I adore Charles Phoenix.

Charles Phoenix takes a traffic cone, a set of string lights, and green Jello and makes a christmas tree.

Charles Phoenix demonstrates how to make a melting Frosty the Cheeseball Man using Velveeta and cream cheese.

Finally, Charles Phoenix makes a gingerbread house and sets it free with nearly 200 helium ballons!

For when words fail you (holiday food policing).

Check out this article about the second Julia Child centenary event we helped put on! I am so happy to have this little glimpse of such a wonderful day cast in the stone that is electronic media.

Finally, a timely post!

Monday, November 12, 2012

This morning’s demo was Mexican food with Chef Leo Romero of Boston’s Casa Romero, the oldest Mexican restaurant in New England. He made two different salsas, both cooked. One, salsa Veracruzana, was a tomato-based sauce with the Mediterranean addition of capers, olives, mushrooms, and white wine. He paired this sauce with tilapia fillets sautéed in a 50/50 blend of canola oil and olive oil. I was shocked to find that I liked the tilapia. I’ve never been a fan and I see it as a gimmick fad designed to serve poorer-quality fish to the unknowing diners of America. What do I know? I’m a conspiracy theorist.

The second sauce was a tomatillo and poblano pepper base with a heap of chopped cilantro added at the end. It was my favorite. I love tomatillos and was a little surprised that the chef managed to make canned tomatillos taste good. Chef paired the slightly sour sauce with sautéed shrimp, which I think was an excellent combination as it functioned much like an acidic lemon would.

 Random factoids from his demo:

·         Avocadoes should only be tested for ripeness by pressing gently on the narrow end because the wider end is mostly made up of the pit, not the fruit itself.

·         Traditional salsa casera (translating loosely to “housewife salsa”) is made by grating the tomatoes, not chopping them. When they are chopped they are called pico de gallo.

·         In 2005, the United Nations attempted to pass a bill declaring Mexican cuisine a Heritage of Mankind. The bill was reintroduced in 2011 and passed, but only with the stipulation that French cuisine also be officially declared a Heritage of Mankind. The UN had not wanted to include French cuisine because it was deemed too unhealthy (all that wicked butter and cream!). Mexican cuisine, on the other hand, was considered healthy. Who thought that a concept such as the Heritage of Mankind bill (which was originally designed to address humanity’s equal access to the universe) would end up crumbling under the pressure of popular conceptions of “good” versus “bad” foods? Check out the Wikipedia article on Common Heritage; it's fascinating stuff. IMO, you can't go wrong with theoretical concepts that can encompass both my nerdy science-y side AND my food culture-loving side.

·         Most ancient Mexican dishes are cooked over a barbecue or boiled in liquid because no one ever developed the process of turning corn into corn oil (which would have aided in sautéing).

·         Chef considers Mexican food a cuisine without strict measurements. He said he never measures anything except for his water to rice ratio!

·         Chef said to always use unpolished rice because of the nutrients lost in finishing the product. He cited the U.S.’s rice donations to the Chinese after WWII; even with the rice, people were still malnourished because there were no nutrients left in the rice. I feel like this is a parable for the way the U.S. interacts with the rest of the world. *descends down social justice wormhole*

·         Tomatillos and ground cherries grow very well in New England because of their hardiness.

·         Epazote is traditionally added to Mexican bean dishes. Epazote is also an anti-flatulent. Coincidence?

In the afternoon we created a cornucopia of a meal with Chef Jeff Fournier of 51 Lincoln and his new, 9-day-old restaurant, whose name escapes me at the moment. We made a full meal consisting of: mushroom risotto, flatiron steak with Columbian rice and pepper jelly, deep-fried eggplant “chicharrones”, and pumpkin flan. The first course was absolutely the most intensely delicious risotto I have ever tasted. The components that I believe made it so incredible: pureed braised portabellas mixed in with the rice, white wine, copious amounts of Parmesan, and a topping of musty-sweet sautéed mushrooms. Amazing! The Columbian rice was jasmine rice steamed with whole star anise, cinnamon sticks, annatto seeds, and pepper. The result was more of a scented rice. It was subtle in the best of ways (and not just because I hate anise). It was fabulous with a little of the sweet, sour, and very spicy pepper jelly mixed in. Two classmates and I made the eggplant into a mock-chicharrones dish by cutting it in thick strips and scoring the flesh (like you would do with a very fatty piece of duck or pork belly). We then tossed the eggplant with oil and a spice blend containing ground annatto seed, cumin, turmeric, and other mysterious seasonings (chef’s creation). The eggplant baked until smooshy and then we deep fried them until they were well-browned and crispy around the cut parts. Both the eggplant and the mushroom risotto dishes deserve to be added the small but tasty menu of meaty vegetarian meals. I love my vegetarian and vegan friends! Finally, we finished the day with gently sweet pumpkin flan in individual cups. Some of the caramel behaved and stayed liquid, but a thick candy crust formed on the bottom of each cup. I thoroughly enjoyed crunching through the translucent brown sugar crust. It tasted burnt like toasted marshmallows. I find that most anything burnt tastes palatable if you equate the taste to that of toasted marshmallows or slightly burnt popcorn. (For example, burnt Marcona almonds taste JUST like popcorn. I won’t tell you which chef led to that discovery!)

Edited to add: I completely forgot about the wildcard menu item. Let's call it a round two of Guess That Food. Can you tell what this is? The cut marks may provide a hint.

How about if you see it cooked and sliced?

That would be watermelon braised in sherry cream, butter, and salt. The texture was transformed into an almost gelatinous creature, but with the watery sweetness of the melon. I can't decide how I feel about this. Is it space-aged vegan seared tuna or is it the nastiest thing I tasted today?

