Chef Daniel Angerer's Blog

Chef D. on Questions and Answers

On this page I will post some of the many questions you have sent me about cooking and everything that has to do with it. I will do my best to answer all of them.

Peter M. wrote and asked, “What Knives do you suggest?”

For me as a chef a knife is an extension of my hand which I work with on a daily basis. Knives are very important to me and it fills me with happiness when I treat myself to a new knife or when people who know me give it as a present to me.

Good knives are an investment and if taken care of in a proper manner they will last for a life time. Good knives are certainly not cheap but well worth the investment.

There are decent knives out there like Global which are pretty to look at with their “cutting edge” design and made from steel that is softer and hence lighter than traditional high-carbon steel knives. Their edges stays razor sharp if you sharpen them frequently with a whet-stone. Many stores will offer traditional German made Wuesthof or Henkel knives which tend to feel heavy in your hand. They are good for bone, or crustacean shell, or heavy duty work. Then there is a class for the more professional chef who likes to worship his/her knives. A western-style “Misono” is a very good every day professional kitchen knife or “Nenox” whose handle is made out of quince wood which is an art object in my opinion – and  has a price tag of several hundred dollars.

Taking care of a sharp edge:

Aside from the knife itself, you must buy a whet-stone to get that razor sharp edge on your knife. Korin (www.korin.com) offers a DVD which explains how to use one, but usually the stones come with instructions. They are either lubricated with oil or water. Use only either or, switching does not work. They are around $50. In addition, I highly recommend using a diamond steel for around $40 or a porcelain which can cost three times as much, but give great results. A steel is a stick like tool which keeps your knife sharp by realigning the edge on the knife, during your cutting action. It takes a little practice to use one. With these two tools you should be in business to take proper care of your knives. I keep my knives in individual plastic guards or wrap them in a dry kitchen towel to protect their edge. Also do not forget to cut only on a plastic or wooden cutting board. NEVER cut on the kitchen counter or a stone surface. This will ruin your investment.

So which knife do you really need?

A chef’s knife is the one that will be doing the majority of your work.  If you plan to fillet fish you will need a somewhat flexible blade -- mine is about 8” long. A paring knife is handy to do work with smaller kitchen products like fruits, vegetables, etc. If you decide to take on the work of whole animal parts you will need a boning knife.

My favorite stores for knives

First I want to advise you not to buy sets because half of the knives in the set will get dusty in your drawer.  www.william-sonoma.com is great for the home cook. If you want  professional “show off” knives visit www.jbprince.com, or for high end luxury items for chefs and knife freaks you must visit www.korin.com. 

Ann B. asked, “How do you make spaetzli?”

Spatzel, Spätzel, Knöpfle, Spätzli

German, Austrian, Swiss where did this dish originate you can be sure that I encountered already some heated discussions in my American life about this subject because a lot of people are very proud -- almost possessive when it comes to the heritage of their childhood staple.  To keep it neutral all I  will say is that nobody seems to be able to trace the origin.

When I discuss spätzle or spätzel -- which is what it was called when it was put it in front of me when I was a little brat -- I refer to it as a free shaped egg pasta or tiny dumpling.

Spätzel dough typically consists of a few ingredients, principally eggs, flour, and salt. Often, water is added to produce a thinner dough. It has a soft sticky pancake like batter.

I season my spätzel recipe with salt, nutmeg and I have many different variations, e.g., like adding blanched and pureed spinach or squash puree, or I use different liquids like almond milk or straight mineral water to give a somewhat light and fluffy texture to the spätzel.

Handmade spätzel are formed by scraping strips of dough from a cutting board or by pushing the dough through a mechanical device. Whichever method is used, the noodles are formed directly over a large pot of boiling water or some sort of broth (I used beer on the Iron Chef show), into which they dropped.  Bring to a gentle boil just until the noodles rise to the surface. The most important thing here is to work quickly otherwise the egg batter will start to cook and harden and clog the little holes of your spätzel maker. I suggest working in batches, so not to crowd the spätzel in the boiling water. The noodles are shocked in ice water then drained and tossed with vegetable oil to prevent sticking together. Several types of special purpose spätzel makers are available, ones resemble a strainer, (or colander), a potato ricer, a food mill or coarse grater. Common Spätzel shapes are long thin noodles, thick small dumpling with an elongated shape and small oval or round dumplings. All are more or less irregular and that is how it is supposed to be traditionally. Adjust seasoning with salt and fresh pepper and get creative with add-ins like cheese, pancetta, truffles…. think of it as a pasta dish.

