When working in gourmet cooking, it's important to use the freshest ingredients and best quality in order to ensure a delectable meal. For some restaurants, however, their ingredients are less than ideal and therefore can lead to some interesting situations. Back in 1999, David Whipple bought an ordinary McDonalds hamburger in order to show friends how enzymes work with preserving food. David put the burger - and it's original wrapper - in his coat pocket where he forgot about it.

In 2006, the burger was rediscovered, but by then David was interested to see how long he could keep the burger around. Now, 14 years later, the burger looks the same as it did the day he bought it. It's hardened and is in no way edible, but at first glance you'd think it was new. McDonalds claims their ingredients are fresh and their burgers are made every day. Even so, this burger is looking to stand the test of time.

Originally David had planned to sell the burger, but decided against it. He's grown attached and the infamous hamburger even accompanied him and his family on a recent trip to Disney World.

As a student in Ashowrth's online cooking classes, why do you think the burger has lasted so long? How do you feel about this?

Every week in the news there seems to be another recall or warning against a certain type of food.  This week, tainted peanut butter is cause for concern but before that, arsenic in apple juice, e-coli from cantalope, and listeria from popcorn have all made headlines.  Experts say fear of getting ill from food is no reason to limit your food.  In fact, there are ways you can prevent the spread of these diseases.  Here's a list from CNN.

1. If someone says one type of food is "safer" for you, be aware they may have a hidden agenda.
2. Germs can be spread in many ways at the grocery store so wash your hands and wipe down the handles of the baskets.
3. Keep and store your food seperately at home.  This prevents cross contamination.
4. Store foods the way they were meant to be stored.  This means keeping your hot foods hot and your cold foods cold.
5. Always wash your produce and be sure to cook your meat all the way through.
6. Before going out to eat, always check the health codes on the restaurant.

As a student in online gourmet cooking school, what other food preparation tios do you have?

Trying to decide what makes a restaurant gourmet is complicated and confusing.  Does it depend on the food, the quality of the service, the prices, or the location?  What about a combination of all of these things?  A new report from CNN says that expensive doesn't always mean better and in fact, some of these "gourmet foods" with extravagant pricetags are overrated.

The article says that those in gourmet cooking careers shouldn't add ingredients for the sake of creating "the most expensive" dish.  Simply adding a rare herb, a delicate truffle, or a coating of edible gold doesn't matter if the food is already good. 

What do you think qualifies something as gourmet?

While Chick-Fil-A claims they didn't invent the chicken - just the chicken sandwich, they did find themselves in the middle of a hot button issue this past week.  The company, which is known to be a restaurant founded on Christian beliefs and even closes on Sundays, is now in the middle of a firestorm surrounding gay marriage.  Dan Cathy, son of founder Truett Cathy and current COO of the company, spoke out against gay marriage and has acknowledged donating money to other groups that also believe marriage is between a man and a woman.

While Chick-Fil-A may not be considered gourmet cooking and Dan Cathy himself may not be working in gourmet cooking careers, this proclimation has people all riled up on both sides of the debate.  The Jim Henson Company, known for the muppets, has severed all professional contact with the food chain and one Chicago alderman wants to prevent the opening of a Chick-Fil-A in his city. On various social media sites, people are calling on gay rights supporters to boycott the fast food chain.

However, other people of the public say Dan Cathy's beliefs aren't consistent with every employee there and they do not represent the views of the entire company.  Many people are saying the beliefs of one man shouldn't affect whether or not people decide to dine at a restaurant and even Chick-Fil-A employees think this has gotten out of hand.  "The views of Dan Cathy do not represent anyone's views. During the interviewing process my religion never came into question. We also have a few homosexual employees," said one Chick-Fil-A worker.

Does this affect how you see Chick-Fil-A?  Will you continue to eat there?

