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Articles by Chef Todd Mohr

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191 articles by Chef Todd Mohr · showing 41

Browse every published article connected to Chef Todd Mohr, or search within this exact expert archive.

By Chef Todd MohrApr 26, 20111 topic

Don’t Leave Shirred Eggs Off Your Menu For Brunch

If you’re writing a menu for brunch, don’t forget Shirred Eggs. They’re extremely simple, can be made well in advance, and make a great table presentation. People love foods in individual serving dishes. In my many years of Catering, I’ve seen the trends come and go, but high visual appeal never goes out of style. Individual appetizers in a flat-bottomed Asian spoon are always a hit. Hors d’ oeuvres served in martin glasses or desserts in chocolate cups are delicious to the

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,377 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 22, 20111 topic

Crepes Are an Easy and Elegant Brunch Menu Idea

Cray-pe or Creh-pe, no matter how you say it, the simple French pancake makes an easy and elegant brunch menu idea. They’re incredibly simple to make, and flexible enough that they can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late night snack. However, their delicate nature makes them perfectly suitable for the meal between breakfast and lunch. The American Buttermilk Pancake cannot be compared to the Crepe! Mon deux! The brutish American looks so bourgeois next to the lacy and refin

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,013 views3/5 (1)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Why Carve Turkey at the Table? Here’s Another Way

It’s turkey time! The bird is out of the oven and it’s time to carve turkey! Rather than trying to cut all the meat directly from the carcass at the table, consider creating an attractive platter behind the scenes this year. The turkey is fully roasted when my thermometer reads 165F (74C) at the thickest part of the bird. If you stuff your turkey in the traditional way, filling the cavity with your favorite holiday stuffing recipe, then the temperature should be taken there.

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,099 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Holiday Fun with Brown Sugar Ham Glaze and a Blowtorch

Making your own brown sugar ham glaze is so simple that you won’t need to buy a commercially prepared sweet-baked ham this year. You can save money by buying, baking, and glazing your own ham this holiday season. Brining Turkey is Better Than Burning Down Your House was my advice for people to avoid the dangers of deep frying turkeys this year. It may seem a contradiction to now advise you to apply a blowtorch to ham, but the flame that caramelizes sugar is a much more targe

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

4,609 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Apple Cranberry Sauce that Didn’t Slide From a Can

Apple Cranberry Sauce is something unique that you can add to your holiday table this year and avoid the gelatinous creature that slides from a can every holiday meal. I’m not crazy about cranberry sauce in the first place. Cranberries are very tart and sour. That’s why they’re combined with sugars and corn syrups, binders, and preservatives before being molded into the shape of a can. Rather than eating what the cranberry cannery is serving up, I choose to make my own cran

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,240 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Thanksgiving Potatoes that Beat Boring Boiled or Mundane Mashed

Thanksgiving potatoes are boring. If you’re serving the same mashed potatoes year-after-year, you know what I’m talking about. Do you have relatives that insist on the same old menu each holiday? Will Aunt Francis refuse to attend if you don’t serve the family mashed potato recipe? Face it, tradition always gets in the way of innovation. I want to share some ideas, inspirations, and methods from the professional kitchen that will become the start of a new holiday tradition t

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,124 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

A Great Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipe by Burning Peppers? How?

A great Thanksgiving appetizer recipe can be the start of any reason to celebrate. Whether a holiday dinner, birthday, or weekend party, offering attractive and delicious yet simple appetizers can get any gathering off to a great start. Appetizers, or “hors d Oeuvres” are small bites of food to stimulate the eye and palate. “Hors d’ Oeuvres” in French means “outside the meal”. These appetizers were originally prepared by the wait staff in early banquets, using the leftovers

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,608 views3.6/5 (5)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Christmas Dinner Ideas Start with Appetizers Too Fancy For You.

