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Current Career Offerings

Recruitment

• New Restaurant in Sai Kung is looking for a Chef
• HKFC is looking for a Cook A
• HKFC is looking for a Cook B
• HES Global is looking for a pastry Chef
• HES Global is looking for a Western Chef de Cuisine
• HES Global is looking for a Spanish Chef

Current Articles

 

Come and experience the Real Taste of Pork

Dinner invitation  

We are honored that “Vang Kei Hong Trading Co., Ltd.” is inviting Members of the HKCA to a themed “Full Natural Pork Dinner” food tasting event.

The entire evening is fully sponsored thanks to “Vang Kei Hong Trading Co., Ltd & Falls Brand Natural Pork Salmon Creek Farms”; with Chef “Kirt Martin” from the USA and Chef “So Leung” from Macao specially flown-in to assist the King Parrot Group's Balalaika Staff in preparing the delicious food.

The evening is designed to introduce the most consistent, highest quality “NATURAL PORK” in the industry. This traditional approach delivers "The Real Taste of Pork”, accompanied by Portuguese Wines.

Date and Time:  Tuesday 8th May 2007 at 8 PM sharp

Where:             Balalaika Russian Restaurant, Mezz Floor, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Central

We would be honored if you could attend and experience the distinctive taste of “Natural Pork” for promoting Healthy Eating.

Please note, HKCA members only, if you are not a member yet, pls. download the form from here and prepare funds to pay on that evening!

Please let us know if you are able to come by simply sending e-mail to rudolf.muller@disney.com and state with how many people you join.

Looking forward to see you all there,

With best regards

Marco Veringa

             

 

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90 % Over Subscribed -- HK International Culinary Classis 2007

By Hofex

Breaking records, HKICC is now 90 % Over subscribed. With what was supposed to be a 300 person competition, it now stands at over 580 applicant Chefs from around the world preparing for the battleand ultimate glory for this world-class industry event. The event, sponsored by HK electric, Kolb, Hospitality Industry Training & development Center of Vocational Training Council, Chinese Cuisine Training Institute of Vocational Training Council, is one show you simply can't afford to miss!

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Western Cuisine Master Chef Course

By Dominique Grandjean

As time seems to be flying by I felt that I would like to bring you up to date on the Western Cuisine Master Chef Preparatory Course. As always it is my desire that the practical tests are successful. 

On April 17, 2007, the Final Practical Mock Examination took place at the Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre (HITDC) of the Vocational Training Council.

The four candidates, Ken Chow, Boris Leung, Wingo Wan and Mak Kam Kui had 10 hours to design and compile a 5 course menu for 6 persons. Early morning, an ingredient list was distributed and 1 hour was allowed to design and compile a menu, according to the products availability and specifications. This year, the specifications were the following:

Then 9 hours were allowed for the preparation and cooking of the menu they have designed, followed by a dinner, were chefs and guests from various establishments in Hong Kong were invited. Thanks for their support and valuable comments.

With all the hard work and efforts provided, I am confident that the coming Trade Tests in July 2007 will be successful.

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History of Pizza -- From its Origins to Today

By Dominque Grandjean

Pizza is probably the most globally recognizable food today. Originally a food for the poor it has now become a dish for everyone. Pizza is the result of a transformation developed over the centuries and it is a portrait of the people that have contributed to its own existence. It is a portrait of Italy. The ancestor of pizza is the simple bread. It dominates history as one of most used foods for the poor who were forced, during the centuries, to eat only cereals and the few products that Mother Nature was offering. They used their own imagination and fantasy to create something tasteful for their meals. Barley was the most common ingredient used to prepare bread and the first bread to take the form of the pizza. The grains were crushed, mixed with water and flattened down on a round thin pan. Then they were cooked over red-hot stones. This dough was used throughout Europe and Asia.

