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What To Eat In & Around Wrigley Field

Synonymous with baseball is BBQ and beer. For avid sports fans hungry for the season’s excitement, Wrigley Field won’t let you down. The expansive concourse is lined with dozens of different food vendors that will satisfy any craving. Here are some of the best food stops we’ve found in and around Wrigley Field. Hopefully something here will make the ball game all the more enjoyable for you and your friends.

Hot Dogs

Before you dig into the game, dive into a juicy hot dog — but make sure it’s Chicago style. Like all of Chicago’s culinary traditions, this city favorite is piled with loads of toppings, like onions, relish and spices. Ask a Wrigley field usher and they will guide you towards the Italian beef specialty stand located along the third base line. If you’re feeling extra daring, try the beef and sausage combo. It’s sure to pack some heat.

Sandwiches & More

The stadium is known for its Wrigley Pig — a pulled pork sandwich that tastes better than most pub versions. If you’re in the mood for something other than pulled pork or polish sausage, surrounding the stadium is Wrigleyville. This city hub is well known for its various restaurants and entertainment venues. From upscale Italian to tangy Thai, Wrigleyville will get your appetite going for the big game.

Refreshments

No matter what you choose to eat inside the stadium, you have to wash it down with some Old Style beer, brewed by Wisconsins Pabst Brewing Company. For hardcore fans looking for some Cubs camaraderie, hitting up Bernie’s Outdoor Beer Garden is a must. Players are even known to stop by this Wrigleyville joint after a game.

Pub Food

As the largest cafe in the stadium, the Captain Morgan Club offers an assortment of salads, burgers and other bar style food. It opens daily at 10 am even for fans without tickets. Goose Island, a brewery located about four doors down from the ballpark, is famous for its specialty beers and greasy fare. Fans can agree, Goose Island is “very Chicago”, without being phony or fussy. Prepare for big crowds here after the game, so send Aunt Judy to save a table before the final stretch.

Pizza

Located right next to the Wrigley Field transit stop is Bacca Pizzeria. This place is perfect for ticket holders late to the game and need a quick bite before settling into the seats. Nothing too fancy, but oh-so enjoyable, Bacca’s is a family-run chain that offers a jumbo slice of pizza plus a free soda for only $3.50.

It’s A Home Run!

As every baseball lover knows, the ultimate ball-time experience includes the proper food assortment…even when you only want popcorn to toss into the air, or peanuts because you love the sound of crunchy shells beneath your shoes.

This article is presented by The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago offers Le Cordon Bleu culinary education classes and culinary training programs in Chicago, Illinois. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Chicago for more information.

The jobs mentioned are examples of certain potential jobs, not a representation that these outcomes are more probable than others. The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago does not guarantee employment or salary.

What You Can Expect From Culinary Arts Careers

When you think about it, the culinary community does have a lot to offer. Culinary schools in the United States and around the world offer different specialties in that field. It is more than just the executive chef preparing the entire meal.

It is a group of individuals working together who make the final product. Culinary arts careers are booming as more people watch reality food shows and want to be a chef. You can be a chef too or simply keep it as a hobby.

Culinary arts careers offer a great number of choices for culinary students who are seriously interested in joining the culinary community. Students learn each step of the kitchen by what is known as stations.

There are several different stations to be found in the kitchen, such as the meat, appetizer, sauce, vegetable and dessert stations. By working together, the line chefs are able to produce the customer’s requested meal.

Many culinary students begin work as a line chef and then quickly move forward to each different station in the hopes that they will become a sous chef someday. A sous chef is like the second in command. He or she can work each of the stations and assists the executive chef in any way.

He or she is a vital part of the chain of command and is a greatly respected part of the kitchen team. Sometimes, smaller kitchens will not have a sous chef, while larger operations may have several.

Other positions within a restaurant include people to manage the finances and business of the kitchen. These people are trained in Hospitality and Restaurant Management. Without these people the restaurant would not be a success. They interact with the customers and can call out the orders to the chef in the kitchen.

