a flower in the cooler

So I have been working in the garde manger kitchen of the banquet kitchen at a 5 star 5 diamond resort and spa for the past year or so and I have learned a lot of really cool garnishing techniques, and now I would like to share a few with you. the first one is a jalapeno flower these are created by the crowning technique. Firstly the capsaicin is what makes the chili hot and what burns your eyes when you touch your eyes. so to begin dawn the rubber gloves.

1. To start hold the pepper in your hand in the 12 to 6 orientation
2. Then make a cut from 1 to 7

3. 

   3. Then make a reverse cut to form a triangle

   

   4. Continue till your pepper is completely crowned

   

   5. Once your pepper looks like this you need to cut the membrane holding the seeds to the green “fruit” then soak in ice water for 10 15 minutes for it to bloom. You can use this technique to create other things like onions to make an onion lotus flower such as this one i made for my salmon display for our mothers day brunch feel free to check it out on my face book page here is the direct link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150245341098939.367758.774218938&type=1 thanks this is all for now

potential medicine in your gardens

I was talking to one of  the cooks in my kitchen today and she brought up the Acai berry and we talked about how it can help promote a stronger immune system and help with infection. What other plants can help your body. Allspice is used in the food of the Caribbean. However what can allspice do for your health? Top scientists that found that there are chemical compounds in the dried allspice berries that offer anti-inflammatory properties which can help with arthritis and other joint conditions, also anti-flatulent properties. Anise seed can be a great spice in Asian cooking, and when you make a “tea” with anise seed and soak a towel in it and apply to the eye area to help alleviate eye pain, also steeping anise seed in a mug of warm milk can help with insomnia. Annatto seed “which is what is used to color cheddar cheese among other things”  can help combat certain poisons, im not saying if you get bite by a snake rub an artichoke seed on it and you’ll be okay… NOOOO scotty seek medical help immediately.  but it can HELP combat certain poisons like oak and ivy and sumac. Also why spend money on pills that will increase your libido when you can make a nice meal for you and your other with a little annatto seed or artichoke and boom pow. Everyone knows that basil is Delicious and yummy in pesto and other Italian dishes but if you are ever hiking through the mean and unforgiving wilds of you local nursery and a swarm of pesky mosquitoes happen to find you head for the basil and crush a few leaves and rub on your skin and enjoy the rest of you shopping trip. thank you and if you find any other uses for house hold or exotic herbs and spices please let me know i would love to hear what you have to say. thank you again

organic?

Now a days you hear about you hear allot of hype and stuff about organic this and organic that. Honestly what i hear chaching. So what is organic? This is my definition organic is a living plant or animal that is raised or grown with no chemical treatment or pesticides. In my opinion this means that if milk is “organic” that the cows or other live stock is raised without having been treated with growth hormones or other enchantments pharmaceutics. and with produce that has not been sprayed with chemical to keep them safe from bugs and plant diseases. Now why is it so darn expensive?  I think this is for a few reasons. Reason 1 the whole no carbon no chemical thing makes harvesting the produce with machinery… well out of the question considering the machines run on gas which omits carbon and thus deams the produce not organic after the long labor intensive process. So this means that the produce that the produce needs to be hand picked. Reason number 2 if you have 100 acres of land planted with lettuce at the harvest time you may only get 50 or 60 acres. So if you add this plus the labor you get expensive produce. You could argue for days about if organic taste differently I personally think it does but I believe it all depends on your taste. However for you  and I it may be a choice but for some its not due to various illness and disease they can not have produce, meat, milk, and even clothing made with cotton and other threads that have been grown with pesticides can cause sickness and even death. so this is my point of view on organic so please form your own views and ideas and next time your in the store pick up some organic produce or milk or meat and try it out see if you can taste the differences

what can you do with ginger

hey, I like weird culinary tidbits and I was watching tv the other day and found out that if you freeze whole ginger root uncut or peeled. Once frozen solid, let thaw and cut one end off and hand squeeze the ginger root. The  juice will come flowing out, so make sure you have a bowl or glass to catch the juice. With this “magical” elixir you can use to make a nice and refreshing ginger lemon mint tea on a hot summer day. Ginger may help to alleviate motion sickness, morning sickness and heartburn. if you have more of a sweet tooth then may i offer you a ginger sesame caramel popcorn

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 quarts popped popcorn
• ginger juice
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn in a very large bowl.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla and a teaspoon or two of ginger juice depending on how intense of flavor you want. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.Then stir in sesame seeds.
3. Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

This is a grown up spin on a childhood favorite so please enjoy and feed back is welcome thanks and see you soon

                                                                                                                                                                                                   ~John Gartin

Hello world!

Hello, My name is John Gartin im 21 years old. I have been in the industry since I was about 16 years old. I have worked in an aray of different culinary establishments from mom and pop resturants to a five diamond five star resort and spa to a youth lead culinary education company. In high school I competed in culinary competition through skills USA through my technology school. I placed first in distructs, and third in states winning an assortment of collage scholarships. I decided to turn my sights more towards real world work education as appose to a traditional class room education. I owe everything I know to my chefs and personal drive to make a name for my self. I would love to say I have a specific ethnic niche that I feel most comfortable cooking, but having growing up mainly in northern California I was exposed to a lot of the worlds’ cuisine. The person that most helped me grow in to the professional i am to day is my grandmother I can remember seeing something on food network and wanting to make it, and going directly to her and begging to make it we would get the ingredients  and make a family meal out of it. weather the end product was good or bad she would enjoy it and offer a critique, little less salt, lower heat, stop watching t.v. the normal things. now i am an aspiring chef and young professional.