When you go to a restaurant and have a delicious meal placed in front of you, it's natural to be in awe.  Thanks to smartphones and social media, it's not uncommon for people to post photos of their food on the web for all to see.  Also when these pictures go up, they're up there forever.  Naturally, those in the kitchen of gourmet restaurants have mixed opinions on letting these pictures hit the internet.  Several men who work in gourmet cooking careers share their opinions with CNN's Eatocracy blog. 

Many of the men questioned were originally not fans of the use of photography in their restaurants.  They were concerned with people taking non appetizing photos of their half-eaten food or the food itself getting cold while the patron uses 5 minutes to take a photo.  But in the long run, the chefs have found the positives in allowing their diners to shoot pictures. 

“It helps document our cuisine. Quite often, we'll cook a meal for someone because they ask for a tasting menu, and we'll come up with a lot of it spontaneously and I won't remember half of it at the end of the night. If someone puts that up on Flickr, then there's like a log — it's documentation,” said Sean Brock, owner of two restaurants in South Carolina.  “Also, if you know that a good number of people in your dining room are taking pictures of the food, you tend to make cleaner plates.”

What do you think of this practice?

Imagine you're running late for work and don't have time to run into Starbucks.  A few inventors in Washington, the home of technologically savvy people and coffee, have invented a new machine that will help remedy just that.  The "textspresso" machine allows you to sync up your phone with the office coffee machine and have it ready when you get to work.

The premise is simple.  On your way to work, simply text "coffee", "latte", or "espresso" to the textspresso machine.  The robotic arm will then grab a cup, bring it over to the machine, and make the drink you specified.  It will then go over to a laser printer where your order and phone number will be written on to the cup so no one can steal your drink.  The robotic arm finally takes the drink to a warming tray where it stays until you're ready to pick it up.

While making coffee isn't gourmet cooking, it's inventions like this that bring together the best of gourmet cooking and catering.

Would you like this machine?

Want to do something delicious and a little different for springtime? Imagine your family and friends' reactions when they realize that's not a hard boiled egg you're serving them, rather it's a cupcake! These cute cupcakes are still inside their shells and once they're broken open, a sweet surprise is found inside.  Show them something exciting you learned here in gourmet cooking school.

Here's what you do:

1. Poke a hole in the top of each egg with something small (they reccomend the top to a corkscrew wine opener).  Pry the hole just a little and drain the insides.  Set one aside to use and the rest put in another bowl.
   
2. Rinse out the eggs.  Once they've been rinsed thoroughly, immerse them in saltwater for thirty minutes.  To make them stay below the surface, fill the eggs with saltwater.  After time is up, rinse them out and lay them hole side down on a piece of paper towel to dry.
3. While the egg shells are drying, make a cake batter.  Choose any kind you like because after all, these are your cupcakes.
4. Line a cupcake pan with tinfoil and place one empty egg shell in each tin.  The aluminum foil should help them stand upright (with the hole on top of course).
5. Pour the batter into a piping bag with a rounded tip.  Here's the hard part: if you underfill the eggs they will not fill the whole shell and the shell will crack.  If you overfill them, the batter will spill out of the whole.  It's better to overfill them because then you can pull off (eat) what spilled out and your egg will still look great.
6. Bake your eggs at 325 degrees for 23 minutes.
7. Let them cool and serve

Would you do this?

A new alternative is becoming available for people who love the taste of meat but hate the way animals are treated.  According to ABC news, "Dr. Mark Post, professor of vascular physiology at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, is working on creating meat from bovine stem cells. And he's planning to unveil a burger created this way in October, he said Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver."

Because the estimated amount of meat consumption is set to double over the next 40 years, scientists are looking for a more animal friendly way to feed this growing supply.  The one catch?  This first petri dish burger will cost around $330,000 to make.  That's a little more than your average Burger King Whopper.  The question of taste and cost is still being discovered.  If it does cost a lot, you may find this meat in more gourmet restaurants rather than your local McDonalds.

Would you eat a petri dish burger?