I’ve mentioned this already, but this level is 10 times more interesting than the last one. It’s also less stressful. Not entirely stress free, but you get to step back and enjoy what you’re doing. We’ve tasted all of our food and tweaked it to become what we want it to be, not what its expected of us to be.
Since we’re still working o our buffet for Saturday, let me give you an update. We order chicken wings to prepare for the buffet. In addition to ordering 10 lbs, we wanted whole fresh wings. What we got was a bag of precut buffalo wings, frozen. What we originally wanted to do was manchonner the wings and lollipop them. When the wings are whole it’s a lot easier to manchonner. When they’re pre cut you need to do a lot more digging and scraping. So, I spent about 45 minutes cleaning up the wings. Not to mention the chicken quality was, in my opinion, sub par and just a little gross. If I were making buffalo wings at a bar, these would be perfect, but for our purposes, I felt they were downright gross. I have opinions on things…
Further, there just weren’t that many wings!! Definitely not 10 lbs. There were 5 lbs at best. That came out to 40 pieces, which is not as much as we would have liked. However, they’re marinating in a spicy Thai marinade that we made. We made all of our marinades and sauces from scratch, which is great.
We also brushed a basic ginger, scallion, soy, oyster sauce/hoisen sauce marinade on the fillet mignon and chicken skewers. It’s actually really good, and hopefully the meats absorb it all up.
We did a test run on the dumplings and spring rolls to see if they’ll fry properly or blow up in our faces. We heated up a small pan of oil. I was cooking them, so I kept a watchful eye on them. I was considering a couple of things. First and foremost, the dumplings and spring rolls were frozen solid prior to being cooked. So I wanted to make sure the fillings were cooked through. The dumplings were smaller and the meat was raw and frozen. I didn’t want to burn the outside and leave the inside undercooked. Either way they came out just right. After I was almost finished with the spring rolls, I remember that we filled it a) with just vegetables, and b) we cooked the vegetables, so we only needed to defrost and the inside and heat it up. So we could afford to go a little lighter in color that I initially cooked the spring rolls to. That’s why we did it… to get these questionables out of the way. Again, the spring rolls were slammin’.
Prior to coming to class, Chef Rob spent 30 minutes standing outside a Chinese restaurant watching them hack up a duck. He also purchased a duck so we could get some practice in, and admire and taste the flavor, the amount of fat left under the skin, the color, the texture, everything. What was really cool was the fact that as we were hacking the duck, we saw a piece of star anise in the cavity! What’s so amazing about that? We had it in a brine of star anise (amongst other things), which means we’re practically Chinese. No, it means we were doing everything right (so far). Chef wants to smoke it with star anise and then blast it in the oven to get the color and crispness of the skin. Not to mention the fact that the duck is currently hang drying in the fridge right now. (Which chef repeatedly mentioned “hey fellas, did I mention that we have 3 dugs hanging upstairs right now?”) He’s a riot.
He also wants me and Steve to watch the movie “Good fellas” so we can bust out quotes as he and Carlos have been doing. It’s pretty funny.
I also want to mention… We had a few duck breasts that we wrapped in sous vide plastic with a bit of duck stock and spice (the ones that were already chilling in the fridge in a spice mixture). We cooked them for 2 hours in the sous vide method (wrapped submerged in hot, but not boiling, water for 2 hours. We then took one breast, sautéed it skin side down to render some fat and crisp the skin and then we’re serving it thinly sliced for the picking. It was FABULOUS! We’re really going all out…
Also in this class we saw our HUGE chunk of tuna, which we’re serving rare, sliced thin. We tried some of that with a taboulleh salsa that we made for it, and it was phenomenal.
Lastly, the production group was working on the pig for the buffet. Chef Janet’s intention was to take fat back, compress it, then slice it thin and wrap pigmented pork in the fat back, and arrange it decoratively in the cavity, so when its cooked and cut, we would see a beautiful design. There were some issues with cutting the fat back because it was so thin in the first place. I have a feeling, however, that they will do a good job. I saw the sewed up pig, and it looked awesome.
I am going to class tonight (on an off day) to make the duck confit buns. I think it will be great. I realized today that the original recipe we used we put in what we thought was one cake of yeast. We were under the impression that one cake of yeast was about 40 grams. After a little research, it appears that a cake of yeast is more like 18 grams of yeast. That means we quadrupled the amount of yeast for a single batch. This explains its yeasty flavor which was pretty gross. Hopefully when I cut back on the yeast, it works out perfectly.
We’ll see.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Buffet!
I have been eating, drinking and sleeping this buffet for the past week and a half. In fact, I purchased 3 whole ducks from Chinatown for the buffet, as well as some other Asian products we needed (including white miso paste, and bonito flakes). I have a few issues about it that I will get into over the course of this post, but in general I am PSYCHED!
So let’s start with the basics. Level 4 started, and 1/3 of us (3 of us) are in the buffet group. The other 2/3 are split up evenly into “production” and “family meal”. Family meal is exactly what it sounds like. They make the food that all the staff and students eat for dinner. Production prepares all the beef, fish, stocks, etc. that the restaurant and classes need. It’s amazing to see what gets done in 5 hours.
Buffet, on the other hand, is in a world of its own. It’s the first time that we get to explore our creativity and abilities as aspiring chefs. We can choose any theme, or not even a theme if we don’t want one, but we choose the buffet menu. We came up with a tour de Asia theme. It wasn’t my first choice, but I’ll be the first person to delve into the unknown and leave my comfort zone to try something new. And, quite frankly, I may know a little more about some Chinese things than the people in my group, but collectively, for not being Asian, we have a wealth of knowledge in this or that.
Our menu (starting with the smaller items):
Filet mignon skewers
Chicken breast skewers
Vegetarian Vietnamese spring rolls
Pork (garlic and ginger) fried dumplings/wontons
Duck confit buns
Kimchee
Seared, rare fillet mignon slices with julienned cucumbers
Spicy Thai wings
Yellow fin tuna Tartar
A SLEW of dipping sauces for all of these things (ranging from spicy, salty, sweet and spicy, etc.)
Fried rice (kind of a cop out, but it’s our starch)
Duck breast sous vide
3 whole Peking ducks
A whole, stuffed suckling pig
3 various sorbets
I’d like to discuss the pig first. What we originally wanted was a traditional roasted sucking pig, similar to what you may see at a Chinese New Years feast. Nothing too fancy, just a whole roasted suckling pig… Somehow, the production Chef came in and said she had an idea for a suckling pig. And we were like, wow, we wanted to do a suckling pig. And we decided to let her roll with it. Her idea is truly brilliant, however far fetched it may be. First, you de-bone the body. Then she has this grand idea of mixing a very colorful pigment (they chose red beets and chlorophyll from a leafy green) with chopped pork and wrapping it in sheets of fat back, arranging them in a flower shape (picture the NBC logo, with two colors and making a complete circle) and stuffing it back into the pig, so when you slice it, you get skin, meat and the flower arrangement inside. It’s really a grand idea. What’s even grander is the method of preparing it. They want to cook it submerged in a circulation cooker overnight, in DUCK FAT, until its just cooked, then finish it in an oven to crisp the skin. Now, quite frankly, that sounds amazing. But I am curious as to how realistic it is. And will a pig submerged in duck fat get crispy and crackling like I imagine? We will find out. But it’s cool that they are doing it, and helping us out, and are as excited as we are about our buffet.
Next issue. I spent about 2 and a half hours pressing wontons together last night. That was great fun.
