Sweet Tooth

My pastry stint is coming to an end and I realized I have not shared any of it!

Pastry has been fun. I am by no means a pastry person. Never made a cake from scratch in my 25 years of existence ;-) LOL! That is, until now!

So, needless to say, it has been a challenge for me, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Some of the classes have been a little less exciting in that we would just spend hours making a million different type of creams (pastry creams, ice cream, custards, etc.) I do miss the craziness of the savory dishes every now and then when I have 15 minutes to cook 6 things at once. But, on the other hand, I have enjoyed bringing all the sweets home to eat!

Here are some pictures of our first pastry night, where we made an apple tart and a pear/almond tart. Both were yummy. Hopefully the next apple tart I make looks a little more "sexy", as Chef would say :-) One thing I learned is that apples shrink when you cook them. The tart looked so much different before I put it in the oven!

Tarte Aux Pommes



Pear and Almond Tart



We also did do one savory dish of the night. This was basically a ham and cheese quiche.

Butterflies

This video makes me nervous for things to come! Must keep practicing :-)

FCI Clip

Mad Scientists

These guys are crazy. And I mean that in the best possible way. One of the more recent demos at school was a team effort by Dave Arnold and Nils Noren. When you see these two around school, you always know something crazy is going on, and at the same time wondering if you need to put on protective eye wear in case liquid nitrogen comes pouring out of somewhere.

Welcome to the world of molecular gastronomy.

This is the hottest thing in the culinary world these days. Cooking sous-vide (in a vacuum sealed pouch and submerging in liquid), using liquid nitrogen to make your ice cream and even frost your champagne glasses, or taking the mokume-gane metalworking technique and translating that into the culinary world. (What?!?)

This was perhaps the best demo I have been to yet. These guys are serious scientists with an incredible curiosity for what technology can do to the cooking process. It was like chemistry class all over again, but this time, I got to eat in the lab. Not to mention the fact that paired together, they could go on the road and provide comic relief across the world. Truly a dynamic duo.

Anyway, here was our menu for the afternoon. Keep in mind, nothing was cooked in a traditional manner. Take for example the quail egg. This gets poached at 62 degrees in the shell so when you crack it open, it comes out as a perfectly poached egg!

Deep-fried scrapple w/ maple-infused cabbage, sauerkraut, and 62°C poached quail egg



Mokume-gane fish with liquid-nitrogen-powdered dill crème fraîche, pressure-cooked mustard seed, pumpernickel toast, Aleppo oil-infused apple and cabbage salad topped with flash-pickled red onion



Sliders circulated in duck fat and finished over a charcoal grill with pickled ramp and cheddar Mornay sauce, ketchup, and served on toasted brioche bun topped with pretzel salt and caraway seeds



Circulated haggis with liquid-nitrogen-powdered ramp green mashed potatoes, sauteed ramp greens, and sauce made of veal demi and chicken stock



Caramel apple float: dulce de leche ice cream w/ sous-vide creme anglaise base, carbonated clarified fresh granny smith juice



Gin n’ juice cocktail: carbonated clarified strawberry juice, Hendrick’s gin & Solerno blood orange liqueur, lime acid, simple syrup, salt



I encourage you to have a look at all the photos I took from this demo in my album. There are just too many to upload here, but there was a ton of cool stuff going on. I mean, really, is this how you frost your glasses?

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Spiced Poached Pear with Tahitian Vanilla Cream.



Nate's favorite dessert that is currently being served in the restaurant at L'Ecole. Good thing I had easy access to be able to recreate this at home :-)

Um, You Want Me to Make What?!?!

Last Friday was an interesting night to say the least. An entire day dedicated to nothing other than organ meats. Gulp.

I had been coming down with a cold so maybe it was a good thing that my taste buds were a little dull. We were asked to, at the very least, try everything. I tried 2 of the dishes, and when I say try, I mean literally a small piece just to see what all the fuss was about. There were people in my class, though, who loved this stuff. Eating it all up and taking the leftovers from everyone else to take home. I guess it's just something you need to get used to. I can remember a day when people used to turn their nose hearing that I ate sushi. Now, kids are eating it not that far after they move onto solid foods.