Christmas dinner ideas come easy. Turkey, Ham, or Beef with potatoes and vegetables. However, how you START your meal can be a more perplexing problem. There are infinite choices of holiday appetizers to choose from. How do you find the right recipe? You don’t FIND the right recipe, you create one. And you can create any holiday appetizer you’d like once you discover the secrets behind Pate’ a Choux. This is a basic puff pastry dough, often called éclair paste, but it makes

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,449 views3.5/5 (6)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Cook Green Beans in Advance and Keep Their Vitamins Intact

When you cook green beans this holiday season, will you open a can of condensed soup and let the beans bake for hours? Most people do. Baking vegetables over a long period of time reduces their nutrient value. Plus, if you are trying to have a stress-free holiday cooking experience, you’re probably preparing the casserole a day in advance. That large casserole dish takes up a lot of room in your refrigerator. And, since it’s flat, there are usually items piled on top of it,

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,299 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

The Turkey Gravy Thickener that Grandma Ignored

My Grandmother used cornstarch to make turkey gravy. My Mother inherited this procedure of dissolving cornstarch in water to thicken the drippings. Well, this generational laziness stops here! If your family is like mine, your elders will be sliding the roasting pan from the oven in a few weeks. The bird is brown and fragrant with simmering and sputtering fats in the bottom of the pan. Just before she’ll carve turkey, Grandma will turn your holiday meal into Chinese food. A

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,527 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Salmon Gravlax Roses Make an Attractive Holiday Appetizer

Gravlax Roses can make a simple and attractive holiday appetizer from dry-cured salmon. Whether you cure the salmon yourself, or just purchase it, my simple procedure can be the focus of a fancy appetizer selection that only you know was quite simple. To me, the definition of cooking is coagulating proteins in a food product. Most often, this is accomplished by applying heat. You’ve seen the coagulation of proteins in any hamburger on your barbeque grill. The raw hamburger i

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,305 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

These Uses for Leftover Turkey Will Un-Clog Your Refrigerator

Do you start thinking about uses for leftover turkey as soon as the meal begins or does all that food just get loaded into your refrigerator? Since thanksgiving cooking planning starts at your desk and not your stove, you may not have any food remaining after the meal. To reduce wasted time, money, and food, this is the best approach. However, if you’ve planned to create leftovers or it just worked out that way, there are many uses for leftover turkey that you can assemble

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,109 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

A Chef’s Potluck Party Tips to Make Them Jealous.

A potluck party can be a food nightmare. As a professional Chef and caterer, few things offend my culinary senses more than the holiday potluck party. With hot items going cold, badly portioned and picked-through platters, nacho dip next to brownies, and unidentifiable entrees all sharing the same table, it’s no wonder that this random buffet will impugn all the work you’ve put into your dish. To be a stand out in this noise of nourishment, this cafeteria of chaos, you need a

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,149 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

This Strawberry Pie Recipe Is a Great Method for Any Other Fresh Fruit Pie.

This Strawberry Pie Recipe Is a Great Method for Any Other Fresh Fruit Pie. Unlike canned fruit, fresh fruit does not come with extra liquid. However, we do need some liquid to use as a binder for our pie. If we just sliced strawberries, placed them on the right type of flakes pie crust, and baked them, this would be considered a tart. But a true pie has a binding agent, something that brings all the fresh fruit ingredients together so you get an attractive triangle slice of

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,199 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Flaky Pie Crust or Mealy Pie Crust? Avoid Soggy Bottom Pies With The Right Choice.

Choosing a flaky pie crust or a mealy pie crust for you pie can mean the difference between pie pride and pie purgatory. It’s not that you need different recipes for the two types of pie crust, you just need to employ two different methods. Flaky pie crust will absorb more moisture than a mealy pie crust. Thus, they’re best used for a top crust or lattice design. The flaky variety is also great for cold pies when pre-baked and filled with mousse or cream fillings. Mealy pie

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

2,809 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

The Number 1 Method for Great Cookies From Scratch

The idea of great cookies from scratch is what brings people back to their kitchens this time of year. Even people that don’t bake for the other eleven months of the year, somehow find themselves back in the kitchen for holiday cookie time. Whether you have fond childhood memories of baking with Mom or Grandma, want to be sure of the ingredients that go into your cookies, or share time with your children, making cookies from scratch is a great way to accomplish all these thi

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

770 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Roll Out Cookies For Santa The Right Way!

