Let me first say, I have a couple (like 10 or 11) days off remaining at work, so I decided that it would be a good idea to use one and practice in the morning. I ran to the supermarket and bought a couple of carrots, some turnips and I already had potatoes. I also bought a whole chicken because chef mentioned he would grade us on how we butchered it (which he didn't). I ran to Duane Reade the day before and picked up a perfect soft rubber ruler, which chef said we could use for our cuts. The taillage has specifications:
Jardeniere - .5cm squared, by 5 cm long. (a long thin rectangular block)
Macedoine - .5cm cubed. Take the above, cut and cube it
Julienne - 1-2mm squared, by 7cm long. (You all know what a julienne looks like)
Brunoise - 1-2mm cubed (cubes cut from the julienne)
We had to do the above with a carrot and a turnip (carrot first two cuts, turnip, second two). Then we had to take one onion, chop it in half, and emincer (slice) one half and ciseler the other (fine dice - the way they showed us). And then we had to turn a potato to 4 cocotte sized footballs, followed by cooking the carrot macedoine a l'anglaise (in really salty water until tender).
The written portion was, a piece of cake. I memorized my stuff, and wrote it down and submitted it. I was nervous about my taillage, even though I practiced. No reason to be. My taillage was pretty damn good. I must say, I did a fantastic job julienning the turnips. Its harder than you think to get 1-2mm slivers from a block of vegetable. Usually one end is too thick or too thin, or your knife cuts the slice before making it all the way down. I did a really good job. And my brunoise were so cute!
THEN.. dun dun dun!! lightening strikes. I was working across from one of the kids in the class who probably deserves to just.. leave the FCI, or at least repeat level 1 until he can get it right. Chef said earlier that we will be using boiling water as teams. And I took that to mean we would share the water, and he took it to mean we share the water and cook the macedoine together. While I was turning cocotte, he combined our macedoine and took it to the water to boil.
What do I do? Do I say no, we're not supposed to do that? He convinced me earlier that we're supposed to do it as a team, but I'm kicking myself in the ass now because that clearly makes no sense. Its a test!! But I went through with it, and we presented together, and besides the fact that they weren't completely tender, he chewed us out for working as a team when obviously you're not supposed to. I could have reserved half of the macedoine and presented them separately, or something, but I didn't. And for that I am fully to blame for my actions, or lack thereof. But HE is just a numbskull and just is not at par with the rest of us. It is students like him that make the FCI look bad when they take their money and pass them.
After kicking myself in the ass for the next few hours, and enduring a semi-interesting refresher course in HACCP (food safety), a few of us went out for drinks. It was a good time, but Friday at work was rough. I didn't get home til 3:30 and I had a long day of data entry type work to complete. FUN! It was the usual 3 of us plus Steve who was cool as shit. We really had a good time, and I recall having a semi-sociological debate with Bret, and we both concluded that we had no answers, but it was fun having an educated debate/conversation.
Oh, I got an A in Level 1. Yessssss. Though my evaluation score remained the same (81), but the combination of all our in class tests and a pretty good practical score, surely hindered by my "partner," had me floating around an A.
L.I-Quality:Intro. to Basic Techniq
Exam 1 - 100.00
Exam 2 - 100.00
Exam 3 - 100.00
Exam 4 - 100.00
Eval 1 - 81.00
Eval 2 - 81.00
Theory Final - 93.00
Practical Final - 88.00
On to level 2!!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Braising Hell...The end of Level 1
For the most part the title of this post is just a play on the word braise, in fact, our braise was quite heavenly. Every team had a couple of lamb shanks to braise. We had to remove the bulk of the tough sinewy silver skin. This is the same stuff that reduces and releases gelatin, but there is plenty on there even after you reduce most of it. We browned it on all sides, and then partially covered with stock, and then baked. It was actually pretty simple.
I'll keep this one brief. I've been a little behind on posts, and I can recount the food, but I can't necessarily recount the social interactions (which is what I find interesting for the sake of this blog)
We also made a type of braised chicken, on the stove. Let me first say, braising is wonderful, however, chicken... well, of course its wonderful as well, but pretty much EVERY recipe we've had calls for cooking the chick about 15-30 more minutes than necessary. What is necessary? There are a few schools of thought. If you work in a hospital where your "customers" are relatively high risk, weaker immune system patients, then it is pretty necessary to cook that chicken to rubber and make sure no one contracts any food borne illness. But when you're cooking for friends or customers at a high end restaurant, then the chicken is READY at 145F. Therefore, you remove the chicken when the internal temperature is between 135F-140F. You must consider carry-over cooking. That chicken will continue to cook through well after it is removed from the heat source.
With that said, all of our recipes, even ones that call for low and slow cooking, usually lend themselves to overcooking the chicken. I have never stuck my thermometer into the chicken and had it be under 160. The chicken doesn't automatically turn to rubber. They have all been juicy, not super juicy, but pretty moist, but none have been tinkering around 145F. I guess that's something to work on, and I guess something for you to keep in mind.
