Behind the Scenes in the Xhibition Kitchen

Hi everyone! Next week is a big week in the Xhibition Kitchen with Chef Tony Maws, the 2011 James Beard award-winner of "Best Chef, Northeast" and chef/proprietor of Craigie on Main in Cambridge, on Tuesday and Judy Rosenberg with her latest cookbook "The Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar Packed Baking Book" on Wednesday.

If you haven't had the opportunity yet to stop by the Xhibition Kitchen inside Stetson West, next week would be a great time to see what it's all about with two dynamic presentations! Each demonstration is unique and we are already busy behind the scenes getting everything ready. It is very interesting to work with the various chefs and cookbook authors that stop by the XK. Each has different requirements as to what equipment they will need, what foods they will be demonstrating, and, most importantly, what foods the audience will be sampling. We often prepare the dishes that the chefs choose to demonstrate so we practice the chef's recipe to be sure we get it exactly right. For example, when Chef Ming Tsai visited us last year, he wanted to try everything we had made beforehand because, as he said, "It's got my name attached to it so I need to make sure it tastes exactly as it would if I made it myself." Talk about pressure!

We always try and make the demonstration as easy as possible for our visiting chefs and authors by doing much of the necessary prep work - chopping, weighing, portioning, and measuring - for them. Sometimes it is even necessary to prepare a whole recipe as a "swap out" dish as they do on television. This means that the chef prepares the recipe to a certain point then it is "swapped out" for the same recipe that is already cooked.

Hope to see many of you next week in the XK!