So, for those of you with kids, when do you think your little one will be having sweetbreads, tongue, kidneys and liver for dinner? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Sweetbreads I have heard a lot about. I have seen it on menus and have heard people say how great they were....or maybe that was on Top Chef? Anyway, this is basically the thymus gland of the animal. The looks of it will scare you, since it basically looks like a brain. But after you slice it, bread it in panko crumbs and pan fry, it actually doesn't look too bad. I actually liked the accompanying sauce we made with this, which was basically a reduction of veal stock and red and white wine that was simmered with some carrots and onions for extra flavor before being strained. So, given this, I actually decided to try the dish. All in all it actually was not that bad. But, then again, it was breaded and fried.






We also made a calf's liver with caramelized onions. The onions were really good since we caramelized them and then sauteed them with bacon and some maple syrup. This is probably why I tried the liver. The liver was simply dusted with flour and then seared real fast on the outside leaving it medium rare to serve. Again, it was just OK, but I think the maple syrup may have overpowered any liver flavor (not to mention my cold) so who is to say I actually got what the real flavor should have been.





My tasting nerve was severed there.

When you can make a correlation between what you are eating to a human body part, it makes it difficult to swallow. The sweetbreads, liver and kidneys are different in that these are internal and I can't actually see them. Or touch them. Welcome to the tongue dish.

They told us that tongue usually takes on the flavor of the animal it is coming from. Therefore, ours should taste similar to lamb. Great. It was not easy working with this from the beginning. I "let" my partner take the reins on this one. The tongue was basically simmered for about 2 hours in a flavorful liquid. Once they are done simmering, then the fun begins. You have to peel the outer layer of the darn thing?!?! This is where I almost puked. When I actually felt the familiar texture of the tongue and the taste buds and all, I got queasy. We had 5 tongues to peel. I made it through 1 (without looking at it), and then turned the rest over to my partner. I "let" him slice and plate it too. Can we move on now? Oh, wait....not until you feel my pain.





Sick yet? Because we still have the kidneys to cover.

This was the last dish of the evening, and by this point I was just hoping for a kitchen fire or something. Wait! We have to flambe this one! Maybe I could create a diversion?

It was served with a a creamy Dijon sauce. Wait, let me rephrase that. A really bad creamy Dijon mustard sauce. Our Chef even refused to taste the kidney dishes because it was not something he liked. Cool. How does my presentation look? Good? Great! Kidney's, meet Mr. Composte bin.



TGIF. And, thank goodness three weeks of pastry are coming up.

Lessons Learned

I have provided the video clip link below for your viewing pleasure. Don't worry, it's not something gross and disgusting that will make you never eat from a street vendor again, or drink out of a glass in a hotel room (but, if you would like to see those too, let me know!)

This one is not gross at all, in fact, it is quite funny. And it reinforces the lessons we have been learning in school regarding the following:

1) Always know what your suppliers are giving you

2) Ensure your employees are well educated in what they do

Inside Edition - Investigative Report on Sushi

Home Cooking

There has been a lot of cooking at home lately. It's a chance to practice the dishes that I have been learning at school, as well as tackle some new ones. I can't claim to have made all of them myself, however. Below was Nate's attempt at braised short ribs with rosemary-parsnip mashed potatoes, which came out great!






Recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit:

Ingredients

Ribs
3 tablespoons room-temperature butter, divided
8 3- to 4-inch-long meaty beef short ribs (about 4 pounds)
Coarse kosher salt
2 1/2 cups chopped red onions
2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled parsnips
6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 750-ml bottle Zinfandel
2 cups low-salt beef broth
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Potatoes
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound large parsnips, peeled, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Preparation

Ribs
Preheat oven to 325°F. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle ribs with coarse salt and pepper. Add to pot in single layer and sauté until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer ribs to large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pot. onions; sauté until brown, about 6 minutes. parsnips; sauté until beginning to color, about 6 minutes. Mix in garlic, then rosemary. Add wine and broth; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits.
Return ribs and any accumulated juices to pot, arranging in single layer. Bring to simmer; cover and place in oven. Braise until ribs are very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
Using tongs, transfer ribs to clean bowl. Spoon fat from pan juices. Boil juices until just beginning to thicken, about 10 minutes. Mix 1 tablespoon butter and flour in small bowl to smooth paste. Whisk into juices in pot; simmer until thickened enough to coat spoon, about 5 minutes longer. Season gravy with coarse salt and pepper. Return ribs to pot; spoon gravy over. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm over low heat before serving.

