Teaching portfolio Dirk Noort
Statement of confidentiality:
This statement of confidentiality is meant to be read by colleagues, the chair of my department of the Culinary Arts programs and my instructor of the portfolio course.
The portfolio is an overview of the work that I have done at the college and a look ahead of what I will be working on in the future of my career at the college. It has been amazing so far to be employed by the college and to be working with my colleagues and of course with my students.
The portfolio is also for anyone that is looking at my photography website, I am a passionate photographer and will pursue a career after I retire from the college. I am working on a portfolio over the last 10 years to improve my photography skills and to find interesting projects to do in the photography field.
You are able to follow my blog and access my photography website, please feel free to follow me!
Teaching and learning philosophy
Learning:
I have done a lot of work over my life time as a chef. Starting my career in The Netherlands were I started when I was 15 years old at a technical culinary school. I attended this school for 3 years were I learned how to become a chef, a baker and pastry chef and a server, becoming a server is a career in Europe and when you work in a restaurant in Holland as a waiter you will also become a sommelier and with the right experience you will become a restaurant manager.
I decided to become a chef and after 3 years of the culinary technical school I enrolled in a apprenticeship program that lasted 4 years. I those 4 years you will go to school 1 day a week and work 5 days a week. During that period you will change every year your job, the reason for that is so that you learn from 4 different chefs and establishments to gain the maximum experience to become a experienced Chef De Partie. (translate: independently working chef).
In my early career from the age of 18 to 22 I worked as a apprentice in several restaurants and Hotels in Amsterdam. After I finished my apprenticeship I worked in Michelin star restaurants for 2 years.
I decided to move to Canada in 1989 and I worked in several high end Hotels as a Chef De Partie, a Restaurant Chef and Executive Chef. That gave me the experience and got me the skills I needed to teach and to become a Culinary Professor at George Brown College.
Over the years I learned a lot in my culinary career and worked with great Chefs over that period of time. It was time to change careers however, because I wanted to spent more time with my Family and I found it when I started teaching part-time at the College.
Eventually I started to teach full time and I have done many courses to improve my teaching skills. Teaching is different then working as a Chef in the kitchen and it takes time to be an experience teacher, you learn every day to become better.
Teaching Philosophy:
I have been teaching at George Brown for 10 years now and what I said before I have learned a lot. My philosophy of teaching is very simple to show respect to your students. When you show them respect the students will respect you too and it makes teaching much more enjoyable. The students will show you respect when you show them your skills and of course after I have cooked for 30 years they see me as a mentor and that is an amazing feeling to show them the cooking skills that they came for to be taught at the college.
Cooking is a skill that takes time to learn and when you teach your students you need a lot of patience, the key to be patience is not to rush the students and to give them time to learn the skill, when you rush them they will make more mistakes and they will lose their confidence. Some students learn quicker then other students and when you give a student some more time to learn the skill probably, it will help them improve quicker then pushing them to work faster, working faster in the kitchen is of course critical because when working in the industry, chefs are expected to work fast and efficient.
Over the last couple of years a lot has changed at the college in terms of the changes in our culinary curriculum, it has been updated to prepare our students when they start working in the culinary field, we prepare them with the right skills so that they can walk into a professional kitchen and be prepared to do the daily task that the Chef requires from his apprentice chefs.
I learned a lot over the last year in my teaching career especially from my students, they taught me how to be patient, to find solutions during class and improve my teaching skills.
My philosophy of teaching my students is to be the best teacher I can be!!
Dirk Noort C.C.C Professor of Culinary Arts George Brown College
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Social media links: Linked in, dirknoort.zenfolio.com blog
Academic credentials:
EDUCATION
May 2016 Certified Digital Photographer
March 2013 Certified Canadian Chef de Cuisine
February 1999 Canadian Securities Institute
Canadian Securities Course
March 1997 Canadian Securities Institute
I.F.I.C Operations Course
August 1987 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Culinary Chef Diploma
Business Administration Diploma
1982 - 1985 Diploma of Culinary Arts, Zwolle The Netherlands
EMPLOYMENT
2011 to present George Brown College
Toronto, Canada
Culinary Professor
THE WATERSIDE INN HOTEL
2001 to Mississauga, Canada
May 2011 Executive Chef
THE PRINCE HOTEL
1999 to 2001 Toronto, Canada
Restaurant Chef
1998-1999 KING EDWARD HOTEL
Toronto , Canada
Restaurant Chef Chairos and Café Victoria.