Oh, Chef made a big batch of couscous to go with the lamb, which was very good. They complement each other perfectly.
Moving right along, it is important to know that after this braising class, we are DONE with level 1. And that means a big ole TEST!
Chef told us exactly what we needed to do. He told us that we needed to work on as far as our cuts (taillage), work on our tournage (footballs), and know how to cook a l'anglaise and a l'etuvee. He also gave us the usual run down of what was going to be on the written portion. Piece of cake, right.. we'll see.
I'll keep this one brief. I've been a little behind on posts, and I can recount the food, but I can't necessarily recount the social interactions (which is what I find interesting for the sake of this blog)
We also made a type of braised chicken, on the stove. Let me first say, braising is wonderful, however, chicken... well, of course its wonderful as well, but pretty much EVERY recipe we've had calls for cooking the chick about 15-30 more minutes than necessary. What is necessary? There are a few schools of thought. If you work in a hospital where your "customers" are relatively high risk, weaker immune system patients, then it is pretty necessary to cook that chicken to rubber and make sure no one contracts any food borne illness. But when you're cooking for friends or customers at a high end restaurant, then the chicken is READY at 145F. Therefore, you remove the chicken when the internal temperature is between 135F-140F. You must consider carry-over cooking. That chicken will continue to cook through well after it is removed from the heat source.
With that said, all of our recipes, even ones that call for low and slow cooking, usually lend themselves to overcooking the chicken. I have never stuck my thermometer into the chicken and had it be under 160. The chicken doesn't automatically turn to rubber. They have all been juicy, not super juicy, but pretty moist, but none have been tinkering around 145F. I guess that's something to work on, and I guess something for you to keep in mind.
Oh, Chef made a big batch of couscous to go with the lamb, which was very good. They complement each other perfectly.
Moving right along, it is important to know that after this braising class, we are DONE with level 1. And that means a big ole TEST!
Chef told us exactly what we needed to do. He told us that we needed to work on as far as our cuts (taillage), work on our tournage (footballs), and know how to cook a l'anglaise and a l'etuvee. He also gave us the usual run down of what was going to be on the written portion. Piece of cake, right.. we'll see.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Extraction Complete
Well… I handled the meat, as always. Jiggled it a bit, tied it up, the usual. (I bet you’re wondering where I’m going with this. Don’t worry. Not far) Extraction method is a low and slow method of coking the meat submerged in liquid. It doesn’t concentrate the flavors, but instead extracts the juices, but not the moisture (hopefully).
One of the biggest mistakes is the assumption that cooking IN a liquid keeps the food moist. In fact it’s the opposite. Of course it can be moist if done properly, but there is a chance you may dry it out. The liquid the meat is being cooked in transfers heat “x” times faster than dry heat. So it’s easy to overcook it. It is important to keep the salt content low, and the temperature below a boil. Also, turns out the more tender meats, like a filet mignon, will do terribly in extraction methods of cooking. We used the braising technique in the next class and I’ll go into some more detail on this.
We basically did a veal stew in a creamy sauce (blanquette a veau), I believe it is a bechamel sauce, considering it was a white roux, broth and cream sauce. It was very tasty, and our veal was delicious, however, when we removed it from the cooking broth, and cover it with a damp paper towel it dried up a bit. That isn’t very appetizing, but it did taste great.
With the veal, we made a rice pilaf. It was plain rice, nothing special, but you actually finish cooking it in the oven. Maybe not absolutely necessary, but you can understand how the pan being surrounded in heat can keep the bottom from burning. It came out really good, but not spectacular. It was Uncle-Ben’s after all.
Our presentation was ON POINT. We molded some rice in a small cup, and topped with the veal and sauce. We could have used a little more salt, but it was pretty good.
The class started off VERY quiet. Everyone was a little scared after last week. [This blog somehow didn't post completely, and I don't remember what I wrote.. I'll try to continue] I got to class about 5-10 minutes before start time and no one really said a word. He was being a little hard, but it wore off fairly quickly.
One of the biggest mistakes is the assumption that cooking IN a liquid keeps the food moist. In fact it’s the opposite. Of course it can be moist if done properly, but there is a chance you may dry it out. The liquid the meat is being cooked in transfers heat “x” times faster than dry heat. So it’s easy to overcook it. It is important to keep the salt content low, and the temperature below a boil. Also, turns out the more tender meats, like a filet mignon, will do terribly in extraction methods of cooking. We used the braising technique in the next class and I’ll go into some more detail on this.
We basically did a veal stew in a creamy sauce (blanquette a veau), I believe it is a bechamel sauce, considering it was a white roux, broth and cream sauce. It was very tasty, and our veal was delicious, however, when we removed it from the cooking broth, and cover it with a damp paper towel it dried up a bit. That isn’t very appetizing, but it did taste great.
