A Pledge of Sustainability

I have just came back from the Farmers Market in my neighborhood to gather my ingredients for the next post and I had a thought that I should make a pledge to use green, organic, and sustainable product.

I know that it maybe hard for me to go every time and to use ONLY local ingredients, but I do want to use as much local product as I can and discover new ways to use those products. Plus, I want to share my experience and knowledge of using local product to make unbelievable dishes for everyone to enjoy. So without any further a-do, here is the pledge.

 

The Sustainability Brony Pledge

 

I, Kyle Hedlund (AKA The Brony Chef), will promise to use: organic, green, local and sustainable product to use for culinary experimentation for The Brony Chef Project. Every recipe on this website must at least use 1 ingredient that fits the description of local and sustainable product. We also promise to not use any product that is made with chemicals or artificial flavors. We strive to not only give the highest quality product, but The Brony Chef Project is in full support of localization, green living and sustainability.

This is also an exercise for me as a chef. Most of the best restaurants in the world use local, seasonable ingredients to use the most of what is available and create something special. Using cheap product, such as beef tongue and seasonable produce, and transform it into something spectacular can really put his/her on the culinary map.

Although it doesn't mean that you need to spend a small fortune to get the best of the best. There are farmers markets that are affordable. Plus, there are vendors who know how to use every part of their product. In other words, they can give you the best advice on how to use their product and help you save money. Also Moderation is a good thing to remember in terms of buying product. You can still use the supermarket for your ingredients, but buying local is a really good idea.

That is what I wanted to share for today, but I'm not done yet.

I am still looking for artists to help me create some art work for the project. If you or anyone you know have any art work of any character you want to have featured, tweet me @chefkyro and look for me on Facebook to submit your artwork. Make sure you have the name of the artist and source, so I can give credit to them.

With all that out of the way, I can get back to enjoying my day off. See you guys around.

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News from the Chef #2

Since it has been a long time since I last updated (about 20 days ago), I should at least fill you in what I have been doing so far and explain why I couldn't update as ofter as I want to.

General: Lately I have been really busy with balancing with my 2 jobs and non-profit work with the Restaurant Opportunity Center of Chicago (ROC Chicago for short) to create recipes and experiment as often. Although, I have started to go to farmers markets recently to get seasonal and organic produce, cheeses and meats to support local farmers and produce. There will be more posts soon but I do need help in terms of artwork and other essentials to make BCP (Brony Chef Project) the one stop "Culinary Brony" website.

Artwork: Recently, I have been having trouble finding artists to help supply the artwork for my posts. Now I understand why you want to ask, "Why do you need artwork for a recipe website?"

To be honest, this is more than a recipe website. It is also a place were people can connect with Bronies, artists and foodies alike to enjoy and learn from each other. The Brony community is not just a collection of fans that isolate others who don't agree of what they do in there spare time. Most of them are artists, musicians and even chefs to share their passions with everyone who is willing to try something new and exciting. Although I am getting a little off topic.

I need artwork because it gives the visual reference of which character I'm talking about and compare it with the actual recipe. Most of my culinary education has been focused on presentation and execution. Most people can cook a steak and serve it on a plate but it takes true dedication and talent to make it look spectacular and mouth watering. Without the artwork, it just looks a little bland and for some readers they wouldn't know what I'm talking about.

In fact, half of my readers are either new to the fandom or never saw the show. I need art work to show them which character I'm referring to and to relate with that character to compare it with the recipe.

It does sound like a tall order and I don't really have a lot of money for commissions, but if you know any artists from deviant art that is willing to let me use their art or if you want to submit some art to be featured, feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @chefkyro.

Social Network: Speaking of Twitter and other social networks, I have decided to open up to expand my social presence over the internet to spread the word of the BCP. Recently I have joined in Myspace, Pinterest, Instagram and Cloudsdale to share my experiences of the culinary world. I have also opened up to using Facebook more often. If you want to see my progress with I'm doing, feel free to look for Kyle Hedlund or chefkyro for more.

