Brandenburg Culinarian

Culinarians Work in Clean Kitchens      Nothing is more important than food safety and sanitation. If you make the most delicious food, but it is tainted with a harmful microorganism...you failed. So much of cleaning a kitchen and protecting the safety and wholesomeness of foods boils down to plain old fashioned cleanliness. To be specific there is a difference between a clean kitchen and a sanitary kitchen. To clean is to simply eliminate the clutter but to sanitize is to clean and go a step further to remove or minimize to a safe level the number of harmful microorganisms present in the foods or food preparation area. First Things First      When you purchase or acquire food items, you need to make sure what you acquire has been handled safely. You need to make sure you aren't bringing spoiled foods home. The next most important is that you need to make sure that once you acquire food items, you don't allow them to spoil between the time you acquire them ...

  Foundations of Nutrition Macronutrients According tot he U.S. Department of Agriculture, an adult human needs: 55% - 60% of calories from carbohydrates 12% - 15% of calories from proteins 30% or less of calories from fats      There are different perspectives on the macronutrient recommendations, and other recommendations such as the carnivore or vegan approaches have their own merits, and limitations, but these recommendations are general and may not be ideal for one individual or another. The bottom line when it comes to nutrition is to pay attention to what is eaten, how that makes the body respond, and what the specific macronutrients do to that individual. Nutrition, a Brief Introduction      By no means will this information make you a nutritionist, but knowing this information does improve our ability to improve the quality of the foods that we consume. Nutrition in a nutshell is simply the energy sources and building blocks necessary for the ...

 Specialties of the Kitchen Brigade Don't Be A One Trick Pony     Mastering the entire spectrum of culinary skills and specialties, not to mention regional and local cuisines is nearly impossible to master in multiple lifetimes, let alone a single lifetime. As with all other aspects of things we can do, we cannot master everything. William Shakespeare is attributed to having written, "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than being a master of one." If we look at culinary arts as we look at much of life, we realize we do need a general working knowledge of more than a specialty in work, but we do need to be highly skilled in one aspect or another.      In the professional side of culinary arts some chefs take a more well-rounded approach to their careers while other chefs specialize. The main specialties of what is known as the kitchen brigade system are described below. But, as a culinarian, especially in the home, a more general...

  Guiding Philosophy of a Culinarian Essential to living well is to be intentional in how we live. When it comes to what we feed ourselves, to have care and concern for the way we approach that important part of our experience in life is important.  So there are the stoics, who seek to live a rational and moral existence by seeking to do what the ought to do, to live a disciplined life. Then, there are the epicureans who sought to live rationally and morally through avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. Mainly avoiding pain. If a choice must be made between those worldviews, seeking pleasure, not meaningless pleasure, but pleasure that contributes meaningfully to one's life seems to be a worthwhile perspective.  So, if the culinarian were to prepare a meal of highly processed foods, that "cook" would be a traitor to the greater good of maximizing meaningful pleasure and minimizing needless suffering, to avoid pain. The culinarian, whether stoic or epicurean in nature should...

      A culinarian is a cook, but one who has passion for eating well and living well. So much of life is a chore, sometimes beautiful, but a chore nonetheless. For a culinarian, life is beautiful in spite of the chores and responsibilities of daily living because eating good food is a well deserved pleasure and respite from life's demands. For some, being a culinarian isn't the main effort, but to learn to cook well for themselves and others is where their heart is. The truth about a life well lived (when it comes to food and nourishment) is that if a person can prepare a meal that nourishes and satisfies the senses, their life is better for the experience. We welcome all who desire to eat well and enjoy their efforts in the kitchen or on the backyard grill no matter whether they want to be a culinarian or a functional home cook. To all who enjoy a nice meal, Welcome! In A Nutshell... There is no destination. The experience of culinary arts is one of discovery, of the jo...