Gourmet List

hippygourmet asked:

http://www.HippyGourmet.com

http://www.SlowFoodNation.org

http://www.SlowFood.com

In this segment from Organic Living TV with the Hippy Gourmet, we take a wondrous tour of the Slow Food Nation conference in our backyard here in San Francisco, California. Slow Food is an international organization dedicated to local, sustainable, organic, fair-trade ingredients and to the artisan providers and chefs who bring it all to life!

Abhishek Agarwal asked:


You would be loaded with options if you are looking for someone to teach you gourmet cooking. You need to gain all the education that you desire from gourmet cooking also in instruction. You can learn gourmet cooking through workshops or from any of the culinary art professional schools easily without any hesitation.

If you are planning to teach gourmet cooking then you need to acquire fundamental understanding about the history, skills and techniques of gourmet cooking that are required in every process. You may also need to learn the best and effective way to communicate with the students. If you combine all these requirements, you would be able to understand the process in a better way.

Some of the gourmet cooking strategies that would assist you in teaching gourmet cooking are as follows:

1) Use of demonstrations is the best way to provide education to students in gourmet cooking classes. There are many students who can learn in a better way when they see, touch and smell the recipe along with lecture. More the senses involved, better are the chances that students can understand you easily and quickly. Such practical classes also help students to remember the lesson for a longer period.

2) You need to explain the reason behind every act. For example, you should provide reasons as of why are you using this technique when several alternatives are available. Provide difference between the effectiveness of techniques. This would help the students to understand its importance in true sense and help them remember the technique more easily.

3) You should ensure that there is a positive environment wheare students can be taught gourmet cooking. Once you are able to establish a positive environment in the class, learning would be an enjoyable experience for your students and you would not feel any task a chore that cannot be achieved. Your students would take it as a challenge and try to excel in that. Such attitude is itself a key to successful training and successful students.

You can join variety of classes or invest in workshops to learn skills that are required to teach gourmet cooking. Once you are delivered with right kind of training and educational foundation, you would be able to cook in a specific style of expertise. It is upto the student that he or she uses, loves it, pick it up or not. Still, teaching gourmet cooking properly would divert them towards the right way to prepare a recipe and learn good cooking skills. Therefore, it is important for an instructor to learn all these fundamentals of teaching gourmet cooking before starting his or her teaching career.

Kate S asked:


If you ever wonder what to send to your clients, friends or loved ones, send a gourmet gift basket.  Gourmet baskets are the most versatile gifts that are appropriate for any occasion. Who would not want to receive an elegant basket filled with gourmet treats?  Indeed, it is not unusual for recipients to keep the beautiful basket intact for a while so they can admire their present longer.  There are many types of gourmet baskets to choose from.  This article provides an overview of different types of gourmet gift baskets available and tips for sending these gifts.

Gourmet baskets come in many different themes.  They can be used for providing a romantic dinner for two to serving as extravagant office treats.  Gourmet baskets can be sent for birthday, anniversary, housewarming, thank you, sympathy, or congratulations. They can be sent as corporate gifts to your clients and business referrals, or to your friends and loved ones.

Popular gourmet baskets usually contain generous assortment of fine gourmet treats, such as fine chocolates, cheeses, fruits and nuts mix, gourmet cookies, crackers, gourmet coffee, and other savory snacks. For food connoisseurs, you may want to send a gourmet food basket filled with lobster pate, tomato basil cheese, Romano cheese sticks, Pimento stuffed olives, herb salami, rosemary herb baquette breadsticks, double chocolate mocha truffles, water crackers, Kasilof smoke salmon, pistachios and a wood style cutting board for serving all these items on.

Italian gift baskets are another type of popular gourmet gifts. They deliver everything you need for a grand Italian dinner,including pasta sauce, thin spaghetti, penna pasta, Italian bread sticks, Haute Cuisine Italian cookies, vinaigrette, Parmesan Bruschetta bag, artichoke hearts, double chocolate truffles, Pimento stuffed olives, Salmon fillets, extra virgin olive oil, and cream filled pastry cookies. These gourmet food baskets are great corporate gifts, or for birthday, congratulations or thank you.

