NEW YORK, NY, August 23, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Chef Scott Schneider brings his passion for food and cooking directly to any home cook on demand any time with a new venture, Idealchef.com.
Scott started his journey in the culinary field as a teenager working at a local coffee shop as a short order cook, he knew then this was the field for him. He continued to work in the hospitality field in many locations on Long Island until he decided to travel the world on a one-year backpacking excursion where he worked and experienced the exciting food and cuisines in 17 countries, over five continents.
Upon returning, he decided to study the culinary arts at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. After working at various high end catering companies in Manhattan, he decided to open his own. In 1995 he opened "Elegant Affairs" and grew this start-up business into one of Long Island's premier Off-Premise Catering companies.
Ten years later, Scott was ready for a change and sold Elegant Affairs. Little did he know that a new challenge was right around the corner - Hurricane Katrina rolled in and the need for Disaster Relief Catering presented itself. Scott was excited for the challenge and the opportunity to cook for people in need. He jumped on a plane and drove 12 hours to arrive in the middle of a disaster area, a large field with massive amounts of tents, generators, a string of refrigerated tractor trailers and a large tent filled with cooking equipment. This was to be his home for the next 9 months; feeding displaced residents, firemen from around the country and civil engineers. The work was challenging and rewarding, no difficult brides or demanding clients, just people in need that were very thankful for a good tasting hot meal.
Soon after returning to Long Island, Scott had noticed the Glen Cove Ice Cream Shop by the baseball fields was closed. This did not sit well with him, he contacted the owner of the building and decided to rent the space and open "Juicy Burger Ice Cream Joint." Opening Juicy Burger was a fun venture; he included his old partner from Elegant Affairs, Andrea Correale. They set it up with a fun family theme in mind with great burgers and fresh cut fries.
Soon after that, Scott and his good friend Leif Holm-Anderson were discussing ideas about food and the internet. They came up with the idea of Idealchef.com, filming professional chefs making their favorite recipes. The recipe could be as simple as how to butcher a chicken or more complicated such as making Boars Leg Cassoulet. The concept seemed brilliant; a viewer requests a video on how to make gumbo, Idealchef.com would film a chef in Louisiana making authentic gumbo. A viewer requests an Italian dish, where better to film chefs than in New York! They worked out all of the details and went to work filming local chefs in the Glen Cove area then branching out to New York City, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Texas and even Iceland. The possibilities were endless. The great thing about Idealchef.com is that all of the video recipes are provided by professional chefs. A biography is available about the chef before you watch the video recipe. Why not see how an authentic Korean Chef makes Kim Chi?
Scott and Leif love filming local chefs that they had so often visited their establishments as a patron, now viewers are able to see the magic behind the dishes and share them.
Some Idealchef.com favorite chefs in the local area include:
Chef Amy Beck of Elegant Affairs in Glen Cove, Chef Stuart Brown owner of Fork & Vine in Glen Head, Chef Pat Marone of the Regency in Glen Cove, Chef Jeanine Dimenna owner of Page One in Glen Cove, Chef Grace of Grace's Market in Greenvale, Chef Gary Lanza of Gino & Co in Locust Valley, Lee Perrotta Chocolatier of The Chocolate Lady in Oyster Bay, Michael Mignano Pastry Chef at Main St. Bakery in Port Washington, Miranda Hunt a Macrobiotic Vegan Chef in Locust Valley and Chef Lenny Campanelli of Cool Fish in Syosset.
Scott and Leif invite everyone who loves food and cooking to visit Idealchef.com and see some of our local chefs making great dishes. He would also love any input on how they felt the site could be better and what chefs and recipes they should tackle next on www.Idealchef.com.
About Idealchef.com. Idealchef.com is a video recipe site that films professional chefs from around the country. These video recipes are now available to the public for free. Watch your favorite chef from a local restaurant making your favorite meal. Bring the laptop into the kitchen and cook along side the pros and enchant your friends and family with your creations
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