I have a few tricks for making this dough:
When I mix the ingredients I use a strong wooden spoon if I work by hand.  When I use an electric mixer I don’t use the whisk attachment,  I use the “bishop” attachment instead (or what is usually called a paddle attachment but to me it looks like a bishop’s hat).

I make the batter by mixing the dry ingredients first then I add half of the liquid ingredient (e.g. milk, water, coconut milk etc.) and then the eggs and more of the liquid ingredients as needed.  This yields a nice smooth batter.

Note:
You should know that flour made in different seasons will absorb liquid differently hence a recipe will vary between the seasons slightly. The texture will be in-between dough and a batter.  You may need to adjust the batter and add a little of a particular liquid or not depending on the elasticity of the batter.

 

 

Helena asked: “What does it mean to be the chef in your Kitchen?”

Kitchen Hierarchy – Which one would you like to become?

Here in the States we understand the word chef to be a person who cooks propessionally most often regardless of the rank. The term cook describes usually the common cook in a restaurant.

My kitchen history reflects  the brigade system where you start out as the young inexperienced commis de cuisine. Although kitchen life back in the day was often difficult and tough like being in the army, this appealed to my natural untiring fighting instinct and drove me to the next step on the career ladder. Being in a solid kitchen crew with a hierarchy was a great place to make buddies and learn tons of cool stuff while having your mentor in the same place.

The Brigade system was documented by the great writer and restaurateur Escoffier (1846-1935), he cooked in his early days in the French army.

 

Brigade System

Executive Chef
This is quiet a title since only the biggest chefs will title themselves with executive chef. He/she is the “spokes person” to the outside world. This guy might run the show of several restaurants.

When I was younger and envies I referred to executive chefs as pencil pushers since they were not making their hands dirty anymore in the kitchen versus spending many hours glued to a desk infront of a computer. Now I see what it entitles to “run” the numbers and to be soleily responsible for just about anything what is going on in the kitchen and restaurant.

Chef de Cuisine
Some sort a jack-of-all-trades. Responsible for hiring and firing, determines cost, revamps the various menus. The chef-de-cuisine interact with the dining room manager manager talks about the daily specials to the servers.

Sous-Chef
This person reports directly to the chef-de-cuisine or executive chef depending on the size of the restaurant. He/she is a good part of creating and executing daily specials besides the overall kitchen coordination. Many sous-chefs dream to become eventualy the chef-de-cuisine of a/their restaurant.


Chef de Partie
Aka line cook or first cook. These are the people who actually cook your food.

They are divided up in:

Chef garde manger
The person also known as the cold/salad station

Chef poissonier
He/she prepares fish dishes.

Chef entremetier
This cook prepares, soups, pastas, vegetable and starches

Chef rotisseur
This station chef cooks grilled, roasted, braised meat and usually does the sauces for these dishes too.

Commis de cuisine
Aka apprentice or kitchen helper, in my old days the go-for guy suporting the chef de partie. He/she chops, peels, and keeps the work station tidy.  

Pastry Chef
He/she is almost like a sous chef, but reigns predominatly of the pastry section of the kitchen.

Other kitchen staff:

Expediter
Generally this position is held most of the time by the Chef de Cuisine or sous chefs. He/she is the liasion between the front of the house (FOH) and kitchen (back of the house /BOH). An expediter SHOUTS out orders most commonly and the rest of the kitchen answeres with “YES CHEF” – “OUI CHEF” This person coordinates that the food gets to the customer in a timely manner simultaneously. This job is all about coordination and timing.

Boucher
This person butchers and portions meat or fillets fish and cuts them in the desired pieces.