baba:

• 1 packet active dry yeast

• 2 tablespoons warm water

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 eggs

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup melted butter

• Pinch of salt

For the Orange Rum Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup water

• Zest and juice of 2 oranges

• 1/2 cup rum

For the Crème Anglaise:

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

• 6 large egg yolks

• 1/2 cup sugar

For the Rum Caramel:

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup water

• 1/4 cup rum

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Rum Baba:

1. Prepare the Dough: Dissolve yeast in warm water, mix with flour, eggs, sugar, melted butter, and salt. Knead into a dough and let it rise for 2 hours.

2. Bake: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Divide dough into greased molds and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Orange Rum Syrup:

1. In a saucepan, bring sugar, water, orange juice, and zest to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and stir in rum.

3. Soak Baba: Once the babas are baked, immerse them in the syrup and allow them to soak thoroughly.

Crème Anglaise:

1. In a saucepan, heat milk, cream, and vanilla.

2. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar.

3. Gradually add the hot milk mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly.

4. Return the mixture to the stove and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Strain and chill.

Rum Caramel:

1. Heat sugar and water in a saucepan until caramelized.

2. Carefully add rum and cream, stirring until smooth.

3. Allow to cool slightly before using.

Note: Be sure to follow proper safety precautions, especially when working with hot sugar or flammable alcohol like rum. Enjoy your homemade Rum Baba!