If you haven’t noticed, my Aunts are a source for a lot of my recipes. In fact I think in my life time my mom has cooked a total of three full meals for my family. Two of them being for Thanksgiving and one for my Dad’s birthday once. It is not that my mom is a bad cook but she just doesn’t really have time. She is also a perfectionist which means that she spends a lot of extra time being precise with everything she cooks. That goes against my philosophy of cooking completely. I believe, especially when cooking for your family, be as unorthodox and not precise as possible without making the dish taste bad or different. That may sound strange but its not like you are preparing a meal for a king! You have other stuff to do!! You can’t be spending all of your time in the kitchen measuring the exact amount of everything into the bowl. Besides that sometimes recipes need to be adjusted. Do not be afraid to make substitutions or add different ingredients in. It will ultimately improve your end result and keep your family entertained! Below is a recipe that my mom actually can make that was given to me by my aunt. I have had multiple versions of this recipe and this is by far the best!

Asian Cole Slaw

1 16 oz package Cole slaw mix

8 green onions chopped

1/4 cup butter

1 16 oz broccoli slaw

2 3 oz packages Asian flavored Ramon noodles

1 c slivered almonds

1 c unsalted sunflower seeds

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c apple cider vinegar

1/2 c vegetable oi

l 1 tsp. soy sauce

In large bowl combine onions and slaw mixes. In large skillet melt butter and toast almonds seeds noodles (uncooked) and add half of the seasoning packets. Toast for about 8 minutes. In a jar with a tight lid combine sugar vinegar oil and the remaining seasoning packets and soy sauce. Seal and shake vigorously. Right before serving combine noodles, slaw, and dressing.

That last step is very important because if you mix them in too soon the noodles will get soggy no one wants to eat that! Also in order to “toast” something you should keep the burner around a medium low heat. It depends on your stove. As a rule of thumb I stay in the kitchen as long as I have some sort of food on a heat source. I believe in interactive cooking where you constantly are checking to see if it is exactly the way you want it to be cooking!

I tend to view this as more of a summer dish because I was first introduced to it on vacation two summers ago. However truly this would be a great side for pretty much any event any time of the year. If you have to bring a salad to a dinner this is a great alternative that is exciting and unique. It is also delicious! The nice thing about this is it seems much more impressive than a regular tossed salad but it is so easy…no one needs to know that!

Me getting to lick my fingers after melting the sugar and butter together!

My two favorite places on Earth are McCormick South Carolina and Dennis Port in Cape Cod. They are both by beautiful bodies of water. More importantly though they are where I have some of my fondest memories of tastes and working in the kitchen. My grandparents live in SC and my grandma is one of the best cooks I know. She is always giving me great pointers for cooking different things. For instance if you cook rice with chicken stock it tastes a million times better. My Aunt Becca lives in Cape Cod and is the best baker I know. She always has goodies on the counter that she baked just for fun or just because she needed to use up an ingredient. She is inventive and also has a great sense of what will taste good. When we visit she is always giving me new recipes to try and taking me to her favorite bakeries to experience pastries I have never had before…like a cannoli!! Three summers ago when we went up she had these oddly colored brownies sitting out on the counter. Of course my brothers and I had to try some. They were the most delicious brownies I have ever tasted or will ever taste in my life. They had a slight hint of coffee and were gooey in the middle. It was like heaven in a dessert. When I got back to PA I made these nonstop for the rest of the summer. Like I always say, food is about the memories associated with them. Yes these are delicious on their own, but what makes them irreplaceable is that my aunt taught me how to make them and the memories we shared that summer come back to me when I make them. Try this recipe at home. I guarantee people will LOVE it.