1993 – 1998 THE PRINCE HOTEL
Toronto, Canada
Restaurant Chef - Fine Dining
1991 to 1993 THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL
Toronto, Canada
Truffles Restaurant
Chef Saucier
SPECIAL AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Silver Medal, Escoffier Society of Toronto
Fourth place, National Culinary Competition of The Netherlands
Teaching Philosophy:
I am a certified Canadian Chef de Cuisine and I teach at George Brown College as a Professor of Culinary arts.
I believe that cooking is a discipline and that standards must be demonstrated and reinforced to students right from the beginning to ensure that they learn the right way the first time.
I ensure that standards are met in each and every class, so students can learn the proper, disciplined way in which to work in a kitchen. I am vigilant in watching every student to ensure they are using proper knife skills in every class. If they are not, I will remind and assist them with doing it properly. If they become experts at the basic skills, it will prepare them for working in the culinary industry. My goal is to provide the best education possible to the students so that George Brown College will remain the best Culinary College in the Country.
I am committed to creating a great working relationship with each student in my class and to creating an environment in which they can succeed. I created Microsoft Power Point slides including pictures and descriptions of each step of each process. This allows students to see the end product of each step as they aspire to it. I regularly bring books by world-renowned chefs into the classroom. This gets the students excited about the restaurant industry. Being patient and showing respect to students is important to me. I believe that if I show them respect, they will respect me in return. Communication is vital. I maintain an open-door policy with students.
I remind them that they are free to contact me to discuss any issue or question either in person or via email or telephone. If I know that a student has not fully grasped the concept I am teaching, I spend additional time working with that student to ensure that I have relayed the information in either different words or using a different method. Students have often told me that they like my teaching approach. Any student can be successful if they are in an environment that encourages success.
On-going Professional Development is an integral part of who I am as a teacher. I enjoy learning about new advancements, techniques and developments in the industry and believe that if I am constantly learning, I can bring that knowledge to the classroom to the students’ advantage.
I arranged to work in a restaurant in Amsterdam that was rated 2 Michelin Stars. I took many notes and photographs. I have created a presentation for the students on the techniques used by the staff at the Ron Blaauw Restaurant. I also have developed two Taste of Tomorrow which is a learning club for our students at George Brown
I developed a program of Game meats in the wild that restaurant will use and the variety of preparation methods. The other is a demonstration of various techniques used in modern cuisine also known as Molecular Gastronomy. The industry is constantly changing and as a teacher my role is to ensure that those changes are relayed to my students.
Learning Philosophy:
Show Respect and be patient with each student in the lab, coach them and teach them all the skills they need have, to be successful.
First year students are the most challenging to teach, simply because most of them have never worked in a professional cooking environment.
I have students that need lots of attention during the lab practice.
Students sometimes cut themselves and are nervous in the beginning of the lab. It is rewarding to see them progress later during the semester.
My job as a instructor is to guide the students with patience and introduce with knife skills first then teach the cooking skilled step by step along the way.
Course I followed to be become a better instructor:
I have attended the following professional development workshops and educational sessions at George Brown College:
Geneva park: excellent workshops and lots of fun!
New faculty orientation
Best in class part 1 and part 2
Working with large classes
WHIMIS training
Giving students feedback
Outcome based learning
Positive space workshop
Blackboard session
AODA online training
I have learned many different teaching skills from all these sessions. It is very rewarding to learn new skills and learn how to become a better teacher.
Positive space was a great learning session and working with other faculty members was especially rewarding and very educational.
I learned to be confident in a classroom full of eager students after taking the professional development courses.
Books that have inspired me:
When I was the Executive Chef at a Hotel in the city, I purchased a culinary Chefs book from a French Chef, his name is Michel Bras, this book was a life changer for me, it was a completely new direction of cuisine, in terms of cooking skills, presentation and the philosophy of cooking.
I immediately started working out of the book and changed my whole menu reflecting the different cooking technics in my cuisine, many Chefs in those days followed Chef’s Michel Bras direction. It was a game changer for many Chefs in the industry world wide.
Some books that are produced by Chefs over the decades such as Chef Marco Pierre White, Chef Paul Bocuse, Chef Alain Ducasse, Chef Ferran Adria and Chef Escoffier have really changed the industry for working Chefs.
These Chefs were the trend setters for the culinary industry. These Chefs have transferred their knowledge to others and myself as a culinary instructor have transferred that knowledge to my students.
Books continued reading:
As a culinary instructor reading culinary books is a very important part of my development.
