Viewing entries by
Holly W.

Chef Janet now Executive Chef Instructor for new Los Angeles LGBT Center

LA WEEKLY - CHEF JANET CRANDALL.png

Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond.

Today the Center's nearly 700 employees provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy.

Despite their size, scope, and determination to meet the growing demand for their services, they remain a lean, fiscally disciplined organization, earning a four-star Charity Navigator rating for six consecutive years.

Learn more with their At-A-Glance fact sheet.

The Center’s brand new Culinary program is a 12-week course that begins at the very beginning with knife skills and simple techniques and works it’s way through to culminate in an internship for each student in one of Los Angeles’ many prestigious restaurants.

Check out this video piece from LA This Week, including an interview with Executive Chef Instructor Janet Crandall.

Good things to come....

Good things to come....

Well…tho with sadness we had to say goodbye to our beloved L. A. Kitchen….

...good things are afoot.

My heart is still - as always - most lifted by opportunities to introduce open minds to the culinary life, helping to create opportunities for lives to be elevated by the creative, fulfilling life around food and nourishment.

So…announcement soon, but not just yet. But here’s a sneak preview…..

https://lalgbtcenter.org/

FAREWELL FOR NOW TO L A KITCHEN

Screen Shot 2018-10-14 at 19.50.58.png

L A Kitchen fed over 3,00 people a week. People who didn’t have access to healthy, nourishing food each day. L A Kitchen accomplished this by collecting food donations, training a class of ~24 formerly or recently incarcerated individuals, young people who aged out of the foster care system or formerly homeless individuals who worked hard and trained hard to build new culinary skills. A class of 24 - five times a year - in a 14 week training course.

L A Kitchen has champions like Chef Jose Andres, now best known for his social conscience and altruism.

Robert Egger, L A Kitchen’s founder and tireless Director, was very recently forced to temporarily shut its doors because of loss of funding. L A Kitchen is in a period of rebuilding.

To all my students and all of my exceptional colleagues at L A Kitchen - until we cook together again….

WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdgqUcx2W4g

L. A. Kitchen: Revealing The Power Of Food

L.A. Kitchen believes that neither food nor people should ever go to waste.  By reclaiming healthy, local food that would otherwise be discarded, training men and women who are unemployed for jobs, and providing healthy meals to fellow citizens, L.A. Kitchen empowers, nourishes, and engages the community.

Culinary students — up to 26 of them, a mix of older men and women who have been recently incarcerated and younger kids who have just timed out of foster care — prepare dishes from those fruits and vegetables.

Read more about L. A. Kitchen.

Love…The most important ingredient

In my many years of teaching culinary students, I have always stressed to put love into the food that we create.  What does that mean?   I think we have all, at one time, had a dining experience that was not all that.  Maybe the food was not served at the correct temperature.  Was the plating sloppy and food not appealing to the eye?  Was the flavor just not quite there?  If a chef is having a bad day or really not putting the love into their food, we can taste, see, and most importantly, feel it.  Those are some examples of loveless food. 

I have found an even more powerful use of love in cooking.

I’ve recently had an experience cooking for a family who are caring for a loved one who is terminally ill.
Food keeps us alive.  Food created with love, makes life more worth living.  People with very specific dietary requirements need more than just nutrition.  They need something that is delicious and has so much love in it, they can feel it in each taste.  

IMG_2524.jpg

I have always put love into my food,  knowing how important it is.  Cooking for this family has shown me, without any doubt, that food created with love brings people closer and helps them heal. This loving experience, this responsibility, really made me comprehend just how essential love is in our cooking.  


With food and love,
Chef Janet

Comment

Love is....

Chef Janet's perfectly prepared Beef Wellington for your Valentine.

BeefWellington.jpg

Beef Wellington is an intricate endeavor.  A thick cut of beef cooked to tender perfection while wrapped in a delicate, flaky pastry - filled with flavor and melting in your mouth - with a rich wine reduction sauce that just astonishes your tastebuds.  A lithe Pommes Maxine perches atop.

Pat LaFrieda, America's foremost purveyor of fine meats, says of Chef Janet's Wellington:

"Chef Janet brings to life the one cut of beef that naturally has the least amount of flavor by transforming it into an addictive dish that has as much visual appeal as it does taste -  satisfying the quest for the ultimate beef experience."

Are you ready for the ultimate beef experience?  Are you ready for Wellington?  Enjoy this dish prepared in your home for Valentine's Day - or learn to make this universal favorite and impress your honey, make your friends pine for it or treat the kids to a hearty reward for their great grades.

Contact Chef Janet Crandall.

Comment

Comment

Happy New Y'ear!!

Some folks are afraid to try something new, delicious but not-so-run-of-the-mill...like pig ears.  Hang on...H'ear me out.  These are reeeeally delicious!  

Fried Pig Ears with Sauce Tartare and Mae Ploy. Add some Old Bay and Meyer lemon, and..... Ear-rresistible!

PigEars

What do you think?  Like this post if you'd give these yummy Fried Pig Ears a try!

Comment