If these positions seem to be not exactly what you are after and you are not pursuing a culinary career position, then you may want to consider attending a Thai cooking school or a French cooking school class. You can still learn different techniques but without the pressure to advance the position of chef. They are great ways to add a different menu to your repertoire and dazzle your friends and family.

Culinary arts careers are not for everyone. Some people are very comfortable in their current jobs and just want to learn more skills for their hobby. There is nothing wrong with that.

Others want to seek out the challenges of the kitchen and eventually become an executive chef at a fine restaurant or resort. The most important factor is to love what you are doing and learning.

Culinary Arts Training Expectations And Requirements

As an aspirant culinary arts practitioner, what can one expect from a culinary arts training school? There are millions of culinary arts training institutions but that does not necessary ensure quality. Hence, the quality of the culinary arts training schools is of premium importance, when it comes to training aspiring chefs and cooks.

What are the parameters by which a culinary training school can be evaluated? One, quality of the faculty or teachers; two, the infrastructure and logistics; three, the course content of the training program. These are critical factors though there could be other factors as well that decides how good is a culinary arts training institute.

Let us discuss each parameter in details. First, the faculty or the teachers must be able to impart the basics of culinary art to the students. The competence of a teacher can be gauged from how well the student is coping with the varied customer tastes and preferences and is yet able to make them happy.

In other words, good and hygienic dishes over a long period of time will testify to the fact that important lessons have been passed to the student. The student must also be able have an instant feel of the psychology of a group of people in terms of food preferences.

Two, a culinary arts training must have world class infrastructure that facilitates learning. Latest trends and concepts in cooking must be facilitated through this infrastructure. In other words, a culinary arts training school must aim to be a finishing school that churns out finished products.

The minimum an alumnus requires training after joining a job, the better has been the role of the culinary arts training institute. Excellent and competent training, aided by superior infrastructure is an important factor for producing good cooks.

Lastly, take a look at the course content of a culinary arts training school and ask the following questions: Does it encourage the students to have a blend of theoretical and practical learning? Have the students been sent to a hotel or a restaurant to pick the art of the trade practically and for a long duration?

Does the course content place adequate emphasis on hygienic cooking? Does the course content accommodate cooking methods that cater to the tastes of people from across geographies? Good course content, in other words, must address these issues and herein lies how good a student will be.

How To Make Authentic Mexican Food At Home

We all love tacos, enchiladas, burritos and mexican rice dishes. The only problem is the cost of these Mexican favorites at a fine restaurant. What makes the food at a Mexican restaurant so appealing? Surely not the cost of the dish at your local Mexican restaurant!

You can prepare the same dishes as you get at a good Mexican restaurant yourself and even make them better than the chef. It all comes down to having the right ingredients and cooking the meat stock the right way. This simple cooking method can be used for almost all Mexican dishes that call for meat in them.

At the heart of the Mexican recipe is the preparation of the meat stock. Whenever you see the word ‘carne’ on a Mexican food menu, this refers to the type of meat used in the dish. This is usually chicken or beef. When you prepare your meat for the Mexican dish that you want to serve, you have to begin with an authentic Mexican ‘carne’ recipe. This includes different peppers, onions, other ingredients and requires the right simmering time to build the right flavor into the meat.

Although every recipe is different, many Mexican foods use common ingredients that you will need to prepare the carne meat. The use of chili peppers, tomatoes and onions, along with garlic are usually a part of most Mexican food recipes. Some other common ingredients include black pepper, oregano, paprika, parsley, cumin, lime juice, salt, sugar and cilantro. You will also need to keep some light olive oil on hand to prep the skillet.

First, coat the skillet with some light olive oil. Then start by browning the beef or chicken. After the meat is browned, drain off the oil residue into a disposable container. Then add approximately one half of a cup of water to the skillet. Adjust the heat of the stove to low. It is best to have a skillet with a lid, or some way to cover the meat stock while it is simmering.