The latest books will set the trends for the industry and Chefs all over the world will create their work and document them in books. We as industry leaders as faculty at George Brown have to be updated to teach are students the latest skills. The culinary book that we teach are students is the Gisslen, which is constantly updated over time to reflect on the latest cooking skills that we can transfer to our students.
Another teaching guide is the internet which is a very powerful teaching tool. You can find anything that is related to cooking in there, such as videos, recipes, chef sides with professional chefs sharing there knowledge and expertise. Modern cuisine sites were you can find all the technics used in molecular cuisine. The internet is were young chefs will find ideas to develop themselves.
Chef Dirk Noort C.C.C
300 Adelaide Street East
Toronto
Dirk Noort C.C.C
Why did I become a Chef:
At the age of 15 I had to decide on a profession. In Holland they place you in a trade school at an early age. They find out in middle school if you are a applied student or a academic student. I was an applied student and it was suggested to me to go to a trade school. I decided to become a Chef!
In trade school I learned culinary, baking and pastries skills and professional serving skills which included wine studies, table set up studies also service carving skills at the table in front of guests.
Working in the industry:
When I finished culinary school I enrolled in a apprenticeship program, it was a 4 year program where each week you worked 5 days, went to school 1 day and had one day off. In that time period you would have to find your own job. I started in a small restaurant which does not exist anymore and worked there for one year, then I worked in a Hotel in the city of Zwolle which is about an hour east of the city of Amsterdam. The last 2 years of my apprenticeship were in Amsterdam. One year spent at the Doelen Hotel and the next at the L'entree restaurant. As a apprentice you would have to work with four different chefs in order to gain the maximum experience. You would therefore change jobs every year.
Doelen Hotel Amsterdam, Amstel River (photo: pexels.com)
Career in the Culinary Field:
I have worked for 30 years as a Chef in Michelin star restaurants and Hotels in Holland (also at Cees Helder's Parkheuvel restaurant which was a 3 Michelin in the year 2002 I worked at Restaurant Parkheuvel in Rotterdam in 1986 and in those days they did not have any Michelin stars yet because the restaurant was just opened). The restaurant still exists and has a 2 Michelin now.
I moved to Toronto in 1989 and worked at the Four seasons Hotels, the Westin Hotel, the King Edward Hotel and the Waterside Inn Hotel where I was the Executive Chef for 10 years.
After my career as a Chef, I started teaching at George Brown College. I have been teaching culinary programs at the College for 7 years.
Personal Philosophy of Cooking:
My philosophy of cooking is to cook with passion. Respect the ingredients you are using and the people that have produced them. Be kind to people so you can work well in a team, because you cannot do it alone!
Be passionate in your cooking skills and what you serve to your customers because at the end of the day, they are paying you! The most rewarding thing of cooking is when your guests or your own family enjoys what you have made and served to them! The smiles and appreciation are priceless!
Blog experience:
This blog is mainly done for my students, to get to know me, and to see what a blog could look like. It has been fun and I really enjoyed creating this blog, I hope you will too! I look forward to reading your blogs and hearing your experiences. I am sure that you will have great fun creating your own blogs! I have seen some amazing blogs from former students!! So good luck!!
Culinary Quote:
In 1992 when I got married I went on my honeymoon to see my Family in Holland and I also went to Paris. My favourite Chef in those days was Chef Joel Robuchon voted "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989.
I had the amazing experience to eat in his Le Jamin restaurant and it was the best meal I had ever had in my life! Probably will be the best meal ever, I have no doubt!
One of his quotes that always stuck to me was a very simple one and for me will always be accurate!
Here it is:
A great Quote from Chef Joel Robuchon!
In short: make the food good and simple then the best taste will be achieved!!
That is it for me for and my Culinary career blog. Hope you found it interesting to read. Cooking is a great skill and I have a lot of passion for it. To create good and tasty food and serve it to customers and Family is a beautiful expression of any professional Chef and hopefully your guests will think the same!!
Thank you for taking the time reading my blog!
Dirk Noort C.C.C
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The peeler is an important tool in the kitchen and it consist of a slotted metal blade attached to a handle that is used to peel vegetables such as potatoes and carrots and fruit such as apples and pears.
The peeler differs from a paring knife, which also can be used for peeling, in that the blade has a slot cut into it, which is sharpened on the inside edge, while the other side prevents the blade from cutting too far into the vegetable. This makes the peeler a very efficient tool and it will save a lot of waste, if you peel with a paring knife, you will have more waste and over a extended period of time you will save a lot of money using a good peeler!
