Can you tell what is taking up space in my brain? No, not the potato - knife skills. When we come back from Christmas break it is our knife skills final and our Cuisine I final - mother sauces and small sauces.
You may be wondering why I am obsessed with this at this juncture... good question. I'll obsess later.
Okay, I got up from my seat, made some coffee and so I'm ready to obsess again. Did you think I meant a lot later?
So... yesterday was "modern" sauces; in other words sauces without butter. Coulis, pestos, and chutneys, but we started with the last Mother Sauce - Hollandaise and it's small sauce Bearnaise - I broke my Bernaise. B-R-O-K-E it. We were taught had to "rescue" a broken sauce and it worked, but it felt tantamount to forgetting my knives... well maybe not quite that bad. I think I let the egg yolks get a little too cool while adding the warm clarified butter. We also made Buerre Blanc and Buerre Rouge.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
"The best way to get rid of kitchen odors: Eat out!"
Fish stock. It doesn't smell so good. Lobster stock smells even worse. Cleaving halibut bones into 2-3 inch pieces and skinning the tail, or crushing lobster shells, then standing over these teaming pots is not conducive to running out right after class for a night on the town - or anywhere else for that matter. Unless, of course, you are planning on clearing the room. That perfume is best left in the kitchen.
Cleaning sheet pans, even after they have been deglazed, on which veal bones have been roasted is not for the faint-hearted either. Personally, I didn't think they would ever come clean. In the "veal bone" vein - we also made a remmoualge- a re-wetting veal bones and mirepoix already simmered to create a basis for a heartier stock. Did you know veal stock is simmered for 8-12 hours? I used to like the smell, until it permeated my skin and hair, and now if I don't smell like the simmering pot I can just tolerate it.
There is nothing necessarily intriguing about preparing and simmering stock, but like most things, once you put in the effort - the grunt work, the fun has just begun. So, Tuesday was the grunt work, and Thursday was the FUN - Sauces.
Why are sauces so delicious? I told the chef "It's all about the sauce" - he laughed his French laugh and said I should have that saying made into a bumper sticker. :-]
My classmates and I are now working on Thee Five Mother Sauces. From our chicken stock (not to confused with broth which is made with meat - stock is made with bones) we made the bechamel. (It's funny, I feel like I should capitalize all these mother sauces to give them their due... so I will.) The Bechamel and the Veloute (vel-oo-tay) are made from chicken stock. From the Bechamel you create cheese (any type) and mornay (grueyere) sauces; from the Veloute you create the small sauce called supreme and then the hungarian, et al from the supreme. Creole is a sub sauce from a delightful Tomato (mother) sauce. The Tomato sauce is simmered with pork bones and mirepoix, a sachet of herbs and spices, tomato puree and tomatoes. All sauces are strained through a fine chinois.
An important element to most sauces is the roux - flour and clarified butter in equal parts cooked together to create either white, blond or brown roux. Stock or milk is then added with a myriad of other ingredients depending on your final "small sauce".
I have made a supreme sauce (whose basis is the Veloute) for years when I make chicken pot pie, I just didn't know I was following the "french way". I think I shall call Cuisine I, Cuisine II, and Cuisine III - The French Way I, II, and III! I love The French Way.
For lunch our chef prepared some pasta. We scooped up this corkscrew pasta, spooned the velvetty, luscious mornay sauce over the top and had it for lunch. Mmm Mmm!!
Have I said how fun it is to realize I am doing what I dream of doing when I watch cooking shows? To actually be standing at the stove with the chef, asking questions and watching him work and then having him watch over my efforts is... divine.
Cleaning sheet pans, even after they have been deglazed, on which veal bones have been roasted is not for the faint-hearted either. Personally, I didn't think they would ever come clean. In the "veal bone" vein - we also made a remmoualge- a re-wetting veal bones and mirepoix already simmered to create a basis for a heartier stock. Did you know veal stock is simmered for 8-12 hours? I used to like the smell, until it permeated my skin and hair, and now if I don't smell like the simmering pot I can just tolerate it.
There is nothing necessarily intriguing about preparing and simmering stock, but like most things, once you put in the effort - the grunt work, the fun has just begun. So, Tuesday was the grunt work, and Thursday was the FUN - Sauces.
Why are sauces so delicious? I told the chef "It's all about the sauce" - he laughed his French laugh and said I should have that saying made into a bumper sticker. :-]
My classmates and I are now working on Thee Five Mother Sauces. From our chicken stock (not to confused with broth which is made with meat - stock is made with bones) we made the bechamel. (It's funny, I feel like I should capitalize all these mother sauces to give them their due... so I will.) The Bechamel and the Veloute (vel-oo-tay) are made from chicken stock. From the Bechamel you create cheese (any type) and mornay (grueyere) sauces; from the Veloute you create the small sauce called supreme and then the hungarian, et al from the supreme. Creole is a sub sauce from a delightful Tomato (mother) sauce. The Tomato sauce is simmered with pork bones and mirepoix, a sachet of herbs and spices, tomato puree and tomatoes. All sauces are strained through a fine chinois.
