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.
Friday, September 28, 2007
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.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Heaven and Shells
Once again, we ROCKED the lobster (not to be mistaken with ROCK LOBSTER!!). In fact we did a great job on the lobster, mussels, and scallops. Seafood, oddly enough, is easy to screw up, but easier to get right. If you think you've cooked it too long, you probably have, and if you think its undercooked, then its probably perfect.
The recipes we transcribed at home did not actually suggest we were going to make whole lobsters, so when the chef whipped out some live lobsters, it was a pleasant surprise. More importantly, we made a lobster sauce (Sauce Americaine/Amoricaine - there are two ideas where the sauce came from, but ultimately its the same game, different name) We had some already hollowed out lobster shells, and we cleaned and crushed them, then sauteed and boiled them in water. Some recipes call for boiling them in fish broth, but many people don't want the taste of fish, but instead just lobster. Can't blame them. That sauce was phenomenal, and we served it with the lobster. It smelled great too.
Those lobsters were feisty. They did not want to meet their boiling death. but it had to be done. However, not before the little S.O.B. sliced me wit its sharp tail shells. I didn't feel bad for boiling it. Nor tearing it apart.
We slightly undercooked our lobster, which was PERFECT, because the dish called for the lobster meat being finished in a sauce pan with the sauce, so it would finish cooking perfectly. (took about 8 minutes in the boiling water). I've always hated whole lobster because of the painstaking process of cracking and eating it. I found it to be messy and classless. Though in fact it is perhaps one of the classiest foods. Go figure. But Chef showed us the method of cracking the shells, which although it was messy, it was pretty easy. Needless to say, I brought the lobster to my girlfriend who loved every bit of it.
That's all I have to say about the lobster. Pretty simple. Not so intimidating anymore. And I can make it for some romantic occasion or something.
We also made Scallops. Scallops are different from most of the other shelled mollusks we eat because the flesh that we eat is the muscle that opens and closes the shells. Most of the time, we discard this muscle and eat the rest of the flesh. But for some reason, we eat this part of the scallop, and its quite delightful. Again, this was really simple. Sprinkle with a touch of salt, saute in some oil on high eat until a beautiful crust forms, flip, finish. Done. We made a beautiful coulis sauce for these. That is, we took a reduction (I don't remember exactly what it was) and blended in a blender a bunch of parsley leaves. The leaves were first blanched in simmering water until a deep green formed, then shocked in an ice bath to prevent further coloration and cooking. The coulis was a beautiful bright green. A little bitter due to the nature of parsley, but complimented the scallops well. Again, they were perfect.
During dinner/lunch, we had a few clams and oyster that we were practicing opening. The oyster was pretty damn easy. You slip the tip of the knife into the joint and pop it open. The clams gave me a little more difficulty. I blame the fact that the chef told me to use the wrong side of the knife (not on purpose). As I was using the wrong side of the knife, he was saying, come on, use your hand, push harder. And I pushed harder into the "sharp" edge of the knife. (quotations because it wasn't necessarily sharp, just sharper than the blunt edge). And I was saying... hmmm, feels like I'm cutting my fingers. I turned the knife around and did it one two three. Just goes to show you that you need to be aware of little things like this. I also tried the raw oysters with a little cocktail sauce. I was skeptical at first because I never liked raw oysters before, but I loved them. They were so fresh.
After a job well done, I was feeling pretty good. Until clean-up time. Everything was going well, washed my knives, my station, etc. Then as I was drying my brand new vegetable peeler with a paper towel, I manged to peel into my nail. My finger was welling up with blood, and it didn't feel so hot. In short, my new peeler is the ish. I now wear a rubber finger condom over a band-aid to prevent anything from getting in it when I cook. It does the job. It was an awful way to end a good day of cooking. But I'm sure it gets worse.
The recipes we transcribed at home did not actually suggest we were going to make whole lobsters, so when the chef whipped out some live lobsters, it was a pleasant surprise. More importantly, we made a lobster sauce (Sauce Americaine/Amoricaine - there are two ideas where the sauce came from, but ultimately its the same game, different name) We had some already hollowed out lobster shells, and we cleaned and crushed them, then sauteed and boiled them in water. Some recipes call for boiling them in fish broth, but many people don't want the taste of fish, but instead just lobster. Can't blame them. That sauce was phenomenal, and we served it with the lobster. It smelled great too.
