Class 6 was devoted to cooking eggs in almost every way possible. Eggs are sold by grade, size, and how the chicken is raised. We scrambled eggs - the key is to not whip these up too much and to heat pan first. Our next egg prep was poached. The trick to the perfect poached eggs starts with a couple of dashes of vinegar in the water, which is then brought to a a simmer just below a boil. Before you put the egg into the water, you swirl the water to create a vortex so the egg stays together in the center of the pot. Poached eggs cook in a matter of 2-3 minutes. I was ecstatic that mine came out perfectly, because I love poached eggs but have always shied away from making them at home.
We moved onto omelets - the first we made was just a folded omelet. Again when prepping the eggs for the omelet, you don't want to mix up the eggs too much because you add too much air and end up with a souffled omelet. This one came out really well for me. Unfortunately, the rolled omelet didn't work out so well. Mine had tears all over it, stuck to the pan, and looked like a mess! I didn't want to see another omelet after this travesty, but chef had us step up our next omelets with a sauteed vegetable mix of tomatoes, peppers, onion, and garlic added in the eggs before cooking. I'm not a huge omelet fan so at this point my heart just wasn't in it. I was more then ready to move on to the next thing.
And so glad we did! Our next egg preparation was a spanish style tortilla with potatoes and onions. We started by cooking the onions in a lot of oil and then cooked potatoes in the same pan until they were very brown. We then mixed four eggs together and then added to the veggies. This is then added to a hot pan. Now the tricky part - flipping the tortilla! I didn't want to mess it up because mu partner and I were planning on having ours for dinner, so I took the easy flipping method by flipping it onto the plate then sliding it back into the pan to cook the other side. This tortilla was amazing. I am definitely going to make this at home. We made a fantastic tomato sauce to serve with this - We grated two plum tomatoes (which has the effect of peeling the tomato), then added sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a torn up basil leaf. This sauce was unbelievably good. I certainly will make this and the tortilla at home.
Our final eggs of the evening were amped up deviled eggs. We made mushroom duxelles with shallots, then mixed in a bechamel we made, and some hard boiled egg yolks. We then stuffed the egg white shells with the filliing and topped with a little gruyere and put them under the salamander (professional kitchen-speak for a broiler). I really wanted to try one of these because they looked wonderful. But after cooking about 2 dozen eggs, I just couldn't do it. I did get it on good authority from a nearby student that these were excellent. So, I'll have to make these on a less eggy day!
I liked this class. I think it is important to know how to cook eggs the right way, because they are easy to mess up and that can't be masked. I left class feeling eggsellent about the program so far. And when I read ahead to what was on the agenda next, I felt even better. Next up is pastry!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Class 5: Throwing food a life Preserver
The mantra "Waste not, want not" is one that I believe should be embraced by everyone in this world. So, I was glad to see that one of our classes at culinary school was all about how to preserve food and how to cook with foods that have been preserved. The class was very light on the cooking and heavy on the lecture and demonstration front. I was very exhausted from last week's classes, so I was pretty thankful for this brief reprieve.
My partner and I have become excellent at prepping our station and getting mise en place at the beginning of class. We had all our ingredients for the split pea soup and the Nicoise Salad we were going to make before the chef even began his first demo...Not that we're teacher's pets or anything, but its just easier to get all the stuff we need before people start lining up.
Chef began his first demo with an explanation of salads and the three different types (simple, mixed, and composed). In this class, we made a homemade vinaigrette and a Nicoise Salad, which has tuna, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, green beans, and peppers. All the components are mixed in with a little bit of the vinaigrette before its plated. Its an extremely beautiful salad when plated with all the different colors. We then moved on to Pea Soup using dried split peas.
The Pea Soup started with browning bacon lardons then adding mirepoix, broth, and dried split peas that had been rinsed and picked through. We also made homemade croutons, which were the best croutons I had ever had. You take bread that you chilled in the freezer for a while and then cut into small croutons. Instead of baking the croutons, you saute them in a good deal of butter. Yum! We used the vitaprep to puree our soup. This machine is amazing not to mention about $500! You can puree anything with this anywhere from a very slow rate to extremely fast. It took about 15 seconds for my soup to be completely pureed without any lumps. In comparison, my blender at home takes about 2 minutes.
My partner and I have become excellent at prepping our station and getting mise en place at the beginning of class. We had all our ingredients for the split pea soup and the Nicoise Salad we were going to make before the chef even began his first demo...Not that we're teacher's pets or anything, but its just easier to get all the stuff we need before people start lining up.
Chef began his first demo with an explanation of salads and the three different types (simple, mixed, and composed). In this class, we made a homemade vinaigrette and a Nicoise Salad, which has tuna, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, green beans, and peppers. All the components are mixed in with a little bit of the vinaigrette before its plated. Its an extremely beautiful salad when plated with all the different colors. We then moved on to Pea Soup using dried split peas.
