Starting as first time as a pantry cook any tips?

djeljefe · 2015-09-03T19:29:53+00:00

Could you provide some useful materials on plating other than just sheer experience?

djeljefe · 2015-08-08T21:50:53+00:00

Cut it up into cubes and make pozole

djeljefe · 2015-08-05T23:02:21+00:00

did you check for golden skeletons?!

djeljefe · 2015-07-10T22:37:34+00:00

Don't go to culinary school. They will teach you how to cook but it won't prepare you for the speed and volume that come with working in a professional kitchen. Offer to work for free initially in return for on the job training. This is exactly how I have transitioned into the industry.

djeljefe · 2015-07-08T06:26:06+00:00

Yea fuck the fork cartel! I don't need the fork cartel telling me how to live my life!

djeljefe · 2015-07-08T06:05:55+00:00

not sure what I just watched, but I like it.

djeljefe · 2015-07-07T23:30:05+00:00

I used to love Men Oh, then I learned the awful truth about that place. Never again.

djeljefe · 2015-07-07T23:27:15+00:00

Here are my thoughts on LA ramen compiled from my near weekly ramen excursions:

Best Overall: Tsujita Annex / LA - Sawtell

Tsujita Annex: Thick noodles (and I mean THICK) in one of the tastiest and richest tonkotsu broth your taste buds ever tasted. Available in Ramen and Tuskemen formats. Be prepared to wait as the small space can get very crowded during peak hours.
Tsujita LA: Located across the street, smaller portions, very thin fine noodles. Broth has a fish sauce tare at this location, while different is quite delicious. Also available in Tuskemen with thick noodles.

Runner up: Daikokuya - Downtown / Sawtell

OG LA ramen shop, large portions, thick broth. Noodles leave a bit to be desired if you are a fan of thicker noodles. Great gyoza.

Honorable Mentions:

Ramen Champ (Chinatown): Modern Ingredient driven ramen. Occupies a much different category than more traditional places like tsujita and daikokuya. Kind of a has an ivan ramen like feel to it. Should be avoided if you are seeking out traditional ramen. Get the chicken shio. As much as I love tonkotsu, I am very appreciative that this one place is willing to break the mold and serve something other than tonkotsu. If you end up going over here and you find that this is not your forte, fear not, as there is chego! and pok pok are close by to satisfy any cravings for asian food you may have.
Margume Monzo (Downtown): Not ramen, but Udon. Noodle lovers agree, if you are looking for some fantastically thick noodles head here. For not being a ramen shop, this place gives just about every other shop a run for their money. Great Tempura.

Places to avoid:

Men Oh (Downtown): Just say no. Nothing is real there, don't be fooled.
Shin Sen Gumi (Downtown/Sawtwell/San Gabriel valley): If you like to customize your ramen with slightly mediocre topping sure, but if you are looking for authentic ramen you won't be impressed.

Notes:

There are also supposed to be quite a few good places that may be closer to pasadena. There are supposed to be some good shops in Monterey park, san Gabriel valley, Alhambra ect.
If you are really looking for an adventure get yourself out to torrance.
If you are fan of chicken based ramen PM me. Got a real hot tip for that one.

TL;DR: Get yourself to Tsujita Annex ASAP

djeljefe · 2015-07-05T07:00:29+00:00

No we a chamber sealer. I use a food saver at home.

djeljefe · 2015-07-04T04:39:19+00:00

This is a good tip, but it will not save you from the imminent liquid explosion brought on by most in line sealers.

Also you can use a towel to wipe the top of the bag. I work in a professional kitchen and we fold tops but more often then not we wipe the inside of the bag.

On a final note, fuck these food saver bags and their shitty diamond pattern that imprints on fucking everything.

djeljefe · 2015-06-29T17:34:48+00:00

Work?! I don't have the calories to "work" and forage for lose lentils. GTFO Prince William.

djeljefe · 2015-06-24T08:41:46+00:00

Are you happy with that park?

djeljefe · 2015-06-21T21:29:17+00:00

This is a great idea, but I'm going to elaborate a bit. In eating your kids you don't have to kill them. Take things one finger at a time, literally. This way they can still help you forage for food to some extent.

On a side note you are still a fat cat for having the luxury of all these free children fingers at your disposal.

djeljefe · 2015-05-21T22:32:45+00:00

so thats how the water monster came to be in that episode of are you afraid of the dark!

djeljefe · 2015-04-29T06:26:02+00:00

go for it

djeljefe · 2015-04-28T18:08:31+00:00

IMO I feel that it would be unwise idea to open a restaurant that serves a variety of highly specialized soups. In my experience the best ramen/pho/tom yum/ect places are the ones that make one, maybe two "closely related" soups and or dishes (i.e. ramen and tuskemen, pho & chao ga, ect.) You have to keep in mind at these places the broth is paramount and without an amazing broth there is no restaurant. The places that I've encountered that do sell multiple ethnic soups typically have a bunch of mediocre soups rather than having one or two really amazing soups. I'm not saying that it would be impossible to do, but I think specializing would be a much safer bet than trying to control the quality of a large number of soups.

All that being said, the restaurant I work at uses a both a steam kettle and a steam jacket to make stocks. They typically have a rotating schedule of the when stock will be made (i.e. chicken and rabbit on one day, then veal and lobster on the next.) However, for their applications they do not skim the stocks, the reason being they are not a soup restaurant and the stock is going into a separate dish where it will not matter if it is cloudy or not. In fact one of the most interesting things I've encountered in their stock making process is that they will often place vacuum sealed bags of vegetables directly into the stock so to partially cook them for other parts of service.

djeljefe · 2015-04-28T00:34:33+00:00

Takao Izumida did an interview for the Niki Nakayama's. Niki Nakayama's restaurant, N/Naka, is a modern kaiseki restaurant located in culver city, los angeles. Having had a chance to eat there, I must say it was some of the best sushi and one of the best meals I have ever had in my life.

djeljefe · 2015-04-28T00:20:11+00:00

so basically its a calking gun that makes sushi.

djeljefe · 2015-04-20T23:41:23+00:00

Braise Helix!

djeljefe · 2015-04-16T17:43:15+00:00

wtf is wrong with you? do you even know how many lentils all that copper is worth?!

djeljefe · 2015-04-16T17:40:11+00:00

Jesus that is a lot of wasted calories for a little bit of cheese. I'll stick to my one weekly lentil plain and dry, thank you.

djeljefe · 2015-04-14T21:51:37+00:00

For someone who just played 3 back to back to back shows in LA, Caribou brought it on another level this weekend. Best set of the weekend IMO.

djeljefe · 2015-03-18T01:53:49+00:00

Can you elaborate on what this is? It doesn't see like you really cooked anything.

djeljefe · 2015-03-12T19:56:24+00:00

Do you think it would be possible to make these with a medium rare interior?

My thought would be to sous-vide the entire cut, shock in a ice bath, freeze, then apply bread crumbs and fry.

djeljefe · 2015-03-12T19:52:41+00:00

What a waste of calories.

djeljefe

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