Moving right along, we have this wonderful plan for duck confit buns. The first day we had a case of ducks waiting for us to butcher. We also had a slew of vegetables to julienne for the spring rolls. Steve very nicely butchered the ducks, and saved the fat for the confit. We actually got a lot of fat from a case of ducks. It was pretty awesome. Chef then cured them in a delicious Indian spice mixture with salt. The next class we cooked them low and slow. The legs came out amazing.
Back to the first class. Within the first 30 minutes of level 4, we were on our way preparing for our buffet. We had to slice a number of veggies for the spring roll, starting with red pepper. One pepper in… SLICE. Carlos’s finger slips and he takes a cross section of his nail clean off!! I helped him clean up the wound (blood didn’t get all over), and we got a band-aid on and a protective finger rubber. Less than 5 minutes late, the rubber was SWELLING with blood. It was crazy!! Eventually it stopped bleeding, but still. Not a good way to start level 4.
Anyhow, by days 1 and 2, we finished a number of items, including the spring rolls, dumplings, prepared a basic kimchee, a bunch of dipping sauces. Prepared the bases for the sorbets, skewered the meats, prepared the duck for the duck confit buns, and a few other items.
Let’s move along to the whole Peking ducks… I purchased these ducks in Chinatown on Monday. 3 whole frozen Long Island ducks (which is pretty good, I’d expect the ducks to come from Guangdong province or something). So they were frozen solid when I got them, but I left them out, keeping a close eye on their temperature, throughout my day at work. By the time I got to class they were barely frozen, but still very cold.
What we did was first prepare a brine of 5 gallons of water, 3 lbs of salt (it was damn salty), 2 lbs of brown sugar, and a bunch of star anise and sticks of cinnamon. We brought that to a boil, cooled it down, and then poured it over the three ducks. I believe we are letting it sit in the brine for a few days, so the flavor penetrates the whole thing. Then on Thursday, we’re going to take them out, dry them up and hang dry them in the fridge until Saturday. Come Saturday, we’re going to baste and roast them for an hour or so until they are ready. I really think its going to be amazing!
Did I mention I pressed dumplings together for over 2 hours yesterday? Great fun!
The last thing I’d like to mention is that I am an avid fan of Chinatown pork buns, and I really wanted to tackle this challenge. We found a recipe for the dough, and we decided to use the duck confit legs for the filling (genius idea). We prepared a test run for the dough. It takes some time to rest and rise and so forth, but we didn’t pay attention to the part that said “Let sit overnight in the fridge.” That would explain why the dough tasted dense and yeasty. I took it upon myself to hold an experiment. I took the leftover dough home and cooked some that night and then prepared a few buns, put them in the fridge, and cooked them the next morning. Sure enough, the lightest and least yeasty buns were the ones I made in the morning. I think that means that I will be coming in Friday evening and preparing 60 or so buns for Saturday. It is what it is, and it will be great.
Sacrifices.
So let’s start with the basics. Level 4 started, and 1/3 of us (3 of us) are in the buffet group. The other 2/3 are split up evenly into “production” and “family meal”. Family meal is exactly what it sounds like. They make the food that all the staff and students eat for dinner. Production prepares all the beef, fish, stocks, etc. that the restaurant and classes need. It’s amazing to see what gets done in 5 hours.
Buffet, on the other hand, is in a world of its own. It’s the first time that we get to explore our creativity and abilities as aspiring chefs. We can choose any theme, or not even a theme if we don’t want one, but we choose the buffet menu. We came up with a tour de Asia theme. It wasn’t my first choice, but I’ll be the first person to delve into the unknown and leave my comfort zone to try something new. And, quite frankly, I may know a little more about some Chinese things than the people in my group, but collectively, for not being Asian, we have a wealth of knowledge in this or that.
Our menu (starting with the smaller items):
Filet mignon skewers
Chicken breast skewers
Vegetarian Vietnamese spring rolls
Pork (garlic and ginger) fried dumplings/wontons
Duck confit buns
Kimchee
Seared, rare fillet mignon slices with julienned cucumbers
Spicy Thai wings
Yellow fin tuna Tartar
A SLEW of dipping sauces for all of these things (ranging from spicy, salty, sweet and spicy, etc.)
Fried rice (kind of a cop out, but it’s our starch)
Duck breast sous vide
3 whole Peking ducks
A whole, stuffed suckling pig
3 various sorbets
I’d like to discuss the pig first. What we originally wanted was a traditional roasted sucking pig, similar to what you may see at a Chinese New Years feast. Nothing too fancy, just a whole roasted suckling pig… Somehow, the production Chef came in and said she had an idea for a suckling pig. And we were like, wow, we wanted to do a suckling pig. And we decided to let her roll with it. Her idea is truly brilliant, however far fetched it may be. First, you de-bone the body. Then she has this grand idea of mixing a very colorful pigment (they chose red beets and chlorophyll from a leafy green) with chopped pork and wrapping it in sheets of fat back, arranging them in a flower shape (picture the NBC logo, with two colors and making a complete circle) and stuffing it back into the pig, so when you slice it, you get skin, meat and the flower arrangement inside. It’s really a grand idea. What’s even grander is the method of preparing it. They want to cook it submerged in a circulation cooker overnight, in DUCK FAT, until its just cooked, then finish it in an oven to crisp the skin. Now, quite frankly, that sounds amazing. But I am curious as to how realistic it is. And will a pig submerged in duck fat get crispy and crackling like I imagine? We will find out. But it’s cool that they are doing it, and helping us out, and are as excited as we are about our buffet.
Next issue. I spent about 2 and a half hours pressing wontons together last night. That was great fun.
Moving right along, we have this wonderful plan for duck confit buns. The first day we had a case of ducks waiting for us to butcher. We also had a slew of vegetables to julienne for the spring rolls. Steve very nicely butchered the ducks, and saved the fat for the confit. We actually got a lot of fat from a case of ducks. It was pretty awesome. Chef then cured them in a delicious Indian spice mixture with salt. The next class we cooked them low and slow. The legs came out amazing.
Back to the first class. Within the first 30 minutes of level 4, we were on our way preparing for our buffet. We had to slice a number of veggies for the spring roll, starting with red pepper. One pepper in… SLICE. Carlos’s finger slips and he takes a cross section of his nail clean off!! I helped him clean up the wound (blood didn’t get all over), and we got a band-aid on and a protective finger rubber. Less than 5 minutes late, the rubber was SWELLING with blood. It was crazy!! Eventually it stopped bleeding, but still. Not a good way to start level 4.
Anyhow, by days 1 and 2, we finished a number of items, including the spring rolls, dumplings, prepared a basic kimchee, a bunch of dipping sauces. Prepared the bases for the sorbets, skewered the meats, prepared the duck for the duck confit buns, and a few other items.
Let’s move along to the whole Peking ducks… I purchased these ducks in Chinatown on Monday. 3 whole frozen Long Island ducks (which is pretty good, I’d expect the ducks to come from Guangdong province or something). So they were frozen solid when I got them, but I left them out, keeping a close eye on their temperature, throughout my day at work. By the time I got to class they were barely frozen, but still very cold.
What we did was first prepare a brine of 5 gallons of water, 3 lbs of salt (it was damn salty), 2 lbs of brown sugar, and a bunch of star anise and sticks of cinnamon. We brought that to a boil, cooled it down, and then poured it over the three ducks. I believe we are letting it sit in the brine for a few days, so the flavor penetrates the whole thing. Then on Thursday, we’re going to take them out, dry them up and hang dry them in the fridge until Saturday. Come Saturday, we’re going to baste and roast them for an hour or so until they are ready. I really think its going to be amazing!
Did I mention I pressed dumplings together for over 2 hours yesterday? Great fun!