The Pea Soup started with browning bacon lardons then adding mirepoix, broth, and dried split peas that had been rinsed and picked through. We also made homemade croutons, which were the best croutons I had ever had. You take bread that you chilled in the freezer for a while and then cut into small croutons. Instead of baking the croutons, you saute them in a good deal of butter. Yum! We used the vitaprep to puree our soup. This machine is amazing not to mention about $500! You can puree anything with this anywhere from a very slow rate to extremely fast. It took about 15 seconds for my soup to be completely pureed without any lumps. In comparison, my blender at home takes about 2 minutes.
The rest of the class was demonstration. The chef pulled out a beautiful piece of salmon and showed us how to cure it, which is always done with the skin on. You mix salt, sugar, a little bit of alcohol becuase of the antibacterial properties, and some herbs and spread it all over the top of the fish and use something to weigh it down. The salmon was left in the fridge until our next class, when the chef pulled it out from the fridge, rinsed it, and showed us how to slice it very thin for an appetizer at a party. This was an excellent bite of fish that just melted in your mouth. The next demo we had was a salt cod dip that turned out wonderfully. You rinse off the salt cod, poach the fish, then fry the fish in olive oil, add mashed potatoes, garlic, and cream. When it was finished, we all tasted it on bits of bread. This is definitely going to be an appetizer over the christmas holiday. It was a simple, delicious dip.
The chefs also showed us some other things that classes had preserved or made to not waste food - a 2 month old kimchi, scrapple, and a terrine made of pork face. The chef cut up the pork terrine for us to try and it tasted like a salami but richer. They fried up the scrapple, which is made of pork scraps/trimmings and buckwheat.
Next up, eggs!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Class 4 - Dangerous Liaisons
So class 4 was all about Liaisons. Sorry kids...Its not as exciting as it sounds. Its just what those crazy french chefs call a binding agent (ha ha okay that sounds rather exciting too but it means thickener you sick-minded fools) for a sauce. Many different things can be used as thickeners for sauces, such as a slurry, roux, or vegetable puree. But, the most important thing to remember is that you must boil the sauce after the thickener is added to activate its full binding power.
In total, we made 5 sauces, but there was also a lot of demo time where the chef discussed how mother sauces can beget hundreds of other sauces. The two main sauces we started with were the Espagnole and Tomato. Both sauces started with rendering bacon lardons...I was instantly sold and hungry! The tomato sauce was rather strange and I doubt I would ever make it again. It used chicken stock as its base and although it was thickened with flour, I feel like it was thinner than I like and had too much of a smokey bacon flavor and not enough tomato. The Espagnole sauce used veal stock, which by the way looks like jello. Now this sauce was very tasty and rich.
After we finished these sauces, it was time to mix up the bechamel. According to chef, a really good mac and cheese starts with a really good bechamel. So you can only imagine how copiously I took notes on this. It was actually relatively easy and began with a butter and flour roux. Then you just add milk and onion and cook down until thickened and add the spices you want. If you want mac and cheese you add your cheese of choice and voila. I have to say mine came out excellent and I wouldn't be surprised if I add homemade mac and cheese to my bag of tricks for easy weeknight meals.
Before the break, chef demo'd a beurre blanc sauce, which is a sauce that's almost exclusively served with fish. It has shallots, lemon, peppercorns, wine, herbs, butter, and sometimes a touch of cream. The touch of cream stabilizes the sauce and prevents it from breaking, which happens easily on a beurre blanc and has the effect of a greasy sauce on your fish. Not good. In fact, if you were watching top chef this week, the exact thing happened to poor Jennifer. Anyway, this might be a good quick sauce to fire up for an easy fish dish some night.
Okay, so back to the kitchen and time to make the two main event sauces from our tomato and espagnole mother sauces. The two sauces we made were Sauce Chasseur ("Hunter Sauce"), which uses wine, mushrooms, espagnole, tomato sauce, and brandy. And here was my first test in kitchen safety and I chickened out. This sauce is flambed with the brandy and I was responsible for this one. I sheepishly asked my partner to handle the flambe part and she willingly obliged. It went off without a hitch and now I regret my decision. You want to know why? Well, this may just be the best darn sauce I have ever tried in my entire life. It was amazing...the mushrooms, the wine, the mother sauces, the herbs, and the cooking down until Nappant (until it coats the back of a spoon) just created this amazing sauce with the most velvety smooth texture. My mouth is watering right now just thinking of this sauce. Just wonderful. I quickly called dibs on taking the leftovers home!
The second sauce was my partners responsibility and it was a Bordelaise, which is a rich sauce made so with the addition of chopped bone marrow. You reduce shallots, red wine, thyme, and crushed black pepper until syrupy then add the sauce espagnole cook it down until nappant and then melt in the bone marrow. The outcome? A very delicious, peppery sauce suited for a juicy med-rare steak.
