Devorah Stone Expert Guru
The Guru has not detailed their Biography yet.

Use this form to post feedback to this guru.

I have not yet had a chance to list by detailed project experience. Please check back soon.

Most writers at LifeTips—or Gurus we call them—are available for writing assignments, special projects, or interviews with the press. Please describe exactly what you’re looking for, and an Agent will get back to you within hours.

Name: Phone: Email: Project Description:
	If you have difficulty identifying the words, click the button.

Start with Basic Classes

Start with a basic cooking class. It doesn’t matter if you’ve cooked for a family and entertained for years, you can still learn more. A Chef who has formally studied food and has a solid reputation can teach even the most accomplished family cook many useful tricks. These tips will save you time and money. Your family and friends will appreciate the results.

Culinary School Options

Before you start culinary school, consider your options. There are one-year culinary school diploma courses that will enable you to work in many restaurants. With a two year associate degree you can go into restaurant, hotel management or become a baker or pastry chef. A four-year degree will allow you many more options. The higher your qualifications the more likely you are to get a position with better pay. Another option is to take a one or two-year course and find out by working in the industry what it is you want to do. Some restaurants have apprentice programs.

Start with Stock

Always begin with a good stock- beef, chicken, or vegetable. Make your stock from fresh ingredients, using the right herbs with the best quality meat and vegetables. Most restaurants make stock daily and use it up that day. Caterers freeze stock in small batches, using them when needed. A good stock for home, catering, and restaurant cooking is the basis of all fine cooking.

Rice Around the World

Almost every nationality uses rice in their cuisine so choosing the right type of rice is vital for International cooking. There are many types of rice, here are just a few:

Basmati - used in East Indian cooking. It stays separate and has an aromatic aroma.

Long Grain – used in Chinese cooking – it’s sticky and perfect for steaming.
Jasmine- highly polished rice great for sushi. It has a bright white look and it sticks together.

Arborio - Italian rice perfect for Risotto, rice ball. It’s flat and sticky.

Start with a Tomato Concasse for Italian cooking.

The basis of good Italian cooking is a tomato concasse. Use in season Roma or Plum tomatoes Heat a pot of water to a brisk boil. With a sharp knife put a small X on the bottom of the tomatoes. After a few minutes take them out. Now you can peel them. Then seed them to you make your sauce. If you can’t get fresh in season tomatoes in season use canned.

Cooling the Sauce Down- Kitchen Safety

Improperly cooling sauce is one of the most common food safety mistakes with sometimes-dire consequences. Bacteria can multiply rapidly in a room temperature sauce. Yet putting large vats of hot sauces into a refrigerator will cause the temperature of the refrigerator to rise. The best way to cool a sauce is to divide it into small containers or put it in an ice bath and stir it with an ice wand.

Raising Dough

Altitude and air moisture can make a difference in raising bread dough. So can the age and type of yeast and the amount of sugar used. Always raise dough away from drafts. An unheated or a low heat oven is great place to raise dough but be careful no one accidentally cooks it! You can also put the dough in a refrigerator overnight and it will rise.

Dicing, chopping and julienne. Find out what your restaurant means by these terms!

Dicing, chopping and julienne terms and sizes vary in every restaurant. Yet it’s important to know what is expected when you chop a carrot or dice a celery. You need to know exactly how big each piece should be. Chopping or dicing it the wrong size could ruin the recipe and incur costs. When you start in a new restaurant always, ask the head Chef what that particular restaurant’s terms and sizes for chopped food are. It could be very different from what cooking school taught you.

Pare Spicy Food With The Right Wine

It’s a good idea to match spicy food like a curry with a strong full-bodied wine. Wine shouldn’t overpower the food but it should be strong enough for it. A good paring is red Cabernet Merlot with any of your spicy dishes like a Thai coconut chicken curry or a Moroccan lamb dish.

Talk to a Chef about Your Culinary Career

If you want to be a chef, talk to one, first. Ask around and see if anyone knows a chef. Next time you go to your favorite restaurant, ask if you can set up a convenient time to interview a chef or phone up cooking schools or a Chef Association in your area. Many chefs will be glad to talk to you.

Ask how they became a chef- what are the best local cooking schools, what classes and courses you can take in order to get into them and what culinary career would be best for you.