Interview of a Chef

Interview with an Executive Chef

Chef Karl Marsh is an executive Chef and Culinary Services Manager at Omaha Steaks for past seven years. I have known him for over two years through my work. Omaha Steaks buys spices from the company I wok for, International Spices, so Karl and I are always in touch with each other talking about his projects, and send e-mails etc. However I never got chance to meet him personally until today. Chef Karl showed me his kitchen and sensory lab. I didn’t get a chance to see him “in action” while cooking but had a good time chatting with him. Here is his response to the questions I asked him during his interview.


Q. 1) What level of education did you obtain to get a career as a chef?

Chef Karl: I attended a 2 year culinary program from a non accredited school. In the early 80’s there were very few culinary schools that actually offered degrees.

Q. 2) Why did you choose this career?

Chef Karl: My first job as a teenager was cooking in a restaurant. I fell in love with the restaurantbusiness and always preferred the back of the house. When I graduated from highschool I already had several years of cooking experience and I decided that I wanted to make a career of it.

Q. 3) Would you say there are a good amount of jobs in this career?

Ckef Karl: Yes and no. Executive Chef positions are out there but it is hard to get the break needed to make the jump to the Executive Chef level. There are plenty of cooking jobs and Sous Chef jobs out there.

Product development Chef / Research Chef jobs are even harder to come by. Most require large amounts of experience in the field. It’s hard to get the experience if you can’t get the job.

Q. 4) Does this career offer a good annual salary?

Chef Karl: Yes and no. It depends a lot on experience, location, and volume. There are plenty of 6 figure Exec Chef jobs out there but it takes a proven track record and lots of experience to get them. The average Exec Chef makes in the 50k-70k range.

On the other hand Product development Chef’s do make excellent salaries. Most are 6 figure jobs but they are hard to come by.

Q. 5) What things you like and dislike about your job?

Chef Karl: In my current position as Executive Chef of Omaha Steaks I am very blessed. I really enjoy creating in the test kitchen with very little pressure. I really enjoy doing product development, recipe development and being a spokesperson for the company. I also enjoy the people I work with. There really is not anything that I dislike about my current job.

When I was the Executive Chef or restaurants and hotels there were plenty of things I disliked. I really disliked dealing with personnel issues and working on every holiday. There was a time in my life when I loved working in restaurants but that time has come and gone.

Q. 6) What kind of foods do you usually cook?

Chef Karl: In my current position I get to cook foods from the whole spectrum of ingredients and geographical cuisines. That being said I probably cook beef more that anything else.

Q. 7) How do you design your own menu?

Chef Karl: In my current position my menu is really our catalog. The level of sophistication that goes into a marking piece like that is way beyond the detail and thought that goes into writing a restaurant menu.

That being said every dish I ever had on my menus were first and foremost things that I really liked and was passionate about and secondly things that sold well and were popular. I always spent a fair amount of time seeing what the competition was doing and staying abreast of the current trends.

Q. 8) Where do you get ideas to create new recipes?

Chef Karl: I just draw off of things I have made in the past, scene in the past or in the present. I do a lot of research and I follow the trends closely.

Q. 9) Do you think it helps to have science background to become a good food product developer?

Chef Karl: Absolutely. At the end of the day, cooking is chemistry and really helps if you understand the science behind why things taste the way they do. The ideal product development chef is someone who has a good balance of cooking ad science skills.


Q. 10) In your opinion what are three main things you need to become a successful chef

Chef Karl: 1- Passion 2- Creativity 3- Good organizational skills


It was nice to meet Chef Karl Marsh and ask him some questions about his work as a Chef at Omaha Steaks-manufacturer of gourmet steaks. It gave me better idea about a Chef’s work. I sure enjoyed the visit!

