Week 11: The Rise of a Soufflé

Sorry for the delay of this post, work has been crazy and I had my aunt visiting from Caracas, also I burned my fingers with a hot plate so didn’t feel like typing too much. Saturday was all about poaching and steaming, which a: was healthier and b: was not as hectic as sautéing and braising, and Sunday was all about grains and legumes so imagine this: gratin, soufflés, risotto and purees: carb overload!!!  

Although I have to say the soufflé was a disappointment.  I have made soufflé a couple of times, or at least tried, they look good but the moment they come out of the oven they fall flat. During a class I took a long time ago the Chef said that the secret was to whip the egg whites in a copper bowl, so to get the copper bowl became my mission.  I called my mom and ask her to look for the ones that used to be hanging on our kitchen wall, of course she was like what???, I begged and cried and on her last trip she brought it for me. But let’s be honest although I have all and I mean all the utensils to make a perfect soufflé I haven’t had the courage to try it. So on Sunday when I saw the recipe and knew we were going to do it in class I got super excited, out came the copper bowls and the balloon whisks, ramekins and trays. But guess what after all that work, care and effort they didn’t come out perfect…I’m telling you it’s not easy! For some reason the whites, or the folding or the mixing needs to be perfect in order to have a beautiful soufflé. Our Chef felt so bad, that she decided to show us how to do a chocolate soufflé at the end of the class…those were amazing. So as I have learned during this whole time is all about practice, and practice some more. And gain weight, and gain some more. It’s impossible to be on a diet while studying to be a chef.

On another note, while I was visiting EATALY with my aunt, I ran into Joe Bastianich – and sadly for me I turned into a Justin Beaver fan- all I could say was: I love you! – What’s wrong with me????- I am surprised he didn’t take out the pepper spray, all he could say was “hi..” and I kept saying I love your show,  I love you as a judge…. It took a lot to stop myself but I walked away, I realized this guy could be my boss someday and I just harassed him in the middle of the street ( nice!). To my horror my aunt made me go back and took a picture of us (I will not be showing it because I look like Lolita the Killing Whale) if you need evidence I will send the picture directly to you.

I am scheduled to volunteer at the James Beard Foundation early January, one event with Alex Guarnaschelli (Chopped Judge – The Next Iron Chef Redemption- Butter NYC) and another with Bryan Voltaggio (Top Chef), so I better control myself, because seriously I can’t act star stricken every time I see a chef I like. Just imagine meeting Ramsey or Ripert, restriction order for sure. So if my intention is to have a respectable culinary career I better get a grip!

Another course comes to an end: Moist heat cooking and advanced vegetable preparations is over. I got B on potatoes again! And I am proud again! And will have a written test next Saturday, and onto to breakfast cookery, salads and sandwiches…. Time is flying…but as always I can’t wait for next Saturday – wish me luck.

 

Week 10: the preemptive Band-Aid

This weekend was all about braising and stews, these techniques require a lot of cooking time, which meant that we had little prepping time AND 2 people from our class didn’t show up, so imagine the chaos. It was simply a version if the Amazing Race in the kitchen, each recipe had at least 10 to 20 ingredients and all had to cook for at least one and half hours. Let me tell you, I have never butchered, marinated and seared a piece of meat that fast, gathered the ingredients and make a great dish, however the dish had to wait, we could not finish in time on Saturday and so into the fridge it went, it would be cooked the next day. It was not easy, but at least there was no precision cutting involved so no complaints. Or at least I thought.

The knife skill drill was being saved for Sunday afternoon.  They cut we were about to learn and have to master is called Tourné. Let me explain, the shape resembles an American football but it has to have 7 sides. If I thought medium square diced potatoes were hard this was like climbing the Himalaya. You can imagine how hard I was laughing; there was no way in hell I was going to be able to do that. In comes the Chef from another class, specially invited to show us how to tourné a potato.  “You quarter the potato take your pairing knife, make the first cut at a 58 angle, twist over, cut, cut, twist, cut and voila this is a tourné” What???? , “Chef can you please do it again?” “You quarter the potato take your pairing knife, make the first cut at a 58 angle, twist over, cut, cut, twist, cut and voila this is a tourné” Ok…. Thanks.  He says goodbye and tell us to not feel overwhelmed, it takes a lot of practice and time to master this cut, practice, practice and to imagine that our first attempt is a million times better than his first attempt more than 20 years ago. He will be giving a 3-hour workshop next week, he strongly suggested we sign up. Encouraging.