All in all, a good class. I liked making the sauces but the more difficult ones really seem more suited for restaurant cooking only. I can't imagine making homemade veal stock then making the sauce espagnole then making the Chasseur. But I also can't imagine never having that sauce again. Shoot...looks like I'm going to be scouring the grocery stores of NYC in a desperate search for veal bones.
Also happy to report it seems that my partner has returned to her normal pleasant self so I won't have to worry about searching for somebody new!
In total, we made 5 sauces, but there was also a lot of demo time where the chef discussed how mother sauces can beget hundreds of other sauces. The two main sauces we started with were the Espagnole and Tomato. Both sauces started with rendering bacon lardons...I was instantly sold and hungry! The tomato sauce was rather strange and I doubt I would ever make it again. It used chicken stock as its base and although it was thickened with flour, I feel like it was thinner than I like and had too much of a smokey bacon flavor and not enough tomato. The Espagnole sauce used veal stock, which by the way looks like jello. Now this sauce was very tasty and rich.
After we finished these sauces, it was time to mix up the bechamel. According to chef, a really good mac and cheese starts with a really good bechamel. So you can only imagine how copiously I took notes on this. It was actually relatively easy and began with a butter and flour roux. Then you just add milk and onion and cook down until thickened and add the spices you want. If you want mac and cheese you add your cheese of choice and voila. I have to say mine came out excellent and I wouldn't be surprised if I add homemade mac and cheese to my bag of tricks for easy weeknight meals.
Before the break, chef demo'd a beurre blanc sauce, which is a sauce that's almost exclusively served with fish. It has shallots, lemon, peppercorns, wine, herbs, butter, and sometimes a touch of cream. The touch of cream stabilizes the sauce and prevents it from breaking, which happens easily on a beurre blanc and has the effect of a greasy sauce on your fish. Not good. In fact, if you were watching top chef this week, the exact thing happened to poor Jennifer. Anyway, this might be a good quick sauce to fire up for an easy fish dish some night.
Okay, so back to the kitchen and time to make the two main event sauces from our tomato and espagnole mother sauces. The two sauces we made were Sauce Chasseur ("Hunter Sauce"), which uses wine, mushrooms, espagnole, tomato sauce, and brandy. And here was my first test in kitchen safety and I chickened out. This sauce is flambed with the brandy and I was responsible for this one. I sheepishly asked my partner to handle the flambe part and she willingly obliged. It went off without a hitch and now I regret my decision. You want to know why? Well, this may just be the best darn sauce I have ever tried in my entire life. It was amazing...the mushrooms, the wine, the mother sauces, the herbs, and the cooking down until Nappant (until it coats the back of a spoon) just created this amazing sauce with the most velvety smooth texture. My mouth is watering right now just thinking of this sauce. Just wonderful. I quickly called dibs on taking the leftovers home!
The second sauce was my partners responsibility and it was a Bordelaise, which is a rich sauce made so with the addition of chopped bone marrow. You reduce shallots, red wine, thyme, and crushed black pepper until syrupy then add the sauce espagnole cook it down until nappant and then melt in the bone marrow. The outcome? A very delicious, peppery sauce suited for a juicy med-rare steak.
All in all, a good class. I liked making the sauces but the more difficult ones really seem more suited for restaurant cooking only. I can't imagine making homemade veal stock then making the sauce espagnole then making the Chasseur. But I also can't imagine never having that sauce again. Shoot...looks like I'm going to be scouring the grocery stores of NYC in a desperate search for veal bones.
Also happy to report it seems that my partner has returned to her normal pleasant self so I won't have to worry about searching for somebody new!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Day 3: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Sauces
So Day 3 of class was a saucy affair. We learnt how to make stocks, hollandaise, and mayonnaise. This time around we worked as a team of four (only on the stocks). This ended up being a little bit more difficult b/c it was tough to know who was working on prepping what ingredients. I have to say that my partner and I were pretty lucky with our other two people. Although, I think I have now decided I am not so sure my perfect partner is going to work out. But I'll get to that later...
Chef's demo began with an overview of the different types of stocks that we'd be making that evening, an overview of how to prepare a fish fumet (we aren't going to make this until our fish class), and a list of things to remember about stocks. There were a few things that I didn't know...You should always start a stock with cold water and you should only boil a stock once, and the rest of the cooking should be a simmer.
We worked on a few basic ways of preparing stocks. We made a white chicken stock which simmers 2 to 4 hours. A stock is made white by boiling the bones. Our veal stock we made brown, which is accomplished through roasting the veal bones in a hot oven first. The roasting pan is then deglazed and tomato is added in when you roast the veggies in this same pan. Everything is then put together and boiled for 8 to 12 hours. Our final stock of the evening I found to be the most interesting. It was Marmite...No not that oddly delicious wierd brown paste that Brits and Aussies eat by the spoonful, but rather a white beef stock. This stock is unique in that it gets its color from an onion brulee. Literally you burn an onion and put it in with the beef bones. This stock also cooks for a number of hours, so we did not finish it that evening. We prepped all the ingredients which were then put into a big vat that simmered them overnight. The veal stock and marmite that we prepped the ingredients for will become part of the over 100 galloons of stock the school makes a day. My thought is that the CDC should get the school in on its flu plan. If the city has an outbreak, the school should be called immediately and homemade soup sent out to the sick!
