• Created on 2/16/10 by JackBlack

The Fungus Among UsMushrooms are a unique and peculiar food, and they're also somewhat of a paradox. Most are edible and delicious, but a few others are toxic and can make you ill or even cause your demise, and some are also hallucinogenic. They're the type of food that people often obsess over-to some, they are one of the most delicious foods available, yet to others they are slightly scary and grotesque, not worthy of consumption. Though most often thought of as a vegetable, mushrooms are actually a form of fungus-they have no seeds, stems or flowers, and reproduce... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by litalia

All extra-virgin olive oils are basically the same. Just because the bottle reads "extra virgin" does not mean that the oil is made from quality olives, or that the olives used weren't bruised, oxidized, olive fly-infested, or overripe. In fact, it is possible for an olive oil to be made from low quality olives but still achieve the "extra virgin" requirements through chemical processing. However, these oils will always be found out by their oily, fatty, bruised apple-like taste and their processed aroma. Every single one of Lucini's olives is hand-picked and pressed... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by dbirkle

Nutmeg is the seed of the Myristica fragrans, a tropical, dioecious evergreen tree native to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of Indonesia. Nutmeg has a distinctive, pungent fragrance and a warm, slightly sweet taste; it is used to flavor many kinds of baked goods, confections, puddings, meats, sausages, sauces, vegetables, and beverages such as eggnog. Grated nutmeg has been used as a sachet; the Romans used it as incense. Around 1600 it became important as an expensive commercial spice of the Western world. It was the subject of Dutch plots to keep prices high, and of... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by Cristina7

Author: litalia A DEFINITION: "Extra Virgin" is any olive oil that is less than 1% acidity, produced by the first pressing of the olive fruit. Most olive oils today are extra virgin in name only, meeting only the minimum requirement. Extra virgin is a chemical requirement that does not indicate either quality or taste. QUALITY: With an impressively low acidity level of 0.225%, Lucini has a level of quality that can only be achieved one way -- through hand harvesting and pressing within 24 hours. The premium flavor reflects the expert touch of our master cultivator:... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by mhall

I would like to begin this article by saying that in the past 12 years of managing employees of various kitchens that managing union kitchens has made me a better manager of people. I have no doubt that some of our readers are currently managing kitchens that are unionized and have found it to be the most difficult experience that they have ever had. I can most certainly agree with them. But as I have been gaining more experience in this area I can offer my advice and share some of the tools that have helped me grow. In the early years of the development of the... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by msacks

What's in a name? History says plenty!So you want to open a little place of your own. It's something you always wanted to do. Just a cute little place with good food, a few plants and small intimate tables where people like to gather. You've spent months mulling over the name. You could go with the obvious-"Henry's Restaurant". After all, this was the name given to the little stops along a travel route that served food and beverage to "restore" its weary patrons. Nice title, but you're right-it's obvious. You might consider a name that is a little more down to earth... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by ckoetke

It's summer, it's hot, and it's salad season. Besides watermelon and corn, salad is the perfect summer food. They're light, crisp and refreshing-- especially when paired with a tart dressing. They're fast and don't heat up a hot kitchen. And they're versatile with as many salads as the imagination can invent. At the core of most summer salads is lettuce. Lettuce, plain lettuce, was viewed for years as a tasteless part of a salad that existed to be covered up with a thick, sticky dressing. But what a metamorphosis lettuce has seen in the last 10-15 years. Interesting... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by kroyse

Do you listen to your employees? Really listen? Letting employees talk is not the same as listening. You have to work at it, the same way you work at anything else you want to succeed at. Here are five things to remember that will make you a better listener: - Put your work away. As soon as an employee comes to you and wants to talk, put whatever you're working on away. Remove all temptation to do anything other than give your full attention to the employee. Listening means really concentrating - and for many, that's hard! - Bite your tongue. One of the first signs... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by ssolomon

The newest cheese in Judith Schad's repertoire of fine American cheeses in the French style is the SOFIA. Judith Schad is the award-winning farmstand cheese maker in Greenville, Indiana who is always experimenting, and always achieving excellent results in her pursuit of taste and knowledge. Hand-made from fresh acidic curd, this cheese, a truncated brick in shape, is layered with several strata of vegetable ash in the center, covered with a layer of vegetable ash around the entire surface of the cheese, and ripened with a light white mold over the ashen surface. The... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by hbrody

No doubt about it. The rather bland looking lemon verbena, Aloysia triphylla, is not going to be stage center in those herb gardens where esthetics play a strong role, but the wise cook will most assuredly find a place for this homely child; it can work wonders as a flavor enhancer in dishes from desserts to entrees - even in iced drinks. Referred to as "a member of a select group of olfactory ambushers" by a well-known herbalist, one need only smell the scented leaf to understand its culinary value. And yet this exotic herb is seldom seen in recipe books. Considered a... read more