Those lobsters were feisty. They did not want to meet their boiling death. but it had to be done. However, not before the little S.O.B. sliced me wit its sharp tail shells. I didn't feel bad for boiling it. Nor tearing it apart.
We slightly undercooked our lobster, which was PERFECT, because the dish called for the lobster meat being finished in a sauce pan with the sauce, so it would finish cooking perfectly. (took about 8 minutes in the boiling water). I've always hated whole lobster because of the painstaking process of cracking and eating it. I found it to be messy and classless. Though in fact it is perhaps one of the classiest foods. Go figure. But Chef showed us the method of cracking the shells, which although it was messy, it was pretty easy. Needless to say, I brought the lobster to my girlfriend who loved every bit of it.
That's all I have to say about the lobster. Pretty simple. Not so intimidating anymore. And I can make it for some romantic occasion or something.
We also made Scallops. Scallops are different from most of the other shelled mollusks we eat because the flesh that we eat is the muscle that opens and closes the shells. Most of the time, we discard this muscle and eat the rest of the flesh. But for some reason, we eat this part of the scallop, and its quite delightful. Again, this was really simple. Sprinkle with a touch of salt, saute in some oil on high eat until a beautiful crust forms, flip, finish. Done. We made a beautiful coulis sauce for these. That is, we took a reduction (I don't remember exactly what it was) and blended in a blender a bunch of parsley leaves. The leaves were first blanched in simmering water until a deep green formed, then shocked in an ice bath to prevent further coloration and cooking. The coulis was a beautiful bright green. A little bitter due to the nature of parsley, but complimented the scallops well. Again, they were perfect.
During dinner/lunch, we had a few clams and oyster that we were practicing opening. The oyster was pretty damn easy. You slip the tip of the knife into the joint and pop it open. The clams gave me a little more difficulty. I blame the fact that the chef told me to use the wrong side of the knife (not on purpose). As I was using the wrong side of the knife, he was saying, come on, use your hand, push harder. And I pushed harder into the "sharp" edge of the knife. (quotations because it wasn't necessarily sharp, just sharper than the blunt edge). And I was saying... hmmm, feels like I'm cutting my fingers. I turned the knife around and did it one two three. Just goes to show you that you need to be aware of little things like this. I also tried the raw oysters with a little cocktail sauce. I was skeptical at first because I never liked raw oysters before, but I loved them. They were so fresh.
After a job well done, I was feeling pretty good. Until clean-up time. Everything was going well, washed my knives, my station, etc. Then as I was drying my brand new vegetable peeler with a paper towel, I manged to peel into my nail. My finger was welling up with blood, and it didn't feel so hot. In short, my new peeler is the ish. I now wear a rubber finger condom over a band-aid to prevent anything from getting in it when I cook. It does the job. It was an awful way to end a good day of cooking. But I'm sure it gets worse.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Cool kid update (No. 2)
Ahem... cool kid coming through. Well I assure you its going to take a lot more than a knife roll (or satchel) to make me a cool kid. But I purchased one, and I put all of my knives in it, and quite frankly, I think its going to save me a lot of hassle.
I bought a Wusthof 8 pocket knife roll. It was on sale for $30 plus a 10% discount with my student ID. It came out to $30 including tax. That's pretty good, and it looks pretty sleek, and its pretty high quality.
So hopefully it will make my life easier, and bring me a few steps closer to cool-dom. I'll let you know if it works. (I also bought a better vegetable peeler, with a swiveling blade and a digital scale. Gettin' there...)
I bought a Wusthof 8 pocket knife roll. It was on sale for $30 plus a 10% discount with my student ID. It came out to $30 including tax. That's pretty good, and it looks pretty sleek, and its pretty high quality.
So hopefully it will make my life easier, and bring me a few steps closer to cool-dom. I'll let you know if it works. (I also bought a better vegetable peeler, with a swiveling blade and a digital scale. Gettin' there...)
It must have been a fluke..