Later wheat flour substituted the other cereals becoming the standard grain used. Through the Centuries pizza took its own course and developed into the dish that we know today. This dish has inspired many writers and artists in our history and it’s from their documents and notes that we know that pizza has truly old origins. Its existence is certified long before the discovery of the Americas around the year 1000 in the city of Naples. At that time pizzas were prepared with lard, cheese and herbs. The pizza as we know it today was developed after the introduction of the tomato which originally came from the Andes. Brought back to Europe by the Spanish they set the stage for the modern pizza. Tomatoes weren’t an immediate success though. At first nobody thought that they were eatable. The fruit was small and yellow and they were used for decoration. It was in 1694 that the first writing about the tomato as a food appeared in a book written by, Antonio Latini, who wrote that the tomato was cooked like zucchini and eggplants. Then later in 1839 in another publication by, Ippolito Cavalcanti, it is written that the tomato was used as a sauce for vermicelli. It is believed that tomatoes were used to prepare pizza starting from 1850.

The most famous pizza of all is the, “Pizza Margherita” and for this one we have a precise date. In 1889 King Umberto I and the Queen Margherita went, as usual, for the summer period to their residence in Capodimonte. The sovereigns heard about this dish called pizza, so they asked to try it. The most famous pizzaiolo of Naples, don Raffaele Esposito, was called to prepare it for them. He prepared two traditional ones and a third one created especially for them in their honor. On this third pizza he put tomatoes, mozzarella and basil reproducing the colors of the Italian flag. Queen Margherita especially liked this pizza and don Raffaele launched it the next day in his pizzeria. The new pizza was then called, “Margherita.”

The pizzeria is almost as important as the pizza itself. The first pizzeria was built in Naples in the year 1830 at Port’Alba since then they have been built everywhere in Italy, and have greatly contributed to the diffusion of the pizza itself. Eating in a pizzeria in Italy is a wonderful experience. Many still use the wood bruning brick stoves and maintain a very characteristic look. The pizza is cooked directly on the brick surface close to the fire where the temperature reaches 750°F. In most pizzerias you can watch the pizzaiolo preparing and cooking the pizza, which is really something to see.

 

Did you know the meaning of the Italian Flag?

                             Hope                Faith                 Charity

 

                                                      FOR

 

                            Basil               Mozzarella         Tomato

 

Basic Pizza Recipes

Ingredients for 0,500 kilo

0,170    litre      Water, lukewarm          

0,04      litre      Oil, Olive          

2           grams  Yeast

300       grams   Flour    

7           grams  Salt      

1           gram    Honey  

                                   

Preparation:

Sieve the flour on the table and form a circle, large enough to pour the liquid into it.

Combine the water, olive oil, honey and yeast into a mixing bowl.

Add the liquid in the circle, and mix carefully the water with the flour.

Once the dough is formed, add the salt and knead until you obtain an elastic consistency.

Cover the dough and let rest for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 180 grams pieces, shape round and place on a floured baking tray.

On the table, roll out the dough until you obtain the desired thickness (3-5 mm); garnish the pizza according to your desires and bake at 250*C for 8 – 10 minutes.

Happy cooking!

Some Classical:

MARGUERITA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and oregano

PROSCIUTTO:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham and oregano

ORTOLANA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, grilled greens and oregano

BOISCAILA:

-         Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, porcini mushrooms and oregano

BALTICA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, capsicum, smoked salmon and oregano

NAPOLETANA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, anchovies, capers and oregano

ALLA FIAMMA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, chili, black olives, garlic and oregano

MARINARA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, mix seafood (already cooked), garlic and oregano

BISMARK:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham, oregano and 1 egg in the centre

SARDA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, spicy salami, ricotta, garlic and oregano

SALAME:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, salami, black olives and oregano

QUATTRO FORMAGGI:

·        Tomato sauce, ‘mozzarella cheese, gorgonzola cheese, parmesan cheese, provolone cheese (4 cheeses) ‘ and oregano

PROSCUITTO E FUNGHI:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham, button mushrooms and oregano

FINANZIERA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, flakes tuna (canned), onion slices, garlic, black olives and oregano

CONTADINA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, mixed fresh vegetables (already cooked), sliced bacon and oregano

DIAVOLA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, chili pepper, spicy salami, capsicum and oregano.