For Cloudsdale, I am referred to as "The Brony Chef" and I occasionally jump from cloud to cloud. If you haven't used Cloudsdale before, it is really good for connecting to other Bronies through chat and there are a range of topics for programmers, artists, musicians or for people who just want to chat. It is the perfect iPhone app for anyone to connect with the community. Im also going to work on creating a cloud for the BCP but I still need to figure out how to reach to other people who are interested in joining.

That is all I wanted to share for today. The newest recipe is finished but I still need artwork to complete it. It is coming soon and I assure you that it will be spectacular. For now, I must study my Italian for tonight. Ciao everyone.

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Brony Chef Project #15: Octavia

This the first post I ever did for a background pony. I want to tell you that this would be difficult to really explain what she did for the show and the fan base, since she only apeared in only two episodes. Although, it dosent mean that she is insignificant to the Bronies. In fact this is the perfect opertunity to talk about one medium of Brony culture that hasn't been discussed on here yet. But before we begin, allow me to introduce one of my favorite backgroud characters and a major influence to Brony music, Octavia.

The story of Octavia ussually differers from the various fan-fiction and musical poems but in terms of the show, she first appeared in the first season finale "Grand Galloping Gala." She was the cellist of a small ensemble in Canterlot at the time and appeared once again in Season 2 in "Sweet and Elite". Although the story didnt really end there.

After Octavia's appearance, she became a "fanon character" (See Chrysalis Post) and soon popularity spead of this sophisticated Canterlot earth pony. She was also part of a fanon duo with the electronic Dj unicorn known as Vinyl Scratch and started to develope a certain "classical style" of not only her music but with her temperment with life in general. She was considered as awkward and some what stuffy twords others that are below her social scale, but her passtion still burns like Beethoven's symphony No.5.

Yet there were times where she brake some of the rules that society placed before her. Sometimes she wants to break barrier but not become completely out of control as Vinyl. (future post coming soon) Although, as a fanon character, she does break boundries by becoming something she is not. I say that because before the internet, background characers become forgotten and never been seen again. Yet over the past decade, more and more caracters are getting more recognition not by the role they play in the show but by the inspiration they give to the fans.

A good example of this is through music. Most of the music that Brony musicians and artists create are mostly inspired by characters that have a "movable story" that is not static from the plot. Most of the music that is created tells different stories with very drastic contrast from other artists. Some peices of music might be calm and classical to describe her sophisticated background and passtion through music; while others might have a mixture of electronic and classical genres to show her innovation with Vinyl. Heres an example from the artist Yourenigma.

The music described mostly about about the "fanized" relationship of Octavia and Vinyl but the begining paints a pretty discriptive picture about where Octavia comes from. When the second part came in, it combined Vinyls innovative and punk like tenacity with Octavias smoothness to create a solid foundation of who they are as caracters. It really makes you think about how music can be made and heard by different people and how others interperate. Although enough about music. Lets get to the recipie.
The idea behind this recipie was mostly driven by the idea of passion. I have been obsessivly watching Kitchen Nighmares UK and trying to learn as much as I can from Gorden Ramsey. At first, I was afraid to even thinking about working with him, but after whatching his show and reading his books: I slowly realized that he truly expresses passtion for bringing good food to everyone. With that idea in mind, I decied to make Octavias dish a canvas were passtion can be expressed by technique and combination of certain flavors with classical flare.

Octavias Spring Chicken Risotto

Serves 4

Risotto

1 1/4 cups of Arborio Rice

2 tsp of olive oil

Herb Infusted Broth

4 cups of Chicken Stock

1 Sprig of Rosemary

1 sprig of Cilantro

Base

1/4 lb. of Shreded Chicken, Cooked

1/4 cup of Cilantro

2 Tsp of Chive

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, Diced

Pinch of salt

1. Combine the broth ingrideints in a bowl and place it in the fridge from 1 hour to overnight for maximum flavor.

2. Take the Broth out and transfer to a sauce pan. Make sure to remove herbs before boiling. Bring it up to a boil and then let it simmer.

