Level 5 Garde Manger – Me and Shrimp… (Shrimp and I?)
So where are we…? Well, I’ll tell you. This may be a little spoiler, but we’re 3 days after I have graduated the FCI. I’ll leave that comment at that, and when I finally get to this point in the story, I’ll give you my insight.
So then, where were we? We were done with pastry, Level 5, and about to begin Garde Manger. On the menu was seafood ravioli for level 5 and consommé for level 6. I don’t remember what exactly was in the consommé (I think it had some star anise flavor, but there was a baked custard in the middle – placed on the plate and the consommé was poured over it - that was absolutely delicious). The seafood ravioli was also a big hit, considering it has mussels, jumbo lump crab meat and shrimp in it, but the true beauty of the dish was the pasta.
Chef Justin was our main garde manger chef, and Chef Wanda subbed in one of the 3 days of the week. I found both of their styles interesting, and have drawn my own conclusions on which I thought had better techniques.
I’ll touch upon all of this. The pasta takes about an hour to prepare. That is, after measuring out the amounts, incorporating, kneading, and finally resting in the fridge for a while, it will be at LEAST an hour before you can begin to roll it out. Further it wasn’t simply rolling it out and making raviolis. The dish was an open faced ravioli, so we had to cut squares and just layer them like a sandwich. However, the pasta was unique because we pressed fresh herbs into the pasta! We would roll out a sheet of pasta. Layer fresh parley and tarragon in it, fold the pasta over, and re-roll it. As we rolled it out again, the herbs would flatten and spread out within the pasta, leaving a blown up image of the herbs within the dough. It looked so friggin cool, and added a nice touch to the pasta. Preparing the pasta, from start to finish took one person almost all of the time before service to finish. In the meantime, the other person would have to work on the seafood and the sauce. The seafood was no walk in the park either. You had to sift through a tub of crab meat for shells and other hard pieces, peel, de-vein, and cook the shrimp. Cook the mussels and remove the meat from the shells, and prepare the sauce, which was usually prepared ahead of time. There was also some cutting of fennel and onions and other veggies as well. So there was quite a lot for this one dish.
Remind me to tell you guys a little something about peeling and de-veining shrimp that I didn’t learn until my last class in the kitchen. And perhaps one of my fundamental gripes with the FCI (it’s not that bad at all).
Anyhow, at service time, we would cook up a couple of pasta squares, reheat some of the seafood mix in some butter and broth, and then sandwich them, froth up some sauce and send it out. It was a really beautiful appetizer, and quite tasty (lord knows is met the minimum butter requirement that makes everything tasty). What I loved about this station was that once you were ready for service, if you received one order, or 12 orders, it was a simple bam bam bam operation. Cook the pasta, reheat the mixture, froth the sauce and serve. If your mis en place was set up nicely, it was a walk in the park (after the initial set up, of course).
So, on to the differences between Chef Justin and Chef Wanda. Chef Justin had the pasta pre-made by one if his earlier classes. That was cool because quite frankly, we did know how to make pasta, and with the right ingredient amounts, we should be able to produce the same results. However, it detracts a little from the experience because we did not have to make it, let it rest, and so forth. But it was a nice break for us. With Chef Wanda, we made it ourselves, which, again, is also cool.
Now the real difference was the setting up of the mis en place. With Chef Justin, when it came time to reheating the seafood mixture, we would take a few spoonfuls of cold mixture, sitting on ice, and reheat it with a touch of butter, a touch of broth, S&P and reheat it until it was warm. This was an a la minute preparation, which I thought worked well. Chef Wanda’s setup was a hot bain-marie, with all of the seafood mixed with about a pound of butter resting inside, over a low flame. So basically, the seafood was drenched in butter and continuously cooking, or should I say, over-cooking. I felt like this made the seafood so much more touch and chewy, and took away from the meal. This was the primary difference, and I felt that it was enough of a difference to really hurt the dish. I did not like that method, but of course, I appreciated being able to learn and choose which I preferred. Oh, she also put a lot of butter in the pasta water, which I felt was unnecessary. But again, I drew my own conclusions after experiencing both styles.
Either way, Chef Wanda is awesome, but perhaps crazier than she leads us to believe. What I loved most about her was she liked to cook with flavor. She was, after all, Puerto Rican. When she would make family meal, and add the Latin flare to the dishes, everyone ate and enjoyed, especially the dish washers, who were primarily Hispanic. But I loved her arroz con gandules, and other sofrito laden dishes.
Chef Justin is a relatively young guy, ex-college baseball player who at some point took a turn to the chef life. I think he went to the CIA, but I don’t recall. I also think he has a lot more stories than he shared with us, but I guess that’s for other students to drag out of him. It was a good station, without the stress of Chef X breathing down our backs, but still a high quality product.
Oh yeah, and one more thing which was what I mentioned previously. We had to peel a box of shrimp each time we were in the Garde Manger station. I also had to peel boxes of shrimp for other stations. Chef Justin gave me the basis of peeling the shrimp. Pinch off the legs, and the pull it out of the shell. Chef X took it a step further, after pinching off the legs and peeling the shell, lay out all the shrimp on the cutting board and slice them all, really quickly, down the back, depositing them into a bowl. Then you wash them in the sink to remove the veins. However, Chef Janet took the cake with her method. She simply took a pair of scissors and cut down the back portion of the shell. This not only made removing the shell a cinch, but it also cut the back and often times removed the vein, all in one shot!
WHY WAS I NOT TAUGHT THIS FROM DAY ONE?! Things like these, short-cuts, efficient shortcuts that save time and effort (perhaps the definition of efficiency), should be taught in classes, in the restaurant, etc. Why don’t the chefs communicate this with each other? Even after Chef X showed me his way, and seemed very confident that his way was perhaps the best, he seemed mesmerized by Chef Janet’s way, and said “do it her way.”
I learned this on my last day of level 6, after de-veining 8 boxes of shrimp at school by myself, and lots of shrimp at home. Seriously, why?
So, if Chefs are reading this at the school, I think its something to consider. Perhaps you should have conferences to discuss simple menial tasks that are carried out regularly, and then share your thoughts and decide upon a best way. An FCI way. So when we go to a kitchen, and they give us 20 lbs of shrimp to peel and de-vein, we have the FCI agreed upon best way. Yes, all chefs will do things differently, and some ways are better than others, but at least we’ll have in the bank what a collective group of great chefs determine to be the best method(s).
With that said, I can’t imagine what other ways there are to do the things that I’ve learned and have gotten good at. I wish I had more learning experiences like those.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Pastry in one sitting…
Somewhere between playing and practicing rugby (www.brooklynrugby.com), working for the man, and trying to lead a pseudo-normal life, I’ve been making my way to the pastry kitchen for the past week, making linzer tortes and crème brulees. Crème brulees are practically fat and eggs with some sugar on top… but they looked amazing. To be perfectly honest, I violated a major rule of tasting everything before you serve it to your customers, but the crème brulees are in high demand, and there may not be enough to taste. Also, if you follow the recipe of cream, milk, eggs and sugar, it should pretty much be the same every time.
However, the more intricate of the two desserts is the linzer torte. It calls for a lot more work, and more importantly, more measuring out of ingredients. That must be my least favorite part of pastry, measuring out amounts of this and that. But perhaps my favorite part was the fact that it used BOILED egg yolks in the dough, instead of raw egg yolks. It boggled my mind… and perhaps still boggles my mind. But for whatever reason it is, it works (I believe Chef Alain said it didn’t add extra moisture… though I don’t really recall).
Anyhow, there are many steps involved with making this torte, especially when you make EVERYTHING from scratch, which is what we did, and is really impressive. (With the exception of one thing which I will explain)
Let’s start from the bottom up. The shell of the pastry, or the dough, I guess is what normal people call it, is made of sifted flour, almond flour, sugar, some cinnamon, butter and boiled egg yolks. (I may be omitting an ingredient or so, but that’s the bulk of it). It actually took very little time to make once you gathered all of the ingredients. You get the butter going in the mixer with a paddle attachment then get the sugar in there, followed by the egg yolks (which you press through a drum sieve). Then after those are incorporated, you throw in all of the flour, almond flour and cinnamon at once (with the mixer off), turn on the mixer for probably 20-30 seconds and cut it off when everything is incorporated. It was actually very simple, and super delicious.
We usually made this a class ahead of time because it requires a minimum of an hour or two in the fridge. So we could roll this out to about an eighth to a quarter of an inch thick. And fill the tart mold. A nifty little tidbit that I learned about making a round rolled out piece of dough was that rather than giving the dough 90 degree turns every time you needed to turn it, you only gave it about 30 degree turns, and rolled out a bit more. This gives it a rounder, more uniform shape rather than a square shape. Of course if you want a more square shape, you would do 90 degree turns, and it would flatten it to a more square shape (We did this for the lattice strips we placed on top).
Next we need to make the fraaaaangipane. Which is a combination of pastry cream and almond paste. The almond paste was the only component we did not make ourselves because we already had it prepared by a different class (or by the chef, I suppose), but it was made from scratch.
Next we need to make the raspberry preserves, which was super delicious. (We don’t necessarily do these tings in this order, but it is how the torte is layered) This was simply raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, some water, I think, and some pectin after its all said and done.
So you get the ingredients in the torte pan in that order, and top it off with the lattice made from the dough. Pop it in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes; turn it down to 325 for another 10 minutes, and then place it in what I suppose is a stone oven for 7-8 minutes to finish cooking the bottom.
This torte was out of this world, in my opinion. It was so delicious. I think it taste better than the chocolate lava cakes, which were also delicious. Which in fact, we also made these chocolate cakes this past Saturday, because the guy in level 6 who is supposed to do it was out of class. Chef Alain gave us the option of us doing it, or him doing it, and I was all about taking it on. How hard can it be to follow the recipe?
So between us, mostly Scott and I, we made the crème brulees, chocolate cakes, linzer torte, oh and the crème anglaise (vanilla ice cream) that goes with the linzer torte, and a coffee flavored crème anglaise (not frozen, just the cream), that went with the chocolate cakes. It was a very successful evening, and we did a pretty good job throughout service.
I had just played in a rugby tournament earlier that day and injured my shoulder, mixed with a bit of contempt for my partner, so I was focusing hard on what I was doing, and my attitude may have sent out waves of dissonance, though I was thoroughly enjoying my time in the pastry kitchen despite having no wit or character. Not to mention the scars on my face from the day’s activities (it looked like I got into a head on collision with a Mack truck).
Anyhow, on to the stuff you like to hear about. So I guess I have been more distant from my partner since his verbal lashing on me. The first day I was there, the Chef asked if my partner was “my friend.” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I said, I guess not, he’s just my partner in class (especially after the comments he made to me in the previous class). For the most part, I don’t know him outside of class. So I’m not exactly sure why he was asking this, but he asked me again the next time we were in class. “Are you guys friends?” And I said this time, sure. He put me on the spot. And he also said, that’s not what you said last time. I then said, yeah, he’s my partner. And this comment was a recurring theme in all of our classes. He would ask me if we were friends, and remind me that I didn’t say that the first time. And that friends usually communicate and talk more during class. I pretty much kept to myself, though I tried to chat a little but wasn’t feeling it. Yes, it’s an awkward situation, but it is what it is. I tell you this much, Chef Alain didn’t make it any less awkward.
I guess this is a watered down recount of my 4 days in pastry, thus far, but life has been too busy to really jot down too many details. I must say, I think it is extremely rewarding to make the kind of things that we made in such a short period of time, and the dessert is the last thing you will remember about the restaurant. So it has to look good and taste phenomenal. Come to think of it, when I used to go out to eat with my girlfriend, the dessert was what we discussed most (unless we didn’t eat dessert, and unless another portion of the meal stole the show), and then we would think about what we were having for dessert. In all I think we did a fine job in pastry. I also think Chef Alain’s methods of order, cleanliness and organization are going to help us benefit in any station of any kitchen.
However, the more intricate of the two desserts is the linzer torte. It calls for a lot more work, and more importantly, more measuring out of ingredients. That must be my least favorite part of pastry, measuring out amounts of this and that. But perhaps my favorite part was the fact that it used BOILED egg yolks in the dough, instead of raw egg yolks. It boggled my mind… and perhaps still boggles my mind. But for whatever reason it is, it works (I believe Chef Alain said it didn’t add extra moisture… though I don’t really recall).
Anyhow, there are many steps involved with making this torte, especially when you make EVERYTHING from scratch, which is what we did, and is really impressive. (With the exception of one thing which I will explain)
Let’s start from the bottom up. The shell of the pastry, or the dough, I guess is what normal people call it, is made of sifted flour, almond flour, sugar, some cinnamon, butter and boiled egg yolks. (I may be omitting an ingredient or so, but that’s the bulk of it). It actually took very little time to make once you gathered all of the ingredients. You get the butter going in the mixer with a paddle attachment then get the sugar in there, followed by the egg yolks (which you press through a drum sieve). Then after those are incorporated, you throw in all of the flour, almond flour and cinnamon at once (with the mixer off), turn on the mixer for probably 20-30 seconds and cut it off when everything is incorporated. It was actually very simple, and super delicious.
We usually made this a class ahead of time because it requires a minimum of an hour or two in the fridge. So we could roll this out to about an eighth to a quarter of an inch thick. And fill the tart mold. A nifty little tidbit that I learned about making a round rolled out piece of dough was that rather than giving the dough 90 degree turns every time you needed to turn it, you only gave it about 30 degree turns, and rolled out a bit more. This gives it a rounder, more uniform shape rather than a square shape. Of course if you want a more square shape, you would do 90 degree turns, and it would flatten it to a more square shape (We did this for the lattice strips we placed on top).
Next we need to make the fraaaaangipane. Which is a combination of pastry cream and almond paste. The almond paste was the only component we did not make ourselves because we already had it prepared by a different class (or by the chef, I suppose), but it was made from scratch.
Next we need to make the raspberry preserves, which was super delicious. (We don’t necessarily do these tings in this order, but it is how the torte is layered) This was simply raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, some water, I think, and some pectin after its all said and done.
So you get the ingredients in the torte pan in that order, and top it off with the lattice made from the dough. Pop it in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes; turn it down to 325 for another 10 minutes, and then place it in what I suppose is a stone oven for 7-8 minutes to finish cooking the bottom.
This torte was out of this world, in my opinion. It was so delicious. I think it taste better than the chocolate lava cakes, which were also delicious. Which in fact, we also made these chocolate cakes this past Saturday, because the guy in level 6 who is supposed to do it was out of class. Chef Alain gave us the option of us doing it, or him doing it, and I was all about taking it on. How hard can it be to follow the recipe?