Yeah, it was. This past Saturday we moved along to flat fish. Namely flounders and fluke. The cool part of a flat fish is that it has 4 distinct fillets, rather than two. There are two on each side of the fish, with the meatier ones being on top.
I think I've decided that I hate scaling fish. I don't think any amount of scaling will remove all the scales, but any amount of scaling will send scales flying EVERYWHERE! They will coat your cutting board, your floor, your arms, etc. Its really not fun.
The other night I bought 2 trouts to practice filleting and to cook for my girlfriend and friends, and thank the lord, they scaled it for me (with a scaling tool that looked fantastic). But even in the store, scales were flying all over the place. I was thinking I would have to sit on the roof and scale them so I don't get the scales all over. Good thing I didn't have to worry about it. (For the record, the trout dinner came out great).
Back to flounder. We made two dishes, one was fried flounder strips with a delicious remoulade and red pepper cream sauce. The other was a braised/steamed flounder "en sauce." Again, my partner and I were ON OUR GAME! I am loving how successful I have been with these fish recipes. I think the best part is filleting them and getting all that meat off the bones so nicely. I had a little bit of a hard time with the skin, but it worked out well. I can imagine if I have to do 50 of these in a night, I'd get a lot better at it pretty quickly.
For the fried flounder fingers (doesn't sound so gourmet, does it? it had a French name I can't recall at the moment) we had to make potato baskets for the fingers to sit in. I put a lot of thought into potato baskets after the first ones we made. My logic was that the bottom of the bowl usually gets overlapped and a little thick. Therefore it doesn't fully cook and brown as nicely as the rest of the bowl. So I made the gaufrettes (waffle cuts) and laid them in the bowl with minimal overlap, and uniform sizes. I received a few compliments, not only from my new partner, but from another student in the class who seems to be one of the more organized and focused students in the class. It literally looked like a flower cup made of potatoes. I was absolutely pleased with our creation.
The pepper sauce was magnificent as well. We were criticized by Chef Tom that it could have been blended (in the blender) a little better, but taste wise, it was phenomenal. It was really simple, too. The sauce consisted of sliced red peppers, sweated in olive oil with a clove of garlic. After they were tender (in French cooking, mostly all vegetables are cooked until tender), we added a little cream, reduced a touch and pureed in a blender. Simple. DELICIOUS. The remoulade was a mayo (we made ourselves) but with chopped parsley, chervil, tarragon and cornichons (tiny pickles). It was a lot like a tartar sauce, but different. Very delicious. We enjoyed this recipe with dinner. (Oh! To plate, we took a section of zucchini, hollowed it out a bit with a melon baller, and put the remoulade in it. We then put a little of the red bell pepper sauce on the plate, and the fish in the potato basket. It was quite a display!) Come to think of it, I bet if we mixed the red pepper sauce with mayo, or even the remoulade, it would taste great.
The other fish preparation was interesting as well. We cooked the flounder on top of some mushrooms with fish fumet (stock we made from the flounder bones themselves), and a splash of wine. We covered with a cartouche (parchment paper lid), and let it steam. The fillets were actually folded on themselves in 3 sections. We finished by removing the fillets, reducing the sauce with some cream, topping the fillets with this cream and mushroom sauce, and placing in the broiler. It was a very delicate taste and very delicious. Chef Tom claimed the sauce was on the salty side. My partner and I were in strong disagreement.
I rushed a little bit of the above descriptions because I'm antsy to talk about my new partner. As I said in one of my previous posts, Chef Tom reorganized the class. I was under the impression that my partner was a little slow and lethargic. BOY was I wrong. She admitted however, that with her previous partner, she had "given up." She felt like everything she did and all her hopes were thwarted by her old partner. She was telling me how she was so happy that she was no longer working with her, and she was working with me. That made me feel good. I wanted to tell her that it was awesome working with her as well, but I didn't want to insult my old partner, who wouldn't have heard it anyways. BUT IT WAS AWESOME. She was more confident with her skills, and she was quite on top of her game. She was more lively than before (despite a tooth ache) and I could tell she found out what it was like to work on a team (her old teammate was pretty thickheaded apparently). Its looking good, and more importantly, I'm glad she hasn't really given up. She's a great partner to work with! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my last partner, but, I am very versatile, and we will get along great.