Gourmet's list of 50 Women Game Changers in the Food World.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

To cap off our busiest of weeks, we spent all day Thursday on pastry part two with Janine Sciarrapa. For the morning demo, Chef made crepes and had each of us come up and try a few ourselves. She brought in her own crepe pans. One was fairly large and the rest were maybe 4” across. To my surprise, I did very well at the whole crepe-making process. I am adding a crepe pan to my birthday/Christmas wish list! Chef took a few of the first crepes and filled them with chestnut puree, then she filled a few more with Nutella. To fill them without damaging the crepe, she folded them over once before spreading on the filling. Then she did a second fold and that was it—delicious little quarters of, well, deliciousness. The rest of the crepes were turned into a pretty little apple cake using a recipe that Chef learned from watching Julia Child on television. Chef recounted her childhood spent watching Julia’s show, and vividly remembers watching her make the apple crepe cake and being determined to make it someday. She now makes it for every semester she teaches at B.U. And it’s a super simple dessert. All you do is layer crepes with sweetened applesauce and crushed nuts and continue until the cake is as high as desired. She then sprinkled a liberal amount of sugar on top and baked it until caramelized. After morning demo, a few of us went back into the kitchen and heated up leftovers from yesterday and the day before. We had a good lunch of the remaining chowder, gnocchi, and Chef Ming’s duck.

In the afternoon, we split into the same teams as the previous day, with each group making a batch of profiteroles, éclairs, and gougeres. My teammate and I divided things up so we would each be responsible for one of the first two items and then we collaborated on the gougeres. I made the éclairs, which consisted of a chocolate pastry cream, pate au choux dough, and ganache. My teammate, Gab, made a vanilla pastry cream and a separate batch of pate au choux for the profiteroles. It was really fun to pipe out the dough into rectangles and see the magic of the oven and the ingredients as they baked into vaguely éclair-shaped pieces. It was even more fun to fill them! I decided to try the “chopstick” approach; I gently poked a chopstick through both ends of the éclair to make small holes. I then used another pastry bag to squeeze chocolate pastry cream gently through both sides. It was kind of messy, but all of the éclairs I tried were filled evenly and tasted delicious.

The gougeres we made were savory and blended with minced bacon and chives. We piped them out in smallish star shapes and they maintained the nice shape throughout the baking process. The finished product was a bit too spicy for my tastes—I’m not sure if my partner put in the amount of cayenne in the recipe or if he did it to taste.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Today we had another morning field trip, this time to Island Creek Oyster Farm in Duxbury, MA. It was a gray day and the sky kept misting over, but the trip was still wonderful. The farm is in a giant older home on the shore and the hatchery is in a large barn behind it. We started with a tour of the latter, led by one of the workers and his adorable, friendly dog, who insisted on going everywhere we went. We were led through darkened, rambling rooms until we reached the starting point of the hatchery. It was a large-ish room with two massive plastic buckets in which the oyster seeds are initially placed. Next stop, the algae room, where the oysters’ food is grown. Clear plastic tanks around the room were meant to hold different types of algae. The owner special-orders the algae from the government, and feeds the oysters a blend of many in the hopes that it heightens the flavor of the oysters. After leaving the two giant tubs, the oyster seeds are moved into slightly smaller rounds of calcium carbonate (i.e. oyster shell), where they can attach to the side and continue to grow. The oysters spend several week in the hatchery before being transplanted out into the bay when they are only about the size of a speck of black pepper. Our guide explained that this is the most risky part of the process, as many will die off before taking to the real-life ocean environment. He brought us down to the docks to show us one spot where the oysters were boxed into place just under the surface. They were about the size of petite peas.

Finally, the class split up into two small motor boats and we were whisked through the fog and over to a different part of the bay where the final oyster-growing phase happens. All we could see were large, black plastic tubes/barrels floating on the surface. The oysters grew to full size attached to the underside of the barrels. We then motored a bit further and came to a small floating cabin where three workers were busily harvesting and packaging the oysters for sale. They were picture-perfect New England seafood workers with ruddy faces, Fair Isle sweaters, and rubber boots. When we docked alongside them, they were blasting a particularly crude Prince song on their tiny boombox. We got a quick look at the equipment used, including the 3”-diameter ring they use to determine whether or not the oysters are large enough to be harvested for use in Boston. Due to an antiquated city law that was meant to preserve dwindling wild oyster populations in the area, these farmers can only sell and serve oysters 3” or larger in diameter to local purveyors. Smaller ones are sent all over the country. The French Laundry is a one of the larger accounts Island Oyster Farm holds, and they have one menu item that uses a very specific farmed oyster—small ones with large, bulbous bottoms that yield a good-sized portion of oyster meat.

After we docked back at shore, some of the class (including myself) stopped at the nearby French Memories bakery, which is clearly a downtown Duxbury fixture. I tried a regular croissant and a sweetened almond one. They were both divine. The almond one had been split and spread with almond paste and a little almond-infused liquid. I regret nothing.

We got back to campus in time to munch on the leftover arctic char rolls and tiger prawns before we began our afternoon cooking session. Chef Jeremy Sewall came back and led us through a local-themed class using some very excellent ingredients—Great Barrington foraged chicken- and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, clams, oysters (yes, from the farm), craft beer, and lively lobsters that had been harvested earlier in the day in MAINE by Chef’s brother (who, conveniently, is a lobster farmer and provides all the lobster Chef uses in his restaurants).

My team of two (most were three) was assigned to make the clams and mushrooms. Without the aid of recipes, Chef thought up some very basic dishes and helped us through the process of making a New England clam chowder, clams steamed in beer with chorizo, and beautifully-sauteed mushrooms. It was both challenging and meaningful to cook a dish that I associate so strongly with my grandmother. I took the advice of our TA, however, and did exactly as Chef asked, even it was antithetical to my family recipe. The outcome? A chowder more delicious than my Grandma’s, but without the happy memory attachment. For one, we used fresh, whole clams for it. The diced potatoes were also par-cooked separately and added to the pot later on. Finally, Chef squeezed some lemon juice and jalapeno Tabasco before tasting. Both gave a really excellent counterpoint to the richness of the dish. After tasting, I suggested that it needed more black pepper. Chef agreed (love when that happens!).

