Here we are on Thanksgiving break and I am deciding to take some time out and update on the past couple of weeks at the CIA. We have a whole week off which is great, so I am well rested and ready to start my next class on Monday.
Skills Development 1 just concluded on Friday and it was awesome, to say the least. We learned precision knife cuts and the general guidelines and recipes for soups, stocks and broths. Lets just say that I am a soup base making machine! It was great to learn about quality stocks and the use of bones in the kitchen. Let me briefly recap what we learned...
We learned about Chicken stock and broth. The main difference between stocks and broths is that broths can be served as is whereas stocks are used as a base for other dishes, mainly soups and sauces. Also broths use meat and bones in the recipe rather than just bones that stocks call for. We also learned how to make a white and brown veal stock which is used a lot within the kitchen for sauces. We made French Onion Soup, Fish Chowder, Cream of Broccoli Soup, and potato dishes. We also learned about the basics of blanching vegetables for garnish and for other production components. We made Espagnole sauce, one of the mother sauces, and Jus de veau Lie, which is a reduced brown veal stock and super delicious.
We now move on to Skills II which continues to explore knife cuts including the dreaded tourne potato and fluting of mushrooms. It is also and introduction to basic cooking techniques such as sauteing and braising and the specific culinary applications of each. We will have the same chef-instructor that we had for Product Knowledge which should be awesome. It will be good to work with my fellow students better as we continue to learn more.
This school continues to demand professionalism in every aspect of our education and I couldn't love it more. I never realized how seriously I took this leg of my journey, but I find myself holding other students to the high standards that the school does. Let me tell you though, I sure get the comments! ;) I get disgusted at myself when my chef pants aren't ironed and it's the only thing I can think about all day. I realize that I am a dweeb and probably should focus more on cooking and not on ironing my clothes.
Well, now I am off to enjoy the family and rest some more, but I will update at the end of the week to showcase Skills II in the best light I can. Until then, happy cooking and enjoy the rest of the holiday!
Daily Bite:
As I mentioned earlier, Espagnole sauce is a mother sauce. The mother sauces, also known as grand sauces, are considered the basic sauces in traditional French cuisine. Antonin Careme, one of the most influential French chefs, found a way to classify the immense amount of sauces used within French cuisine. There are mother sauces and secondary (or derivative) sauces that are based off of these mother sauces. There are traditionally four sauces that make up the Mother sauces: Espagnole, Bechamel, Veloute, and tomato. There is some disagreement about the mother sauces, Careme actually does not include tomato sauce and uses Allemande as the fourth sauce. A lot of people will also argue that Hollandaise is considered the fifth sauce, it just depends on what you agree with. Check it out online and if you want some recipes, let me know and I will hook you up.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Exploding Butter
It's been a while since the last update, only because I have been working after school in the campus store, filling out my day at 12 hours. It's been tough, but I am enjoying it.
I finished Meat and Seafood Fabrication and Identification last week. It was great to learn what different cuts of meat look like and the best type of fish for certain dishes. I still feel relatively new to these subjects, but it will come as I practice more. Our chef for the course was a wonderful beginning to our career in the kitchen. Not intimidating, fun and energetic, all the qualities that we need in our first chef at the most prestigious culinary college in the world. It was also great to learn how to correctly fabricate these products so I can buy whole products and with the best yield, save a lot of money.
Our current class, Skills 1, is an introduction to knife cutting skills and stocks, is a blast. For the first time we are all working together in the kitchen. In fabrication we worked together, but we did not depend on each other for the different aspects of production. Now we count on every person of our team to get a specific task done, which is a realistic model of what will happen in a kitchen. We also have specific tasks and some students get to be the sous chef for the team or the class. I was a sanitor just last week, which means that I was the go to guy for all the cleaning and product distribution for our team. It was tough work because I lost precious minutes of production, but it was great to gain some more respect from the students.