For those of you who do not know what the difference between a blondie and a brownie is I attached a link explaining it!

http://www.examiner.com/article/when-it-comes-to-food-what-s-the-difference-between-brownies-and-blondies

Coffee Blondie Brownies
1 lb dark brown sugar
3/4 c butter
2 tbsp. strong instant coffee powder
1 tbsp. hot water
2 eggs
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 c flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat brown sugar and butter in sauce pan until melted. Dissolve coffee in water and add to sugar. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 350 and butter 11x 8 inch pan (sure sure)
When butter mixture is cool beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and stir into butter mixture.
Stir in chips.
Bake for 20 minutes till completely cooked through

What I would say about these and any brownies or blondies for that matter would be to ensure that you are cooking them the whole way through. The best way to do this is stick a knife in. If it comes out clean then they are finished. If you notice the middle is not done cooking but the sides are starting to get too dark just throw a piece of tin foil over top. Also be attentive to your oven. Don’t let the timer go off before you check them. Check your blondies periodically so they do not burn. Enjoy!!

I realized that I have been sharing some unhealthy recipes so I thought this would be a great time to introduce my readers to something a little bit different. It is a cook book that I love called Cook This Not That. The book wildly popular so many of you may have heard of it. If not I attached a link where you can find it on amazon along with the other books in the collection!

http://www.amazon.com/Cook-This-Not-That-Survival/dp/160529442X

My dad is one of those people that shows how much he loves you by getting you little presents so when this cook book showed up on my dresser I was “feelin’ the love”. I was also feelin’ very excited to try out some those recipes because everyone wants to eat healthier myself included. One of the things I tried is the recipe I am sharing with you today. I made this for a family friend and she thoroughly enjoyed it as did everyone in my family. I also made these again with my friends for one of my girlfriend’s birthdays it was fun and delicious!

Chicken Fajitas

1/2 cup orange juice

2 tbsp chopped chipotle pepper

juice of 1 lime

1 tsp ground cumin

salt and black pepper to taste

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp canola oil

1 red bell pepper sliced

1 green bell pepper sliced

2 onions sliced

8 small tortillas

guacamole (see delicious guacamole recipe below!)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Serves: 4 people

Combine OJ, chipotle pepper, lime juice, and cumin and marinate chicken in mixture for at least one hour. Grill chicken, While chicken is marinating and grilling, Stir fry peppers and onions in canola oil. Slice chicken and put each part of fajita in bowls for people to combine on their own.

Guacamole

2 avocados halved pitted and diced

2 tsp. fresh lime juice

2 minced garlic cloves

1/2 chopped plum tomato

Tabasco sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Mash avocados. Mix in garlic and lime juice. Last fold in tomatoes and add Tabasco and salt and pepper to taste.

I have gotten so used to making the guacamole that I do it all by taste. Most of the time I use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic because it is more readily available in my house. I tend to put a lot of salt in because that is what makes guacamole so tasty!

I would also serve these with sour cream, rice of some sort, refried beans and possibly some fried cinnamon tortillas which are very easy! I have attached a link to a recipe for them below.

http://www.food.com/recipe/cinnamon-tortilla-chips-93316

Since this recipe is fairly healthy I wanted to include the fact that they are 490 calories, which seems like a lot but you are using a much healthier marinade as well as vegetables in the fajita. As always… Enjoy!!

I don’t know about any of you but there are two things I love in desserts, pumpkin and cream cheese. I have this amazing recipe for pumpkin cheese cake but I will share that closer to thanksgiving with my pie crust.. so stay tuned!! Today however I want to share one of my favorite desserts, the pumpkin roll. One thing that I love about the pumpkin roll is it reminds me of my Aunt Marj. We used to go to her house for Thanksgiving every year and the first time that I ever had this delicious fall treat was at her house! She is also one of the people that helped me develop my love for cooking. She has two boys and I have two brothers so I was always feeling left out because the boys would do stuff I wasn’t interested in. To stay busy I would help my Aunt in the kitchen and one of the things I distinctly remember making (because it was a dessert and delicious) was her pumpkin roll. I unfortunately couldn’t get ahold of her recipe in time for this post but I have one here from Pinterest that is the exact same!!

Ingredients

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup pure pumpkin puree

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar
 

Directions: READ ALL DIRECTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING

You should preheat your oven to 375 degrees although we all know how I feel about that.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat together eggs sugar until the mixture is thick. Then add pumpkin and beat (when I say beat it is with a mixer). Stir (with a spoon) in flour mixture.