The other standout was the mushrooms. Even simply sautéed in canola oil and sprinkled with salt, they were absolutely delicious. Not to be a tool, but they sure did taste like chicken…but better. Or maybe it was just that I was eating something that came from Western MA? The rest of the groups made: ricotta gnocchi tossed with lobster chunks and a Long Island cheese squash sauce, baked oysters, fried oysters, and lobster ravioli. Everything came out well and tasted good. I wish that we had been using recipes because I would totally steal the lobster, gnocchi, and squash sauce one!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

 

Today was the much-anticipated 1^st Julia Child dinner. We didn’t go into class until 1pm to compensate for how late we’d be getting out. I found myself paired with Ihsan Gurdal of Formaggio. Because he was only preparing cheese tasting plates, I spent the beginning of the afternoon assisting JJ on his arctic char prep. We spooned sauce into little bowls, chopped lettuce, and assembled plates. When Ihsan finally arrived, he led us through a demo of how he wanted each cheese and their accompaniments displayed. Accompaniments included Italian hazelnut honey, plum jam, and red pepper jelly. I didn’t like it as much as the cheese and wine tasting Chef John assembled for us last month, but everything still worked together and looked nice on the platters. It didn’t take long to finish that work, too, so I soon found myself floating around the large kitchen and alternating between curious observation and stepping in to help as needed. I got to see how each dish was made, assembled, plated, and expedited. It was a truly unbelievable experience to observe each chef in action. Once thing I loved was that many of the chefs stepped in to help other chefs when they needed it. At one point, two chefs were assisting the chef creating the tarte tatin while three or four more chefs observed. Coincidentally, my favorite chef station was the tarte tatin because Chef Jacky Robert used a red-hot branding iron to caramelize the tops of the tarte tatin. He kept the large, round irons on the stove for quite a while before using them. The gas was cranked up high and we could tell that the next step would be very exciting! When it was finally time for the dessert courses, he began branding each individual apple top, before passing it along to another chef, who plated the caramelized apple and pastry round and dolloped on crème fraiche. A large portion of the room became hazy with a wonderful burnt sugar smoke. And I thought the only thing pastry chefs had to worry about was White Lung (from long-term inhalation of flour).

By the end of the evening, we were able to taste virtually everything that went out into the dining room, including the massive tiger prawns and oysters on the half shell (from Island Creek Oysters). The two shellfish were served on ice in a real wooden boat which was set up on the demonstration table in the dining area. It was AMAZING. The prawns were so big they could have made mock lobster rolls. My favorite savory dish was the monkfish sautéed with roasted cherry tomatoes and olives. I scared a classmate by doing a Google image search for monkfish while we were tasting it. At some point, someone pointed to a large, metal stool hanging out in the kitchen and told us it was “Julia’s stool.” Apparently it was her favorite back in the days when she actually taught students in the program. Awestruck, we all clamored to take pictures of ourselves while enthroned on the very famous stool.

The official menu from the night:

First

 

Omble-Chevalier Mousseline (Arctic Char) by Jean-Jacques Paimblanc

Monkfish pillard Nicoise Olives with a Cabernet Franc Sauce by Richard Vellante

Foie Gras with Oxtail Potato Cake by Stan Frankenthaler

Second

Rabbit Ravioli by Jody Adams

Roasted Lemon Chicken with Garlic and Parsley by Gordon Hamersley

Ginger-Orange Duck “Cassoulet” by Ming Tsai

Pithivier with Candy Striped Beets, Mission Figs, and Roquefort by Susan Regis

 

Third

Cheeses by Ihsan Gurdal

Tarte Tatin by Jacky Robert

Dacquoise and Chocolate by Jim Dodge

Monday, October 1, 2012

Monday, October 1, 2012

Today Chef Jim Dodge demo’d and cooked with us all day working on the Dacquoise for tomorrow’s Julia Child event. It felt very high pressure as we were actually making something that would represent Chef and BU. The Dacquoise consisted of two parts—a mocha buttercream and thin rectangles of hazelnut meringue. The two were layered and cut to create narrow slices of “cake.” Finally, we made several batches of ganache and a simpler chocolate sauce, made without a fat of any kind. I inherited two quarts of the sauce, so I hope it’s good!

 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Today was a very busy day, with a completely different chef and cookery style in the A.M. and P.M. In the morning, Chef Manuel Sifnugel from Masona Grill came in and demonstrated two dishes—Peruvian Lomo Saltado (Stir-Fried Beef) and Shrimp Ceviche with Sour Orange Aji Sauce, Cukes, Red Onion, Lime, Cilantro, and Red Pepper. In case you can’t tell, Masona Grill serves Peruvian food!

First Chef began prepping the Lomo Saltado. He served the dish with yucca fries, so he brought in already-boiled yucca cut into fries, and gave them to our TA to fry in the back kitchen. Meanwhile, he showed us three different Peruvian chile pastes, including Aji, which he then used as part of the Lomo Saltado. Aji is a vibrant orange, which he mixed with orange juice to create a sweet, sour, and spicy addition to the stir-fry. Chef brought in already-marinated hangar steaks and cut them into chunks. He diced 2 large red onions, 2 large Aji peppers (canned and seeded), and two tomatoes (peeled and seeded). He heated a large frying pan over very high heat—he said it really does need to be smoking to get a good sear on the beef. He then tossed the beef chunks in and let them brown. He added the vegetables and let them cook down a bit. He added the Aji pepper/orange sauce as well as some cider vinegar and soy sauce, and cooked the dish until everything was tender. He served the Lomo Saltado on a plate covered with the yucca fries. To top of the starch madness, he also scooped a nice mound of cooked jasmine rice on the plate next to the stir fry. He had classmates plate liberal samples for everyone. The food was delicious! The yucca fries were starchier and more dense than potatoes, which I like a lot. The hangar steak was tender and the final sauce was spicy, but not deadly.

After the Lomo Saltado, Chef assembled the ceviche. He butterflied 24 large cooked shrimp (tail off) and put them in the fridge. He juiced three limes, thinly sliced a red onion, and diced an English cucumber and red pepper. He then combined all the ingredients with some more aji pepper paste and stirred in the shrimp. He then added in some whole cilantro leaves. He laid down a scoop of the mixture on top of previously-roasted slices of sweet potato and we all sampled it. It was delicious! Light and brightly-colored and fresh-tasting. It made me want summer back!

As good as the food was, my favorite part of the morning was one of Chef’s anecdotes about Julia. He described a cooking event held at B.U. at which Julia gave a cooking demonstration with a whole fish. At some point, she went to drain off some of the fat in the pan over the trash can and accidentally dropped the fish in, too. She reached right down, plucked it out of the garbage, and plopped it back into the frying pan. She then told the audience that she had simply added a little “all spice” to the dish. Julia really could get away with anything. The story was especially hilarious given the ongoing joke Maurisa and I have about “floor beef.” One evening we were watching Chopped on the Food Network, and one of the contestants accidentally dropped a piece of raw beef on the floor, picked it up, and threw it back into the pan. He then served it along with the other pieces to the judges as part of his final dish. One of the judging chefs was pregnant (just to add to the wrongness). As expected, the judges had a thing or two to say about it, but he actually made it through that round! In any case, Maurisa and I took to calling any dropped food “floor beef.” Julia upped the ante with “garbage fish.”