There are a variety of peelers on the market, most peelers are straight or have a Y shape.
A straight peeler has the blade parallel to the handle, resembling a pairing knife the blade would be fixed or pivoting. The French Econome is a fixed blade which does not pivot. The Econome was invented by Victor Pouzet and was invented in France. I did not add a picture of this peeler in the blog.
Then there is the swivel peeler it was designed by Jonas Peeler, and designed in Sweden. It is a straight design with a pivoting blade attached to the end of an oblong metal or plastic loop handle, which is held like a knife.The blade has two edges to enable use in either direction, and by either hand. While often copied, the original is still made by Linden Sweden. Of course many other manufactures have created their own design derived from the swivel design such as the peeler below in the photograph.
The Y peeler is has a blade perpendicular to its handle, a design closely resembling a safety razor and is used with a similar action to a razor which will be shaving off skin in strips parallel to the handle. Most speed peelers have an 'eye gouger' beside the blade, a loop of metal or plastic used to dig out eyes and blemishes from the potato or other vegetable or fruit.
The Zena Rex design peeler is a variety of this peeler an was invented by the Swiss in 1947 by Alfred Neweczerzal. It has a one piece aluminum or plastic handle and a pivoting carbon steel blade with dual edges. To me it is the most efficient peeler and the one I always will use when I peel my vegetables and fruit!
I have included a picture of the peeler below and this one I have used for so many years, if you take care of them and not lose them, you can used them for many years and they stay very sharp as well!
There are many other peelers that are designed by other manufactures and have there own design and are very attractive so people will buy them by design. Some are not very effective however!
Apple peelers are also made to make it more efficient for Chefs to work in the kitchen, like the apple peeler which is a large peeler is a crank operated device that peels apples and optionally cores and slices them in one motion. it will peel the apples into a helical shape. It is designed to work on apples but will also peel a number of other fruits and vegetables such as pears, beetroot, potatoes, cucumbers and carrots.
I do not have a picture of this peeler.
The peeler was invented so to make it easier and more efficient to peel the vegetables and fruit so that Chefs in the kitchen can work fast and also save money.
The peeler is a very important tool, my recommendation is to use the Zena Rex Swiss peeler it is the most efficient and fasted peeler to use!
How has it effected me in the kitchen?
The peeler to me is a very important tool in the kitchen and of course you want to work with the best peeler possible one that peels very efficiently, to me the straight peelers are not efficient enough in a professional kitchen because you will have to work fast so that you will save labour cost.
Citations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peeler
"Original Jonas Peeler". KitchenKapers. Linden Sweden. 2017-11-22. Retrieved 2020-12-12. This is the Original Swedish Jonas peeler that was a staple in kitchens throughout the U.S. in the 1950s & 60s
Richard Stokes (19 April 2011). "The Westmark potato peeler". Dzho.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2019
The diet will follow a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet can consume eggs and dairy. Pescetarian is named after the Latin word of: Piscic or Piscatus.
I wanted to try the diet because of my love for fish, fish buying in Toronto can be challenging because most of the fish comes from the Pacific Ocean which will have to be flown in from the East coast and sometimes the West coast, by the time the fish arrives in Toronto it is already a couple of days old and will be not as fresh as it should be. In the spring, summer and fall we will find fresh water fish in our stores, like trout, pickerel or pike.
Pescetarians prefer to eat wild caught fish which will be all natural and free from any growth hormones. Most animals in North America are not organic and therefore the environmental and amount of energy needed to feed cows, chicken, or a pig exceeds its nutritional value. Pescetarians also prefer wild caught fish as opposed to farmed carnivorous fish that require food input from other fish that are caught in the ocean and will not be sustainable.
Fish may also not associate pain and fear as more complex animals like mammals do.
I created a 3 day Pescetarian diet:
Menu for 3 days:
Day 1:
Breakfast:
Trout gravlax with poached egg and brioche toast
Lunch day 1:
Shrimp Skewer with fries sticky rice with kale and vegetables
Dinner day 1
The dinner consisted of: sauteed kale, fried potatoes and breaded cod fish with mango avocado salsa.
This cod was Pacific Ocean caught and was therefor sustainable, it was previously frozen unfortunately.
Menu for the rest of the 2 days.
Breakfast:
Day 1: Trout and scrambled eggs
Day 2: No fish oatmeal and fresh berries
Lunch:
Day 1: Seared tuna with sticky rice and Salsa
Day 2: Fish and chips
Dinner:
Day 1: Sushi at a sushi restaurant:
I ate Sushi that night in a nice Sushi restaurant and had the Sushi and Sashimi boat, it was lovely!!