So between us, mostly Scott and I, we made the crème brulees, chocolate cakes, linzer torte, oh and the crème anglaise (vanilla ice cream) that goes with the linzer torte, and a coffee flavored crème anglaise (not frozen, just the cream), that went with the chocolate cakes. It was a very successful evening, and we did a pretty good job throughout service.
I had just played in a rugby tournament earlier that day and injured my shoulder, mixed with a bit of contempt for my partner, so I was focusing hard on what I was doing, and my attitude may have sent out waves of dissonance, though I was thoroughly enjoying my time in the pastry kitchen despite having no wit or character. Not to mention the scars on my face from the day’s activities (it looked like I got into a head on collision with a Mack truck).
Anyhow, on to the stuff you like to hear about. So I guess I have been more distant from my partner since his verbal lashing on me. The first day I was there, the Chef asked if my partner was “my friend.” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I said, I guess not, he’s just my partner in class (especially after the comments he made to me in the previous class). For the most part, I don’t know him outside of class. So I’m not exactly sure why he was asking this, but he asked me again the next time we were in class. “Are you guys friends?” And I said this time, sure. He put me on the spot. And he also said, that’s not what you said last time. I then said, yeah, he’s my partner. And this comment was a recurring theme in all of our classes. He would ask me if we were friends, and remind me that I didn’t say that the first time. And that friends usually communicate and talk more during class. I pretty much kept to myself, though I tried to chat a little but wasn’t feeling it. Yes, it’s an awkward situation, but it is what it is. I tell you this much, Chef Alain didn’t make it any less awkward.
I guess this is a watered down recount of my 4 days in pastry, thus far, but life has been too busy to really jot down too many details. I must say, I think it is extremely rewarding to make the kind of things that we made in such a short period of time, and the dessert is the last thing you will remember about the restaurant. So it has to look good and taste phenomenal. Come to think of it, when I used to go out to eat with my girlfriend, the dessert was what we discussed most (unless we didn’t eat dessert, and unless another portion of the meal stole the show), and then we would think about what we were having for dessert. In all I think we did a fine job in pastry. I also think Chef Alain’s methods of order, cleanliness and organization are going to help us benefit in any station of any kitchen.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Secret's out
Soooooo... somehow I was discovered at school. I guess this is what I didn't want to happen, but I also suppose that by writing a blog on a public website it was pretty inevitable.
I guess for starters, I can just put a little disclaimer and kind of explain what you've stumbled upon. I am providing an entirely biased, one sided view of this experience I have paid 30+ G's to experience in order to switch careers from a business/legal field to working in a kitchen. Yes, these views are entirely biased because they are all mine and mine alone. However, as I read and re-read my posts (believe me, the first thing I did last night when I got home at 11:45 was re-read some recent posts to make sure there was no slander or defamation of character), I think I can honestly say that my writing, in reflecting my views, are pretty straight-forward and honest. Until this point, the only people that read this blog were a few friends and family members, one guy who told me that I helped encourage him to sign up for the FCI, and most importantly ME! This has mostly been a personal journal, with personal things about class-mates and teacher-chefs which if I had a choice I would be happy knowing both of these groups did not see it, but I knew that by making this stuff public it was bound to happen.
Anyhow, I don't intend on changing my writing style or the subject matter (it tends to be less about the food and more about the interactions between students, chefs, and so forth, you know, the interesting stuff. If you read most of these posts, and find that you were a party to the situation, you would probably realize that its pretty much all true, albeit, my side of the truth.
Anyways, I'm done explaining myself, and if I don't bore you to death, I hope you enjoy reading. I'm sure the chef's will get a kick out of my inexperience and my blabbering as if I know what I'm talking about, meanwhile, my friends and family are amused.
So for the record, here's how I found out I was discovered. I'm in pastry for the restaurant right now, and that is a separate room from where our Level 5 and 6 chef, Chef Xavier, stations himself. After attendance, and a few minutes into getting ready for the class ahead of us, Chef Xavier walks through and says, "So, Edwin, I didn't know you were a writer." I played the dumb card. Threw it flat out on the table with a semi-straight face. "I don't know what you're talking about." I was hoping it was in reference to my phenomenal paper on Corsica and stufatu. But I had a feeling it wasn't. After catching up with him moments later, he confirmed my suspicions that it was indeed in reference to writing on the internet. I was most definitely curious about how he found out. Was it a student? Was it a chef, a random person. He said another chef had found it and sent him the link and printed out posts. I wonder if I had this chef already, or not. I wonder if this chef knew me and/or I knew them. And I wonder, most of all, if I said anything not nice about them. I have a feeling that I didn't, especially considering I have the utmost respect and appreciation for pretty much all of the chef's that I have had, and that I have seen in action.
(This isn't me kissing ass, its just my one sided honest view that I was talking about previously) And if any of you non-FCI people are reading this, I assure you the chef's here are top-notch, and I think you've realized this from my 69 previous posts (I can't believe I wrote 70 of these. You can see why I want to switch careers).
Speaking of which, I will get on to a post on Pastry soon. For now I need to keep earning that dollar to pay for my loans. I hope this doesn't cause any controversy, and if I find out that anyone is offended, I suppose I can stop.
I guess for starters, I can just put a little disclaimer and kind of explain what you've stumbled upon. I am providing an entirely biased, one sided view of this experience I have paid 30+ G's to experience in order to switch careers from a business/legal field to working in a kitchen. Yes, these views are entirely biased because they are all mine and mine alone. However, as I read and re-read my posts (believe me, the first thing I did last night when I got home at 11:45 was re-read some recent posts to make sure there was no slander or defamation of character), I think I can honestly say that my writing, in reflecting my views, are pretty straight-forward and honest. Until this point, the only people that read this blog were a few friends and family members, one guy who told me that I helped encourage him to sign up for the FCI, and most importantly ME! This has mostly been a personal journal, with personal things about class-mates and teacher-chefs which if I had a choice I would be happy knowing both of these groups did not see it, but I knew that by making this stuff public it was bound to happen.
Anyhow, I don't intend on changing my writing style or the subject matter (it tends to be less about the food and more about the interactions between students, chefs, and so forth, you know, the interesting stuff. If you read most of these posts, and find that you were a party to the situation, you would probably realize that its pretty much all true, albeit, my side of the truth.
Anyways, I'm done explaining myself, and if I don't bore you to death, I hope you enjoy reading. I'm sure the chef's will get a kick out of my inexperience and my blabbering as if I know what I'm talking about, meanwhile, my friends and family are amused.
So for the record, here's how I found out I was discovered. I'm in pastry for the restaurant right now, and that is a separate room from where our Level 5 and 6 chef, Chef Xavier, stations himself. After attendance, and a few minutes into getting ready for the class ahead of us, Chef Xavier walks through and says, "So, Edwin, I didn't know you were a writer." I played the dumb card. Threw it flat out on the table with a semi-straight face. "I don't know what you're talking about." I was hoping it was in reference to my phenomenal paper on Corsica and stufatu. But I had a feeling it wasn't. After catching up with him moments later, he confirmed my suspicions that it was indeed in reference to writing on the internet. I was most definitely curious about how he found out. Was it a student? Was it a chef, a random person. He said another chef had found it and sent him the link and printed out posts. I wonder if I had this chef already, or not. I wonder if this chef knew me and/or I knew them. And I wonder, most of all, if I said anything not nice about them. I have a feeling that I didn't, especially considering I have the utmost respect and appreciation for pretty much all of the chef's that I have had, and that I have seen in action.
(This isn't me kissing ass, its just my one sided honest view that I was talking about previously) And if any of you non-FCI people are reading this, I assure you the chef's here are top-notch, and I think you've realized this from my 69 previous posts (I can't believe I wrote 70 of these. You can see why I want to switch careers).
Speaking of which, I will get on to a post on Pastry soon. For now I need to keep earning that dollar to pay for my loans. I hope this doesn't cause any controversy, and if I find out that anyone is offended, I suppose I can stop.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Edwin is to Partner as Shit is to fan
I’ve been a busy cat lately. Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Its ok (I can answer myself). So where were we? Well, I’m finished with the fish station. That was a piece of cake, and quite easy to do! I’m also confident that I can make a delicious Mediterranean broth for it. The lamb, however, is a little different. And by a little, I mean a lot. And by a lot, I mean a world of difference. I guess for starters, I can describe the dish.
By the recipe, we are simply serving 2 bones of a rack of lamb over some chick peas mixed with a tomato fondue, with some coriander and cumin seasoning. It’s actually quite delicious. Chef Xavier added a few components, including using some of the chick peas to make a puree mixed with tahini sauce, then layering it into a ring mold on the plate and filling the rest of the ring mold with the whole chick peas on top. We also take eggplants, peel and slice them, and wrap a mixture of onion and eggplant in the sliced eggplants and place that little molded eggplant next to the chick peas.
We have a white board for the two stations that do fish, and a white board for the two stations that do meat. For the fish, we put a star up on the board when an appetizer goes out. The star lets us know we should get our fish in the broth and cooking. Once we’re ready to fire the dish, we put it all together and bam bam bam, it’s all ready in a matter of minutes.
The lamb is a lot different since the meat needs to be finished to the proper temperature upon the star. Chef Xavier gave us minute amounts, though the time does not take into account different temperatures in the oven, and the opening and closing of the oven. So basically, it comes down to cooking all of the lamb to medium rare, maybe a couple of racks to medium, and when the order come sin, you make sure you have enough, and when its starred you finish cooking the meat to where it belongs.
Basically it’s all trial and error and keeping an eye and touch on things. Let me go out and say right now, my partner is a disaster. Yes, he is pretty good in the kitchen, but he’s an awful partner/teammate/team player. Awful. He doesn’t communicate, and tries to run the show, so when I am getting involved I need to try to catch up with his processes. Now, maybe that works for him and for other people, but I don’t work that way, as his partner. Further, he thinks his ways are the only ways and always right. For instance… I know for a fact that if you put a cold piece of meat in a 450 degree oven for 2 minutes, you are NOT going to heat, or worse, overheat (over cook) the center. It just won’t happen. I do know however, that if you put a plate in the oven for 5 minutes, it WILL get TOO hot, and the sauce you put on after will crust on the plate.
So when we have an order for a table consisting of at least one duck and one lamb, they should pretty much be brought up simultaneously, maybe a minute of time in between. So we have to communicate with not only each other but the duck station. My partner insists that he knows what’s going on and we should just get going. And I would point out, dude, we should ask the duck station and make sure we’re on the same page. He’ll go ahead and pop a plate in the oven and when I confirm that we have 5 minutes, he will leave it there and make a stink when I take it out for a few minutes.
I also explained that maybe I cannot tell a medium from a medium rare as well as he can by just touch alone, but I do know that a if we put a cold/room temperature medium-rare slab of meat in the oven, 3 minutes will not over cook it. But he insisted that 1-2 minutes is enough. I am sure those meats were going out to the customers cold in the middle. Not warm, but cold. He didn’t seem to care. In fact, as I explained my point and tried to convince him that he is not necessarily always right, I received “Oh my god, dude, you are the worst partner, I can’t even work with you anymore. I don’t know how you’re gonna work in a real kitchen.” With that said, I didn’t mind so much what he said because I realize his type. He’s bossy and swears that he is absolutely right every time. I didn’t take what he said to heart because I knew that I wasn’t necessarily wrong. I have been tolerant of his ways so far, and I will continue to do so. I don’t want to point fingers or throw someone under the bus, like he will to me in a heartbeat. But I guess since this is my blog, I can say whatever I please. He’s a jackass. He will indeed be a good chef, and probably a dick of a chef, but good. But I won’t be working with or for him.
I have worked up a confidence in what I do and my skills in the kitchen. His analysis really has no significance, especially to me.
So we had 4 days of the lamb station. I haven’t posted a single post on it til now, which will cover all 4 days.
My first day I struggled a bit for a couple of reasons. We didn’t have the communication that we needed. He would throw a rack in the oven, and not tell me, and get started on a setting up a plate. So when I turned around to help there was nothing for me to do, so I looked like a chicken with my head cut off. Fine.
By the end of day one, chef noticed this and told me to do a plate all by myself. Without my partner doing a thing. I was confident I could do it. The very first thing that went wrong was chef told me to go ahead and plate. However, the order wasn’t ready to go up because we needed to wait on the duck station. So I get started, obviously not realizing this. I warm up the meat, which was to be a medium piece. I felt the piece and it felt medium. However, it was cut from the rack earlier and some of the blood started to exude from the cut side. I know what a medium piece looks like, and I also thought I had a feel for it. So by touch, it felt medium. Without a doubt in my mind. By looks, however, it was a little red, not dripping blood but red from the blood that was extracted previously. I went by touch. Chef Xavier was like “what is that cooked to?” And I responded, “Medium, chef.” “How do you know its medium?” “By touch, chef.” And he touches it. Sure enough, he agrees, it feels medium. But we both agreed it looked medium rare. What was I to do? So I finish garnishing, and bring it up, just to be greeted by the head chef, Chef Candy, telling me, you didn’t communicate with level 6, and you’re way to early, you have to replate. So I struck out. I just looked absolutely foolish. I know my partner was smiling inside. Again, this is after my chef told me to go ahead and plate it all by myself, and I didn’t think to coordinate with level 6.
This is why I mentioned earlier the importance of coordinating with the duck station which I learned the hard way, and my partner seemed to be above.
The next 2 classes (which is a total span of 4 or 5 days) our chef was out sick. He therefore, missed my comeback, and the way I took charge of the lamb the second night and did a great job. The third night, we had another different chef, who want the lamb presented very differently than our chef, which was nice to get a touch of something different, knowing there are many ways to skin a cat.
So the last day on the lamb station is when my partner made those comments, despite the fact that we did a fine job during service. He also decided to not come in to class on Saturday, our first night of Pastry. I was running 10 minutes late, so that was difficult enough, but I texted him telling him I was running a little late. He didn’t bother getting back to me on the fact that he wasn’t even coming in. I realize he doesn’t like me. (I may have realized this long ago, which is part of the reason why I stopped hanging out with some of those cats). In fact it’s been months, and the one time I tried to hang out with them again, I realized I really hated it, so that was it. I also found out that the one girl of the group came to the same realization that hanging out with some of those people, particularly my partner, sucks.
I wonder who has been reading this blog? Apparently my grandma has been!!!! ;) I hope the people in my class haven’t found it yet. I’ve done some searches; it’s not the easiest thing to find, so I’m banking on that. Maybe they found it, and that’s why they dislike me.
I guess my next post will be on pastry. The chef is really nice but a hard ass. But really nice. And he helped me significantly my first night considering I was alone and late. I also picked up on his humor and adjusted accordingly, and also picked up on what it is he likes: cleanliness, order, methodical maneuvering and attention to the task on hand. So despite being late, AND not having a lot of my tools (which I loss since starting level 5), he warmed up a little to me.