With the veal, we made a rice pilaf. It was plain rice, nothing special, but you actually finish cooking it in the oven. Maybe not absolutely necessary, but you can understand how the pan being surrounded in heat can keep the bottom from burning. It came out really good, but not spectacular. It was Uncle-Ben’s after all.
Our presentation was ON POINT. We molded some rice in a small cup, and topped with the veal and sauce. We could have used a little more salt, but it was pretty good.
The class started off VERY quiet. Everyone was a little scared after last week. [This blog somehow didn't post completely, and I don't remember what I wrote.. I'll try to continue] I got to class about 5-10 minutes before start time and no one really said a word. He was being a little hard, but it wore off fairly quickly.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Tender loin tender looooiiin
Oh tender loin, how tender thou art. I just want your tender loin wrapped around me tightly… huh? That’s a little gross because you actually can wrap the tenderloin around you, and I guess that would make it a meat scarf.
(As a warning this post is a bit lengthy. May want to grab a sandwich or something first)
Chef Tom must have just gotten laid or something because he was really jolly and friendly in the beginning of class. Oh how easily moods can change. As always, we’ll get into that when we get there.
We were making filet mignons and chicken Viennese style, which is basically a schnitzel, or a flattened breaded chicken.
OH! Before I go on, someone anonymously posted to the blog requesting further info on that book I mentioned, the butcher’s guide to beef, or something like that. I am currently looking for the exact title and author, and I’ve emailed our school librarian and Chef Wanda. So I’ll get that posted as soon as I find it. --- Kim, the librarian just got back to me! It’s called “The Meat Buyer’s Guide: Beef, Lamb, Veal, Pork and Poultry” by NAMP (North American Meat Processors Association) You can find it, and read more about it on Amazon.com. Sweet. I wonder who posted that? (FYI: I’m looking on Amazon.com and where I wrote “Beef” in the title, it has the word “Meat” listed. Silly.) Also, Chef Wanda just got back to me. That’s pretty cool. I asked and they answered, the only two sources I tried. That’s good.
Anywho, this class was relatively short. One recipe called for pommes darphin, which is a big fresh hash brown, crispy on the outside, mushier in the middle, and drenched in butter. Nasty but DELICIOUS. The other recipe called for pommes pailles, straw cut fries. We abstained from making those in order not to have to use the deep fryers and besides, we made it in the last class.
The chicken wasn’t separated breasts, but instead whole chickens, so we had to practice butchering and machonnering it (exposing the bones – not that the recipe called for this, but it was good practice). We’re getting into the habit of removing the breast bone. This is a pretty essential step for cutting the breast. After we removed the breast meat (called the supremes, just like the peeled citrus wedges) we sliced it down the middle and pounded it a little. Later we floured, egged and breaded, then fried. I’m not a huge fan of this method of breaded chicken. I feel the flattened chicken leaves the breast drier than if left whole.
The filets were really easy, we just tied them with some string to make a nice round hockey puck, and then grilled them to medium rare. Mmmmmmm. We also made a compound butter consisting of butter, S&P, chopped parsley and lemon juice, whipped to incorporate air, and then rolled into a log. This melted beautifully on the steak and was just delicious. When you whip the butter, it keeps it from separating. This is good for a nice creamy melt, without the butter separating to fat and fat solids. (Ever get a greasy Shrimp Scampi? That’s because they’re suppose to use whipped butter compounds but instead used unwhipped butter)
The pommes darphin is usually cut on a mandoline since it is less wasteful and it shreds the potatoes very uniformly. Due to a LACK of time constraints, Chef Tom insisted that we cut the potatoes by hand. That is, peel, cut into flat sided blocks, slice 1 mm tranches, and then slice 1 mm juliennes. It was not fun, but it was good to practice. And you know, it wasn’t even that bad. But the mandoline would have been nicer. Anyhow, the pommes darphin is actually quite easy. As long as you don’t burn it (make sure the flame is not too high and if it starts to smoke, add more butter or oil… gross, but it works. Also, for most foods you are trying to brown, before you put the food in the pan you should make sure its wicked hot. But not just for the sake of the food, but the pan needs to have the fat go into its pores and provide a slick layer to keep the food from sticking. We learned that the heard way a few weeks back.
So the food came out great, appearance wise especially. That’s what counts most (for Chef’s eyes, fried breaded chicken will almost always be delicious, as will filet mignon, and I guess fried potatoes as well, so the taste was covered)
Chef was really laid back, not to harsh on anyone, everything was going well. Then after dinner, he came back and he got angry. Since class was relatively easier than normal, we cleaned our stations after eating a late dinner, and we had an hour to kill before going home. Normally he would review a few things, review for the upcoming test, and then tell stories. But this time he was saying, oh you think this is easy, and today was so easy, and level one was a breeze, well it just got a lot tougher. He started to quiz us on past recipes and techniques. He went on and on about how he will be stricter and it gets harder, and it was apparent that his mood had changed from the beginning of class to the end. He also walked us through the next lesson and the recipes, but not in a friendly way.
