meat & veggies

I've had two classes since my last blog post: meat fabrication last week and veggies last night.

MEAT FABRICATION
The meat fabrication class focused on beef and pork.  It was the typical format of lecture, then we split into teams to prepare dishes using recipes as a guide (remember, the recipes are written for a gazillion servings and eventually we won't be using them at all).  I really wanted to cook something at the stove that night.  In previous weeks I had done a lot of roasting and preparations at our table, but most of my dishes never got me to the stove.  I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and into the heat.  I opted to prepare our beef stew and our pilaf.  And let me tell you - it's hot and claustrophobic at the stove and my short self can barely reach the back burner when there is a big pot on the front burner.  Despite my melting and internal claustrophobic fits, the night went quite smoothly...low stress, adequate amount of time, well-organized, and of course, lots of learning.  My team was stellar.  J made a beautiful stuffed pork chop with a tasty sauce, S prepared grilled pork and vegetable kabobs and her plating rocked, and D made the best meatloaf I have ever eaten.  I really liked my stew as well.  Chef felt it was a bit heavy on the red wine (apparently, that wasn't a good thing...I, however, adore red wine).  We all felt really good at the end of the night.  We could see the progress we had made from previous weeks and that was something to be proud of.


VEGETABLES
I was super excited about our veggie class.  I love veggies.  However, I drink more veggies than I eat (I think green smoothies are the answer to everything).  So, I was stoked to learn about cooking vegetables and trying vegetables that I was less familiar with.  After lecture, we were to prepare a stir-fry with vegetables of our choice, duxelles (minced mushrooms, shallots and garlic that is sauteed until it melts in your mouth - used in beef wellington), vegetable tempura with a vegetable we have never seen used in tempura, and 4 dishes using vegetables from...drum roll, please....our MYSTERY BASKET!  On each of our tables was a basket of vegetables...not carrots, potatoes or broccoli.  These were interesting vegetables.  I was kind of giddy about this.  But I'm a recipe girl...and we are being tasked with preparing dishes of our own creation with veggies we aren't too familiar with.  Let the fun begin!

Our basket had the following: kale, turnips, tomatillos, leeks, beets, broccoli rabe and brussel sprouts.  We immediately decided to tempura our brussel sprouts (apparently, that was a good choice as both Chefs really like tempura brussel sprouts).  I quartered them and made our tempura batter.  J got busy on the duxelles because he has mad knife skills.  I asked my team if I could take the beets.  I've had a few beet dishes in the past few months that I loved, but I have never cooked a beet.  I wanted to make a beet salad inspired by the beet salad I ate at Pizzeria Locale in Boulder, CO this summer (food nerd heaven).  I wrapped the beets in foil and cooked them in the oven.  My intention was to only cook them long enough to easily peel them and then I would steam them from there.  But I felt they were perfectly cooked from the oven.  I cut them into bite-sized squares, marinated them in a mixture of orange juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and chilled them.  I served them on a chilled dish topped with crumbled goat cheese and orange zest.  I really liked the flavor profile.  S took the tomatillos and made a delicious, fresh, clean-tasting mixture with lots of different veggies to be used in a lettuce wrap.  J took the kale, finely chopped it, sauteed it and garnished it with fried prosciutto.  D made a yummy home fries-type dish with the turnips and leeks, as well as sauteed broccoli rabe with cranberries and prosciutto.

We all pitched in on the stir-fry...discussing vegetables (we opted for julienned jicama, carrots, green bell peppers with a bit of finely chopped jalapeno and crushed red pepper), sauce ideas (rice vinegar, honey, lime juice, salt and lime zest), and chopping.  I ended up cooking the stir-fry.  I don't believe my team has ever turned in a dish past the due time.  However, tonight we were running behind.  I had just taken the stir-fry off the stove and we needed to present the kale.  I placed the stir-fry on our table with the intention of plating it after we turned in the kale.  Near the end of our kale talk, someone noticed that the stir-fry was gone.  Panic is coursing through my veins.  Our dishes are our grade and we get most of our learning from our dish presentations.  It is already after 10 p.m. and our dishes were due at 9:45 p.m. - there is no time to remake the stir-fry.  Chef was great about it.  She said she saw that we had made it and asked me to describe the dish.  I felt much better once I knew we didn't have to remake it, but still disappointed that we missed out on the learning.  No one knows what happened to the stir-fry.  I assume someone tossed it by accident while cleaning up.  I didn't really want to keep talking about it, because whoever did it probably felt awful about it.  However, I think my classmates perceive me as chatty and my silence was interpreted as mad.  I just want to put this out in the universe - I was initially shocked and disappointed...never mad...it was an accident and that is life in a hot, claustrophobic kitchen.