The last thing I’d like to mention is that I am an avid fan of Chinatown pork buns, and I really wanted to tackle this challenge. We found a recipe for the dough, and we decided to use the duck confit legs for the filling (genius idea). We prepared a test run for the dough. It takes some time to rest and rise and so forth, but we didn’t pay attention to the part that said “Let sit overnight in the fridge.” That would explain why the dough tasted dense and yeasty. I took it upon myself to hold an experiment. I took the leftover dough home and cooked some that night and then prepared a few buns, put them in the fridge, and cooked them the next morning. Sure enough, the lightest and least yeasty buns were the ones I made in the morning. I think that means that I will be coming in Friday evening and preparing 60 or so buns for Saturday. It is what it is, and it will be great.
Sacrifices.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Level 3 complete.
Let’s start off with a few important things. I’ve been really bad posting, I know, but after you do the same dishes over and over, it gets redundant. I’ve also been really busy with work. Yadda yadda, you don’t care.
So level 3… it’s a rock ‘em sock ’em type of class. Chef Rob was DRILLING us on time since the 2nd or 3rd day. Apparently we’re a more intense class than some of the others. And we’re all able. That is the key part. Chef Rob noticed that we were taking off from the gun shot and he ran with it. Which, I would say was fantastic because not only has he prepared us for our final, but he gave us a taste of the pressure. We are busy preparing 8 dishes (4 orders of 2 things) in 3-4 hours. In a kitchen we will have to crank out 50-100 plates in 3-4 hours, and I assure you they won’t be the same two orders.
So if we were doing the soup/appetizer, there were times that we had to present the first dish at 7:30. Class starts at 5:30ish. That’s two hours to cook/cut and prepare usually very intricate dishes (and get going on our second dish due only 1 hour after the first, and usually took at least an hour of cooking). For the actual midterm, we started at 5:45 and the first dish was served at 8:45. THAT’S 3 HOURS!!! So Chef Rob really prepared us. In fact he stressed the hell out of us for a few weeks, and you know what… we nailed the final. Everyone passed to say the least, but we all had sufficient time to get everything done. Some people mentioned they had harder times, and their dishes didn’t go as well as they would have liked (and this was confirmed on their review with the tasters).
What did I make? You don’t even know… I’ll tell you, but after I discuss the written portion of the exam. The written portion consisted of reciting, on paper, an entire recipe, 1 of 16, ingredients, amounts and procedures. Don’t forget the garnish!
We all had the same recipe, and it was the grenobloise skate. (Dusted in flour, sautéed in clarified butter, served with pommes rissole (footballs, sautéed then finished in the oven), and a beurre noisette with capers and lemon bits.
I am pretty sure I nailed the written part. All the way down to finishing with croutons and a lemon and parsley garnish. So, if I’m not mistaken, I should have gotten a 100 on it. (Although I may have written 175g of butter for the sauce, rather 125, which in theory shouldn’t make a difference) It was a very easy dish to remember the amounts for and to cook. And sure enough, I HAD TO COOK IT!!
I had to make the apple tart and the skate. I was SO happy I chose those two and not the other two, which were the consommé and the grand mer roasted chicken. That dish is so much harder and time consuming than the fish and tart. I was cruising along with that meal! AND, I didn’t have to present 1st, or 2nd! I either went 3rd or 4th amongst the fish and tart people. That gave me two things. First, a little more time (my first dish was at 9:06!!!). Second, I am confident in my cooking, especially my ability to make a mean apple tart, and garnish it beautifully. So it allowed a few weaker presentations to go out before mine, and allow for a nice contrast when mine came up. I guess this is all a little cocky of me to say, but I see it as confidence.
My apple tart received by Chef Rob, in the flesh, a 20 out of 20 on taste, and a 20 out of 20 on presentation. My cuts were perfect, my whipped cream channelles were on point, my strawberry fans were gorgeous. It was really photo worthy. The flavor, as Chef Rob noted was dead on as well. The whipped cream was delicious. There was one gripe. The guest chef taster though the dough was undercooked. It wasn’t. But it was on the thin side, which in my opinion was good. But it absorbed some of the apple compote juice and therefore did not get as crispy as it could have (only under the compote, but the bottom was well cooked and browned and flaky). Either way the judges saw past that, and I got a great score on the apple tart. I will have to make one at home for all to see. It is quite beautiful when executed perfectly.
So level 3 is OVER. And I did well. My last evaluation grade was a 92, so it should all work out.
Level 4 is next and our first task is to work in a group of 3 and create a buffet. We chose an Asian theme and we have some great ideas. I’ll go deeper into this when I’m ready. For now, it’s Friday night, just past level 3, and there’s no work on Monday. Let’s go have fun.
So level 3… it’s a rock ‘em sock ’em type of class. Chef Rob was DRILLING us on time since the 2nd or 3rd day. Apparently we’re a more intense class than some of the others. And we’re all able. That is the key part. Chef Rob noticed that we were taking off from the gun shot and he ran with it. Which, I would say was fantastic because not only has he prepared us for our final, but he gave us a taste of the pressure. We are busy preparing 8 dishes (4 orders of 2 things) in 3-4 hours. In a kitchen we will have to crank out 50-100 plates in 3-4 hours, and I assure you they won’t be the same two orders.
So if we were doing the soup/appetizer, there were times that we had to present the first dish at 7:30. Class starts at 5:30ish. That’s two hours to cook/cut and prepare usually very intricate dishes (and get going on our second dish due only 1 hour after the first, and usually took at least an hour of cooking). For the actual midterm, we started at 5:45 and the first dish was served at 8:45. THAT’S 3 HOURS!!! So Chef Rob really prepared us. In fact he stressed the hell out of us for a few weeks, and you know what… we nailed the final. Everyone passed to say the least, but we all had sufficient time to get everything done. Some people mentioned they had harder times, and their dishes didn’t go as well as they would have liked (and this was confirmed on their review with the tasters).
What did I make? You don’t even know… I’ll tell you, but after I discuss the written portion of the exam. The written portion consisted of reciting, on paper, an entire recipe, 1 of 16, ingredients, amounts and procedures. Don’t forget the garnish!
We all had the same recipe, and it was the grenobloise skate. (Dusted in flour, sautéed in clarified butter, served with pommes rissole (footballs, sautéed then finished in the oven), and a beurre noisette with capers and lemon bits.
I am pretty sure I nailed the written part. All the way down to finishing with croutons and a lemon and parsley garnish. So, if I’m not mistaken, I should have gotten a 100 on it. (Although I may have written 175g of butter for the sauce, rather 125, which in theory shouldn’t make a difference) It was a very easy dish to remember the amounts for and to cook. And sure enough, I HAD TO COOK IT!!
I had to make the apple tart and the skate. I was SO happy I chose those two and not the other two, which were the consommé and the grand mer roasted chicken. That dish is so much harder and time consuming than the fish and tart. I was cruising along with that meal! AND, I didn’t have to present 1st, or 2nd! I either went 3rd or 4th amongst the fish and tart people. That gave me two things. First, a little more time (my first dish was at 9:06!!!). Second, I am confident in my cooking, especially my ability to make a mean apple tart, and garnish it beautifully. So it allowed a few weaker presentations to go out before mine, and allow for a nice contrast when mine came up. I guess this is all a little cocky of me to say, but I see it as confidence.
My apple tart received by Chef Rob, in the flesh, a 20 out of 20 on taste, and a 20 out of 20 on presentation. My cuts were perfect, my whipped cream channelles were on point, my strawberry fans were gorgeous. It was really photo worthy. The flavor, as Chef Rob noted was dead on as well. The whipped cream was delicious. There was one gripe. The guest chef taster though the dough was undercooked. It wasn’t. But it was on the thin side, which in my opinion was good. But it absorbed some of the apple compote juice and therefore did not get as crispy as it could have (only under the compote, but the bottom was well cooked and browned and flaky). Either way the judges saw past that, and I got a great score on the apple tart. I will have to make one at home for all to see. It is quite beautiful when executed perfectly.