Day 2: Seared scallops with spaghetti, roasted peppers, grilled zucchini and in basil cream sauce.
Recipe
Mango avocado salsa:
250 grams of diced mango
250 grams of diced avocado
250 grams of diced Roma tomatoes
1 whole brunoise cut shallot
100 ml olive oil
1/2 bunch of coriander, finely chopped
1 whole lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and season with the salt and the pepper.
Gravlax recipe:
1 side of trout fillet
100 grams of Kosher salt
10 grams of course black pepper
1/4 bunch of fresh dill
1/4 chopped dill
20 ml olive oil
10 ml of Maple Syrup
Method:
Springle the Kosher salt, peppercorns and the fresh dill on top of the trout fillet, place in the fridge for 12 hours. After 12 hours take the dill, salt and peppercorn of the trout, rub with a little bit of olive oil and the maple syrup then cover with chopped dill, slice and serve.
Trout fillet springles with salt and black peppercorns:
Covered with whole dill leafs and then refrigerated:
After 12 hours in the fridge, take it out and then cover with Maple Syrup and chopped dill:
My Experience:
My love for fish is immense and I would love to eat it everyday, it will be very difficult to do this because the rest of the Family is not a fish lover like me. It will also be very difficult to eat fish everyday because the fish in Toronto is not as fresh as it should be and I like to eat fresh fish. Of course you can buy frozen fish and they have a large selection to chose from when you go to the grocery store, seafood like shrimp and sardines.
Provide advice:
If you would want to start this diet, I would definitely recommended it because it is a very healthy diet to eat fish every day is much better for you then eating meats everyday because land animals are fed much richer diets and may be exposed to antibiotics and hormones. However, it will be difficult to follow this diet because fresh fish is not always available unless you live close to the St Lawrence market! Most people would not eat fish everyday and I think if you do a combination of fish and meats and perhaps eat 1 or 2 days fish in a week, you should be fine with your dailyd diet.
When you decide to consueme this kind of diet, you also want to eat lots of vegetables, fruit, beans and legumes .
A Pescetarian diet would be clomse to a Mediterranean diet but you will eat more fish and seafood of course!
Would I continue with my choice?
If I would be living by the coast such as the province of Nova Scotia or B.C I would probably eat more fish and seafood, but that is not the case of course. My Family, besides me, are not seafood and fish eaters so it would be hard to follow this diet on a daily basis.
I myself could eat fish and seafood everyday just like I would eat meat everyday! So I will continue with more of a Mediterranean diet with a combination of fish and meat.
Thank you for reading!
Chef
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South Brook Vineyards is a biodynamic winery certified by Demeter since 2008.
They are the first in Canada using biodynamic methods. They grow the grapes and produce wines organically. The winery also has a small farm were they raise pigs and sheep. The manure from the animals is used for the soil for the grape vines. Southbrook Vineyards is Family owned by the Redelmeier Family. We visited the farm with students from George Brown College and it was a great experience. The winery is on a 150 acre property and has 60 acres of vines.
The Vineyards produces organic wines and the grapes that are being used are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Classic Bordeaux blends and Chardonnays. Everything the winery produces is organic and sustainable using viticulture growing methods. They have there own water management and energy conservation system, and they use sustainable materials and resources.
In their pavilion they use and manage indoor air quality. The pavilion of Southbrook Vinyards contains a tasting room,wine shop, hospitality area and other guest amenities. We walked with the George Brown College students to the back of the winery which was a about a 20 minute walk, were they raise pigs and sheep.
The manure of the pigs and sheep are used to fertilize the vines and if the pigs are fully grown, they are sold to local restaurants in the Niagara Area to restaurant Chefs. The pigs run freely in a fenced area and are also able to eat food in a small forest area were they eat insects like worms, small animals, plants, and they also unearth roots and bulbs. The vinyard has somebody to look after the animals and the land they live on.
Ann Sperling is the Vineyards wine maker.
In the winter time the vineyards does tours and they invited schools and different producers of food to the winery to educate and sell of course there products and educate and support the community.
The wines are for sale on there website and at the LCBO.
Here is a sample of what they sell.
The prices of their wines are very reasonable and because they are organically grown you would think they are priced far more, but the prices of their wines are reasonable priced!. What I like about their wines is that it is a great quality product, that they are grown sustainable and organically, and that they focus on the environment.
