Blog

July 1, 2016

By ACecala

Today's Instagram of the Week comes from our friends at Studio 5 where our very own Mary Crafts-Homer showed the viewers some FANTASTIC 4th of July party ideas!  (I mean, sparklers in a patriotic cake?!  Yes please!)  We love celebrating the 4th of July and love to come up with such fun and creative eats!  Thank you to Brooke and Studio 5 for sharing this pic and also letting us share our ideas with your viewers!  We had so much fun!  Remember, for your chance to be next week's Instagram of the Week, just add the hashtag #culinarycrafts to your posts or tag us at @culinarycrafts and check back to see who next week's pick is!  Happy 4th of July, everyone! Check out more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering at www.culinarycrafts.com!

June 22, 2016

By MJamias

Homemade ketchup is the ? to making an AMAZING burger at a BBQ. It brings up the level when you put out the ketchup you made instead of the same, boring Heinz ketchup bottle. Now, don't get scared by the ingredient list because it's super common ingredients and you're basically just mixing it all together!

• 16 tomatoes, heirloom or your favorite
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 tsp. red pepper (cayenne)
• 3 cups cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp. salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground allspice
• 1 tbsp. ground cloves
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 4 tbsp. dry mustard
• 2 tbsp. whiskey (optional but strongly encouraged)
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper

Remove the ends with the stem from the tomatoes. Put the tomatoes on the grill. Char the skins while whole, about 2 minutes each side. Add the diced onion, garlic, and cayenne pepper to a large pot along with tomatoes. Crush that mixture a bit to provide some liquid. Put on the stove and bring to a slow simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool. Blend the contents of the pot. Once it's well blended, return the mixture to the pot and simmer very slowly (to keep the tomatoes from burning), until the volume is reduced by about one-half. It should have the consistency of thick tomato sauce. This step may take six to twelve hours, maybe more, depending on the tomato variety. Let cool. Run the contents of the stock pot in batches through a blender. Return the mixture to the pot and bring to a simmer until the mixture is the consistency of normal ketchup. This step may take six hours or more. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer, and reduce to the desired consistency. The final product!   Check out more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering at www.culinarycrafts.com!

June 15, 2016

By MJamias

Homemade Chantilly cream is the perfect way for you to impress your guests at your next BBQ and can be used on top of any dessert. We used petite key lime pies for this recipe, but you can use whichever dessert your heart desires! Last week we did a post on why making homemade whipped cream is so worth your time. Give it a read, find it here. Things you'll need for the Chantilly cream

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

For garnishing

• Strawberries
• Ground pistachios
• Black berries
• Mint

Other items

• Petite key lime pies
• Spatula
• Piping bag
• Stand mixer with whip attachment

The first thing you'll want to do if you have the time is chill the mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes. It will whip better if you do this. The cream will double in size, so if you want 2 cups of whipped cream then you use 1 cup of whipping cream. Make sure the whipping cream is cold before you use it. Put the whipping cream in the bowl and whisk on medium until it gets foamy (about 1 minute.) Note: Do NOT whip on high! It will over beat, get grainy, and will deflate faster.  Then gradually add the vanilla and sugar. Then it'll take only about 2 minutes until it gets to soft peak. Some people like to use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, but we think granulated sugar tastes better. After the soft peak, it can only take a few seconds to get perfect. Watch it carefully! If you do over beat it, you can add in a little bit more whipping cream and fold it into your already whipped cream. Make sure you fold it over, do not mash it and get rid of the air. You can also do this after your whipped cream has been sitting in the fridge for a few days. When your whipping cream is done, put it in a piping bag and pipe onto your dessert! Prepare your toppings. Quarter the strawberries since the pies are small, rinse your berries and ground the pistachios. Put onto of your dessert. Now you're done!! You have perfect little key lime pies with Chantilly cream.

June 8, 2016

By MJamias

Do you think whipped cream is hard to make? Well, it's not! It's actually super easy and only 3 ingrediants. We did an experiment to show you can amazing homemade whipped cream done perfectly is! We used 4 different whipped creams to find out which ones deflate faster. On the far left we have the cream that was whipped on high, then the cream that was whipped too long, then the perfect one, then cream from a Ready Whip can. The top picture was taken right after they were done, then 1 hour later, then 3 hours later. As you can see, the Ready Whip whipped cream deflated completely. The whipped cream that was whipped on high was smoothed down too, it wasn't firm enough. The one that was whipped too long stayed really well, but if you look closely the edges are grainy. The Chantilly cream that was made perfectly stayed the exact same and it's perfect! Now that you can see the benefits of making whipped cream from home and correctly, here are the instructions on how to do it!

June 1, 2016

By MJamias

We're showing you how to make a potato in the shape of a rose! We call it, a potato rose. Things you'll need:

• Potato
• Apple smoked bacon
• Salt
• Pepper

• Vegetable peeler
• Chefs knife
• Mandaline slicer
• Cutting board

First, cut off the ends of the potato and peel off all the skin. After all the skin is off, take the mandolin slicer and slice the potato into thinslices. Take the slices and line them up in a straight line. Start from the bottom of the line and roll the slices up together. Once it's in a roll, wrap the bacon around the bottom edge. Spray the cupcake tin and place the rose in it. Add a little salt and pepper on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until brown. It's done! Enjoy your delicious potato rose.   Here's the link to our Pinterest Page!

May 17, 2016

By MJamias

Salad dressings and vinaigrettes are super fun to make. They taste so much better than store bought salad dressings too! You would be surprised at how easy it is to make delicious dressings. This recipe Chef Morgan is showing you is for Lemon Vinaigrette. First, get together your ingredients.