Potatoes
Cook potatoes and parsnips in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring milk, butter, and rosemary to simmer in small saucepan.
Drain potato mixture and return to pot. Stir briefly over medium heat to evaporate excess moisture. Add milk mixture and mash well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer ribs and gravy to large shallow bowl. Serve short ribs with mashed potatoes.

In Summary

Today is the first day of Level 2! I was looking through my book to see what is in store for me in the next 6 weeks. Today we will be finishing up braising with another lamb dish and a chicken in red wine sauce. Then we move on to "preparing organ meats"....um, PLEASE let us get family meal on this day for dinner. I cannot be expected to eat that, right? Then a quick lesson on eggs, and then on to desserts, pastas and more! Can't wait to kill my first souffle ;-) We will also be covering nutrition, restaurant management, menu planning, etc.

Level 1 finished off with concentration cooking (grilling, sauteing, roasting) and extraction cooking (poaching, braising, simmering). It's been great to learn the science behind these methods, too, and what is really happening to the meat when you cook it in a certain way.

Anyway, below is a summary of the last 2 weeks of the dishes I made to wrap up level 1.

My filet:



Escalope De Volaille Viennoise (breaded chicken breast with pommes darphin):



Blanquette de Veau (veal stew with rice pilaf):



Poule au Pot (poached chicken - this was served with a horseradish cream sauce):



Braised Lamb Shank with cous cous:





Fricassee de Volaille Printaniere (chicken stew with spring vegetables. This one is basically the classic chicken pot pie, without the pie - yum!):

Getting to Know Nils

I think I may have written about him before, but Chef Nils will hopefully become a familiar name and face to many of you as we make our way through the summer. He is the Vice President of Culinary Arts at the French Culinary Institute, and former Executive Chef at Aquavit in NYC.

Bravo TV will be coming out with a spin off to Top Chef in June, called Top Chef Masters. This show will take 24 accomplished chefs and put them head to head against each other for various challenges. Each Chef will be competing for an organization, and each week the winning Chef will have money donated to their organization. The Chef that wins Top Chef Masters will have an additional $100,000 donated as well.

Chef Nils will be competing for "Friends of FCI" - this is a non-profit organization that raises money to provide scholarships to FCI students (thanks Chef!)

The show is scheduled to air on June 10th at 10 pm. It won't have all the same hosts as Top Chef, but hopefully it will still be good!

You can read more about Chef Nils and Top Chef Masters by clicking here.

Good luck, Chef!!

PS - Another fun fact about Nils - we have not seen him around school as much as we used to. Why? Because the government in Ireland has hired him to spend time there and develop a culinary training program for their Country. He has been spending time there training Chefs who will help in this educational experience. Maybe travelling to Ireland will not only consist of fish and chips in the future?!

Sophmores

I am officially done with the first of 6 levels at the French Culinary Institute! We had our final exam last night. It was a nerve racking experience, but I am happy to have gotten it out of the way and now know what to expect in the levels to come.

For the first level, our practical exam is based on our basic knife skills. Can you cut half that turnip into a perfect 1mm julienne and the other half into perfect 1mm cubes? How much was your yield? Did you waste a lot of product? What about that carrot? Did you cut it into perfect .5cm cubes? Is your station clean? Did you do everything in the time allowed?

These were just some of the things that we were being graded on. When I walked into school, I had that nervous energy that I used to get before a big horse show. It's a great feeling that I have not had in a long time. While the questions being asked of us last night are as basic as they can get, there is always some anxiety when you don't know what to expect. The final was in the prep kitchen next to the restaurant kitchen. Somewhere we have never been before. It's about a third of the size of our regular classroom, so our work areas were a lot smaller too. Then there was the element of not knowing where anything was in that kitchen, and while you were working you had the buzz and energy of the restaurant kitchen preparing for dinner all around you. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. Some of the stuff I had practiced better at home, but under the conditions it was a good night.

The level 2 final is so much worse, I may need to start practicing today! They had to quarter chickens and fillet fish all in a short period of time. And they were also tested on basic knife skills, only the quantities of what they had to cut doubled from the level 1 final, and the time was cut in half. Darn, just when I thought I could finally clear all the potato and carrot scraps out of the refrigerator. As you can imagine there have been a lot a mashed potatoes made with all the practicing of the "football" shapes. And as for the pounds of carrots in the fridge cut into a million different shapes and sizes? I'm thinking a carrot soup is on the agenda for the weekend!