So why? I’ll tell you. He told one of our classmates who in turn told one or two of us. While we were on lunch some knuckleheads, probably just one, talking to another student in the bathroom was saying something like, oh this class was a breeze, and I can’t believe Level one is almost over, it was so easy and maybe he said something else inappropriate with some curses, who knows? But another chef was in the bathroom and overheard and reported to Chef Tom that someone said some of these things. I don’t know if he was able to identify the guy or not but it was apparent that Chef had his own ideas and was about to get strict with us.
I think I’m on his good student list, so I don’t have to worry about him giving me a tongue lashing.
After class I had a beer with Two classmates. We’re going to hit up some dim sum in a few weeks. Exciting stuff. Getting to know my classmates and starting to plan some extracurricular stuff.
Last but not least right before I went to bed I turned on the TV. Good Eats was on, so I decided to watch it. Sure enough He was making BEEF TENDERLOINS!! Tournedos (Filet mignons in French)!!! I watched most of it until I fell asleep. It really is reassuring to hear Alton Brown repeat what chef just showed us (the same names, cuts, techniques, etc. It was really amazing). But on the flip side, we just got the same 5 hour lesson in 20 minutes. A little discouraging. But as a student you take better note of the knives they use, the cutting boards, where they cut first, how they go about it, etc.
(As a warning this post is a bit lengthy. May want to grab a sandwich or something first)
Chef Tom must have just gotten laid or something because he was really jolly and friendly in the beginning of class. Oh how easily moods can change. As always, we’ll get into that when we get there.
We were making filet mignons and chicken Viennese style, which is basically a schnitzel, or a flattened breaded chicken.
OH! Before I go on, someone anonymously posted to the blog requesting further info on that book I mentioned, the butcher’s guide to beef, or something like that. I am currently looking for the exact title and author, and I’ve emailed our school librarian and Chef Wanda. So I’ll get that posted as soon as I find it. --- Kim, the librarian just got back to me! It’s called “The Meat Buyer’s Guide: Beef, Lamb, Veal, Pork and Poultry” by NAMP (North American Meat Processors Association) You can find it, and read more about it on Amazon.com. Sweet. I wonder who posted that? (FYI: I’m looking on Amazon.com and where I wrote “Beef” in the title, it has the word “Meat” listed. Silly.) Also, Chef Wanda just got back to me. That’s pretty cool. I asked and they answered, the only two sources I tried. That’s good.
Anywho, this class was relatively short. One recipe called for pommes darphin, which is a big fresh hash brown, crispy on the outside, mushier in the middle, and drenched in butter. Nasty but DELICIOUS. The other recipe called for pommes pailles, straw cut fries. We abstained from making those in order not to have to use the deep fryers and besides, we made it in the last class.
The chicken wasn’t separated breasts, but instead whole chickens, so we had to practice butchering and machonnering it (exposing the bones – not that the recipe called for this, but it was good practice). We’re getting into the habit of removing the breast bone. This is a pretty essential step for cutting the breast. After we removed the breast meat (called the supremes, just like the peeled citrus wedges) we sliced it down the middle and pounded it a little. Later we floured, egged and breaded, then fried. I’m not a huge fan of this method of breaded chicken. I feel the flattened chicken leaves the breast drier than if left whole.
The filets were really easy, we just tied them with some string to make a nice round hockey puck, and then grilled them to medium rare. Mmmmmmm. We also made a compound butter consisting of butter, S&P, chopped parsley and lemon juice, whipped to incorporate air, and then rolled into a log. This melted beautifully on the steak and was just delicious. When you whip the butter, it keeps it from separating. This is good for a nice creamy melt, without the butter separating to fat and fat solids. (Ever get a greasy Shrimp Scampi? That’s because they’re suppose to use whipped butter compounds but instead used unwhipped butter)
The pommes darphin is usually cut on a mandoline since it is less wasteful and it shreds the potatoes very uniformly. Due to a LACK of time constraints, Chef Tom insisted that we cut the potatoes by hand. That is, peel, cut into flat sided blocks, slice 1 mm tranches, and then slice 1 mm juliennes. It was not fun, but it was good to practice. And you know, it wasn’t even that bad. But the mandoline would have been nicer. Anyhow, the pommes darphin is actually quite easy. As long as you don’t burn it (make sure the flame is not too high and if it starts to smoke, add more butter or oil… gross, but it works. Also, for most foods you are trying to brown, before you put the food in the pan you should make sure its wicked hot. But not just for the sake of the food, but the pan needs to have the fat go into its pores and provide a slick layer to keep the food from sticking. We learned that the heard way a few weeks back.