For your wife’s birthday, or your anniversary, you may want to send a breakfast basket, which is associated with warmth, comfort and good taste. Imagine her delight when she receives a beautiful cloth lined muffin and bread basket filled with fantastic breakfast favorites, including classic buttermilk pancake mix, New England maple syrup, Belgian waffles, cinnamon nut coffee, Perugina chocolates, and cappucino rolled wafer cookies. If you prefer ready to eat breakfast, then you can send a scrumptious selection of fresh baked goodness in a wicker basket.  Packed with moist, rich pound cake, chocolate chip blondies, and brownies with walnuts, this basket offers a great way to start the day of your loved one.

Coffee gift basket is a dream present for coffee connoisseurs. In addition to premium coffee, the container is filled with shortbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, capuccio caramels, creamy coffee candies.  Some coffee baskets come with coffee mugs or a CD of classical music, and are ideal for sending your sincerest wishes to friends and co-workers.  Similarly, tea gift basket can be sent to tea lovers.

Chocolates are favorites for most people, especially women. The chocolate gift basket may be the perfect present for your girl friend, mom, or female boss. You can send a box of chocolate truffles, or a basket filled with premium chocolate bars, chocolate covered pretzels, Italian chocolate espresso cake, chocolate biscotti chunks, chocolate popcorns, brownies, and cookies. The chocolate gift basket will provide the most delightful chocolate experience.  It is the perfect present for you to make friends, make amends, or say I love you. 

Meat and cheese gifts are men’s favorites.  For male recipients, you can send a tray filled with delicious Heart of Wisconsin cheeses, mustards, sausages and crackers. The wooden tray will come in handy for serving the gourmet meat and cheese. 

 

Gourmet baskets for individuals with dietary restriction are also available. You can send gifts that are sugar free, Kosher, or heart healthy, according to your recipient’s needs.  Special theme gourmet baskets are also available.  For example, for the bookworm in your life, you can send a book lover chest which comes in a book end chest filled with gourmet treats and coffee to enjoy during reading time. For recipients who are always on the go, you can send a travelling gourmet tower, which consists of 3 faux leather suitcases for a treat on the go. The suitcases are filled with savory treats such as tomato basil crackers, vanilla cream cocoa, sliced beef salami, honey sweet peanuts, chocolate chip cookies, assorted chocolates, buttery almond toffee, garlic cheese spread, vanilla caramels, cheddar cheese pretzel sticks, and gourmet roast coffee. The 3 suitcases will be great for travelers for years to come.

In conclusion, gourmet baskets are the most versatile gifts that are great for any occasion. There are many themes to choose from, including gourmet food, breakfast, coffee, tea, Italian, chocolate, sugar free, meat and cheese.  No matter whether it is for your clients, friends, or loved ones, you can sure leave a lasting impression with a gourmet gift basket. 

hippygourmet asked:

http://www.HippyGourmet.com

http://hippygourmet.com/blog

From this very popular episode of the Hippy Gourmet on PBS, we visit with Lara Gutnik of Lara’s Delicious who shows us how to make an absolutely wonderful vegan version of the traditional Ukrainian Borscht!

Ricky Lim asked:


When it comes to eating, most people would say that they enjoy it and that they crave food. But just how many of those who love food also love the process of making and preparing it? And just how many of those self- professed food lovers even know the simplest way of preparing the food, especially their favorites?

Many would say that they do not know such. It’s a shame just how many of us love food in general but have less of an inkling on how to prepare it.

But how about those people who are on a diet? There are some people who love to eat but have to keep their weight in balance and make sure that they won’t gain, nor lose, a single pound. Good for people who are like these for they have no problem at all in keeping and committing their goal.

However, there are many people who have to watch their diet in an exactly opposite way. They have to gain weight and keep it on a certain level. Most of the time, these kind of people are the ones whom a lot would say picky eaters.

They don’t like to eat much and when they do, they prefer to eat really special foods such as gourmet. Preparing gourmet food is a bit difficult and hiring a gourmet chef is equally expensive.

The perfect solution to this would be getting a gourmet diet delivery service. In this way, you get to have gourmet food delivered to your home anytime of the day and at a much cheaper price too.

