Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle (cows). Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Europe, Australia and the Americas, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. In the Middle East, lamb is usually preferred over beef. Consuming beef is more or less universally forbidden by Hindus as bovines are revered throughout many Hindu religious traditions. It is also discouraged among some Buddhists.

Beef muscle meat can be cut into steaks, pot roasts or short ribs, or it can be ground/minced. The blood is used in some varieties of blood sausage. Other parts which are eaten include the meaty tail, tongue, tripe from the stomach, glands--particularly the pancreas and thymus--referred to as sweetbreads, the heart, the brain (although forbidden where there is a danger of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE), the liver, the kidneys, the tender testicles of the bull (known in the US as "calf fries", "prairie oysters", or "Rocky Mountain oysters"), intestines, and the udder. Beef bones are used for making soup stock.

An alternative to starting your own business from scratch is franchising.  Franchising is not a "form" of business, but is a method or system where companies (franchisees) are granted the right to operate a business according to a special contract with a parent organization (franchisors). The franchise system is incorporated under the Franchise Act 1998.

Franchise System

The harsh unaged wine is then put into what is called locally an alembic Charentais/Cognacais or what we refer to as a pot still. Pot stills are also used to make the finest single malt whiskey. Designed by the Dutch during the 17th Century the still consists of a huge copper kettle pot or boiler encased in a brick framework with an open air furnace underneath. A pipe shaped like a swan's neck juts out from the hood on top of the boiler. This will carry the vapours from the kettle pot past a pre heater to a condenser coil which is immersed in cold running water. The change in temperature causes the vapour to turn to liquid.

To get more info about The Making of Cognac ? Please Visit:

Waiter Extraordinaire by Steve Nicolle

Happy new year to you! After a month rest, the year 20091st topic i going to share with you is about how is the Restaurant forecast for U.S this year.  As in the beginning of the year, are you ready or in the mid of preparing any plan for this year in Food & Beverage Industry? The following is the report from National Restaurant Association for Sales growth forecast 2009. This might be able to help you for any risk management and business plan for this year. ~elvan

(Washington, D.C.) Restaurant industry sales are expected to reach $566 billion in 2009, with the industry employing 13 million individuals in 945,000 restaurant-and-foodservice outlets nationwide, according to the National Restaurant Association's 2009 Restaurant Industry Forecast released today. The Forecast projects that while overall restaurant industry sales will increase in current dollars by 2.5 percent over 2008 figures, the numbers translate to an inflation-adjusted decline of 1.0 percent. Despite the economic downturn, the industry will remain a cornerstone of the economy, representing 4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and employing 9 percent of the U.S. workforce, and restaurants will continue to adapt to the latest menu trends and consumer preferences.

The maître d' (short for maître d'hôtel, literally "master of the hotel") in a suitably staffed restaurant or hotel is the person in charge of assigning customers to tables in the establishment and dividing the dining area into areas of responsibility for the various servers on duty. He or she may also be the person who receives and records advance reservations for dining, as well as dealing with any customer complaints and making sure all servers are completing their tasks in an efficient manner. In some localities or traditions particularly small organizations like a single restaurant the post is also known as the headwaiter or host. The origin of the term is in medieval courts, where the holder was an important courtier, like Olivier de la Marche in 15th century Burgundy.

A sommelier (pronounced / suh-mal-'yAy), or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service. The role is more specialized and informed than that of a wine waiter.

Their principal work is in the area of wine procurement, storage, and wine cellar rotation. They are also responsible for the development of wine lists and are responsible overall for the delivery of wine service and training for the other restaurant staff. Working along with the culinary team, they pair and suggest wines that will best complement each particular food menu item. This entails the necessity for a deep knowledge of how food and wine, beer, spirits and other beverages work in harmony. It could be argued that the role of a sommelier in fine dining today is strategically on par with that of the executive chef or chef de cuisine. A professional sommelier also works on the floor of the restaurant and is in direct contact with restaurant patrons. The sommelier has a responsibility to work within the taste preference and budget parameters of the patron.