A few random facts from Chef’s demo:

·         Peru has the largest Chinese population outside of China.

·         In most of the world (other than the U.S.), the names for lemons and limes are reversed. For example, in Peru, what they call a lime is what we call a lemon and vice versa. Who knew?

By the time lunchtime came around, we were all full of Chef Sifnugel’s two dishes. It was definitely a step up from the leftover oatmeal I had brought in for lunch. At 1pm, we reconvened in the kitchen for part two of Principles of Meat Cookery with Chefs Jeremy Sewall and Rich Morin. Most of the class was spent with Chef Morin—and boy did he work us hard! We broke into small groups, and my group of three was assigned to make braised rabbit with pappardelle pasta. So, not only did I have to butcher a whole rabbit, but we also had to make fresh pasta. The other two women in my group were so grossed out about the prospect of breaking down a rabbit that they basically made me do it. And as awful as it sounded to me, I think I really benefited from doing it. Yes, it was nasty, right down to plucking out the kidneys, heart, and liver and crunching away the joints and such. I feel like if I’m willing to eat rabbit, I should be willing to prepare it, too—even if I only ever experience it once. I felt the same way about going to the meat processing plant—kind of gross, but necessary. I managed to break down the meat pretty well (considering how miserably I failed at butchering duck and lamb) and we browned the rabbit pieces, dredged, in hot oil. After the rabbit was well-browned, we replaced the rabbit for mirepoix and cooked until caramelized. While the veggies were browning, we mixed up a pasta dough (using a “recipe” that Chef simply thought up on the spot—it included white wine as a moistening agent!). Our TA helped us set up the manual pasta maker, and Chef showed us the correct process to knead and stretch out the dough. After several passes through to flatten the dough, Chef had us cut the actual pasta pieces by hand. He folded a rectangle of dough in thirds horizontally and cut those in thick strips. It was a good trick for keeping the lines straight.

Once the mirepoix was done, we added garlic, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, crushed pepper and oregano. After mixing well, we put the rabbit pieces back in, covered the pan, and let the food simmer for about 45 minutes. We then boiled the fresh pasta and added it to the pan. Chef had us a do a family style presentation, so we mounded up the pasta on a large, oval dish and topped it with the rabbit pieces and the rest of the sauce. Finally, we sprinkled a goodly amount of grated Parmesan over the top. The finished dish was rich, peppery, and softly chewy. So good! I’m considering making it for Christmas Eve dinner this year, although I’m afraid the use of rabbits will freak out my PETA-loving vegetarian step-mother.

The other small groups made very different meats and accompaniments. There was: roasted leg of lamb (which a student had to de-bone), seared foie gras with figs and port, and pumpkin and blue cheese-stuffed pork loin (biggest pork loin I’d ever seen—it barely fit in the oven!). The lamb group also made a puttanesca sauce and parmesan-crusted haricot vert (aka green beans), both of which were served with the meat. I tried everything except for the pork, as I now know I am not a fan of blue cheese. I wasn’t going to try the foie gras, but a classmate called me out on it, so I took a bite. Notice I didn’t say I swallowed a bite. It was so heavy, chewy, and buttery that I literally felt nauseous. I spit it out in the trash, but at least I can say I’ve tried foie gras now.

Wednesday, September 2012

Today was day one of baking with chef Sciarrapa. She graduated from the culinary arts lab in the mid 90s. In the morning session, Chef told us everything we ever wanted to know about the ingredient components of most baking, and perhaps also some things we didn’t want to know (by which I mean only that it was very, very thorough). We learned about the different types of wheats, flours, fats, sweeteners, leaveners, and dairy products that are used in traditional baking operations. In the afternoon we reconvened and made sables, almond biscotti, and graham crackers. While things were baking, Chef did a demo for us and made chocolate macadamia cookies. They were distinctive in that they only contained about 1/3 cup of flour. The majority of the batter was the nuts, chocolate, butter, and an egg. They were tasty, mostly because she used chopped Callibut chocolate. Yum!

My group of three had a pretty easy time of the mise en place and actual baking of the cookies. The only thing that was tough was cutting the biscotti so that they would maintain the proper shape and not crumble away as we cut the loafs into individual pieces. Can I just say that I have no desire to ever purchase store-bought graham crackers again? Really…these ones were kind of a bitch to make but far more tasty than the boxed ones! I would, however, like to compare nutritional info, as the ones we made today were pretty rich with butter.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I missed class on Tuesday after waking up with a bad migraine. I felt guilty about it, but not as bad as I'd feel had I attempted to go in and ended up stuck on the T with a migraine. But, I did make up for it a bit by reading the first few chapters of our assigned book "The Apprentice" by Jacques Pepin, which we have to write a two-page review on next month. It's already a lot more interesting than I'd expected. I have to say, though, it does make me even more terrified for the three days we're working with him in December!

Children's books about Julia Child!

Who knew?

This one looks like a kids book, but I think it's really more of a comic book for adults. Either way, I want it:
http://www.amazon.com/Appetit-Delicious-Life-Julia-Child/dp/0375869441/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348366913&sr=8-2&keywords=bon+appetit+picture+book

And then that led me to this, a real children's book about Julia Child and her cat. Want!
http://www.amazon.com/Minettes-Feast-Delicious-Story-Julia/dp/1419701770/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y

There is also a much longer, adult book specifically about Julia Child and her love of cats. I fear entering into crazy cat lady land if I post the link. But I assure you, it can be easily found via the above Amazon links, and I may or may not want it for my birthday.

An interesting article about the history of the fork.

http://www.clanntartan.org/articles/fork.html

Egg and Dairy Day with Chef Vyhnanek

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Today was eggs and dairy day. Chef Vyhnanek came back and led us through a morning demo of eggs benedict. Pretty basic, but he told a funny story. The dish got its name from a one Mrs. Benedict, a woman who dined at Delmonico’s on a regular basis for breakfast in the 1880s. One day she requested a poached egg, a piece of toast, a piece of ham, and a side of Hollandaise sauce. She ordered it the same way for several days, and one day the chef suggested to Mrs. Benedict that she might like the dish better were he to put all the components together rather than side by side. She agreed to try it, and Eggs Benedict was born. Chef wasn’t sure when the toast got swapped out for an English muffin.

