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Chef's Notes Plus, Family Fun

Snack Sushi

Sushi is generally an outside food, meaning we eat it outside of the house when someone else makes it for us. And for a lot of reasons, this is generally a fine practice. Good sushi fish can be hard to find and hard to store. Plus, who even knows how […]

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Chef's Notes Plus

All About Roux

If you’re feeling the spirit of Mardi Gras, you may be inspired to try your hand at a Cajun or Creole recipe, like gumbo or shrimp etouffee. The key to many of these flavorful, complex dishes is the roux, a cooked flour and fat mixture that thickens, colors, and flavors […]

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Chef's Notes Plus

How To: Break Down Artichokes

Artichokes. They are delicious. They are versatile. And their edible portions are so small compared to the effort it takes to get through the spiky exterior! But like the first person who looked at an artichoke and thought, “I bet I can cook the tiny center of that armadillo-flower,” we […]

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Chef's Notes Plus, Family Fun

Strings and Wiggles: A Guide to Pasta Shapes

We haven’t counted, but by our estimates, there are like, ten million different pasta shapes in the world. More accurately, there are probably more than 300 different shapes, and depending on where you are in the world, each one may have a completely different name. Luckily, knowing the ins and […]

Chef's Notes Plus

Perfect your Mise en Place

Knowing how to cook is obviously important, and just like every chef and student at the CIA is on the same lifelong journey of culinary learning, you’ll want to review the essential techniques and fundamentals of cooking (start here!). But past that, the first thing you’ll learn at the CIA […]

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Chef's Notes Plus

Tips for Plant-Forward Cooking

Have you heard about the CIA’s partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health? For several years, we’ve worked together on the Menus of Change initiative, which aims to refocus restaurant cooking to include more plant-forward and sustainable menu planning. Simply put, we believe plant-forward eating is better […]

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Chef's Notes Plus

Thanksgiving Stuffing Free-Style

Stuffing (or maybe you call it dressing?) is highly personal. You might follow the same family recipe each year, or maybe you go out in search of something new and exciting. More often than not, you might be let down. This isn’t because the recipes are bad, but it’s because […]

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Chef's Notes Plus

Simply Put: Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder

“1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder” is a phrase that strikes to the core of any baker who hasn’t yet spent hours of their time figuring out what that means. Read on for a possibly oversimplified but perfectly digestible guide to cocoa powder for your everyday baking needs. 1. There are […]

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Chef's Notes Plus

Save Heirloom Recipes to Your DISH Recipe Box

We know about heirloom vegetables and heirloom grains, and farmers take a great deal of pride in preserving these crops for their historical value. But have you ever considered that you are the keeper of heirloom recipes? Every family recipe is a seed that contains memories and emotions, and each […]

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Chef's Blog, Chef's Notes Plus

Exploring Mediterranean Cuisine: France

The term Mediterranean cuisine might leave anyone living in one of the many countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea scratching their heads. This is because the region is culturally and geographically diverse; twenty-one countries border the Mediterranean, among them France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Algeria, and Egypt. What we consider Mediterranean cuisine […]