Now we're cookin'!

Bacon-wrapped asparagus with ricotta cheese

Tomorrow kicks off the third week of Cuisine Foundations II. In the first two weeks we've made three stocks(veal, chicken, fish), about a dozen sauces(I won't list them all, you're welcome.), and probably half a dozen soups. Last week started off with our "Sauce Practical" where we were given three sauces to make(Hollandaise, Bechamel, Buerre blanc) and graded according to flavor, consistency and appearance. I ended up making a 92/100, the bechamel was on point but the hollandaise was too thick and the buerre blanc had some weird sheen to it. I would have obviously liked to have scored better, but as far as I know it was one of the highest grades in the class. Tomorrow we have our "Soup Practical" where we draw two soups out of a hat and then have an hour or two to mise en place and complete them. From what I've heard we'll be choosing between French Onion, a Consomme, and Creme Dubarry, a cauliflower passe.

Our new Chef Instructor, Chef Mendoza, is an absolute trip. He's probably in his early 30's, graduated from Johnson & Wales in Vail, CO, and specializes in corny food jokes(Why did the chef go to jail? He was caught beating an egg.) and using his hands for everything rather than utensils. Where the students carefully ladle out gelatinized veal stock, Chef Mendoza just sticks his hand in there and pulls out a big rubbery chunk. Where we dutifully measure 4 ounces of butter for a sauce, Chef Mendoza digs in to a pound of butter, clawing out however much he feels necessary for the demonstration. Not that any of this is a bad thing or makes him less-than-the-rest per se, he KNOWS HIS STUFF, it's just something I've noticed and gotten a kick out of over the last couple of weeks. Honestly, I wouldn't mind at all having him as our Instructor for the rest of our schooling, but I know that's not going to happen. For one, it just doesn't work like that, and for two, he'll be taking his yearly "one-month retirement" in the next couple of months, then opening his own restaurant in his home state of Georgia. 

I know my blog entries are becoming less and less frequent, but we have a lot on our plates right now. Between weekly tests and increasingly difficult daily assignments, not to mention the two catering gigs I have in the next two weeks, I'll admit the blog has been pushed to the back burner for the time being. I know I say this every time, but I'll do my best to write more often. Encouragement from a certain classmate makes me want to write more often, but a lot of the stuff that goes on in class wouldn't really be interesting or applicable to the average person, and the people in my class have already lived it, why read about it? 

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Snowed in

                                    Chicken tacos w/ sweet potato, grilled onions and peppers, black beans, fresh cilantro and feta cheese.

Well, it's Friday and I've only been to school once this week- on Monday- and I'm getting pretty anxious to get back out there. Four days without delicious food I wouldn't be able to enjoy elsewhere, without talking to or hanging out with the friends I've made over the last month, hell I haven't even left the house.

The end of our first block of classes is scheduled for next Thursday, then we'll be cooking every day in a 4-hour class, 'Cuisine Foundations II.' From what I hear, we'll start by making the 5 mother sauces(Bechamel, Espagnole, Tomato, Hollandaise, and Veloute) for the first week or two, then we really get cookin' after that, making some of the dishes that were demonstrated for us in Cuisine Foundations I; Blanquette de Veau(veal w/ white sauce), Navarin d'Agneau Printanier(lamb stew), Saumon au Beurre-blanc(salmon w/ white sauce), Beignets de gambas(fried prawns), and a few others.

There hasn't really been much to write home about so far, but I expect that to drastically change in the next few weeks. What I've decided to do today is list a couple of FAQ's and post some pictures of things I've made at home. I know, the pictures aren't great, but I'm working on getting a proper camera.

Beignets de Gambas: Fried Prawns

FAQ's

Q: The most-frequently-asked frequently asked question; What are you going to do when you graduate from culinary school?

A: Well, there really is no definite answer. I don't graduate for nearly two years, I don't think it would be fair to set a specific career goal or destination to work toward alone and potentially neglect other opportunities that I may not notice if I have the blinders on. Sure, there are things that I know I'd like to do and other things I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to do, but I'm just looking to learn everything I possibly can about food and ingredients and furthering my cooking style so I can apply it to anything I choose to do come graduation. That being said, I'd like to do catering. I've had one catering gig before school started serving 70-80 people buffet-style and it went really smooth. I'd like to work in a kitchen. This is something I'll have to do regardless for 3 months before I graduate, and I think once I get the hang of it, it'll be something I really enjoy doing; pumping out identical high-quality meals as beautifully and as efficiently as I possibly can, that's a rush.