An important element to most sauces is the roux - flour and clarified butter in equal parts cooked together to create either white, blond or brown roux. Stock or milk is then added with a myriad of other ingredients depending on your final "small sauce".
I have made a supreme sauce (whose basis is the Veloute) for years when I make chicken pot pie, I just didn't know I was following the "french way". I think I shall call Cuisine I, Cuisine II, and Cuisine III - The French Way I, II, and III! I love The French Way.
For lunch our chef prepared some pasta. We scooped up this corkscrew pasta, spooned the velvetty, luscious mornay sauce over the top and had it for lunch. Mmm Mmm!!
Have I said how fun it is to realize I am doing what I dream of doing when I watch cooking shows? To actually be standing at the stove with the chef, asking questions and watching him work and then having him watch over my efforts is... divine.
Friday, December 10, 2010
I am sipping coffee in my den this morning in a beautifully clean house. I don't have work or school today. I feel like weeping with the joy of it all! More home Christmas decorating is in order and that makes me happy too. God is good.
After speaking to a young girl yesterday who has a full time day job and goes to culinary school every evening (she was doing a make-up class with us) I was reminded of what a whiner I am. Not a crybaby, clearly, but a whiner... I don't want to admit it, but there it is. (How many times have I said this? It is time to act!)
Yesterday during a break one of the chef's asked me if I remembered my knives? What..?.Does every chef in the stinking school know I forgot my knives? How can I distinguish myself if EVERYONE knows!! (Hm... that sound a bit like whining doesn't it? What happened to acting on the whining problem, Gayle? Well it was only 1 paragraph ago; this is a process people. ) I plan on regrouping from that fiasco and showing that my faux pas was an aberration, not the norm, unlike the whining problem.
Enough of all that! We cooked potatoes - a tournay of potatoes. Crispy and crusty on the outside and absolute creamy, mouth-watering goodness on the inside. These sculptures were made from red potatoes and are shaped like footballs, but have 7 even, very smooth, sides (unless it is the Fondant style, which has 6)) and two equally flat ends on which the potato can stand if you so choose. Try it. You'll want to pull out all your hair.
We simmered or boiled (it was a very gentle kind of rolling-ish boil) our tournays until al dente then pan fried (not to be confused with sauteed) them in olive oil until the were a light brown. We then finished cooking them in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes. The oil was then drained and these little bites of heaven were finished in a little butter, some smashed, minced garlic (there is probably some fancy french word for that too), and finely chopped rosemary. When one pops this potato in one's mouth, one does not care if one has patches of hair left on ones head or not. This was the first time we actually got to cook at our stations instead of just watching. What a way to start. :-]
That is almost all I remember of the day - Tournayed potatoes! Ahhh... (do you hear the full melodic chord of angels singing?)
Two things: (1)I need to find out if tournay is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb in order to use it correctly! (2) I am not going to talk about the W word anymore I am either going to do it or not. Okay, three things, (3) When you ask this French chef how long it takes to cook something he gets this little gleam in his eye and says (don't forget the french accent) "Until it is done!"
After speaking to a young girl yesterday who has a full time day job and goes to culinary school every evening (she was doing a make-up class with us) I was reminded of what a whiner I am. Not a crybaby, clearly, but a whiner... I don't want to admit it, but there it is. (How many times have I said this? It is time to act!)
Yesterday during a break one of the chef's asked me if I remembered my knives? What..?.Does every chef in the stinking school know I forgot my knives? How can I distinguish myself if EVERYONE knows!! (Hm... that sound a bit like whining doesn't it? What happened to acting on the whining problem, Gayle? Well it was only 1 paragraph ago; this is a process people. ) I plan on regrouping from that fiasco and showing that my faux pas was an aberration, not the norm, unlike the whining problem.
Enough of all that! We cooked potatoes - a tournay of potatoes. Crispy and crusty on the outside and absolute creamy, mouth-watering goodness on the inside. These sculptures were made from red potatoes and are shaped like footballs, but have 7 even, very smooth, sides (unless it is the Fondant style, which has 6)) and two equally flat ends on which the potato can stand if you so choose. Try it. You'll want to pull out all your hair.