We each made our own homemade mayo. Um...this is so delicious and just about one of the easiest things I have ever whipped up in the kitchen. I'm not kidding. It takes a minute and involves 6 ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen...okay maybe not everyone but anyone who ever turns on their stove. Plus, it keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. Why would you buy hellmans? Plus, as the chef pointed out mayo is a base sauce for a boatload of other spreads like tartar, basil mayo, chipotle mayo, etc. If you're over my place anytime soon, open up the fridge. I'd put money that theres a homemade mayo in there somewhere.
Okay so the next was the hollandaise, which we each made as well. We used this to make a bernaise sauce. We started by making a bernaise reduction then began the hollandaise. Mine came out perfectly, but I have to admit thats only because the chef came by as I was about to add the butter and stopped me b/c he could see my pan was too hot. Phew crisis averted. My partner however was not so lucky. I tried to help her as she was stirring by telling her she was supposed to do it quickly. She misunderstood and thought I meant add the butter quickly (I meant stir quickly). Her sauce broke and so did her nice demeanor. I couldn't believe the change in attitude. She was plain out nasty and started blaming me like wild. I am thinking I will try and change partners next time because I'm out to have fun. I don't need someone crying at me over broke hollandaise. She put her happy face back on after a while but the damage was sort of done for me.
As a preview for next class, chef showed us how to extract the marrow from large beef marrow bones. Its not an appetizing process but I love marrow so I am looking forward to cooking with it next class. Next up is taking the stocks and making sauces from these. Hopefully, my partner will be a little less saucy.
Chef's demo began with an overview of the different types of stocks that we'd be making that evening, an overview of how to prepare a fish fumet (we aren't going to make this until our fish class), and a list of things to remember about stocks. There were a few things that I didn't know...You should always start a stock with cold water and you should only boil a stock once, and the rest of the cooking should be a simmer.
We worked on a few basic ways of preparing stocks. We made a white chicken stock which simmers 2 to 4 hours. A stock is made white by boiling the bones. Our veal stock we made brown, which is accomplished through roasting the veal bones in a hot oven first. The roasting pan is then deglazed and tomato is added in when you roast the veggies in this same pan. Everything is then put together and boiled for 8 to 12 hours. Our final stock of the evening I found to be the most interesting. It was Marmite...No not that oddly delicious wierd brown paste that Brits and Aussies eat by the spoonful, but rather a white beef stock. This stock is unique in that it gets its color from an onion brulee. Literally you burn an onion and put it in with the beef bones. This stock also cooks for a number of hours, so we did not finish it that evening. We prepped all the ingredients which were then put into a big vat that simmered them overnight. The veal stock and marmite that we prepped the ingredients for will become part of the over 100 galloons of stock the school makes a day. My thought is that the CDC should get the school in on its flu plan. If the city has an outbreak, the school should be called immediately and homemade soup sent out to the sick!
We each made our own homemade mayo. Um...this is so delicious and just about one of the easiest things I have ever whipped up in the kitchen. I'm not kidding. It takes a minute and involves 6 ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen...okay maybe not everyone but anyone who ever turns on their stove. Plus, it keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. Why would you buy hellmans? Plus, as the chef pointed out mayo is a base sauce for a boatload of other spreads like tartar, basil mayo, chipotle mayo, etc. If you're over my place anytime soon, open up the fridge. I'd put money that theres a homemade mayo in there somewhere.
Okay so the next was the hollandaise, which we each made as well. We used this to make a bernaise sauce. We started by making a bernaise reduction then began the hollandaise. Mine came out perfectly, but I have to admit thats only because the chef came by as I was about to add the butter and stopped me b/c he could see my pan was too hot. Phew crisis averted. My partner however was not so lucky. I tried to help her as she was stirring by telling her she was supposed to do it quickly. She misunderstood and thought I meant add the butter quickly (I meant stir quickly). Her sauce broke and so did her nice demeanor. I couldn't believe the change in attitude. She was plain out nasty and started blaming me like wild. I am thinking I will try and change partners next time because I'm out to have fun. I don't need someone crying at me over broke hollandaise. She put her happy face back on after a while but the damage was sort of done for me.