So I grab my potato, go to my board, and say a silent prayer: please God don’t let me cut myself. I swear I stared at that quartered potato for at least 10 minutes, I didn’t even know where to start! How, how, how! Do you make an oval/round shape out of this??? But I had to at least make a cut, which I did, not working, second cut, I make a square, third cut looks like a diamond, and fourth cut a triangle. But hey no blood! The chef comes to my board and says,…"ok no”. Let’s get out another knife that may help you, I take out my kit, and she grabs a little knife that looks like Captain’s hook hand. And I am like really? That’s just scary, but she was right, it started making it better…sort of. But I still couldn’t make the right cuts! She comes by again, and says “you are scared of cutting yourself”…Is it that obvious? So she says “go put a Band-Aid on your thumb, and 2 or 3 latex fingers on top, and go for it, that way you can’t cut yourself”. Huh! So I did, and it helped, but I was really embarrassed, I felt like the little kid who needs help on the monkey bars and needs a little step to reach them while everybody else just jumps and grab it.

I have terrible hand coordination; it sometimes takes me 10 minutes to put on a bracelet, I blame my mom, the other day I asked her “did I have that toy that where you had to insert a star, a circle, a square?” of course she didn’t remember, which makes me believe I never had it, so there! That’s the reason Ja! And downhill from there. I never could cut a straight line, color within the lines, or thread a needle to save my life. So I will practice and practice and I will make a tourné damn it!

And as always I can’t wait until next Saturday, oh by the way got on A on course 3! Yes!.

PS: those are NOT my potatoes

Week 9 : Instructions, instructions, instructions

This week was the last one on dry heat cooking methods, Saturday was all about grilling and Sunday all about roasting – just in time for Thanksgiving.

I don’t like to follow instructions, I like figuring things out by myself , sometimes it works and sometimes it’s a disaster, take for example building any type of furniture from IKEA, there is no way in hell that I can do that. All the instructions make no sense to me, I refuse to follow them and end up with something not even remotely similar to what I bought. Also when I was in college – I think- they gave us a test that said please read the instructions below, of course I didn’t and started answering the questions, of course I failed – the instructions said to not answer the questions and that your signature was worth a point, you had to sign the test 20 times and give it back for a perfect grade.

So on Saturday we started by doing different marinades, we were grilling vegetables, chicken, salmon, veal, pork, etc. A few times the Chef had mentioned that we should use gloves when working with chilies, he had already told us the story of this guy who cooked with a ghost chili, and then went to the bathroom, he did not return for 40 minutes, he came back and explained to the chef what had happened and asked if he should soak it in milk.

But of course I couldn’t be bothered.  I don’t like working with gloves, I already have trouble with my hands as is to add the slipperiness effect of the gloves. So, here I am cooking my chilies over the stove waiting for them to get black, so I can remove the skin, the seeds, and use them in my marinade.  Finally there done, I take of the skin, the seeds, chop them and put them into the marinade. Done. I continued working for a while and then had to scratch my nose; I did, washed my hands and continued. OH MY GOD! It started slowly, but the burning sensation started getting worse and worse, I wanted to put my face under water, but couldn’t I had so much to do! And also I was not about to confess to that and have to explain why I didn’t use gloves as instructed!!  So I soaked it up, didn’t say a word, it subsided like 20 minutes after, which literally felt like hell.

Again with the instructions, until we have more practice and become more seasoned cooks we are “instructed” to use our thermometers to assess the doneness of the protein. And here I go again, I have been told that there are tricks to make sure your meat is done to the desired temp, something about how your palm feels, when touching different fingers, or making a fist, whatever, I trust my judgment, which apparently is not good. We had too grill flank steak – the same one I cut wrong last time. I put it in the grill, wait a few minutes to get the marks, turn it 90 degrees to get the cross marks, a few minutes and flip to get the marks on the other side. I like my steak bloody, so I wait a few more minutes let’s say 15 in total and declare to myself and others this is done, so I put it to rest on the rack.

