Chefie’s World

As a chef teacher, there is a multitude of French words and statements I have to know and learn since it is the basis of what I teach. It really is difficult to decide whether I should or should not say the “s” at the end or swirl the tongue whenever I certain letter exist. Hahaha. Sometimes, people ask me how to pronounce the basic French term “mis en place” even they don’t really know what it means. How words are said becomes difficult just like understanding food. Craziness too exist when it comes to desserts, crème reversee au caramel is actually France’s answer to our Pinoy Leche Flan with a twist in the ingredients and the caramel made differently, Hahaha. There are even dishes and some baked items that have changed versions when it reached our shores; some people even think that the galantina and rellenong manok are one and the same. But wow, can’t you just see and taste the Filipino’s creativity when it comes to food due to economy.

Another cake I can’t seem to understand is Strawberry Shortcake…when you have this in the Southern portion of the United States, it comes as a biscuit ( like Popeye’s Chicken ), whipped cream and tons of sliced strawberries but here in Manila, it is a very light chiffon cake layered with sliced strawberries and whipped cream as filling, some version even have thickened custard sauce…that’s our version and it taste better than the real one.

Also, the famous Turtle Pie as I explained should always have the following components just like the chocolate mound it was named after. Chocolate cookie crust or chocolate pie dough, caramel pecan layer and chocolate mousse refrigerated till firm – may be topped with whipped cream and chocolate. So when asked if one can use walnuts or cashew nuts instead of pecans, sure you can but please don’t call it Turtle Pie, name it Nutty Caramel Chocolate Ooozing with Calories…joke….it’s one of my favorites.

Stick with the proper ingredients when you can and if you will substitute make sure it’s a good one. Lastly, please don’t ask me where you can buy lukewarm water? You don’t need a chef to answer that question.

• Tiramisu!
• The Feeling / Filling Still Lingers
• Creme Caramel
• As a Teacher
• Last day of the first month of the year

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 11:45 am and is filed under personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.