I have never actually tried eggs benedict, as I don’t like raw egg yolk, nor do I like any sauce that reminds me of mayonnaise. But, like a good culinary student, I tasted his sample dish. It was pretty good, minus the ick factor (which is totally unfair to the dish). Anyway, in the afternoon we each made our own eggs benedict and mine was added to the handful that got offered to Gastronomy staff. We garnished the dish with slivered black truffles and chopped chives. They are very lucky to be feet away from the kitchen!

After the eggs benedict, Chef demonstrated a breakfast setup. He cracked eggs into little plastic cups—2 eggs for over easy and sunny side up and 3 eggs for omelet orders. He pre-cooked sausage and bacon and heated it up as needed in the salamander. He kept par-cooked home fries on the stove top and portioned them as needed. He demonstrated the difference between an American omelet and a French omelet. For a French omelet, the eggs are wrapped up into a roll, a slit is cut down the center, and filling is set inside the slit. Chef turned the French-style omelet into a fois gras and Medeira sauce masterpiece. Chef also demo’d French toast. He made a batter of beaten eggs, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar and dipped plain white bread into it. He pan-fried it and topped it with a bit of maple syrup. He noted that maple syrup is becoming more and more expensive, with a gallon costing upwards of $70. Interesting to think about from the perspective of a food business owner.

After the breakfast cooking demo, the entire class made a Grand Marnier Soufflé. Chef guided us through the steps and helped by whipping egg whites for everyone in a monstrous electric mixer. I have only made one or two soufflés before, and thus knew a little bit about the process, which helped. Once the soufflés went into the pizza oven (it was a good fit for all of them) we spent 15 minutes on clean-up, then had a wine and cheese tasting. I’d never been to a real one before, so it was news to me that we were expected to have and taste the cheese, its accompaniment, and the wine in one mouthful. Once I got past the weirdness of it, I found I actually liked each component better with the others! I need to take the time to write down the name of each wine and cheese. I thought I’d be able to pull the names from the photos I took, but none of the shots are clear enough. More on that next week after I get a chance to ask our TA! Oh, but I CAN now officially say I’ve tried a moldy cheese. Roquefort, to be precise. Not impressed. Not at all. Only the accompanying slice of pear and rich sweet wine made it bearable.

Random factoids and notes from this class:

·         Cheddar cheese was originally made in Cheddar, England. I had no idea that there was such a place!

·         A good brie is less than 21 days old.

·         Semi-soft cheeses are sometimes washed in salt water or brandy to reduce bacterial growth while aging.

·         Morbier, a French cheese (which was on our tasting board; yum), was originally made with the morning milking and the evening milking, and the two layers of milk/cheese were separated by a fine layer of ash.

·         Chef highly recommends Putney Farms 16-year-old aged cheddar. Made in Vermont! Adding to my wish list…

·         There are wine and cheese “appreciation boards” and various groups that put on lavish French-inspired dinners. Chef is president of the Boston Escoffier Society.

·         In the year 1248 there was an Goose Roasters Guild, sanctioned by King Louis the 9^th.

·         Knives were illegal in France until the 1500s, when Catherine Medici finally allowed them to be used at the dinner table. Apparently they were too much of a threat to have near royalty, even at meal times.

·         Supermarket eggs are usually 30 days old or more.

·         You have to be careful when using recipes that contain eggs and are more than 25 years old, as the egg grading scale was updated. 30-year-old recipes that call for two large eggs should be updated to two modern-day medium eggs.

Post for Wednesday, September 19, 2012 (belated)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

In the morning we all met at Boston’s Island Creek Oyster Bar, which is attached to the Hotel Commonwealth, to meet and listen to a lecture by their chef Jeremy Sewall and the chef of the nearby restaurant Lineage. The topic: the principles of meat cookery. It seemed like a funny place for the conversation given the shellfish theme of the restaurant. In fact, one massive wall of the place was formed entirely of oyster shells encased in chain link. It was a bit overwhelming, but a wonderful architectural detail that really held the theme of the place.

Chef talked about the breakdown of cuts of meat from cows and discussed the grading system and federal guidelines that monitor beef production and labeling. One interesting tidbit he mentioned: The Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle was the catalyst behind the formation of the USDA and government grading. The novel depicted the deplorable conditions of slaughterhouses and became such an intense social dialog that the government was spurred into action. It gives one hope that such a social change is possible in other areas of the food system that are unjust and poorly managed! Chef also said that a cow must be slaughtered at 42 months or younger to be considered Prime. I didn’t realize how young most cows are when they’re slaughtered—it’s not just veal.

In the afternoon we reconvened in the BU kitchen to prepare a variety of meats and accompaniments. Chef Sewall did things a bit differently and had each group of two to four students make entirely different dishes. My group of three was tasked with making pan seared pork chops with Madeira mushrooms. Chef was extremely good at explaining the task at hand and demonstrating as we went along. It felt very well orchestrated. He had us turn the pork chops into double battered fried pork cutlets. We used panko bread crumbs, which added to the thick texture and crunchiness. We ended up overcooking the pork a little, but the coating was good and the Madeira mushroom sauce was delicious. I would like to try the recipe, but substitute regular beef stock for the veal stock.

The other groups made the following: roasted chicken, braised lamb shanks, steak with pepper sauce, roasted carrots, horseradish mashed potatoes, and herb roasted potatoes. I surprised myself by liking the mashed potatoes. I did not expect to like the addition of horseradish to such a traditional dish. This coming week we have meat cookery part two with chef again.