Anyways, I’ve given up on my partner. I don’t care for him, and I will work as a good teammate because it is in my nature to do so, but I won’t let him get to me, and I won’t lose my cool like he lost his. That’s how we do. And I’m above his immaturity. Not a better person, but just above some of his antics.
By the recipe, we are simply serving 2 bones of a rack of lamb over some chick peas mixed with a tomato fondue, with some coriander and cumin seasoning. It’s actually quite delicious. Chef Xavier added a few components, including using some of the chick peas to make a puree mixed with tahini sauce, then layering it into a ring mold on the plate and filling the rest of the ring mold with the whole chick peas on top. We also take eggplants, peel and slice them, and wrap a mixture of onion and eggplant in the sliced eggplants and place that little molded eggplant next to the chick peas.
We have a white board for the two stations that do fish, and a white board for the two stations that do meat. For the fish, we put a star up on the board when an appetizer goes out. The star lets us know we should get our fish in the broth and cooking. Once we’re ready to fire the dish, we put it all together and bam bam bam, it’s all ready in a matter of minutes.
The lamb is a lot different since the meat needs to be finished to the proper temperature upon the star. Chef Xavier gave us minute amounts, though the time does not take into account different temperatures in the oven, and the opening and closing of the oven. So basically, it comes down to cooking all of the lamb to medium rare, maybe a couple of racks to medium, and when the order come sin, you make sure you have enough, and when its starred you finish cooking the meat to where it belongs.
Basically it’s all trial and error and keeping an eye and touch on things. Let me go out and say right now, my partner is a disaster. Yes, he is pretty good in the kitchen, but he’s an awful partner/teammate/team player. Awful. He doesn’t communicate, and tries to run the show, so when I am getting involved I need to try to catch up with his processes. Now, maybe that works for him and for other people, but I don’t work that way, as his partner. Further, he thinks his ways are the only ways and always right. For instance… I know for a fact that if you put a cold piece of meat in a 450 degree oven for 2 minutes, you are NOT going to heat, or worse, overheat (over cook) the center. It just won’t happen. I do know however, that if you put a plate in the oven for 5 minutes, it WILL get TOO hot, and the sauce you put on after will crust on the plate.
So when we have an order for a table consisting of at least one duck and one lamb, they should pretty much be brought up simultaneously, maybe a minute of time in between. So we have to communicate with not only each other but the duck station. My partner insists that he knows what’s going on and we should just get going. And I would point out, dude, we should ask the duck station and make sure we’re on the same page. He’ll go ahead and pop a plate in the oven and when I confirm that we have 5 minutes, he will leave it there and make a stink when I take it out for a few minutes.
I also explained that maybe I cannot tell a medium from a medium rare as well as he can by just touch alone, but I do know that a if we put a cold/room temperature medium-rare slab of meat in the oven, 3 minutes will not over cook it. But he insisted that 1-2 minutes is enough. I am sure those meats were going out to the customers cold in the middle. Not warm, but cold. He didn’t seem to care. In fact, as I explained my point and tried to convince him that he is not necessarily always right, I received “Oh my god, dude, you are the worst partner, I can’t even work with you anymore. I don’t know how you’re gonna work in a real kitchen.” With that said, I didn’t mind so much what he said because I realize his type. He’s bossy and swears that he is absolutely right every time. I didn’t take what he said to heart because I knew that I wasn’t necessarily wrong. I have been tolerant of his ways so far, and I will continue to do so. I don’t want to point fingers or throw someone under the bus, like he will to me in a heartbeat. But I guess since this is my blog, I can say whatever I please. He’s a jackass. He will indeed be a good chef, and probably a dick of a chef, but good. But I won’t be working with or for him.
I have worked up a confidence in what I do and my skills in the kitchen. His analysis really has no significance, especially to me.
So we had 4 days of the lamb station. I haven’t posted a single post on it til now, which will cover all 4 days.
My first day I struggled a bit for a couple of reasons. We didn’t have the communication that we needed. He would throw a rack in the oven, and not tell me, and get started on a setting up a plate. So when I turned around to help there was nothing for me to do, so I looked like a chicken with my head cut off. Fine.
By the end of day one, chef noticed this and told me to do a plate all by myself. Without my partner doing a thing. I was confident I could do it. The very first thing that went wrong was chef told me to go ahead and plate. However, the order wasn’t ready to go up because we needed to wait on the duck station. So I get started, obviously not realizing this. I warm up the meat, which was to be a medium piece. I felt the piece and it felt medium. However, it was cut from the rack earlier and some of the blood started to exude from the cut side. I know what a medium piece looks like, and I also thought I had a feel for it. So by touch, it felt medium. Without a doubt in my mind. By looks, however, it was a little red, not dripping blood but red from the blood that was extracted previously. I went by touch. Chef Xavier was like “what is that cooked to?” And I responded, “Medium, chef.” “How do you know its medium?” “By touch, chef.” And he touches it. Sure enough, he agrees, it feels medium. But we both agreed it looked medium rare. What was I to do? So I finish garnishing, and bring it up, just to be greeted by the head chef, Chef Candy, telling me, you didn’t communicate with level 6, and you’re way to early, you have to replate. So I struck out. I just looked absolutely foolish. I know my partner was smiling inside. Again, this is after my chef told me to go ahead and plate it all by myself, and I didn’t think to coordinate with level 6.
This is why I mentioned earlier the importance of coordinating with the duck station which I learned the hard way, and my partner seemed to be above.
The next 2 classes (which is a total span of 4 or 5 days) our chef was out sick. He therefore, missed my comeback, and the way I took charge of the lamb the second night and did a great job. The third night, we had another different chef, who want the lamb presented very differently than our chef, which was nice to get a touch of something different, knowing there are many ways to skin a cat.
So the last day on the lamb station is when my partner made those comments, despite the fact that we did a fine job during service. He also decided to not come in to class on Saturday, our first night of Pastry. I was running 10 minutes late, so that was difficult enough, but I texted him telling him I was running a little late. He didn’t bother getting back to me on the fact that he wasn’t even coming in. I realize he doesn’t like me. (I may have realized this long ago, which is part of the reason why I stopped hanging out with some of those cats). In fact it’s been months, and the one time I tried to hang out with them again, I realized I really hated it, so that was it. I also found out that the one girl of the group came to the same realization that hanging out with some of those people, particularly my partner, sucks.
I wonder who has been reading this blog? Apparently my grandma has been!!!! ;) I hope the people in my class haven’t found it yet. I’ve done some searches; it’s not the easiest thing to find, so I’m banking on that. Maybe they found it, and that’s why they dislike me.
I guess my next post will be on pastry. The chef is really nice but a hard ass. But really nice. And he helped me significantly my first night considering I was alone and late. I also picked up on his humor and adjusted accordingly, and also picked up on what it is he likes: cleanliness, order, methodical maneuvering and attention to the task on hand. So despite being late, AND not having a lot of my tools (which I loss since starting level 5), he warmed up a little to me.
Anyways, I’ve given up on my partner. I don’t care for him, and I will work as a good teammate because it is in my nature to do so, but I won’t let him get to me, and I won’t lose my cool like he lost his. That’s how we do. And I’m above his immaturity. Not a better person, but just above some of his antics.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday Night Live?!
I know I wasn’t the only one who went to class expecting it be a nice quiet Tuesday at the restaurant. But we ran completely out of lamb and bass! We got slammed. Our dish is, fortunately, really easy to cook once the order comes in, so it wasn’t too bad.
Speaking of which, we prepared everything in record time! I also put together the poaching liquid by myself, and without really measuring anything out. It’s really easy to do once you get the hang of it. Unfortunately, just after we fell into our groove, we’re moving to the saucier station. I guess it’s good that I found this groove because I learned how to make this dish. In fact, I did make it a little spicy, however, I did get the thumbs up that it was delicious, despite being a touch spicy. It wasn’t unbearably spicy, and I didn’t even use that many pepper flakes, but I know to use less next time. But it was indeed good (both the head chef, Chef Candy and Chef Xavier agreed).
Anyhow, we had everything prepped and ready to go by 7:15! Chef asks that we’re ready by 7:45. We were sitting around doing extra little tidbits of things we didn’t really need to do. We really got our team work down as well. Hopefully we can keep it up through the next station. It looks like we’re going to be working together for the entire level.
At the end of class, we cleaned with a half hour to spare as well. So we talked to Chef Xavier about nothing. He started cooking since he was 9! He was the youngest to graduate the 2 year culinary program from the university in his home town of Corsica. That’s pretty impressive. Also, the culinary students worked from 8AM to 12 midnight. That’s a work day if I’ve ever heard of a work day.
Also, we have projects for this level. We’re assigned a French dish and we need to find a working recipe for it, and then do a bunch of research on the dish, the region and other things from the region including wine and cheeses (amongst a few other things). I was fortunate enough to draw the dish of the island of Corsica, Chef Xavier’s home town. Isn’t that great? I already came up with a concept of a cover page (as if that’s even important), and I asked my Photoshop expert buddy to bring my idea into fruition. He souffléd it! To be fair, I need to really get the contents of this report accurate and interesting, so he can appreciate it (especially considering he knows everything about Corsica). I figure I went to a decent college and I was able to write 20 page reports, so I can cram some interesting material into a 3 page report. We’ll see. I’m so booked that I need to find a good time to do it. I’ll get it done. I like the idea of the report, but I’m not liking the idea of homework.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Saturday Night Live!
First and foremost, we tweaked the dish a tiny bit tonight. We gave it another element, and we changed the aioli from an egg based aioli to a traditional potato based aioli. I didn’t know this either, but a garlic aioli was once just garlic, potato and olive oil, and salt and pepper, of course. Nothing more. Ours had a touch of saffron in it, which I think enhanced the color and presentation but barely affected the flavor.
Anyhow, we also added a base of braised fennel under the bass, to give it height, texture, and just another element to the dish. Quite frankly, I think it was great with the fennel, and a great idea on the part of the chef.
We took fennel, sliced it to about ½” and gave it a light salt and peppering. We then browned both sides in a sauté pan and placed it over a bed of sweated onions. We barely covered it with chicken stock, placed a piece of parchment paper over it, and baked it in the oven until it was tender.
When that was ready, that became the base of our fish dish. We then proceeded as we normally did, with the fish on top, the onions and red peppers on top, some of the poaching liquid, and topped it with the crouton with aioli. This time, we made a little herb mound on top, using the fennel tops, which is a beautiful almost dill looking herby green, and chervil and chives. The dish this time looked a lot more impressive than either of the times before. In fact I was bringing up two plates and Chef Xavier calls over to me “Edwin!” I look, thinking I just mucked something up. “Looks great,” while he threw up the international ok symbol (index and thumb together in a circle with remaining 3 fingers up in the air… yeah that one). That was nice.
SO, Saturday night is when it gets busy. In fact the level 6 fish team wasn’t quite a team. It was one guy doing it all by himself, and he was rocking it! We needed to wait a minute or two for him on sending out some dishes, but considering he was by himself, it was pretty impressive. We helped him out in any way we could, but he was pretty set.
Scott and I have been a little shaky on our teamwork until this class. He would tell me to relax a few times because the truth of the matter is I was pretty nervous and things were intense, considering this was my first time in the restaurant kitchen. He has been working in restaurants for a year or so by now, and has a lot more experience. He was right. Our dish doesn’t take long to make, so we had some time before we had to bring out our dish. And the fact of the matter is the bass is really simple. Once the accompaniments are prepared, which is before service time, the rest is simple. Put everything in a sautoir, and then cook the bass for a few minutes.
So the orders start coming in, and I just relaxed. Took it one by one, or 4 by 4, whatever the orders were, and we were smooth sailing. We would plate as a team, prepare the fish as a team (as in lay out the next amount of bass that we might need for the next order). I would place a slice of fennel on the plate, he would lay the fish, veggies and sauce, I would prepare the herbs and so forth.
At first he was the big shot because he’s been in this position, but as we got into our groove and realized this was a piece of cake, we were on the same level playing field. It was a team effort no matter how you look at it. If I went to get dinner, he manned the fish, and vice versa.
About 25-30 dishes later, we got our last order, and we started cleaning up. Out of no where, the order board is clean and down for the night, the executive chef screams out ONE BASS!! I’m thinking, are you serious? And he’s like, “really, one bass, I forgot to call it out.” And sure enough, I prepared one final bass. Thankfully we didn’t throw anything away. Scott gathered some of the things we put away and I took care of the dish. We worked well together.
Now, Chef Xavier. First off, he’s a brilliant chef. On top of his shit, and has a keen eye for details. He took note that there were peppercorns mixed in with our capers. I noticed something looked odd, but he was like, what is this? Why are there green peppercorns in the capers (FYI, they were mixed together in the jar, but labeled as just capers). He’s all over that shit like a Vietnamese whore at a rodeo. (I just used that analogy to respond to one of my bosses. I hope he enjoyed it).
However, last night, the executive chef was yelling some orders to the meat station where Chef Xavier was helping out, and Chef Xavier was screaming back “NO WAY, you ordered only two, we have no more and we can’t make anymore.” Another French Chef was there, working the appetizers, and was like, whoa chez, relax, and said some stuff in French, probably about being in front of the students.
Chef Xavier works 7 days a week, and is one of the few Chefs that still works at a restaurant. He is pretty much the shit. He’s also very nice to us, and respects us, and treats us as cooks not kids. He keeps an eye out for us, and doesn’t let us fall under the bus. We’ll see how this station progresses. After just another class or two, we move right along to the next station. It’s really brief, and kind of scary. But its fun! And it’s not too bad. The 5 hours go by really quickly. Amazingly fast.
Anyhow, we also added a base of braised fennel under the bass, to give it height, texture, and just another element to the dish. Quite frankly, I think it was great with the fennel, and a great idea on the part of the chef.
We took fennel, sliced it to about ½” and gave it a light salt and peppering. We then browned both sides in a sauté pan and placed it over a bed of sweated onions. We barely covered it with chicken stock, placed a piece of parchment paper over it, and baked it in the oven until it was tender.
When that was ready, that became the base of our fish dish. We then proceeded as we normally did, with the fish on top, the onions and red peppers on top, some of the poaching liquid, and topped it with the crouton with aioli. This time, we made a little herb mound on top, using the fennel tops, which is a beautiful almost dill looking herby green, and chervil and chives. The dish this time looked a lot more impressive than either of the times before. In fact I was bringing up two plates and Chef Xavier calls over to me “Edwin!” I look, thinking I just mucked something up. “Looks great,” while he threw up the international ok symbol (index and thumb together in a circle with remaining 3 fingers up in the air… yeah that one). That was nice.
SO, Saturday night is when it gets busy. In fact the level 6 fish team wasn’t quite a team. It was one guy doing it all by himself, and he was rocking it! We needed to wait a minute or two for him on sending out some dishes, but considering he was by himself, it was pretty impressive. We helped him out in any way we could, but he was pretty set.