It was a great experiences to visit the Southbrook Vineyards and it was nice to learn about how they operate in a biodynamic way. You will have to visit the Vineyard yourself and find out!!
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For the meat & game blog I decided to go to the best food market in Toronto, the St Lawrence market on front street and Lower Jarvis street.
They have a lot of good butchery counters at the St Lawrence market and decided to buy some beef short ribs and cook them for dinner that night.
Short ribs are a cut which can be taken from the brisket, chuck, plate or rib area of beef. They are cut from the short portion of the rib bone and the meat can vary in thickness.
There are 2 cuts of short ribs, one is called "flanken" and is cut across the bones and leaves the bone just 1 to 2 inches in length, and then there are the English cut short ribs which are the longer cut ribs and are cut parallel to the bone. I bought the "flanken" short ribs which are a bit easier the cook and they also serve a bit better, since they are a bit smaller in size.
You can also grill short ribs in which you would marinated them for a good day with olive oil, shallots, garlic, peppercorns and rosemary for example, they will tenderize when you marinated them in spices and olive oil and it will soften the connective issue so they are easier and less tough to eat.
I decide to braise them and I will show you the results in the blog.
Below are the short ribs before I prepared them in the first picture the short ribs were not cut and the second picture I cut the short ribs in half and seasoned them with crushed peppercorns and kosher salt
Flanken style Short ribs whole cuts
The short ribs cut and seasoned
Recipe for the braised short ribs:
4 whole flanken short ribs cut in half and seasoned
1 whole shallot diced
4 garlic gloves diced
1 piece of celery stalk diced
1/2 carrot diced
1/4 cooking onion diced
1 sprig of rosemary
200 ml red wine
50 ml of olive oil
300 ml tomato juice ( fresh vine riped tomatoes juiced in vitamix)
200 ml beef stock
1/4 bunch fresh basil
Method:
Place the olive oil in a braising pot and heat up the oil very hot until it lightly smokes, add the short ribs in the braising pot and sear them golden brown on each side, take the short ribs out of the braising pot and saute the cut vegetables, sweat the vegetables until soft and de-glaze with the red wine, add the rosemary and reduce the liquid to a third, add the tomato juice and the beef stock then add the ribs, braise in the oven at 350 Celsius for 3 hours until the beef shorts are nice and tender and almost fall from the bone. Take the short ribs out of the braising liquid and strain out the vegetables, place the braising liquid in the braising pot and add the short ribs in the sauce. Serve with garnishes of choice.
Red wine Braised short ribs, pearl onions, roasted cherry tomatoes, green beans and creamy polenta
Below are the short ribs I prepared after my purchases of the short ribs at the St Lawrence market
Price of the short ribs and return on investment
I paid $29.50 for the 4 ribs and 1 short rib would serve one portion to a customer in a restaurant, of course these are retail prices and wholesale you would play less for them. You want to sell your food in a restaurant with a 30% minimum food cost, so when you add garnishes, your cost would be approximately $10.95, then the formula would be: (cost of ribs divided by 4 is 29.75/4=7.45 add 3.50 for garnishes, which would be $10.95 with a food cost of 35% you would sell the ribs for about $31.25.
If you look on the menu of Jump restaurant on Wellington street in Down-Town Toronto, the price of there short ribs are $46, which is expensive but it is of course a fine dining restaurant as well.
Short ribs would be a good choice on a menu because you can sell them for a reasonable price and it does not cost as much as a Filet Mignon. BBQ restaurant are very popular over the last couple of years and you will find them most likely on the menu in these types of restaurants.
Overall short ribs are very nice to eat and I served them with a creamy polenta and some nice vegetables which worked very well and they are a perfect winter dish!
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The sensor evaluation blog that I have created is a taste of chicken liver parfait served with a chicken broth and a crispy parsnip puree tuile. The chicken liver parfait was served with a clarified chicken broth that was infused with cognac and thickened with agar-agar. I added the agar-agar so that the broth has a better presentation and would be easier to eat as an appetizer, also the cognac flavor stands out better when the broth is a bit thicker. The broth was nice and salty and the cognac breakdown the fattiness of the broth, it made the Hors D'oeuvres a bit lighter in taste.
The chicken liver parfait has a beautiful smooth texture and will give you that umami flavor sensor, especially the add in of the chicken broth, the taste would be similar of eating Japanese Ramen noodle, the same umami flavour from the broth with the meat from the liver parfait.