I learned that I like brussel sprouts and turnips and leeks and jicama and broccoli rabe (I already knew that I liked the other goodies in our basket).  I have a lot to learn about fancy plating and my knife skills aren't quite mad...yet.  People who don't like vegetables probably haven't had them prepared correctly.  Overcooked veggies are horrible.  Boiling veggies forever zaps their flavor.  Vegetables are an integral part to good health and when prepared well they are delicious.  Now, go eat your veggies!

sunday brunch

The first and third Sunday of every month The Culinary School of Fort Worth opens its doors as a restaurant and serves a spectacular brunch.  Chef develops the menu and leads the show, but the students do all of the prepping, cooking and serving (and clean-up too).  This gives us valuable, first-hand restaurant experience.  In return for allowing us to "practice" on them, our customers get a delicious, top-quality, freshly-made meal at a really fabulous price.  For $15.95/adults and $5.95/kids our customers get a basket of scrumptious, freshly-baked breads and handmade jam, their choice from our three seasonal entrees, a soup station, made-to-order salads, omelets and pasta at the respective stations, and a beautiful assortment of desserts.  The menu changes seasonally to showcase the products that are at their peak.  And when I say everything is made in our kitchen by the students, I mean everything (including the condiments when we offered an artisan burger...we even ground the meat).  

I was horribly nervous the first time I reported for Sunday Brunch duty at 7:00 a.m. (isn't that too early to be handling dangerous knives???).  But, I found the experience hugely valuable.  I learned so much that day.  It catapulted my learning and really connected the dots of what I was learning and practicing in class (plus, I learned where every dish is located and that comes in handy when we are frantically putting away dishes after class in hopes to get home before midnight).  And I learned that I can stand for 9 hours straight.    

I worked my second Sunday Brunch this past weekend.  I was only slightly nervous about what Chef would assign me to do during prep (you see, he likes to push us out of our comfort zones...apparently, my simply being in culinary school is not out of the zone enough).  And as for what I would be assigned during brunch, well, I kind of assumed I would be a server.  That was my job last time and I did it quite well.  I've had nightmares about the omelet station, but since we were fully staffed that day I continued to assume that a higher level student would get that job.  

Remember what I said about Chef pushing us out of our comfort zones...you guessed it, my friend, I was assigned the omelet station.  When Chef told me that I would be on omelets I kind of thought he was joking (but he doesn't joke around, so I was wrong).  I'm sure my face went whiter than usual.  Gulp.  Please understand, I wouldn't be making these omelets back in the kitchen.  Nope.  I would be making them to order right in front of the customers.  They will be watching me.  Oh, and I'm supposed to make conversation too.  Are you serious?  I'm concentrating on not swishing the egg out of the pan, not flipping it inside out ('cause that ain't pretty), not getting ANY brown on the omelet, and I'm supposed to chit-chat too.  I had a partner at the omelet station and we laughed and learned together.  She had also had nightmares about getting this assignment.  I'm thinking the universe heard these bad dreams and has a really sick sense of humor.  Together, we made at least 80 omelets...some prettier than others, but I'd like to believe they were all delicious.

          

another science class flashback

Last week's class brought back more high school science class flashbacks.  Remember the days of forming hypotheses and then conducting experiments to prove or disprove your theory.  Well, that's exactly what we did during Starch Class.  And when I say starch, I'm referring to just about every carbohydrate you can think of.

During lecture we discussed and identified a vast variety of carbohydrates.  We also discussed why certain starches are better suited for certain cooking methods.  And every time we asked why a particular item was or wasn't a good match for a specific cooking method, well, that "experiment" got added to the list.

After lecture, Chef assigned each team their experiments.  The teams may have had the same product to prepare, but then we were assigned a different cooking method for that product (you get where we're going, right?...compare and contrast).  Or, we were assigned the same cooking method, but different varieties of the same starch (think mealy potatoes vs. waxy potatoes).

My team was assigned boiling an ear of corn, making white rice in a rice cooker, making potato chips with waxy potatoes, preparing mashed potatoes with steamed waxy potatoes, simmering lentils, making risotto with freekah, making polenta, and simmering farro.  In addition, all teams made homemade pasta and spaetzle.

At the end of the night we all sat down to a carbohydrate smorgasbord to compare the products (you really can't imagine how many different carbs we had to sample that night...if I was a runner, I could have done a marathon Tuesday morning).  Here are some of my take-aways from our big, fun science experiment.

• When making mashed potatoes, steam your potatoes...do NOT boil them.  The difference is amazing.  Both mealy potatoes (russets) and waxy potatoes (white, red, yukon gold, etc.) produce good results, but the key is the cooking method.  I repeat...do NOT boil your taters...steam those suckers.
• Speaking of steaming vs. boiling:  it applies to all veggies.  You see, much of the flavor gets released when you boil vegetables.  It'd much rather the flavor stay in the vegetable I'm going to eat rather than disperse itself into the boiling water.  Steaming is easy and quick. 
• Make homemade pasta.  It's easy and it's divine.  You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it, or you can freeze the pasta ribbons.  Once you see how easy and delicious it is, you may never eat bagged pasta again.
• Freekah is the new, up and coming "it" grain and it is quite delicious and nutritious.  Watch out quinoa, here's comes freekah.   
• Do not attempt to make risotto healthy by using a whole grain product.  Risotto has to be made with arborio rice (sushi rice can work too).  It's the starch from this sticky rice that gives risotto its yummy creaminess.
• Rice in the rice cooker produces good, consistent results.  However, it can get crusty, brown bits on the bottom if you leave it in the rice cooker on the "hold" setting. It's better to power down completely once the rice is finished cooking.  I also learned that rice can be cooked in the oven.  Did you read that correctly?  Yes, in the oven.  I was shocked.  It was excellent.