3. Comibine all the base ingredients in a bowl and leave it on the side.

4. Take a large sautee pan and coat the bottom of the pan with the olive oil. Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat until warm. Add the rice to the pan and coat the rice in olive oil. (Make sure you read the instructions on the rice to check for proper cooking instructions.)

5. Add one ladle of broth to the pan and stir until the liquid is abosorbed. Keep repeating this step until you used up all the broth (15-18 minutes of continuous stiring).

6. Once the rissoto is al dente (to the tooth), add the base and stir until incorperated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Transfer to bowls and garnish with slices of red pepper on top if desired. Serve.

If your intimidated by Risotto, it is really simple to do. Although, it does take concentration and patience to make it correctly. Just make sure to pay attention and you will be just fine. Its perfect for when you want to impress your family with your new cooking skill or make a hearty meal for your self after a long day. It also tastes good with red wine. (Note: you must be 21 or Older to drink wine.)

I would like to thank http://adlynh.deviantart.com/ for the artwork. Interesting fact: She made this peice during a livestream for the Bronies in France. Pretty amazing work for a livestream. Check out her gallery for more.

I have to admit. It was a long post but thank you reading. I also want to tell you that I am on the Cloudsdale. (a social chat network for bronies to hangs out, chat and have fun.) I will be makeing a "cloud" for the project to take in suggestions and other news. So be on the look out for the Brony Chef Project on Cloudsdale that will be coming out soon.

You can also reach me on twitter @chefkyro and #bronychefproject for more. Thanks again for reading and enjoy the summer guys.

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Brony Chef Project #14: Princess Cadence

As we are on the subject of Royalty durring the last post, I figuire it would be best to create a lighter, brighter breakfast/dessert hybrid for the spring. But first, I would like to introduce you to the ruler of the Crystal Kingdom and Hero of the Royal Canterlot Wedding, the real Princess Cadence.

Princess Cadence came into light in the second half of the Royal Canterlot Wedding. She was found down below the castle after Queen Chryslis (see Brony Chef Project #13), trapped her as Chrysalis took her image. She was reunited with her childhood freind Twilight Sparkle after, Twilight herself, was captured by the same imposter. After an amazing performence of her aria, Candace came to the rescue his fiancé Shining Armor and Banished Chrysalis from Canterlot.
Shortly after, Candance and Shining Armor were sent to the Crystal Kingdom after in the frozen north after a 1000 years of isolation from rest of Equestria. Up there, Princess Cadence became the official ruler of the crystal Kingdom along side with Shining Armor to protect the crystal ponies and keep equestria safe from darkness.
The idea for Cadence came right after I did the Chrysalis Caprese. I knew that someday I would have to do Princess Cadence, since Chrysalis was disguised as her. Plus, it was the right opportunity to try seasonal ingediants for my recipies. For this one in particular, I try to incorperate strawberries since they are in season from Mothers Day to Fathers Day. Not only did the fruit match the season, but the flavor of the strawberry matches the equal amount of sweetness in the character.
I also took suggestions from my twitter (@chefkyro #bronychefproject) and many of them responded that Cadence would be more of the steriotypical dessert of strawberry short cake. For me how ever, I wanted to create something somewhat simular but still different from who princess Candence is normally veiwed.
I decied to create a parfait. Somewhat of a dessert/breakfast health concious hybrid that is so beautiful and so easy to make, that anyone can look like a professtional dessert master.
Not only does it look and taste spectacular but its perfect if you want to start eating healthier for the summer. It has greek yogurt, that has more cultures to help digestion and you can add many different kinds of fruits to add many different nutriants. It also has no surgar but it still naturally sweet, so you can still have desserts without much guilt. Its almost too good to be true.
Ok, enough obsessing over princesses and healthy desserts. Here is the recipie for "Mi Armoire Candenza's Sugar-free Strawberry Shortcake Parfait".