So level 3 is OVER. And I did well. My last evaluation grade was a 92, so it should all work out.
Level 4 is next and our first task is to work in a group of 3 and create a buffet. We chose an Asian theme and we have some great ideas. I’ll go deeper into this when I’m ready. For now, it’s Friday night, just past level 3, and there’s no work on Monday. Let’s go have fun.
Friday, December 28, 2007
“Wine Experience”
I am going to consolidate a couple of classes into one. Someone’s been slacking on these posts. Tsk tsk.
Anyhow the next two classes were going to end with about an hour and a half to two hours of a wine experience. But, of course, before this wine experience, we were put to the test. We knew beforehand that we were going to have to make a recipe without our recipe cards. We weren’t exactly sure which it was going to be, but we had a feeling it was going to be a chicken dish, particularly the Poule Roti Gran-mere (Grandmother style roasted Chicken)
He dropped a few clues in the last class such as a comment to the assistant chef: “you know what, order me a few extra chickens for the next class.” And the fact that its one of these easier dishes to make from memory, as it is not precisely measured ingredient extensive.
Suuuuure enough, it was the gran-mere chicken. Its actually a delicious dish, with the exception that the sauce is supposed to be a ‘jus-roti” or the juice of the roast, but we actually add so much veal stock that it overpowers the flavor of the chicken. And personally, I’m getting a little sick of the flavor of veal stock. It’s a bold veal flavor. It is delicious, but at the same time, enough is enough. When I eat chicken, I want to taste chicken.
Anyhow, the basic steps include preparing the chicken to be roasted (removing wishbone, washing, trimming fat, seasoning, trussing), sautéing then roasting the chicken with some carrots and onions, peeling pearl onions, cooking them “a brun” (simmer in water sugar butter and salt, as the water evaporates, the onions cook and the butter and sugar brown, leaving the color on the onions, not necessarily browning the onions themselves), cooking some bacon and mushrooms, and cocotteing potatoes and browning them and finishing them in the oven.
When the chicken comes out you’ve got to pour off the oil, reduce the juice, first with some wine then with some veal stock, strain, season, and serve over the cut chicken.
It took us about an hour and change. When you don’t have to focus on a second dish (or a first dish before this one) it’s really easy to focus fully on the one dish and get it done. But when you need to prep your second dish while you’re rushing to get your first one done, there are timing issues. It’s really difficult to get around this, but that’s what separates the good chefs from the great ones. Organization and order, focus and attention to details. I’m working on it.
The next day we had to make an apple tart and a pate a choux dough AND a genoise cake. We weren’t necessarily timed, but we had to rush. It was fun. Again, focusing on one dish at a time was easier than focusing on the two.
So wine tasting. The first night was pretty boring, until we got to taste some of the basic wines. The woman explaining it to us was enthusiastic and obviously extremely bright, but she first taught us the extreme basics, like how wine is made, and that it comes from grapes, and stuff like that. So maybe for someone who just graduated HS and hasn’t really looked into all of these things in their spare time at work, then its interesting. But if you understand that wine comes from grapes, and they prune trees to make sure the proper amount of grapes receive the proper resources from the tree, then all that mattered was the tasting.
I will do my best to recall what we tasted. But we tasted 6 basic grape varieties. We went down the line from whites to reds, lightest to strongest. For whites we tasted a Riesling, a sauvignon blanc, and a chardonnay. For the reds we did pinot noir, merlot then cabernet sauvignon.
They basically ranged from lighter to heavier, less alcoholic to more alcoholic, no oak, to very oaky. The point of our first night of wine was to be able to identify the flavors and descriptions that those wine-o’s always talk about with their noses submerged nostril deep in a glass. “Oh wow, that’s really fruity… the black cherry aromas are quite intense… that’s a really earthy wine…” etc. So we were able to distinguish some of the basic classifications, which were the less subjective ones, including dryness, acidity, oakyness, earthiness, and a couple of others.
It was a nice introduction.
The next day was more fun, and more interesting to say the least. We paired wines with different types of foods. We basically had sweet jam, salty/fatty cheese, salty and fatty sausage, hot sauce, butter, and one or two other flavors.
It was interesting to see and taste how the wine interacted with the different flavors in your mouth. How something sour cancelled out the sourness of the wine. Something sweet cancelled out the sweetness of a sweet white wine we tasted (which was perhaps my least favorite)
In brief, wine is one of the few alcohols, more so than any brew or spirit/cocktail, that is made for drinking with food. It not only enhances the flavor of the food, but the food enhances the flavor of the wine.
Anyhow the next two classes were going to end with about an hour and a half to two hours of a wine experience. But, of course, before this wine experience, we were put to the test. We knew beforehand that we were going to have to make a recipe without our recipe cards. We weren’t exactly sure which it was going to be, but we had a feeling it was going to be a chicken dish, particularly the Poule Roti Gran-mere (Grandmother style roasted Chicken)
He dropped a few clues in the last class such as a comment to the assistant chef: “you know what, order me a few extra chickens for the next class.” And the fact that its one of these easier dishes to make from memory, as it is not precisely measured ingredient extensive.
Suuuuure enough, it was the gran-mere chicken. Its actually a delicious dish, with the exception that the sauce is supposed to be a ‘jus-roti” or the juice of the roast, but we actually add so much veal stock that it overpowers the flavor of the chicken. And personally, I’m getting a little sick of the flavor of veal stock. It’s a bold veal flavor. It is delicious, but at the same time, enough is enough. When I eat chicken, I want to taste chicken.
Anyhow, the basic steps include preparing the chicken to be roasted (removing wishbone, washing, trimming fat, seasoning, trussing), sautéing then roasting the chicken with some carrots and onions, peeling pearl onions, cooking them “a brun” (simmer in water sugar butter and salt, as the water evaporates, the onions cook and the butter and sugar brown, leaving the color on the onions, not necessarily browning the onions themselves), cooking some bacon and mushrooms, and cocotteing potatoes and browning them and finishing them in the oven.
When the chicken comes out you’ve got to pour off the oil, reduce the juice, first with some wine then with some veal stock, strain, season, and serve over the cut chicken.
It took us about an hour and change. When you don’t have to focus on a second dish (or a first dish before this one) it’s really easy to focus fully on the one dish and get it done. But when you need to prep your second dish while you’re rushing to get your first one done, there are timing issues. It’s really difficult to get around this, but that’s what separates the good chefs from the great ones. Organization and order, focus and attention to details. I’m working on it.
The next day we had to make an apple tart and a pate a choux dough AND a genoise cake. We weren’t necessarily timed, but we had to rush. It was fun. Again, focusing on one dish at a time was easier than focusing on the two.
So wine tasting. The first night was pretty boring, until we got to taste some of the basic wines. The woman explaining it to us was enthusiastic and obviously extremely bright, but she first taught us the extreme basics, like how wine is made, and that it comes from grapes, and stuff like that. So maybe for someone who just graduated HS and hasn’t really looked into all of these things in their spare time at work, then its interesting. But if you understand that wine comes from grapes, and they prune trees to make sure the proper amount of grapes receive the proper resources from the tree, then all that mattered was the tasting.
I will do my best to recall what we tasted. But we tasted 6 basic grape varieties. We went down the line from whites to reds, lightest to strongest. For whites we tasted a Riesling, a sauvignon blanc, and a chardonnay. For the reds we did pinot noir, merlot then cabernet sauvignon.