As a preview for next class, chef showed us how to extract the marrow from large beef marrow bones. Its not an appetizing process but I love marrow so I am looking forward to cooking with it next class. Next up is taking the stocks and making sauces from these. Hopefully, my partner will be a little less saucy.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Butter Lane - Choosing your own cupcake adventure
I have to end every meal with a sweet. It doesn't have to be a huge dessert, but it has to be delicious. So, when I go out to eat and the dessert menu is lacking, I am left feeling incomplete.
My sister and I went out to eat the other night and she took one look at me and the dessert menu and whispered "we could go get dessert somewhere else" in that strange reading of my food mind she can do.
Cue in the idea of going to Butter Lane for a cupcake. On our walk over, my sister explained how butter lane works (all the while leaving me in shock of how she knows about a bakery that I know nothing about). Butter Lane has three basic cake flavors - vanilla, chocolate, and banana. Then they have a few seasonal frostings (coconut and pumpkin were on the list when I went) and about 10 standard frostings to choose from. Don't misinterpret me when I say standard because these frostings are far from it. Some of the choices are plain like chocolate, cream cheese, and vanilla but there is also caramel, maple pecan, peanut butter, and strawberry.
I opted to go with the vanilla cupcake and maple pecan frosting. This tasted like the best pancake breakfast I ever had. The cupcake was buttery and soft with a slighty crisp top and a wonderful crumb. The frosting was sugary goodness without being overwhelmingly sweet. I traded my sister for a bite of her vanilla with pumpkin with a smug look on my face that said "you're going to have cupcake ordering envy" (b/c ordering the best thing on a menu is a HUGE competition between my sister and I). I took a bite of hers though and became suddenly unsure. The pumpkin frosting had a delicious pumpkin pie spice flavor and the same beautifully soft texture.
All I have to say is that I hope I find myself in that neighborhood again soon because I want to try the other cake options and some of the other frostings. And to be quite honest, if I don't find myself over there anytime soon, I fully plan on finding an excuse to go again.
My sister and I went out to eat the other night and she took one look at me and the dessert menu and whispered "we could go get dessert somewhere else" in that strange reading of my food mind she can do.
Cue in the idea of going to Butter Lane for a cupcake. On our walk over, my sister explained how butter lane works (all the while leaving me in shock of how she knows about a bakery that I know nothing about). Butter Lane has three basic cake flavors - vanilla, chocolate, and banana. Then they have a few seasonal frostings (coconut and pumpkin were on the list when I went) and about 10 standard frostings to choose from. Don't misinterpret me when I say standard because these frostings are far from it. Some of the choices are plain like chocolate, cream cheese, and vanilla but there is also caramel, maple pecan, peanut butter, and strawberry.
I opted to go with the vanilla cupcake and maple pecan frosting. This tasted like the best pancake breakfast I ever had. The cupcake was buttery and soft with a slighty crisp top and a wonderful crumb. The frosting was sugary goodness without being overwhelmingly sweet. I traded my sister for a bite of her vanilla with pumpkin with a smug look on my face that said "you're going to have cupcake ordering envy" (b/c ordering the best thing on a menu is a HUGE competition between my sister and I). I took a bite of hers though and became suddenly unsure. The pumpkin frosting had a delicious pumpkin pie spice flavor and the same beautifully soft texture.
All I have to say is that I hope I find myself in that neighborhood again soon because I want to try the other cake options and some of the other frostings. And to be quite honest, if I don't find myself over there anytime soon, I fully plan on finding an excuse to go again.
Day 2: Tomato Fondue
Day 2 began with a flourish. My partner and I arrived around the same time and began prepping our station with bowls, 6 pans, cutting boards, and our knives and other necessary equipment. We finished this in the nick of time, as chef called our attention to the front of the class where he began the evenings lecture/demo of what we were going to do that evening.
If I had any doubts as to whether this class was going to be as serious as "professional" cooking school, these were laid to rest quickly by the chef's expectations of us for the evening. I was happy to see that chef is all over the place in the kitchen like I am, moving back and forth between recipes. I have to admit that he is a lot tidier than me in his back and forth. Perhaps, that is something I can learn from culinary school! I am not going to lie though...It was hard to remember all his steps when we needed to replicate them later!
He began by explaining that we were going to cook potatoes cut in the football shape in a three part process and started blanching these in the first step. He then moved onto a tomato fondue we were gong to make by first blanching the tomatoes then putting them in an ice bath to cool. Then he moved to cutting carrots and turnips in the same football shapes as the potatoes and explaining that we would cook them aletuve after break. Here I am going to put in my little aside about this cut. I hate it...I abhor it. I just don't see the point and you whittle away perfectly good pieces of veggie all while putting your priceless fingers in possible danger of cuts. Also, it sort of reminds me of the veggies you get on the side of your plate at a wedding. And of course, the fact that I am not so great at cutting the veggies this way doesn't help the cut's case!