Mi Armore Cadenza's Sugar-free Stawberry Shortcake Parfit

Serves 1 Big dessert or Dessert for two

Parfait

• 1 Strawberry, cut into 4 equal pieces
• 4 oz of Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 surgar-free shortbread cookie (or more if you wish), cut in half
• 6 oz of Strawberry Greek yougurt

Topping

• 1/4 pint of heavy cream
• 1 mint leaf

1. Make the topping by putting the heavy cream in a chilled bowl and wisk until peaks start to form. (You can use a automatic hand mixer to get the job done faster.) Once the cream is whipped, place the cream inside of the fridge until plating.
2. Take a water glass or wine glass and place the strawberry slices evenly on the bottom of the glass.
3. Then add the vanilla yogurt to cover some of the stawberries.
4. Take the halfs of the cookie and slide them into the glass, flat on top of the yogurt.
5. Add the starwberry yogurt on top of the cookie.
6. Take the whipped topping out of the fridge and dollop on top until the glass is about full.
7. Add the mint leaf as garnish and serve.

Presentation Tips

If you want to add different kinds of presentation for this recipies, the best advice I could give you is to use clear glasses. Not only would it looks luxourious, but it can show case the other fruites and other ingredients you can put into it. You can also change the patern to add some creativity to your plating design or add other ingridents to create a colorful, heathy treat.

I would like to thank http://ric-m.deviantart.com/ for the amazing portrait of Candance. Take a look at her gallery for more artwark and lots of other cool stuff.

I hope you enjoy the greate warm weather and cool off with this awsome new dessert. Feel free to tweet me questions, suggestions, or show off your creations @chefkyro #bronychefproject. Thanks for reading and bon apitite.

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News from the Chef #1

I have some news for all my readers, old and new.

First off, the awesome team of Equestria Daily had featured my website on one of their evening round-ups. If your not familiar with Equestria Daily, they are one of the top "Brony Culture" websites in the world. I will provide a link if you wish to take a look. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/05/nightly-roundup-653.html

To all of the new readers who came from Equestria Daily, allow me to welcome you to the Brony Chef Project. If you wish to start at the beginning, feel free to go straight to the introduction to learn more. The link is in one of the tabs in the Archives. Feel free to comment about how to improve the site or the recipes in general. Again, I would like to welcome you to the site and enjoy reading the many recipes to try out.

If you were wondering about why Chrysalis is #13 instead of #12, that is because #12 is going to be the first ever "secret" character of the site. For secret characters, they are already completed but I wanted to reveal it a little later to fully come out in its shell. Besides, I would like to make this interesting by giving clues and hints to what might be the next unique recipe. I would drop hints on Twitter on the #bronychefproject and let you the readers guess which character it is.

In unrelated news, Im going to graduate from culinary school soon. I thought I might tell you that, I will be legit chef soon and I will have some more time to work on more recipes and writing. Maybe you might see me some day on Food Network cooking all sorts of culinary goodies. (A chef can dream.) I will post more about it on my other website, "Journey of a Chef" if you wish to follow my adventures through the culinary world. The link is on the tab above.

That is all the news I wish to share. I would like to thank Equestria Daily for advertising on their website and introducing the new readers to the project. Enjoy the beautiful may weather guys. I will see you next time.

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Brony Chef Project #13: Queen Chrysalis Caprese

We return to yet another villan whos apearence is not only serial but the story behind this particular character has a backstory that is quite a mystery. Her fannon story and peronality has not only created a folowing of fans, but she reapeared in many other mediums of the Brony Renaissance. She appeared in comic books, writen in many fanfiction stories, music was inspired by her, and so much more. Allow me to introduce Queen Chryslis (AKA The Changleing Queen).

