St. Valintine's Day Restaurant Kitchen Window

About

My passion for culinary endeavors began in the school years as I was consistently employed in the restaurant business all through college. Though I floated in and out of other types of work while also attending school full-time, I always maintained the job that allowed me close proximity to foodstuffs.

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After graduation, the food service industry was no longer a necessity to maintain my livelihood yet cooking had grown into a pastime that I thoroughly enjoyed. From the “Cookin’ Cajun” Justin Wilson to “K-Paul” Paul Prudhomme, “Frugal Gourmet” Jeff Smith to the “Singing Chef” Pasquale Carpino (my personal favorite), those half-hour televised programs fueled my fundamental knowledge of food preparation and introduced new ideas to experiment with. To this day, I don’t believe that I have ever made the exact same dish more than once – I like to “ad-lib” a little bit.

Over the last several years having posted recipes in various sites around the blogosphere such as “Esteban de la Cuisine” e-zine on Zimbio, GroupRecipes.com, as well as my personal weblogs, I have finally as of December of 2011 made a concerted effort to consolidate all of my culinary related material into one location.

Pasquale Carpino "The Singing Chef" from the popular late 80's "Kitchen Express"
Pasquale Carpino “The Singing Chef”

Voilà, the birth of “Fusion Culinaire”.

My idea on the use of recipes is that they should be followed as a general guideline but with some allowance of flexibility. There is nothing wrong with taking a few chances in the kitchen as you will always get another chance to try it differently the next time. As long as one understands a few basic culinary concepts, one should feel free to tweak a few things. After all, variety is the “spice” of life!

“When people see my television program, they often ask me why I sing when I am cooking. To me, singing a beautiful song and preparing a beautiful recipe are the same. They both give us a chance to find happiness in creativity and to share that joy with others. In music there is an infinity — an endless number of combinations of notes and harmonies which will produce original and lovely melodies. So it is with cooking. The chef is like a composer, creating new recipes and adapting old ones to express the individuality that is found in each of us.”     Pasquale Carpino, 1936 – 2005

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy the site and look forward to your questions, comments or simply to connect.

To your health!

Steve D.