They basically ranged from lighter to heavier, less alcoholic to more alcoholic, no oak, to very oaky. The point of our first night of wine was to be able to identify the flavors and descriptions that those wine-o’s always talk about with their noses submerged nostril deep in a glass. “Oh wow, that’s really fruity… the black cherry aromas are quite intense… that’s a really earthy wine…” etc. So we were able to distinguish some of the basic classifications, which were the less subjective ones, including dryness, acidity, oakyness, earthiness, and a couple of others.
It was a nice introduction.
The next day was more fun, and more interesting to say the least. We paired wines with different types of foods. We basically had sweet jam, salty/fatty cheese, salty and fatty sausage, hot sauce, butter, and one or two other flavors.
It was interesting to see and taste how the wine interacted with the different flavors in your mouth. How something sour cancelled out the sourness of the wine. Something sweet cancelled out the sweetness of a sweet white wine we tasted (which was perhaps my least favorite)
In brief, wine is one of the few alcohols, more so than any brew or spirit/cocktail, that is made for drinking with food. It not only enhances the flavor of the food, but the food enhances the flavor of the wine.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
You lift me up just to knock me down...
As you may have noticed, I was riding atop a very high horse, especially after the “perfect” genoise cake I made. I still am proud of it, don’t get me wrong. But I am now walking beside the horse, not really thinking about getting back on. At least not yet.
So, what is all this metaphorical talk referring to? I haven’t posted in a few days because I’ve been recovering from the blow that knocked me off. We had to make pate a choux and a bass papillote. The pate a choux are the cream puffs, which will be dipped in chocolate and filled with whipped cream. The papillote is a fillet of bass, sitting on a bed of tomate fondue and mushroom duxelles (chopped up and cooked down to near mush), with 3 sections of blanched julienne of celery, carrots and leeks, ALL wrapped up in a parchment paper sack.
This dish is a little tricky because you cannot see just how done the fish is. Also, the fact that we cooked it in the convection oven, which is constantly being opened and closed, makes for an unreliable, uncontrollable source of heat.
The enclosing of the fish in the papillote also takes more time than you would expect. I tried to leave myself 20 minutes to prepare, enclose and 8-9 minutes to cook the fish. I was late. The fish was raw, and I earned these words from the Chef: “Failure.”
I didn’t know the fish was going to be raw. I left it in the oven for the specified time. But it just didn’t fly. It pretty much ruined my day, my night, the next day, and a touch of the next night.
Everything is, however, a learning experience. That’s why it’s called school. I like that Chef Rob didn’t candy coat anything. He told it to me like it was: Bad.
I will (and I have) bounce back.
So, what is all this metaphorical talk referring to? I haven’t posted in a few days because I’ve been recovering from the blow that knocked me off. We had to make pate a choux and a bass papillote. The pate a choux are the cream puffs, which will be dipped in chocolate and filled with whipped cream. The papillote is a fillet of bass, sitting on a bed of tomate fondue and mushroom duxelles (chopped up and cooked down to near mush), with 3 sections of blanched julienne of celery, carrots and leeks, ALL wrapped up in a parchment paper sack.
This dish is a little tricky because you cannot see just how done the fish is. Also, the fact that we cooked it in the convection oven, which is constantly being opened and closed, makes for an unreliable, uncontrollable source of heat.
The enclosing of the fish in the papillote also takes more time than you would expect. I tried to leave myself 20 minutes to prepare, enclose and 8-9 minutes to cook the fish. I was late. The fish was raw, and I earned these words from the Chef: “Failure.”
I didn’t know the fish was going to be raw. I left it in the oven for the specified time. But it just didn’t fly. It pretty much ruined my day, my night, the next day, and a touch of the next night.
Everything is, however, a learning experience. That’s why it’s called school. I like that Chef Rob didn’t candy coat anything. He told it to me like it was: Bad.
I will (and I have) bounce back.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Creme Renversee...
For the past two classes, and until the last class, we were simulating the routine in which the midterm will be administered. We choose a folded up piece of paper which has a letter and number on it. The letter represents the kitchen role we will be cooking as (garde manger/saucier, or poissoner/patissier), and the number represents the order in which we present our dish.
Because we knew which positions we were going to be cooking as, the important part was the number in which we presented. I drew the last presenter spot both times so far. Which is a real help. It not only gives you more time for your first dish, but it also pushes back your last dish. If you present first, your next dish is still due up 30 or so minutes after your first. If you present last, your last dish is still due up 30 or so minutes after your first, which is up to 30 minutes after the first presenter. Basically, you get an additional 30 minutes for everything.
With that said, even though you think you have time... you really don't. I laid everything out and waited until 25 minutes to go to get my fish cooking. My flan was already out of the oven at this point. So I got my fish cooking, removed it when it was barely done, and started reducing my sauce. Chef Rob didn't notice because he was assisting someone with something else, but I was 3 minutes late. I guess I learned that I will need 30 minutes before I start the fish.
Its incredible how much time it takes to reduce sauces. Its also difficult to time everything as far as getting your plates in and out of the oven and reheating your fish and other components of your dish. The timing is SO crucial that if your plates are PIPING hot, and you put on a cream sauce it may actually evaporate the liquid and turn into a brown crust on the plate. Am I just saying this to dramatize the importance of timing? No. I'm not that much of a queen. It happened to the person I was working next to.
But timing is important. Do you want cold food, or even warm food? You want hot food! A hot plate helps, but too hot can be detrimental. You want hot food on pretty hot plates, as if it came straight out of the pan and neatly organized (or strategically tossed) onto your plate. If 4 people order a the shallow poached flounder, 4 people get the exact same looking plate. We have the option of rolling or folding the flounder. However, you cannot serve two rolled and two folded. Its a detail oriented service, like any service should be.
Anyhow, my plates could have been hotter, and the shrimp was slightly overcooked. Shrimp takes NO time to cook. I know you know that, but I'm just reiterating. And, reinforcing it for myself.
Moving right along, the flan, or creme renversee, was the desert. In fact, the flan was done before the fish was done, chilling in the fridge (literally). All I had to do was make the rolled up cookies (tuilles?), for which I already prepared the batter, and had it chilling in the fridge as well.
Let me tell you how to make a flan. Its too simple to ever really justify buying a mix. ESPECIALY since the mix is probably the same procedure minus the eggs.
Caramel:
200g sugar
touch of water
few drops of lemon juice helps
Custard:
500ml milk
1/4 vanilla bean (or extract)
75g sugar
3 whole eggs
Make the caramel first. Heat the sugar until it melts, and then to a golden color, the color in which you want your caramel to be. The darker the more bitter (which actually contrasts the sweetness of the flan nicely). The lighter, the sweeter, which can be overpowering and make it too sweet, so choose a happy medium.
Pour these into ramekins and let set.
Yyou don't want your flan to have air bubbles inside. With that said, combine the eggs and sugar. Whisk together, trying not to incorporate too much air (if any) . Have the milk boiling with the vanilla. When it comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. skim off some of the bubbles, and temper the egg yolk mixture with some hot milk. Then combine it all. Combine without incorporating too much air. When fully incorporated, strain through a chinois, and then skim the bubbles off the top again.
Let cool a little bit, then add it to the ramekins.
Put the ramekins in a pan with sides at least 2" tall, pour boiling water into the pan coming between 1/2 and 3/4 up on the ramekins, and pop it all into a 325F oven.
35-45 minutes later, take them out (when they stop jiggling when touched), and immediately place them in the fridge for a while. Let cool. Invert onto a plate.. and there's delicious homemade flan!
