Throughout the week I pulled out my pretty knives and practiced, practiced, practiced (all fingers are still intact). And though I am improving, I still need to work on consistency and speed. I used about 5 potatoes to yield 1 cup of julienned vegetables that were worthy of being turned in for my product grade (more on the grade subject in a different post) and it took way more time than it should have.
Last night's class was all about mise en place and stocks. Let's start with mise en place. It literally means "everything in its place" and it could be the theme song of my life. I LOVE the concept of everything having a "home" and everything in its "home". Mise en place in the kitchen means to have all of your ingredients prepped (meat thawed, veggies washed and chopped, spices measured, etc.) and all of your tools at hand BEFORE you start cooking. It's brilliant. I've always done this with baking - it just makes sense to have everything measured out and my tools ready before I actually turn on the mixer. The mixing part goes faster and I don't question whether or not I already put in the baking powder. But mise en place is just as important with savory cooking too.
As a mom with two elementary-aged children, I find that the cooking hour is the CRAZY hour. Everyone needs me to check homework or help them with this or that right when I'm trying to cook dinner. Another component of the CRAZY hour is carpooling. Every after school activity has a drop-off or pick-up time when I'd like to be cooking dinner. It feels like I'm driving two kids in four different directions (I know that doesn't make sense, but that is how it feels at that time of day). This is where mise en place can save your life...well, not really, but it will help a LOT! Instead of trying to decide what to make for dinner, chop ingredients and measure spices during the CRAZY hour, why not take 15 minutes while the kids are at school to decide what to make and thaw and prep your ingredients for dinner. Then, when you turn on the stove during the CRAZY hour you are ready to rock and dinner will be on the table faster than ever before.
Mise en place isn't reserved for fancy meals. It works for taco night too. Thaw your meat, pull out your taco shells and seasoning (or measure your spices), make sure you have all the taco toppings of your choice and gather them into one spot in the refrigerator. With the prep work complete, the actual cooking time will be greatly reduced and you might actually have time to make dinner during the CRAZY hour.
The vast majority of class was spent on stocks because it takes an enormous amount of time to make stock. I admit that I have never made homemade stock prior to last night's class. I've always felt that the organic, free-range chicken stock I buy at the store was just fine. And I still agree with this thought in some instances. But as Chef said last night, "you should make stock because you can." And I agree with that too. Believe me, I've never bought stock that looks and smells like the stock we made last night.
Stock is simply flavored liquid from cooking bones, vegetables and seasonings together in water (or all veggies and seasonings if making a vegetable stock). Stocks alone aren't particularly tasty. They are the base for other dishes, such as soups and sauces. Stocks aren't difficult to make. But they require a lot of cooking time and a bit of babysitting because you are trying to extract as much flavor from the bones and veggies as possible while skimming away the unsavory bits. I recommend you try to make stock at least once (when you have a free Sunday afternoon). You should because you can and then you can determine for yourself whether or not it's worth the effort.
As part of our stock class, we learned about deglazing a pan. During lecture Chef asks questions about the topic and we say the answers aloud if we know them (no raising hands or anything formal like that). So Chef asked, "What is deglazing?" I answered, "It's removing the tasty bits from the pan you just cooked in." I promise I wasn't trying to be funny - this is just how I see it. My classmates, however, thought it was a hoot. Apparently, Chef had never heard "tasty bits" before and a new phrase was coined (I do not take credit for "tasty bits" - I swear I've heard it somewhere else before. Remember, imitation is the greatest form of flattery for whomever I borrowed this from). But I can say this, I bet no one will forget what deglazing is.
I would have totally said "tasty bits"!
ReplyDeleteI know, right! I've always liked the way you think.
ReplyDeleteIt's Matthew! He calls the great stuff at the bottom of the fondue pot the "tasty bits" or "crusty bits.' I bet we told you that in Breck. ;)
ReplyDeleteI, too, love the concept of mise en place, but whenever Matthew does that at home, I cringe because it makes about 5 times as many dirty dishes. I swear, he gets every tiny bowl in the kitchen dirty. He says he'll clean it up, and often he does, but I struggle between enjoying having things prepped and planned, and the inefficiency of dirtying so many other things just to dump them into another bowl. ;) It's like a middleman.
Glad you are learning so much already! Sounds like a blast!
Did Hannah Montana say "tasty bits?" I almost used that same phrase in a blog post today! ha! Maybe I got it from you?
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm going to school vicariously through you. Thank you for posting!
I'm so loving the mise en place thing. It reminds me of when I went from working full-time to part-time. For some reason, I had this crazy notion that I would have MORE time to cook for the family once I reduced my hours at work. Nope. Just the opposite - my days seemed to be filled with all sorts of things I hadn't imagined. However, one thing I did was spend every Friday while the boys were in day care, grocery shopping and preparing food for the upcoming week. It helped out in a huge way! I wonder why I don't do that anymore. ??? Oh, maybe it's because I've now figured out a way to shift the responsibility of grocery shopping and cooking to my husband. Yes, I must say, growing older (and wiser) has its advantages. :-)
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