It is especially convenient for busy working professionals who have no time to cook, let alone cook a diet gourmet meal for themselves or their families. Online gourmet diet food delivery services such as Bistromd offers healthy gourmet meals that are delivered to your doorstep each day saving you the trouble of cooking and buying groceries.

Jeff asked:


Do you dream of waking up to the wonderful aroma of roasted coffee?  Most coffee lovers will definitely answer yes to this question, especially if the coffee were talking about its gourmet coffee.  The only problem with such wonderful dream is that for most people buying gourmet coffee on a daily basis is just not affordable, especially when a pound of gourmet coffee can be as high as $10.

So what can we do about this?  Do we throw the towel in and resign to the thought of only being able to buy this type of coffee for special occasions? Not at all! — There are many ways to work around this problem; one of them is referred to as coffee roasting.

Roasting coffee beans is not as complex as you may think. The advantages of roasting your own beans and making a gourmet cup of Java are that it is affordable and actually becomes the hobby of many coffee lovers. If all this sounds good to you let us go ahead and mention the many methods available for roasting your very own coffee.

Air Roasting

This is a popular method that relies on hot air in order to roast the beans.  People who choose to use this method will often buy air popcorn popper machines because they are easy to use and get the job done.  Compared to other methods, air roasting can be considered the best because it produces even roasts, the only problem with air roasting is that if you use an air popcorn popper you might only be able to roast 3 to 4 ounces at a time.

Oven Roasting

Unlike the previous method this type of roasting relies on heat generated by an oven, the problem with oven roasting is that you are not able to see the beans as they are being prepared, the oven will vent smoke and the roasting can be uneven.  Some people say that uneven roasting can add to the flavor of the coffee but if the oven produces results that are too uneven it will have negative effects.

Gourmet Coffee Roasters

If you want to get a true cup of Gourmet coffee then the best decision you can make is to purchase a machine that has been specifically designed to roast coffee beans using different modes.  You can purchase shade grown Gourmet flavored beans at a very low price (2-5 dollars) and then roast them at home with your own machine.  A few examples of Gourmet roasters are the iRoast, the Nesco roaster and the Gourmet roaster created by Hearthware.

In order to get the best taste from Gourmet flavored beans it is important that you use a precision roaster such as the ones mentioned before, there are many other brands and models that you can purchase but if they do not use a precision instrument you might end up over roasting your beans and you might end up with a funny tasting cup of Java.  Most of these machines can only roast small portions of green beans (1/2 cup to 1 cup) but the results are nothing short of amazing.

hippygourmet asked:

http://www.HippyGourmet.com

In this segment from “Organic Living with the Hippy Gourmet” TV – we visit with Chef Christine Keff, owner of Flying Fish Restaurant in downtown Seattle, Washington! But first we head out to Whistling Train Farm in Kent, Washington where meet up with Shelley Verdi and pick some fresh beets for a very special organic beet salad!

jasabelemandelona asked:


There is a very thin line between an average catering business and a really successful one. A profitable gourmet establishment does things differently. Their first and foremost quality is their willingness to take orders whenever their client requires. There are so many people who will want to arrange a function within a short deadline. A good business never says NO and plans ahead to adjust their orders. You! The business owner must be willing to put extra effort, making sure that the last-minute sort of clients is dealt with. You can even make it a selling point by advertising this unique quality.

It will help you to hire a staff that will complement each others skills. It means that you should hire people with different skills so that they may help with different business aspects. You can then ask your staff to train each other. This will do two things. It will allow your staff to work together and build a better team. Secondly and most importantly it will allow you to replace someone in case of any emergency. Note how frustrating it will be, if you have a single driver who knows all the contacts and he doesn?t report on an important event. If you had someone sit with him for only one day and share their work duties, you will always have a replacement who knows at least the basics to put things together.

Remember to reach out to the local community. You can offer free samples of the menu to office workers, schools and church. From time to time, you may also want to distribute free food to orphanage and other non-for-profit organizations. Doing so, not only provides you with a chance to showcase your skills but also help building up a local client base. Serving your community is a sure bet to a successful venture. It will protect you against the biggest threat to any business i.e. a monopoly. A strong rival moving into your territory will never put you out of business as the locals always trust a well reputed local.