At the end of the day, the chef from Lineage came by and gave us an in depth knife sharpening demo. We’d already had a brief one by Chef Vyhnanek, but it was still good to see another chef’s technique. I have to say, he looked rather like he was doing the robot as he held his bottom half motionless and turned his torso mechanically left and right over the sharpening stone. I need to find a time to bring in my home chef knife to sharpen up. I’ve had it for at least two years and have yet to sharpen it. Sad and ashamed…

Post for Tuesday, September 18, 2012 (belated)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Today was our first class with Chef J.J. (who doesn’t want us to call him Chef). JJ is grandpa-aged, funny, and makes a loud clicking noise for emphasis when he talks. In the morning, he demonstrated how to make lamb curry, fisherman’s stew (basically bouillabaisse), brisket, and ratatouille. Because of his age and experience, he had a lot of good stories to share. He described how he first came to meet Julia Child: He watched one of her televised cooking shows one day and Julia’s theme was zucchini. She made zucchini bread and the like, and then joked that she had made everything except zucchini ice cream. JJ, who was working at a management/development level for Howard Johnson at the time, was inspired to create a zucchini sherbet. He then looked up Julia in the phone book and gave her a call to tell her about it. Julia promptly invited him to dinner, and asked him to bring the sherbet. They went on to be familiars in the culinary world and both had a hand in the creation of my grad program as it is today. JJ said that the zucchini sherbet was nothing special.

After a lunch of demo fisherman’s stew and lamb curry, we went in back and split into teams to make all of the dishes. I took charge on most of the curry-making, and also did a lot of the fisherman’s stew cooking process. After we had gotten a good start, JJ had us all pause in our cooking and observe as he prepared braised endive, which he cooked until fork tender, and then rolled up in ham and gruyere. He browned the top and most of us then had our first ever taste of cooked endive. It was pretty good, with the richness of the meat and cheese tempered by a generous squeeze of lemon and the slight natural bitterness of the endive.

We went back to our assorted dishes. My team of three worked very well together and we ended up finishing just in time to properly plate everything and get it to the tasting table. Our only real errors were accidentally burning the bottom of the reducing seafood broth base and our inability to poach eggs. My team member Gab was the only one who managed a presentable egg. Coincidentally, he was the only one who had ever made poached eggs before! He described a coworker at a restaurant in Thailand who would make perfect poached eggs by literally dipping his fingers into the simmering water as he gently dropped the egg in. Rock stars of every talent have to sacrifice something to be great, I guess. Who needs fingertips, anyway?

The poached eggs were nestled on top of the ratatouille and sprinkled with cheddar cheese, then cooked in the Salamander until brown and bubbly. The brisket was sliced thin and piled on mustard-slathered rye bread, then softened with a ladle of jus over the top. It was the best brisket I’ve ever tasted.

Post for Monday, September 17, 2012 (belated)

Monday, September 17, 2012

Poultry day with Chef Chris Douglas. We made roast chicken and coq au vin. To make the coq au vin, we first broke down whole chickens into eight pieces. This is something I’ve always wanted to try but never attempted. Other than cutting one leg/thigh off in the wrong place, I did a decent job. Compared to the hardness of lamb bones, cutting through the chicken bones and cartilage was easy! Chef made up a recipe for the occasion—a sautéed boned chicken breast with tomato, rosemary, and white wine. It was delicious to the point where I plan on making it again!

Post for Friday, September 13, 2012 (belated)

Friday, September 13, 2012

Today was butchering day. Being one of only three people with cars, I volunteered to drive three classmates to Kinnealey’s, a meat processing plant in Brockton, Massachusetts. I got my first taste of Medford morning rush hour traffic. I spent 40 minutes going 1 mile (and was thus very late in picking up my classmates).

We donned mesh hair nets (and the guide also donned a mesh BEARD net), winter coats, and large uniform smocks and made our way through the facility. After passing through a very average-looking cubicle office, we went through a giant door hung over with a thick, flexible plastic sheet and found ourselves in the large beef processing area. There were perhaps a dozen workers at different stations. Several were simply cutting down primal into specific cuts of meat. Some stations were processing those specific cuts into packaged portions. We observed a state-of-the-art cryovac machine, which was being used to package much of the meat. It was fascinating to see the chunks of meat being fed into the grinding machine. The round mouth of the device was at least six inches wide. At my favorite station, a middle-aged woman was carefully rubbing and rolling cuts of meat over a special shaving device which is designed to remove the silver skin off of meat more accurately (and thriftily) than humans are capable of. It looked a lot like a giant safety razor set into a stainless steel table. I wonder how much one of those machines go for!

After passing through all of the stations in the beef area, we passed through another set of plastic doors and entered the poultry room. All poultry is kept in a separate rooms due to risk of cross contamination. Our guide explained that working with chicken is much more difficult than beef because of its higher moisture content. The workers in the poultry room wore clear plastic forearm gloves on top of the requisite smocks to protect their clothing. One was particularly adept at her job and busily flung chicken thigh after chicken thigh into a pile across her station.

Once out of the poultry room, our guide took us through the large warehouse of packaged meats and assorted grocery items. I was surprised to see how many non-meat products they offer. I asked the guide about this and he said that about 20% of their stock is non-meat, and is offered much in the way that supermarkets put impulse-grabbing items like candy and gum by the front registers. In the case of Kinnealey’s, their “impulse” items were exceptionally good-quality charcuterie, balsamics, aged cheeses, and the like. I had to resist the urge to enter Shop Mode and single out coveted items for myself.

In our afternoon session, a visiting chef demonstrated the butchering of a whole lamb. It was quite jarring to see an entire lamb carcass turn into specific chunks of meat. After showing us the basics, Chef gave us parts to finish breaking down ourselves. My classmate and I took turns breaking down one lamb leg into chunks for stew. This involved the use of a very large saw. I felt very badass and yet very frustrated by my inability to cut through the bone easily. It was a wonderful learning opportunity! Next week Chef JJ will show us how to turn the chunks we cut into a lamb stew. I like that the program is set up such that things we use for one purpose end up serving another function. There is not a lot of waste!

Tuesday and Wednesday's Classes

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Today was sauce day. We learned how to turn roux into béchamel, and how to turn béchamel and stocks into veloute. We also made hollandaise and mornay sauce. It felt good to learn the basic foundation sauces of French cookery, even if they are a bit stuffy. Chef warned that when Chef Pepin works with us we had better crack eggs his way or we are guaranteed to be berated. Apparently he insists that the best way to crack them is to hit them on a flat surface (such as the cutting board) rather than on an edge. I’m hoping to remember this warning when the day comes!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Today’s class was different and fun. We discussed herbs, spices, and other seasonings and also a bit of menu planning. Chef had an assortment of fresh herbs which were passed around so we could smell and taste them. Apparently there is a look-alike herb for lavender. I neglected to write down the name of it, but I was 100% sure it was lavender. In fact, in a previous apartment we had a bunch of the look-alike growing by the front door, and I used it to make what I thought was lavender soap. Oops. At least I know it’s food grade material!

