— About Author: Liya Swift —

CASA graduate Justin Zhao Connected with World-Renowned Chefs and Got Several Job Offers! When CASA grad Justin Zhao got an offer from our Career Services department to volunteer at the 2019 All Star Chefs Classic in Los Angeles, he jumped on the opportunity to put his newly acquired culinary skills to work. During the four […]

Have you ever said something tasted green?  What did you mean by that? Did you mean fresh and aromatic or earthy and alkaline?  Do all greens taste the same? Can one substitute one green for another?  Do all greens pair equally well with the same foods? The long and short of it is that “green” […]

Butter in Ancient Times   Butter was so precious to the Norsemen that they were buried with large tubs full of the stuff to take with them into the afterlife.  However, we do know Europeans referred to the invading Vikings as “butter eaters.” Nevertheless, the taste for butter caught on.  By the 12th century, Scandinavian […]

Americans get made fun of a fair bit for using the word entrée.  In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the word entrée refers to a starter course or courses, coming after the appetizers but before the main course.  So, is it another case of Americans just not knowing what’s up or is there another […]

Everybody loves food trucks.  They’re easily accessible, they’re fun and, most times, the food they serve is delicious.  Question is: as a young restaurateur, does it make more sense to open your own food truck or is opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant smarter?  Does the larger investment make for a more sound and stable business?  Or […]

The “mother sauces” were developed during the early 1800s by the bastion of French cuisine, Marie-Antoine Carême, and are a mainstay of French cuisine and cooking in general.  Except for Hollandaise, all the mother sauces start with a roux at their foundation which begs the question: what is a roux?  Answer: nothing to be afraid […]

More Funk in Food Considering the fact that people have been eating fermented foods since the dawn of civilization, one might say it’s taken some time for the American palate to attune itself to the flavor of funk.  We’re fully primed to appreciate the deeper, more complex flavors beyond the occasional get-down with a hunk […]

#1 Have a Lot of Guests? Go Buffet! If you’ve got plenty of guests coming to your holiday dinner, say more than 12, a buffet setup might be perfect for you.  Serve dishes on a sideboard or bar area where people can help themselves to seconds and thirds.  If you simply must do the traditional […]

Festive, yet refreshingly different, this spiced orange rum cake is easy to make but requires one to two days to sit, to allow the flavors to deepen. Trust me, it’s worth the wait. Also, note some of the brown sugar and the rum is reserved for the pour over, after baking and for the glaze, […]

Whether you’re making chocolate chip, peanut putter blossom, sugar or gingerbread cookies, these five helpful tips will help ensure your cookies have the best texture and flavor. # 1 – Use Real, Expensive Vanilla Fork over the dough and invest in a nice bottle of high-quality Madagascar stuff. Nielsen-Massey and J.R. Watkins both make great […]

Love the holidays but dreading all the chaos, cleanup, chopping and shopping? Well, with a little planning and a the right supplies, you can make holiday cooking this season relatively stress-free and enjoyable. 1 – Source Make-Ahead Recipes When browsing through those holiday recipes, look for the all-important phrase “make ahead.”  A slew of different […]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say stuffing is the quintessential Thanksgiving dish.  Some people are going to take issue with this; after all, we do call it “turkey day” but tell me this: when else during the year do you have stuffing as part of the meal?  Christmas perhaps?  Okay…maybe.  How […]