So the food came out great, appearance wise especially. That’s what counts most (for Chef’s eyes, fried breaded chicken will almost always be delicious, as will filet mignon, and I guess fried potatoes as well, so the taste was covered)
Chef was really laid back, not to harsh on anyone, everything was going well. Then after dinner, he came back and he got angry. Since class was relatively easier than normal, we cleaned our stations after eating a late dinner, and we had an hour to kill before going home. Normally he would review a few things, review for the upcoming test, and then tell stories. But this time he was saying, oh you think this is easy, and today was so easy, and level one was a breeze, well it just got a lot tougher. He started to quiz us on past recipes and techniques. He went on and on about how he will be stricter and it gets harder, and it was apparent that his mood had changed from the beginning of class to the end. He also walked us through the next lesson and the recipes, but not in a friendly way.
So why? I’ll tell you. He told one of our classmates who in turn told one or two of us. While we were on lunch some knuckleheads, probably just one, talking to another student in the bathroom was saying something like, oh this class was a breeze, and I can’t believe Level one is almost over, it was so easy and maybe he said something else inappropriate with some curses, who knows? But another chef was in the bathroom and overheard and reported to Chef Tom that someone said some of these things. I don’t know if he was able to identify the guy or not but it was apparent that Chef had his own ideas and was about to get strict with us.
I think I’m on his good student list, so I don’t have to worry about him giving me a tongue lashing.
After class I had a beer with Two classmates. We’re going to hit up some dim sum in a few weeks. Exciting stuff. Getting to know my classmates and starting to plan some extracurricular stuff.
Last but not least right before I went to bed I turned on the TV. Good Eats was on, so I decided to watch it. Sure enough He was making BEEF TENDERLOINS!! Tournedos (Filet mignons in French)!!! I watched most of it until I fell asleep. It really is reassuring to hear Alton Brown repeat what chef just showed us (the same names, cuts, techniques, etc. It was really amazing). But on the flip side, we just got the same 5 hour lesson in 20 minutes. A little discouraging. But as a student you take better note of the knives they use, the cutting boards, where they cut first, how they go about it, etc.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
All Up in my Grille
I've realized today that the point of this blog is to do a little more than discuss how I make food. I feel like I give a pretty good look into what's going on class, but quite frankly, I think I'm too broke to have drinks after class with classmates, and its late by the time we get out of class, and most of the people live outside NY, except the two I already had drinks with. Somehow we decided to get drinks again after Thursday's class (the next class after this post, which is actually tonight), so maybe I'll have something else to say about that kind of stuff. If you're reading this and are interested in anything, please drop me a comment. Like what types of pans we use?, what color nail polish I used to differentiate my utensils?, etc...
Anyhow, we fired up the grill for this class. It was a pretty easy class, to be honest. And I took a very hands on approach, which is what I want/have to do. I did all the grilling for our team, and prepared the chicken. I'll get into it in a second.
The beef we used was a very fresh cut, located right below/behind the ribs. It was a 182, I believe. What the hell does that mean? Apparently, every piece of the cow has a corresponding number. So if you tell a butcher that you'd like a 182, with a 1x1 tail, then you're telling him/her that that you want a certain cut that has been designated as #182, and the tail end of that cut should be approximately an inch thick and an inch long (from the base of the primary cut of meat). At least that's how I understood Chef Tom's narrative. Apparently there's an $80 guide to these cuts. Pretty pricey!
Anyways, the beef was vacuum-packed and looked pretty damn fresh. it had a thick layer of fat on one end, which chef trimmed completely off. He also removed the sinewy silver skin that was between the fat and meat. This is a tough layer that doesn't quite break down without a long duration on the heat.
But because the meat we had was classified as a first category, it lends itself better to a quick cooking style, cooked to medium rare. The categories are First, Second and Third. The second and third are progressively tougher meats, and are usually braised or roasted for longer periods of time so the meat gets tender.
So, what are aged meats? I'll tell you what isn't an aged meat, and that was the piece we had. Ours was fresh out of the package. Aged meats allow the natural enzymes of decaying meat to begin breaking down the meat and therefore making it a bit more tender. Italians can age meat in a cool basement for a while, some put it in high tech "aging rooms." What's better? beats me.
With that said, an aged meat is usually more tender and delicious. Ours was not as tender as butter, but still delicious. We grilled it and put on beautiful quadrillage (diamond shaped grill pattern). Mine was rare/medium rare and very delicious. Before you serve/cut the piece you should always let it rest for a couple of minutes. This allows the blood/juice to recirculate throughout the piece, so it doesn't bleed all over when you cut it, and it makes the more cooked parts juicier.