I’d be worried if I made cookies for Santa and he didn’t eat them. What would that mean? Was I too naughty this year for him to even take a bite? Or, is Santa expecting more from me than stale cookies from the store? Santa expects cookies from scratch and I’ve let him down in past years. That would probably explain the amount of coal I’ve been receiving. I now know that cookies for Santa should be sugar cookies, and sugar cookies are rolled cookies. Rolled cookies are great

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,139 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Spritz Cookies – It’s All In The Bagging!

Spritz cookies are my favorite cookie at the holidays. I don’t make them any other time of the year, just as I don’t watch “A Christmas Carol” or “The Grinch” in July. These cookies bring back strong childhood memories for me, mostly of my Mom’s frustration with her antique cookie press. If I had only known how to use a pastry bag when I was 5, I would have helped ease some of that mate al angst. The correct use of a pastry bag is an easier way to make spritz cookies, and it

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

812 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Mixing is More Important Than Baking in Christmas Cake Recipes

Have you ever taken the results of your family’s Christmas cake recipe out of the oven and been disappointed? How can the same recipe created year after year always come out differently? “Why didn’t my cake BAKE correctly?” I’m here to tell you that the problem with most home baking mistakes isn’t in the BAKING, it’s in the MIXING of your cakes that most mistakes are made. There are three goals in cake mixing, whether it’s a Christmas cake recipe, or any other baked good at

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,377 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Mixing is More Important Than Baking in Christmas Cake Recipes

Have you ever taken the results of your family’s Christmas cake recipe out of the oven and been disappointed? How can the same recipe created year after year always come out differently? “Why didn’t my cake BAKE correctly?” I’m here to tell you that the problem with most home baking mistakes isn’t in the BAKING, it’s in the MIXING of your cakes that most mistakes are made. There are three goals in cake mixing, whether it’s a Christmas cake recipe, or any other baked good at

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

945 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Mixing is More Important Than Baking in Christmas Cake Recipes

Have you ever taken the results of your family’s Christmas cake recipe out of the oven and been disappointed? How can the same recipe created year after year always come out differently? “Why didn’t my cake BAKE correctly?” I’m here to tell you that the problem with most home baking mistakes isn’t in the BAKING, it’s in the MIXING of your cakes that most mistakes are made. There are three goals in cake mixing, whether it’s a Christmas cake recipe, or any other baked good at

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

716 views3.4/5 (5)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

It’s Angel Food Cake Hell If You Mix It Wrong!

No, you’re not. You’re not looking for another Angel Food Cake recipe. The recipe really doesn’t matter as much as the procedure. So, rather than look for a new written set of instructions, how about scrutinizing the steps that professionals take in creating this fat free dessert? When you perfect the procedure for mixing cakes, all your recipes will come out better. I’ve told you before that it’s not the BAKING of cakes that causes problems, it’s the MIXING of cakes that cr

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

3,511 views3.6/5 (5)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

butter cake recipes

Butter cake recipes will always be disappointing if you don’t use the correct mixing method. While most people blame the oven for cake faults, the problem is not in the baking. The most common cake faults stem from mistakes made during mixing. Mixing methods are the most important step in creating a great cake, no matter what the recipe. The “Creaming Method” is used for high-fat cakes. In butter cake recipes, there is usually a great proportion of butter in the formula. Bu

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,750 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Cake Mixing Like the Pros with the Two-Stage Method

Cake mixing techniques are always more important than cake baking temperatures. I demonstrated this in an earlier blog by using a butter cake recipe to demonstrate the creaming method. This method combines butter and sugar to trap air, then uses egg yolks to form an emulsification. The limiting factor of the creaming method is that butter is not 100 percent fat. Butter is composed of 85 percent fat, about 10 percent water and 5 percent milk solids. With less fat, butter will

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

3,436 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Cooking With Steam and Gin Blossoms

I’ve said it before, “the Food Network is the MTV of cooking.” MTV used to play music, now they’re entertainment about music. Food Network is entertainment about food. They don’t teach anyone to cook. Last week, I was listening to my favorite band, The Gin Blossoms on my iPod while cooking with steam when someone reminded me of my cynical quote about MTV and Food TV. “Huh”? I said as I removed one ear-bud. I must have missed the entire comment, but it gave me a great idea.

