40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering

New Book Review

40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering, by Alice Waters. Chez Panisse opened its doors in 1971. Founded by Alice Waters, the restaurant is rooted in her conviction that the best-tasting food is organic, locally grown, and harvested in ecologically sound ways by people who are taking care of the land for future generations. The quest for such ingredients has always determined the restaurant’s cuisine, and, over the course of forty years, Chez Panisse has helped create a community of local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of fresh and pure ingredients.

In Forty Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering, Alice takes readers on her journey from the humble and visionary beginnings of the restaurant, through its rise and the acclaim, to the Café and the influential Chez Panisse Foundation. Organized by decade, the book includes a wealth of archival material and photographs—menus; invitations; pictures of Alice at the restaurant and around the world, with those who have passed through her life—and interviews from public figures and cooks who have been inspired by or mentored at the restaurant.

This tribute to the delicious food revolution that began with Alice Waters and Chez Panisse is an important work for anyone who cares about food, sustainability, and the powerful legacy that Alice has built.

ALICE WATERS’s influence on American cooking is unrivaled. She opened Chez Panisse (named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet) in 1971, Chez Panisse Café in 1980, and Café Fanny in 1984. She founded her career on creating dishes using fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients long before sustainability was a household term. Among her many awards, Alice has received the James Beard Best Chef in America, Humanitarian, and Lifetime Achievement awards, and most recently the French Légion d’Honneur. In 1996, she created the Chez Panisse Foundation to fund the Edible Schoolyard, a model of edible education in the public school system. She is the author of eight cookbooks, most recently In the Green Kitchen and The Art of Simple Food. For more information about Alice and Chez Panisse, please visit ChezPanisse.com and ChezPanisseFoundation.org.

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Avoid Destroying the Color, Texture and Nutrients in Vegetables!

By Chef Todd Mohr

Nutrients in vegetables usually wind up in the green colored water you've just cooked them in. Have you ever noticed that if you cook carrots in water, you've got orange colored liquid and carrots that taste like water? Where do you think the nutrients go?

If you want to avoid destroying the color, texture, and nutrients in your vegetables, there are some simple adjustments you can make in your cooking. By controlling the heat and understanding the effect of acids and bases in cooking, you can make vegetables even children will eat!

Keep in mind that there's a BIG difference between boil, simmer, and poach. Most people make the mistake of cooking everything at a violent, rapid boil. You shouldn't use the highest amount of MOIST heat by boiling any more than you'd put everything in your oven at 500F to cook in a DRY method. You control the heat and get better results.

You can destroy the nutrients in vegetables by treating them too rough. Boil is 212F/100C, and has large, violent bubbles in the liquid. Items are bounced around and cooked at the highest MOIST temperature you can achieve. Nothing in the kitchen should be boiled.

Simmer is characterized by small bubbles in your cooking liquid, usually around the edges of the pan. Items in a proper simmer are cooked at 185F/85C to 200F/93C and move about softly in the environment. This is a much gentler way to cook, and most things in the kitchen should be simmered.

Poaching temperatures are even lower, from 165F/74C to 185F/85C and have no bubbles visible. The poaching liquid has a slight convection to it. Large items don't move, smaller bits slowly float across the liquid in a leisurely fashion.

The first thing you can do to retain nutrients in vegetables is to cook them as softly as possible in a moist environment. This means poaching them, not subjecting them to a violent boil.

Acids and bases also act upon the color, texture, and nutritional value of vegetables during cooking. I've created a small science experiment to demonstrate this fact.

With three pots of water at a soft simmer, I'll add vinegar (an acid) to one. The second pot gets baking soda (a base), and the third is left alone as a control baseline.

Green vegetables poached in acid will become very drab and turn an olive or army green. However, green vegetables poached in baking soda will become a vibrant, bright green.

Not only will the drab green bean poached in acid have its color dulled, but it is now very flexible. It can be bent without breaking. The green item poached in baking soda has a crisp "crack" to it when broken.

Acids will dull the color and texture of green vegetables.

However, the direct opposite is true of most other colored vegetables. Carrots poached in vinegar will retain their color and texture; while the same item poached in a base liquid turns very mushy. The same is true of white vegetables, like onions and potatoes.

