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
Friday, August 27, 2010
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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