We were clarifying butter just the other day and as Murphy, one of my teammates, and I were slowly sliding a pot across the burner, the saucepot of butter erupted and caught on fire. This was so crazy, yet we both came out of the fireball with every appendage and both of our eyebrows! Not even the chef was fully aware of what caused the explosion, but we figured that the slight movement of the pot caused the water molecules underneath the butter to burst through the oil. Anyways, I thought y'all would appreciate that story.
Currently, I am in the middle of volunteering for Worlds of Flavor. Check out the website--> http://www.ciaprochef.com/wof2010/ This is the biggest foodie conference right now in the world of culinary arts and I am so excited to be a part of it. This year's theme is Japan and our whole building has turned into an expert display of traditional Japanese cuisine. I will be working side by side with some of today's brightest and most honored Japanese chefs, while learning more about the culture of Japan. Iron Chef Morimoto will be here, as well as Thomas Keller (owner of The French Laundry), and many authors, including the editor of the late Gourmet magazine. It looks to be a wonderful event, I will update at the conclusion.
School has been busy, life is good. I sleep, eat, cook, work and do it all over again. My wife has been a wonderful blessing through all of this and I cannot wait to see where God takes us from here. Until next time, consider one of the CIA's many taglines:
Food is Life. Create and Savor Yours.
Daily Bite:
Clarified butter is butter that has had all milkfat solids and water removed. The ending product is pure butterfat. This helps raise the smoke point so that the butter will not brown as easily. Careful though, it might explode on your face and catch fire.
I finished Meat and Seafood Fabrication and Identification last week. It was great to learn what different cuts of meat look like and the best type of fish for certain dishes. I still feel relatively new to these subjects, but it will come as I practice more. Our chef for the course was a wonderful beginning to our career in the kitchen. Not intimidating, fun and energetic, all the qualities that we need in our first chef at the most prestigious culinary college in the world. It was also great to learn how to correctly fabricate these products so I can buy whole products and with the best yield, save a lot of money.
Our current class, Skills 1, is an introduction to knife cutting skills and stocks, is a blast. For the first time we are all working together in the kitchen. In fabrication we worked together, but we did not depend on each other for the different aspects of production. Now we count on every person of our team to get a specific task done, which is a realistic model of what will happen in a kitchen. We also have specific tasks and some students get to be the sous chef for the team or the class. I was a sanitor just last week, which means that I was the go to guy for all the cleaning and product distribution for our team. It was tough work because I lost precious minutes of production, but it was great to gain some more respect from the students.
We were clarifying butter just the other day and as Murphy, one of my teammates, and I were slowly sliding a pot across the burner, the saucepot of butter erupted and caught on fire. This was so crazy, yet we both came out of the fireball with every appendage and both of our eyebrows! Not even the chef was fully aware of what caused the explosion, but we figured that the slight movement of the pot caused the water molecules underneath the butter to burst through the oil. Anyways, I thought y'all would appreciate that story.
Currently, I am in the middle of volunteering for Worlds of Flavor. Check out the website--> http://www.ciaprochef.com/wof2010/ This is the biggest foodie conference right now in the world of culinary arts and I am so excited to be a part of it. This year's theme is Japan and our whole building has turned into an expert display of traditional Japanese cuisine. I will be working side by side with some of today's brightest and most honored Japanese chefs, while learning more about the culture of Japan. Iron Chef Morimoto will be here, as well as Thomas Keller (owner of The French Laundry), and many authors, including the editor of the late Gourmet magazine. It looks to be a wonderful event, I will update at the conclusion.
School has been busy, life is good. I sleep, eat, cook, work and do it all over again. My wife has been a wonderful blessing through all of this and I cannot wait to see where God takes us from here. Until next time, consider one of the CIA's many taglines:
Food is Life. Create and Savor Yours.