Chrysalis only one time appearence (so far) in the show was "revealed" in the second half of the season 2 finale "A Canterlot Wedding." When I said "revealed" is because she was disguised as a princess to feed off the love of Shining Armor (Twilights Brother) and take control of Canterlot. She disguised herself as Princess Cadence Mi Amore, the bride and Twilights childhood freind, to bring an invation of an alian race (known as the Changlings) to take over all of Equestria. Although her plans were spoiled by the very treasure she desperatly speaks. by using the true love of the real Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, Queen Chrysalis was banished from the kingdom and never been heard from since. (Im know I might be spoiling a lot for Bronies who have not seen the episode, but this was the only way I can truly reveal the character.)
Although since then, the fandom has created a new following of My Little Pony Villains. She became a symbol of villany, darkness and seduction in many fanfiction and animation alike. Her personality was not really revealed in the episode but over the past year, the fandom gave her a "fannon" personality.
If your not familuar with the term "fannon", it is term for which a character is built based on the observations and perceptions of the fan base. Some examples might include background characters or some "one-time only" characters apearences of a show or movie. They would take the character and create back stories to build up an in-depth look into a character that was not noticeable before. It sounds a little unusual but it has been part of many fandoms, brony or before the whole trend got started.
As for the inspiration to create the dish, I got the idea from when I was in the grocery store. I found theses new tomatoes known "Kumotos" or special brown tomatoes.
Now at first, I was a little confused to what this new fruit came from and I thought it was some sort of sceam to sell rotten tomatoes to the public. But then, after some research, it turns out that these tomatoes were orginally grown in Mexico and the soil gave these tomatoes the unusual brown color while still retaining that pure tomato flavor. That gave me the idea to give the character, who is dark on the outside but still the same character no matter which form she is. With the alternating flavors of kumoto, white mozzorella, and green basil leaves, the bitterness of the garlic balsamic vinigerette still reaveal her dark and envious behavior. So now, I would like to present the one and only Queen Chrysalis Caprice.

Queen Chrysalis Caprese

 

Serves 2

 

Salad
3 "Kumato" brown tomatoes, sliced into rounds
3 Basil Leaves
5 Slices of Fresh Mozzarella, moist, cut into small rectangles

Dressing
1 Tsp or Spicy Brown Mustard
1/4 cup of garlic infused balsamic vinigir
1/4 cup of extra virgin oilive oil

1. To create the dressing, take a small bowl and combine the mustard and vinegar in the same bowl. (If you dont have any garlic infused balsamic vinegar, you can substitute it with regular balsamic vinegar and 1 clove of minced garlic.)
2. Add the oil to the bowl by pouring the oil slowly and wisking the mixture at the same time. Keep on whisking until the emultion is incorporated.
3. Start assembling the salad by folowing the pattern Tomato, mozzarella,tomato until you are done plating. Add the Basil leaves to garnish.
4. Take the dressing and dress the salad as you wish. Serve.
How to eat: You can take the tomato and mozzarella and wrap it around a basil leave to experience all the flavors at once. You can also take each piece and eat individual piece of the salad to experience each flavor one at a time.

This is more of a dinner part peice then a casual meet up dish. Although, you can make a giant party platter by simply multiplying the recipie and decorating the platter. Its the perfect dish to impress your brony or non-brony freinds and easy to make as a last minute appetizer. Feel free to tweet me a picture of the party platter @chefkyro or by #bronychefproject. I would really like to see the results.

The artwork provied for this post is by http://shiv3ry.deviantart.com/ . She is from Poland and she enjoys makeing beautiful art work such as this. So feel free to check out her gallery and give her kudos for the artwork.

I really enjoyed making this dish and finding more about this villianess of endless possibility. Not only can she change her own appearance but everyday. I found out more and more about her through the fans. I could go on and on about her, but I think the best way to explain her is to experience it yourself. Look up Queen Chrysalis and discover another world behind her dark yet mysterious world. I would like to finish off this post with the animated opera masterpiece of Chrysalis and Candance in "This Day Aria." Thanks for reading and Arrivederci.

 

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Brony Chef Project #11 Discord

Discord is one unusual villain, not only by physical means, but his personality does fit in the description of his name.

He is a creature known as a Draquonacus (a mythical beast that is made up of different animal parts) and considered to be The Lord of Choas. His special powers ussually consist of changing reality around him to use for his advantage. He orginally caused a lot of trouble in Equestria by making inanimated turn to life, making ponies completely dilirious by his "Discored touch", and makeing chacolate rain fall from the sky. But he was soon imprisoned in stone by Celestia and Luna and was stuck in a sinlge pose for nearly a thousand years. Until he got out....