Grease a 15 x 10 inch jelly-roll pan (shown below) and then line it with wax paper that is greased and dusted with flour. Spread pumpkin mixture evenly over the waxed paper and sprinkle with nuts. Bake this for 13 to 15 minutes or until the top springs back when you touch it. Have a thin kitchen towel that is dusted with powdered sugar ready for the roll when it comes out of the oven. Immediately take the cake off the wax paper, put it on the towel, roll it and put it on the rack to cool.

While the roll is in the oven, prepare the cream cheese frosting by combining the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and cream cheese and beat until smooth.

Unroll the cake very carefully and spread the cream cheese mixture over the cake. Spread the cream cheese on the side that does not have the nuts. Reroll the cake, wrap in plastic wrap and then put it in the fridge for at least an hour. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Check out this great cooking/baking blog for more recipes!!

http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2010/11/pumpkin-roll/#eW7BwabC7Iy5UbTg.99

It is really important to read the directions before you begin because that lets you know exactly what you are in for.

There may be some of you out there who are underwhelmed by pumpkin roll so I included a link below for pumpkin carrot and a picture to entice you. Enjoy!! Happy Baking!

http://www.goldmedalflour.com/OurBakerBlog/Pumpkin%20Carrot%20Cake

As promised.. I have my famous macaroni and cheese recipe to share with everyone this week. This is also from Betty Crocker because if we are all being honest, she has some pretty great recipes. One thing that I love about this recipe is that it reminds me of my grandma. Just like pie crust (which I could do next week!) it was something that we did together. Being one of 16 grandchildren it is hard to spend quality time alone with your grandparents sometimes but my grandma and I have always bonded in the kitchen and now whenever I cook and use tricks that she taught me, I think of her and that is really special.

My mom was under the impression that my grandma made this recipe up. Either my mom is very gullible or my grandma sold it really well. I have both my Grams and Betty Crocker’s recipe and they are the exact same. There is one secret ingredient that Gram uses though and it is pepperoni! That sounds slightly unorthodox but it is delicious! I have also made it with bacon before which is equally delicious!

Without further ado.. The best homemade mac and cheese you will ever eat, move over Kraft!

Mac and Cheese

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (7 ounces)

¼ cup butter or margarine

¼ cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon ground mustard

¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 cups milk

2 cups shredded or cubed Cheddar cheese (8 ounces)

Bacon or Pepperoni

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/family-favorite-macaroni-and-cheese/4533ea52-0194-4fce-b30f-9516a74c0628 (for this recipe and much more)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 (we know how I feel about preheating the oven it is an unnecessary step in most cases)

Cook pasta according to instructions on box. Add a pinch of salt.

In a medium sauce pan on medium to high heat melt butter. Add flour salt, pepper, ground mustard, and Worcestershire sauce when butter is fully melted.

Bring mixture to a boil. Add milk and stir. Mixture should thicken slightly and bubble. Add cheese and remove from heat. Stir in cheese till it is melted.

Add cheese to drained pasta and then add either a package of cooked bacon or about ¾ of a package of pepperoni.

Bake in casserole dish for about 25 minutes (my little brother does not like the top to be “crusty” so I will either not bake his portion or I will bake it for only about 18 minutes).

Comments:

I have had people who love Kraft eat this recipe and like it better. A couple of things that you could do to shake things up a little bit would be add crumbs on top whether that be boxed bread crumbs or crushed up Ritz crackers. If you are vegetarian you can omit the meat and it is just as delicious. For a healthier option you can use low fat cheese and whole grain pasta. I have also included the nutrition facts below.