We simmered or boiled (it was a very gentle kind of rolling-ish boil) our tournays until al dente then pan fried (not to be confused with sauteed) them in olive oil until the were a light brown. We then finished cooking them in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes. The oil was then drained and these little bites of heaven were finished in a little butter, some smashed, minced garlic (there is probably some fancy french word for that too), and finely chopped rosemary. When one pops this potato in one's mouth, one does not care if one has patches of hair left on ones head or not. This was the first time we actually got to cook at our stations instead of just watching. What a way to start. :-]
That is almost all I remember of the day - Tournayed potatoes! Ahhh... (do you hear the full melodic chord of angels singing?)
Two things: (1)I need to find out if tournay is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb in order to use it correctly! (2) I am not going to talk about the W word anymore I am either going to do it or not. Okay, three things, (3) When you ask this French chef how long it takes to cook something he gets this little gleam in his eye and says (don't forget the french accent) "Until it is done!"
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
"You know what I'm craving? A little perspective."
Well, if I am going to be balanced in my blog and crow when I achieve I must sing the dirge when I fail. I didn't do something as mundane as forget a homework assignment, or burn the soup. I forgot my knives. Being without your knives as a chef is like ... a musician without his instrument! How can you play?? Yes, on the first day of our knife skills class I left my beautiful Mac knives at home, sitting snugly in their designated spot in the laundry room. After driving 25 of the 30+ minutes to school it dawned on me what I had done. Even though I was very early, I had no hope of returning through that gosh darned traffic and even making it 30-45 minutes tardy. I had to confess to the chef - you can't really hide the fact that you forgot you knife kit. He wasn't happy - that kind, French chef gets this very flat look to his eyes when he is not happy. I hate that look. To make matters worse the Executive Chef came in (which he rarely does) and witnessed my serious lapse in mise en plas and professionalism. Woe is me!
Now for a little perspective... At lunch I jumped in my car and only sped moderately home, grabbed my knives and high-tailed it back to school with enough time to set up my station with my own knives (my classmate shared one of hers with me for the morning). You can't reach my exalted age without figuring out a way to regroup from these types of blunders. I did my best to engage and after my initial apologies to then tried to forget I was such a birdbrain.
Knife skills was actually fun - but can I say it is quite hard to cut squares from carrots. For our final the chef will measure our vegetables for the correct size of our julliene, brunoise, and batonnet, not to mention the tournay. My favorite cut was the losange - diamond shaped.
More knife info in my next installment...
But wait, did you know that one "s" in a french word is pronounced like a "z"? If there are 2 "s's" it is pronounced with the esss sound!
Now for a little perspective... At lunch I jumped in my car and only sped moderately home, grabbed my knives and high-tailed it back to school with enough time to set up my station with my own knives (my classmate shared one of hers with me for the morning). You can't reach my exalted age without figuring out a way to regroup from these types of blunders. I did my best to engage and after my initial apologies to then tried to forget I was such a birdbrain.
Knife skills was actually fun - but can I say it is quite hard to cut squares from carrots. For our final the chef will measure our vegetables for the correct size of our julliene, brunoise, and batonnet, not to mention the tournay. My favorite cut was the losange - diamond shaped.
More knife info in my next installment...
Friday, December 3, 2010
"Hunger is the best sauce"
I don't think I was particularly hungry when the French chef was coaxed into making some sauces. They were soo ooo delicious. Thursday we arrived to see chicken marinating and steak ready to be trimmed. The chef demonstrated 2 different methods for cooking chicken, one marinated one sauteed with just salt and pepper, both finished in the oven. Well, you know how the pan looks after the plain chicken is finished in the oven? Just lovely and brown... so I asked what kind of sauce he would make with the drippings. He looked at me kind of quizzically and sent students off to get the white wine, dijon mustard and heavy cream (my eyes are rolling into the back of my head just thinking about it.) He reduced it and we ate it. Then he got out the steak and sauteed one plain and one with a dry rub of paprika, oregano and thyme (no salt of course until you are ready to cook). They were both good and you can imagine how the tastes differed. THEN, he cut off a couple more steaks and made Steak Au Poive with a brandy cream sauce with fond from the pan... I don't even know what to type, my fingers just hang over the keyboard trying to think of a word, or even a phrase to tell you how good it was. Suffice it to say, after the Chef finished the sauce and dipped his tasting spoon in for a sample, he cocked his head and said in his heavily accented English, "Yep, I've still got it."
