Chef Martin - Spring is here! Wishing a year full of great food, success and happiness to all of our friends and fans from around the world !!

CHEFMARTIN.NET

Spring is here! Wishing a year full of great food, success and happiness to all of our friends and fans from around the world !!

Start the spring right, Tortas de Milanesa!

Check out our segment on Great Day St Louis KMOV 4

Not just for the holidays -Baking all year round!

Do your kids know how to measure ingredients? Do they know how to crack an egg? Do they know what happens when you combine baking soda and vinegar? These skills and more can be learned by baking together as a family. It is the perfect way to spend quality time with each other and gives kids the opportunity to learn and most importantly – to have fun.

Mark it in your calendar: As the holiday season is a busy time, try scheduling an hour to bake on a Saturday afternoon. Once it becomes part of the weekend routine, you can even work up to a group baking activity and invite your neighbors and their kids to join.

Get organized: Calendar reminders and grocery lists of the essential ingredients help keep the pantry well stocked for your weekly baking activity.

Inspire the family with individual tasks: Once your family is on board, begin by assigning everyone a job – think chief mixer, cake decorator or recipe photographer. Encourage your kids to take a picture of the delicious result and start their own recipe collection.

Experiment and get creative: Try something different each week. Test out recipes that blend savory and sweet – think bacon with butterscotch cookies or sweet and salty chocolate caramel squares. Or look at recipes that have a twist on the traditional, and most importantly don’t forget that you will also have the control to think and teach healthy choices for your family.

Our mission

Behind ChefMartin.net is a team of Chefs, culinary enthusiasts and friends based out of St Louis, Mo. USA

We set our goal for 2009 to launch this nonprofit site as we all share the same feelings and passion about our cooking and community.

I always been focused on developing myself as a Professional Culinarian and Chef. In my career, I often get asked to participate in charity events for groups, fundraisers, churches and many other not for profit events, all with a wonderful cause and goal in mind. Also many times culinary students and chefs ask me how they can take part of these great culinary community events around the country.

My goal here is to create a site where groups can showcase their functions, guest can look up coming fundraising dinners, socials and any food related culinary events, and also give the opportunity to professionals in our industry to get involved and share pictures of these events with all the people from around the world.

In our younger years growing up as professional chefs we often wished we had someone we could talk to, or had someone to inspire us to be stronger caliber chefs, and to be able to share information with our colleagues, as well as the general public, about different issues, trends, and ideas in our industry. We hope to achieve this with a clear understanding and without the pressure of gimmicks or sale points.

In addition ChefMartin.net it’s based on promoting the professional image of American chefs worldwide through education of culinarians at all levels.

"I believe that cooking is a celebration and art, I get my ingredients and I feel the textures, smell the aromas then the utensils become my tools, the pots and pans become my palette and the plates are my canvas"

"Chef Martin"

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Crazy Agua Fresca

Aguas frescas, or "fresh waters," are usually simple combinations of fresh fruit and water. Some incorporate flowers, grains, and seeds. A little sweetener might be added, but ripe ingredients like cantaloupe, pineapple, and strawberries often don't even need sugar. You can find flavors made from fruits and flowers like Watermelon, Rice, Tamarind, Hibiscus, Strawberry Thyme, Pineapple Ginger and Lime to name a few. The flavors can be of the fruit alone, or in combination with each other, and sometimes adding herbs. Refreshing rather than cloying, aguas frescas are the perfect thirst-quencher while strolling through a street fair, picnicking in the park, or just trying to beat the heat at home with friends.

Making agua fresca is also a great way to use seasonal fruits – Agua Frescas are a familiar and welcome sight at farmers' markets and street fairs around Mexico and other places with Latin American communities and are now becoming trendy in many cities, people are also incorporating these fresh fruit drinks to create the perfect summer cocktails adding rum, vodka, tequila and wine.

Here are some recipes for classic and inspired agua fresca flavors, but the basic concept of fruit + water + sweetener + ice is easy to play with on your own.

Visit our friends from The Cooking Channel

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Athnic food and ingredients also made the list as growing trends, and the surveyed chefs predicted that food trucks and pop-up trends would continue to surge in popularity.

Here's the top 20 trends for the New Year

Locally sourced meats and seafood
Locally grown produce
Sustainability
Nutritionally balanced children's dishes
"Hyper local," such as restaurants with their own gardens and chefs who do their own butchering.
Children's nutrition
Sustainable seafood
Gluten-free food and being food allergy conscious
Simplicity/back to basics
Farm/estate-branded ingredients
Micro-distilled/artisan liquor
Locally produced wine and beer
Smaller portions for smaller prices
Organic produce
Nutrition/health
"Culinary" cocktails, for example ones that have savory or fresh ingredients
Newly fabricated cuts of meat such as the pork flat iron and the beef petit tender
Fruit and vegetables as children's side items
Ethnic-inspired breakfast items, such as Asian-flavored syrups, chorizo scrambled eggs and coconut milk pancakes
Artisan cheeses

Top Food Trends of the Decade

"Chefs and editorial staff have seen a lot of changes in the last 10 years," stated Kay Logsdon, managing editor of The Food Channel.

"Food has become a story like never before, and it's interesting to look back at how its growth has impacted our society."

Top 10 Trends Overall

-- Sushi
-- Bacon
-- Cupcakes
-- Sliders
-- Gourmet burgers made with Kobe or Angus beef
-- Super fruits such as Acai, pomegranate, blueberry
-- Oils, such as olive oils and truffle oils
-- Whole grains, such as Kashi, polenta, risotto
-- Artisan foods, particularly in breads, cheeses, and dark ocolates
-- Coffees, teas

The Decade's Top Flavors
-- Pomegranate
-- Wasabi
-- Cranberry
-- Ginger
-- Blueberry
-- Hibiscus
-- Bacon
-- Green tea
-- Dark Chocolate
-- Mint

Top 10 Food Influences of the Decade
-- Organic foods, along with Locavore and community-supported agriculture
-- International cuisines
-- Food TV and Internet
-- Food safety
-- The economy and subsequent shift to home cooking
-- Fast casual restaurant concepts
-- Fair trade and artisan concepts in bread, chocolates, cheeses
-- Mobility/social media/Twitter notifications/underground dining
-- Mixology
-- Culinary education

Top Restaurant Trends of the Decade
-- Fast casual concept
-- Tapas and shareables
-- Gastropub
-- Molecular Gastronomy
-- Taco Trucks
-- Underground dining
-- Fusion
-- DIY
-- Catering
-- Upscaling of bar food

Something sweet is baking in St Louis

Thanks to Butler’s Pantry President, Richard L Nix Jr. and hard work from the St. Louis Children's Hospital Youth Council.

St. Louis Children's Hospital Youth Council baking cookies at Butler's Pantry

Over one thousand cookies were baked. Youth Council members participate in service, fundraising, and leadership development activities. Youth Council members gain valuable experience in community service, fundraising, leadership, and decision making. This fun group is full of bright young leaders!

Click here to see the rest of the pictures on facebook

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Join me and my friends from KMOV Channel 4

“Great Day St Louis”

Healthy Dips & Salsas

Tropical Mango Relish

Sweet Roasted Tomatillo and Spicy Chipotle Sauce

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MEET CHEF MARTIN ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

Special thanks to the United Way Women's Leadership Council for an energetic fun filled night!Click on the picture to see the rest of the pictures on facebook
Also thank you Jennifer Mahoney from Harmonious Studio for all the images and sharing your talents with us.___________________________ Remember Chefs...