Calories 400 (Calories from Fat 200 ),% Daily Value Total Fat 22 22 %(Saturated Fat 11 g,11 %), Cholesterol 45 mg 45 %;Sodium 560 mg 560 %;Total Carbohydrate 34 g 34 %(Dietary Fiber 1 g 1 %), Protein 17 g17 ; % Daily Value*:Vitamin A18%;Calcium30%;Iron 10%;

Exchanges:

1 1/2 Starch; 1 Milk; 1 High-Fat Meat; 2 Fat;

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

I started this blog post with the idea that I would give out two recipes to impress someone with such as a potential girlfriend or boyfriend. As I wrote this though I realized what I wanted to blog about because I wrote over 700 words on just the first recipe. So I will be releasing one recipe that I love every week. I will post the one I was going to talk about this week, next week! Never fear! Any way I am going to be sharing a muffin recipe that I adapted from a recipe I made all the time. My first advice to everyone is learn to love Betty Crocker. A ton of recipes I make are from the Betty Crocker cook book that I have at home. They never fail to be delicious and not challenging. Here is a link to Amazon where you can buy the book! (http://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crocker-Cookbook-Edition-Combbound/dp/0764576739/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1412795941&sr=8-12&keywords=betty+crocker+cook+book)

I want to give you my blueberry muffin recipe. If you want to surprise your special someone with breakfast this is a great way to go about that! The recipe is from Betty Crocker originally but I have Phebefide it and made it more delicious! The original recipe is listed below.

Original

Batter

¾ cup milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Streusel

¼ cup flour

¼ cup packed brown sugar

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

2 T cold butter or margarine

Here is a link the recipe online (http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/streusel-topped-blueberry-muffins/3612c8ff-f910-46c8-9d5b-27ae7c0255b2)

So what I like to do is take this recipe and make it a whole lot better and a whole lot less healthy. I like to add a half cup packed light brown sugar to the batter as well as an additional quarter cup of vegetable oil. The vegetable oil is to make them moister but another healthy alternative to that is to add regular or Greek vanilla flavored yogurt. I have never done this but I would say no more than a ½ of a cup if you are still including a ¼ of a cup of oil. Anyways, I also always use fresh blueberries. Whenever you can use fresh ingredients you should it makes everything taste better. As far as the streusel goes I like to put a little over a half of a cup of brown sugar and a little less than a fourth of a cup of flour. I know baking should be precise but you will find with me, it rarely is. As far as incorporating the ingredients goes, a good rule for muffins is mix together dry ingredients and then add wet. Only stir till all the dry ingredients are wet and then add the blue berries. Over mixing is a thing and can lead to tunnels in your muffins! Put the muffins in a greased muffin tin. The recipe should make 12 muffins so really fill them up! The bigger the better! Then spoon a good amount of streusel on top, use it all up if you can. I also never preheat my oven. Every oven is different but mine doesn’t take long and is usually hotter than most ovens so it does not need to be in for as long. After baking for long enough with a certain appliance you get f

amiliar with the ins and outs of it. I also don’t like to be formal in the kitchen. It is supposed to be fun not a prison camp. So bake these on 375 for around 25 minutes. A great tip for those of you who do not normally bake, stick a knife into the ugliest looking muffin and if it comes out clean with no muffin particles sticking to it other than a blueberry you make have punctured take them out! Eat the one you stuck the knife in. It is always good to test your product.

Many people have told me that these are the best blueberry muffins they have ever had! Try the recipe and let me know what you think!

For those of you trying to figure out what my blog is all about… I am too so we will figure it out together eventually. I am trying to make my love for baking and cooking and creating happiness through food as exciting for my readers as it is for me. It has been challenging so far. Regardless this week I am excited to talk about a chef that I am so inspired by and would die if I ever met.

The Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro, is a fourth generation baker who was taught everything he knows from his father who owned Carlo’s Bakery before him. Buddy not only has the show that most of you are probably familiar with which is Cake Boss but he also films The Next Great Baker and Kitchen Boss. He also is the author of the book Cake Boss, Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia. He has opened a second bakery since taking over his father’s bakery and has changed thousands of people’s lives with his baking. That seems like an over statement for those of you who don’t know that much about his work but judging by the pictures below, you can see exactly what I mean.

I watch cake boss pretty regularly. I haven’t been able to because I am here but from watching it I would have never guessed that as a kid buddy did not feel artistic. He didn’t even start his career at Carlo’s, which his dad owned at the time, baking. He started washing dishes there. He soon realized though that baking, like his father before him, was his calling and passion. Sadly he had to take on the family business too early. Buddy’s dad passed away when he was 17.

