Search
Culinary Crafts recently had the honor of co-catering an event alongside world-famous chef Wolfgang Puck and his amazing team. The occasion was a retirement celebration for one of Utah’s movers and shakers, Todd Pederson, Founder and CEO of Vivent. With 600 guests, it wasn’t the biggest event we’ve done, but it certainly was one of the most memorable.
Days before the gala, Chef Puck’s team joined us in our Pleasant Grove kitchen and bakery, and preparations began. What a joy to collaborate with these consummate professionals who are not only masters of their craft but are so gracious, down-to-earth, and easy to work with!
With our reduced staff (due to Covid), we had to scramble to find 75 team members to handle service. UVU’s Culinary Arts Program kindly recommended two dozen of their students, and they did a fantastic job.
The incredible evening began with butler-passed hors d’oeuvres. The highlights of the world-class menu were Japanese and U.S. wagyu beef, served side by side, followed by the most delicious banana cream pie you’ve ever tasted!
A surprise concert from pop star Justin Bieber topped off the fabulous evening.
Since the event, our relationship with Chef Wolfgang Puck and his amazing team has continued. Four of our chefs and bakers were asked to help him cater Super Bowl LVI, and we look forward to other future collaborations.
When China banned foreign spectators from attending the 2022 Winter Olympics events, Team USA swung into action. They set up Olympic houses in major cities all over the US where team members’ families, donors, and other important guests could gather to watch and cheer for our Olympians. For their 
We loved entertaining this extraordinary gathering at our 
Our outdoor terrace made a perfect place for us to set up a huge hospitality tent with a gorgeous view of the slopes.
Park City graciously gave us special permission to construct the hospitality tent. They also helped us by blocking off Heber Avenue for an afternoon while we set up. We had to bring in a crane to lift the huge components into place. These were unusual concessions from the city, but when Team USA comes to town, exceptions are made!
A huge “Thank You” to Team USA for asking Culinary Crafts to host this fabulous event, and to Park City for helping make it happen! 
As we love to keep things local, we love to serve trout as often as we can. We are always delighted to show off another local vendor, 
Our guests enjoyed delicious mesquite-grilled trout with Mountainland granny smith apple chutney grilled fresh minutes before plating. No fall meal would be complete without squash. Our trout was served with squash sauteed in pine nut butter and torches tableside! It was a perfect complement to the trout.
The bar was decorated with a Halloween vibe using hollowed-out pumpkins as beverage tubs and marquee signs for custom barrel-aged cocktails.
Cocktail hour continued with our artisan Culinary Crafts cheeseboards and housemade lavosh, and crackers. We couldn't forget the pumpkin decor galore!
Some of the selections from the evening were our favorite fall salad with pears, goat cheese, and local mixed greens, seared polenta bites with a salted caramel drizzle, dried apricots, and candied pecans.
Utah beef and pork meatballs with roasted vegetable ratatouille were also on the menu. The mini BLT sandwiches were served with maple bacon, butter lettuce, heirloom tomato, and red pepper aioli. Guests also enjoyed chicken and white bean soup sips that were all the right size for eating and chatting.
The bites kept on coming and featured chipotle shrimp and lime wedge skewer with cilantro creme fraiche, bacon-wrapped sweet dates with smoked Utah goat cheese crema and Utah beef sliders on a house-made bun with Beehive cheese and angry onions.
The centerpieces for the evening instead of flowers had a sugary spin as we served white cotton candy on each table for guests to grab and munch on.
The kids' area was equipt with movies and popcorn and endless amounts of games! We can't forget to mention the spooky touches to keep the Halloween times rolling.
Spectacular food was served in the kids' area, haunted veggie cups with black ranch dressing, spooky fruit skewers, and the most delicious house-made corndogs which were battered and fried fresh at the buffet!
Look at these personalized mason jars and straws with tags and each of the guests' names so the little guests didn't lose their cups!
For dessert, a Halloween candy station was set up with our house-made skeleton cookies.
Mini black caramel apples with twig sticks added a yummy fall touch!
It was a chocolate lover's dream thanks to the white chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick with white sprinkles, dark chocolate dipped pretzels with a white chocolate drizzle and dark chocolate whoopie pies.
Black and white swirled meringue kisses brought swirly tasty goodness.
A delectable black velvet spider web cake was the centerpiece of the dessert station!
Hoping this inspires you for this Halloween Season! Eat Well! 
How pretty is this signage? A perfect welcome to the party and those florals from 
Another peek at those beautiful tables! SO PRETTY!
We loved how many fun details were party of this shower as well! Guests were invited to take a Polaroid of themselves to put in the guestbook with a note for the soon-to-be parents!