Daily Bite:
Clarified butter is butter that has had all milkfat solids and water removed. The ending product is pure butterfat. This helps raise the smoke point so that the butter will not brown as easily. Careful though, it might explode on your face and catch fire.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Heart Shaped Grilled Cheese
Another week has gone by at the CIA for me and it has been a blast. I am working with the Special Events department. We cater weddings and other activities on campus. Just yesterday I put in a ten hour day working on a catering job for a 150 person wedding on campus. Just to give you a heads up on how much that would run you, we charge a minimum of $100 a person for catering. Depending on what you want and any special services like more apps, a raw oyster bar or sliders after the ceremony, it will cost more. So, lets just say that you would be spending a pretty penny to have your wedding ceremony or reception at my school.
I've also started a job at the campus store. We run a flavor bar where people from the public can come in and watch a video guided presentation on different types of olive oil, chocolate or tips on how to calibrate their palates. I do a little bit of everything from the flavor bar, to general help in the store to shipping and receiving. I am excited about it because it pays just as much as Special Events does, yet is much more laid back.
This week I will be finishing up Product Knowledge and Food Safety. Both of which have been fantastic. Product Knowledge has guided us through how to look for the best type of produce. We've also been able to taste ingredients in their raw state so we can know how to alter the flavor from there. In Food Safety, we are going through the ever-so-popular ServSafe program, which seems like it is dragging. And how it is! This course is designed for one day certification and we are stretching it into three weeks worth.
Starting a week from tomorrow is Meat Fabrication and Identification. There I will learn all the different cuts of meat and how to trim, cut and butcher them according to what I will be using it for. It should be a little more intense than what I have had so far, which is exactly what I want.
Professional sets this school apart from any other culinary school in the country. We are required to be in a full, traditional chef's uniform now that we have outgrown our business casual. I have received my chef whites with my name on them. The air about the school could be seen as snotty, uptight, but I beg to differ. If you ever get that feeling, sit in on one of my classes and I will introduce you to some of the most passionate people I have ever met. Ron loves his Zinfandel almost more than his wife. Steve, although he cuts himself at work regularly, knows how to run a restaurant in the industry with great knowledge. A.J. may be a brown-noser, but he sure does never give up. Anil is a good friend and a great listener, willing to learn all that he can. These are the people I get to spend my schooling with. We laugh and share some awesome memories while keeping a light heart about everything all the time. It's people like this that I cannot wait to work with in the near future.
Since it is the weekend, I will leave you with a descriptive menu of what I helped prepare last night for the wedding.
Appetizers:
-Grilled cheese cut into hearts
-Grilled lamb chops with red wine reduction sauce
-Tuna tar-tar in a fried filo dough cone
1st Course:
Fresh Mozzarella and butternut squash tortellini atop a pool of heirloom tomato sauce and tomato concasse. Finished with a fried green tomato, basil oil, parmesan cheese and micro basil.
Main Course:
Sauteed spinach with white corn risotto. Beef tournadoes (filet) with carmelized onions accompanied with herb crusted halibut with a red wine reduction sauce.
Daily Bite:
There are certain fruits that do NOT ripen once picked. No matter how long you leave them out, in a paper bag or in the fridge, these fruits will only change color, but never get any sweeter than they once were on the vine. Examples include pineapple, citrus (except lime), grapes, watermelon, berries and cherries. These types of fruit are best when purchased from a local farmer, where they are picked more ripe than their supermarket counterparts.
I've also started a job at the campus store. We run a flavor bar where people from the public can come in and watch a video guided presentation on different types of olive oil, chocolate or tips on how to calibrate their palates. I do a little bit of everything from the flavor bar, to general help in the store to shipping and receiving. I am excited about it because it pays just as much as Special Events does, yet is much more laid back.
This week I will be finishing up Product Knowledge and Food Safety. Both of which have been fantastic. Product Knowledge has guided us through how to look for the best type of produce. We've also been able to taste ingredients in their raw state so we can know how to alter the flavor from there. In Food Safety, we are going through the ever-so-popular ServSafe program, which seems like it is dragging. And how it is! This course is designed for one day certification and we are stretching it into three weeks worth.