So, what does this mean to the household cook? It explains why potatoes cooked for Potato Salad should be cooked in an acidic liquid. It will keep them white and keep you from having mashed potato salad. They'll hold their shape.

Have you ever cooked green beans and tomatoes together? Or, perhaps okra, turnip greens, or spinach cooked with tomatoes? Did you notice that the green item looks limp and drab? You now know the underlying science behind it. Acids destroy the color and texture of green vegetables.

When I'm finished with this experiment, I notice one last thing. The poaching liquid that I added vinegar to is clear. It still looks like water. However, the baking soda bath is a slight green/orange color.

Since acids firm textures of vegetables, they also prevent the leaching of nutrients and color into the cooking liquid.

You can retain the color, texture, and nutrients in vegetables by being mindful of your cooking process. Don't subject your delicate ingredients to a high-heat violent boil. Vegetables should be poached or steamed. And, if you want to keep them looking bright and tasting crisp, use a bit of vinegar during cooking on all colors but green. For them, use a touch of baking soda.

See Chef Todd's experiment Keep Nutrients in Vegetables in a live demonstration. Chef Todd Mohr has inspired thousands of people to improve their health and nutrition through healthy cooking. His FREE online webinar " How To Cook Fresh in 5 Easy Steps" reveals the secrets to selecting, cooking, and storing farm fresh ingredients for easy everyday home cooking.

Article Source: EzineArticles

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The Philosophy of Chinese Cooking

By Mercedes Cole

Yin and yang dates back to ancient China. The belief that everything in the universe is consigned into two forces that are opposing but harmonious and complementary. The yin and yang philosophy is used in Chinese cooking. The traditional symbol for the forces of yin and yang, are two fish swimming head to tail. The left half is yin and the right half is yang. Taken literally, yin and yang mean the dark side and sunny side of a hill. Yin and yang are not opposing forces. They are complementary pairs. The Chinese believe problems arise when there is an imbalance between them. Earthquakes, floods and fires and etc. all can be attributed to disharmony in the forces of yin and yang.

This concept of yin and yang relates to food. Opposites are set in balance to create harmony in food and body. If harmony is not achieved the body can be vulnerable to disease. Chinese chefs belief in the importance of following the principles of yin and yang in the diet There is always a balance in color, flavors, and textures. In China live seafood, fresh meat, and seasonal vegetables and fruits are used when preparing meals. Chinese daily meals consist of four food groups: meat, vegetable, fruit and grains. Large amounts of dairy products are not consumed. Dairy produces are substituted with soymilk and tofu. Soymilk and tofu contain large amounts of protein and calcium.

Unlike some cultures the Chinese hardly waste any part of the animal. They have found ways to cook nearly every part of an animal. Chinese culture believes that the shape and part of the animal will replenish and strengthen the same part of the human body.

Certain foods have yin properties, while others have yang properties. We think in yin and yang terms everyday hot or cold, fat or fat-free, high-calorie or low- calorie, sugar or sugar free, gluten or gluten-free, yeast and yeast-free and etc. But do not apply these trains of thought to cooking. Chinese yin properties: steaming, poaching and boiling and yang properties: stir-frying, pan frying and roasting. Balance is achieved by using both yin and yang methods. The yin and yang ingredients can be cooked separately or together.

Each province in China has its' own cuisine. There are the Beijing, Hunan, Shanghai, Szechwan and Cantonese cuisines. The most well known are the Szechwan and Cantonese.

Yin and yang cooking methods are used in all Chinese cuisines. Few foodstuff is purely yin or yang - it's more that one characteristic tends to dominate. Some yin will have a little yang and some yang will have a little yin. Chinese cooking reinforces that it is not so much the individual ingredients, as the balance and contrast between the recipe ingredients in each dish, that is important.

Chinese food is a worldwide favorite. Chinese cooking offers artful harmony and balance beneficial to your health and well-being. The Chinese believe balanced and healthy foods brings harmony and closeness to the family and relationships.

Mercedes Cole's favorite recipes: Favorite Recipes. Healthy Chinese Recipes cookbook: Healthy Chinese Recipes

Chinese Spices