The parsnip crisp gave the broth and parfait the extra crunchiness. When you add a chip or cracker to a broth or a smooth mousse, it will add texture which will give the dish that extra touch of flavour and appeal.
Here is the breakdown and steps of the preparation of the dish:
First chicken stock
Clarifying the chicken broth
Straining the broth:
Clarified broth finished:
Assembled chicken liver parfait:
When you look at the photograph you can see that the chicken parfait is piped in, then the broth is poured over the parfait and the parsnip crisp is added after with a chive sprig as a garnish.
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Preserving Sauerkraut
Introduction
I decide to make Sauerkraut for the preservation blog project. Sauerkraut translated from German to English means: Sour Cabbage. Sauerkraut can be also be found in The Netherlands were it is called zuurkool, you will find it in Slavic and other East European countries and of course France were it is called Choucroute. Sauerkraut is made by a process called pickling and the process is called lactic acid fermentation. My preparation of the Sauerkraut is with white wine and pickling spices.
Fermenting the cabbage:
Ferment the cabbage for about 2 weeks or longer, this is important because it will give the cabbage that sour taste, make sure to put pressure on the cabbage when fermenting it, it must be covered underneath the brine so it does not spoil. The cabbage can be left in a cool place with temperatures ranging from 14 to 16 Celsius.
Sauerkraut Recipe:
1 head of green cabbage
100 grams of kosher salt or seasalt
Cut the cabbage into 4 pieces and shred on a mandeline into fine slices. Place the cabbage in a large pot and add the salt, mix the salt well into the cabbage place in a bowl, put a plate on top of the cabbage and place a pot of water on top so the cabbage is pressed and will be submerged into the brining liquid. Leave the cabbage outside for 2 weeks in a cool place.
Cut the cabbage in 4 pieces:
Shred the cabbage on a Mandoline:
Mix the cabbage in a pot
Place the Cabbage in a bowl
Put pressure on the cabbage
After placing the pot of water on top of the cabbage, you can let it sit in a cool place ( around 14 to 16 Celsius) for about 2 weeks. during this time the sauerkraut will ferment in the brine and will get sour. The brine will be created by putting pressure on the cabbage and the water and salt will preserve the cabbage. After 2 weeks I took the cabbage out of the bowl and prepared all the ingredients to finish my Sauerkraut.
Recipe for the Sauerkraut:
1 head of shredded fermented cabbage
250 grams pickling spices
500 ml water
500 ml white wine
2 bayleafs
Method:
Mix the water, white wine, pickling spices and bay-leaf in a pot and simmer at 90 Celsius for 1/2 hour. Take the cabbage out of the bowl and place in a large pot. Sweat the cabbage for a few minutes on low heat. Strain the pickle juice through a fine strainer. Pour the pickling juice over the Sauerkraut and cook the Sauerkraut for 45 minutes on low heat with a lid on top. After 45 minutes, take out the Sauerkraut out of the pot and taste the Sauerkraut, adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Preperation steps in photographs:
Disinfect the mason jars
Boil for 5 minutes
Place on a clean towel and let cool
Method continued:
After the Sauerkraut has been simmered for 45 minutes and the cabbage still has a little crunch, take it out of the pot and place it in the mason jars. All the tools should be very clean, make sure that there are no air bubbles in the jar when placing the Sauerkraut into the jars, and make sure the rimes are clean after the sauerkraut is placed into the jars. The cabbage liquid should be just below the lid of the mason jar and you can use the measuring stick to make sure there is some space left, doing this will make sure that there is no chance of liquid being spilled on the rims of the jars.
Cooking the Sauerkraut in the following steps:
Steep the Pickling spices with the white wine and water for 1 hour
Strain the pickle liquid
Add the pickle liquid to the cabbage
Close lid and simmer for 45 minutes
Placing the Sauerkraut into the jars
Placing the Sauerkraut into the jars continued:
Measuring the rim
Placing the lids on top of the jars:
Place the lids on the mason jars after the Sauerkraut has been put it the jars, make sure the rims are spotless clean, otherwise the lids will not seal and will spoil the Sauerkraut after it has been preserved.
Boiling the mason jars
Place the mason jars in a big pot with boiling water and cover the jars completely into the water bath. Boil slowly for 25 minutes and then take the jars out of the water.
When the mason jars have been boiled for 25 minutes you can take them out of the water and let them cool for 24 hours. When the jars are cooling down, you will notice that the lids are popped up, after they sit for about an hour or so, you will hear a pop and the lid will be retracted, it will have created a seal.
