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OUTLINE:
Introduction
Christianity in the Kitchen - The Pebble in My Pocket
Learning Subject of the Month - Cooking Seasonally
Recipe Contests
Featured Recipe - Chilled Gazpacho
Recent Job Listings - 0 New
Featured Website - Awesome Christian Sites
Welcome! God has finally blessed us with the opportunity to move to another web server. Starting this week, the move begins. We will be transferring our entire website (over 50 web pages) from the current free web servers to the new paid web server. We will be installing a new bulletin board that is very much improved over previous message boards. Please watch the site for these new features and pray that all goes well with them.
"THE PEBBLE IN MY POCKET"
"I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold." Psalm 18:1-2 New Living Translation
For many years, while working as an institutional cook in jails, I carried a shiny, smooth pebble in my uniform pocket. I still carry one in my purse. Why a shiny, smooth pebble?
Because, whenever I feel pressured by the cares of this world, I slip my hand into my pocket and feel my pebble. I remember the following truths about my walk with my Lord.
I worked in the Prison industry for eight years. During that time, I had many opportunities to pull out my little pebble and talk to my inmate workers about my Lord. I was often asked how I, a Christian grandma lady, could work around all these male inmates with such a cheerful countenance and no apparent fear. On those occasions, when possible, I would bring out my little pebble and share about my Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has been glorified through his Word many times because of a shiny smooth pebble object lesson. My men were able to see my Lord shining through my witness of daily "walking in His strength."
I cannot count the times I have been called before my intimidating bosses for one reason or another. They never knew my hand was in my uniform pocket holding my pebble, praying for my Lord's strength to handle whatever new crisis had arisen. Being the only woman in an all-male profession offered many unique challenges and I needed supernatural wisdom and strength to do my job. On many occasions, I was called to work with men who were heavily into Satanism. There were times when I encountered riot situations. I often worked alone (as the only woman) with as many as fifty male inmate workers. Remember, in a kitchen, there are knives and many other items available which can be used as weapons.
My Lord was always faithful to give me wisdom, strength, and protection.
The shiny little pebble in my pocket was a tangible reminder of my unseen Father's love and grace. So, how about finding a pebble to carry in YOUR pocket?
We would love to hear about any unusual witnessing tool you may have used. Drop us a line and tell us about it.
By Diane Boone, retired Prison Cook
If God is speaking to your heart about these things, and you need somebody to talk with, or if you have any specific prayer requests, please don't hesitate to e-mail us about your need and somebody from the fellowship will contact you as soon as possible.
COOKING SEASONALLY
Do you usually cook off of a menu that's used year-round or do you change the menu constantly to whatever foods are currently in season? An excellent chef once told me that we, as professional cooks, should cook the food how it wants to be cooked, NOT how we want to cook it. This may sound a little odd, but it makes perfect sense, for if the food's not in season, don't cook it, and if it's a food that dislikes a particular cooking method, don't cook it that way either. For example, a very flaky fish on a grill will fall apart, and would be much better suited to be seared, and then cooked in the oven. Cooking seasonally most importantly captures the highest possible quality out of each ingredient's flavor and texture, and also helps satisfy everybody's (particularly your customers') seasonal food desires in what they eat, making their dining experience all the better.
To go through a few examples, let's take, for instance, a cold, snowy, winter evening; don't you think most people would probably really like a heavy cream soup? On the other hand, if you tried selling that same soup on a blazing hot day in the middle of summer, there's a very good chance you wouldn't sell any of that soup at all. Most likely, people in the summer would rather have a cold soup - like Gazpacho, (recipe below) or maybe a fruit-yogurt soup. In the restaurant I work at in the countryside of Virginia, we have two soups: one is a staple, the other changes every day or two. We recently put Gazpacho on the menu as the main soup that everybody loves (including all the employees)! Our daily soup changes to whatever we feel like that day. So if it's an extremely hot summer day, as it has been quite often recently, we will have two cold soups on the menu. But if it's a cooler day, we might make a hot soup, like a Lobster Bisque. Making soup is one of the easiest aspects of cooking seasonally. ALL other areas of any menu are just as easily molded around each season as well. Basically, the rule is that in the summer, people want light, fruity foods, and only want heavier foods during the winter. During the summer, people usually prefer seafood; during the winter, foods like lamb and beef. It goes the same way with desserts. Lighter desserts are preferred in the summer, like ice creams and fruit tarts, and heavier and denser ones during the winter, like cheesecake and creme brulee. Many desserts can be switched over and made for other seasons as well. For example, instead of keeping the cappuccino cheesecake on the menu that you had all winter, you could change it to a California cheesecake (plain cheesecake decorated with fruit on top, such as thinly sliced kiwi, strawberries, and other fresh fruits).