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,274 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Poaching Salmon Two Ways with Green Day

Even an American Idiot can learn there’s more than one method to poaching salmon. I’ve come to the realization that neither MTV nor Food TV are doing their jobs these days. MTV doesn’t play much music, and Food TV doesn’t teach anyone to cook. I’ll accept the challenge that’s been ignored by both media outlets. I’ll use their leftovers, their scraps, their b-sides to create a new and exciting combination of cooking and music. It’s my Food iPod. Green Day is cranked in my ea

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,112 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Poaching Salmon Two Ways with Green Day

Even an American Idiot can learn there’s more than one method to poaching salmon. I’ve come to the realization that neither MTV nor Food TV are doing their jobs these days. MTV doesn’t play much music, and Food TV doesn’t teach anyone to cook. I’ll accept the challenge that’s been ignored by both media outlets. I’ll use their leftovers, their scraps, their b-sides to create a new and exciting combination of cooking and music. It’s my Food iPod. Green Day is cranked in my ea

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,349 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Tea Types Scandal Uncovered!

I had never heard of “Tea-M-Z”, but they believe they’ve uncovered a tea types scandal. Their cameras followed me around all week and finally confronted me with their accusation. “Did you say you liked black better than white”? they probed. These celebrity tabloid TV shows are always looking for the next big scoop, even if they have to create one themselves. I told them that I prefer black tea in the morning and white tea in the evening, that there is nothing scandalous about

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,490 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

7 Tips for Healthy Eating at Home

I’ve devised my 7 Tips for Healthy Eating at Home because I feel like crap. What the heck is going on? I’m a healthy guy, I’m not overweight. I exercise more than most people. I was the Executive Chef at a large hospital, so I know about nutrition and I can cook. Why do I feel lousy? Why am I exhausted by the television at 9:00 pm? Why do I sleep 8 full hours and wake up tired? Why do I feel like I need a nap in the afte oon? Why is my attention-span shortening? Why does my

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,282 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Seafood Paella is a Quick Easy Dinner Made in One Pan

What is a quick easy dinner I can make in one pan? is a question most often asked of me. While I know the expected answer is a recipe, they’d be asking the wrong person for a recipe. I’ve been urging people to “Burn Your Recipes” through my online cooking classes and DVDs for years now, motivating them to cook with basic cooking methods over written instructions, and Seafood Paella is no different. While aspiring chefs and home cooks love to ask me questions, some also tell

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,309 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

What Are Some Tips for Healthy Living? Chef Todd Asks the Experts.

I really need some tips for healthy living. The New Year is in full swing, and like I said earlier this week during my 7 Tips for Healthy Cooking, I feel like crap. Perhaps it’s not JUST the food I eat. Maybe there are items in my environment that could be affecting my mood, health and wellness. I’ve got the food and nutrition part covered, being a former Executive Chef at a large hospital, but I wonder what other tips for healthy living I can incorporate into my daily lifes

Primary topic: Health Education

Health Education

1,042 views4/5 (2)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Ethnic Profiling Is The Key to Cooking With Spices

Cooking with spices is an aspect of cooking that frustrates many people. The questions I receive all highlight a confusion over which spices to buy, how to use them, and how much of them to use. All of those questions can be answered with a simple change in thinking. Use ethnic profiling. First, don’t over-think it. Herbs and spices are best used to accent the natural flavor of a particular ingredient. They won’t make or break your dish in the end. A quarter-teaspoon too lit

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,388 views3.6/5 (5)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

10 Romantic Dinner Ideas From a Chef Who Loves His Wife

It’s easy for me to share 10 romantic dinner ideas with you, because I cook this way almost every night. I only cook what I’m inspired to create, and my wife, Heather has always been the muse behind my creativity, from culinary college until today. The most romantic meals have three elements; they are visually appealing, they are pleasing to the palate, and they include aphrodisiac ingredients for their effects, or just for conversation value. For centuries, many foods have