My partner has an instant read thermometer, you just pinch the meat and voilà you get the temp, the one we got from school has the needle that takes a while to show you the actual temp. So I am doing my sauce, and waiting to cut my meat, however I start noticing that no one else has taken their meat of the grill, so I start getting paranoid. I ask my friend for the thermometer and check, I was NOT even close! So back it goes again with only 6 minutes left to present our plates. I am like praying to the gods of grilling so it gets done fast, of course I knew it would not have time to rest, and all the juices would spill on the white plate. You are supposed to let any meat rest for 10 minutes or so to avoid all the juices spilling out. I cut it and it’s perfectly cooked but the blood is spilling, I paper towel like there is no tomorrow, rush to put in the plate with the sauce and present. But of course you cannot fool a Chef, she compliments me on my seasoning and doneness (perfect medium rare), but she points at the plate and I say: “yes I know it needed to rest more”, I am a bit disappointed but have no one to blame but myself.

You thought I would have learned my lesson right? No. This weekend I undercooked chicken (just a bit), pork was just border line, and I had to put my vegetables in the oven twice. But my partner overcooked the salmon- so there. It’s better to have it undercooked and put back in than overcooked where there is nothing you can do to fix it. Needless to say I want the high tech thermometer.

We also had a test and I did good, got an A on my paper, B on potatoes -precision cutting – and damn proud of it and an A on cutting vegetables.  The Chef told me I had remarkably improved on my knife skills – hey I have not cut myself in weeks, however we all know I am way overdue.

Overall it was a great weekend, and as always I can’t wait until next actually next next Saturday, we get a break for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving every one!

 

 

Week 8: Back in Business!

Hurricane Sandy hit New York pretty good, so my school was closed last weekend and I didn’t have class, therefore I had nothing to report but the fact that staying in the house for a whole week made me gain 100 pounds, become an alcoholic and watch too many cooking shows for my own good. Thank God I was ok and didn’t need anything, some people were not that fortunate.

After a major school clean up (just imagine how much food went bad without proper refrigeration for 5 days), finally we were back in business, class was on for this weekend. I was so excited to be back in the kitchen especially after my disastrous start of Mod 2. I came in ready:  recipes on index cards check! Read material before class check! I’m not gone a burn anything attitude …sort of check!

I had a good start in the morning, but it started getting stressful as the day progressed (I guess that’s Mod 2). There were tons of recipes we needed to that day it was the last class on sautéing so we had to get our sh...  together. We got to work in groups of 2 which made it better, and the Chef realized we absolutely could multitask but we needed more time to make sure we were doing things right instead of rushing. We sautéed away: lamb, beef, scallops, spinach, salmon, sole (we made the famous dish that Julia Child tried in France for the first time Sole Meuniere) – I can proudly say I can filet a flat fish no problem!  We didn’t burn anything, but some of our seasoning was still of – pinch of salt, pinch of salt, pinch of salt!

On Sunday sautéing was over, come on in pan frying and deep frying! – A diet nightmare or a hangover paradise- . Again groups of 2, good! We started with knife drills- which basically means chopping potatoes in different shapes so we can practice – I swear there is no way I can make a straight line! Even with the angle tip, but I am getting better so yey for me! Then it was time to set up the breading stations which are as follows: flour-egg-breadcrumbs or panko, and you season the meat not the egg mixture – something new. We cooked veal Milanese, chicken Supreme, crab cakes, potato pancakes, and guess what: tostones! And this was just in the first half of the day. I remembered the first classes when I was so hungry, now I was so stuffed! We had to try everything and of course you’re picking at the food here and there, I could feel I was gaining a pound a minute! Then came deep frying!!!!  We were getting ready to cut the potatoes into fries when out came the scariest tool: The Mandolin. Let me explain, I have cut myself at least one time, my mom has cut he self like 3 times, a friend of mine who is a chef  lost the tip of his finger, so I absolutely did not want to cut with that. I kept watching as all the other students were setting up their mandolins, moving the blades, and securing the level. Me? I kept looking away and then going to the bin to find a mandolin for me which thank God was not there, so we had to share and I had to wait my turn. I swear it was like magic: 2 minutes into the cutting session I heard the first aghh! (one down) Darn it! Ouch (two down) jkdhf hef – Hebrew (three down) @$%^# (four down). Ha I knew it! Stay away from the mandolin! There was a quite a bit of blood, and the finger gloves went flying from the first aid kit. However I know the chef was waiting for me to tackle it, but since it was a bloody mess, she taught how to do it with a side towel – which was may better, but I swear half the potato went to the trash.