Starting a week from tomorrow is Meat Fabrication and Identification. There I will learn all the different cuts of meat and how to trim, cut and butcher them according to what I will be using it for. It should be a little more intense than what I have had so far, which is exactly what I want.
Professional sets this school apart from any other culinary school in the country. We are required to be in a full, traditional chef's uniform now that we have outgrown our business casual. I have received my chef whites with my name on them. The air about the school could be seen as snotty, uptight, but I beg to differ. If you ever get that feeling, sit in on one of my classes and I will introduce you to some of the most passionate people I have ever met. Ron loves his Zinfandel almost more than his wife. Steve, although he cuts himself at work regularly, knows how to run a restaurant in the industry with great knowledge. A.J. may be a brown-noser, but he sure does never give up. Anil is a good friend and a great listener, willing to learn all that he can. These are the people I get to spend my schooling with. We laugh and share some awesome memories while keeping a light heart about everything all the time. It's people like this that I cannot wait to work with in the near future.
Since it is the weekend, I will leave you with a descriptive menu of what I helped prepare last night for the wedding.
Appetizers:
-Grilled cheese cut into hearts
-Grilled lamb chops with red wine reduction sauce
-Tuna tar-tar in a fried filo dough cone
1st Course:
Fresh Mozzarella and butternut squash tortellini atop a pool of heirloom tomato sauce and tomato concasse. Finished with a fried green tomato, basil oil, parmesan cheese and micro basil.
Main Course:
Sauteed spinach with white corn risotto. Beef tournadoes (filet) with carmelized onions accompanied with herb crusted halibut with a red wine reduction sauce.
Daily Bite:
There are certain fruits that do NOT ripen once picked. No matter how long you leave them out, in a paper bag or in the fridge, these fruits will only change color, but never get any sweeter than they once were on the vine. Examples include pineapple, citrus (except lime), grapes, watermelon, berries and cherries. These types of fruit are best when purchased from a local farmer, where they are picked more ripe than their supermarket counterparts.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Day 18: Chair Jacker
Despite having my chair stolen from me in the middle of lunch today, things have been going very well. Gastronomy ended last week on a high note. We discussed the history of restaurants and how it has related to what we see today when we go out to eat. It's interesting to see the evolution of how we've spent our money regarding food. We now spend more money eating out than we do on food we purchase to cook at home.
As of this week, I have now started Food Safety and Product Knowledge, both of which are extremely interesting. In Food Safety we are learning the Serv Safe program and how to avoid food-borne illnesses. After listening to my professor for an hour and a half, I hesitate to eat out at any sort of restaurant and I feel compelled to sanitize everything that I touch everywhere. Despite the uneasiness of my stomach during the class, I am eager to learn more about how to keep my food safe. (I'm a nerd, you don't have to remind me.)
Product Knowledge is our first hands on course here at the CIA. Not only do we learn about how to identify produce, but we also are tasting and experiencing the first aspect of cooking. Today we dived into leafy greens and cabbage. We tasted various pieces of lettuce and cabbage including cheddar cauliflower (orange colored cauliflower), graffiti cauliflower (purple colored cauliflower), and rainbow chard. We have this book call the Professional Chef and it is essentially a bible for culinary education. This book guides us through all of products that we will encounter in this course.
I cannot wait until I further my knowledge in this subject so I can update a little better. As of now I will leave you with today's menu.
Breakfast
-Fruit
-Banana Blueberry Muffin
Lunch
-Roasted Chicken with fine herb gravy
-Roasted baby carrots
-Spicy Eggplant
-Shrimp and Pine nut fried rice
-Broccolini
Weekly Desert Count: 3
As of this week, I have now started Food Safety and Product Knowledge, both of which are extremely interesting. In Food Safety we are learning the Serv Safe program and how to avoid food-borne illnesses. After listening to my professor for an hour and a half, I hesitate to eat out at any sort of restaurant and I feel compelled to sanitize everything that I touch everywhere. Despite the uneasiness of my stomach during the class, I am eager to learn more about how to keep my food safe. (I'm a nerd, you don't have to remind me.)
