Innovation: The Panini Press

An innovation is a breakthrough in idea or technology that pushes its field in a forward direction. In the culinary industry, an example of a an innovative piece of technology is the panini press. A panini is an Italian sandwich that is toasted with grill marks.

A panini press looks like 2 regular grills, one parallel to the ground and another hanging above without space in between where grease would drop into charcoal or a gas fire but instead uses electricity. It can be used for just about anything that can be seared such as vegetables, burgers, steaks, fish, waffles, pork chops and sausages. It is somewhat easy to clean, extremely versatile and inexpensive to operate. They are used on a table top and usually are made of cast iron.

The panini press falls under the innovative technology category. This piece of equipment has helped me at work and at home significantly. At work, I use a panini press for toasting bread, making sandwiches, grilling beef skewers and chorizo and it saves me an exponential amount of time and stress during service as apposed to having to do that stuff in a pan or in the oven. I use a version of a panini press at home, the George Foreman grill which helps me make a quick meal in the mornings so I don't have to skip breakfast. 

The very first panini press was invented by Thomas Edison but it was not very popular so it was discontinued in the 1930's, but the first panini press he made is on display in Thomas Edison's winter estate museum in Fort Myers, Florida. Edison's press was forgotten about and an inventor named Breville re-invented the panini press in 1974. 

The Panini press is important because it provides professional cooks a piece of fast, reliable, durable and versatile technology to rely on.

Diets & Dietary Restrictions

For this diets & dietary restrictions assignment I was to adhere to a diet of my choice for a week. Over the past week I have been eating as a lacto ovo vegetarian. A lacto ovo vegetarian diet consists of only vegetables, eggs and dairy products. I chose to go with this diet because I know a week of just vegetables wouldn't be doable for me so being able to get protein and fat from eggs and dairy products made the week much more manageable.

A few examples of a typical daily menu for a LOV (lacto ovo vegetarian) could be a cheese & egg sandwich, oatmeal or fresh fruits for breakfast, lunch could be a salad or a vegetarian sandwich and dinner might be pasta without meat, vegetables with rice or a veg pie.

While I was at work, I came up with a recipe that makes not eating meat easy. I put together boiled potatoes, roasted vegetables (zucchini, peppers, eggplant), chick peas and a bit of tomato sauce in a pan until heated through, seasoned with smoked paprika, salt & pepper, put a fried egg on top and ate it with some toasted baguette.

 The first three days were pretty difficult because I am very used to eating a larger amount of meat with almost every meal but it slowly got easier and easier. I was hungry most of the time but I managed to fill up with rice. After day 4 I didn't really mind it and didn't really see too much of a difference as opposed to how I was eating before in terms of how I was feeling. By day 7 I had strong craving for meat and was happy that the diet was over. I wouldn't continue with this diet just because I do enjoy meat that much. However, there are benefits to a lacto ovo vegetarian diet such as: low rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and some cancer.

This diet would be difficult to continue and be a professional chef because you wouldn't be able to taste anything with meat which would make seasoning things like soups and stews difficult. For a chef who wants to keep or promote a lacto ovo vegetarian diet I would suggest not making meat the main component of the dish and make that a secondary or tertiary component of a dish. For example, highlight vegetables and grains to make the meat less important to whoever is eating. Chef David Chang does something similar with Momofuku, he says: " My restaurants still won't kowtow to vegetarians. We will, however, focus more on vegetable and grain dishes in which meat adds flavor, not heft."

Reference:
Chang, D. (2015, May 19). What the 21st Century Will Taste Like. Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a4964/21st-century-taste-like-1008/

Hug A Farmer

The farm I decided to blog about is an organic meat farm in Etobicoke called Beretta Farms. Beretta Farms started as a small, family run organic food company that would supply grocery stores and other markets. The Beretta family all have organic food background and also cook & cater. The reasoning behind their choice to grow organic is no other than just the fact that their main goal is food that is both healthy and delicious.

 Their story on their website says that they want to be able to provide organic meat, free-range chickens, anti-biotic free pork and be able to teach people to live a healthier lifestyle. They offer cooking classes and even have a  Beretta University where they teach about farm life, organic foods etc. Their philosophy is that its best to understand the food so people can live a healthier lifestyle, and protect the environment and farmlands. 

From learning about Beretta farms, I learned easy ways to eat healthier and how organic farming better effects the environment. Because the farmer wasn't at the market at the time, I wasn't able to get a picture with a farmer. I have attached the Beretta Farms website and an informational video with Andy Fantuz. I hope you've learned as much as I have.