Chef related a precautionary tale regarding the use of cardamom (one of my very favorite spices). He worked at a world-renowned hotel as executive chef, and one year royalty from Saudi Arabia stayed there with their entourage. Chef and his staff brought lunch and dinner to their suite every day. One day Chef’s co-worker went up to retrieve dishes and never came back down. After a long time, Chef went up to the suite to investigate and found his co-worker unresponsive on the floor. He was rushed to the hospital, but no one could figure out what was wrong, beyond the fact that his blood pressure and pulse were extremely low. Chef came back to the hotel and questioned the Saudi royalty, who laughingly admitted to giving the man coffee laced with tons of ground cardamom. Apparently the large quantity of cardamom, combined with extremely strong coffee, made a very potent sedative—enough to put a man in a near-coma. Lesson learned. Joke accomplished?

Our lab assistants provided lunch in the form of leftovers from a wine tasting/meal held the evening before in our demonstration room. We had a big Greek salad, couscous studded with almonds and currants, spiced shrimp, and curried chicken. Chef also brought in three different heirloom tomatoes from his garden, which we cut up and tried. They were all delicious!

For the afternoon lab portion we were given free reign of the kitchen with the simple guidelines of making two dishes—one with chunks of white meat chicken and one with chunks of sirloin. We were expressly asked to experiment with all of the herbs and spices on hand and make accompaniments as necessary. I decided to try a mild, cardamom-laced cream sauce for the chicken which would let me try out making another veloute. For the beef, I wanted to make a bolder sauce of Thai basil, kefir lime leaf, and curry leaf. Unfortunately, I let my roux darken too much to use as the cream sauce base, so I tried to coax it into a decent beef sauce. I failed. The finished sauce, although strained, was a bit bitter and floury. I tried to disguise it with a bit of lime juice to no avail.

I then tried my hand at a vaguely sweet and sour pan sauce for the chicken. I put in clarified butter, olive oil, and a good squeeze of lemon. I added salt, white pepper, and a spoonful of honey. I let the sauce thicken a little. It was better than the veloute beef sauce, but not by much. Part of me wishes I had stuck to something familiar so that I could be proud of sharing what I made, but it was probably a more valuable experience to try and fail and learn from it.

We finished with a tasting of herb salad and bread baked by the Chef. He chiffonaded (can that be a verb?) all of the remaining soft herbs and made a vinaigrette, turning it into a very herbaceous small salad. He served it with small rounds of rosemary olive bread which were divine!

Guess what? Dirty dishes, that’s what.

 

 

 

Soup, Soup, Soup

Today was soup-making day. We made three: beef consommé, cream of broccoli soup, and a chilled cucumber soup. We made the consommé from the beef stock we made over the past two classes. It was awesome to see such a long process culminate in something magical and tasty. And the process for making consommé really is magical! Who knew that mixing copious amounts of egg whites and ground meat could turn a cloudy stock clear? The egg whites, meat, and mirepoix end up rising to the surface and form a raft, which absorbs the impurities in the stock. It reminds me a lot of a kombucha mother. It also leaves a soup that is almost completely fat-free (we finished it off by using paper towels to de-fat the wee bit remaining on the surface). The other interesting ingredient for the consommé was an onion brûlée, which was added for additional caramel color. Onion brule are onions that are peeled and cut in half along the equator, then placed on a flat heat source and blackened. I feel like most amateur cooks try really hard NOT to burn stuff, so it felt weird to burn something on purpose.

Chef used some of the remaining brown stock to make French onion soup, which we all got taste. That particular soup had nothing to do with the class, but he wanted to make it especially for the kitchen’s janitor, who apparently loves it. (Note: Always be nice to the person who helps clean up your mess!)

I was named sous chef for one of the two groups, and as nervous as I was about it, it made the day go faster and it let me stretch a bit and practice my communication skills. (Note: Always be nice to the people whom you are directing. Remember to say “please” and “thank you.” Don’t be afraid to ask people to do what needs to be done—direction is GOOD and efficient.)

We set up the mise en place for the cold soup and the cream of broccoli, then got started on the hot soup. The recipe was pretty basic, and sadly lacking in a bit of fresh nutmeg. But…when we did the tasting later the chef called out mine and three others as being very good. heh heh heh  I thought I was nervous about cooking for friends and family! Cooking for a chef is even worse because my ability is distilled down to one dish. Every plating is like that. Eenyway, the other thing that surprised me about this dish was that it was strained through a fine sieve after pureeing. It meant losing 1/3 of the soup and I asked Chef about it. He asked what I would do and I told him I’d leave out the straining part. He said that that would be fine for class, but if I were making the soup to be sold in a pricey restaurant it’d need to be as frou frou as possible (of course he did not use those words!).

The cold cucumber soup was a recipe designed by the chef. It featured copious amounts of crème fraiche and heavy cream, which is not my cup of tea. It does, however, make me want to work out a version that relies more on a yogurt base. We did a tasting of everyone’s chilled cucumber soup and Chef plated some soup with buttered croutons cut in crescent moons and flowers, a dollop of additional crème fraiche, and a spoonful of salmon roe. I had my first taste of caviar. It was fishy. For some reason I wasn’t prepared for that. Think I’ll keep my soup plain, although I am now curious to learn the technique for making mock caviar with totally unrelated ingredients.

We washed approximately eleventy jillion pots, pans, bowls, utensils, and trays. It sucked. The end.

 

 

Learning curve

In the morning session, Chef Vyhnanek demonstrated the prep work for making brown stock, fish stock, white (chicken) stock, and Court Bouillon. This included a very brief lesson in knife use and handling as well as techniques for cutting onions and carrots. It was my first time viewing a chef in a demonstration room, and it was definitely helpful to see what the process would look like from my own perspective (looking down). The demo seemed to finish fast and we took our lunch break. Yesterday—our first class—we were spoiled with a catered lunch from South End Formaggio, a Boston gourmet market. Today’s homemade sandwich couldn’t compare to a charcuterie platter, cheese platter, Middle Eastern and Spanish spreads! My point is, it’s a good thing they feed us well because I am quickly becoming the world’s poorest grad student (and that’s saying something).