So, my sugar was on the darker side. At first I was worried, thinking it was going to be too bitter. It was on the bitter side. BUT, Chef Rob actually reassured me that a) the French love the sugar this way, and b) the custard was perfect and in all, it was a great job. Americans like their caramel sweeter, who am I to disagree? But I was thrilled that he claimed mine was really good. I would have preferred a lighter caramel (I failed to mention that Chef Rob assisted me in making the caramel, and said it was fine. I'm glad he didn't reneg his earlier opinon.)
Also, I tasted it, and to be perfectly honest, the custard was delicious, and the sugar wasn't super bitter, and in fact, it was quite complimentary!
At the end of class we had a little pow wow to kill some extra time. I'll end this post with something he mentioned. He opened a book called "Becoming a Chef," and mentioned that it had some really great quotes. He went on to explain how one of the best chefs (was it Escoffier?) would go home every night, and write in a journal, explaining his kitchen mishaps. What he did, why something went wrong, what was done to compensate, and just reflections on the days work. This blog is my journal. If for no other reason, I will have this to enjoy and reflect on my learning experience, and hopefully become a better chef.
Because we knew which positions we were going to be cooking as, the important part was the number in which we presented. I drew the last presenter spot both times so far. Which is a real help. It not only gives you more time for your first dish, but it also pushes back your last dish. If you present first, your next dish is still due up 30 or so minutes after your first. If you present last, your last dish is still due up 30 or so minutes after your first, which is up to 30 minutes after the first presenter. Basically, you get an additional 30 minutes for everything.
With that said, even though you think you have time... you really don't. I laid everything out and waited until 25 minutes to go to get my fish cooking. My flan was already out of the oven at this point. So I got my fish cooking, removed it when it was barely done, and started reducing my sauce. Chef Rob didn't notice because he was assisting someone with something else, but I was 3 minutes late. I guess I learned that I will need 30 minutes before I start the fish.
Its incredible how much time it takes to reduce sauces. Its also difficult to time everything as far as getting your plates in and out of the oven and reheating your fish and other components of your dish. The timing is SO crucial that if your plates are PIPING hot, and you put on a cream sauce it may actually evaporate the liquid and turn into a brown crust on the plate. Am I just saying this to dramatize the importance of timing? No. I'm not that much of a queen. It happened to the person I was working next to.
But timing is important. Do you want cold food, or even warm food? You want hot food! A hot plate helps, but too hot can be detrimental. You want hot food on pretty hot plates, as if it came straight out of the pan and neatly organized (or strategically tossed) onto your plate. If 4 people order a the shallow poached flounder, 4 people get the exact same looking plate. We have the option of rolling or folding the flounder. However, you cannot serve two rolled and two folded. Its a detail oriented service, like any service should be.
Anyhow, my plates could have been hotter, and the shrimp was slightly overcooked. Shrimp takes NO time to cook. I know you know that, but I'm just reiterating. And, reinforcing it for myself.
Moving right along, the flan, or creme renversee, was the desert. In fact, the flan was done before the fish was done, chilling in the fridge (literally). All I had to do was make the rolled up cookies (tuilles?), for which I already prepared the batter, and had it chilling in the fridge as well.
Let me tell you how to make a flan. Its too simple to ever really justify buying a mix. ESPECIALY since the mix is probably the same procedure minus the eggs.
Caramel:
200g sugar
touch of water
few drops of lemon juice helps
Custard:
500ml milk
1/4 vanilla bean (or extract)
75g sugar
3 whole eggs
Make the caramel first. Heat the sugar until it melts, and then to a golden color, the color in which you want your caramel to be. The darker the more bitter (which actually contrasts the sweetness of the flan nicely). The lighter, the sweeter, which can be overpowering and make it too sweet, so choose a happy medium.
Pour these into ramekins and let set.
Yyou don't want your flan to have air bubbles inside. With that said, combine the eggs and sugar. Whisk together, trying not to incorporate too much air (if any) . Have the milk boiling with the vanilla. When it comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. skim off some of the bubbles, and temper the egg yolk mixture with some hot milk. Then combine it all. Combine without incorporating too much air. When fully incorporated, strain through a chinois, and then skim the bubbles off the top again.
Let cool a little bit, then add it to the ramekins.
Put the ramekins in a pan with sides at least 2" tall, pour boiling water into the pan coming between 1/2 and 3/4 up on the ramekins, and pop it all into a 325F oven.
35-45 minutes later, take them out (when they stop jiggling when touched), and immediately place them in the fridge for a while. Let cool. Invert onto a plate.. and there's delicious homemade flan!
So, my sugar was on the darker side. At first I was worried, thinking it was going to be too bitter. It was on the bitter side. BUT, Chef Rob actually reassured me that a) the French love the sugar this way, and b) the custard was perfect and in all, it was a great job. Americans like their caramel sweeter, who am I to disagree? But I was thrilled that he claimed mine was really good. I would have preferred a lighter caramel (I failed to mention that Chef Rob assisted me in making the caramel, and said it was fine. I'm glad he didn't reneg his earlier opinon.)
Also, I tasted it, and to be perfectly honest, the custard was delicious, and the sugar wasn't super bitter, and in fact, it was quite complimentary!
At the end of class we had a little pow wow to kill some extra time. I'll end this post with something he mentioned. He opened a book called "Becoming a Chef," and mentioned that it had some really great quotes. He went on to explain how one of the best chefs (was it Escoffier?) would go home every night, and write in a journal, explaining his kitchen mishaps. What he did, why something went wrong, what was done to compensate, and just reflections on the days work. This blog is my journal. If for no other reason, I will have this to enjoy and reflect on my learning experience, and hopefully become a better chef.
Catching up...
Well hello. I know I’ve been pretty bad with this posting (but hey, not too many people read it anyways). Either way, you’ll all be happy to know that although work still blows, it’s picking up a bit. Unfortunately I have been a poor blogger, not updating you with my super exciting life in the kitchen class.
I’m still in Level 3. We’ve been working alone now. Although I worked by myself for our first beef bourguignon dish (and struggled!!), I have been doing poissoner and patissier, which is a lot easier. Like… A LOT easier. For the most part, fish only takes a hot minute to cook. And for the most part, the desserts we make are baked for a while, and we have plenty of time to sit around and twiddle our thumbs. We really have no excuse for our desserts to be late. But the garde manger/saucier side has it rough.
There is practically no time to eat in level 3. We don’t get family meal, and we barely have time to eat the food we make. Not to mention, we’re each making 4 complete servings of 2 dishes!
Oh, you’ll all be super excited to know (sarcasm?) that my dad is getting me a pretty dope digital camera for the merry ole Christmas. I will then be able to show you exactly what a cocotte is, and the process of making it, and I can show you my kitchen whites... etc, etc.
We also got new hats. We used to wear a cylindrical, open-ended piece of paper. The school estimated that they will save thousands of dollars a year if they get us our own hats, and we wash them. I think we are the guinea pigs, and the incoming classes will have to pay for them when they enroll. These caps are flatter, closed, cotton caps, with a little bit of elastic in the back. They’re interesting. But at least we don’t throw away the paper all the time. I like them for that reason. They also make us look a little sleeker. But who really cares.
Ok. I see I left off at the poached eggs and poached chicken dish. After that I worked by myself on a Farmer’s soup and beef burgundy. This was the same set of dishes we did in the last class (which is, in fact, 4 classes later), however, I did the dessert and fish portion of it this time around (a flan and shallow poached flounder).