We knew we had to have a fresh juice bar! Fresh squeezed OJ, Pomegranate Lemonade, Cucumber Mint Water, and Mango Lemonade were all served. Yum!
Of course, since we hosted a brunch party, we made sure to have a signature Coffee Bar!
This action bar with artisan cheeses, salad, crackers, and honeycomb was definitely a crowd favorite!
Seriously, how pretty was this event??? I couldn’t help but share one more of this beautiful setup!
We love our Ebelskiver action station! How could you not love these delicious pancakes? Plus the guests love having theirs made to order!
The hand calligraphied menus were such a great addition to the event! Also we served Eggs Benedict because you can’t have brunch with out Benes. Our delicious version were also made to order and topped with whichever toppings the guests wanted. So good!
Of course we also had a whole selection of desserts! Plus, we love displaying some of them in our honeycomb display. Such a whimsical touch!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people who came to celebrate Meagan, Clayton, and baby Tristan! And thank you to 
About a half hour before you plan to sharpen you'll need to start soaking your stone. Soaking makes the stone more pliable and loosens the grit! Submerge the stone completely in cold water for 20-30 minutes. There shouldn't be any air bubbles coming out of the side, you'll want it to be nice and wet! (NOTE: My stone has not been soaked in these photos, yours will be much wetter!)
When using a wet stone, you are sanding off little pieces of metal to make the knife sharper. You can also control the angle of sharpness your knife is. A flatter angle - typically 15° to 16° (common on Asian style knives) will create a really fine, sharp edge. But, because the flatter edges are more brittle, they will also dull faster. A broader angle around 20° (common on European style knives) is not quite as sharp, but you can get more wear out of it. The angle to sharpen a knife all depends on the the type of knife, the intended use, and the user preferences / needs. For example with my fish knife, I do about a awfully flat at a 12° angle (very very sharp), most of my knives I sharpen around a 16° angle, and a couple classic chef knives I keep at 20°.
How to set the angle of the bevel? Many experienced chefs do this simply by experienced eye and feel. You can learn this skill by gauging the angle one step at a time. A knife perpendicular to the stone will be at 90°. Half of that angle will be 45°. Half of that is about 22°. From there you can get pretty close. However if you are learning to sharpening on a stone, you may wish to purchase a honing angle guide. This will assist you in getting the correct angle consistently while you practice.
There are multiple ways to sharpen your knife on a wet stone. I do a simple side to side motion, and I do the same angle on both sides of my knife. What ever you do you're going to want to apply 4-6 lbs. of pressure evenly distributed across the knife. Some chefs want one side to be more angled than the other, that's all up to you and how you actually want to handle your knife.
Once you're done with your stone you'll want to make sure it's nice and clean (it will look black from the metal), dry it off (soak up any residual water), and keep it in a ventilated container or a nice dry area.
Although this is our preferred method to sharpen knives, for the home cook who's intimidated by investing in and learning to use wet stones, there exist other very serviceable knife sharpening alternatives.
We've achieved excellent results using an Apex Edge Pro device. This contraption helps to set the proper angle and encourage the proper motions without as much practice required as traditional stones. The end result can be effectively the same as a sharpening on a traditional stone. Highly recommended.
Another option is a Diamond Hone knife sharpener. These offer preset angles. Some units will sharpen all knives to 20 degrees. Others will sharpen to 15. Some units allow you to switch and back and forth between multiple angles. These are very intuitive to use and will do a good job at making most knives plenty sharp for most applications. However, these don't get your knives quite as sharp as a true stone and in applications you may be left wishing your knife was even sharper.
Something that most home chefs don't know is that many knife manufacturers offer a life time sharpening policy. You typically only have to pay for the shipping. Just mail your knives in and receive them back later with a fresh factory edge! If you use your knives daily, the waiting game may be unreasonable. But for many home cooks, this can be a great option.
There are also some bad sharpening options to avoid. For example, devices like the one below can help you get through a project in a pinch when your knife is dull and not cutting effectively. However, these are not a long term solution and are certainly not recommended for regular repeated use. Instead of the sanding / polishing effect of a stone, these tend to shred the metal on the edge of the blade, which both removes the proper bevel and shortens the lifespan of the knife.
What about honing steels?
Many of you will have a honing steel already. These are often sold as part of a knife set. These are a must have tool and very helpful in the kitchen. However, it's important to understand that these do NOT sharpen your knives.
Sharpening is the act of creating an angled bevel on the blade edge. Honing, on the other hand, is simply ensuring that the bevel is straight along the edge of the blade. If you've ever seen a barber strop a straight razor on a leather strap prior to a shave, you can understand the difference here. That razor gets sharpened on a stone whenever it's dull. But it is stropped (honed) on the leather before every use.