We served our steak with pommes frites and sauce choron. Sauce choron is a derivative from hollandaise sauce (egg yolks beat over simmering water, then with clarified butter whisked in). into that we put a bernaise reduction (vinegar, crushed pepper, some herbs, then strained) and a little fondue de tomates. It was really perfect on the steak. But that stuff is BAD for you.
We ate this for dinner, and it was fantastic.
Next we did the chicken. I prepared the chicken almost entirely. My partner was more than eager to let me do this. I took the wish bone out this time. Good habits are important. I then cut down both sides of the backbone, through the ribs to remove the back bone and tail. Then I cut out the rib bones and the hip bones. We also cut the drumstick and the thigh at the joint to expose it, and exposed the thigh bone, since that part usually takes the longest to cook. It was pretty easy. I took my time (not my sweet time, but I didn't rush) just to get a grasp on what I was doing. Chef walked by and said "beautiful." Haste makes waste. I brushed the almost boneless chicken with a little olive oil, and we sprinkled a little thyme on it. We let it marinate in the fridge while we prepared the rest of the dish. The rest of the dish was basically a veal stock reduction as the sauce, and pommes pailles (fried haystack of potatoes).
So when it was time to grill the chicken, you put it skin down, and after a few minutes, you give it a 30 degree turn to get the quadrillage going. It looked beautiful! Flip it for a minute or two to get the flesh side going then take it off and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you take it out, slightly under cooked, and coat the flesh with a layer of dijon mustard, then bread crumbs (which have been mixed with a touch of oil and chicken jous. Pop them back in the oven for another 10 minutes and hopefully by then, the meat is cooked through (140 degrees or so, and let carry over cooking bring it to 145)
This dish was PHENOMENAL. Better than the steak. I didn't actually taste it until I got home, but it was great.
We had another great class. My partner and I took care of business. The proteins seem easier to cook and prepare than the sauces. I don't enjoy making the sauces since they're easier to mess up and require all types of reducing and ingredients. But you can always add more stock or water if you've reduced it too much.
One guy was upset that his chicken wasn't fully cooked on the grill, and we had to remind him that he was finishing it in the oven. This was after he mangled it. But it was ok, because we cut the pieces apart for service anyways. You just got to pay attention, and read ahead in the recipe.
As I was walking to the train station I ran into Grace, my old partner, and Bret (probably the one who is at the top of the class right now). We decided on drinks for Thursday. I guess I have to take some money out of the bank. I'll let you know how it goes (without disclosing anything too private).
Anyhow, we fired up the grill for this class. It was a pretty easy class, to be honest. And I took a very hands on approach, which is what I want/have to do. I did all the grilling for our team, and prepared the chicken. I'll get into it in a second.
The beef we used was a very fresh cut, located right below/behind the ribs. It was a 182, I believe. What the hell does that mean? Apparently, every piece of the cow has a corresponding number. So if you tell a butcher that you'd like a 182, with a 1x1 tail, then you're telling him/her that that you want a certain cut that has been designated as #182, and the tail end of that cut should be approximately an inch thick and an inch long (from the base of the primary cut of meat). At least that's how I understood Chef Tom's narrative. Apparently there's an $80 guide to these cuts. Pretty pricey!
Anyways, the beef was vacuum-packed and looked pretty damn fresh. it had a thick layer of fat on one end, which chef trimmed completely off. He also removed the sinewy silver skin that was between the fat and meat. This is a tough layer that doesn't quite break down without a long duration on the heat.
But because the meat we had was classified as a first category, it lends itself better to a quick cooking style, cooked to medium rare. The categories are First, Second and Third. The second and third are progressively tougher meats, and are usually braised or roasted for longer periods of time so the meat gets tender.
So, what are aged meats? I'll tell you what isn't an aged meat, and that was the piece we had. Ours was fresh out of the package. Aged meats allow the natural enzymes of decaying meat to begin breaking down the meat and therefore making it a bit more tender. Italians can age meat in a cool basement for a while, some put it in high tech "aging rooms." What's better? beats me.
With that said, an aged meat is usually more tender and delicious. Ours was not as tender as butter, but still delicious. We grilled it and put on beautiful quadrillage (diamond shaped grill pattern). Mine was rare/medium rare and very delicious. Before you serve/cut the piece you should always let it rest for a couple of minutes. This allows the blood/juice to recirculate throughout the piece, so it doesn't bleed all over when you cut it, and it makes the more cooked parts juicier.
We served our steak with pommes frites and sauce choron. Sauce choron is a derivative from hollandaise sauce (egg yolks beat over simmering water, then with clarified butter whisked in). into that we put a bernaise reduction (vinegar, crushed pepper, some herbs, then strained) and a little fondue de tomates. It was really perfect on the steak. But that stuff is BAD for you.
We ate this for dinner, and it was fantastic.