Beretta Farms with Tiger-Cats WR Andy Fantuz
Beretta Farms

Making Soup

Tomato-Red & Poblano Soup

Tomato-Red & Poblano Soup garnished with diced peppers and coriander cress

For my soup making assignment, I decided to make a Tomato-Red & Poblano Pepper soup. I decided to make this because I like a bit of spice in a soup. The ingredients used are onions, confit and raw garlic, poblano peppers, red peppers, canned tomatoes, roasted tomato and red wine vinegar. The process of making the soup was simple; the red and poblano peppers where charred over an open flame, seeded and sliced, onions were sliced, garlic was confit in oil and the tomatoes were preserved. The ingredients where then cooked together and pureed. I put the puree back into the pot so I could still season it with red wine vinegar and salt & pepper while it was still hot. The soup tasted generally spicy because of the poblano peppers but was never overpowering. It also had a bit of a smokey flavor because the peppers where charred over a gas flame and there was even bit of sweetness because of the confit garlic. Overall I found the flavors to be well balanced and well executed. I ate the soup with one other person who found it to be too spicy for their taste but that can easily be adjusted with cream. A challenge I had with making it was the timing of when I would add everything because I had to keep the raw garlic moving in the pan to keep it from burning and to keep it from getting bitter but I also had to get all the other ingredients hot but not burned. I had to be quick but it did work out. If I were to do it differently I would have cooked the garlic and onion separately and added it to the hot tomatoes and peppers and then puree. I thing that might have mad the process a bit less stressful. From this I learned a bit about the ingredients I was using because I do not normally cook with poblano peppers. I am more used to getting spice from habanero peppers and jalapenos and I was surprised because the poblanos turned out to be hotter than expected. In the future I will be using poblanos more often. I cannot take full credit for this soup because I did not write the recipe. Overall I enjoyed this assignment because without it, I probably wouldn't have had this soup as I do not make soup that often. I learned a bit about my ingredients and the whole soup-making process.

Fruit Hunter

For my Fruit Hunter assignment, I went to the St. Lawrence Market because it was close by and I still have not been. While I was there, I picked out a granadilla because I have never heard of or seen one before and when selecting the right one, I looked at all of them for color and felt them to see how hard or stiff they were and the one I chose was soft, and a dark orange with some brown spots but not bruised as the rest had. Granadilla is a plant species in the Plassiflora genus, and is native to the Andes Mountains including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela. Granadilla is available year round in its native locations. The granadilla costed me 1.99 each and I bought one. The granadilla has a fragile yet hard outer shell that was difficult to cut. The edible part of it is the black seeds and the gelatinous pulp that covers the seeds. The fruit tastes sweet and has the aroma of a passion fruit, which is understandable considering that they both come from the same family. For cooking, granadilla is best used for desserts such as sorbet, mousse and cakes.


This is a simple recipe for a granadilla icing:
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
  1-2 granadilla, pulp
Method:
Add icing sugar to a clean electric mixer
Add pulp of one granadilla, mix on medium speed
Add more pulp until desired consistency is acquired

Sensory Evaluation - Sake

For my second blog post, I will be drinking Japanese sake (which I haven't had before) and documenting here what I think about it. I have two varieties of sake to taste, one is called Junmai Ginjo Hakutsuru and the other is called Sayuri. Sake is a double-fermented rice wine that is actually closer to beer than to other wines in the manufacturing process, but tastes/looks/smells more like white wine.

First is the Junmai Ginjo Hakutsuro served at room temperature. Looking at it, it is clearer than most white wine, almost looks like water. From smelling it I am sensing a floral aroma. It tastes like rice and a little bit floral fruity, like rose or vanilla and bitter with a bit of a sour or acidic aftertaste. The taste of alcohol is very evident in this sake. This is unique to me because it is served warm, and not very acidic like white wine (I am comparing it to white wine because that is the closest thing to sake I can come up with).

The next one is the chilled

Sayuri (left) and Junmai Ginjo (right)

Sayuri. It has a fruity aroma, like a cantaloupe. It is white and foggy, almost like milk or starch water. It tastes sweet and fruity also like cantaloupe. This sake is very different than the Junmai Ginjo Hakutsuro because it is much sweeter, less floral, completely different color and doesn't taste like alcohol. 

The Sake is good, I did enjoy but not so much that I would find myself buying a bottle again. I prefer the Sayuri over the Junmai Ginjo because I find the floral taste and smell of the Junmai Ginjo to be rather unappealing. I much prefer the Sayuri because it does literally smell and taste like cantaloupe. I can't say that I would cook with sake until I find a recipe that sake would go well with. Since I have never had sake before and I do not drink much wine, I was surprised that I was able to identify the flavors and smells that I did as quickly as I did.

Introduction

"My fantasy is to have a restaurant where there are no written menus, but where you just ask people, 'What are you in the mood for? Fish? Meat? White wine?" - Charlie Trotter 

Hello, my name is Jonah Prussky and I am training to be a chef at George Brown College.

Lamb From the Estrella Damm Tapas Journey at the Royal Bank Plaza

I want to be a chef because I have a passion for good food and the feeling of being behind the line. Kitchens, to me are the ideal workplace with the fun of cooking good food, working with good people and the constant activity and rush of a busy service.

I love the idea of being able to take what I learn anywhere I want to because everybody has to eat. I hope to eventually travel and work in different restaurants around the world, cooking everything from fresh fish in Thailand to fine dining at a 5 star hotel in France. I currently work as a cook at Tinto Bar de Tapas.  I take pride in my work and eventually I want to lead the whole show. Growing up, both of my parents were great cooks and the rest if my family cooked alot so I was always exposed to good food and that's where my interest in cooking began.
I got my first job in a professional kitchen at age 13, working as a prep cook at Wildfire Steakhouse and Wine Bar. That's when I fell in love with and decided to pursue cooking.

My favourite thing in the world
(making french onion soup)

My philosophy is to treat food like a piece of art and to serve the best dishes with the best ingredients. In my view, the most important quality a chef can have is artistic integrity.

I am inspired by Charlie Trotter and Anthony Bourdain because of their dedication, presentation and their stories.

In this blog,I will document what
I learn while in Theory of Food and I hope to learn from others as well. I hope you join me on my culinary journey.

Jonah

"The workman mindful of success, therefore, will naturally direct his attention to the faultless preparation of his stock, and in order to achieve this result, he will find it necessary not merely to make use of the freshest and finest goods, but also to exercise the most scrupulous care in their preparation, for, in cooking, care is half the battle." - Auguste Escoffier