Your knives should be sharpened as needed depending on when your knives are dull. Your knives should be honed before most every use. Your honing steel is the kitchen equivalent of the barber's leather strap. It should be used regularly, but it takes just a few passes to ensure that the edge is straight.
Happy cooking!
Chef Warren 
Today's Friday Instagram of the Week comes from, Heather, one of the fantastic guests from our Annual Penny Party! We had SOOO much fun unveiling our new foods and trends and seeing all of your wonderful faces too! This pic is of our charcuterie station and it was one of the most popular of the night! We loved it because it married 3 of our FAVORITE local vendors fine offerings in perfect harmony; 
I used a standard issue chef's knife for everything. Nothing fancy, this is just a good quality knife!
When it comes to knives, one of the most important things is to hold it at the hilt (where the blade meets the handle). You're going to want to get a good grip without getting white knuckles. Firm but not the grip of death!
Another important part of correct knife holding involves your other hand. When chopping, you want to curve your fingers inward and rest the middle of your fingers on the blade. Make sure that your fingers are curving inward, or else you risk cutting the tips of your fingers off!
Let's start with the onion. First, we dice! Slice the onion in half through the end bulb, like so. Remove any unwanted layers, but keep the bulb in tact.
Next, you'll slice the onion perpendicular to the bulb without slicing all the way through the onion near the top portion. You should be left with an onion fan of sorts.
You'll also want to slice the onion once in half parallel to the cutting board. Again, do not cut all the way through!
Now rotate the onion and chop perpendicular to your first slices. You will be left with the perfect diced onion!
Next is the julienne cut–also known as the french or straw cut. This is good for salads, soups, caramelizing, etc. This time, the first thing you'll want to do is cut off the bulb at the end. Cut far enough in so that your onion slices will be a uniform length. 
Start chopping!
And you're done!
*IMPORTANT* In between every use you should wipe down your knife with a clean rag. You always want to work with a nice, clean knife. Additionally, when you're done using your knife it should be hand washed and put away. Never put a knife in the dishwasher as it will cause the blade to rust and deteriorate, the handle to break down, and will eventually ruin your knife. 
Next I'm going to show you how to cut a butternut squash! These can be a pain to cut if you don't do it the right way. But, once you know how to do it they are a quick and delicious addition to soups, salads, or any dish!
For easier handling, we're going to start off by cutting the squash in half. The best way to do this is to make sure you've got a sharp knife and simply break the flesh of the squash with the tip of it. Then, work your knife back and forth with a good amount of pressure until you make it all the way through.
Next, we're going to get rid of all the skin. Start from the top and make a downward cut along the squash. Rotate the squash and repeat until all the skin is removed.
After you have your squash completely removed of the skin, trim off the curved edge of one side of the squash. You will be left with a flat surface. Now cut a few slices off at your desired thickness, mine were about 1/2 inch thick.
Place a couple slices on top of each other, flat on the cutting board. We're now going to do what chef's call "squaring off." You don't have to do this, but it makes a more uniform dice and a prettier presentation!
To square off, simply trim off any edges that aren't straight. You will be left with a "square," although with a squash it's more like a rectangle. 
Now we slice!
*TIP ALERT* To keep your squash stable while you're slicing and dicing, place your pointer finger over the knife so that it rests on the squash and holds it in place while you slide your knife through the squash.
Okay, now for the apple. I'm going to show you how a professional would slice an apple. First, cut your apple in half through the core.
When slicing an apple, I like to hold my knife a little more on the blade than I would usually. I also hold it at a higher angle than normal (maybe a 60° angle). I begin the slice and then drag the knife through the apple, never leaving the board with my knife.
The reason it is so important to slice and drag instead of chop, is because when chopping an apple the slice gets stuck to the blade. Like this:
When I use the slice and drag technique, the slice simply falls to its side. Like so:
It the end I am left with some BEAUTIFUL slices. Perfect for salads, desserts, garnish, or whatever else you might use them for!
Next up I'm going to grab an orange. First, I cut off the ends and peel the orange using my chef's knife. 
Once I have the orange peel completely off (including all of the white pith). I switch to my pairing knife to do a cut called a supreme! If you're not familiar with this, basically what we're going to make this orange look like is like those little bare slices of fruit in a can of Mandarin oranges!
For this cut, I'm going to cut between the little membrane segments and only get the flesh of the orange.
This can be done with any citrus fruit and can be used in a variety of ways, or just for a fancy snack.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
Chef Warren
Check our more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering at 