Next we did the chicken. I prepared the chicken almost entirely. My partner was more than eager to let me do this. I took the wish bone out this time. Good habits are important. I then cut down both sides of the backbone, through the ribs to remove the back bone and tail. Then I cut out the rib bones and the hip bones. We also cut the drumstick and the thigh at the joint to expose it, and exposed the thigh bone, since that part usually takes the longest to cook. It was pretty easy. I took my time (not my sweet time, but I didn't rush) just to get a grasp on what I was doing. Chef walked by and said "beautiful." Haste makes waste. I brushed the almost boneless chicken with a little olive oil, and we sprinkled a little thyme on it. We let it marinate in the fridge while we prepared the rest of the dish. The rest of the dish was basically a veal stock reduction as the sauce, and pommes pailles (fried haystack of potatoes).
So when it was time to grill the chicken, you put it skin down, and after a few minutes, you give it a 30 degree turn to get the quadrillage going. It looked beautiful! Flip it for a minute or two to get the flesh side going then take it off and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you take it out, slightly under cooked, and coat the flesh with a layer of dijon mustard, then bread crumbs (which have been mixed with a touch of oil and chicken jous. Pop them back in the oven for another 10 minutes and hopefully by then, the meat is cooked through (140 degrees or so, and let carry over cooking bring it to 145)
This dish was PHENOMENAL. Better than the steak. I didn't actually taste it until I got home, but it was great.
We had another great class. My partner and I took care of business. The proteins seem easier to cook and prepare than the sauces. I don't enjoy making the sauces since they're easier to mess up and require all types of reducing and ingredients. But you can always add more stock or water if you've reduced it too much.
One guy was upset that his chicken wasn't fully cooked on the grill, and we had to remind him that he was finishing it in the oven. This was after he mangled it. But it was ok, because we cut the pieces apart for service anyways. You just got to pay attention, and read ahead in the recipe.
As I was walking to the train station I ran into Grace, my old partner, and Bret (probably the one who is at the top of the class right now). We decided on drinks for Thursday. I guess I have to take some money out of the bank. I'll let you know how it goes (without disclosing anything too private).
Monday, September 24, 2007
Disaster Strikes
This was a rough class. NOT the end of the world, but a couple of things went wrong.
We started the class VERY well. We watched the chef hack away at the ribs portion of a pig. We each had two bones worth of rib section which we needed to prepare. It was actually a beautiful, fresh looking cut, and it came out quite well. It wasn't pink in the middle, which it could have been. Many people believe pork needs to be cooked until rubbery and well done. But contrary to this belief, pork is relatively clean (arguably so), and it rarely carries pathogens that make us sick. With that said, we barely overcooked it because it wasn't a touch pink in the middle. But it was still moist and delicious.
Picture a pork chop. now picture two thick pork chops. Now picture them uncut, so it looks like a really thick pork chop (3-4 inches thick). That's what we started with. We needed to machonner the ends of the bones. That is, make them bare and beautiful (like a prepared rack of lamb). This was easy, but we lost a little bit of the meat. That's ok, because we preserved the beautiful "eye" meat. Then we tied it with two pieces of string so the eye meat stayed nice and round. After sauteing it on all sides to develop a beautiful brown crust we covered it and popped it in the oven til it was done.
Everything is going a-ok.
I guess you want me to get to the good part...
We needed to roast the chicken. First I forgot to take out the wishbone. Eh. No biggie, we just took it out afterwards. I also forgot to salt the cavity before I trussed it. Again, no biggie, but these are flaws that I need to pick up on.
More importantly, I messed up the potato rissoler. Instead of blanching in water until it hits a boil and air drying, I full on boiled them. This wouldn't be as big an issue if we didn't already tournage the potatoes into cocotte size (cut the potatoes into 5cm footballs, which takes a bunch of time). So as we dumped the potatoes and tried again, we didn't notice the pearl onions burning under our noses. They didn't burn to a char. They looked borderline ok, with a glacer a brun as it called for in the recipe. But the fact that they did burn made them a bit bitter. Just wasn't right. Finally, when we plated, we went overboard (to my accord), and the chef basically said it looked awful, the potatoes, which we re-did, and were pretty good, were too bland, pearl onions were bitter, and just too much going on on the plate.
It was a learning experience, though it didn't feel great. HOWEVER, the chicken itself was delicious and moist. He gave us that much. I didn't walk away a happy camper, and I actually lost some sleep over it.
I personally take most of the blame for the follies of this class, but I must give an honorable mention to the fact that my partner's toothache acted up pretty bad and I needed to take matters into my own hands. Other people in class worked alone for this lesson and did a fantastic job, however, when you have a partner, there is a certain amount of interdependence that is involved and if that flow is broken it can leave a lot of room for error. This isn't an excuse, and trust me I was up to 3AM (sober) thinking about it in bed. It won't happen again.