The soup is a real pain vegetable broth based soup! First and foremost, you need to take some of your trimmings and make a vegetable stock. That’s the first step. You also need to cut a bunch of vegetables (carrots, turnips, potatoes, leeks, celery) into batons (jardiniere) and then into 1 cm squared by 1 mm thick tiles (the leeks and celery are left in their original shape, but cut into tiles). That’s a LOT of taillage (cutting) for a pretty plain soup. While you’re doing this, you need to sear your beef, and vegetables for the beef burgundy and get them in the oven. It’s a really difficult set of dishes to get your timing right. When I did it, I over salted the soup, and didn’t think about watering it down with some extra vegetable stock I had leftover. I was aware of it, but didn’t remedy it. I added a little water, but not enough. Salt is a powerful spice, and although I thought I was getting a grasp on its power, it was a humbling experience to present such a salty dish. I need to work on that, amongst other things.
I also want to take this moment to redact some things I said recently about being “2nd” in the class. That is bullocks. My classmates are pretty damn intense. We are a gung-ho, get to business class. We are not, however, a cut throat, “I hope your food burns” type of intense, we are all very helpful and supportive of one another, but I feel I am level with or slightly above or below a number of the other people in the class. So I take back my pride in being “2nd” in the class, because it’s really worth nothing now.
Moving right along, the beef burgundy I made, because I was pressed for time, was not fully developed. The flavor was there, but the sinews didn’t break down enough. It was delicious, but it wasn’t right. All this will change.
In between then and now, I worked with a teammate, making seared pork chops with pommes darphin (shredded potatoes packed into a pan and fried), with a salad nicoise as the garde manger dish. Both of which were pretty good according to the chef. And then we started working alone in the poissoner/patissier section. I feel, probably because of all the excess time we have in these positions, my food has been coming out pretty good.
The first day we made the apple tart and a salmon served with rice and spinach. We made the pate brisee first (the dough, not sweet, with an egg) because it takes a while to rest in the fridge, followed by the apple compote filling. I browned the compote a little, which isn’t good, but I simply did not use the part that touched the bottom and browned, so it was fine. This was our first class working alone, and both sides were late in presenting. It’s just a matter of getting used to it. Let me say, we needed to sift through a huge bowl of spinach pulling off stems. That was a bitch. A few minutes of my life I wish I had back. But it adds to the final presentation.
My rice was the best among our group (that day). At the chef’s request I threw in some fresh chopped thyme, and added a nice amount of salt and pepper. I was impressed because it was indeed delicious. And the thyme added a little color contrast against the pasty white rice. Keep in mind, you just need less than a sprigs worth of chopped thyme leaves. It’s a very potent herb. The salmon was about ¾” thick, then partially cut down the middle, and butterflied open. Its a beautiful looking pattern that is made when the grain of the fish is butterflied, and then grilled with nice marks. Its really a delicious and beautiful preparation. Place the fish partially over the rice, some spinach on the side, and nap it with some sauce vin blanc (reduced wine with fish stock, reduced some more, then cream added and reduced again). It’s a delicious, delicate sauce that compliments most fish dishes.
The apple tart was served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and a tiny piece of mint. My apple slices could have been a bit thinner, but they were still pretty good. The crust was perfect, and it all looked great.
The next class was my shining moment. We made a sautéed skate with pommes risolee (potatoes, turned to 5 cm football shapes, poached, browned in oil, finished with butter in the oven) and a genoise cake (basic sponge cake, with apricot filling and crème anglaise on the side).
The skate… Take a moment to look up what a skate looks like alive. NASTY. It’s a member of the sting ray family. Go figure. Not super disgusting, but still ugly. We only use the wings, and they’re pretty easy to fillet. ALTHOUGH, they have spikes on the top skin side and they’re disgustingly slimy, which is actually a sign of freshness.
This came out ok. Let me tell you, always a) heat up your pan with oil or clarified butter so that its super hot, and nothing will stick; and b) cook the fish on a HIGH heat, for a brief amount of time. The browned color is crucial.
Anyways, I really want to discuss the genoise. It’s a “simple” sponge cake recipe, but one of the most frequently used and most versatile in French pastries. You need to gently stir the eggs with sugar over a water bath, not exceeding 110F. I never quite made it to 110F. I was wondering how that was going to affect my cake. But I didn’t feel like stirring it over a water bath for much longer, so I just moved on (it was a good call). You fold in some cake flour, and pop that puppy in a pan and in the oven.
KEEP AN EYE ON IT. This goes without saying for everything you put in the oven, but a dry Genoise is just about worthless (not priceless). It’s ready when it just starts to separate from the pan, and the top center springs back to the touch. A golden color is desired, but if it’s ready, then it’s ready. I pulled mine out when it barely separated from the pan, but it was definitely cooked. Immediately invert it onto a cooling rack, drape some moist paper towels over it, and carry on with your life.
I returned to it after we presented our fish. We had plenty of time to finish the cake. When cool, you cut it in half and moisten the cut halves with a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water brought just to a boil, finished with a splash of apricot brandy, specifically for this preparation). Here is where detail comes to play. You add a THIN layer of apricot jam to the middle. The two halves of the cake should fit back on each other nearly seamlessly. If you put too much jam, it looks pretty bad. The halves look like and are separated, and the cake is too tall. So get that jam in there, a nice thin layer. You WILL taste it, but it won't overpower the flavor of the cake you just made from scratch. Place the other half back on it and moisten the top with some simple syrup. Don’t drench the top. It will turn to mush. Then proceed to brush on a thin layer of apricot glaze (all over the top and sides). Press some toasted almonds on the sides to [attempt to] hide the seams, sprinkle powdered sugar on the top of each slice, and serve with some crème anglaise and fresh fruits.
I was really impressed with the way it turned out. I did not have a piece before presenting it to the chef. For all I knew it could have tasted like shit. But it looked like a million bucks (or a fine piece of genoise).
Right off the bat, chef was pleased with the presentation. It really looked great. I overheard him tell some other presenters that the crème anglaise should be spooned along side it, rather than directly under it. So I did that.
Most importantly, the taste… It was, and these are not my words, “perfect.” It was moist, had the perfect amount of filling, and the crème anglaise was also perfect. Everything was cold and refreshing, and the flavors were crisp and fresh. He said it was “perfect” and by far the best one of the night. Another chef walked into the class for some reason and Chef Rob said, “Hey, you gotta try this.” I didn’t want to indulge in this perfection I allegedly achieved so I did not listen to or look at his reaction, but I took the whole experience as a good thing. In fact, I didn’t even have a piece of the cake until the next day! I usually give this type of thing away to anyone who will take it, but I had to take it home and try it.
It’s friggin’ good. I have half of the cake left. If I weren’t house/pet sitting at my mom’s house all of my friends would have devoured it by now (I’d like to hope so at least).
I’ll put up a separate post with yesterday’s class. 3 pages of rambling should keep you busy for a while (and by you, I mean me!).
I’m still in Level 3. We’ve been working alone now. Although I worked by myself for our first beef bourguignon dish (and struggled!!), I have been doing poissoner and patissier, which is a lot easier. Like… A LOT easier. For the most part, fish only takes a hot minute to cook. And for the most part, the desserts we make are baked for a while, and we have plenty of time to sit around and twiddle our thumbs. We really have no excuse for our desserts to be late. But the garde manger/saucier side has it rough.
There is practically no time to eat in level 3. We don’t get family meal, and we barely have time to eat the food we make. Not to mention, we’re each making 4 complete servings of 2 dishes!
Oh, you’ll all be super excited to know (sarcasm?) that my dad is getting me a pretty dope digital camera for the merry ole Christmas. I will then be able to show you exactly what a cocotte is, and the process of making it, and I can show you my kitchen whites... etc, etc.
