Euro Pro Food Processor

I tend to cook chicken on a George Forman grill, but it never comes out the quality of AppleBee’s grilled chicken caesar salad or grilled chicken with pasta. I-Hop can even do it with their salads, but I never get the chicken to the same tenderness and consistency. I am just wondering how the restaurants cook the chicken.

So i decided to get myself into culinary arts. To be honest, im a late bloomer, although i always loved and appreciated good food, i never really thought of becoming a chef, till recently. I probrably cooked 2 proper meals in my life. Pasta, and crab with garlic. The pasta was aryt, but the crab with garlic sucked. As i said, i just enrolled myself in culinary school which starts next month. For the time being, i decided to get a head start by working in my brother’s friends restaurant. As a dishwasher, or anything as long as i am in the kitchen. I spoke to the chef today, and he said ill be doing some basic prep. What im worried about is i only started learning to chop 3 days ago. Should i be expected to know how to chop properly already as a prep cook? I was expecting to be a dishwasher, but apparently, he said i was gona be in prep.

There are a few reasons I don’t like to cook.

a. Bugs. I have lived in 2 different apartment and both have bug/ants problems as soon as I bring food in. And I don’t like to keep fresh fruit around because of gnats.

b. I like to eat what I am in the mood for. When you cook, you cook what is in your cabinets. If you want sweet tea to drink, but you only have kool-aid then your out-of-luck.

c. When I do cook, I have left-overs. Then the left-overs don’t get eaten and they go bad.

d. It just never seems to taste as good as something from a restaurant or take-out place. I love Chinese food, and nothing from the grocery store ever tastes the same as from the Chinese take-out place.

f. I can’t plan a menu and stick to it. Some of these goes back to b. If I planned to make pasta, chances are that’s not what I will end up wanting.

g. Too many things go bad. I live alone and I can’t even buy a half-gallon of milk because it goes bad too quickly, same with a loaf of bread.
I want to eat out less because of the expense. I don’t eat a lot of meat. In fact the only meat I usually eat seafood, and that is just usually 3 or 4 times a week.

Any advice you can give on menu planning, recipes, and learning to cook would be helpful.

I went to an Italian restaurant and tried a yummy, but very expensive dish. I want to try making it at home, but the recipe calls for white wine and alcohol isn’t sold in my town.

What is the best (alcohol free) substitute for white wine? And does it make much difference in smell and flavor? Should I just wait until the next time that I go to a store that sells alcohol? (probably in a few months)

I am also curious if alcohol free beer tastes different in cooking from regular beer.
I live in the middle of a dry county in East Texas. (dry county meaning the sale of alcohol is forbidden, except I know of 3 restaurants where I could order a glass with my meal)

It would take me over an hour (maybe even 2 hours) to drive to a place, pick up a bottle of wine, and drive back. … More trouble than a plate of pasta is worth. But if using real wine makes a difference in flavor, I will pick up a bottle next time we go to a town that has it.

I am opening a restaurant and my main dish all sorts of pasta how can I cook it and have it ready for customers fast

I have a question about cooking spaghetti. I saw a professional chef on a news segment, and he said he cooks spaghetti in boiling water (no problem so far), but then removes it and "shocks it down" by putting it in COLD water, then puts it BACK in the hot water to warm it up just before serving.

Is it just me, or is there something disgusting about this? Why put it in cold water and then back into hot water? And wouldn’t this cause it to be gummy? I’ve never heard of this "shocking down" with pasta before. Is this the way spaghetti is cooked in fine restaurants?

I’m no chef but I do enjoy trying out recipes and learning all I can. I’d appreciate it if anyone with training as a chef could tell me what the particulars are on how real chefs cook spaghetti!

Thank you.