Biography of Rachael Ray

Rachel ray has a very magnetic personality! I began watching her show “$40 a day” about 6 yrs ago and got hooked immediately. She is a very down-to-earth simple person who assures you that it is ok not to know how to cook from scratch. You can actually relate to her. I never liked ‘Martha Stewart’ like people who are so unreal and annoying! I know some celebrity Chefs don’t give Rachael Ray due respect and credit that she deserves but the truth is that no body ever made cooking show so interesting for common audience before. Rachel Ray uses simple, canned or boxed ingredients, which can be found at the local grocery stores. She giggles and makes funny comments while cooking. She also tells stories about her family and gives her personal touch to the show. She is very entertaining and fun to watch and that is what people like about her show. Her ‘30-minute meal’ is such a hit TV show that I know some people actually following those recipes on daily basis! I myself have bough her 30-minute meal cookbook.

Rachael Ray was born in Cape Cod, Massacutees, where her family owned a number of restaurants. She grew up in an environment where cooking and food were a major part of her life. She says “Everyone from both sides of her family cook”. She always refers to her grandfather when it comes to authentic Italian cooking. Later, her family relocated to upstate New York, where her mother went to work as the food supervisor for a chain of restaurants.

Rachael's professional career started at Macy's Marketplace in New York at the candy counter. She was then promoted to manager of the fresh foods department. After Macy's, Rachael was involved with opening Agata & Valentina, the celebrated New York gourmet market, where she was the store manager and buyer. Later on she worked in Cowan & Lobel, a large gourmet market in Albany, as a food buyer and chef, she began holding classes called ‘30 Minute Mediterranean Meals,’ which caught on so quickly that soon she was giving them weekly on a local evening news show there. By 2001 ‘30 Minute Meals’ had premiered on the Food Network, followed by ‘$40 a Day in 2000', ‘Inside Dish in 2004’, and ‘Tasty Travels in 2005’. Author of numerous cookbooks, editor-in-chief of her magazine, ‘Every Day with Rachael Ray’, and host of a daily talk show, Rachael Ray has become a famous TV personality! She even has her own line of cookware.

Rachael Ray probably never went to any formal cooking school to become a Chef but has created simple, delicious and easy to cook recipes, which are not only quick to make but are very inexpensive too. She is a self-taught ‘Chef’ who has real passion for food and enjoys teaching common people how to cook and enjoy tasty meal on a budget.

At home cooking experience

At Home Cooking Experience-By Lalita Kunte: 4/11/2010

Last Wednesday we made pizza for dinner from scratch but it didn’t occur to me to take pictures then to put on my blog. So today I decided to make another dish and take pictures so I could use it for my blog. I had never cooked stuffed ravioli before but decided to take up this adventure for my “At home cooking experience” assignment Any ways---I am going to write about two recipes here, pepperoni pizza and spinach ravioli. These recipes are very simple and very common but I gave a little “spicy” twist to the pepperoni pizza.

Recipe: Pepperoni Pizza-with herbs

I like pizza made with fresh pizza bread because of its fermented and freshly baked aroma. Pizza crust is rather bland and has no taste or visual. So I prefer any kind of topping rather than eating just plain cheese pizza. My kids are very picky eaters and don’t like to explore new things. They like just plain cheese pizza. However, occasionally they eat pepperoni pizza. Pepperonis bought from supermarket are tasteless most of the times.

I like spices and herbs. So I though of adding little “pizzazz” to plain old pizza crust by adding some dry herbs such as, basil, oregano, thyme and minced garlic. I work in a spice company where I had made this “tomato–herb pizza topper seasoning” by mixing different dry spices, and dehydrated tomato, onion and garlic flakes. This pizza topper seasoning can be sprinkled on top of a freshly baked pizza for more flavor and eye appeal. Here is my pizza recipe:

Pizza Crust: Mix 1 tsp dry yeast + 1 tsp sugar and ½ tsp salt. Add this to 1 cup of warm water and set aside for 10 min. Once the yeast is activated, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 and ½ cup of all-purpose flour, 1teaspoon dry basil, ½ tsp dry thyme, 2 tsp dehydrated minced garlic. Knead the dough with hand and add more water if needed. Cover the dough with wet cloth and keep it in warm place for about 30 min. The dough should almost double in size. Then punch the dough stretch it. Work the dough until you it is elastic. Make a ball of dough with your hand and flatten it down on a lightly floured cutting board (or any other clean surface) until you make a nice round pizza bread/crust. This recipe will make 2 pizza breads). Cut some holes with fork in the crust to prevent it from rising during baking. Bake the crust at 400 F for 10-15 min (do not over bake it becomes hard).