Then onto pearl onions which we peeled and cooked glacee, which is the same as aletuve but with sugar instead of salt. Then back to the now cool tomatoes which he peeled and diced. Then he smashed some garlic and chopped scallions and began cooking the tomato fondue, which literally means melted tomatoes. He cooked the tomatoes with the scallions, garlic, a thyme spring, a bit of water mixed with tomato paste and salt and pepper. This was covered with a bit of parchment in the style of of aletuve cooking. The onto the artichokes that have to be cooked in a flour, butter, lemon, water mixture to prevent browning. He showed us how to properly trim these down to the yellow leaves. These were then covered with a towel in the water mixture and brought to a boil for about 20 minutes. Then back to the potatoes which he took out of the boiling water and explained had to be fully air-dried before they can be cooked.
Then he said "Okay! Got all that everyone? Start cooking and begin with the artichokes." My partner and I looked at each other with a bit of panic in our eyes and then began telling each other which ingredients we would each get and then mise en place'd everything. We whittled our huge artichokes down to their yellow, and, as always, I was amazed by the utter lack of useful pieces of an artichoke. It's one of those times you think to yourself, whoever first figured out that once you cut all the tough leaves and cook this veggie its delicious was really a genius.
Before we knew it, we had all the food the chef had wanted us to get done before the break completed and it was time for dinner.
When we returned from the break, the chef demonstrated how to trim the artichokes once they were cooked and remove the choke, which resulted in a little bowl of artichoke goodness. Then the potatoes were browned in a hot pan with oil and then moved to a hot oven to finish them. Then the chef showed us how to make a delicious basil oil, which he used to plate the veggies. We then were left to finish our carrots, turnips, artichokes, and potatoes and then to plate everything.
The tomato fondue was delicious and I would spread it on a piece of bread any day and serve with a nice glass of red wine. The potatoes were also very delicious with a nice crisp outside and soft inside. All in all, I really liked the evenings lesson. I think a big part of it was to get us used to preparing multiple things at once and to see how simple and tasty simple vegetable preparations can be. And for me, it was a mission accomplished. I left class feeling more comfortable in the professional kitchen and less worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up. Let's hope that feeling continues!
Next up, we're learning stocks and sauces. I am beyond excited to learn how to make a stock other than a chicken stock and I can't wait to whip up some homemade mayonaise and hollandaise!
If I had any doubts as to whether this class was going to be as serious as "professional" cooking school, these were laid to rest quickly by the chef's expectations of us for the evening. I was happy to see that chef is all over the place in the kitchen like I am, moving back and forth between recipes. I have to admit that he is a lot tidier than me in his back and forth. Perhaps, that is something I can learn from culinary school! I am not going to lie though...It was hard to remember all his steps when we needed to replicate them later!
He began by explaining that we were going to cook potatoes cut in the football shape in a three part process and started blanching these in the first step. He then moved onto a tomato fondue we were gong to make by first blanching the tomatoes then putting them in an ice bath to cool. Then he moved to cutting carrots and turnips in the same football shapes as the potatoes and explaining that we would cook them aletuve after break. Here I am going to put in my little aside about this cut. I hate it...I abhor it. I just don't see the point and you whittle away perfectly good pieces of veggie all while putting your priceless fingers in possible danger of cuts. Also, it sort of reminds me of the veggies you get on the side of your plate at a wedding. And of course, the fact that I am not so great at cutting the veggies this way doesn't help the cut's case!
Then onto pearl onions which we peeled and cooked glacee, which is the same as aletuve but with sugar instead of salt. Then back to the now cool tomatoes which he peeled and diced. Then he smashed some garlic and chopped scallions and began cooking the tomato fondue, which literally means melted tomatoes. He cooked the tomatoes with the scallions, garlic, a thyme spring, a bit of water mixed with tomato paste and salt and pepper. This was covered with a bit of parchment in the style of of aletuve cooking. The onto the artichokes that have to be cooked in a flour, butter, lemon, water mixture to prevent browning. He showed us how to properly trim these down to the yellow leaves. These were then covered with a towel in the water mixture and brought to a boil for about 20 minutes. Then back to the potatoes which he took out of the boiling water and explained had to be fully air-dried before they can be cooked.
Then he said "Okay! Got all that everyone? Start cooking and begin with the artichokes." My partner and I looked at each other with a bit of panic in our eyes and then began telling each other which ingredients we would each get and then mise en place'd everything. We whittled our huge artichokes down to their yellow, and, as always, I was amazed by the utter lack of useful pieces of an artichoke. It's one of those times you think to yourself, whoever first figured out that once you cut all the tough leaves and cook this veggie its delicious was really a genius.
Before we knew it, we had all the food the chef had wanted us to get done before the break completed and it was time for dinner.
When we returned from the break, the chef demonstrated how to trim the artichokes once they were cooked and remove the choke, which resulted in a little bowl of artichoke goodness. Then the potatoes were browned in a hot pan with oil and then moved to a hot oven to finish them. Then the chef showed us how to make a delicious basil oil, which he used to plate the veggies. We then were left to finish our carrots, turnips, artichokes, and potatoes and then to plate everything.
