It has been crazy wild around here since my appearance on Top Chef Masters. As you may know, I managed to win the Quickfire challenge with a Moroccan-style Grilled Cheese Sandwich. The best part is that I won $5,000 for the charity I was playing for, Recipe for Success. Of course, this is the season that the Quickfire Challenges don’t contribute any points towards your final score. Kind of like when, back in 1996, I won Best New Chef from Food & Wine Magazine, and the next year was the year they started putting the Best New Chefs on the cover. For some reason, this kind of thing always happens to me.
Title Translation: Making fancy French cooking techniques less scary.
Have you ever been skimming through recipes, trying to find something to “inspire” you to tie on the apron, roll up your sleeves, and start creating a world of mess in the kitchen? You find something mouthwatering, and just as you’re approaching your “I got this…Here we go!” moment, you read the recipe a little more closely and find some fancy French technique that you’ve never even heard of, let alone attempted, which completely deflates you of any kitchen confidence you may have had. As if those snooty chefs behind that recipe are sticking their noses up at you, smirking at the fact you even entertained the idea of doing their recipes justice. Well Chef David Bull (who does not fall into the “snooty chef” category), is a master at making these fancy techniques approachable, one term at a time. Training, shcmaining! You should be able to open a cookbook (or login to a cookbook, in Chef Bull’s case) and cook whatever you want, whenever you want, without a culinary degree.
In this particular case, we’re talking about the term concassé. You’ll see it in numerous recipes referring to tomatoes primarily. The direct French translation is “to crush”, but as a culinary technique, it’s a little more detailed than that. Some may say that it adds an element of precision and sophistication to a recipe, but the bottom line, according to Chef Bull, is that it’s a fancy way of saying “blanched, peeled, seeded, then diced.” Well now that’s not so hard – I can do that in my sleep! Well, maybe that’s a stretch, but still – very doable. I may not execute it with the same grace and accuracy as someone with a degree under their belt, but by gosh I’ll get it done! (Re-inflate the confidence here.) In this video, Chef Bull demonstrates his technique for a tomato concassé, even offering a “mess free” way to seed your tomatoes.
Four new Bull’s Eye on Food recipes now feature instructional videos directly from Chef Bull’s cooking classes! If you weren’t able to attend his February cooking class, we’re now bringing the class to you through these videos thanks to the cooperation of Central Market Austin Cooking School! For those of you who were able to attend his class in person, the videos included in Bull’s Eye on Food are an on-demand refresher of all of the helpful tips and secrets you may have missed or forgotten.
For a taste of these videos, take a look at How to Trim an Artichoke by Chef David Bull. Chef Bull told the Keeper Team, “If you’re anything like me, the task of trimming artichokes is daunting and tedious. From my experience in restaurants when I’ve had to trim cases of artichokes at once, here is a quick and simple technique to help you out.” This video, among others, can be found in Chef Bull’s Crisp Sea Scallop with Artichoke Ragout recipe.
The always evolving Keeper Collection has launched a new exciting feature! Keeper’s Cookbooks now include even more in-depth instruction with recipe videos, bringing our chefs into your kitchen to cook along with you. With these demonstration videos you can see exactly how steps are executed, just as the chef intended. For example, included in Bull’s Eye on Food Interactive Cookbook, Chef David Bull teaches you his technique for manicuring shallots, like in this video below (provided by Texas Monthly).
Already a feature added to many recipes in their Interactive cookbooks, Chef David Bull; Chef Monica Pope; and Chef Paul Petersen (and many more!) will continue to add recipe videos to make your home cooking experience an even easier and more enjoyable experience.
If you are already a Keeper Cookbook user, check out the videos and come back here to let us know what you think! We love feedback!
Uchi, a well-known Japanese restaurant, staple of Austin, and a good friend of the Wine & Food Foundation has given us some new and exciting recipes to share with you! The Uchi family of chefs, including Executive Chef Tyson Cole, Chef de Cuisine Paul Qui, and Pastry Chef Philip Speer, have shared some of their personal favorites with the Plate & Vine Interactive Cookbook for you to recreate in your own home. With signature plates from their menu and their top selling dessert, you can’t go wrong. Also, to keep you up to date on the progress of the highly anticipated Uchiko (Uchi Restaurant the sequel), follow Chef Tyson Cole at www.uchikoaustin.blogspot.com.
Uchiviche is a seafood dish with refreshing texture and flavor and a top seller at Uchi.