• 1 1/2 cup Lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1 1/2 cup Olive oil
• Honey to taste

In a bowl, pour the lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Blend it all together. If you don't have a blender, a wisk will work, it'll just take longer. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl. You have to pour the oil in slowly otherwise it'll separate too fast. Then you add in the honey to taste. We usually do 1 to 2 tbsp. If you want it sweeter, just add more! When it's done, dip in a spoon. You want the vinaigrette to coat the back of the spoon, which means it'll coat the lettuce perfectly!  

May 5, 2016

By MJamias

You'll want to get the following things:

• Cutting board
• Chef's knife
• Large spoon
• Cantaloupe

Cut the ends off first. Then sit the cantaloupe up on one of the ends. You'll cut along the sides of the skin. You want to make sure there's no green left on the cantaloupe. It's hard to get the green off the bottom, but you'll just keep trimming it until the green is gone. You'll do this all the way around the cantaloupe. After all the skin is off, you cut the cantaloupe in half from pole to pole. Then you get your spoon and carve out all the seeds and insides. Then you put the cantaloupe down on the flat side, and cut it into 6 pieces. The ends are always going to be smaller so you'll want to make it a bigger slice. Now you're done! Enjoy your fruit for breakfast or a side with any meal.

April 15, 2016

By ACecala

Today's Instagram of the Week comes from our very own Mary Crafts-Homer and is a BTS capture from her spot on Studio 5 last week with Brooke Walker!  We loved Mary's tips on creating the perfect desserts for any event and think it will definitely inspire the viewers who want to take their own parties up a notch.   If you missed the spot, never fear - it's right here for you!  Take a look! Thank you to Mary for such a fun pic and tons of gratitude to the amazing Studio 5 team for letting Culinary Crafts be a part of your show!  We love sharing tips and tricks to create amazing parties and events!  And remember, for your chance to be next week's Instagram of the Week, just add the hashtag #culinarycrafts to your posts or tag us at @culinarycrafts and check back to see who gets chosen next!  Happy weekend, everyone! Check out more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering at www.culinarycrafts.com!

April 14, 2016

By MJamias

Flank steak is the protein Culinary Crafts sells most during the summer. It's great for barbecuing. It comes from the lower abdomen of the cow and it's not too expensive but it's a really flavorful meat. To make the perfect flank steak, you'll want to first clean it up. Use a sharp boning knife and take off the largest pieces of fat. The marbled fat will melt off when you cook the steak and the fat will soak into the meat, which will keep it nice and juicy. In the picture below, you can see what we call silver skin. As you can see, it's kinda shiny. That part will not melt or break down at all when you grill it. If you have ever eaten a steak that has pieces you cannot chew through, that is what the silver skin is. You want to cut all of that off before you cook your steak. Next, you'll want to rub extra virgin olive oil all over it. After that's done, you want to rub your meat in your favorite seasoning. You can read our favorite here! We usually let it marinate for 24 hours before we cook it up. Next, you'll want the grill to get to 450-500 degrees Fahrenheit before you put the steak on it. To get really nice grill marks, you'll want to place it on the grill at 45 degree angles to get those perfect diamond grill marks, which makes your steak look really nice. Flank steak is great because it cooks really fast because it's thin but it's still is a nice cut of meat. If you look on the side the on the picture below, you can see the steak start to cook up on the sides of the meat, which is how you know it's closer to the point where that side is done. You let it cook about 2 minutes at each angle, so 4 minutes total on the first side, then flip it and do 2 minutes each angle for that side also for a total of 8 minutes. That brings the steak up to about 125 degrees which is a perfect medium rare.   Have you ever heard of the hand test? It's a really old trick. If you put your fingers together, you can check for how done the steak is with how firm it is. Medium rare - 125 degrees Medium - 130 degrees Medium well - 135-140 degrees Well done - 140+ degrees It can take a while to get used to the feel, so you can use a thermometer to get a really precise reading on it. When using a thermometer, you want to put the edge in at a angle in the meat instead of straight in, otherwise it would be at the bottom of the meat which is a lot warmer. If you go at a angle, it will get right in the middle. After you pull it off the heat you want the steak to rest for  about 5 minutes which lets the protein chains relax. It will allow your steak to have more tender and juicy meat because it lets the juices reabsorb into the protein. Now it's time to cut it. Because it is a more common cut of meat, you want to cut it against the grain. Look at which way the grain runs, then you'll want to cut against it. It makes it more tender. Eat and enjoy!  

April 6, 2016

By MJamias

Today we're going to share with you how to make the cutest garnishes made out of an orange! First, start with a orange. You can use any citrus fruit you like but we used oranges for this one. You'll want to make a cut down the center and go about a inch and a half down. Then go down again, kind of making a triangle and you keep going all around the center of the orange. You can relate it to carving the smile of a pumpkin, it's zig zagged just like that. You want to try to keep your zig zag in a straight line all around the orange. You can see how you can pull the orange apart a little bit there's little triangles coming out. Then you want to gently twist the orange off from each other and you have your little garnish! You can put the garnish on the side of a plate or you can cut off the bottom so you can set it down flat. You can also cut just a little piece off to have it sit at an angle. You can also change the size of the "teeth" of the orange by doing bigger or smaller ones. Try to be as careful as you can not to break off any of the "teeth" when you're twisting it apart! The final product, so beautiful! You can also doing this with melons or other citrus fruit like a lemon or a kiwi.