Scott and I have been a little shaky on our teamwork until this class. He would tell me to relax a few times because the truth of the matter is I was pretty nervous and things were intense, considering this was my first time in the restaurant kitchen. He has been working in restaurants for a year or so by now, and has a lot more experience. He was right. Our dish doesn’t take long to make, so we had some time before we had to bring out our dish. And the fact of the matter is the bass is really simple. Once the accompaniments are prepared, which is before service time, the rest is simple. Put everything in a sautoir, and then cook the bass for a few minutes.
So the orders start coming in, and I just relaxed. Took it one by one, or 4 by 4, whatever the orders were, and we were smooth sailing. We would plate as a team, prepare the fish as a team (as in lay out the next amount of bass that we might need for the next order). I would place a slice of fennel on the plate, he would lay the fish, veggies and sauce, I would prepare the herbs and so forth.
At first he was the big shot because he’s been in this position, but as we got into our groove and realized this was a piece of cake, we were on the same level playing field. It was a team effort no matter how you look at it. If I went to get dinner, he manned the fish, and vice versa.
About 25-30 dishes later, we got our last order, and we started cleaning up. Out of no where, the order board is clean and down for the night, the executive chef screams out ONE BASS!! I’m thinking, are you serious? And he’s like, “really, one bass, I forgot to call it out.” And sure enough, I prepared one final bass. Thankfully we didn’t throw anything away. Scott gathered some of the things we put away and I took care of the dish. We worked well together.
Now, Chef Xavier. First off, he’s a brilliant chef. On top of his shit, and has a keen eye for details. He took note that there were peppercorns mixed in with our capers. I noticed something looked odd, but he was like, what is this? Why are there green peppercorns in the capers (FYI, they were mixed together in the jar, but labeled as just capers). He’s all over that shit like a Vietnamese whore at a rodeo. (I just used that analogy to respond to one of my bosses. I hope he enjoyed it).
However, last night, the executive chef was yelling some orders to the meat station where Chef Xavier was helping out, and Chef Xavier was screaming back “NO WAY, you ordered only two, we have no more and we can’t make anymore.” Another French Chef was there, working the appetizers, and was like, whoa chez, relax, and said some stuff in French, probably about being in front of the students.
Chef Xavier works 7 days a week, and is one of the few Chefs that still works at a restaurant. He is pretty much the shit. He’s also very nice to us, and respects us, and treats us as cooks not kids. He keeps an eye out for us, and doesn’t let us fall under the bus. We’ll see how this station progresses. After just another class or two, we move right along to the next station. It’s really brief, and kind of scary. But its fun! And it’s not too bad. The 5 hours go by really quickly. Amazingly fast.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
ORDERING, 2 BASS!
Today is the first day that we get to really feel the heat. Being in the restaurant kitchen is unlike any level so far. Well, I guess it’s closest to level 3, but still different. We were prepared for 2 dishes, as in we wrote up note cards for the two dishes that we were to be responsible for. There is the Mediterranean style braised bass with a garlic aioli crouton, and the Arctic Char, served with creamed spinach, pomme anna, and yuzu hollandaise sauce.
I am in quite a predicament. For level 3 I left work a little earlier than I should have to get to class. For level 4, this was usually not an issue since there wasn’t much of a rush except for buffet. Now for Level 5, if we are to do two dishes, we are most definitely going to need to get in earlier to prepare. I know just picking the stems off of the spinach takes FOREVER. However, for our first class, we only did the first dish, the bass. I got in at 5:45, and we were barely ready to cook the fish when service began. We needed to chop a bunch of onions, some peppers, gather the mise en place, peel tomatoes, Scott made a fish fumet earlier in the night, we needed to prepare the aioli, toast the croutons, then we had to cook all of the braising liquids, and once that was ready, we could prepare the fish. It took about two hours to do all this. I thought we’d have some time to spare, but a second dish is looking pretty impossible at the moment. Level 6 was also only doing 1 fish dish with just 2 people, as well. Their‘s was a barramundi, which had a few more accompaniments with it. I think they had pommes puree and something else. I wasn’t quite paying attention.
They had a bunch of tips for us, and most importantly, since our dishes went up simultaneously, we needed to communicate so the dishes came out hot and together. We did a great job though, I think. It was tight, and hectic at first, but we pulled it together. By the end, more people were ordering the barramundi, so it was easier on us. I think they ordered it because it was called barramundi. I know I would. In fact, our Mediterranean braising liquid was quite good! It had fennels seeds, bay leaves and crushed red pepper to flavor it. It also had green and black olives, potatoes, chopped tomatoes and red pepper tiles (in addition to a slew of onions) to add a nice contrast of tastes and texture.
Basically, once the braising liquid was complete, we ladled some into a sautoir, seasoned it with S&P, brought it to a simmer, then seasoned some bass and threw it in until it was cooked.
I guess I should go over the ordering method briefly. The dinner is prix fixe style, so everyone orders an appetizer, a fish, a meat and a dessert. They also have vegetable alternatives for the fish and meat, if necessary. So when they order they call out the order “2 BASS, 2 BARRAMUNDI!!” And we call back from our respective stations “2 BARRAMUNDI!” “2 BASS!” They also mark the orders on a board. When the appetizer goes out they star our fish dish to let us know we should fire it up because it’s going out soon. Then when they need the fish they say “FIRE 2 BASS!” We then communicate with the barramundi guys to make sure they’re ready when we’re ready and vice versa so the food and plates stay hot.
All in all, we did pretty darn well! Scott is a great partner. Sometimes he rushes and forgets to season or something like that, but we were under the gun, and we’ve all done it. Tonight should be better considering we still only have one dish, and we have leftover aioli, so we don’t have to prepare that, and we know exactly what needs to be done. Tonight, I would also like to prepare the tomatoes, as far as peeling them, and we can make sure we have a fish fumet, and so forth. Then again, I will get in earlier on Saturday and we’ll have more time to prep everything. We’ll see what happens tonight (Thursday).
I am in quite a predicament. For level 3 I left work a little earlier than I should have to get to class. For level 4, this was usually not an issue since there wasn’t much of a rush except for buffet. Now for Level 5, if we are to do two dishes, we are most definitely going to need to get in earlier to prepare. I know just picking the stems off of the spinach takes FOREVER. However, for our first class, we only did the first dish, the bass. I got in at 5:45, and we were barely ready to cook the fish when service began. We needed to chop a bunch of onions, some peppers, gather the mise en place, peel tomatoes, Scott made a fish fumet earlier in the night, we needed to prepare the aioli, toast the croutons, then we had to cook all of the braising liquids, and once that was ready, we could prepare the fish. It took about two hours to do all this. I thought we’d have some time to spare, but a second dish is looking pretty impossible at the moment. Level 6 was also only doing 1 fish dish with just 2 people, as well. Their‘s was a barramundi, which had a few more accompaniments with it. I think they had pommes puree and something else. I wasn’t quite paying attention.
They had a bunch of tips for us, and most importantly, since our dishes went up simultaneously, we needed to communicate so the dishes came out hot and together. We did a great job though, I think. It was tight, and hectic at first, but we pulled it together. By the end, more people were ordering the barramundi, so it was easier on us. I think they ordered it because it was called barramundi. I know I would. In fact, our Mediterranean braising liquid was quite good! It had fennels seeds, bay leaves and crushed red pepper to flavor it. It also had green and black olives, potatoes, chopped tomatoes and red pepper tiles (in addition to a slew of onions) to add a nice contrast of tastes and texture.
Basically, once the braising liquid was complete, we ladled some into a sautoir, seasoned it with S&P, brought it to a simmer, then seasoned some bass and threw it in until it was cooked.
I guess I should go over the ordering method briefly. The dinner is prix fixe style, so everyone orders an appetizer, a fish, a meat and a dessert. They also have vegetable alternatives for the fish and meat, if necessary. So when they order they call out the order “2 BASS, 2 BARRAMUNDI!!” And we call back from our respective stations “2 BARRAMUNDI!” “2 BASS!” They also mark the orders on a board. When the appetizer goes out they star our fish dish to let us know we should fire it up because it’s going out soon. Then when they need the fish they say “FIRE 2 BASS!” We then communicate with the barramundi guys to make sure they’re ready when we’re ready and vice versa so the food and plates stay hot.
All in all, we did pretty darn well! Scott is a great partner. Sometimes he rushes and forgets to season or something like that, but we were under the gun, and we’ve all done it. Tonight should be better considering we still only have one dish, and we have leftover aioli, so we don’t have to prepare that, and we know exactly what needs to be done. Tonight, I would also like to prepare the tomatoes, as far as peeling them, and we can make sure we have a fish fumet, and so forth. Then again, I will get in earlier on Saturday and we’ll have more time to prep everything. We’ll see what happens tonight (Thursday).
Goodbye Level 4
All in all, I must say, the 8 of us in level 4 have pulled off something that, as Chef Rob explained it, could only have been done by dedicated students. And I think we are just that. The 8 of us there have one agenda when we’re in class, and that is to produce a quality product. Chef Rob has explained to our next chef that we are a great class of 8 that works like a class of 16. Chef Janet said many times how sad she was to see us go, and we have to visit frequently. Chef Janet was definitely awesome. She showed us some amazing things that we never imagined doing (making our own bacon and pastrami and ham!!!) Chef Rob also showed us some incredible things and opened our eyes to new techniques and possibilities.
By the way, I believe I mentioned the slow cooked wrapped chicken that Chef Dave Arnold showed us. Well I took some home and fried it up for some friends who were in the house, and they were amazed. I explained I didn’t make it, but it was still fantastic. I didn’t deep fry it, but I did sauté it. And I made a rookie mistake. I got the oil nice and hot, but I failed to dry the skin properly before putting it in. It made for a little more of a mess (splattering), but it also allowed the skin to stick a little to the pan. It wasn’t a terrible thing, the food still came out great, but I should have known better. I realized it as soon as I put it in the pan. I must say, it’s been a while since I did some real cooking, so I need to really think a bit more before I jump right into it. So as a reminder, when deep frying or sautéing, the purpose of the oil is for flavor, color and to prevent sticking. If you do not remove the excess moisture, then you counteract this initiative and there will be more splattering and sticking to the pan.
Anyhow, to be perfectly honest, after we finished buffet, it felt like level 4 was over. And unfortunately that was after the first two weeks of level 4. Family meal was… just rushing to make some food and then not really giving a shit about the rest of class. Most of the time we busted our asses for no reason because people either didn’t need food, or we had our buffets and no one ate the family meal. And then when we got to production, we were never really rushing (except for getting the fish and chicken to the restaurant), but we were doing fun projects like curing meats and the like. Chef Janet was great because she let us focus on the aspects that were important, like the filleting of the fish and the butchering of the chicken, while she maintained the stocks and worked on other projects. And then when we were ready, she let us run the show.
So on our last day of level 4, the buffet guys did an entirely dessert themed buffet. They must have made about 10 or 12 different desserts, ranging from individual cheesecakes, to crème brule, chocolate tarts, bread pudding, ice cream sandwiches, and the list goes on. It was pretty amazing. That meant they weren’t making real food, so the family meal and production group had to step in. We put out our deli meats, a smoked sturgeon and a cheese fondue station for the pastrami. The family meal guys put together a “breakfast for dinner” station. They used some of our molasses bacon that we made. We didn’t let them touch the maple brown sugar bacon. I must say, the molasses bacon was absolutely delicious. I will try the maple bacon this weekend, but I am trying to eat a little better so maybe just a touch.
By the way, the pastrami was phenomenal! The ham and turkey breast were also amazing! Its indescribable, to be honest. Have you been to Katz's delicatessen? Well our meats could have been showcased there. It was quite an accomplishment. I went to party later that evening with the deli meats, and between about 5 people, we finished over 2.5 lbs of pastrami and turkey breast. They were impressed and I was pleased that we were able to make such an impressive product.
But the family meal team was making bacon egg and cheeses on bagels, they prepared lox and set out cream cheese for bagels, they were making omelettes, eggs benedict with a fresh hollandaise, etc. etc. It was pretty great. Oh they also put together a delicious corned beef hash and some tasty home fries. They did a fantastic job.
Oh, how can I forget? One of our classmates, Grace, is a great cellist. Her roommate is a musician as well. So Grace asked her to come in and play violin, and she did just that. It was AMAZING. It was such a classy affair, though we were in a kitchen and many of us were wearing our kitchen whites. Chef Rob was so proud of this class. We consistently raised the bar and produced some quality work. Chef Rob made a reputation for himself as a kick ass level 4 instructor, but he would never fail to mention that it couldn’t have been done with the 8 of us.
On to the kitchen of l'ecole.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Livin Sous Vide loca
SO we’re doing Production now. It’s cool. But let’s put that aside for a moment. We just had 2 lessons at the end of the previous two classes, totaling 3.5 hours on this relatively new method of sous vide and low temperature immersion cooking.
In brief, sous vide is a method of cooking items in a vacuum. We had a pretty large machine that sucked the life and air out of a package and sealed it. It was a large metal container with a glass domed top. You lay a plastic bag inside with the contents that you want to seal airtight and turn the sucka on. In a few seconds you see the gauge reading the percent of air removed. It reaches a 100% vacuum, airless atmosphere. When the machine turns off, and the bag is sealed with its contents, and air returns to the chamber, the bag compresses as much as the contents allow.
So for instance, we put a stack of white bread in the machine, without putting it in a bag, and we sucked the life out of it. Because the bread is so porous, the air was sucked out, but when it was done, the air easily refilled the pores. When we put marshmallows in, the y first started to expand, as the air was sucked out of the middle (since the outside is less porous, the air inside pushed against the inner walls until it broke free. When the machine was turned off the marshmallows just shrunk! And the texture went from light and fluffy to thick and Turkish delight textured. It was actually delicious and interesting. I enjoyed it. However, when we put the bread in a bag and compressed it, the air got sucked out and as the bag sealed and compressed, it just SMOOSHED the bread. So the point is you can’t just put anything in these things without some thought about the texture and what your goal is.
With that said, we tried a few texture modifications, which uses this concept of removing the air and compressing the item, as well as some flavor infusions (including alcohol).
Before we go on, the chef that instructs this course is Dave Arnold, and he specializes in this stuff. It turns out sous vide (vacuum) stile of cooking is not fully understood, and therefore the Dept. of Health won’t allow it to be served to the restaurant without a full HAACP plan. (I forget what that meant but it was something about food safety and storage and serving, etc. I did get a 96 on that test!!) But Chef Dave Arnold mentioned that if he could, we would do A LOT more sous vide cooking if he were allowed. But he sure does experiment all the time and looks for the right temperatures and the right times. It’s pretty scientific, but what’s great is cooking in a vacuum, provided you cook at the same temperature each time and same amount of time, is a guaranteed controlled method of cooking. The result will be the same EVERY TIME. Kind of like that old experiment of a feather falling as fast as a brick… in a vacuum.
