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.