I was so inspired by the pasta making that I bought a pasta machine on Tuesday and made a gigantic batch for dinner (with homemade pesto too).  I received probably the highest compliment I have ever received on that simple dish.  My daughter told me she loved the dinner I made.  That may not sound overly special, but you must understand that it is a rare occasion (closer to never) that my daughter loves what I make for dinner (she always eats what I make as I refuse to make more than one meal, but it does feel so much better knowing that she actually enjoyed this one).

P.S.  I didn't post to my blog last week because I was too busy making homemade pasta.  I made a batch with white flour and another batch with whole wheat flour and a bit of oregano.  Both were so tasty.  I hope to conquer a decent batch of gluten-free pasta in the near future.  Below are some pictures of my pasta creations.

The ingredients: Flour, Olive Oil, Salt and Eggs.  And yes, this equals a big ol' mess, but that leads to deliciousness...so it's worth it! 

The result.

Whole wheat pasta with homemade pesto and parmesan cheese.

poker face

Do you remember dissection day in high school?  I remember it quite vividly - our subject was a frog. I remember dreading it.  My class knew several days ahead of time that we would be cutting open a frog and exploring its insides.  The anticipation was agonizing.  I did not want to do it.  I was the squeamish girl.  I knew we would have partners and I secretly I hoped that my partner would be a very cute boy (I'm sure the cuteness of the boy had nothing to do with his dissecting abilities, but if I was going to play the damsel in distress role, well then, I preferred a really cute boy to save the day.)  Here's what I remember most...the whole dissection thing was not nearly as gross or horrible as my wild imagination had anticipated.

I bring up the dissection experience because that is all I could think of while studying for class Monday morning.  I was dreading class just like dissection day in high school.  You see, this week's class was on poultry fabrication and that meant we were going to be cutting up whole chickens.  I eat chicken, I buy and cook whole chickens...but I have never cut up a whole chicken.  Cutting through  bones has never been my thing.  It wasn't too long ago that I only bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts...the idea of handling food on a bone with skin was just too much for me to handle.  I've gotten over all of that and now prefer split chicken breasts on the bone.  But the thought of cutting through chicken bones was really bothering me on Monday.  I was afraid the whole experience would launch me into vegetarianism and that just isn't a convenient life choice while I'm in culinary school.  More importantly, I didn't want to be the squeamish girl.  That role was nice and fine in high school, but I'm a 40 year old woman in culinary school...I needed to handle this.  So, I decided while driving to school that I would not wince, squirm or make a face during lecture or during lab when we were actually cutting through the chickens.  It was time to see what kind of poker face I had.

Chef mentioned at the start of lecture that there is usually one or two students who aren't too excited about this class.  My thought bubble was "you won't know it's me!".  Then, he passed around a photo of a baby chick getting its beak cut off.  Seriously!  This is REALLY testing my game face.  I'm trying to be very stoic here and I have to look at a baby chick being tortured.  "Don't be the squeamish girl!" is what I kept repeating in my head.  And it worked...not a wince, squirm or sour face.  I had just bluffed my way through lecture.

Now we are were the kitchen and Chef was demonstrating how to cut a whole chicken into eight pieces.  I watched with an eagerness to learn.  (Warning: You may not want to play poker with me.  Even I was starting to buy my bluff.)  Then, we were back at our tables with our chickens.  We had to share a chicken amongst our team, so I could have gotten away without doing the bone cuts.  But at this point I wanted to prove it to myself that I wasn't the squeamish girl.  One of my teammates did the backbone cut.  Then, I jumped in (I wasn't going to be the last person to cut).  I cut the legs off of the body (not a bone cut).  Next, we needed to cut the breastbone in half.  I started in.  My teammate kindly suggested that I let our other male teammate do the breastbone cut because it may take some muscle.  Yep, I was so doing that cut...AND I DID!

I was really proud of myself.  The whole thing started off as a bluff on my part and my intention was just to fake my way through the night.  But at some point I just changed my mind.  I just decided I wasn't that squeamish girl who needed a boy to save the day.  I'm a culinary student who needs to know how to cut up a dang chicken.  And now I know how and it doesn't bother me a bit. (I may post a demonstration video in a few days.  Buying a whole chicken and cutting it into pieces is much easier than I thought and it's a great value too.)

The rest of the evening was much like the week before, but with so much less stress.  We had to prepare several dishes as a team for Chef to evaluate within a short period of time.  But it was so amazing how much more confident we felt as opposed to our night of unorganized chaos.  Of course, we still have a lot to learn - but our progress was something to be proud of.  My entire team was awesome.  Every week I learn so much from them...thank you, team!