Product Knowledge is our first hands on course here at the CIA. Not only do we learn about how to identify produce, but we also are tasting and experiencing the first aspect of cooking. Today we dived into leafy greens and cabbage. We tasted various pieces of lettuce and cabbage including cheddar cauliflower (orange colored cauliflower), graffiti cauliflower (purple colored cauliflower), and rainbow chard. We have this book call the Professional Chef and it is essentially a bible for culinary education. This book guides us through all of products that we will encounter in this course.
I cannot wait until I further my knowledge in this subject so I can update a little better. As of now I will leave you with today's menu.
Breakfast
-Fruit
-Banana Blueberry Muffin
Lunch
-Roasted Chicken with fine herb gravy
-Roasted baby carrots
-Spicy Eggplant
-Shrimp and Pine nut fried rice
-Broccolini
Weekly Desert Count: 3
Friday, August 27, 2010
Day 4: Juice Fight
I got in a fight with an orange juicer this morning. Let's just say that the juicer won the battle. Here I am, a culinary arts student at the world's most prestigious culinary school and I can't figure out how to work the juicer. I had a 6oz glass of OJ and ate the rest of the 6 wedges that I gave up on.
Gastronomy is quite an interesting course. Yesterday and today we talked about perception about food. How do we perceive food and what is our response to it? We discussed how our senses are receptors to all aspects of the food and that taste of the food is one of the last things that happens during a meal. Knowing this information is extremely useful as I consider how to plate, design a restaurant and other very important part of a meal. We also discussed how we taste with our nose and mouth.
Today was more focused on different methods of cooking and browning reactions. I've heard numerous people explain that they want to carmelize a specific dish, which is not possible without the presence of sugar. Other methods of browning are Maillard and enzymatic reactions. Ah, the Maillard reaction. There's nothing like a beautifully seared fillet of beef tenderloin. Good ol Maillard!
This first week at school exceeded my expectations. Not only do I thoroughly enjoy the professionalism ever present in the curriculum and overall atmosphere of the school, but I love the passion that resonates off of those thick stone walls. I walk those corridors and can hear the dreams that reach out from each and every talented mind present in that building. Everything from the faculty's dreams for the students, to each and every story we will have to tell very soon. Here begins the hard, but ever so exciting work. Hand me my chef's knife, lets jump this jump.
Breakfast
-Oranges (of course!)
-Pastries
Lunch
-BBQ Beef Sandwich with onion rings
-Stuffed Quail
-Selections of a beautiful arrangement of Garde Manger
Daily Bite
-Garde Manger (loosely pronounced Guard Mon-jay) is the fine art of cold cooking. This type of cooking reflects those dishes that are prepared, then served cold. This can be anything from cured salmon to any type of appetizer that is chilled. For more info check out wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garde_manger
Gastronomy is quite an interesting course. Yesterday and today we talked about perception about food. How do we perceive food and what is our response to it? We discussed how our senses are receptors to all aspects of the food and that taste of the food is one of the last things that happens during a meal. Knowing this information is extremely useful as I consider how to plate, design a restaurant and other very important part of a meal. We also discussed how we taste with our nose and mouth.
Today was more focused on different methods of cooking and browning reactions. I've heard numerous people explain that they want to carmelize a specific dish, which is not possible without the presence of sugar. Other methods of browning are Maillard and enzymatic reactions. Ah, the Maillard reaction. There's nothing like a beautifully seared fillet of beef tenderloin. Good ol Maillard!
