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