We also got new hats. We used to wear a cylindrical, open-ended piece of paper. The school estimated that they will save thousands of dollars a year if they get us our own hats, and we wash them. I think we are the guinea pigs, and the incoming classes will have to pay for them when they enroll. These caps are flatter, closed, cotton caps, with a little bit of elastic in the back. They’re interesting. But at least we don’t throw away the paper all the time. I like them for that reason. They also make us look a little sleeker. But who really cares.
Ok. I see I left off at the poached eggs and poached chicken dish. After that I worked by myself on a Farmer’s soup and beef burgundy. This was the same set of dishes we did in the last class (which is, in fact, 4 classes later), however, I did the dessert and fish portion of it this time around (a flan and shallow poached flounder).
The soup is a real pain vegetable broth based soup! First and foremost, you need to take some of your trimmings and make a vegetable stock. That’s the first step. You also need to cut a bunch of vegetables (carrots, turnips, potatoes, leeks, celery) into batons (jardiniere) and then into 1 cm squared by 1 mm thick tiles (the leeks and celery are left in their original shape, but cut into tiles). That’s a LOT of taillage (cutting) for a pretty plain soup. While you’re doing this, you need to sear your beef, and vegetables for the beef burgundy and get them in the oven. It’s a really difficult set of dishes to get your timing right. When I did it, I over salted the soup, and didn’t think about watering it down with some extra vegetable stock I had leftover. I was aware of it, but didn’t remedy it. I added a little water, but not enough. Salt is a powerful spice, and although I thought I was getting a grasp on its power, it was a humbling experience to present such a salty dish. I need to work on that, amongst other things.
I also want to take this moment to redact some things I said recently about being “2nd” in the class. That is bullocks. My classmates are pretty damn intense. We are a gung-ho, get to business class. We are not, however, a cut throat, “I hope your food burns” type of intense, we are all very helpful and supportive of one another, but I feel I am level with or slightly above or below a number of the other people in the class. So I take back my pride in being “2nd” in the class, because it’s really worth nothing now.
Moving right along, the beef burgundy I made, because I was pressed for time, was not fully developed. The flavor was there, but the sinews didn’t break down enough. It was delicious, but it wasn’t right. All this will change.
In between then and now, I worked with a teammate, making seared pork chops with pommes darphin (shredded potatoes packed into a pan and fried), with a salad nicoise as the garde manger dish. Both of which were pretty good according to the chef. And then we started working alone in the poissoner/patissier section. I feel, probably because of all the excess time we have in these positions, my food has been coming out pretty good.
The first day we made the apple tart and a salmon served with rice and spinach. We made the pate brisee first (the dough, not sweet, with an egg) because it takes a while to rest in the fridge, followed by the apple compote filling. I browned the compote a little, which isn’t good, but I simply did not use the part that touched the bottom and browned, so it was fine. This was our first class working alone, and both sides were late in presenting. It’s just a matter of getting used to it. Let me say, we needed to sift through a huge bowl of spinach pulling off stems. That was a bitch. A few minutes of my life I wish I had back. But it adds to the final presentation.
My rice was the best among our group (that day). At the chef’s request I threw in some fresh chopped thyme, and added a nice amount of salt and pepper. I was impressed because it was indeed delicious. And the thyme added a little color contrast against the pasty white rice. Keep in mind, you just need less than a sprigs worth of chopped thyme leaves. It’s a very potent herb. The salmon was about ¾” thick, then partially cut down the middle, and butterflied open. Its a beautiful looking pattern that is made when the grain of the fish is butterflied, and then grilled with nice marks. Its really a delicious and beautiful preparation. Place the fish partially over the rice, some spinach on the side, and nap it with some sauce vin blanc (reduced wine with fish stock, reduced some more, then cream added and reduced again). It’s a delicious, delicate sauce that compliments most fish dishes.
The apple tart was served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and a tiny piece of mint. My apple slices could have been a bit thinner, but they were still pretty good. The crust was perfect, and it all looked great.
The next class was my shining moment. We made a sautéed skate with pommes risolee (potatoes, turned to 5 cm football shapes, poached, browned in oil, finished with butter in the oven) and a genoise cake (basic sponge cake, with apricot filling and crème anglaise on the side).
The skate… Take a moment to look up what a skate looks like alive. NASTY. It’s a member of the sting ray family. Go figure. Not super disgusting, but still ugly. We only use the wings, and they’re pretty easy to fillet. ALTHOUGH, they have spikes on the top skin side and they’re disgustingly slimy, which is actually a sign of freshness.
This came out ok. Let me tell you, always a) heat up your pan with oil or clarified butter so that its super hot, and nothing will stick; and b) cook the fish on a HIGH heat, for a brief amount of time. The browned color is crucial.
Anyways, I really want to discuss the genoise. It’s a “simple” sponge cake recipe, but one of the most frequently used and most versatile in French pastries. You need to gently stir the eggs with sugar over a water bath, not exceeding 110F. I never quite made it to 110F. I was wondering how that was going to affect my cake. But I didn’t feel like stirring it over a water bath for much longer, so I just moved on (it was a good call). You fold in some cake flour, and pop that puppy in a pan and in the oven.
KEEP AN EYE ON IT. This goes without saying for everything you put in the oven, but a dry Genoise is just about worthless (not priceless). It’s ready when it just starts to separate from the pan, and the top center springs back to the touch. A golden color is desired, but if it’s ready, then it’s ready. I pulled mine out when it barely separated from the pan, but it was definitely cooked. Immediately invert it onto a cooling rack, drape some moist paper towels over it, and carry on with your life.
I returned to it after we presented our fish. We had plenty of time to finish the cake. When cool, you cut it in half and moisten the cut halves with a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water brought just to a boil, finished with a splash of apricot brandy, specifically for this preparation). Here is where detail comes to play. You add a THIN layer of apricot jam to the middle. The two halves of the cake should fit back on each other nearly seamlessly. If you put too much jam, it looks pretty bad. The halves look like and are separated, and the cake is too tall. So get that jam in there, a nice thin layer. You WILL taste it, but it won't overpower the flavor of the cake you just made from scratch. Place the other half back on it and moisten the top with some simple syrup. Don’t drench the top. It will turn to mush. Then proceed to brush on a thin layer of apricot glaze (all over the top and sides). Press some toasted almonds on the sides to [attempt to] hide the seams, sprinkle powdered sugar on the top of each slice, and serve with some crème anglaise and fresh fruits.
I was really impressed with the way it turned out. I did not have a piece before presenting it to the chef. For all I knew it could have tasted like shit. But it looked like a million bucks (or a fine piece of genoise).
Right off the bat, chef was pleased with the presentation. It really looked great. I overheard him tell some other presenters that the crème anglaise should be spooned along side it, rather than directly under it. So I did that.
Most importantly, the taste… It was, and these are not my words, “perfect.” It was moist, had the perfect amount of filling, and the crème anglaise was also perfect. Everything was cold and refreshing, and the flavors were crisp and fresh. He said it was “perfect” and by far the best one of the night. Another chef walked into the class for some reason and Chef Rob said, “Hey, you gotta try this.” I didn’t want to indulge in this perfection I allegedly achieved so I did not listen to or look at his reaction, but I took the whole experience as a good thing. In fact, I didn’t even have a piece of the cake until the next day! I usually give this type of thing away to anyone who will take it, but I had to take it home and try it.
It’s friggin’ good. I have half of the cake left. If I weren’t house/pet sitting at my mom’s house all of my friends would have devoured it by now (I’d like to hope so at least).
I’ll put up a separate post with yesterday’s class. 3 pages of rambling should keep you busy for a while (and by you, I mean me!).
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