This first week at school exceeded my expectations. Not only do I thoroughly enjoy the professionalism ever present in the curriculum and overall atmosphere of the school, but I love the passion that resonates off of those thick stone walls. I walk those corridors and can hear the dreams that reach out from each and every talented mind present in that building. Everything from the faculty's dreams for the students, to each and every story we will have to tell very soon. Here begins the hard, but ever so exciting work. Hand me my chef's knife, lets jump this jump.
Breakfast
-Oranges (of course!)
-Pastries
Lunch
-BBQ Beef Sandwich with onion rings
-Stuffed Quail
-Selections of a beautiful arrangement of Garde Manger
Daily Bite
-Garde Manger (loosely pronounced Guard Mon-jay) is the fine art of cold cooking. This type of cooking reflects those dishes that are prepared, then served cold. This can be anything from cured salmon to any type of appetizer that is chilled. For more info check out wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garde_manger
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Real Day One
Today was the real first day.
Intro to Gastronomy looks to be an exciting course. As we dive into this new material, I can see the evolution of cuisine and what we call cooking come into play. It's courses like these that cause you to pause momentarily and think twice about how your medium rare steak came into existence. Or how that seemingly small personal sized watermelon is able to absorb that much rum. Questions like these float through the front of my mind during class. Never have I thought of how food affected our civilization so much. The stabilization of agriculture created sustainable food causing the population to rise. Fire meant easier digestible and better tasting food. Cooked meat never meant so much to me as it did today.
Today also brought about some new expectations that took me as bit of a surprise. All of the faculty at the school is extremely friendly, which I was a bit weary of at first. I was looking for that one crazy chef that took his job more serious than anyone else and made sure he gave the new students hell. I met him at lunch. I had my book bag on the table and I was unaware of the massive target that beckoned this chef to come over to my seat and not so politely tell me to remove my bag from the table. At least I did not have him comment on my shaving ability unlike the gentleman sitting next to me. He seems like a serious, yet professional guy, whom I already respect (and maybe fear).
As I come to the end of this entry, I hope to create a habit that will stick through the entirety of this blog. I will list the amazing meals I have consumed that day and hopefully, as time progresses, explain more on how they tasted.
Breakfast
-Basque Cake
-Fresh fruit
Lunch
-Salted Cod Cake with undisclosed green cream sauce and homemade potato chips
-Parmesan Risotto
-New England Clam Chowder
-Beef Chili
Weekly dessert count: 2
Thanks to all who signed on to this. I hope to give you a glimpse of the passion that is culinary arts.
Intro to Gastronomy looks to be an exciting course. As we dive into this new material, I can see the evolution of cuisine and what we call cooking come into play. It's courses like these that cause you to pause momentarily and think twice about how your medium rare steak came into existence. Or how that seemingly small personal sized watermelon is able to absorb that much rum. Questions like these float through the front of my mind during class. Never have I thought of how food affected our civilization so much. The stabilization of agriculture created sustainable food causing the population to rise. Fire meant easier digestible and better tasting food. Cooked meat never meant so much to me as it did today.
Today also brought about some new expectations that took me as bit of a surprise. All of the faculty at the school is extremely friendly, which I was a bit weary of at first. I was looking for that one crazy chef that took his job more serious than anyone else and made sure he gave the new students hell. I met him at lunch. I had my book bag on the table and I was unaware of the massive target that beckoned this chef to come over to my seat and not so politely tell me to remove my bag from the table. At least I did not have him comment on my shaving ability unlike the gentleman sitting next to me. He seems like a serious, yet professional guy, whom I already respect (and maybe fear).
As I come to the end of this entry, I hope to create a habit that will stick through the entirety of this blog. I will list the amazing meals I have consumed that day and hopefully, as time progresses, explain more on how they tasted.
Breakfast
-Basque Cake
-Fresh fruit
Lunch
-Salted Cod Cake with undisclosed green cream sauce and homemade potato chips
-Parmesan Risotto
-New England Clam Chowder
-Beef Chili
Weekly dessert count: 2
Thanks to all who signed on to this. I hope to give you a glimpse of the passion that is culinary arts.
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