Chef Wise

Now the hard thing to do is you are thinking of doing a party on the opening of the Olympics is to think of a theme.   The easy ones are stick to making everything in to the Olympic rings, use onions rings, apple rings, pine apple rings, burgers with a hole on the middle and doughnuts with the right colour of icings on each one. Or do you try and go for a theme of a Greek night , London night, International night or just use the gold, silver and bronze in you decoration and food. Personally I would try and do all of that. Here is my attempted at a Olympic menu, you will note there is no cheese cores as I think the menu is cheesy enough as it is. Chef Wise Olympic menu. Starters orders   ‘On your marks….’ The Olympic flame, deep-fried prawns in tempura batter with a wasabi dressing From mount Olympus itself    Greek salad, dressed salad leaves served with Mediterranean cous cous, mixed olives, cherry tomatoes Going for gold , Thai chicken meat balls, h...

Now having sat down and tried to think of this I do not really know what to suggest as a good idea for a party theme for the Olympics. The obvious ones are a London or British theme, Greek, sports or some kind of international around the world theme. Or you could go for I am fed up with so much sport this year I cannot be bother ante Olympic theme, one that I personally would go for. But as I am in the minority and everyone is into spot, apart from me let’s get into the spirit. And by spirit here are some Olympic cocktails to be drunk at your leisure to make the pain of spectating the great event that little bit easier. Golden Dream 1 ½   shots   Galliano 1 ½ shots orange juice 1 shot   triple sec 1 shot double   cream Add everything in to a cocktail shaker over lots of ice , give it all a good shake and then strain over ice in to a glass. The Olympic 1 ½ shots   brandy ¼   shots   triple sec Some     orange j...

This is the sort of thing that people are always asking me and I always say the same thing it all depends on what kind of wine you like. If all you have ever had is light sweet wine and I recommend a dry wine as you are having fish is that what you want. Probably not, so why recommend a dry white wine, because that is what is commonly suggested to go with fish. But that does not mean that it is for you. Now for me to do what I am about to do I am only going to use examples of old world wines. His is for two reason one, one I know them and two new world wines do not follow the same rules that old world wines have to follow. This means that you can have a wine that you expect to be one thing , is completely different. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with this , it just make a exorcize that is trying to simplify wine a lot more complicated. Already   think I have started to make this more complicated that it needs to be so let’s just start by splitting the wine i...

16 April 2012 As excitement starts to build for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, many of us will be planning how to celebrate. Last year, there were an estimated 4,000 street parties to commemorate the Royal Wedding, and many of us are planning to do the same again to mark the Jubilee. The weather was glorious for Wills’ and Kate’s big day, but as we all know,  you can never really rely on British sunshine. Electricity and rain do not mix well, so Steve Bratt, Group CEO at the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), gives his top tips to help you to stay safe at your Jubilee street party. • Protect with a gazebo – On Bank Holiday Monday, 4 June, there will be a televised Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace. If you plan to watch this as part of your street or garden party, you must protect your television, stereo and other electrical equipment from sudden showers with a gazebo or canopy. This will prevent electrical items from coming into immediate contact with water, gi...

You have to give it to the Scots that celebrating a poet as part of a national night of celebration is some thing that should be admired. After all you do not get a Shakespeare night of Wordsworth night here in England and more the pity. Every where you find expatriate Scots you will probably find a burns night , and my research tells me that it is a very strong tradition in New Zealand’s Dunedin , which Burns nephew Thomas Burns was the founding farther. A Burns supper is a celebration of his life and poetry and in a mix of tradition food and the words of the bard The first suppers were held in Ayrshire at the end of the 18th century to start with on the anniversary of his death but then held on his birthday. Now what you are expecting is to have Haggis the most traditional of Scottish dishes.  And do not forget the Scotch whisky and the recitation of Burns' You gather and have a few drinks and then the host will say a few words and declare the evening open ...

Well it is safe to say that I do not really know that much about Chinese food and its symbolic meaning. In fact I would never be so brave as to even try to but I have gleamed some things that you could use if you was wanting to have a special dinner to celebrate the Chinese new year, the year of the dragon. Food has a very special importance in Chinese culture so it plays a really big roll in the new years celebrations.  And the thing you are looking for is lucky food so you will have luck for the year. Lucky foods are served all though the fortnight New Year calibration, or spring festival. So what gives a certain food symbolic significance more than others do?  Sometimes it is its appearance, or it may have special significance during Chinese New Year. A whole chicken served during the Chinese New Year symbolizes family togetherness, noodles a long life, clams, and spring rolls wealth.  However, what is interesting is that it is consider unluck...

Here is a list of ideas if you are looking for inspiration for some thing to do for a party. Just pick the odd one or two and then all you have to do is get a pig dish and serve it all in.  There is something so nice I think about the hot and cold buffet, you get to move a round talk to people and all depending on how much effort you put in to it can look pretty spectacular as well. For your cold you could try Tuna Nicoise Potato chive and whole grain mustard salad Classic coleslaw Seafood Platter (Prawns, Salmon, Langoustines and Crab) Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Basil Parma Ham and Rocket Salad with a Grapefruit Dressing  Farmhouse Pate with Country Bread Plate of Roasted Meats and Pickles Or you make a tart or two Broccoli and Stilton Tart Leek, Mushroom & Cheddar Tart Goats Cheese and Red Onions Tart Vine Tomato, Cheddar & Fresh Basil Tart Roasted Vine Tomato, Shallot & Mozzarell...