QUATTRO STAGIONI:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, artichoke heart, ham, capsicum, button mushrooms and oregano. (This pizza is divided into four parts representing the four seasons)

CAPRICCIOSA:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham, artichoke heart, capsicum, button mushrooms, black olives, all mixed together and oregano

CALZONE:

·        Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham, artichoke heart, capsicum, button mushrooms, black olives, mixed together and oregano. (Place all ingredients on the first half of the dough, and then fold to second half, like a dumpling)

DISCO VOLANTE:

·        Same ingredients as for the calzone, but it consist of a “double” pizza, the first pizza is garnished with the toppings, and the second one is placed on top to cover the first pizza. Once baked, it will look like a “UFO”.

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Last week In the News

China's food safety woes expand overseas

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 12, 6:50 PM ET

SHANGHAI, China - The list of Chinese food exports rejected at American ports reads like a chef's nightmare: pesticide-laden pea pods, drug-laced catfish, filthy plums and crawfish contaminated with salmonella.

 

Yet, it took a much more obscure item, contaminated wheat gluten, to focus U.S. public attention on a very real and frightening fact: China's chronic food safety woes are now an international concern.

In recent weeks, scores of cats and dogs in America have died of kidney failure blamed on eating pet food containing gluten from China that was tainted with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants. While humans aren't believed at risk, the incident has sharpened concerns over China's food exports and the limited ability of U.S. inspectors to catch problem shipments.

"This really shows the risks of food purity problems combining with international trade," said Michiel Keyzer, director of the Center for World Food Studies at Amsterdam's Vrije Universiteit.

Just as with manufactured goods, exports of meat, produce, and processed foods from China have soared in recent years, prompting outcries from foreign farm sectors that are feeling pinched by low Chinese prices.

Worried about losing access to foreign markets and stung by tainted food products scandals at home, China has in recent years tried to improve inspections, with limited success.

The problems the government faces are legion. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used in excess to boost yields while harmful antibiotics are widely administered to control disease in seafood and livestock. Rampant industrial pollution risks introducing heavy metals into the food chain.

Farmers have used cancer-causing industrial dye Sudan Red to boost the value of their eggs and fed an asthma medication to pigs to produce leaner meat. In a case that galvanized the public's and government's attention, shoddy infant formula with little or no nutritional value has been blamed for causing severe malnutrition in hundreds of babies and killing at least 12.

China's Health Ministry reported almost 34,000 food-related illnesses in 2005, with spoiled food accounting for the largest number, followed by poisonous plants or animals and use of agricultural chemicals.

With China increasingly intertwined in global trade, Chinese exporters are paying a price for unsafe practices. Excessive antibiotic or pesticide residues have caused bans in Europe and Japan on Chinese shrimp, honey and other products. Hong Kong blocked imports of turbot last year after inspectors found traces of malachite green, a possibly cancer-causing chemical used to treat fungal infections, in some fish.

One source of the problem is China's fractured farming sector, comprised of small landholdings which make regulation difficult, experts said.

Small farms ship to market with little documentation. Testing of the safety and purity of farm products such as milk is often haphazard, hampered by fuzzy lines of authority among regulators. Only about 6 percent of agricultural products were considered pollution-free in 2005, while safer, better quality food officially stamped as "green" accounts for just 1 percent of the total, according to figures compiled by the U.S.

 

Department of Agriculture.

For foreign importers, the answer is to know your suppliers and test thoroughly, food industry experts said.

"You just have to hope that your system is strong enough and your producers are careful enough," said Todd Meyer, China director for the U.S. Grains Council.

Health Ministry officials acknowledge problems, but have described scandals such as the 2004 baby formula deaths as isolated incidents. Neither the ministry nor the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, responsible for overall food safety standards, responded to questions submitted to them in writing as requested.

Over the past 25 years, Chinese agricultural exports to the U.S. surged nearly 20-fold to $2.26 billion last year, led by poultry products, sausage casings, shellfish, spices and apple juice.

Inspectors from the U.S.

 

Food and Drug Administration are able to inspect only a tiny percentage of the millions of shipments that enter the U.S. each year.

Even so, shipments from China were rejected at the rate of about 200 per month this year, the largest from any country, compared to about 18 for Thailand, and 35 for Italy, also big exporters to the U.S., according to data posted on the FDA's Web site.

Chinese products are bounced for containing pesticides, antibiotics and other potentially harmful chemicals, and false or incomplete labeling that sometimes omits the producer's name.