We cooked French fries, fish (fish and chips), broccoli tempura, fried oysters, and fried chicken southern style.  Everything was delicious, but at the end of the day it was too much frying for me, I think we are done with dry cooking techniques and we are moving on.

Finally that day I had signed up for a Turduken demonstration.  Let me explain what a Turduken is. Are you ready? It is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. I will give you a minute to get it. Ok, I just want to understand who was the “fatty” person that invented it? Seriously how hungry can you be that you thought of putting a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, I swear that is why there is an obesity crisis in the U.S. I didn’t go to the class because I was disgustingly full and couldn’t stand more any more food least of all a TURDUCKEN!

I can say it was a very good weekend, and I had missed it tremendously, and as always I can’t wait until next Saturday.

PS: Oh and we found a little crab inside an oyster!

 

 

Week 7: On Fire!

Saturday was our last class of Mod 1 – we are supposed to know by now sanitation, meat fabrication, stocks, and sauces. I say suppose because everything right now seems a blur, if you gave me a chicken to fabricate it would take me a while, I would turn it this and that way, and eventually get it done, but I still have a long way to go.

The Chef reminded us what would happen on Sunday: final written exam, final practical exam, bring 2 potatoes medium diced, 2 shallots minced, 1 head of garlic minced and parsley minced. An essay on sautéing (done!) all of our recipes typed (done!) and our notes also typed (done), in a nice folder. I was ready, I had typed and printed everything since Thursday. However the Chef decided to ask one of the girls to show us her folder so we could see what he was expecting. Ok this was not a simple folder; this was a binder, with every single page in a sheet protector, dividers, and labels, what the hell??? I hate overachievers; of course I started to panic, mine would look like crap compare to this. So I did say to the Chef: what is your expectation? A folder? A binder? And of course he answered: you give me the best you can do, this will be a reflection of how much you want this and how much you care. Right in the gut! So yes I went to staples got a binder, and sheet protectors – which did make sense for the recipes- and. …That’s it. I included my notes – which had pictures by the way!- and put the essay in a separate – nice- folder!.  I really was not in the best of moods.

Sunday came and I was ready, I had studied my sauces, and was ready to make mayonnaise, medium dice potatoes and prepare broccoli soup. As usual (and not because I am a genius) I finished the written test pretty quickly and went straight into the kitchen to do my work. It was great to have the kitchen for myself; I could work at my pace and not get distracted, this didn’t last long, 20 minutes after others started coming in. I presented my food and got great reviews from the Chef, gave him my binder and my homework. According to him I started in Venezuela with my potatoes, he said I was in Cuba now, I was getting there but still had to practice more, I swear I can’t do a straight cut!

And just like that we were in Mod 2. New Chef, new pace, new methods. The Chef came in very quietly provided her expectations, gave us her background (she had worked in many high ranked restaurants and at Pixar studios running the cafeteria!) and started the class. Finally we were going to do some “real” cooking:  chicken and beef sauté with a pan sauce. The first Chef had taught us to chop in the middle of the cutting board, this new Chef wanted us to chop in the corner of the board so you could angle your knife at a straight angle and get better cuts ja! Who knew? Chef 1 did not believe in rushing, he wanted us to take our time and make our food perfect; Chef 2 gave us specific time windows.  We were asked to chop potatoes by using her method, of course I was taking my time, and then I heard “who am I waiting for to show me their potatoes? Oh just you? (Looking at me) you have 1 minute to finish, and she smiled. – aaaaaah! Talk about embracing change!