Well if you are looking to impress your gests then nothing goes better than a few drinks and some Canapé.  So below are a list of some hot and ones that you can have a go at making.  You do not have to do them all in fact you would be mad to try to but it does give you some ideas that you can use if you are organising a party.  Cold Roast scallop with yellow pepper vinaigrette Peppered lamb loin with mint chutney Sake marinated salmon with tobiko Brie cheese on pumpernickel, red currant compote Thai minced chicken salad rolled in rice paper Maguro tartar, lemon grass gazpacho Mousse of foie gras, quince jelly Salad of lobster and scallop with pink guava dressing Rolled salmon with crab meat and walnut Rillette of barbeque duck with coriander ‘Guacamole’ foam Venison tataki with Belgian endive and chocolate dressing Monk fish foie gras, cherry-balsamic jello Smoked chicken with mango salsa Brie fill...

The big question that I am always asked at Christmas is how do I cook a turkey. Followed by we always get one that is to big for us.  So for every one who want to know this is the basics. For one serving, you will need about 200g or 8 oz per person.  Now if you are roasting a whole turkey you will have a lot of bones in that so you have to take them out of the equations so say a quarter of the bird will be bones, half barest meat and one quarter leg meat. So a 4.5kg/ 9lb 15oz bird will have 2.25kg/ 4lb 15oz  white meat so  and 1.125kg/ 2lb 8oz brown meat approximately. Now in cooking it you will get about a 40% loss in roasting the bird so you will get 1.35kg/ 3ld 1 oz cooked white meat and 675g / 1lb 4oz  cooked brown meat .  Therefore, that will go round and make servings for 10 people. So you will need 450g or 1ld of raw bird for each person if the bird is whole . So if you are getting a turkey crown then you will need 280g or 12...

Well I was looking at some things and doing some research on Christmas menus from the past I a cam across this, just thought it interesting as what was done then as to today. CHRISTMAS DINNER MENU 1890 Raw Oysters **** Bouillon **** Fried smelts and Sauce tartare Potatoes a la Maitre d' Hotel **** Sweetbread Pates and Peas **** Roast Turkey and Cranberry Sauce **** Roman Punch **** Quail with Truffles and Rice Croquettes **** Parisian Salad Crackers and Cheese **** Nesselrode Pudding or Fancy Cakes **** Fruit with Coffee Raw Oyster, sever on a half shell, laid on a bed of ice. About five or six oyster per person with a wedge of lemon. Bouillon, a very beefy in flavour but rather thin stock , served in a bouillon cup . Fired smelts are what you would call white bate if you have not had them before. The interesting thing about this is that it is a traditional dish served in some parts Italy on Christm...

Christmas is just around the corner, do not panic it’s only food. Here are my top tips for trying to get the Christmas dinner on the table with out you ending up in a nervous wreck. I remember a long time ago I was a guest to some ones house who was cooking Christmas dinner. Back then it was unusual for me as I normally would have been working but not that time. I turned up a bottle of wine in hand to find the lady of the house as stressed as a person with OCD and nothing to do. The husband was looking for salvation in cooking sherry. And the children wonder if all mummies and daddies did this at Christmas. Things where not going well. So as you do if you’re ill and you see a doctor everyone looks at the doctor to save the day, every one looked at me. The truth was we needed more time to cook the turkey and every thing else was just about ready. Not a big problem and easily sorted by carving the turkey a little under cooked laying it in a try of boiling water from the ...

A bad play on words so forgive me my name for this recipe.  It was better known in my family as campers stew as it was the sort of thing that we would make when we went camping and every thing came out of a tin.  The real strength of a dish like this is that you can just whack it in a pan let it cook and watch the fireworks go of then back inside reheat.  And you have a very tasty filling and warming dish all in one bowl. You will need Two big potatoes 8 rashers bacon 4 garlic cloves 1 big onion 1 chicken stock cube 1.2 litres/2 pints water Half a green cabbage or kale 10 or 12 good sausages  Some chopped fresh thyme Some chopped fresh parsley A tin of borlotti beans A tin of kidney beans A tin of cannellini beans  A tin of haricot beans Two tin of tomatoes Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste Now unlike a lot of recipes that I put on this site you will see that this one...

If your are holding any party of any kind the thing you want to do is sit down and think of two things . One what kinds of party or event are you trying to have and second how much do you want to spend. This might sound a little simple but I can assure you from years of working in the hospitality industry, people always know what they would like. But they never know how much it might cost. And when you are doing the planning and the catering you would be surprised how things can go spiralling out of control in just a few simple unplanned additions to the list. Now to know how much it might cost you must know how many people are coming. More importantly who is coming. Now normally between my wife and me that is an easy thing to sort out as I have virtually no close friends, she invites who she wants and I go along with it. As Bev has a pretty good taste in friends then it is normally a good crowed. And by the time people start to arrive I have started to get in to the party mood with th...