So the first day we just did some basic stuff, learned some concepts, looked at some results of eggs cooked at different temperatures. It was amazing seeing the difference of 1-2 degrees Celsius. As I mentioned, if you follow the time and temp (particularly the temperature) it will be the same every time. There is even one stage of egg that the yolk turns into a moldable clay like substance. It holds together like clay and some chefs are using these yolks to sculpt cute little egg things… so we’re told.
As I touched, the beauty of the sous vide method of cooking, and just immersion cooking, is you can cook something and keep it in the water for HOURS, and as long as the water is circulating and the temperature is constant, the product will not overcook! So if you want poached eggs… set them to 62 or 63 degrees Celsius, and use them as you’re ready. They will all be the same. Always.
So the next day, Chef Dave has a rib eye and a piece of prime rib that were cooking sous vide for a while. We took them out, dropped them for less than 30 seconds in a vat of hot oil and pulled out beautifully crisp, tender, perfectly cooked meats. They tasted INCREDIBLE! We also had a whole chicken skin which had some chicken “meat glued” inside, and rolled. That was cooked for an hour or so in an immersion, then we deep fried that for a moment. Incredible. It tasted so frigging good! I brought some home that was unfried, which I will fry up real quick, and it should be super delicious still. The texture of the meat was so tender and moist, but not like fully cooked chicken, though it was fully cooked.
One of the last things we did was some watermelon infused with different alcohols and a vanilla and vodka mixture. Those were pretty good. They were VERY alcoholic, but still delicious! If they had better alcohol, it would have tasted really great.
Here’s where we stand with our creations.
Pastrami – COOKED! We smoked then steamed it, and it smells incredible!
Turkey breast – COOOKED! We smoked it for a while and it’s looking great
Bacons – COOKED! We smoked those too and those too, look fabulous.
Smoked sturgeon – I almost single handedly did this one. I put it in a salt, sugar and dill and onion cure, and then we cold smoked it followed by hot smoking it. It looks fantastic.
Bratwurst – We packaged and blanched some brats, need to cook on Saturday. I brought some home though. Looks great.
Ham – We put it in an immersion cooker and we let it sit over night. Should be fabulous!
Everything is looking good, and tomorrow is our last class of level 4. Oh my. We’re almost in the restaurant.
In brief, sous vide is a method of cooking items in a vacuum. We had a pretty large machine that sucked the life and air out of a package and sealed it. It was a large metal container with a glass domed top. You lay a plastic bag inside with the contents that you want to seal airtight and turn the sucka on. In a few seconds you see the gauge reading the percent of air removed. It reaches a 100% vacuum, airless atmosphere. When the machine turns off, and the bag is sealed with its contents, and air returns to the chamber, the bag compresses as much as the contents allow.
So for instance, we put a stack of white bread in the machine, without putting it in a bag, and we sucked the life out of it. Because the bread is so porous, the air was sucked out, but when it was done, the air easily refilled the pores. When we put marshmallows in, the y first started to expand, as the air was sucked out of the middle (since the outside is less porous, the air inside pushed against the inner walls until it broke free. When the machine was turned off the marshmallows just shrunk! And the texture went from light and fluffy to thick and Turkish delight textured. It was actually delicious and interesting. I enjoyed it. However, when we put the bread in a bag and compressed it, the air got sucked out and as the bag sealed and compressed, it just SMOOSHED the bread. So the point is you can’t just put anything in these things without some thought about the texture and what your goal is.
With that said, we tried a few texture modifications, which uses this concept of removing the air and compressing the item, as well as some flavor infusions (including alcohol).
Before we go on, the chef that instructs this course is Dave Arnold, and he specializes in this stuff. It turns out sous vide (vacuum) stile of cooking is not fully understood, and therefore the Dept. of Health won’t allow it to be served to the restaurant without a full HAACP plan. (I forget what that meant but it was something about food safety and storage and serving, etc. I did get a 96 on that test!!) But Chef Dave Arnold mentioned that if he could, we would do A LOT more sous vide cooking if he were allowed. But he sure does experiment all the time and looks for the right temperatures and the right times. It’s pretty scientific, but what’s great is cooking in a vacuum, provided you cook at the same temperature each time and same amount of time, is a guaranteed controlled method of cooking. The result will be the same EVERY TIME. Kind of like that old experiment of a feather falling as fast as a brick… in a vacuum.
So the first day we just did some basic stuff, learned some concepts, looked at some results of eggs cooked at different temperatures. It was amazing seeing the difference of 1-2 degrees Celsius. As I mentioned, if you follow the time and temp (particularly the temperature) it will be the same every time. There is even one stage of egg that the yolk turns into a moldable clay like substance. It holds together like clay and some chefs are using these yolks to sculpt cute little egg things… so we’re told.
As I touched, the beauty of the sous vide method of cooking, and just immersion cooking, is you can cook something and keep it in the water for HOURS, and as long as the water is circulating and the temperature is constant, the product will not overcook! So if you want poached eggs… set them to 62 or 63 degrees Celsius, and use them as you’re ready. They will all be the same. Always.
So the next day, Chef Dave has a rib eye and a piece of prime rib that were cooking sous vide for a while. We took them out, dropped them for less than 30 seconds in a vat of hot oil and pulled out beautifully crisp, tender, perfectly cooked meats. They tasted INCREDIBLE! We also had a whole chicken skin which had some chicken “meat glued” inside, and rolled. That was cooked for an hour or so in an immersion, then we deep fried that for a moment. Incredible. It tasted so frigging good! I brought some home that was unfried, which I will fry up real quick, and it should be super delicious still. The texture of the meat was so tender and moist, but not like fully cooked chicken, though it was fully cooked.
One of the last things we did was some watermelon infused with different alcohols and a vanilla and vodka mixture. Those were pretty good. They were VERY alcoholic, but still delicious! If they had better alcohol, it would have tasted really great.
Here’s where we stand with our creations.
Pastrami – COOKED! We smoked then steamed it, and it smells incredible!
Turkey breast – COOOKED! We smoked it for a while and it’s looking great
Bacons – COOKED! We smoked those too and those too, look fabulous.
Smoked sturgeon – I almost single handedly did this one. I put it in a salt, sugar and dill and onion cure, and then we cold smoked it followed by hot smoking it. It looks fantastic.
Bratwurst – We packaged and blanched some brats, need to cook on Saturday. I brought some home though. Looks great.
Ham – We put it in an immersion cooker and we let it sit over night. Should be fabulous!
Everything is looking good, and tomorrow is our last class of level 4. Oh my. We’re almost in the restaurant.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Production 2
This may be one of the more interesting sections so far. As I have mentioned a number of times, Level 4 is split into 3 sections. Apparently they will be reorganizing and redistributing responsibility of these sections for the classes that follow, however, for now, there is buffet, which is strictly setting up for the 2 buffets that you produce while in that section. There is family meal, which, as its name suggests, is strictly providing food for everyone in the school to eat (including the nights of buffets since not everyone makes it to the buffets). And finally there is production the section I am in now. Production is the least strict section as far as guidelines of what you have to do. Of course the buffet allows creativity, but you are only working on your buffet. For production, you start your night by assessing the stock situation, and checking to see if you need to produce chicken stock or veal stock or a fumet. You also MUST break down the fish and chickens necessary for the restaurant. We’re supposed to have that done by 6:30, but with 3 people working on 3 different things, it gets complicated. Chef Janet understands that the stocks are important, but she actually lets us work on breaking down the proteins and she gets the stocks going. I think that’s really great of her so we can then focus on the more creative aspects which I am going to get into.
By the way, I broke down the cod. After a THOROUGH examination I only pulled out a couple of worms from the fish. I think that’s pretty good!! That is, pretty good that the fish only had 2 worms. It was still gross. The cod was pretty nice to fillet. I think I did a great job. I got all the pin bones out, cleaned it up nicely and skinned it nicely. I was pretty proud of it. I wasn’t super speedy, but hey, it was my first time doing it, and I was trying to do a great job for the guys in the restaurant. I can’t imagine when some of the knuckleheads in Level 3 come to level 4 and break down some busted chickens for us. We’ll see. I’m sure the chef will have something to say if we’re getting poor cuts.
So after all this, we delved right into our projects. We got our second brisket of beef, which I cleaned up and cured with the pastrami salt mixture. Carlos finished up the Boudin blanc we were making (ground it up, seasoned it and got it into sausage casings), and Steve got going on some cures for our ham and turkey breasts.
We literally injected brine with a huge syringe into the ham and turkey and watched the flesh pump up. I think its going to be great. The brines had all kinds of herbs and seasoning. We got those puppies submerged in brine, and now it’s the waiting game.
After dinner, Steve and I prepared two cures for bacon that we will be making. One cure was a molasses cure, the other, which I think will be better, was a brown sugar and maples syrup cure! How does that sound? And you know, it really wasn’t hard. Its something ANYONE can do. Provided of course you buy the belly fat and have the means to smoke it afterwards.
I think, however, the highlight of the night was deboning a whole chicken WITHOUT taking it apart. What’s that? You want details? Sure, why not.
So the first thing you do is cut the wing off at the second joint (as we normally do). Then you take out the wish bone, which, we learned a new method to do, which doesn’t tear into the flesh. Take your knife and scrape away at it. Don’t go jabbing in there and hacking away at the flesh. Just take your knife, scrape, and then use your finger to dig in and get the bone. It was a great new trick, and it worked well.
Once you have that out, prop the chicken up and look at its shoulder. Start cutting and scraping away the flesh. Detach the arm from the shoulder and keep making your way down the one arm bone. Soon you’ll be able to pop the arm bone right out. Get going on the other arm, then don the ribs and around the neck, spine and back. There will come to point when you need to flip it over and star from the bottom of the rib cage and then the thigh and legs. I guess I can’t rally describe it since it’s mostly a process of scraping against bone and cutting around joints. But I assure you, I have a beautifully boned chicken, intact, waiting for a mean stuffing. We’re thinking about stuffing it with seasoned ground pork, which would probably be delicious! She also gave us a brilliant idea of filling it with a portion of pork loin, surrounded by either ground pork or chicken, and then roasted. The beauty of it is being able to have a seemingly whole chicken and slicing across it as if it’s a boneless piece of tenderloin, eating almost every part. This makes a fantastic centerpiece for a fancy meal. You can even stuff it with a traditional stuffing if you’d like.
In all, this is a fun portion of the class. Even though we ran about 20 minutes late since we needed to break down the day time stocks, it was still very fun, informative and creative!
By the way, I broke down the cod. After a THOROUGH examination I only pulled out a couple of worms from the fish. I think that’s pretty good!! That is, pretty good that the fish only had 2 worms. It was still gross. The cod was pretty nice to fillet. I think I did a great job. I got all the pin bones out, cleaned it up nicely and skinned it nicely. I was pretty proud of it. I wasn’t super speedy, but hey, it was my first time doing it, and I was trying to do a great job for the guys in the restaurant. I can’t imagine when some of the knuckleheads in Level 3 come to level 4 and break down some busted chickens for us. We’ll see. I’m sure the chef will have something to say if we’re getting poor cuts.
So after all this, we delved right into our projects. We got our second brisket of beef, which I cleaned up and cured with the pastrami salt mixture. Carlos finished up the Boudin blanc we were making (ground it up, seasoned it and got it into sausage casings), and Steve got going on some cures for our ham and turkey breasts.
We literally injected brine with a huge syringe into the ham and turkey and watched the flesh pump up. I think its going to be great. The brines had all kinds of herbs and seasoning. We got those puppies submerged in brine, and now it’s the waiting game.
After dinner, Steve and I prepared two cures for bacon that we will be making. One cure was a molasses cure, the other, which I think will be better, was a brown sugar and maples syrup cure! How does that sound? And you know, it really wasn’t hard. Its something ANYONE can do. Provided of course you buy the belly fat and have the means to smoke it afterwards.
I think, however, the highlight of the night was deboning a whole chicken WITHOUT taking it apart. What’s that? You want details? Sure, why not.
So the first thing you do is cut the wing off at the second joint (as we normally do). Then you take out the wish bone, which, we learned a new method to do, which doesn’t tear into the flesh. Take your knife and scrape away at it. Don’t go jabbing in there and hacking away at the flesh. Just take your knife, scrape, and then use your finger to dig in and get the bone. It was a great new trick, and it worked well.
Once you have that out, prop the chicken up and look at its shoulder. Start cutting and scraping away the flesh. Detach the arm from the shoulder and keep making your way down the one arm bone. Soon you’ll be able to pop the arm bone right out. Get going on the other arm, then don the ribs and around the neck, spine and back. There will come to point when you need to flip it over and star from the bottom of the rib cage and then the thigh and legs. I guess I can’t rally describe it since it’s mostly a process of scraping against bone and cutting around joints. But I assure you, I have a beautifully boned chicken, intact, waiting for a mean stuffing. We’re thinking about stuffing it with seasoned ground pork, which would probably be delicious! She also gave us a brilliant idea of filling it with a portion of pork loin, surrounded by either ground pork or chicken, and then roasted. The beauty of it is being able to have a seemingly whole chicken and slicing across it as if it’s a boneless piece of tenderloin, eating almost every part. This makes a fantastic centerpiece for a fancy meal. You can even stuff it with a traditional stuffing if you’d like.
In all, this is a fun portion of the class. Even though we ran about 20 minutes late since we needed to break down the day time stocks, it was still very fun, informative and creative!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Let’s see where this goes…
For starters there are a few main goals for production. The first and foremost is to prepare the proteins that the restaurant will be using. That is, breaking down a few chickens and a few fish. However, opposed to the chickens we broke down for family, these chickens require more care and attention. Since it is for the restaurant, it is imperative that the skin remain intact and you get the oysters, remove the wishbone and manchonner the legs. It’s rolling back to the basics again, and doing it right and fast.
We weren’t told that we needed to get this done by 6:30! We got in at 5:45 and we took a mini tour around the production area, counted stocks, etc. But no one mentioned that we needed to break down these meats for the restaurant by 6:30. With that said, one of the restaurant chefs came in and yelled at Carlos because he didn’t have the chickens ready in time. It was a bit of a rude awakening, but at least we know that it needs to be done earlier. The fish, I assume since they take less time to cook, were not pressured, but Steve and I took our time, and were no earlier than Carlos. There’s a lot of pressure to make sure we do not mess up these fillets, and to make sure we get all the skin off, and get all the pin bones. Whenever you’re doing something for someone else, you want to do a great job so it reflects nicely on you, and they know you’re trustworthy (which may be a downfall!! Sometimes you do a menial task so well you get asked to do it again and again!)
