Mining The Deep Smarts of Chefs-Resources.com
Where do Chefs go to find the information they require? Chefs-Resources is a new website geared towards professional chefs and culinary enthusiasts, and it is a solid starting point. The purpose of the site is to build a culinary resource where chefs can go for all their informational needs regarding culinary, kitchen and restaurant issues. The site is about information, not recipes.
Want to know what an acceptable yield is when you break down a whole H&G halibut? You’ll find it at Chefs-Resources, along with the yields of over 20 other fish. And the list of fish on the site continues to grow. Each fish listed includes its own profile page with information important to chefs. What are alternate names of the fish? When is it available fresh? What is the flavor profile? What is the nutritional information? (Which is converted to a 6 oz. portion size rather than the typical 3.5 oz.) Each page has an at-a-glance ‘flavor scale’ which lists intensity of flavor, fat content, and texture of the fish.
Need the flavor profile of an oyster you plan to put on the menu? Over 60 oyster varieties from the Pacific Northwest are listed along with their flavor profile, how they are grown, and where they are grown. And the East Coast oyster varieties are in the process of being completed.
Chef David Buchanan has worked in kitchens for 30 years and is the creator of Chefs-Resources.com. David lives near Bellingham, WA and continues to work in the industry as a Chef. “The idea of Chefs-Resources.com was born from a desire to have all his information available in one place at all times. He was constantly looking for information which he had discovered or researched at some point in the past, or which he had either at work or at home, but not both. For instance, he documented extensive yield factors for prime ribs, but left the information on the computer at his last job. Chef David researched the various wild salmon runs last season, but that was last year! Did Coho start running in June or July? And so on with all kinds of information. He wanted it all in one place and by putting it on the internet, he was able to access it any time from any computer. Now he can even access the information on his cell phone!” Nice thing is, he is sharing it with the rest of us.
You’ll also find links to free downloadable versions of the IMPS Meat Buyer’s Guide for beef, veal, offal, and pork. All are in separate PDF files. There is a growing section on Kitchen Management Tools with information on Food Cost Control, free downloadable Prep Sheets, how to calculate Inventory Turns, and more.
Looking for a culinary dictionary? You can search several dictionaries. How about culinary conversions? You’ll find that there, too. The site also has a number of training videos on how to break down various whole fish.
Other unique information includes the volume capacity of various kitchen pans (hotel pans, half pans, etc). A great help for costing recipes is the dry spice yield conversion chart which shows how many tsp/tbl spoons are in an oz. of over 90 spices.
The site is still in its infancy and currently has fresh seafood and produce information revolving around the Pacific Northwest, which is where Chef David, resides and works as a Chef. But the intent and purpose is to eventually have accurate, useful information for chefs in every region of North America. Another unique aspect of Chefs-Resources is that it is built on a wiki engine (by EditMe.com). This allows other chefs to add their own knowledge to the existing site. Adding content can be done either by simply adding a comment, which the administrator can add into the site if it is relevant, or you can register (for free) and gain access to the site’s editorial tools which allow you to add content and create new pages directly into the site.
Check out the link for information on oyster cultivation methods and their effects upon oyster flavor profiles. Or see oyster farming for more detailed information about oyster aquaculture. Also, see shellfish storage for the best way to hold your shellfish.
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