For all you food enthusiasts out there, I have decided to launch a new project called the “My-Chef WiKi Project”. The My-Chef WiKi Project has been a desire of mine for some time. I finally got around to taking it off the back burner and begin to build a culinary repository of information.

My dream and desire is for this to grow with fertile creative ideas, suggestions and articles that come from a wide spectrum of people from the casual food enthusiast, culinary students along with various levels of culinary Chef’s from the Food Service Industry and Culinary Schools. Coming together for one reason “Our love and passion for Food”

I’m not asking for financial assistance but I am asking for assistance for creative ideas and articles Yes I will be shamelessly promoting it and ask that each of you do as well.

For those that wish to contribute on regular bases, I am looking at various ways to show my appreciation on the My-Chef.org web site.

I know I get to do all the easy work, like building it and then leaving the hard work for others. Seriously, this can become a very enjoyable project for all that wish to become part of and assist in its growth and maturation.

For me it’s like planting that little seed in the spring, fertilizing it, watering it, caring for it, while watching it grow to its full potential.

If you have an interested you can get me on Face Book.

To see what I am building you can click the link below to the My-Chef WiKi Project.
http://www.my-chef.org/wiki/

Spring is in the air and I am totally stoked!!!

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Create corned beef brine if you want to turn a slab of beef brisket into the best cut of corned beef you’ve ever tried. If you are looking for a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or just hankering for a slice of corned beef and cabbage (with a dab of horseradish, of course), you can make your own delicious corned beef by using this brine recipe.

Both the English and Irish have been corning beef (brining beef) for centuries. Salt kernels used to look a lot like corn kernels, hence the name "corned beef." This technique is used to transform a tough piece of beef into a melt-in-your-mouth delicacy we now associate with the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and everything Irish.

A basic brining recipe is salt and water, but you’ll want to add some additional spices to make a truly delicious corned beef. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare this meal-traditionally the beef brisket sits in the brine between one and two weeks before it’s cooked.

You will always want to brine your brisket in the refrigerator at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower (use bags of ice to keep temperature low if needed) so you do not risk the growth of bacteria. To brine your brisket, invest in a large plastic container and move the shelves of your refrigerator such that you can place the pot of meat and brining solution in the refrigerator until you are ready to drain and cook it.

Corned Beef Brine Recipe

Ingredients You Will Need:
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon paprika
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon saltpeter dissolved in ½ cup warm water

Instructions:

Combine the ingredients listed above and pour over the brisket. Turn the brisket once a day as it sits in the refrigerator for between one and two weeks. Drain brisket. Simmer in pot full of water for one hour, then discard the water.

There are variations to cooking methods after the brisket has been brined, personally I prefer braising the brisket. This provides carmelization and flavor to the brisket that simple boiling will not. Use this brine and experiement with how you want to cook your brisket. Traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe will be my next post so be looking for it as we get closer the St. Paddy’s day. Have fun brining!!!

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With the weather the way it has been. I had a slow week, so looking at this blog I decided it was time to redesign it and give it a fresh look. I decided to let a little of the Irish in me come out with the greenish-blue theme.

For those who have an interest I have included a little about myself as well as those that are within my service area the ability to contact me for more information. In the resource section I plan on adding more culinary references that I believe will be of interest. Currently I have my cook book and personal chef web site listed for your convenience.

The new design will also allow me to add more pages of interest and not simple post threads, which I think is way cool!

With Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend I am planning on moving forward with new blog entries with the next holiday being St. Patrick’s day in March. One of my favorite holiday’s for cooking so you can expect to see me to begin posting for that way cool holiday. Starting with the beef brisket that I plan on brining next week and will continue to brine until St. Patrick’s day. Wow three weeks of brining go figure.

In addition to the holiday postings I plan on adding weekly posts.

So I hope that you will enjoy the new look as much as I have enjoyed designing it. Let me know what you think!!!

/Chef James

Wow looking back at my last recipe post I see how time has just flown by. One of my efforts for the upcoming year is to keep updating this blog on a regular bases.

With the weather starting to set in with winter, it looks like the time for comfort food is here so I believe that I will get to work on some recipes that will have a great deal of interest. I feel something coming from my cook book what will it be? Ah there it is Beef Stroganoff that is the perfect comfort food to blog about.

Welcome to my culinary world. As this is my first entry into delving into the world of blogging this will be a true adventure for all of us.

As most Chefs will say food is there passion and I am no execption. In the upcoming weeks, months and years hopefully I will be filling these pages with wonderful insights, recipes, tips and trick of the culinary trade.

So come aboard and take a cruise to far and mysterious islands of culinary delights and taste treats.