Actually, what’s pretty gross is the cod have WORMS in them. And this is NATURAL! But DISGUSTING. Steve was pulling worms out of the cod!! It was sick. But it had to be done. I just had some cod at a restaurant the other day, and it looked good, and I didn’t see any worms, not that I was looking, but the thought of it now is kind of nasty. Even though I am the type of person who will justify that if the worm is cooked, it’s probably okay to eat, but it’s still gross seeing the worms in the fish.
Something interesting was that we were told to use our butchering knife instead of our fillet knife for breaking down the fish. I can’t say that I was impressed with it. It’s so rigid that I couldn’t ride the knife along the bones, but instead I would start at the bones and end up just cutting into the flesh slightly. The fillet Looked fine, but I would have preferred the fillet knife with perfect smooth lines. It’s a mixed blessing that we only have 6 classes of breaking down these proteins. The pressure will be off, but at the same time, this is what being a chef is all about. Being able to take a whole fish, chicken, etc., and transform it from raw to beautiful and cooked.
Along those lines, we prepared a dry spice cure for some fresh pastrami, which smelled fantastic. We had to vacu-sealed beef briskets. Chef Janet had some pictures that showed us where the brisket on the cow was. Imagine a cow, and imagine that hump they have in their chest. That is the brisket. It is a Category 2, borderline 3 meat. So you don’t grill it, you need to break down the fibers with some low and slow method of cooking. Anyhow, I opened one pack and Carlos opened the other. Immediately a smell hit us in the face. My brisket was absolutely rank. I was sure of this, but we confirmed it with a couple of chefs to make sure it wasn’t salvageable. We tossed it. We’ll get another from the purveyors.
Since I could no longer help with breaking down the brisket (trimming the fat), I started closing up shop. We had to strain stocks, skim fat from our marmite, and cool down the stocks. A lot goes into all these things to produce stocks and meat for the school/restaurant. But what’s cool is that everyone benefits from it. It’s a team game.
Oh we also prepared a mixture for Boudin Blanc. Not 100% sure what it is, but I know it’s a sausage with rice, pig butt, and pig liver! We cut all this up, mixed in a bunch of veggies, and simmered for a while until everything was tender. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about the liver. The pot smelled like liver, though Carlos said it didn’t have an overwhelmingly livery taste. We’ll see.
We didn’t have time to fill the sausages, but we cooled it down and will handle it today. We also have on the itinerary a few other deli meats, including cracked pepper turkey breast, maple ham, some fresh bacon, and other sausages, I’m sure. It’s fun, and very hands on.
We weren’t told that we needed to get this done by 6:30! We got in at 5:45 and we took a mini tour around the production area, counted stocks, etc. But no one mentioned that we needed to break down these meats for the restaurant by 6:30. With that said, one of the restaurant chefs came in and yelled at Carlos because he didn’t have the chickens ready in time. It was a bit of a rude awakening, but at least we know that it needs to be done earlier. The fish, I assume since they take less time to cook, were not pressured, but Steve and I took our time, and were no earlier than Carlos. There’s a lot of pressure to make sure we do not mess up these fillets, and to make sure we get all the skin off, and get all the pin bones. Whenever you’re doing something for someone else, you want to do a great job so it reflects nicely on you, and they know you’re trustworthy (which may be a downfall!! Sometimes you do a menial task so well you get asked to do it again and again!)
Actually, what’s pretty gross is the cod have WORMS in them. And this is NATURAL! But DISGUSTING. Steve was pulling worms out of the cod!! It was sick. But it had to be done. I just had some cod at a restaurant the other day, and it looked good, and I didn’t see any worms, not that I was looking, but the thought of it now is kind of nasty. Even though I am the type of person who will justify that if the worm is cooked, it’s probably okay to eat, but it’s still gross seeing the worms in the fish.
Something interesting was that we were told to use our butchering knife instead of our fillet knife for breaking down the fish. I can’t say that I was impressed with it. It’s so rigid that I couldn’t ride the knife along the bones, but instead I would start at the bones and end up just cutting into the flesh slightly. The fillet Looked fine, but I would have preferred the fillet knife with perfect smooth lines. It’s a mixed blessing that we only have 6 classes of breaking down these proteins. The pressure will be off, but at the same time, this is what being a chef is all about. Being able to take a whole fish, chicken, etc., and transform it from raw to beautiful and cooked.
Along those lines, we prepared a dry spice cure for some fresh pastrami, which smelled fantastic. We had to vacu-sealed beef briskets. Chef Janet had some pictures that showed us where the brisket on the cow was. Imagine a cow, and imagine that hump they have in their chest. That is the brisket. It is a Category 2, borderline 3 meat. So you don’t grill it, you need to break down the fibers with some low and slow method of cooking. Anyhow, I opened one pack and Carlos opened the other. Immediately a smell hit us in the face. My brisket was absolutely rank. I was sure of this, but we confirmed it with a couple of chefs to make sure it wasn’t salvageable. We tossed it. We’ll get another from the purveyors.
Since I could no longer help with breaking down the brisket (trimming the fat), I started closing up shop. We had to strain stocks, skim fat from our marmite, and cool down the stocks. A lot goes into all these things to produce stocks and meat for the school/restaurant. But what’s cool is that everyone benefits from it. It’s a team game.
Oh we also prepared a mixture for Boudin Blanc. Not 100% sure what it is, but I know it’s a sausage with rice, pig butt, and pig liver! We cut all this up, mixed in a bunch of veggies, and simmered for a while until everything was tender. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about the liver. The pot smelled like liver, though Carlos said it didn’t have an overwhelmingly livery taste. We’ll see.
We didn’t have time to fill the sausages, but we cooled it down and will handle it today. We also have on the itinerary a few other deli meats, including cracked pepper turkey breast, maple ham, some fresh bacon, and other sausages, I’m sure. It’s fun, and very hands on.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
BUSTED!!
Let me preface this post by saying “DO THE RIGHT THING.” Let me follow this preface by saying, no one in my class, including myself, are bad people, with the intentions of cheating or sneaking around the school and doing things we shouldn’t be doing. With that said, let me get into my story.
On Saturday, I think I mentioned I came in at 2:00 in the afternoon to assist the buffet group. I wasn’t asked, I wasn’t told, I volunteered. Should I receive special treatment or mention for this. Nope. A simple thank you is great, and I received just that. It was my pleasure to help them out. I actually just rolled out some pasta, mondered some tomatoes for an impromptu stuffed tomato dish chef decided on and did a few other random things for the chef that allowed him to focus more of his time on the buffet. I was just happy to help.
Steve on the other hand, was in the school at around 8:00AM for a management class he is taking, so I don’t know what that entails, but he was there MAD early, and then he even assisted the buffet group by setting up the “hanging rig” for their class as well.
Yes, this will be long winded, as always. So you probably read my post on the little family meal that could, but didn’t. We did indeed bust our asses all night and did what we needed to do; in addition to the help we gave the buffet group throughout the day. We cleaned up our area so that it was spotless, and we still had 20 minutes left in the class. Steve let out an innocent sigh of exhaustion followed by the courtesy explanation for the sigh, “I’m exhausted.” The family meal chef took that cue and said, you know what guys, you should just go. You did a great job today (it was only Steve and I, Carlos was out sick) and we’re done, you should just go. We looked at each other and basically told her, well Chef Rob said we shouldn’t go early especially without his permission. She said, very matter of factly, oh, don’t worry, just go, I insist. (I may be changing some of the exact words, but I assure you the meaning was very clear and my recollection and retelling of the story does not change the tone or intent of how it was delivered to us).
We were indeed tired. And of course everyone else was, but we were done. We were clean, we’ve accomplished our goal, and we were twiddling our thumbs. So we took her cue, and we left.
We did the wrong thing.
We justified it to ourselves, particularly with the family meal chef’s blessings, and the assistance we gave to the buffet team.
Sure enough as we were leaving class on Tuesday night, he gave us a little scolding. “Guys, about leaving early on Saturday, that wasn’t cool.” We explained to him that Chef Karen insisted that we leave. We told her that we shouldn’t and that he would probably disapprove, but she insisted. He said, he understands, and he’s sure that it won’t happen again, by either party. So we’re under the assumption that he will have a talk with Chef Karen, since he already had a talk with us. We were both a bit upset about it (Steve and I) because we knew it was “wrong,” but we were reassured that we should leave, and in fact, we really were very helpful and it was almost justified. Steve had spent 15 hours in the school that day, and I spent 10 hours there when I only needed to be there for 5. I am NOT justifying it. I’m just stating that perhaps Chef could have kept it to himself and justified it as well. But I guess it’s important to be consistent and fair (though, fairness in this situation could have had other factors playing in the game).
Anywho, our “punishment” for being dismissed early was we had to stay with a fish fumet that he was making for his buffet until it was fully cooked and cooled, which was no problem. A small price to pay for our foul. Unfortunately, there are deeper implications that I hope do not play out. For instance the term “trustworthy” comes to mind, as well as “sneaky” and “disloyal.” He gave me such a great review and I hope he doesn’t renege his sentiment and lower my grade or overall review because of it. Time will tell.
Well, just what you want after a long story not made short, a little review of Tuesday night’s class. Chef Karen forgot, or chose not, to order the meat for Tuesday’s class on Saturday, to prep and marinate so we can just cook it on Tuesday (we did leave a little earlier, therefore we did have the time). So when we got in, we had to prepare (QUICKLY) about 40-50 whole hanger steaks, briefly marinate them, grill them, finish in the oven, prepare chayote’s, arroz con frijoles, spaghetti squash, which definitely did not get out in time, and the salad and fruit salad.
We BARELY managed, and the Chayotes were taking longer than normal, so we almost didn’t even make it with those. Anyhow, we busted our asses off, with the help of two make-up students, and we got a DELICIOUS hanger steak, rice and chayote meal out. It was actually really delicious. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we had the steaks marinating since Saturday.
FYI, Chayotes, for my step mom reading this blog, I know she knows, but they are these vibrant green, almost pear looking, squashes. They are about the size and shape of mangoes and have a little bit of a creasing/wrinkling on the bottom. They, I assume, are a Hispanic/Latin American food, and were REALLY simple to prepare, and actually very tasty. I see them every time I’m in the grocery store but never think twice about them. We coated them in oil, salt and pepper (just a light coating), placed them cut side up, threw a little water in the pan to encourage steaming, and covered with foil. Then we popped them into a 350-375 oven for what should have been no more than an hour, and they came out tender and slightly browned on the top. It had a mild yet delicately sweet flavor. More bland than sweet, but you can taste the natural sugars. We placed in the center a spoonful of tomato fondue that we made, and it was very good. Surprisingly good.
The highlight was the Spanish style rice that Chef Wanda (who I believe is Puerto Rican) whipped together while we were cleaning up the steaks.
It worked out well. Everything came together and we pulled through, right in time for family meal. I loved it, and everyone else seemed to be enjoying their food. Just two more family meals, and then production time. We are planning on making deli meats, including pastrami, honey ham, turkey breast, etc., in addition to the sausages that we can whip together in a night. I must say, all of the sausages that the production teams have whipped together have been great. We’ll see how it goes.
On Saturday, I think I mentioned I came in at 2:00 in the afternoon to assist the buffet group. I wasn’t asked, I wasn’t told, I volunteered. Should I receive special treatment or mention for this. Nope. A simple thank you is great, and I received just that. It was my pleasure to help them out. I actually just rolled out some pasta, mondered some tomatoes for an impromptu stuffed tomato dish chef decided on and did a few other random things for the chef that allowed him to focus more of his time on the buffet. I was just happy to help.
Steve on the other hand, was in the school at around 8:00AM for a management class he is taking, so I don’t know what that entails, but he was there MAD early, and then he even assisted the buffet group by setting up the “hanging rig” for their class as well.
Yes, this will be long winded, as always. So you probably read my post on the little family meal that could, but didn’t. We did indeed bust our asses all night and did what we needed to do; in addition to the help we gave the buffet group throughout the day. We cleaned up our area so that it was spotless, and we still had 20 minutes left in the class. Steve let out an innocent sigh of exhaustion followed by the courtesy explanation for the sigh, “I’m exhausted.” The family meal chef took that cue and said, you know what guys, you should just go. You did a great job today (it was only Steve and I, Carlos was out sick) and we’re done, you should just go. We looked at each other and basically told her, well Chef Rob said we shouldn’t go early especially without his permission. She said, very matter of factly, oh, don’t worry, just go, I insist. (I may be changing some of the exact words, but I assure you the meaning was very clear and my recollection and retelling of the story does not change the tone or intent of how it was delivered to us).
We were indeed tired. And of course everyone else was, but we were done. We were clean, we’ve accomplished our goal, and we were twiddling our thumbs. So we took her cue, and we left.
We did the wrong thing.
We justified it to ourselves, particularly with the family meal chef’s blessings, and the assistance we gave to the buffet team.
Sure enough as we were leaving class on Tuesday night, he gave us a little scolding. “Guys, about leaving early on Saturday, that wasn’t cool.” We explained to him that Chef Karen insisted that we leave. We told her that we shouldn’t and that he would probably disapprove, but she insisted. He said, he understands, and he’s sure that it won’t happen again, by either party. So we’re under the assumption that he will have a talk with Chef Karen, since he already had a talk with us. We were both a bit upset about it (Steve and I) because we knew it was “wrong,” but we were reassured that we should leave, and in fact, we really were very helpful and it was almost justified. Steve had spent 15 hours in the school that day, and I spent 10 hours there when I only needed to be there for 5. I am NOT justifying it. I’m just stating that perhaps Chef could have kept it to himself and justified it as well. But I guess it’s important to be consistent and fair (though, fairness in this situation could have had other factors playing in the game).
Anywho, our “punishment” for being dismissed early was we had to stay with a fish fumet that he was making for his buffet until it was fully cooked and cooled, which was no problem. A small price to pay for our foul. Unfortunately, there are deeper implications that I hope do not play out. For instance the term “trustworthy” comes to mind, as well as “sneaky” and “disloyal.” He gave me such a great review and I hope he doesn’t renege his sentiment and lower my grade or overall review because of it. Time will tell.
Well, just what you want after a long story not made short, a little review of Tuesday night’s class. Chef Karen forgot, or chose not, to order the meat for Tuesday’s class on Saturday, to prep and marinate so we can just cook it on Tuesday (we did leave a little earlier, therefore we did have the time). So when we got in, we had to prepare (QUICKLY) about 40-50 whole hanger steaks, briefly marinate them, grill them, finish in the oven, prepare chayote’s, arroz con frijoles, spaghetti squash, which definitely did not get out in time, and the salad and fruit salad.
We BARELY managed, and the Chayotes were taking longer than normal, so we almost didn’t even make it with those. Anyhow, we busted our asses off, with the help of two make-up students, and we got a DELICIOUS hanger steak, rice and chayote meal out. It was actually really delicious. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we had the steaks marinating since Saturday.