The secret to great home prepared Mexican food is in the added ingredients you use while simmering your carne meat. For beef dishes, it is recommended that you simmer the browned meat for 35-45 minutes on a low temperature to extract the flavor of the spices. You want to take your time and prepare a lot of stock at one cooking session. The meat stock can be used again after it is frozen.

With chicken carne stock, you can reduce the simmering time to 25-30 minutes. The chicken will absorb the flavor of your spices faster and be ready to add to your recipe sooner. These rules of thumb can be adjusted as needed depending on your taste.

As a basic recipe for preparing Mexican carne stock, use the following ingredients in this order:

* Add 1 tsp. salt

* A few squirts of lime juice

* A dash or two of cumin and oregano

* Black pepper the stock to suit your taste

* Add hot sauce to taste and blend the stock and spices well

* Finally add a few diced green and red peppers.

Then spread chopped and diced onions evenly around the meat. The onions help to release the flavor of the other spices and transfer it into the meat. This is a secret to building a flavorful Mexican meat stock. Your beef or chicken will taste authentic and full flavored.

These are the basics of starting your Mexican cooking. Now all you do is use the meat stock you have prepared in your favorite Mexican recipes. This will start you on your way to cooking the best types of Mexican cuisine. You can save money by cooking at home and enjoy the great Mexican food you love more often.

Answering Your Culinary Schools Questions

There is something relaxing about cooking a favorite meal at home. The delicious aromas while the food is cooking and then there is the final product awaiting your taste buds. Have you ever given any thought to taking your love and passion for food and making it into a career?

Many people are finding rewarding careers in the food industry. Culinary schools are experiencing record enrollment thanks in part to television shows such as ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and ‘Top Chef’.

Each week participants put their cooking skills to the test and it makes others yearn to be in the kitchen doing the same thing. Even if cooking is not your idea of fun there are other aspects of the food industry that are taught in culinary schools.

You may want to work on the business side. Where ever your passion for food lies, a culinary school can help you find the skills you need. In this article we will cover the basics of culinary schools and what you can expect from this fiery career choice.

What do culinary schools teach?

Culinary schools begin with the basics of the kitchen. One of the first lessons you will learn is about kitchen safety such as handling knives and what to do in an emergency such as a fire. You will learn basic food preparation guidelines such as what temperature is acceptable on meats.

You will learn basic accounting, computer skills, inventory management and even some psychology. Culinary schools want you to have a diverse background because the workplace is so diverse. The most important lesson you learn is how to work together as a team. One person cannot run a restaurant or kitchen alone so teamwork is absolutely essential.

Are culinary schools all about learning how to cook?

You may be surprised to learn that culinary schools do teach more than kitchen skills such as knife handling and how to make a souffle. They also teach students how to deal with the public, how to handle finances and how to manage inventory.

There is also instruction on how to communicate effectively as well as manage employees. Culinary schools want to give you a broad background on the food industry. The more information you have the better prepared you will be when you graduate.

Do certain schools specialize in different areas of the culinary world?

There are schools that do specialize in certain cuisines but you would typically find these specialized schools overseas. The culinary schools in the United States tend to teach a broad spectrum since culinary palates are so diverse here. Should you wish to study French cuisine exclusively it would be best to attend a school in France where you can learn from the masters of the trade.

What are some of the jobs that I can expect to work in after I graduate from a culinary school?

There are a wide variety of jobs that can open up for you once you have graduated from a culinary school. You can be a line chef, an assistant baker, a restaurant manager and even be a pantry cook. Do not expect to get out of school and immediately become a master chef.

It takes years of hard work in order to obtain the level of experience that you need in order to say you are a master chef. You may study for ten years under another chef before you go out on your own. Eventually you will gain the knowledge and skills you need in order to be considered a master chef. The trick is patience and practice.

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