I think I've decided that I hate scaling fish. I don't think any amount of scaling will remove all the scales, but any amount of scaling will send scales flying EVERYWHERE! They will coat your cutting board, your floor, your arms, etc. Its really not fun.
The other night I bought 2 trouts to practice filleting and to cook for my girlfriend and friends, and thank the lord, they scaled it for me (with a scaling tool that looked fantastic). But even in the store, scales were flying all over the place. I was thinking I would have to sit on the roof and scale them so I don't get the scales all over. Good thing I didn't have to worry about it. (For the record, the trout dinner came out great).
Back to flounder. We made two dishes, one was fried flounder strips with a delicious remoulade and red pepper cream sauce. The other was a braised/steamed flounder "en sauce." Again, my partner and I were ON OUR GAME! I am loving how successful I have been with these fish recipes. I think the best part is filleting them and getting all that meat off the bones so nicely. I had a little bit of a hard time with the skin, but it worked out well. I can imagine if I have to do 50 of these in a night, I'd get a lot better at it pretty quickly.
For the fried flounder fingers (doesn't sound so gourmet, does it? it had a French name I can't recall at the moment) we had to make potato baskets for the fingers to sit in. I put a lot of thought into potato baskets after the first ones we made. My logic was that the bottom of the bowl usually gets overlapped and a little thick. Therefore it doesn't fully cook and brown as nicely as the rest of the bowl. So I made the gaufrettes (waffle cuts) and laid them in the bowl with minimal overlap, and uniform sizes. I received a few compliments, not only from my new partner, but from another student in the class who seems to be one of the more organized and focused students in the class. It literally looked like a flower cup made of potatoes. I was absolutely pleased with our creation.
The pepper sauce was magnificent as well. We were criticized by Chef Tom that it could have been blended (in the blender) a little better, but taste wise, it was phenomenal. It was really simple, too. The sauce consisted of sliced red peppers, sweated in olive oil with a clove of garlic. After they were tender (in French cooking, mostly all vegetables are cooked until tender), we added a little cream, reduced a touch and pureed in a blender. Simple. DELICIOUS. The remoulade was a mayo (we made ourselves) but with chopped parsley, chervil, tarragon and cornichons (tiny pickles). It was a lot like a tartar sauce, but different. Very delicious. We enjoyed this recipe with dinner. (Oh! To plate, we took a section of zucchini, hollowed it out a bit with a melon baller, and put the remoulade in it. We then put a little of the red bell pepper sauce on the plate, and the fish in the potato basket. It was quite a display!) Come to think of it, I bet if we mixed the red pepper sauce with mayo, or even the remoulade, it would taste great.
The other fish preparation was interesting as well. We cooked the flounder on top of some mushrooms with fish fumet (stock we made from the flounder bones themselves), and a splash of wine. We covered with a cartouche (parchment paper lid), and let it steam. The fillets were actually folded on themselves in 3 sections. We finished by removing the fillets, reducing the sauce with some cream, topping the fillets with this cream and mushroom sauce, and placing in the broiler. It was a very delicate taste and very delicious. Chef Tom claimed the sauce was on the salty side. My partner and I were in strong disagreement.
I rushed a little bit of the above descriptions because I'm antsy to talk about my new partner. As I said in one of my previous posts, Chef Tom reorganized the class. I was under the impression that my partner was a little slow and lethargic. BOY was I wrong. She admitted however, that with her previous partner, she had "given up." She felt like everything she did and all her hopes were thwarted by her old partner. She was telling me how she was so happy that she was no longer working with her, and she was working with me. That made me feel good. I wanted to tell her that it was awesome working with her as well, but I didn't want to insult my old partner, who wouldn't have heard it anyways. BUT IT WAS AWESOME. She was more confident with her skills, and she was quite on top of her game. She was more lively than before (despite a tooth ache) and I could tell she found out what it was like to work on a team (her old teammate was pretty thickheaded apparently). Its looking good, and more importantly, I'm glad she hasn't really given up. She's a great partner to work with! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my last partner, but, I am very versatile, and we will get along great.
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