There are a lot more things you can do with a culinary degree than what immediately comes to mind. I always hear people say, "I can't wait for you to get out of school so you can open a restaurant and I'll come eat there all the time!" While I appreciate the pre-loyalty, that's not really how it works. Getting a culinary degree is the first step, not the last, in getting to run a restaurant. Believe it or not, I'll probably be washing dishes when I graduate if I want to get in at a good place. This obviously isn't as glamorous as making your own menu and wearing the clean white chef coat and shmoozing with customers, but you've got to take your licks if you're going to learn from the great Chefs. Saying that, it would still be possible for me to open a small mobile operation, which I've been thinking about since before I started school, but more and more lately. Possibly a "fine roadside dining" theme, utilizing classic and avante garde techniques with familiar, high-quality ingredients. Or maybe the opposite of that? Exotic ingredients prepared in familiar, native technique? Who knows. The important thing to me is to come up with ideas and bounce them off of people to see what consistently sticks and inspires me.

 

French bread pizza. Sauce is a sweet chile sauce made by a classmate, topped w/ prosciutto, pepperoni and fresh sliced mozzerela.

Q: Are you allowed to eat all the stuff you make in class?

A: Yes. In fact, it's a requirement. To quote Chef M, "If you don't have an allergy or a religious contradiction to this food, you MUST eat it, all of it. Try everything twice." This isn't a problem for most students, unless it's seafood, but most people that don't like seafood have never actually tried any. Luckily, at this point it's the Chefs that are cooking or demonstrating for us, so everything is generally prepared and cooked perfectly. I tried recreating the beignets de gambas(pictured above FAQ's) that we had in class, but they just weren't the same. The prawns we had in class were much more flavorful, I'm guessing because they were fresh high-quality prawns while I used 14-20 ct/lb shrimp from the local Albies. The batter was good though, very thick and airy.

Cappelini pasta w/ homemade basil pesto and grated parmesan.

Q: What are the people like in your class?

A: Diverse. Yes, there are women in there. I was asked that specifically once. There really aren't any people fresh out of high school(thank God), I think the youngest person is of drinking age and the oldest in their 50's. There's a guy from Argentina that used to be an engineer, a guy that was the head pro of a golf club in the Dallas area, a lady that has lived in Japan, Africa and Iraq while in the military, a guy my age that's a dual citizen of both U.S. and Canada, there's a guy from Atlanta, one from New Orleans, one from Houston, one from Chicago, pretty much everywhere. That's actually one thing that I didn't really expect but hugely enjoy about my class, I get to talk to people from all over the place and hear about things I never would have otherwise, and since we're all on the same level everyone is extremely kind and friendly to everyone else, it really is a great atmosphere.

Grilled ribeye w/ lemon mushroom sauce. It'll be tough for me to have steak w/o this sauce anymore, perfect accompaniment.

I'm sure I left out all kinds of questions I get asked all the time, so if you can think of any feel free to ask in the comments below and I'll answer it as ASAP as possible. I know I don't blog as often as some of you would like, or even as often as I would like to, but we pretty consistently have about two papers due per week. It actually takes me a little longer to put together a blog entry than it does to write a 250-word paper for school, so generally I'm not too excited about writing when I finally get done writing but I'll try to make it more frequent. Food writing is another field I'm interested in, so I just need to suck it up and write, right?

Next blog: A Day in the Life. From my 5am wakeup to my drive home, read what really happens in a full day at culinary school.

Thanks for reading.

Week One: I should've taken French in high school

Allumettes, brunoise, brunoisette, chiffonade, tourne, batonnet, pont neuf, concasser, cheveaux, macedoine; only a few of the words I've had to impart into my everyday vocabulary over the last week or so, and each of them happen to be separate techniques for cutting a potato. We haven't actually cooked anything yet, unless you count blanching tomatoes to remove the skin(emmonder) and then chopping(concasser). Week one isn't the most thrilling or glamorous week to read about on a blog, but I guess it's not supposed to be. If they had us making creme brulee the first week it'd be fun, but we wouldn't really know what we're doing or why we're doing it, basically we're learning the techniques of cooking, as well as some management-type issues(portion cost, etc.). That's not to say it's all boring, today we supreme'd an orange(cut out the slices of meat) and arranged in a circle with thin strips of zest on top. Simple, I know, but fun to make.

On Monday we all had to meet in the library to get our ID badges and other last-minute miscellanea, and meet our Chef Instructors. For Food Safety & Sanitation and College Success/Career Portfolio I have Chef T. She's probably in her late 20's/early 30's, is very sarcastic and quick witted(reminds me of my photographer cousin big time), and specializes in pastry/baking(patissiere). With it being mostly Food Safety and Sanitation, there are mostly open discussions during class where nearly everyone puts in their two(or sometimes three) cents. We are her only class with perfect attendance through the first week, so on Monday we were greeted with homemade chocolate brownie cookies topped with powdered sugar, they were uh-mazing.