In modern times, a sommelier's role is considered much broader than working only with wines, and must encompass all aspects of the restaurant's service, with an enhanced focus on wines, beers, spirits, soft-drinks, cocktails, mineral waters, and tobaccos. Some restaurants will employ a sommelier for water, one for whiskies, one for cigars, and so on.

Stephen Morrissey pouring at Intelli LA

Little did I know back in 1979 when I took a Bartending Course that I would have the opportunity to travel , make a great income , have flexibility to do the things I wanted while working , and meet great people along the way. The top ten reasons I am still waiting on tables and loving it are the following.

Due to the increasing labour shortage there is a growing demand for leaders in the Hospitality Industry as never before so when you become proficient in what you do the opportunity to make your mark is easier and the rewards greater.

As the need for serious and skilled employees increases in the future, working conditions will improve so that you will not see the long laborious 12 - 14 hours shifts that some workers face nowadays. Unless the owner wants to see continued high turnover in his establishment the main onus will be to do whatever he or she can to keep the good employees they have.

"I would like to thank Steve Nicolle - my new guest blogger who willing to share with us his knowledge & experience in Food & Beverage Industry". ~elvan

                                                     Steve Nicolle

Steve Nicolle currently teaches Bartending & Wine at Georgian College and is co-author in the "Wake up Live the Life you Love" Book Series. He is from Ontario, Canada and happily married with two boys 6 and 4 years old

A graduate of Hotel Motel Restaurant Management and a Certified Sommelier Steve has held many front of house positions from Maitre'd to Bar Manager and Sommelier.

Nearly 30 years of experience, Steve has traveled extensively in the Hospitality Industry providing excellent customer service from remote isolated resorts to luxury cruise ships.

Providing valuable insight from his experiences Steve is available to speak to students about how to go about choosing their destiny in the Hospitality Industry throughout North America.

As well Steve is available to conduct wine tasting at your venue.

Steve can be contacted at: http://www.stevetalks.ca/

Visit Steve's Blog at: http://waiterextraordinaire.blogspot.com

Coffee ingestion on average is about a third of that of tap water in North America and Europe. Worldwide, 6.7 million metric tons of coffee were produced annually in 1998-2000, and the forecast is a rise to 7 million metric tons annually by 2010.

Grinding Your Own

How Fine the Grind

In general, grind coffee as fine as you can without clogging the holes of the brewer or turning the coffee to mud. The finer the grind, the more contact there will be between coffee and hot water, and the faster and more thoroughly the essential oils will be released, without activating harsher, less-soluble chemicals.

On the other hand, you don't want to grind your coffee to a powder, because completely pulverizing it destroys the essential oil, which becomes vaporized by the heat and friction of the grinding process.

Brewing Coffee

No matter what they're called, all ways of brewing coffee are basically the same: The ground coffee is soaked in the water until the water tastes good. The only equipment you really need to make great coffee is an open pot, a flame, and, possibly, a strainer.

Coffee is an important export commodity. In 2004, coffee was the top agricultural export for 12 countries, and in 2005, it was the world's seventh largest legal agricultural export by value.

Buying Coffee

  Specialty coffee stores carry as many as 30 varieties of coffee. Each one has a name, plus a few aliases. The following material makes sense of all these coffee names.

European Names

Most names given darker-roasted coffees are European: French, Italian, Viennese, Continental. These names do not refer to the origin of the beans. Rather, these coffees are distinguished by the length of time the bean is roasted. Italian roast, for instance, is usually darker and has been roasted longer than Viennese.

Non-European Names

Non-European names, such as Sumatran, Kenya, or Mexican refer to the origin of the bean. A coffee labeled Sumatran, for instance, should consist entirely of beans from a single crop in a single country, Sumatra.

Coffee History

Botanical evidence indicates that Coffee Arabica originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia, several thousand feet above sea level, where it still grows wild. By about 600 a.d., coffee found its way to the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula to what is now called Yemen

In Arabia, coffee was first mentioned as a medicine, then as a beverage taken in connection with meditation and religious exercises by dervishes. From there it moved into the streets and virtually created a new institution, the coffee house