Just as important as making the necessary seasonal changes to your menu is getting the freshest possible ingredients to work with. An excellent way to do this is to get locally grown products. At the bottom of this article, we've provided a link to a chart on our website that lists when ingredients are at their seasonal peaks during the year. This chart is good to use when planning menus, whether for home use or to be served to a banquet of 3,000 people. Keep in mind that wherever you live, there are probably some ingredients produced locally which are fresher, better and/or more economical than having ingredients shipped from all over the world to your purveyor. If you ask your purveyor for a chart similar to the one we've provided, they will almost always have a very current list (usually updated weekly) of the raw ingredients they can get you - great quality food at a great price. Even if you don't do any of the purchasing, ask your boss for a copy of this list so that you will be aware of the best quality ingredients that are going to be available for you to make the food with. As Alice Waters once said about utilizing fresh and local ingredients, "We used to get salmon from all over the place. Now we know that the local salmon is the best-tasting, and we just use local salmon when it's available. The season can run from the end of April through September, and we never serve it any other time of the year." As many of you probably know, she's one of today's very extreme chefs who concentrates mostly on local and fresh ingredients---but that's how she has attained her international recognition.
Many chefs, like Walters, also do a great deal of their menu planning at and around farmers' markets, buying only the "best of the best" quality ingredients available during that particular time of the year. Some even know exactly what they intend to use it for when they buy it. This is obviously a trait learned from a great deal of experience, but even when doing our everyday menu planning, it's something we should all keep in mind. God bless and have fun cooking!
Seasonal Ingredients Chart:
/charts/seasonalingredients.html
Ira Krizo, CCF Director
We encourage and welcome any questions you may have about this article or any other food or faith-related questions. Just e-mail us!
"CAN YOU TOP THIS?" TRISCUIT CONTEST
WEBSITE: http://www.triscuit.com/promo.htm
PRIZES: Grand Prize: A dream kitchen worth $25,000; Runners-up: Four awards of $5,000 in gift certificates.
DEADLINE: Aug. 31
INFO: Submit a dish containing any variety of Triscuit Wafers and at least two other ingredients along with a photo of yourself and your entry. Entries will be judged on appetite appeal, originality and simplicity. Limit one online entry per day.
MAMA MARY'S PIZZA CREATIONS CONTEST
WEBSITE: http://www.mamamarys.com/Pages/pizza_contest.html
PRIZES: Grand Prize, $2,500; all finalists receive trip for two to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
DEADLINE: Sept. 15
INFO: Enter your best original pizza recipe using Mama Mary's Pizza Crusts in either the traditional or dessert categories. One recipe per entry. Must specify use of Mama Mary's Pizza Crust and include proof-of-purchase symbol. Also specify name of charity for matching Grand Prize donation of $2,500.
Yield: 1 gallon (3.75 liters)
2.5lb (1kg) Tomato concasse
10oz (285g) Cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced
10oz (285g) Onions, diced
10oz (285g) Green peppers, diced
10oz (285g) Red peppers, diced
8oz (225g) White bread, cubed
6oz (180ml) Olive oil
4oz (120ml) Red wine vinegar
1tsp Salt, to taste
1/2tsp White pepper, to taste
Garnish:
2oz (60g) Tomato, small dice
2oz (60g) Red pepper, small dice
2oz (60g) Green pepper, small dice
2oz (60g) Cucumber, small dice
8oz (225g) Croutons
Procedure:
1. Combine the ingredients, except the garnish; chill the soup. Let the soup rest overnight.
2. Puree the soup and strain.
3. Serve cold and garnish each portion individually or serve garnish ingredients separately.
Notes:
Gazpacho has a short refrigeration shelf-life. The tomatoes will sour very quickly. It's best prepared every 2-3 days, or even daily if possible.
To submit a job for a cook or chef or to view our database of previously posted jobs, please visit the below web page. At this time of the year, people aren't hiring as much as they were at the beginning of the summer (US), but we expect to see more openings listed here soon. Employment Opportunities /employment.html
AWESOME CHRISTIAN SITES
A website with a multitude of Christian links, including a MetaSearch, Bible Trivia, a Christian singles area, Christian chat, a newsletter, and more.
http://www.awesome-sites.com
Permission is granted to circulate this publication via e-mail or in printed form to others providing that no fee is charged and that proper credit has been given to CCF for the part sent.
All links here with the exception of the hyperlinked newsletter are usually only viewable with frames-compatible browsers. Non-frames viewers can find all this information through links on the non-frames homepage of our website here:
/index.html
Any donations or other need for land-mail correspondence may be sent to the below address. The following link leads to our "Finances" webpage, where you can find how all CCF's finances are handled.
/finances.html
If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you would like to be added to this mailing list, please go to the following website to sign up:
/subscribe.html
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please send an e-mail to the address below, with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject column.
God Bless,
Ira Krizo, Director
Christian Chefs Fellowship
ChristChef@aol.com
http://www.ChristianChefs.org
P.O. Box 608
Crestline, CA 92325-0608
Phone: (909) 338-0876
Fax: (508) 462-1068
AOL Buddy list name = "ChristChef"
ICQ number = 15520005
Note: To view our archived newsletters, go HERE
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Submitting your favorite recipes
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