 November 13, 2005 |
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 Blogging, Blogger Blog ... What on Earth is Everyone Talking About?
What's a Blog?
You have undoubtedly heard of "blogs" which is simply an abbreviation for "WEB LOGS." The activity of updating a blog is "blogging." Someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. A blog gives you your own voice on the web.
What are our bloggers blogging about? Take a look below, or view an Expanded List How does blogging work on Chef2Chef? Simply post your articles as you would in the forums. Same login, same interface to post. The output will look a bit different and is arranged so people from around the world can easily follow and bookmark your blogs.
Instructions to Becoming a Blogger!
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This Week's Recipe Club: Thanksgiving Recipes
Date: November 14, 2005 - November 18, 2005
Guest Host: Chef David Nelson
Theme: Thanksgiving Recipes - Monday: Cranberry Mimosas; Cranberry Raspberry Mulled Cider; Brie Crostini with Cranberry Salsa; Cheese Straws.
- Tuesday: New England Style Apple Cheddar Bread; Betty’s Cranberry Orange Bread; Maple Corn Bread with Honey Butter
- Wednesday: Yukon Gold Potato Gratin; Washington State Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic; Mashed Potatoes with Golden Onions and Roquefort
- Thursday: Roasted Parsnips with Horseradish Herb Butter; Spiced Carrots; Pumpkin Risotto
- Friday: Julia's Blanched and Buttered Green Beans; Indiana Corn Casserole; Harvard Beets.
Not a Member Yet? Click here Recipe Club to sign up today and start receiving these recipes on Monday!
 The Institute of Culinary Education
ICE is New York City's largest and most active center for culinary education, offering highly regarded career training programs in culinary arts, pastry and baking, and culinary management. ICE also offers an extensive selection of hands-on cooking and baking classes for the general public.
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Blogging - A Culinary Approach Here is Clive's ( cliveb ) take on how to write blogs. It is educational, entertaining and well worth reading even if you never planned to be a blogger. Thank you Clive for this classic! So he goes:
I’ll set the scene...
Imagine an extremely plush, very expensive restaurant. In the kitchen, the Executive Chef is preparing to plate the main course. “Clonk!”
As a huge lump of steak hits the plate.
“Plop”!”
Followed by a semi-liquid stream of wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil, whacked on to the plate with a large spoon.
“Hissssss!”
As the Chef removes a squeegee bottle from beneath his toque and gleefully sprays the whole affair with a steaming balsamic vinegar and aged port/cranberry reduction. The disastrous mess is then plonked in front of the awaiting clients, as the Sommelier serves you an expensive Chateau Mouton Rothschild , Grand Cru Classé… in a coffee cup.
You’d be horrified, of course, and vow never, ever to return to the restaurant.
Why? Well the presentation was all wrong, wasn’t it?
Chefs spend an awful lot of time making sure the presentation of their dishes is perfect. Every meal is a work of art, because that’s what makes the food even more appetizing, pleasing both the eye and the palate.
The same applies to the written word. When we write something down, we are transferring our thoughts on to paper, making logical sense of our ideas. Just as we expect soup, entrée and dessert, so our minds also expect a beginning, a middle and an end to a story, description or narrative.
A few modest suggestions, then, to help you write meaningful prose. - Planning the menu. It’s always a good idea to jot down your ideas on a piece of paper first. This will aid you in ordering your thoughts, allow you to see what you’re trying to communicate and help you to work out the most effective presentation.
- The Appetizer Readers will only want to continue reading your blog if the first few lines are interesting, so you need to make an impact right from the start. Set the scene for your story. Find something amusing, mysterious, exciting, even scandalous, to capture the reader’s attention. Keep it simple but related to the rest of the prose. Think of your menu; if you were serving Blanquette de Veau as your main course, with some steamed vegetables perfumed with fresh herbs, you’d probably avoid serving fiery hot Thai fish balls in a red curry sauce as an appetizer, wouldn’t you?
- The Entrée. Here comes the main course. Here is the pièce de resistance. Here is what we’re sitting at this table for, paying out lots of dollars!
Here is where you tell your tale. If you’ve been on a hunting trip, this is where you will explain how you stalked the deer, how you got it into the crosshairs, how you shot it, wounded it, chased it, killed it, trussed and bundled it into the truck to take home. If you’re telling a spy story, this is where your hero foils the dastardly spy, chases through the city at high speed, saves the maiden in distress, recaptures the stolen document.
Try to follow a logical sequence of events. Chronological order is usually a pretty good guide for this, although if you’re describing something, you may want to think of what caused you the greatest impact, then continue to the finer details. If there are many different ideas in your “main course”, then separate them using paragraphs. A paragraph simply separates one idea from another, one train of thought from another. If you want to use two ideas in one sentence, then separate them with a comma or a semi-colon. Remember the very best meal you’ve ever had? Wasn’t it just pure harmony, with one element complementing the other? THAT is what you should be aiming for.
- Dessert. The final part of your blog is the conclusion, just like the dessert is (often) the conclusion to a good meal. The dessert complements the meal you’ve just eaten, rounding it off in perfect fashion. You feel satisfied. Remember those old Spaghetti Westerns? There was always a good guy and a bad guy, but the good guy always won in the end, always got the girl and they always lived happily ever after.
You should be looking to tie up loose ends with your blog “dessert” and finish off the tale in an appropriate manner.
- Garnishing. When you garnish a plate, you enhance its quality. A sprig of this, a drop of that, an artistic tuile strategically placed to whet the appetite.
Garnish your sentence with adjectives and adverbs. Theses are the describing words of our language. “A steak” does not sound as appetizing as “ a steaming, juicy steak”, because we’ve garnished the word “steak”. Use adjectives and adverbs judiciously, the same as you would with your garnish. There’s a big difference between “a steaming, juicy steak” and “ a great, big, huge, truly ginormous, steaming juicy steak with blood running out the sides between the perfectly symmetrical grill marks”. Avoid overkill!
- Plating. Your plate is a work of art, so everything has to be perfect. NO garnish or sauce on the rim of the plate, one item complementing the other, symmetry, harmony… As a paying guest I do NOT want to find a piece of carrot in my vichyssoise, nor a potato chip in my guacamole. Therefore, when plating we all try to get it perfect.
When you’re writing, it’s easier. You have a spell check and grammar check in your computer, so there’s no excuse! Use them, and your blog will be just like that perfect dish.
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Today's Recipe: Cranberry Apple Pie
Ingredients: Crust:
Unbaked Classic CRISCO Double Crust prepared with 1 teaspoon grated orange peel added to the flour
Filling:
4 or 5 Cortland or other baking apples, sliced
3/4 cup cranberries
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup granulated brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca
1 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons orange juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Glaze:
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
Icing:
1/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup half and half
Preparation:
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
For filling, combine apples, cranberries and orange peel in large bowl. Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in small bowl. Sprinkle over fruit. Toss to coat. Spoon into unbaked pie shell. Combine tapioca, cider, orange juice and lemon juice. Pour over fruit. Sprinkle with cheese. Dot with butter.
Cover with top crust. Fold top edge under bottom crust. Flute with fingers or fork. Cut slits or design in top crust or prick with fork for escape of steam. (Use lattice top crust, if preferred.)
For glaze, brush top crust with milk. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover edge with aluminum foil.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 35 minutes. Do not overbake. Remove foil. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes or until brown. Cool until barely warm or to room temperature.
For icing, combine sugar, orange peel, salt and almond extract in small bowl. Add half and half, one tablespoon at a time, mixing until smooth. Drizzle over cooled pie. | Sponsored by |
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