In almost every episode that I have watched Buddy will talk about his dad. It has been over 20 years and buddy seems to be effected daily by his death. Buddy lost his best friend, his teacher, and his number one fan when he lost his father. Something really interesting I learned that I would have never knew about Buddy had I not researched this more was that when his father first died the bakery was struggling to produce sfogliatelle, which as difficult dough to create and is used in lobster tails (shown below). Buddy though, somehow figured it out. He drew from the knowledge that his father had taught him and wore his father’s St. Anthony’s medallion which he still wears today, and recreated the dough. This gave him the confidence he needed to make this bakery work.

You are probably wondering, what about the big cakes?? Well they come after that. Buddy needed something to stand apart from everyone else. That is where the big cake idea came from and since then he has done a 10,000 pound cake for NASCAR, a cake for Oprah and even a life size cake of his wife.

Buddy is truly an inspiration, really to people who aren’t even interested in baking as well. He is a hard worker, loves his family, and is self-made pretty much. One thing on my bucket list is to go to Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken NJ, and experience the baking magic for myself!

Whenever I think of Chinese food those white containers with the wire handle come to mind. Each is steaming with white or brown rice and sesame chicken and cooked vegetables dripping with soy sauce. Or beef Lo mien or General Tso’s chicken. My mouth waters when egg rolls, and sweet and sour sauce, and fortune cookies pop into my head.

This however is American Chinese food. It is not the food that Chinese people eat today and it is certainly not the food they ate many years ago in ancient China. Not only is the food different but the ingredients and the cooking methods are also vastly different than how American Chinese food is prepared.

Firstly Americans fry the majority of the Chinese food that they make either with a deep fryer or with a wok. Chinese people traditionally don’t even fry their food. They will use methods such as stewing, braising, baking, steaming, boiling, and even fermenting. Those are all authentic cooking styles Chinese people use to produce their food.

Not only do they not deep fry their foods (typical Americans making any dish unhealthy) but they do not use the majority of ingredients that we do in their traditional Chinese dishes. We use meat as our main part of the dish and vegetables and rice or noodles as side dishes or fillers. In authentic Chinese cuisine, that is reversed. They put the emphasis on the vegetables and rice (no wonder everyone is skinnier than us). Although they uses vegetables, it isn’t the steamed broccoli and carrots like Americans use. The meat that is used in Westernized Chinese is pork chicken or beef. In China however they utilize a much wider variety of meats including pig ears, snake, chicken feet (I have actually tried this at an authentic Chinese restaurant, ew!), duck blood, and jellyfish. They also use more common sources of protein regularly, such as tofu. Since everything else about American Chinese food and Authentic Chinese food, the spices might as well be different also! Americans of course season our “Chinese Food” with salt and sugar, but authentic Chinese food is usually seasoned with more fragrant spices.

To be honest nothing about American Chinese food and Authentic Chinese food is the same, or at least it appears to be so thus far. Whole dishes have been created in America and are said to be “Chinese”. One example is Sweet’n’Sour Chicken (YUM!) is completely American. There isn’t even a dish similar to it in China. Can you say false advertising?! In an article by Mary Kong about the Western Chinese food not eaten on Eater.com, the point is made that this dish is more southern than Chinese with its sweet sauce and deep fried meat.

Another dish that Americans have in a sense fabricated is Crab Rangoon. Before researching this I had never actually heard of this but this is a Wonton shell filled with imitation crab meat and cream cheese, and then of course it follows the trend set of being deep fried. Cream cheese isn’t really an ingredient they use in China (that’s where they could learn something from Americans!).

Yet another example of a dish that Americans simply dreamed up is Beef and Broccoli. First broccoli is not an ingredient that is used in Chinese cuisine. Also beef is not a regular meat that the Chinese use. Therefore the entire dish screams Americanized Chinese.

While I am crushing everyone’s dreams about Chinese food in America I might as well point out that under no circumstance is a fortune cookie authentic Chinese.

Next time you order Chinese take-out just remember, somewhere in China…. just kidding! no one is having sesame seed chicken!

