Chef's Favorites - Cookbooks!

Today, we asked our team the burning question:
What is your favorite cookbook and why?
Chef Florian:
 Grand livre de Cuisine, written by Alain Ducasse.

It is a fantastic cookbook with the most traditional Authentic and contemporary recipes, completed by clear description how to finish and how to present



Chef Sarah
For everyday at-home meals, I like Elie Krieger's The Food You Crave, because she uses a minimal amount of fresh ingredients that pack a lot of punch, nutritionally and organoleptically. I also like The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg for helping me to get through pastry school, and as a continuing resource for all things baking-related.



Chef Jenny:
I always go back to the first cookbooks I looked at when I was growing up that sparked my interest in cooking and helping out my mother in the kitchen which are Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cook Book and Joy of Cooking.



Chef Michael:

Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson. I love it's simplicity and indepth look at meat recipes and cooking tips. It shows you how to extract every bit of flavour out of an animal ....... Not for vegetarians



Chef David:

On Cooking - all of the recipes inside the book are spot on, restaurant tested, and reliably good. It's recipes have always been a great place to start to find something to work off of.



Chef Ingreth:
The History of Alimentation, is a book that talks about recipes and cooking methods from the ancestors until current day and many times i use as a guide .. 1001 Foods You Must Try Before you Died. Both are good to take ideas of ingredients and cooking methods.



Chef Bryan:
Culinary Artistry. I received this book when I was 16 it was the first time I really started to think about flavor combinations.



Chef Kevin:
Tough one, so many good ones. For technique, Jacques Pepin's, The Art of Cooking (Much of what I learned in my apprenticeship is in here). For food and recipe, Thomas Keller Bouchon or Ad Hoc for the home cook.

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.

Check Out IFF's New EU Natural Flavors for Beef and Chicken!

Over the past couple of  years, the global chef team have been working hard to develop gold standard preparations, notably for beef and chicken, against which our flavorist can benchmark to ensure that their flavors hit the very highest standards possible.  And because there is no "one size fits all" in the area of flavors, we created gold standards for several regionalized favorites.  The delicious, authentic, natural flavors that resulted from the fantastic teamwork here were remarkable.

Next January, new regulations in the EU are changing the way the food industry can label their products.  Flavors that were previously cited as "natural" may not necessarily remain considered so after the legislation takes effect.

In order to help our customers be compliant with the new legislation and continue to deliver natural flavors to consumers, a new portfolio of chicken and beef flavors, specifically for the EU, have been released. 

We are proud of IFF's dedication to supplying fantastic, culinary-driven natural flavors and of our role in creating them!

Thinking of Inking?

Check this piece for some culinary-inspired ideas....

Tasty Link Alert!

Here is a new addition to our Tasty Links that was suggested by Master Chef Florian Webhofer -- Food Pairing.  While their purposes sound simple -- helping users discover what foods pair well together or finding great replacements for foods in recipes -- the site is a veritable culinary visual thesaurus, filled with exciting ideas that will have you creating wonderful meals and returning again and again.

Also be sure to check out their blog while you're on the site. 

I'm hungry already!

Just in case you missed it...

Our own Executive Chef Kevin McDermott was consulted for and quoted in this article in the esteemed Wall Stree Journal on the increased appetite for intense flavor experiences.

Perfumer & Flavorist

For those of you with a more technical interest, there is a great article in this month's Perfumer & Flavorist on advances that our R&D experts are making on citral stability.  The research is being done in concert with the University of Massachusetts and focuses on extended shelf life for ready-to-drink and powdered beverages.  We can't link you to the article, but get your copy and check it out!

A Taste of London

IFF CulinEssence Chef Michael Gibson attended the first day of A Taste of London, held in Regent's Park and now in its seventh year.  This pop-up festival, running from 17 - 20 June, celebrates the best restaurants and produce London has to offer.  Chef took the snaps in this post and reports that his highlights include 

Tom Aikens - Daleford 7 hour confit Lamb with mash and balsamic onions and La Gavroche - Ballotine de Volaille vinaigrette de truffes. 

Below are some scenes from this amazing event...

Why Yes, That IS IFF on the New Cooking Channel!

On Monday, the new Cooking Channel (which took over the Fine Living Channel) debuted Food(ography), a show that explores the history of iconic foods and highlights the chefs, artisans, movers, and shakers that move those foods into the future.  IFF was honored to be in the company of the talented people featured in the premiore episode on Ice Cream.  The folks from the Cooking Channel got VIP access to our Vanilla Extract plant and an interview with Marie Wright, flavoriste extraordinaire! 

The episode is playing all week - check your local listings.