The tomato fondue was delicious and I would spread it on a piece of bread any day and serve with a nice glass of red wine. The potatoes were also very delicious with a nice crisp outside and soft inside. All in all, I really liked the evenings lesson. I think a big part of it was to get us used to preparing multiple things at once and to see how simple and tasty simple vegetable preparations can be. And for me, it was a mission accomplished. I left class feeling more comfortable in the professional kitchen and less worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up. Let's hope that feeling continues!
Next up, we're learning stocks and sauces. I am beyond excited to learn how to make a stock other than a chicken stock and I can't wait to whip up some homemade mayonaise and hollandaise!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Casa Fox
Have I ever told you how much I love Orchard Street? Going out to eat on Orchard always makes me feel like I'm going to find the next best chef or food. Your options are unlimited and range from gastro to british to latin american. In other words, you go out to eat on Orchard St and you can be transported to almost anywhere in the world.
Last night, we opted to go Latin America. I have heard wonderful things about A Casa Fox with specific emphasis on their empanadas. Chef Melissa Fox heads up this excellent little space. You have to love a restaurant that feels like you're eating at someone's home. A Casa Fox accomplishes just this with wood banquet tables on the perimeter and small two tops by a homey fireplace. In furtherance of this feat, there is an open kitchen behind a raised counter. To finish it off, the open kitchen design pours out to the diners the most amazing scents as food is prepared.
Karen and I had a wonderful bottle of Torrontes from Argentina that was a dry white wine that went wonderfully with our food. We started with calamari and chorizo in a lemon scented tomato fish broth that came with little toasts and a variety of 6 mini empanada. There were some pieces of calamari that were expertly cooked and melted in your mouth but there were others that were a tad on the chewy side. The chorizo added a wonderful spicy/salty tone and the broth was fabulous. In fact, the broth was so good Karen and I were eating it by the spoonful and dipping our bread in it. We moved on to the empanadas, which included cheese, beef, portbella mushroom, chicken and olives, pork and caramelized onion, and chorizo and manchego. I would have to say they were all very tasty but the pork and caramelized onion and the beef were my favorites. I thought the pastry was very good but it wasn't outstanding in the way I had hoped for. I wanted a beautifully flaky crisp crust and this wasn't it. I wonder if the larger empanadas would have a better crust.
For our main, we split a clay pot dinner. I have to say clay pot cooking is a wonderful thing. We chose the Costillas de Cerdo, which are ribs marinated for 24 hours and then braised in their own juices with rice and beans. The pork ribs were crispy and tender and melted in your mouth. The rice and beans in the pot mixed in with the juices were the best bites of the evening.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere (including the super hot fireplace) of a casa fox and the staff was wonderful and friendly. The food was good but I have to admit that I wanted it to be a bit better. I would definitely go back but more for the atmosphere and to give the food another shot. I really hope next time I go back that the food wows me.
Last night, we opted to go Latin America. I have heard wonderful things about A Casa Fox with specific emphasis on their empanadas. Chef Melissa Fox heads up this excellent little space. You have to love a restaurant that feels like you're eating at someone's home. A Casa Fox accomplishes just this with wood banquet tables on the perimeter and small two tops by a homey fireplace. In furtherance of this feat, there is an open kitchen behind a raised counter. To finish it off, the open kitchen design pours out to the diners the most amazing scents as food is prepared.
Karen and I had a wonderful bottle of Torrontes from Argentina that was a dry white wine that went wonderfully with our food. We started with calamari and chorizo in a lemon scented tomato fish broth that came with little toasts and a variety of 6 mini empanada. There were some pieces of calamari that were expertly cooked and melted in your mouth but there were others that were a tad on the chewy side. The chorizo added a wonderful spicy/salty tone and the broth was fabulous. In fact, the broth was so good Karen and I were eating it by the spoonful and dipping our bread in it. We moved on to the empanadas, which included cheese, beef, portbella mushroom, chicken and olives, pork and caramelized onion, and chorizo and manchego. I would have to say they were all very tasty but the pork and caramelized onion and the beef were my favorites. I thought the pastry was very good but it wasn't outstanding in the way I had hoped for. I wanted a beautifully flaky crisp crust and this wasn't it. I wonder if the larger empanadas would have a better crust.