My pizza crust turned out beautiful and had lot of flavor because of added herbs. I spread homemade pizza sauce (added some oregano, basil, black pepper, olive oil, sugar and salt to tomato sauce, and tomato past and cooked for 5 minutes) on my pizza crust, and topped it with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Pizza was baked for 12 more minutes until the cheese was melted. After that I added my ‘tomato-herb’ pizza topper, which really made pizza further tasty. Sweet fennel and crushed red pepper nicely complemented flavors (or lack of flavor) in pepperoni, while tomato, thyme, garlic, and basil gave more ‘Italian’ flavors to my pizza. Try this at home folks. I can send you my signature “tomato-herb” pizza topper if you like!



Recipe: Spinach Ravioli

This is my daughter’s favorite dish. But I never tried making this at home until today. It was labor intensive and little messy but it turned out good in the end! I followed this recipe, which I found on the website http://www. thecookcity.com”. I used rolling pin and ravioli cutter instead of pasta machine to make my ravioli triangles.

Pasta Dough:

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt (use a finer-grain salt, not coarse sea salt)

Making the Pasta Dough
Place all ingredients into a food processor and combine until the mixture begins to form a ball.
Remove from the processor and place on a floured work surface. Knead by hand, adding flour if necessary, until the dough become smooth and elastic.
Flatten the dough with rolling pin and cut about 3 inch wide strips

Spinach Filling:

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cups ricotta.
1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese.
1 cup finely-chopped spinach
1 egg yolk
Generous pinch of salt and several grinds of fresh pepper. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set them aside until you are ready to make ravioli.

Egg Wash:

2 egg whites with 2 tablespoons water, combined well with a fork to fully emulsify

Assembling ravioli:
1. Lay pasta strips on a flat surface.
2. Using a spoon place a heaping teaspoon of spinach filling on the strips, each about 3-inches apart. Be consistent in the amounts for each ravioli.
3. Using a pastry brush, brush a light amount of egg white wash around the ricotta filling.
4. Place another strip of pasta dough on top of the one with the filling and using your fingers, gently press around all the edges and in between the mounds of cheese filling. Don't push the cheese filling out. Your goal is to seal each pocket without tearing the dough.
5. Using the serrated edge of your ravioli cutter, cut each pocket into its own separate parcel, trimming each edge to fully seal it.

Final Cooking:
1. Bring a very large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Cook the ravioli about 3 to 4 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain carefully.
3. Serve with a favorite tomato sauce, chopped fresh tomatoes, a basil pesto, or just some grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
However, we modified the 3rd step as per our taste. My kids like dry-fried ravioli instead of wet-soggy kind. So we added this step.
- Add little olive oil to a large hot skillet and fry cooked ravioli. Garnish it with grated parmesan cheese, and dry oregano leaves. Sprinkle some ‘Italian seasoning’ on top and serve hot! This friend ravioli is way more tasty than usual soggy one!

