Chef's Favorites: Food Cities

This is the second installment of Chef's Favorites, where we ask our global team the following burning question:

What is your favorite food city in the world and why?

Master Chef Florian:

Amsterdam--the multicultural city. It has so many different restaurants. One of my favorites is the Restaurant Nursery de Kas. Situated in the former Amsterdam city greenery from 1926. Extremely fresh reaped, seasonal vegetables, herbs and fruits. Rural Mediterranean kitchen..

Chef Kevin:
 NYC - not just the upscale joints but more the down and dirty ( Chinatown, Little Italy, bakeries, markets and street vendors) The smell of pretzels warming our coals on a cool fall afternoon

Chef Sarah: 

My best and most memorable food experiences came from touring around France (Auxerre, Beaune, Dijon, Paris). It was simple food prepared well. Great coffee, even the yogurt was delicious. And I was introduced to more adventurous stuff (for me) like escargot.

 

Chef Jenny:

New York City is the center of the universe. "If you can't find it in New York, it doesn't exist."  This is according to my mother in law who has lived there for over 50 years and I think I may agree with her. Every ethnic group is represented throughout the 5 boroughs so of course you can experience so many different cuisines. Every neighborhood is like globe-trekking to another part of the world.

 

Chef Michael:

Naples - great restaurants without pretence. fantastic fresh ingredients (fish, vegetables), great coffee and the best Pizza in the world.

 Chef David:

New York: you have to respect the diversity. "The City," has everything from the best street food to the hottest restaurants. Every time I visit, I am humbled by the cuisines I encounter.

 

Chef Ingreth: 

Brazilian Northeast food, is the one of most richest cuisines because of the big influence of Indians, African Europeans (Portuguese) and Others. This culinary has several types of ingredients from inland to coast , and also spices, peppers, herbs and so on.

 

Chef Bryan: 

New Orleans, because it is a melting pot, the food has inspiration from all over the world to include the French, Spanish, and African

 

Chef Favorites: Kitchen Tools

Today, we begin a new series that gets us into the minds and memories of our global chef team.  All of us answered questions on our favorite tools, food cities, cookbooks, and childhood dishes.

The first question posed was this:
What is your favorite or most indispensable tool for the kitchen and why?

Master Chef Florian:

A vacuum machine.

First I can preserve my fresh ingredient for longer than the traditional way in a vacuum bag.

It saves me space in the fridge.

I can use it for sous - vide cooking and slow cooking.

Executive Chef Kevin: Chef's knife - if you can't cut it, it makes it hard to cook it and prepare it.

Chef David: A Mixing bowl, a good stainless steel one, preferably made by Vollrath. A mixing bowl is good tasks such as mis en place, prepping sauces, melting chocolate, proofing bread, to washing vegetables.

Chef Jenny: Tongs which can be used for so many different uses from flipping items in a saucepan, to stirring, to ladling and most importantly for me grabbing items high on a shelf since I am vertically challenged.

Chef Bryan: Chef knife has already been taken, so I would say a side towel. chefs are constantly having to handle very hot objects, we would have a much more difficult time without a side towel

Chef Sarah: A good quality pastry brush - for removing excess flour from doughs, oiling crackers, and applying egg washes.

Chef Michael: Cling Film - poaching, rolling balontines, forming meats, and of course, keeping things fresh.

Chef Ingreth: A good pot or pan with triple layers, made of ceramic or stone. This types of pan that hold the heat slow, give a special taste for food.

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be posting the team's responses to more of our Chef Favorites questions.