For our main, we split a clay pot dinner. I have to say clay pot cooking is a wonderful thing. We chose the Costillas de Cerdo, which are ribs marinated for 24 hours and then braised in their own juices with rice and beans. The pork ribs were crispy and tender and melted in your mouth. The rice and beans in the pot mixed in with the juices were the best bites of the evening.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere (including the super hot fireplace) of a casa fox and the staff was wonderful and friendly. The food was good but I have to admit that I wanted it to be a bit better. I would definitely go back but more for the atmosphere and to give the food another shot. I really hope next time I go back that the food wows me.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Day 1: Knife Skills
I'm exhausted. Not only did the sun wait until after my alarm rang to rise, but my body and mind toed the line between conscious and unconscious for a few hours this morning. And to tell the honest truth, I am not 100% sure that I'm awake yet. But it feels good. You know...in that sick way that achy muscles feel good after an exhaustive workout. Why you ask am I relishing utter exhausation? Its because I started culinary school last night (okay amatuer culinary school but with the option to test into the professional program at course end so until I decide NOT to test in I am calling this culinary school b/c it may very well be). And honest truth, I have wanted to do this since childhood when I helped my mom mix up a box of betty crocker brownies for the first time and tasted them when they came out of that magical applicance the oven. I go to restaurants, I watch top chef, I am constantly cooking and thinking about food. So going and studying food and cooking is a no brainer.
Okay, so the first class. I arrived and was photo'd for the very close up id picture and then whisked down to the ladies locker room to change into the very unflattering chef's uniform. I have to remember for the next time I purchase a chef uniform that chefs eat a lot and therefore are different sizes then normal people (a medium is a XXL in regular people's clothes). Once I went back upstairs I was paired with Jodi my kitchen station partner for the rest of the course. The class consisted of 4 people that were slightly older and then mostly 20-35 year olds. I think theres about 30 or more of us. There were a few people who were taking the class to determine if a career change might be something they want to do and then there were a lot that were just doing this for fun. Either way, my first impression is that we have a good group of people.
Lesson 1 was all about basic knife skills. The hitch in going to a French culinary school and learning basic french technique is that it looks like I am going to have to learn A LOT of french words. We have about 15 vocabulary words from night 1 that the chef instructors (there are 2 both men who are very nice and helpful) expect us to know. So that when they ask us to for example jadiniere the carrots and cook alanglaise we're supposed to know to cut the carrots in long thick sticks and boil them in salted water and shocking them in ice water. Chef demonstrated about 8 different cuts and then we had to peel and cut a carrot, turnip, and onion in the different cuts. All while keeping our stations very clean. After break, we came back and the chef demonstrated 2 methods for cooking veggies: Alanglaise and alaveter. Alaveter (I think that’s what it was called!) was putting the veggies in a little bit of water with butter and salt and then making a parchment lid and cooking them until soft. Then he demonstrated the chiffonade of herbs and tournade of potato. I was fine in class until we had to do the potato (okay and the tidy station wasn't easy for me either but the cutting I had down okay). The potato was peeled and quartered and then we had to carve it in little football shapes and well I couldn't picture how to do it in my mind and his demo wasn't helping at all. We were given the potato carving as homework and we're going to be working with them in class #2. As luck would have it, I am getting potatoes in my CSA share tonight. Maybe I can figure it out then b/c otherwise Wed's class is going to be tough!
Okay, so the first class. I arrived and was photo'd for the very close up id picture and then whisked down to the ladies locker room to change into the very unflattering chef's uniform. I have to remember for the next time I purchase a chef uniform that chefs eat a lot and therefore are different sizes then normal people (a medium is a XXL in regular people's clothes). Once I went back upstairs I was paired with Jodi my kitchen station partner for the rest of the course. The class consisted of 4 people that were slightly older and then mostly 20-35 year olds. I think theres about 30 or more of us. There were a few people who were taking the class to determine if a career change might be something they want to do and then there were a lot that were just doing this for fun. Either way, my first impression is that we have a good group of people.
Lesson 1 was all about basic knife skills. The hitch in going to a French culinary school and learning basic french technique is that it looks like I am going to have to learn A LOT of french words. We have about 15 vocabulary words from night 1 that the chef instructors (there are 2 both men who are very nice and helpful) expect us to know. So that when they ask us to for example jadiniere the carrots and cook alanglaise we're supposed to know to cut the carrots in long thick sticks and boil them in salted water and shocking them in ice water. Chef demonstrated about 8 different cuts and then we had to peel and cut a carrot, turnip, and onion in the different cuts. All while keeping our stations very clean. After break, we came back and the chef demonstrated 2 methods for cooking veggies: Alanglaise and alaveter. Alaveter (I think that’s what it was called!) was putting the veggies in a little bit of water with butter and salt and then making a parchment lid and cooking them until soft. Then he demonstrated the chiffonade of herbs and tournade of potato. I was fine in class until we had to do the potato (okay and the tidy station wasn't easy for me either but the cutting I had down okay). The potato was peeled and quartered and then we had to carve it in little football shapes and well I couldn't picture how to do it in my mind and his demo wasn't helping at all. We were given the potato carving as homework and we're going to be working with them in class #2. As luck would have it, I am getting potatoes in my CSA share tonight. Maybe I can figure it out then b/c otherwise Wed's class is going to be tough!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