We took 2 tests. One identifying herbs and vegetables - yes, I missed frisee, and I thought a big yellow squash was called a summer squash, it is called a yellow squash - oh brother. I did identify correctly mace and chinese five spice powder which is a small miracle since I haven't used either. The other test was 80 multiple choice, fill in the blank, essay and true/false questions over 3 long chapters regarding kitchen equipment, cookware, cooking techniques flavors, etc . I passed and as much as I am tempted to crow my success I shall not in this blog... hmm I think that was my subtle way of crowing. Okay, it's my blog so I'm going to crow - 90%. I told cute daughter Alyssa I am only as good as my last grade and the educator that she is reminded me that I am as good as my highest grade. Isn't she a delight? ;-]
The kitchen mapping project was turned in yesterday as well, and for next Tuesday I only have 2 chapters to read. PAR-TAYE (party).
Wait, wait, wait... I forgot to mention the caramel sauce I prodded the chef into making for us. After carmelizing and sweating onions I thought he might be talked into a little sugar carmelization. He was! I love this chef!!
We took 2 tests. One identifying herbs and vegetables - yes, I missed frisee, and I thought a big yellow squash was called a summer squash, it is called a yellow squash - oh brother. I did identify correctly mace and chinese five spice powder which is a small miracle since I haven't used either. The other test was 80 multiple choice, fill in the blank, essay and true/false questions over 3 long chapters regarding kitchen equipment, cookware, cooking techniques flavors, etc . I passed and as much as I am tempted to crow my success I shall not in this blog... hmm I think that was my subtle way of crowing. Okay, it's my blog so I'm going to crow - 90%. I told cute daughter Alyssa I am only as good as my last grade and the educator that she is reminded me that I am as good as my highest grade. Isn't she a delight? ;-]
The kitchen mapping project was turned in yesterday as well, and for next Tuesday I only have 2 chapters to read. PAR-TAYE (party).
Wait, wait, wait... I forgot to mention the caramel sauce I prodded the chef into making for us. After carmelizing and sweating onions I thought he might be talked into a little sugar carmelization. He was! I love this chef!!
"Your slow for someone in the fast lane"
Well, the pico de gallo was about flavor not knife skills... and I was soo sure! The good news is I did figure that out before I presented something with no flavor. In fact the chef enjoyed my pico which was made with roasted garlic, tomato, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice. Personally, I didn't think it was spicy enough, but it's creation had become an obsession and I was over it. I can only be obsessed for so long and then I just run out of energy, and my back starts to hurt. :-]
The best part of Tuesday's class was learning the Court Bouillon (pronounced "cou buyon"), which is a delightful poaching liquid made of water, lemon juice, white wine or vinegar, herbs, mire poix cooked until the vegetables are soft and released their flavors. It is then strained and you add salt and a lovely piece of fish, shellfish or chicken. On our break, after the french chef demonstrated this ambrosia, I called Ron and asked him to get some halibut for dinner. I got home at 6:30 and proceeded to reproduce the recipe. This is what I learned - you need to have enough poaching liquid to poach :-] and you must be patient because the protein only gets better the longer it poaches. Try it - you'll love it.
Wait, I think I said the best part of Tuesday was the Court Bouillon... well I have two words for you... DUCK FAT!! Oh my gosh... oh my gosh. I know what you are thinking, but you are sooo wrong. Toss just the smallest amount of duck fat on hot french fries... o m gosh! You can probably only do this once a month for health and pocket book reasons, but what a treat! This is all I have to say "Go out and buy duck fat today."
The only downside to class was getting "yelled at" because my bangs weren't under my hat.. I want to type "WHATEVER", in fact I wanted to say to the pain-in-the-neck chef - "whatever", but I have to follow the rules. Can I say that I just don't look good with my bangs under my hat. ;-o
The best part of Tuesday's class was learning the Court Bouillon (pronounced "cou buyon"), which is a delightful poaching liquid made of water, lemon juice, white wine or vinegar, herbs, mire poix cooked until the vegetables are soft and released their flavors. It is then strained and you add salt and a lovely piece of fish, shellfish or chicken. On our break, after the french chef demonstrated this ambrosia, I called Ron and asked him to get some halibut for dinner. I got home at 6:30 and proceeded to reproduce the recipe. This is what I learned - you need to have enough poaching liquid to poach :-] and you must be patient because the protein only gets better the longer it poaches. Try it - you'll love it.
Wait, I think I said the best part of Tuesday was the Court Bouillon... well I have two words for you... DUCK FAT!! Oh my gosh... oh my gosh. I know what you are thinking, but you are sooo wrong. Toss just the smallest amount of duck fat on hot french fries... o m gosh! You can probably only do this once a month for health and pocket book reasons, but what a treat! This is all I have to say "Go out and buy duck fat today."
The only downside to class was getting "yelled at" because my bangs weren't under my hat.. I want to type "WHATEVER", in fact I wanted to say to the pain-in-the-neck chef - "whatever", but I have to follow the rules. Can I say that I just don't look good with my bangs under my hat. ;-o
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