After said sandwich, we donned our whites and such for the first time and went into the kitchen to cook. Chef divided us into two groups of four and we each settled into our stations. Chef assigned a sous chef for each group. It was at this point I determined the first of two major flaws I have when it comes to working in a kitchen. I am not a team player. I spend 99% of my kitchen time alone and I very much like it that way, primarily because it means that I am in charge and I can do things my way and in my time without having to worry about compromising or even having to broach the social awkwardness that is inherent in group work. We were given very vague direction, none of which was written down. Chef huddled with the two sous chefs and gave them more detailed information. The student sous chefs did their best to be the go-between, but it was really difficult to function cohesively. My habit, when forced into team situations, is to step back and be directed. It works super well when the group leader is explicit about the process and what we are expected to do. It works poorly when no one is quite sure what’s happening. So that’s me—not a born leader.

My second major kitchen flaw became apparent shortly after we began cooking. I have a Math Block. Numbers literally make me anxious and I freeze up and cry and can’t function. It turns out cooking, at least with specific recipes, requires a lot of math-y thinking. For example, I was assigned to prep all the celery needed for the three different stocks for my group of four. The group of four split so that half of us worked on one stove and the other half worked on the stove across the way. Each side would make half a recipe. Each recipe required different amounts of mirepoix, the vegetable trinity I wrote about yesterday. The only fixed quantity was the 25% celery per batch of mirepoix. The white stock required 2 lb of mirepoix (translating to ½ lb celery). Do you know how to translate lb to oz or cups? I didn’t. I mostly still don’t. The fish stock required 1 lb of mirepoix, which meant ¼ lb of celery. The court bouillon called for 1 lb and 8 oz of mirepoix. Way to throw a wrench in things, you evil, outdated, recipe! Anyway, you get the point that it required a lot of premeditation to even be able to pick out the celery hearts, never mind cut them properly. I did not cry, but I did require several people’s assistance, some of whom had to repeat the same information and even at that point I didn’t really get it. Thankfully, stock is forgiving and it wasn’t the end of the world if the chopped celery was 1/8 lb too much or too little. But still…you can bet I’ll be consulting my conversion charts and next class’s recipes over the weekend! I love that as challenging as this is for me, I still find it fascinating. I guess that is the gift of finally knowing what you are passionate about. Graduate school is awesome like that.

I did learn very fast that I know next to nothing about proper knife usage. Apparently I rely too much on brute force and only use the tip of the blade. I am now cutting very slowly, but very properly. Yay! Hopefully by the end of the semester I can be as fast as I was while still employing proper technique. I’m glad I bought the Global chef knife. It feels better in my hand than the Wusthof santoku I’d been using at home.

We did a tasting once the stocks were done. First we tried the stocks as is, then we tried them again with salt. (Stocks should never be salted because they will become overly salty when reduced and made into sauces.) Chicken stock tasted like chicken stock. The fish stock was plain but good. The court bouillon was jarringly acidic, but I think would be marvelous with a Thai spin. The brown stock was AMAZING. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Perhaps because I’ve never tasted veal? I was surprised to note that it was reminiscent of a Ritz cracker. I mentioned it to the chef and he said it’s likely because both are browned. Heat is a magical thing! Brown all the things!

Random facts I learned today:

·         A melon baller is really a “Parisian scoop.”

·         A “mother sauce” is a base sauce from which you can create other, more complex, sauces.

·         The term to “86” something (to throw out) originated in the Navy in WWII, when “86” referred to the bottom of the ocean. When Navy cooks had a burnt piece of food or a spoiled item, they would use the slang term to imply that it should be tossed overboard and be fed to the ocean floor.

·         Roux was initially popular because it was cheaper. Adding a roux to stock thickened it up quickly, whereas the only way to make a stock thicken on its own is to let it cook down for a very long time. This would yield much less sauce at the end of the day.

·         Halibut is the best fish ever to use for fish stock.

·         There is a distinction between a stock and a broth. A stock uses only bones (some with bits of meat and cartilage remaining), whereas a broth uses the flesh of the animal as well. I now know that when I’m making Grandma’s chicken soup, I’m creating a broth, not a stock.

A belated education, or, W.W.J.D.?

What would Julia do?

I did a happy dance the first time I put it on!

**************************************

Today was the first day of class. It was also the only day we didn’t have to show up with chef whites and the accoutrements. Chef Vyhnanek took us on a tour of the kitchen and storage room and explained the function of each piece of equipment, including various uses, cleaning techniques, and approximate cost. Chef stressed the importance of proper pre-cleaning, cleaning, and sanitization as it applies to dishwashing and our work stations. Cutlery and utensils are to be soaked throughout the day and only added to the dishwasher when there are a good amount to be cleaned. Cups, plates, and bowls are loaded onto the corresponding trays and sprayed down with water prior to going in the dishwasher. (Alternately, rinse each item and then load into trays.) To begin a dishwashing cycle, load it up and bring the top down, pressing firmly on the handle to close it completely. Press the button on the left to begin the cycle. It runs quietly at first so you may not hear it immediately. It is possible that the dishwasher water needs to be drained—if so, drain and start again (dishes may not clean properly if water is dirty). Pots and pans are washed by hand at the pot station, which is divided into three large sinks. First is sanitizing, then soaking, and then the actual washing area. Each sink needs to be filled up about halfway. The sanitizing solution needs to be measured accurately before being added to the sanitization sink. The entire class is expected to do cleaning throughout the day as much as possible, and then we all work as a team after we finish to clean the kitchen. One person is assigned to manage the process each class.

In terms of actual cooking, Chef Vyhnanek showed us the beginning process of making brown stock. He rinsed a large quantity of beef and veal bones (including marrow bones) and roasted them on oiled baking sheets until they were partially browned. He then added a mirepoix (50% onion, 25% celery, and 25% carrots—all coarsely chopped) to the bones and put everything back in to roast until well-browned. The bones and mirepoix was left out to cool, and will be chilled overnight. In tomorrow’s class we will continue the brown stock cooking process.

The kitchen is really hot. I sweat simply from standing in it. I am going to need to pack a few extra bandanas for every class.