Celtic Moment

Here at the Kenmore Live Studio Shari Quilling of Magner’s Irish Cider talks about her company’s hard cider and talks a little about the history of Magner’s Irish Cider. Watch to learn about a delicious hard cider! Click the “Like” button to become our fan at www.facebook.com to see the rest of the show and find recipe videos, full shows, and more.

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John Burton-Race has taken 30 menus from his repertoire and made them accessible to the home cook…. More >>

Recipes from an English Master Chef

2011 Scottish Chef of the Year, Neil Forbes, shows where to discover some of the highest quality foods in Edinburgh and cooks a delectable Scottish classic dish.

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A selection of recipes for a Burns Supper, from British Master Chef Tom Bridge, with tips for hosting your own Burns Night…. More >>

Master Chef Tom’s Burns Night

Chef at Ty Mawr Mansion near Aberaeron, Jeremy Jones, gives us a cooking class featuring Welsh food.

Essentials of Becoming a Chef

If you are interested in becoming a chef or a cooking professional, here is a list of the essentials of professional cooking.
To make it as one of the worlds known professional chefs of the culinary arts field, you must first have a passion for food. Acquiring recognition will come, through your cooking recipes, education and hands-on experience. A college education or experience at top restaurants could make a world of difference between getting a good job, and getting a great job. Follow these essentials of becoming a chef and you are sure to kickstart your career in the right direction!

What’s it take in becoming a chef?
Professional chefs are clean, organized and work in teams. Chefs must be capable in handling stressful situation, and the stamina to support each situation. Being adaptable and thinking quickly on your feet—like deciding what to do when your signature dish doesn’t turn up on time
So, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen’. But if you can, the rush you’ll feel from cooking meals, and having people enjoy may just what you’ve been looking for.

Having the passion
Having the passion for cooking recipes is not enough. It’s imperative to express your enthusiasm through your cooking techniques as well.
You can chat up about food as enthusiastically as you want; talking about your cooking techniques and what becoming a professional chef means to you and what your special unique cooking ideas would be if you had your VERY OWN cooking show. Just make sure you can back up everything thing you say through your every dish you cook!

Getting started by Cooking Meals
Work experience in the kitchen as an assistant or just for occasional evenings and weekends helps. It helps to see chefs at work and get a feel for the environment other professional chefs’ work in. This will also bring to your attention and may be the deciding factor of becoming a chef is really for you.
There is no specific ‘cooking recipe’ for trainee chefs; it’s not a simple math equation where you’re guaranteed an answer every time. Before handling food it’s important to get your Basic Food Hygiene Certificate first. And if you really want to reach the next cooking level like star Rachel Ray or Paula Dean, you should try working in top restaurants as soon as possible. The competition is rough but if you have motivation and commitment, you can reach that goal!

Basic Cooking Ingredients
If you’re planning a career as a professional chef, it’s good to know the basic structure of a kitchen. Most professional chef kitchens are very hierarchical; structure may change, of course, but only according to how many people a particular restaurant serves and how large (or small) the kitchen staff is. Below are some common kitchen terms that you should be familiar with.

• Aides: often trainees. This is usually the first port of call for those new to working in professional kitchens
• Commis Chef: the first rung of the ladder for newly trained chefs. The commis will usually work under a chef de partie, learning basics such as vegetable preparation.
• Chef de Partie: responsible for running sections of the kitchen. The chef de partie will make sure the food goes out during service and will also cook. All the commis chefs will be expected to help the chef de partie during service.
• Sous Chefs: essentially the head chef’s right-hand man. The sous chef will fulfill any role the head chef asks him or her to do in their absence.
• Head Chef/Chef de cuisine: the boss. Will plan menus, hire and fire staff and deal with suppliers and manage costs and budgets. Depending on their profile and other commitments, the head chef will often leave much of the day-to-day work to the sous.
• Executive Chef: larger establishments such as hotels will have an executive chef. This person may have much the same responsibilities as the head chef of a restaurant but on a larger scale. They may be responsible for planning the menu and setting the agenda for the style of the cuisine served, for example.

Chef Training and Qualifications
If you are 16 years of age, or older, you are able to apply for a ‘Modern Apprenticeship’. Here you will be able to get practical chef training along with experience learning from other professional chefs. Once you get a Level 3 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ), after about 3 years of work.
Another way is you can study full-time at a culinary college or chef training school. There are a number of City & Guilds chef qualifications at varying levels, aimed at those who want to work as professional chefs and other food outlets.

If you check your local careers service, they will have more detailed information about finding jobs and courses in food preparation. Here are some organizations that maybe help. (But additional research is advised)
• City & Guilds
• The Hospitality Training Foundation
• The Learning and Skills Council
• There are several websites that make useful starting points for finding out more about Modern Apprenticeships. Scottish Enterprise
• Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland
• ELWa has information on Modern Apprenticeships in Wales
• In Northern Ireland, the Department for Employment & Learning has information on Modern Apprenticeships
• The NVQ website has information on the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in England.
• The Scottish Qualifications Agency has information on the Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ).
• Springboard UK offers careers advice, events and a college finder for hospitality jobs.
• The Vegetarian Society has details of the Cordon Vert Diploma for meat-free cookery.

Make sure to check out my other blogs and articles for more information! Comment and leave feedback at http://www.talenttrove.com/SJ2009

British Food Fortnight is underway, and that means its time to celebrate Welsh Food Fortnight too! In this video, Michelin star winning chef Stephen Terry ( who has worked under top chefs Marco Pierre White and Michel Roux) shows you how to make bread-crumbed pork belly with black pudding. The pork is from NS James and seasoned with Anglesey Sea Salt from Halen Môn, both True Taste award winning producers. Now in its seventh year, the True Taste awards scheme is managed by The Welsh Assembly Government and recognises quality, innovation and excellence in the Welsh food and drink industry with more than 900 products and services judged each year. In this short step-by-step demonstration Stephen will show you just how easy it is to create a beautiful and delicious dish using only the very best Welsh produce. Stephen Terry is chef-proprietor of True Taste of Wales award winning pub-restaurant The Hardwick, in Abergavenny.