After the Chef finished explaining and demoing she wanted each of us to sauté 3 chicken breasts and 3 flank stakes and present the one that we considered the best, in an hour and 15 minutes jajajaja was she kidding me???? Thank God she realized it was too much and said just one chicken and one steak each. Any way it was madness, some of my classmates could no figure out that the recipe was just for reference and you should follow your instincts, for me that meant not doing my entire mise-en-place in little containers and labeled. I started doing my chicken and steak; I have to admit I am good at seasoning, so I knew I had this. Little did I know, my sauces burned, flame was too high and I left the pan too long on the stove, of course whose kitchen had big flames twice – mine! I had to do the sauces all over again, while my chicken and steak were resting and getting cold. I was supposed to check the temp on the steak, 145 for medium rare, I was so rushed that I went with my gut and touching the meat. Suddenly I heard you all have 3 minutes to present, what????? I ran like a chicken without a head, got the plates, mine were missing so I stole from another pile, burned my hand, pour my sauces in each plate, sliced my chicken, sliced my beef ( the wrong way! – let me explain: flank steak is a great cut of meat, however it has this lines, and you have to cut it against the lines, if you don’t the meat will be very chewy, if you cut it right it is very very tender – I have known this for a long time, I have cooked it before many times- anyway at that point there was nothing I could do. She liked my chicken – although I used to much butter so it was almost fried instead of sautéed- my sauce was good but was missing a tiny bit of salt – I hadn’t even had time to try it – steak had a good sear but was a bit rare in the middle – again I did not use the thermometer I couldn’t find in my big bag! – The sauce was very good but it could’ve been reduced a bit more, and of course the meat was cut the wrong way.  Agh! What a day, what a difference, we were going into this headfirst. At the end of the class one of the girls couldn’t find her side towels, and started crying! Like a baby! I totally understood she was just overwhelmed and tired, but there is no crying in baseball so….

So is a new Mod, a new Chef, and a new way of working, no fear! – Like Julia Child said. And as always I can’t wait until next Saturday. 

Week 6: Whisk and whisk and whisk

This weekend was all about sauces, the mother sauces, the grandma sauces, the cousin sauces, and all of them with lots and lots of butter. Since I am always on a diet I had forgotten what real butter tasted like, I swear I could've taken a straw and just drank it straight up from the pot.

I was doing great until we started doing the hot emulsions meaning: hollandaise, béarnaise and crème anglaise. 

The trick to a good emulsion moreover a hot one, is in the speed of the whisking, which translates at least to me on how fit you are. The chef demonstrated the hollandaise and the béarnaise, and all I kept thinking about was eggs Benedict and steak yummy. Anyway the sauce needs to be whisked very fast in a bowl on top of a pot of hot but not boiling water. If the water is too hot the eggs will cook and you will end up with scrambled eggs. The chef whisked liked he was a transformer, his hand was a blur, the eggs raised beautifully and the hollandaise was done. Now it was our turn, we all got into position like we were going into a wrestling match. Pot of hot water check, bowl with egg yolks check, whisk in hand check. Like I said the eggs are supposed to rise, and form "ribbons", when you get that consistency you can add, very slowly, the clarified butter. I started whisking like my life depended on it, again those words: faster, faster. Suddenly the eggs started to rise, I had no feeling in my wrist, arm, head, but it what is happening, at one point I was whisking so fast that half the sauce ended up in my jacket, but damn it that sauce was going to be right. And it was! I was so proud of myself, some of my class mates had to do it 3 times because it was simply not happening for them, and I got the first time! But, lets not get ahead of ourselves it's not like I am ready to enter a cooking competition, I either just got lucky or I am the terminator! Jag!

We also did tomatillo salsa, corn relish, mango chutney and roasted tomato coulis. And as a bonus crème anglaise (which was to die for, in that I would have happily drowned)

So module 1 is almost over, according to the school I have learned culinary fundamentals, meat fabrication, basic sauces, and on Saturday basic soups. My final written test and my practical will be Sunday, for the practical I have to medium dice 2 potatoes, make mayonnaise, and broccoli soup. Wish me luck! And on to module 2: hot cooking techniques! And my homework for the first day an essay on sauté - say again?

But as always I can't wait until next Saturday.

Week 5: Crunchify!