We started the class VERY well. We watched the chef hack away at the ribs portion of a pig. We each had two bones worth of rib section which we needed to prepare. It was actually a beautiful, fresh looking cut, and it came out quite well. It wasn't pink in the middle, which it could have been. Many people believe pork needs to be cooked until rubbery and well done. But contrary to this belief, pork is relatively clean (arguably so), and it rarely carries pathogens that make us sick. With that said, we barely overcooked it because it wasn't a touch pink in the middle. But it was still moist and delicious.
Picture a pork chop. now picture two thick pork chops. Now picture them uncut, so it looks like a really thick pork chop (3-4 inches thick). That's what we started with. We needed to machonner the ends of the bones. That is, make them bare and beautiful (like a prepared rack of lamb). This was easy, but we lost a little bit of the meat. That's ok, because we preserved the beautiful "eye" meat. Then we tied it with two pieces of string so the eye meat stayed nice and round. After sauteing it on all sides to develop a beautiful brown crust we covered it and popped it in the oven til it was done.
Everything is going a-ok.
I guess you want me to get to the good part...
We needed to roast the chicken. First I forgot to take out the wishbone. Eh. No biggie, we just took it out afterwards. I also forgot to salt the cavity before I trussed it. Again, no biggie, but these are flaws that I need to pick up on.
More importantly, I messed up the potato rissoler. Instead of blanching in water until it hits a boil and air drying, I full on boiled them. This wouldn't be as big an issue if we didn't already tournage the potatoes into cocotte size (cut the potatoes into 5cm footballs, which takes a bunch of time). So as we dumped the potatoes and tried again, we didn't notice the pearl onions burning under our noses. They didn't burn to a char. They looked borderline ok, with a glacer a brun as it called for in the recipe. But the fact that they did burn made them a bit bitter. Just wasn't right. Finally, when we plated, we went overboard (to my accord), and the chef basically said it looked awful, the potatoes, which we re-did, and were pretty good, were too bland, pearl onions were bitter, and just too much going on on the plate.
It was a learning experience, though it didn't feel great. HOWEVER, the chicken itself was delicious and moist. He gave us that much. I didn't walk away a happy camper, and I actually lost some sleep over it.
I personally take most of the blame for the follies of this class, but I must give an honorable mention to the fact that my partner's toothache acted up pretty bad and I needed to take matters into my own hands. Other people in class worked alone for this lesson and did a fantastic job, however, when you have a partner, there is a certain amount of interdependence that is involved and if that flow is broken it can leave a lot of room for error. This isn't an excuse, and trust me I was up to 3AM (sober) thinking about it in bed. It won't happen again.
Do you Truss me?
This class was an introduction to poultry. This is where cleanliness needs to be stepped up a bit. Chicken is one of the most popular purveyors of salmonella (dirty, dirty chickens) and therefore, we needed to be careful not to cross contaminate our foods. We needed to sanitize our boards, and our knives, and make sure they didn't get in contact with clean utensils or food before they were sanitized. Easier said than done, but we managed.
One of the more interesting things we did was 1) pull out (rip the bone from the carcass) the wishbones from the raw chicken (and again for the duck), and then 2) trussing the duck with a trussing needle.
The chicken was sauteed skin down, and finished in the oven, and the duck was roasted. Today went well, but my partner was realizing that she had a terrible toothache. This was more of a factor in our next class, but for the time being it was tolerable for me and for her.
To be perfectly honest, I don't remember anything special about this class. Though Chef Tom had us put the roasted duck in the oven a lot later than we should have, and therefore it was undercooked by the time class was over. OH!! we made a terrific l'orange sauce that I wanted to take home, but my partner chucked it due to time constraints. So I brought home the raw duck which I finished cooking on the stove, but I had no l'orange sauce to top it with. It looked delicious, and she tasted it and said it WAS delicious, but I didn't even have a chance to taste it.
Not the end of the world, but it would have been awesome to have with the duck.
All in all, as good a class as it could have been, considering the Chef had us start the duck late. But it went well.
One of the more interesting things we did was 1) pull out (rip the bone from the carcass) the wishbones from the raw chicken (and again for the duck), and then 2) trussing the duck with a trussing needle.
The chicken was sauteed skin down, and finished in the oven, and the duck was roasted. Today went well, but my partner was realizing that she had a terrible toothache. This was more of a factor in our next class, but for the time being it was tolerable for me and for her.
To be perfectly honest, I don't remember anything special about this class. Though Chef Tom had us put the roasted duck in the oven a lot later than we should have, and therefore it was undercooked by the time class was over. OH!! we made a terrific l'orange sauce that I wanted to take home, but my partner chucked it due to time constraints. So I brought home the raw duck which I finished cooking on the stove, but I had no l'orange sauce to top it with. It looked delicious, and she tasted it and said it WAS delicious, but I didn't even have a chance to taste it.
Not the end of the world, but it would have been awesome to have with the duck.
All in all, as good a class as it could have been, considering the Chef had us start the duck late. But it went well.
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