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

2,035 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

A Quick Dinner Recipe Frees You From the Kitchen Faster

Stir Fry is the best way to create your own quick dinner recipe using ingredients you have on hand. It’s also a great way to create healthy meals using fresh ingredients and free yourself from the kitchen faster than following a written recipe would ever allow. In the video that accompanies this recipe, you’re able to look directly over my shoulder as I create Chicken Stir Fry Over Quinoa, using just two pans, one for the quinoa and another to steam and then stir fry the ing

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,259 views3.6/5 (10)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Fast Dinner Ideas From Your Kitchen Cabinet

Fast dinner ideas come from the combination of quick cooking methods and the ingredients you have on hand. Planning and cooking meals for your family can be frustrating when you depend on written recipes that command specific ingredients. Sometimes you have the items, sometimes you don’t. A quick dinner recipe frees you from the kitchen faster, but a mastery of just a few basic cooking methods will give you endless dinner ideas. In today’s video, I’m going to let you look o

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,416 views3.5/5 (4)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Easy Family Dinners Are Closer Than Thailand

Easy family dinners can come from your own kitchen but have the flavors of far away. I mean that you don’t need to cook like the greatest Italian Chef to make an Italian inspired meal. You don’t need to study in Thailand to use the characteristic flavors in a simple cooking method. Basically, if it’s good to you, it’s good. I’ve had some commenters on the internet tell me that “You didn’t make the crepes in the authentic way.” Or, “real beef bourguignon isn’t made that way”.

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,245 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Catch a Taco Fish, One of the Quick Dishes for Everyday Cooking

If you could cook like me and create quick dishes every night of the week, you’d never need a recipe book. Without a recipe book, you’d never need to stress about dinner. It’s the written recipe that causes so much anxiety about preparing family dinners. Are you always trying to figure out “what’s for dinner”? Is it a constant battle of finding recipes, sharing recipes, deciding which recipes work and which don’t? Before you start cooking, do you have to search for a recipe

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,286 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Poaching is the Path to More Quick Dishes

I’m so happy to share more quick dishes for everyday cooking with you. Earlier this week, I caught a Taco Fish and helped you discover the simplicity of a basic breading procedure you can use on any ingredient in your pantry. In the time it takes most people to just FIND the right recipe, I can apply a basic cooking method to the ingredients already found in my kitchen. In the time it takes most people to go back to the grocery store because the recipe told them to, I’ll ha

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,146 views

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Do it Yourself -4 Steps to Copycat Restaurant Recipes.

I have a friend that plays guitar. He can hear a song and figure out how to play it. This has always impressed me. I watch him intently listening to the song, nodding his head, humming a bit, and then his fingers go to work. The left hand forms chords, the right strums or picks at the strings. “Oh, it’s A, then C, then D,” he mumbles. Because my friend knows HOW to play guitar, because he knows the basic chords he can recreate any song he hears. Why doesn’t he just buy the s

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,242 views3/5 (1)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

9 Steps to Great Low Carb Cooking From Home

You don’t need a written recipe to achieve great low carb cooking from home. One basic cooking method and the ingredients YOU desire are all it takes. Earlier this week, I showed you a low carb chicken recipe using sauté method. Today’s inspiration will follow the same procedure with different ingredients. Written recipes won’t teach you to cook any more than having sheet music will teach you to play piano. Recipes have inherent flaws and variables that make them difficult t

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,353 views3/5 (2)

By Chef Todd MohrApr 13, 20111 topic

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution IS The War On Drugs

I’m not sure why Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution has returned to television. Does the former Naked Chef want to cure obesity? Does he want to reduce diabetes? Does he want to remove additives from our food? Is it fat? Is it sugar? Is it children? Is it adults? Is it a war on drugs? Why would anyone want to stop doing drugs if they’re hooked? If it feels good, tastes good, releases endorphins, or gives you a buzz, logic will not motivate you to stop. He may consider himself a

Primary topic: Cooking and Recipes

Cooking and Recipes

1,329 views

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