This weekend was a lot of fun but also exhausting. It all started with the volunteering at the Food Network’s Wine and Food Festival Burger Bash. I arrived at the location at the scheduled time ready to go, however that day was very cold, I had checked the address and it was close to the water on Pier 36 on a place called Basketball city, so I had assumed it was indoors. Well, it wasn’t. The volunteer director assigned me a “very big job”, which was standing next to the freezer truck and making sure that from now on and during the event all the meat boxes that came in out of the truck were properly labeled with the restaurant’s name. You had to be kidding me! I knew that volunteering meant doing whatever I was told to do, but this was inhumane. My knees were shaking my hands were turning purple (like the joke in Spanish: no siento ni las paticas, ni las alitas, ni el piquito). So after 45 minutes, I thought what the hell I am going to talk to the coordinator. I told her : “Hi, listen I am not complaining, but you didn’t give me heads up that it was outdoors, and unfortunately I am not dressed properly to spend the night next to a freezer truck with this weather, and I cannot allow myself to get sick I have class this weekend so…” Thank god she immediately spoke with the director, I was a culinary student and I was supposed to be helping a chef, not guarding the truck. So the director came by with 2 young girls that were dressed worse than me, and said to them “I have a very big job for you, Anabella hand them the sharpie” I felt so bad for them, but oh well. He then asked to change into my uniform, and report to Bobby Flay’s booth. Bobby Flay! Yes!!!!.http://bobbyflay.com/

It was so cold, that I left my sweat pants on, put on my chefs pants, left my shirt under the jacket, and headed to Booby’s Burger Palace’s booth. I introduced myself, met the guys and was ready to work. They asked me to wear a BBP T-shirt, so I asked for a large and wore it on top of my jacket, hence I look like a piñata in the picture, but at least I wasn’t that cold. I was asked to put together the plates and napkins, which was basically impossible with all the wind, did I mentioned the wind??? I then was put at the end of the “assembly line” for the burgers. My job was to “crunchify” the burgers. Let me explain. I had to take 5 to 6 chips, make a little tower, take the top bun, and put a stick in the middle. Seems easy right? .No. When we did the first run through, the head chef said: Anabella that is wrong! Wrong! ( in my head I was laughing because I felt I was in an episode of hell’s kitchen), and seriously I had no idea how it was supposed to be done, so more power to me for trying. So according to him, I had to take the top bun with my left hand pick the chips with my right put them on the bun, hold the chips with my thumb, put them on top of the burger like “pillowwwws”  and then put the stick through the middle with my right hand, the burger needed to have height. I can assure you performing surgery is easier. This “method” is Bobby Flay’s signature thing –adding the tower of chips- you can add it to any of his burgers and it’s called to crunchify.  If you want to learn more about the art of crunchifying visit: http://www.bobbysburgerpalace.com/index.php

 The VIP’s started to arrive around 6:30, and the pace was fine, I had time to put “the pilowwwws” perfectly. But then the chef warned us “prepare yourselves for this, we are going to have tons of people coming at us at the same time, and we need to stay on top of the game, we need to win, are we ready to crunchifyyyy!!!????” Yes Chef! I cannot explain the amount of people that showed up at the same time, just imagine that Bobby’s had 2000 beef patties. So my plan of going around trying burgers, taking pictures and meeting chefs went immediately out the window! Still shaking because of the cold, I started assembling burgers like there was no tomorrow, to hell with the “pillowwwws” we had to do it fast. The last time I had heard faster, faster was during a spinning class in 1995. Once in a while I recognized a voice and put my head up: oh! There’s Rachel Ray, oh! There’s Alex Guarnaschelli , Kathy Griffin, Alain Ducasse! I did meet Bobby Flay, but we only exchanged hello and thank you. Finally at 10, the event came to an end; I hadn’t had water, peed or eaten since 3 p.m. At the end I asked to try a burger, which was delicious – goat cheese, honey mustard, watercress, crunchifieeeed- the guys were in shock that I hadn’t eaten anything, but I was fine, I smelled like a grill – since I kept standing next to it to get warm-, tired, but super excited, . We said our goodbyes and the most rewarding part was when they gave me their cards and said to me: “You did an awesome job, if you ever need a job, a reference or whatever please call us”. That made everything worth it!

Class this weekend was good, we finally made all the stocks possible, I think I did well on my test, and had my assignment typed and printed ready to be handed in. We did had to butcher a leg of lamb, and I basically channeled “Dexter” and chopped away, I made a big mess, and apparently I didn’t “follow the boooone” which is what our Chef tells us every time. At least I didn’t cut myself.  We also learned to make, roux, and beurre marie, which are thickening agents, and of course we chopped and chopped like crazy.

Next week we finally get to make the mother sauces: Béchamel, Espagnole, Hollandaise, Velouté and Tomato Sauce. I can’t wait until next Saturday.