In the end, all what matters is the service. Every time you say YES to the client, you build a rapport. Your reputation is depended on the clients needs. If their needs are fulfilled, they will keep coming back, over and over again.

Abhishek Agarwal asked:


People often think that gourmet cooking consists of a series of elaborate dishes of the kind that can only be found in top restaurants. It is thought of as a kind of cooking that is difficult to do and just as difficult to eat.

Gourmet cooking is felt to be something best avoided by the majority of people because it is too expensive and surrounded by social snobbery. Gourmet cooking is for the rich and those who have more money than sense.

That image of gourmet cooking dates back to the nineteenth century when French chefs dominated the industry. The best restaurants and the richest households employed French chefs.

Those chefs were trained in a rigorous system that aimed to keep professional secrets within a tightly knit group. The chef’s livelihood depended on maintaining his craft exclusivity. Equally his employer’s status depended on the exclusivity of the chef.

Today cooking is much more democratic. Few young chefs today would tolerate the kind of ritual humiliation that apprentice chefs suffered in old fashioned kitchens. Television chefs have demonstrated their skills before a wide public and college courses offer intensive training in arts once the preserve of elite kitchens.

As more people dine out on a regular basis the snobbery once associated with restaurants has become a thing of the past. The restaurant that allows its waiters to be rude to the customers will soon go out of business.

The food that is considered to be gourmet food has also changed. In the past the idea of gourmet food was to get as far as way as possible from peasant food. Today the same peasant dishes are likely to be on the menu of top restaurants. Simplicity and natural taste is everything. The rich sauces and elaborate dishes of old style gourmet food have been swept away.

A simple bruschetta made of a slice of bread covered in tomato sauce and toasted could be considered gourmet food. Yet a few centuries ago the same food would have been eaten by poor people.

The key thing in gourmet food today is the quality of the ingredients and the integrity of the final dish. If the bread is made with unbleached flour without any of the additives ususally found in commercially made bread, allowed to rise slowly and baked in a wood fired oven then you are off to a good start. The sauce should, of course, be freshly made not out of a far. It should be made from tomatoes with the best flavour not the tasteless varieties that are usually found on the supermarket shelves. It should be well seasoned with garlic and fresh herbs.

A dish prepared in that way will be something out of ordinary. It will justifiably rate as gourmet food although it is, in itself, very simple and demands no special skills to make it.

Danny Wright asked:


Not everyone has a love for chocolate, but for many of those who do it is virtually irresistible. Gourmet chocolates have a special texture that just melts in your mouth. Gourmet chocolate is full of richness that no other chocolate can give you. Most gourmet chocolate lovers are only interested in chocolate not a Reese bar with peanut butter and chocolate. There are gourmet chocolates to fulfill any chocolates lovers’ sweet tooth.

The main differences between different delectable chocolates are the different cocoa’s that the gourmet chocolate is made from. The addition of flavorings has made a big difference in the types of gourmet chocolates in the world today. Who would have thought that strawberries, raspberries and black berries would be some of the world famous flavors in chocolates?

Truffles of all flavors, shapes and sizes are also available for those who have that love for gourmet chocolate. Whether you have a love for dark, milk or white chocolate it is all available out there for you to devour. Boxes of gourmet chocolates are also available. Either plain chocolate or ones filled with your favorite filling. Once you start into a box it is hard to stop.

These small scrumptious treasures make a perfect gift for anyone especially for Valentine’s Day. If you know a chocolate lover, whether it be your significant other or your mom, they will greatly appreciate the delectable taste of these gourmet chocolates. Every person that you take the time to buy these for will know that you spent your hard earned money buying them the only gift they really need. Stores that sell these wonderful treats will also have gift certificates available. That way if you can’t pick out the perfect gourmet chocolates you can certainly let them do it with a gift certificate for gourmet chocolate.

As Valentine’s Day approaches use gourmet chocolates to finish a gift such as with flowers and a card or for the man in your life add a bottle of champagne. You can’t go wrong giving the gift of gourmet chocolate. Gourmet chocolates are great for every season and as a get well gift. For this type of gift you may want to add a fruit basket as well or again flowers. Either way you will make the person who you are giving to feel very special with the gift of gourmet chocolates. So what are you waiting for, head out and get that special someone a box of gourmet chocolates.