To protect its foreign markets, China is trying to set up a dedicated export supply chain, sealed off from the domestic market, said Keyzer. Systems for tracking and tracing vegetables have been set up, although doing so for meat products is harder, he said.

Large producers targeting foreign markets have also moved to gain greater control over supplies by expanding their operations instead of buying from individual farmers.

The tainted pet food scandal is likely to increase this momentum. More than 100 brands of pet foods and treats have been recalled, one of the largest pet food recalls in history. Menu Foods was the first of at least six companies to recall pet food, beginning in mid-March, after reported cases of cats and dogs developing kidney failure after eating the affected products.

How the contaminated wheat gluten got into the product cycle is not yet known. The gluten was traced to a company outside Shanghai, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co.

The company and the government's inspection and quarantine administration are investigating. But a company sales manager, Geng Xiujuan, said Xuzhou Anying was only a middleman, buying the gluten, commonly used as a thickener in pet food, from companies in neighboring provinces and selling it to a separate trading company.

While no investigation results have been announced, industry experts said they suspect the gluten might have been contaminated by having been processed or stored in machines or containers also used for melamine. Such anomalies show just how difficult it is to ensure purity, they said.

"It's just really hard to test for everything," Meyer said.

 

and elsewhere seen in the news:

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Food Promotions and Guest Chefs

Two Michelin Chefs in the Kitchen make Fabulous Broth at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong

Both Michelin Star masterminds cooking as guest chefs for The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong French food promotion as part of le French May, join forces for a Grand Finale on May 5, 2007.  Held in The Harbour Room, the seven-course festival of French cuisine, prepared by Chefs Christian Etienne and Patrick Pignol, is priced at HK$1,088 (plus 10 percent service charge).

Fresh from the kitchens of Toscana where he wowed regulars with his creative and innovative creations, One-Star Michelin Chef Patrick Pignol of Le Relais d’Auteuil in Paris celebrates his much celebrated style of French cuisine with three of the seven courses served in the “Grand Finale”: a second dish of Amandine of duck foie gras, herbs salad, a fish entrée of line caught sea bass fillet, crispy peppered skin, olive oil and fresh herbs; and a dessert of chocolate fritters and fresh mint sherbet

One-Star Michelin Chef Christian Etienne who displayed his culinary talents in The Café, May 1 through 8, complements the menu with a selection of traditional dishes from his hometown of Avignon, Province.  His dishes include an appetizer of soft boiled egg and Aquitaine French cavier, hazelnumt bread sticks, an entrée of fresh oysters veloute enhanced with Spring black truffles and poppy seed crispy wafers, guinea fowl breast coated with garlic and rosemary crust spring broad bean casserole, green peas with bacon and a cheese presentation of Roquefort and spicy bread mille feuille with fresh grapes.

For more information or reservations, please call our F&B Promotion office at 2147-3653

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Dragon Boat Races Chefs Team --We need Paddlers!

The Annual Dragon Boat Race is going to be held at Stanley Main Beach on 19 June 2007 (Tuesday).

This is the first time that we the Hong Kong Chefs Association will take part in it, So we need manpower and sponsors.

This is a great change to experience the Asian culture from a very different point and it is a great way to stay in shape

The entry package include 10-hours practice fee & equipment rental, plus 20 souvenir T-shirts, one 20-litre Dry Bag.

Dragon boating is now regarded as one of the fastest growing water sports in the world. It is good for physical health and the mind and is a good means of building up team spirit. It is obviously a precious corporate social and sporting activity for camaraderie and friend ship.

The crew on each boat is limited to 20, including 18 rowers, one steersman and a drummer. And the average weight of the crew must not exceed 200 pounds.

Each boat is limited to 20 people (not less than 12 !) including the helmsman & drummer

Stanley Dragon Boat Championships Practice

Time Date	10:00 – 10:55	11:00-11:55
6 May (Sun)
22 May (Sun)
27 May (Sun)
3 Jun (Sun)
10 Jun (Sun)

If you would like to be a part of this fun event  in sponsor ship, active participation and training or just be there in Stanley on Tuesday the 19 June (public Holyday) and join us for a party, lunch  and fun , please sign up

Contact person is Perry Yuen @  perryyuen@encorecatering.com.hk

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