Finished product:
The mason jars can then be stored in your pantry shelf or you can leave it in the fridge or in a cool cellar.
Sensor evaluation:
After several weeks stored in my pantry shelf, I wanted to try out the sauerkraut and evaluated the taste and structure of the sauerkraut. It had a nice aroma of sour and sweet, the taste was very smooth and the sweetness from the white wine really made the sauerkraut have a lovely sweet flavor. The pickling spices, which had cinnamon and glove in it, added a nice overall balance to the Sauerkraut. Sauerkraut is very simple in terms of flavor, because it is just salt, white wine and spices and of course the fermentation of the cabbage will give you that sour taste. Make sure not to add to much spices in the Sauerkraut otherwise it will be overpowering the elegant flavor.
Thank you for reading my blog!
Chef
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Squash soup is a perfect fall soup and combining it with pears will give the soup a bit of sweetness and balances the slightly bitter squash. I added the curry powder because it goes very well with squash and gives the soup body and extra flavour
Recipe:
400 gram of diced acorn squash
60 grams of chopped onions
4 minced garlic gloves
25 grams curry powder
500 ml chicken stock or vegetable stock
50 grams butter
Garnishes:
1 bartlett pear finely diced and make one chip thinly sliced on the mandoline and deep fried
1 small beet root deep fried into chips
15 grams of sugar for pear compote
Deep fried leeks
Few drops of olive oil
salt to season ( about 5 grams)
Method:
Prepare the pear compote first; melt butter in small pot and add the sugar then add the diced pear and cook until soft
Squash soup:
Sweat the onions in the butter and add the garlic, add the curry powder and then the diced acorn squash.
Sweat on low heat for about 5 minutes and add the hot chicken stock or vegetable stock, let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the squash is very soft, add the salt and blend in the food processor until very smooth transfer into a small pot and keep warm.
Deep fry the leek and beet root in hot oil and dry on paper towel do the same with the pear this will be used to garnish the soup
Plate the soup in hot bowl with the garnishes and serve
Steps of preparing the soups shown in the photographs below:
Mise en place:
Sauteed onion garlic and curry powder:
Squash and curry powder
Sensor evaluation:
Adding the curry in the squash soup gives it a very well balanced flavour and it does not over power the delicate structure and flavour of squash
Other people tasting the soup:
I had my daughter taste it and she thought the curry went very well with the squash and pear soup she loved the smooth texture too
Challenges for this soup:
Make sure not to add to much curry powder this will over power the squash soup and you will end up only tasting the curry powder
The squash should be very soft after simmering it, if the squash is not cooked enough the soup will be gritty when you blend the soup this will effect the overall flavour of the soup
Making the soup with the curry turned out very well!!
I would not change anything to this soup but would maybe use some different garnishes like apples or perhaps make a herb oil to give it some extra body.
Over my culinary Chef career I have come up with all kinds of creations for soups on my menu and it is fun to do!!
Good luck making your blog!!
Chef
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1) First set up the scene of the photograph that you will be photographing
2) Using natural light from the window cover the window with a white paper sheet which I bought at the dollar store (see picture below) this will help to give you soft light and will give the photograph a soft edge use a black to cover the right window
3) Place a white sheet next to the set up as shown in the photograph, this will reflex light back into the photograph and will fill the light under the bowl of blueberries
4) Take the photograph by simple using the auto mode on your camera or you can use a cell phone
5) Adjust the lightning with the use of simple software (Macphoto or an andriod phone adjuster) I use photoshop or lightroom
6) Publish on your blog!
Setup before the shot is taken:
Light coverings, white paper on the left of the window and a black paper sheet on the right window, white sheet of thick paper next to the scene of the photograph
:
The final result after some adjustments with exposure and contrast
Blueberries in natural light
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Hi Welcome to my blog,
My Name is Dirk Noort I am a certified Canadian Chef De Cuisine (C.C.C) and Culinary Arts professor at George Brown College.
My Culinary journey started in Holland were I started my career at Culinary arts school in Amsterdam followed by a 4 years apprentice program which I finished in 1987. I have worked at several Hotels and Michelin stars restaurants in Holland and worked in Canada at major Hotels holding positions as Chef de Partie, Sous-Chefs,Chef De Cuisine and Executive Chef.
I am also a certified Digital Photographer and all my work is published on this website.
Mainly Specializing in still life photography but you can also find other work on my website, specifically food photography.
Please follow me in the next few months of which I will be posting several projects that we are working on at George Brown College together with our Food theory students
Thank you
Dirk Noort
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