Book Report

Name of the Book: Healing with Whole Foods
Author: Paul Pitchford

Review: 'Healing with Whole Foods' book brings together traditions of oriental medicine with research on healthy vegetarian diet. ‘Healing With Whole Foods’ teaches us how to choose healthy, healing foods easily available in nature, and motivates the reader to embrace vegetarian diet. People in western meat-based culture are not familiar with lot of vegetables and other foods mentioned in this book but author has described them very well. It is not difficult to find these foods in local health food stores.
You are what you eat and if you choose foods wisely, it is not difficult to maintain good healthy body and mind. Food fuels your body as well as mind/soul. Studies show that two thirds of all deaths are directly related to improper diet and poor eating habits. Coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, atherosclerosis, and some cancers are caused by high calorie diets, diets rich in fat, sugar, salt, and by eating highly processed foods which lack essential nutrients.
Food itself can not cure disease but it sure acts as foundation of medicine. If diet is used correctly for prevention and treatment, medicines will have better effect on your body. This book will allow readers to self evaluate and learn which foods and diets are best for his or her particular constitution and health condition.
In the western world foods are categorized or recognized based on their major components such as fat, carbohydrates, protein, and other minor nutrients. These are clearly important dimensions of food and they are also recognized by the oriental culture. However, oriental culture also focuses on other dimensions of food such as warming & cooling values, ability to moisten, strengthen energy, calm mind etc.
This book is divided into five parts. In the first part (Part I) the author talks about roots of diagnosis and treatment. He discusses yin and yang concept (complementary opposite such as fire-water, heat-cold, light-dark, excess-deficiency) applied to food. Part II of the book is dedicated to different nutrients such as water, protein, vitamins, sugars, minerals etc. Effects of these nutrients on our body and foods rich in these nutrients are described. In this part, author also talks effect of fasting on body purification and foods for children. Part III of the book is called ‘Five element and organ systems’. It talks about seasonal attunement of human body due to climate change and suggests certain foods suitable for consumption in particular season. This section also describes therapeutic use of five flavors such as pungent, salty, sour bitter, and sweet. Part IV deals with disease ad their dietary treatment. Author has described which foods to use in order to cure disorders and diseases such as diabetes, blood deficiency, bleeding, asthma, skin diseases, mental illness, hair loss etc. The last part (Part V) has very useful recipes using whole grain and vegetables, nuts, sprouts, salads, soups. Apart from recipes this section has very good information on all these ingredients, their benefits and therapeutic values. I enjoyed this book!

Dining Experience-Cheesecake Factory

Last Saturday I told my family that we were going out to dinner for my School project. Kids were really amused by that. They like the idea of going out to eat but didn’t like the fact that I was going to choose the restaurant. I have a ten years old son and thirteen years old daughter. Needless to say, kids always fight when it comes to picking a restaurant but they both agree upon going to Olive Garden. My husband and I like that restaurant too but we like to try different foods. My husband had always wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory for long time so I chose Cheesecake Factory for my ‘dining experience’ project.

Easting at Cheesecake Factory was a wonderful dining experience for our entire family. The cheesecake factory offers a unique experience in upscale fine dining. I didn’t know this until I went to that restaurant yesterday for the first time. I am glad that I chose Cheesecake Factory for blogging my dining experience. Part of the experience is enjoying its outstanding décor. When we got there we were really impressed by the exterior of the building. I was equally impressed with the giant wood door at the entryway and beautifully painted huge Egyptian columns. The beautiful colored floral murals on the walls and ceiling with dim accent lighting set the mood. You feel special to be in such a special place!

The Cheesecake Factory offers extensive menu with large portions. I learned that they have 20 menu items made from scratch every day! No wonder their food tastes so fresh and delicious! My daughter ordered the New Orleans Shrimp dish. It had shrimp in a sweet soy sauce, sautéed vegetables, and white rice. She loved it very much and finished that huge portion by herself! My son and husband ordered steak. It was good too (may be nothing extraordinary). I think my dish was the best of all! I ordered Pecan crusted catfish, which was on the special menu that day. It was the most delicious and flavorful dish I ate in a very long time! Main dish was sautéed catfish (coated with crunchy pecan seasoning) floating in flavorful butter-garlic sauce, with two sides of mashed potatoes, and corn succotash. I never thought I could eat that big portion but I finished my dish and enjoyed every bite of it! Though we were all full after eating big-portioned dinners, we shared one delicious strawberry cheesecake together. I can’t wait to go back to Cheesecake Factory to enjoy this wonderful dining experience again!