Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Maybe the BEST Kitchen Resource Ever!


Another great "explain-all" book that I highly recommend: The Kitchen Answer Book by Hank Rubin (ISBN 9781892123749). 

5,000+ questions and answers are arranged in broad categories: Baking, Caffeine, Dairy, Eggs, Fowl, Fruits and Nuts, Grains, Beans, and Pasta, Meat, Seafood, Seasoning, Stocks, Soups and Sauces, Utensils, and Vegetables

This book is amazing! 

An excellent gift to give anyone who wants to be a whiz in the kitchen.  ;-)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sanitation Is An Eye-Opener

So, along with my kitchen hours, I'm taking a class titled "Sanitation." As you might expect, the goal of the course is to get readers to set high food safety standards, whether they're employees in a fast-food chain, future bakers like myself, or managers of five-star restaurants.

We're only a week into the course, but already I'm disgusted. Yes, by those pesky microorganisms that cause food borne illnesses. But mostly by the examples of personal hygiene no-nos that lead to cross-contamination.

Can you say "Keep Your Feces to Yourself!"?

Just one example: in a video snippet, we watched a waiter slip his hand inside his pants to scratch himself. He then resumed filling glasses with ice at the soda machine. Ewwwww!  

But there are also the people who pick/blow their nose, scratch their zits, or run their fingers through their hair.

I didn't realize just how much the info is seeping into my personal kitchen practices -- until tonight, when I licked my finger after cutting fresh peaches. Instinctively I froze, my finger still in my mouth. At my expression, my husband bust out laughing. 

"Don't worry," he said, wickedly. "I won't tell anyone!" 

Yeah, right. 

I bet he's installed a hidden camera in our kitchen, so he can upload "SHERI'S SANITATION NO-NOS!!" on YouTube.