FYI, Chayotes, for my step mom reading this blog, I know she knows, but they are these vibrant green, almost pear looking, squashes. They are about the size and shape of mangoes and have a little bit of a creasing/wrinkling on the bottom. They, I assume, are a Hispanic/Latin American food, and were REALLY simple to prepare, and actually very tasty. I see them every time I’m in the grocery store but never think twice about them. We coated them in oil, salt and pepper (just a light coating), placed them cut side up, threw a little water in the pan to encourage steaming, and covered with foil. Then we popped them into a 350-375 oven for what should have been no more than an hour, and they came out tender and slightly browned on the top. It had a mild yet delicately sweet flavor. More bland than sweet, but you can taste the natural sugars. We placed in the center a spoonful of tomato fondue that we made, and it was very good. Surprisingly good.
The highlight was the Spanish style rice that Chef Wanda (who I believe is Puerto Rican) whipped together while we were cleaning up the steaks.
It worked out well. Everything came together and we pulled through, right in time for family meal. I loved it, and everyone else seemed to be enjoying their food. Just two more family meals, and then production time. We are planning on making deli meats, including pastrami, honey ham, turkey breast, etc., in addition to the sausages that we can whip together in a night. I must say, all of the sausages that the production teams have whipped together have been great. We’ll see how it goes.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
The little Family Meal that could (but didn’t).
Every Saturday is a level 4 buffet for us. Two people were in this buffet group, plus the chef. Despite the fact that Buffet is preparing a beautiful spread that could, essentially, feed the whole school, family meal must still prepare food for the classes that don’t make it down, and the people in the restaurant who do not have a chance to eat the buffet food.
In short, we also had 2 people plus the chef, and we busted our asses off for a few hours to get family meal done, when practically NONE of it was eaten. We did get it to the classes in levels 1 and 2, but I think they still came down to eat at the buffet.
Anyhow, we made Pollock (baked and fried), quinoa, string beans, and few other things which we reheated form a previous family meal (though they were very fresh).
Anyhow, with there just being two people in family meal, we pretty much had to get cracking. Steve tackled the Quinoa, and while that cooked, he worked on some veggies. I had prepared the baked and fried fish. Chef Karen cut the filets, and I deep fried about 75 pieces and prepared about 20 baked. The fried ones were simply dipped in an egg mixture and then coated with panko bread crumbs, and fried til golden. Of course they were tasty, though I must be honest… I didn’t even have a piece. They were thick cuts, so after they were fried, we needed to bake them for about 10 minutes until they were completely cooked. Salmon can be left slightly pink, but certain other fish shouldn’t be raw (Pollock is, a white fish).
The baked one took a bit more effort. I prepared a bread crumb topping with fresh chopped chives, basil, and parsley, tomatoes, S&P and olive oil. Chopping herbs is pretty time consuming. Not difficult, just time consuming. But after the mixture turned to a gritty green wet looking sand concoction, I brushed some mayo on the Pollock and pressed some of the green bread crumb mixture on top.
What was weird was I was going step by step in the recipe, but each subsequent step contradicted the previous step. For instance, the first step is to mix all the ingredients that I listed for the bread crumb mixture together. So after I chopped everything and combined I moved on to step two. Step two was to take the chives and mix them into the mayo?! They just told me to mix all the herbs into the bread crumbs?! I figured either way it was the same thing, but it didn’t make sense. Then, the very next step says sprinkle some tomatoes onto the fish?! It already told me to mix the tomatoes with the bread crumbs as well?! I figured everything was fine, but I mentioned it to the chef. I told her I was confident it was all the same and it will be fine, but I wanted to let her know. She agreed that it was fine, but she said she noticed these inconsistencies and forgot to mention them. I should have read the recipe before hand.
Family meal is great because the recipes are relatively simple. We don’t have time for an extravagant showing. We just whip together relatively basic things, in large quantities and very quickly. When I say basic, I don’t mean S&P only. The other day we had lavender chicken, Israeli couscous, lamb meatballs, etc. But the chicken was just lots of chicken and all the herbs and spices thrown together. We didn’t remove the rib bones, or manchonner the legs and wings.
It’s also a little boring, but it’s extremely productive, particularly when everyone eats and we overhear, “wow that was a tasty family meal today.”
Well, this is our last week of it before we move on to production.
In short, we also had 2 people plus the chef, and we busted our asses off for a few hours to get family meal done, when practically NONE of it was eaten. We did get it to the classes in levels 1 and 2, but I think they still came down to eat at the buffet.
Anyhow, we made Pollock (baked and fried), quinoa, string beans, and few other things which we reheated form a previous family meal (though they were very fresh).
Anyhow, with there just being two people in family meal, we pretty much had to get cracking. Steve tackled the Quinoa, and while that cooked, he worked on some veggies. I had prepared the baked and fried fish. Chef Karen cut the filets, and I deep fried about 75 pieces and prepared about 20 baked. The fried ones were simply dipped in an egg mixture and then coated with panko bread crumbs, and fried til golden. Of course they were tasty, though I must be honest… I didn’t even have a piece. They were thick cuts, so after they were fried, we needed to bake them for about 10 minutes until they were completely cooked. Salmon can be left slightly pink, but certain other fish shouldn’t be raw (Pollock is, a white fish).
The baked one took a bit more effort. I prepared a bread crumb topping with fresh chopped chives, basil, and parsley, tomatoes, S&P and olive oil. Chopping herbs is pretty time consuming. Not difficult, just time consuming. But after the mixture turned to a gritty green wet looking sand concoction, I brushed some mayo on the Pollock and pressed some of the green bread crumb mixture on top.
What was weird was I was going step by step in the recipe, but each subsequent step contradicted the previous step. For instance, the first step is to mix all the ingredients that I listed for the bread crumb mixture together. So after I chopped everything and combined I moved on to step two. Step two was to take the chives and mix them into the mayo?! They just told me to mix all the herbs into the bread crumbs?! I figured either way it was the same thing, but it didn’t make sense. Then, the very next step says sprinkle some tomatoes onto the fish?! It already told me to mix the tomatoes with the bread crumbs as well?! I figured everything was fine, but I mentioned it to the chef. I told her I was confident it was all the same and it will be fine, but I wanted to let her know. She agreed that it was fine, but she said she noticed these inconsistencies and forgot to mention them. I should have read the recipe before hand.
Family meal is great because the recipes are relatively simple. We don’t have time for an extravagant showing. We just whip together relatively basic things, in large quantities and very quickly. When I say basic, I don’t mean S&P only. The other day we had lavender chicken, Israeli couscous, lamb meatballs, etc. But the chicken was just lots of chicken and all the herbs and spices thrown together. We didn’t remove the rib bones, or manchonner the legs and wings.
It’s also a little boring, but it’s extremely productive, particularly when everyone eats and we overhear, “wow that was a tasty family meal today.”
Well, this is our last week of it before we move on to production.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Here, we’re family
There were a couple of highlights of my night. The first was just the sheer amount of production we did in such a short period of time. Between 6 of us, (the 3 of us in level 4, Chef Wanda and 2 make up students) we created family meal for 60-80 people in a little over 2 hours. There was supposed to be some prep work completed on Saturday for Tuesday’s class. Of course we were not aware, so the family meal people didn’t do anything for the next meal (since we were switching groups).
Anyhow, as soon as we got into class, there were two big plastic crates full of chicken. Chef Wanda wanted us to quarter them, and quickly. And we did. We didn’t take so much care in getting the oysters out, or in removing the wish bones. But in about 20 minutes, we must have quartered 40 chickens. I was a little disappointed in the fact that we didn’t put much care into the process, but in the time frame that was presented to us, we did quite well.
After this, my task was the carrots. I had free reign over the carrots. Of course I had to peel about 20lbs. of them first. Then I had to peel parsnips as well, which were on the puny side, which actually made it harder to peel. At the advice/request of one of my classmates (Steve), I made a brown sugar/cinnamon butter mix to coat them in, and they were very delicious.
Besides the carrots and the quartering of the chicken, by 8:30, we had a phenomenal family meal prepared in no time. We also took a test on charcuterie which I am not so thrilled about. I studied last week, but I should have brushed up on it. Oh well.
What I AM thrilled about is I got a grade back for my buffet portion. A 98! 98 out of 100!! That’s pretty money! He took off two points on very random things, things that he could have been guilty of. But he commented that my hard work and dedication showed and that I have a good chance at making it in this career. That was pretty awesome to hear.
The motto of the class was: “if we like it, you will, too.” That is, whatever we make for family meal, if it pleases us, we don’t care if it’s what you want; you’re going to like it. That was fantastic because, as Chef Wanda said, there is some creativity that we’re allowed to play with.
Two days, 2 showers, many hand washes and lots of Purell later, I still have carrot pigment in my left index finger and thumb. Its borderline gross, but it doesn’t rub onto anything.
Oh, so somebody in our family meal group (I’m thinking it was the Chef) put a couple of trays of chicken into a different oven. Long after family meal ended, we found that chicken, charred beyond recognition. We were commenting on how we had JUST enough chicken, when there’s usually more to take home. We were preparing food for the next class when we found smoke coming out of the oven. What I got a great kick out of was Chef Wanda offered some to Chef Janet, and she replied, “are they done?” It was a you had to be there moment. The way she said it in a concerned factual manner, was just hilarious. I enjoyed it immensely. This level is so cool. We get to see a lot, and do a lot.
Anyhow, as soon as we got into class, there were two big plastic crates full of chicken. Chef Wanda wanted us to quarter them, and quickly. And we did. We didn’t take so much care in getting the oysters out, or in removing the wish bones. But in about 20 minutes, we must have quartered 40 chickens. I was a little disappointed in the fact that we didn’t put much care into the process, but in the time frame that was presented to us, we did quite well.
After this, my task was the carrots. I had free reign over the carrots. Of course I had to peel about 20lbs. of them first. Then I had to peel parsnips as well, which were on the puny side, which actually made it harder to peel. At the advice/request of one of my classmates (Steve), I made a brown sugar/cinnamon butter mix to coat them in, and they were very delicious.
Besides the carrots and the quartering of the chicken, by 8:30, we had a phenomenal family meal prepared in no time. We also took a test on charcuterie which I am not so thrilled about. I studied last week, but I should have brushed up on it. Oh well.
What I AM thrilled about is I got a grade back for my buffet portion. A 98! 98 out of 100!! That’s pretty money! He took off two points on very random things, things that he could have been guilty of. But he commented that my hard work and dedication showed and that I have a good chance at making it in this career. That was pretty awesome to hear.
The motto of the class was: “if we like it, you will, too.” That is, whatever we make for family meal, if it pleases us, we don’t care if it’s what you want; you’re going to like it. That was fantastic because, as Chef Wanda said, there is some creativity that we’re allowed to play with.
Two days, 2 showers, many hand washes and lots of Purell later, I still have carrot pigment in my left index finger and thumb. Its borderline gross, but it doesn’t rub onto anything.
Oh, so somebody in our family meal group (I’m thinking it was the Chef) put a couple of trays of chicken into a different oven. Long after family meal ended, we found that chicken, charred beyond recognition. We were commenting on how we had JUST enough chicken, when there’s usually more to take home. We were preparing food for the next class when we found smoke coming out of the oven. What I got a great kick out of was Chef Wanda offered some to Chef Janet, and she replied, “are they done?” It was a you had to be there moment. The way she said it in a concerned factual manner, was just hilarious. I enjoyed it immensely. This level is so cool. We get to see a lot, and do a lot.
Monday, February 4, 2008
CIA Caliber (that’s like elephant hunting ammo)
...or maybe anti aircraft rounds?
Soooo, as you may or may not be aware, we had our second and final buffet to prepare for. The buffet was on Saturday. I haven’t posted since my last buffet, because quite frankly, I’m pooped. That buffet took a lot out of us, but none the less, we had to get back in there and do it all over again. Of course we changed the theme up a bit. We wanted to bring it back to the classics. Focus on the details and produce a lot of small beautiful tasty items.
We did just that and some. In addition to about 5 different canapés, we had 3 carving stations, and some serious desserts. I didn’t know at the time either, but a canapé is basically a small appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. They are usually very intricate with a lot of detail.
Off the top of my head I can recall a few. We had layers of prosciutto on white bread, cut into rounds, with a mint mascarpone spread, as well as a dollop of this mixture on top with a ball of honey dew on top. They looked phenomenal. We had a seared and smoked filet sliced onto a slice of baguette with a dollop of gorgonzola cheese. There was a crab meat and avocado profiterole, which was really delicious. The crowd pleaser, hands down, was the duck leg confit over a bed of caramelized onion and chopped apple, with a slice of brie over a baguette slice. These were incredible!
In fact, as we were cleaning up, there was a student in the room adjacent to ours working on pastries. There are windows between the two rooms so he was watching me pack some of these away to take home, and he just pointed at them and was giving us the thumbs up. And so I offered him one, and he put two fingers up in the air, asking for 2!! He got em. That was a compliment in its own.
I went on a tangent… The production group laid out a platter of 3 kinds of sausages they made. Two were pork, one was lamb. They were all really tasty. Right behind that, Steve and I were at the carving station! We had an entire leg of lamb, 3 turkey breasts and an entire prime rib roast. Steve and I were slicing them to order and placing them on the plates. It was phenomenal. For the lamb, I made a fresh focaccia bread with rosemary, and we sliced that, drizzled a red pepper mayo on it with a few leaves of arugala, and I placed the lamb slices right on the bread. It was money.
We also blew it up for desserts. I spent probably 8 hours on making tiny pastry shells for canapé desserts. Some we filled with a lemon curd, and topped with fruits or swiss meringue (which took me about 20 minutes to pipe out, then we passed a torch over them leaving a beautiful beautiful lightly browned color. There were chocolate ganache with white chocolate swirls, napoleons with pastry cream and raspberries, puff pastry with pistachio ice cream scoops and Chef Rob’s famous tuxedo strawberries.
Oh, how could I forget? We had 3 different rolled/stuffed meats that we cooked sous-vide style. We made a salmon roulade, stuffed with a smoked trout force meat. For this, we flattened out salmon fillets, then layered basil and piped a layer of ground up smoked trout. We then rolled it in plastic, and then twisted it until it was a really tight package. When they were cooked we sliced it and presented it on a layer of aspic. They were gorgeous.
We also did a stuffed duck breast with a pork forcemeat, and boneless turkey legs with an herb stuffing. Everything was truly amazing.
Another chef came in and told Chef Rob that this buffet, and the last, were of CIA caliber. I was watching this chef as we were serving our buffet. He was walking up and down the table just examining… admiring our work. You could see he was amazed.