Although many of associate Italian cuisine with pizza and spaghetti and Olive garden, it has a rich history that suggests so much more than that. Nearly 2,000 years ago Italian cuisine established its reputation during the Roman Empire. There are records of food preparation dating back to the first century B.C. but those are scarce because today there is only on surviving cookbook from that time period.

When the Roman Empire fell, the diversity of Italian food spread because as individual states, the fallen empire had more leeway to establish traditions and identities. These states quickly began to develop their own cooking styles, for example one region established their own way of forming a meatball.

What the Different Regions Developed:

In the south they developed mozzarella and provolone and many different interesting citrus fruits. People from the southern region embraced hard boiled spaghetti much like the spaghetti we all know and love.

North

The north developed Tuscan beef which is simply beef grown in the Valdichiana region of Italy. Opposing the southern region, the northern preferred to cook their spaghetti as soft egg noodles.

Naples is famous for pizza, while Milan is known for their risotto which is similar to rice with added ingredients of meats and vegetables. Tortellini has a history in Bologna.

Coastal Region

The coastal regions of Italy developed delicious seafood dishes because the meat was readily available and abundant. A small island off the coast of Italy named Sardinia began to incorporate sea food delicacies in their dishes, while in Sicily, the food was heavily influenced by North African cuisine. Islands in the south other than Sicily were greatly inspired by Arab cuisine especially in their use of spices in sweets. The Sicilian ice-cream cake called cassata was Arab inspired.

Although all of these regions developed and perfected an abundance of foods that we have all come to know and love, they did not do it on their own. Italian cuisine was largely influenced by outside sources, which Italian chefs would consider a gift. It greatly improved their food. At the birth of Italian cuisine, Greek cooking methods were incorporated in the preparation of food. In order to get ingredients that would innovate the Italian kitchen, ships went across the world, even as far as china to bring back edible goods. Ingredients such as wheat, wine, exotic ingredients and spices were all brought back to Italian kitchens and were incorporated to better the flavor and authenticity of Italian cuisine.

Pasta, a trade mark ingredient in many Italian dishes was rumored to be Chinese brought back to Italy by a Vietnamese immigrant. That is false though, it was actually brought back by Marco Polo who rediscovered it. Pasta was first eaten during Roman and Etruscan times. It turns out that this pasta that Polo discovered so long ago is actually similar to the pasta that we eat today. It is made with the same durum wheat except back then it was cooked in an oven and not on top of a stove in a pot of boiling water.

Today each region of Italy has their own distinct cuisine that differs slightly from the other regions. They all have different rich history that made them how they are today.

France is the place to be if you want to become a culinary genius. That what I have always thought and according to its rich history, that seems to be a pretty accurate thought. I was surprised though to discover that French cuisine was strongly influenced by Italian chefs, mostly because of the monarchy in France at the time, but also because Italian chefs were years ahead of French chefs, this was all happening around the 15^th century. Frances food history starts even before that though in the middle ages. At that time French cuisine took on a Moorish cuisine, which incorporated a large amount of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables and meats such as mutton, beef, chicken, camel, rabbit and seafood. Chefs believed that the more colorful the dish was the better it was so they added ingredients like egg yolk, spinach, sunflower, and saffron. Then French cuisine was greatly influenced by Italian cuisine as I mentioned earlier. After this transition, in the 18^th century, Paris was deemed the “central hub of culture and economic activity and as such the most highly skilled culinary craftsmen were to be found there.” This period of French cuisine was deemed the Ancien Regime. In addition to Paris being the food capital of the world, the frist ever “true” French cook book was written in the 18^th century by a chef named La Varenne. Also in the 18^th century the dishes being produced in France were of much smaller proportion focusing on quality over quantity. After the French Revolution guilds, which were basically rations put on restaurants by the French government were removed and this allowed for French cuisine to become “enlightened.” French chefs were finally allowed to put their creative genius to work. In the 19^th and 20^th century French kitchen practiced what is called the brigade system which separates the kitchen into sections so you have chefs specializing in one part of the food production.

work cited: www.personal.psu.edu/srh122/French