Discord was introduced durring the first two episodes of Season two, known as "The Return to Harmony" when he got out of his stone prison by the CMC (Cutie Mark Crusaders) by creating a ruckus in front of the statue. From that day he caused a whole lot of trouble by turning the whole world upside down and cause the Mane 6 become the opposite of what they represent. Although he was later defeted by Twilight Sparkle and rest of the elements (who were turned back to normal) and refreezing him back into his stationary prison. Although that was not the last time Discord was featured.

In seaseson 3 "Keep Calm and Flutter On" , Discord was realeased once again by the Mane 6 in hopes to reform him to use his powers for good. Although when he was realeased, he was deciveing everyone that he is changing by Fluttershy's kindness. Although, later on in the episode, Fluttershy used kindness and freindship to not only use his powers for good but to give discord the gift of freindship. It sounds cliche but it is a good episode neither the less and does show a new side to Discord past his psychopathic nature.

I originally wanted to write this for April fools day but, real life got in the way and I didnt find the artwork in time . Allthough I do wanted to bring him out for other reasons. One of those reasons is that Discord is not only my favorite villian of My Little Pony: Freindship is Magic but because I wanted to make something a little bit more unussual than what I created in the past. I wanted to make the first ever villain dish without emfisizing the evil as the main theme. I want to create something that does not only feature his mental unstability and sly untrustworthiness, but I want to also feature his reformed side and his cunning, manipulative swagger. See if you can find a certain reference in the ingredient list that reveals his nonsensical humor and sophisticated wordplay.

 

Discords Chaotic Gumbo

 

Serves 8

 

Soup

 

2 tsp. Of Olive oil or enough to coat the bottom of the pot

 

1/2 a red onion, Chopped

 

80 oz. of Chicken Broth or 10 Cups

 

2 cups of Kale, Chopped

 

Meat

 

3/4 lbs. of Ham off the Bone, Cubed

 

1/2 lbs. of Shredded Chicken

 

1-16 oz. Polish Kilbassa or Andoulli Sausage (fully cooked), Sliced into medallions

 

Herbs and Spices

 

6 sprigs of Parsley and 5 Basil Leaves, Chopped

 

1 Packet of Cocoa powder or 1 oz.

 

2 tsp each of Paprika and Ground Chipotle powder

 

a pinch of turmeric and cinnamon

 

1. Coat the bottom of the pot with olive oil and cook the onions for in the pot for about 2 minutes or until translucent. Add the Meat when the onions are done and sauté for about 3 minutes.

2. Add the Chicken Broth, the Herbs, and Spices and stir until incorporated. Bring it up to a boil and lower to simmer. Simmer for about 1 hour for the flavors to blend together.

3. Add the Kale for the last 10 minutes of simmering. Serve the soup into separate bowls with soft rolls and a salad with a cool cream dressing to help cleanse the palette. Enjoy.

 

 

This gumbo works really well if you let it sit in the fridge overnight and let the flavors mature. (Somewhat of an old trick I learned from Anthony Bourdain's Le Halles cookbook.) Although you can also let it simmer for about an hour or two to let it sink in but its mostly on preferense. It also works well with "The Return to Harmony" Episodes and "Keep Calm and Flutter On" to enjoy his spicy evil with his sweet chocolate charm.

I would like to thank famosity on Deviant Art for the Discord Artwork on top. Feel free to see her Pony and other artworks on Deviant Art and give her some kudos for create that perfect pose for Discord.

So as said in the last post, I am starting to do characters at random based on Seasonal fare. If you want to see my recent article I did on seasonal foods and the current issue behind it: feel free to check out my other website, Journey of a Chef, on the tab above. Although I also want to ask the readers, "What character would you like me to do next?" Feel free to leave a comment below or Tweet me @chefkyro on Twitter for your suggestions.

I have to admit, this was a long post. Its just been a while since I did an update but there will be more soon. Although feel free to leave any suggestions for possible characters to cover next or how I can improve the website. Although for now I shall leave you with a song about Discord from the ever so famous Livingtombstone, who is his birthday today. Happy Birthday Man and as always thanks for reading and cooking.

 

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