Chef M requires more discipline in his classroom(Culinary Foundations I, Found I for short). That isn't to say it's a bad thing, it's just a different atmosphere, as we're learning the basics of our culinary education. He isn't at all mean or ill-tempered, quite the contrary. He's actually a really kind and gentle sort of guy, but definitely knows how to keep us attentive and focused. At the beginning of each class we line up in the hall for uniform check. If something's missing from your uniform, he'll just smile and say, "No badge? Sneak into the building this morning, did we?" Everyone would chuckle a little to ease the self-induced tension, and the student would fumble out, "Sorry, Chef. I think I, uh, left it in my car." Chef would just motion his head toward the parking lot, and the student would run and go get it. Or to me on the third day: (Always smiling)"What's with your face today?" Not knowing what he meant, I just said, "Sorry?" and he tells me that beards are ok but stubble is not ok. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but it is what it is. I haven't shaved with an actual razor in at least a year, and I forgot how uncomfortable it is and why I switched to electric, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

A few things I've noticed about culinary school: Everyone talks about Top Chef(I don't see what all the fuss is about), and you're almost never hungry. During the first week we sampled caramel apple slices, a buffet of fancy hors d'ourves(stuffed foie gras, duck breast with orange slice, etc.) from a Cuisine Foundations V class, and breakfast burritos from one of the many clubs on campus. Plus the brownie cookies from Chef T, they're worth mentioning twice.

Sadly, it's not all treats and Top Chef talk. This week(week two) we have a paper due on a foodborne outbreak in FS&S, and two tests in Found I. In a couple of weeks there's a book report due(reading one of Bourdain's books, loving it), and in the meantime I'm trying to find a grocery store that's throwing out some old produce so I can practice my cuts. No luck there yet.

It's a lot of hard work, but it all serves a purpose: to help me be the best chef I can be. I think I'm going to like it here.

My favorite stir-fry

Sorry, didn't learn this one in school but it's one I've been making and tweaking for awhile. It's cheap, it's healthy, it's simple, and it's GOOD - Roommate Approved in fact. It started like I suppose every stir-fry starts; leftover ingredients. This particular dish(made for one) shown above contains:

- 3-4oz leftover turkey breast
- 2 or 3 golf-ball sized yellow "gold" potatoes, quartered
- 2 or 3 stalks of asparagus, cut into thirds
- About 2 inches of yellow squash, sliced
- Half a handful of mushrooms(has to be EXACT)
- 1/4 small red onion, sliced
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- S&P
- 1 tbsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

Cut the potatoes first and throw them in your saucepan(med. heat) with the olive oil first, they take the longest to cook. Add salt and pepper to your vegetables after cutting, before cooking.
After you cut your veggies, toss in the mushrooms and asparagus, and put a lid over the top for a minute or two. Increase heat to med-high.
Add the rest of the veg. and turkey(or whatever you have) into the pan with your spices, toss together, and saute for another minute or so, plate, and eat.

You don't need to go out and get these exact ingredients, the point is to use what you've got in the fridge to make new and interesting combinations. Use oregano or basil if you've got it fresh, throw in a tomato and crush it while it's cooking. If you're on a budget get a pound of each of these ingredients and there's your lunch for the week for under $15.

Add a unique twist to the recipe that really dips your ladle and share it.

Thanks for reading. First week of culinary school action coming over the weekend, stay tuned!

School starts tomorrow!

I've never written a blog before, but school starts tomorrow and I think a blog describing the ins and outs of Culinary School would be an interesting thing to read or write about. I won't list the name of the school but it's in Dallas and I'm sure if you're reading this you already know anyway. School lasts for 18 months, then I do a 3-month internship at a restaurant that can be anywhere in the world(let's do this thing, Italy!).

My schedule starts at 7am with Culinary Foundations I and ends at 1pm after Food Safety and Sanitation. That's right, no algebra, english, history or Spanish(yet). Try to contain your jealousy.

I'm required to wear a uniform daily, even in non-kitchen classrooms. I must be wearing and have with me at all times:

A white chef's coat,
white cravat(weird neck tie thing),
herringbone pants(basically thick, checkered pajama pants),
black non-skid shoes,
white skull cap,
side towel,
apron,
and a thermometer.

The Chef Instructors basically wear the same thing except with black pants instead of herringbone and a white pleated toque(tall chef's hat) instead of a skull cap. I'll do my best to upload a picture of myself wearing the uniform once I learn how to tie this friggin cravat, but no promises.

I figure there won't be any more interesting news for at least a few days, I'll try to take some pictures of the food and other cool stuff at school but I don't know how keen they'll be on that. We'll see.

Thanks for reading, cheers.