On Saturday we came in at 12 noon to finalize preparation for 8:30. There was no way we would have completed everything in time if we didn’t come in that early. We were rushing from pretty much the moment we got in.
Again, I have pics, and I will get them up, somehow.
We now move on to family meal. To be honest, I look forward to this transition. I have done so much baking in the past few weeks that I really want to get back into cooking the meats and starches. Chef reassured me that my baking was clutch and everything was fantastic, but I do look forward to hacking some meat, and tackling the mass production of entrée food. The current group of 3 in family meal have been making FANTASTIC family meals, especially compared to the previous levels before us. They have received many compliments, which is rare for family meal. I hope to carry on in their footsteps. On Saturday, the next group is planning an Italian buffet, and then they need to muster up the courage for another buffet. We set the bar high, but I have a feeling chef rob is going to take them higher! I hope so. We’re definitely tearing level 4 a new one.
Soooo, as you may or may not be aware, we had our second and final buffet to prepare for. The buffet was on Saturday. I haven’t posted since my last buffet, because quite frankly, I’m pooped. That buffet took a lot out of us, but none the less, we had to get back in there and do it all over again. Of course we changed the theme up a bit. We wanted to bring it back to the classics. Focus on the details and produce a lot of small beautiful tasty items.
We did just that and some. In addition to about 5 different canapés, we had 3 carving stations, and some serious desserts. I didn’t know at the time either, but a canapé is basically a small appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. They are usually very intricate with a lot of detail.
Off the top of my head I can recall a few. We had layers of prosciutto on white bread, cut into rounds, with a mint mascarpone spread, as well as a dollop of this mixture on top with a ball of honey dew on top. They looked phenomenal. We had a seared and smoked filet sliced onto a slice of baguette with a dollop of gorgonzola cheese. There was a crab meat and avocado profiterole, which was really delicious. The crowd pleaser, hands down, was the duck leg confit over a bed of caramelized onion and chopped apple, with a slice of brie over a baguette slice. These were incredible!
In fact, as we were cleaning up, there was a student in the room adjacent to ours working on pastries. There are windows between the two rooms so he was watching me pack some of these away to take home, and he just pointed at them and was giving us the thumbs up. And so I offered him one, and he put two fingers up in the air, asking for 2!! He got em. That was a compliment in its own.
I went on a tangent… The production group laid out a platter of 3 kinds of sausages they made. Two were pork, one was lamb. They were all really tasty. Right behind that, Steve and I were at the carving station! We had an entire leg of lamb, 3 turkey breasts and an entire prime rib roast. Steve and I were slicing them to order and placing them on the plates. It was phenomenal. For the lamb, I made a fresh focaccia bread with rosemary, and we sliced that, drizzled a red pepper mayo on it with a few leaves of arugala, and I placed the lamb slices right on the bread. It was money.
We also blew it up for desserts. I spent probably 8 hours on making tiny pastry shells for canapé desserts. Some we filled with a lemon curd, and topped with fruits or swiss meringue (which took me about 20 minutes to pipe out, then we passed a torch over them leaving a beautiful beautiful lightly browned color. There were chocolate ganache with white chocolate swirls, napoleons with pastry cream and raspberries, puff pastry with pistachio ice cream scoops and Chef Rob’s famous tuxedo strawberries.
Oh, how could I forget? We had 3 different rolled/stuffed meats that we cooked sous-vide style. We made a salmon roulade, stuffed with a smoked trout force meat. For this, we flattened out salmon fillets, then layered basil and piped a layer of ground up smoked trout. We then rolled it in plastic, and then twisted it until it was a really tight package. When they were cooked we sliced it and presented it on a layer of aspic. They were gorgeous.
We also did a stuffed duck breast with a pork forcemeat, and boneless turkey legs with an herb stuffing. Everything was truly amazing.
Another chef came in and told Chef Rob that this buffet, and the last, were of CIA caliber. I was watching this chef as we were serving our buffet. He was walking up and down the table just examining… admiring our work. You could see he was amazed.
On Saturday we came in at 12 noon to finalize preparation for 8:30. There was no way we would have completed everything in time if we didn’t come in that early. We were rushing from pretty much the moment we got in.
Again, I have pics, and I will get them up, somehow.
We now move on to family meal. To be honest, I look forward to this transition. I have done so much baking in the past few weeks that I really want to get back into cooking the meats and starches. Chef reassured me that my baking was clutch and everything was fantastic, but I do look forward to hacking some meat, and tackling the mass production of entrée food. The current group of 3 in family meal have been making FANTASTIC family meals, especially compared to the previous levels before us. They have received many compliments, which is rare for family meal. I hope to carry on in their footsteps. On Saturday, the next group is planning an Italian buffet, and then they need to muster up the courage for another buffet. We set the bar high, but I have a feeling chef rob is going to take them higher! I hope so. We’re definitely tearing level 4 a new one.
Monday, January 28, 2008
We Souffléed it!!
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Well the literal translation of Soufflé is to blow up. Therefore, we blew it up! It was a great success, which was enjoyed by all. The flavor of everything was great, but even more so, the appearance was grand. I brought my camera in and shot a few photos. I will get those on here hopefully soon, and you’ll be able to see not only me, but the buffet as well.
I think to sum it up, when all was said and done, Chef Rob took us into the buffet prep room, closed the door and said, I need to be honest with you guys. The FCI hasn’t seen a buffet like this since probably as long as I’ve been here. He went on to thank us for not only the hard work and dedication that made it a success, but for making him look good in front of his peers. Other chefs were complimenting us, telling us that we did a fantastic job.
With that said, I must say, we did rock it like a Vegas whore. Nice analogy, huh? What was amazing was how cool, calm and reserved we all were. We prepped so well, and we were so thorough and organized that we were sitting back polishing off the details, not scrambling before the buffet. At 7:00, an hour and a half before showtime, Chef Rob was talking to another chef saying, "look at this, its 7:00 and I'm chilling back sipping a cup of coffee." We really did hit the high notes. From little things like doming off the top of the fried rice (What you know about dome?), and finishing with scallion blossoms, to laying down a bed of shredded coconut surrounded by orange slices and strawberry halves for our fried dumpling platter.
Let me give you a verbal visualization of some of our platters. I’ll start with more details on the dumpling platter.
I sliced a bunch of oranges. We overlapped slices around the oblong platter, with a few strawberry halves on top and covered the middle with a bed of coconut shreds, and then sprinkled on a small handfull of red peppercorns! Just picture that! It’s such a beautiful and simple presentation. We piled the dumplings in the middle.
For the spring rolls, we sliced cucumbers on the bias, and placed those along the perimeter, sprinkled with black pepper and made a pyramid of spring rolls in the middle. We had a spare refill platter with pea shoots (looked a little like spinach) piled on both ends, with 3 strawberry halves pointing out on top of each pile.
For the Spicy Thai chicken wings, I laid out some greens around a small mound of fried julienned wonton skins and topped that with a crowned orange half.
The raw tuna with taboulleh salsa was laid out diagonally along a mirror platter, simple with no other garnish, and it looked gorgeous. The beef platter (seared, yet raw in the middle with julienned cucumbers inside, and topped with black and white sesame seeds and a rolled blossom of pickled ginger) had an oval pile of the fried shredded wonton skins, and we placed the beef in concentric ovals around it.
The kimchi was served in a round dish, and we alternated overlapping pineapple wedges and orange slices around the perimiter of the bowl.
Oh the pineapples! I took a couple of pineapples and carved spirals going down and around the sides. Along the line of these carvings, we stuck our chicken and beef skewers into the pinapples. People simply had to pull them out, but you had to see how awesome it was. A spiral of skewered meats beautiful riding down the sides of the pineapple. I think it might have been my favorite presentation, though everything was gorgeous.
The duck carving station was magnificent also. Besides the fact that we were butchering the ducks in front of people with a cleaver, we laid out our sliced duck sous vide breast along the 3 sides away from the person butchering, in which he gave a few slices to each person along with the duck. There were also two long skinny platters (about 1.5 inches wide and 1.5 feet long) which we filled with nicely sliced and blossomed scallions for people to take with their duck.
For the duck confit buns, Chef Rob showed me this cool presentation trick with handkerchiefs (cloth napkins?) and aluminum foil. You take a square of aluminum and place it on top of the napkin so that the top side of the aluminum is lined up with the top side of the cloth. Then fold in the top two corner like your folding an airplane. Then fold them in again, and again until you have a thin pointy top, flaring out to thicker bottom. Then start at the tip you just made and start rolling it up. Slightly unroll it and you have a horn looking napkin. Make two of these, put them in opposite corners so the rolled in ends point to eachother and stack the buns up in between. It looked great.
The production group made the whole pig that they were trying to do, and it came out great, and it looked AMAZING! The glaze on the skin was beautiful, and the interior came out great. Their plan to layer different colors of pork was as successful as it could have been despite the problems they had with cutting the fatback. Wait til you see pictures. We also had the ducks hanging from above, and we put some Chinese lanterns and 4 flags up (Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan).
Oh, and last but not least we had 2 fozen ice bowls, one which we served iced tea out of, and another which we rested a bowl of coconut, mango and passion fruit sorbets on. When we froze the ice bowls we placed orange slices, strawberries, rosemary sprigs, lemon slices and other garnish inside, so when we took it out of the bowl it had an array of colors and fruits. It was really phenomenal.
My descriptions barely scratch the surface of the show we put on. As Carlos was carving the duck, Steve was continuously frying up more spring rolls and I was serving the tuna and beef as well as refilling platters, making sure we were stocked. We didn't run out of anything but everyone ate well! I wish I were a journalist or an author, so I can convey these ideas and visualizations a lot clearer and with more passion, but just wait til I get the pictures up!
We now have to get over the hype that we just worked up, and make our way down from the high of such a successful Asian buffet, and bring it back to a classic, beautiful French buffet. Very detail and flavor oriented. I don’t think we can put as much effort as we just put into the last one. Did I mention that I spent about 4-5 hours on Friday night preparing our duck confit buns? Well I did, and they were spectacular.
I think to sum it up, when all was said and done, Chef Rob took us into the buffet prep room, closed the door and said, I need to be honest with you guys. The FCI hasn’t seen a buffet like this since probably as long as I’ve been here. He went on to thank us for not only the hard work and dedication that made it a success, but for making him look good in front of his peers. Other chefs were complimenting us, telling us that we did a fantastic job.
With that said, I must say, we did rock it like a Vegas whore. Nice analogy, huh? What was amazing was how cool, calm and reserved we all were. We prepped so well, and we were so thorough and organized that we were sitting back polishing off the details, not scrambling before the buffet. At 7:00, an hour and a half before showtime, Chef Rob was talking to another chef saying, "look at this, its 7:00 and I'm chilling back sipping a cup of coffee." We really did hit the high notes. From little things like doming off the top of the fried rice (What you know about dome?), and finishing with scallion blossoms, to laying down a bed of shredded coconut surrounded by orange slices and strawberry halves for our fried dumpling platter.
Let me give you a verbal visualization of some of our platters. I’ll start with more details on the dumpling platter.
I sliced a bunch of oranges. We overlapped slices around the oblong platter, with a few strawberry halves on top and covered the middle with a bed of coconut shreds, and then sprinkled on a small handfull of red peppercorns! Just picture that! It’s such a beautiful and simple presentation. We piled the dumplings in the middle.
For the spring rolls, we sliced cucumbers on the bias, and placed those along the perimeter, sprinkled with black pepper and made a pyramid of spring rolls in the middle. We had a spare refill platter with pea shoots (looked a little like spinach) piled on both ends, with 3 strawberry halves pointing out on top of each pile.
For the Spicy Thai chicken wings, I laid out some greens around a small mound of fried julienned wonton skins and topped that with a crowned orange half.
The raw tuna with taboulleh salsa was laid out diagonally along a mirror platter, simple with no other garnish, and it looked gorgeous. The beef platter (seared, yet raw in the middle with julienned cucumbers inside, and topped with black and white sesame seeds and a rolled blossom of pickled ginger) had an oval pile of the fried shredded wonton skins, and we placed the beef in concentric ovals around it.
The kimchi was served in a round dish, and we alternated overlapping pineapple wedges and orange slices around the perimiter of the bowl.
Oh the pineapples! I took a couple of pineapples and carved spirals going down and around the sides. Along the line of these carvings, we stuck our chicken and beef skewers into the pinapples. People simply had to pull them out, but you had to see how awesome it was. A spiral of skewered meats beautiful riding down the sides of the pineapple. I think it might have been my favorite presentation, though everything was gorgeous.
The duck carving station was magnificent also. Besides the fact that we were butchering the ducks in front of people with a cleaver, we laid out our sliced duck sous vide breast along the 3 sides away from the person butchering, in which he gave a few slices to each person along with the duck. There were also two long skinny platters (about 1.5 inches wide and 1.5 feet long) which we filled with nicely sliced and blossomed scallions for people to take with their duck.
For the duck confit buns, Chef Rob showed me this cool presentation trick with handkerchiefs (cloth napkins?) and aluminum foil. You take a square of aluminum and place it on top of the napkin so that the top side of the aluminum is lined up with the top side of the cloth. Then fold in the top two corner like your folding an airplane. Then fold them in again, and again until you have a thin pointy top, flaring out to thicker bottom. Then start at the tip you just made and start rolling it up. Slightly unroll it and you have a horn looking napkin. Make two of these, put them in opposite corners so the rolled in ends point to eachother and stack the buns up in between. It looked great.
The production group made the whole pig that they were trying to do, and it came out great, and it looked AMAZING! The glaze on the skin was beautiful, and the interior came out great. Their plan to layer different colors of pork was as successful as it could have been despite the problems they had with cutting the fatback. Wait til you see pictures. We also had the ducks hanging from above, and we put some Chinese lanterns and 4 flags up (Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan).
Oh, and last but not least we had 2 fozen ice bowls, one which we served iced tea out of, and another which we rested a bowl of coconut, mango and passion fruit sorbets on. When we froze the ice bowls we placed orange slices, strawberries, rosemary sprigs, lemon slices and other garnish inside, so when we took it out of the bowl it had an array of colors and fruits. It was really phenomenal.
My descriptions barely scratch the surface of the show we put on. As Carlos was carving the duck, Steve was continuously frying up more spring rolls and I was serving the tuna and beef as well as refilling platters, making sure we were stocked. We didn't run out of anything but everyone ate well! I wish I were a journalist or an author, so I can convey these ideas and visualizations a lot clearer and with more passion, but just wait til I get the pictures up!
We now have to get over the hype that we just worked up, and make our way down from the high of such a successful Asian buffet, and bring it back to a classic, beautiful French buffet. Very detail and flavor oriented. I don’t think we can put as much effort as we just put into the last one. Did I mention that I spent about 4-5 hours on Friday night preparing our duck confit buns? Well I did, and they were spectacular.
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