More tourneed potatoes, clarified butter sauces, and cow-eating cows.

I've got a couple riveting photos of knife cuts for you. I can tell you're excited. In the beginning of each Basic Culinary Skills lab, we practice our knife cuts for an hour or so. Here are mine for the past two weeks. Last week, Chef pulled each of us aside to review what's on our plates, what we're doing right and what we need to keep practicing. He told me that mine was above average work and that I needed to work on consistency.

clockwise from the plastic dish: tournee potatoes, supreme orange, brunoise onion, julienne carrot, rondelle carrot

clockwise from the plastic dish: tournee and batonette potato, bias cut carrot, minced garlic, minced parsley, diced red pepper, chiffonade spinach


Last week in BCS lab, we clarified butter and made Hollandaise. I don't have any pictures of that because Hollandaise is just yellow. Tasty, but not too exciting. We were also treated to an Italian Buffet by another class. It was good. There was a rolled eggplant, ham and cheese thingy that was right tasty as well as a braised cut of beef, maybe an oxtail?, that was magnificent. We're well fed, even if it is pounds and pounds of clarified butter.

In Baking Lab last week, we had a timed practical as well as three assignments to bake. The timed practical was 3 pounds of dough that we had to shape into baguettes and knotted rolls in 20 minutes. We could have an extra 5 minutes, but for every minute we went over, we lost one point off our grade. I'm pretty fast and even I was sweating the time limit. The dough was previously made and refrigerated. It wasn't allowed to warm up as much as it should which made it difficult to work with. The part of the dough that makes this bread, rather than a cake or scone, for example, is gluten which is a protein. Like all proteins, it becomes quite firm when chilled. Bread dough can be refrigerated, but it needs to be given ample time to warm up and relax or the dough will just tear. That's what was happening with this dough. I started to roll out a baguette, but it wasn't cooperating with me. I set the dough down and moved on to my rolls. They were only 2 ounce portions and could be warmed by handling. In the end, I finished in 20 and a half minutes. Someone in my class was annoyed when I finished first and actually said out loud , "oh god" with obvious disgust. (I've recently learned it was Frail Voiced Vegan Girl, but I'll get to that later.) I also received the highest score of 99 points, losing one point for going over the 20 minutes.



We had a big test in BCS. I got an A. We had two quizzes in Baking I. I got As on both. Somewhere in there I had my first test in Safety and Sanitation too. I got an A. Next week, I have a big test in Baking I and a big test in Safety and Sanitation. I'm going to be scarce this week because I have to memorize the names, foods linked, symptoms and prevention measures for EVERY foodborne illness. Do you have any idea how many there are? I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. As a former foreign language major, I can memorize stuff like nobody's business. There's just so much to know, it's almost ridiculous.

Alright, Frail Voice Vegan Girl. Yes, PeeWee, I have one too. Sadly, she's in all of my classes. Even Purchasing. While there isn't anyone who doesn't respect her choice to be vegan, the fact that she's so ridiculously misinformed about that choice has made her the laughing stock of class. We were talking about E. coli yesterday in S&S. The instructor was going over how you get it, which is from both ground meat and produce. Frail Voice Vegan Girl speaks up, but in a barely audible voice, "Is that from when the cows are standing around in their own filth and then they start to eat other cows?" Like, what? Personally, I was too shocked to laugh. Others were not. She got this angry look on her face and said, "They eat other cows." For those of you who are perhaps not familiar with cows, let me enlighten you. They don't have the anatomy to eat other cows, or any meat for that matter. They lack the teeth needed to eat meat, they have multiple stomachs to help them digest the fibrous plant material they do eat, and there is documentation to support that feeding meat to cattle will make them die. Like I said, it's not her dietary choices, it her gross misinformation. She got really angry two weeks ago when the instructor told us that tofu and fake meat products were potentially hazardous foods. She raised her hand. "Does that get into tofu from the slaughter houses?" If anyone can tell me who produces tofu in a slaughter house, I'd be grateful. She kept going on in that class about slaughter houses. Ah, good times. Good times. Oh, I forgot to add that I knew it was her that was audibly annoyed when I finished the baking practical first, because yesterday in BCS she was audibly annoyed when I answered yes when Chef asked if he spelled a French word correctly. She's my new BFF.

I don't want to have to break up with Butter.

Last week in Basic Culinary Skills, we made the three roux-thickened mother sauces. These would be Bechamel, a milk based sauce, Veloute, a stock based sauce, and Espagnole, a brown sauce. There are two more mother sauces, Hollandaise and Tomato, and are called Mother Sauces because from these five relatively simple sauces, you can make a gazillion other sauces. What to make Fettuccine Alfredo, mac'n'cheese, or Pasta Primavera? You're starting with Bechamel. Gravy? Chicken Pot Pie? That would be Veloute, pronounced as vell-oo-tay by the way. You get the picture. They are pretty easy to make, generally speaking. The quality you get out of the sauce really depends on the quality of ingredients you put in them.

oh look! white sauce in a pot!

Not very exciting, I tells ya. I forgot to take pictures of the other two.

And here's my plate of practice veggies for the week:


My tourneed potatoes look better because I sprung for the fancy-schmancy bird beak paring knife. It helps a lot. I really want to practice this knife cut as much as possible. We have tryouts for teams each semester for competitions. I just found out about this semester's try outs, but alas, they are at the same time as my baking lab. Next semester, I hope!

Speaking of baking lab, I present you cinnamony goodness.


quality control, you see.

Brioche, a super buttery, eggy French bread. I won't tell you how much butter went into this.


Speaking of butter...I cut my finger this week. In baking lab. On butter. I hang my head in shame. It wouldn't stop bleeding. It took three bandaids at tourniquet strength to make it stop. Butter. I cut my finger while cutting butter. So embarrassing.

Bitty Cakes, Raleigh

Last month, my Williams-Sonoma Hookup told me about an upcoming class at the store with Kim Hammer of Bitty Cakes here in Raleigh. Naturally, I didn't put it in my calendar which these days is a guarantee I'll miss it. I got a text from this friend at 6:58, "you coming to class?" Oops. I forgot. "When does it start," I ask, hoping he says 7:30. "Now-ish. 7:00. " Dag. I was a little late, of course this makes everyone stop and look at me and I hate being the center of attention, so it was extra embarrassing. Awesome.

The class was great. Kim is a delightful, warm, friendly woman. She is very knowlegable about baking and a lot of fun to listen to. We had chocolate zucchini cupcakes and peach cobbler cupcakes. We got recipes. We had cupcakes with icing and warm cupcakes with ice cream. I think I actually had a sugar buzz when I left. She was also gracious enough to talk to me about how she started this business. I've been thinking a small baking business would be a good way to earn some extra money while I'm in school.

She demonstrated the recipes she gave us, including the one for cream cheese frosting. I love cream cheese frosting. When she was done, she asked if anyone wanted to lick the paddle. Everyone was looking around like they were too polite and civilized to do such a thing even though we all know they do it in the own home. Not me. I raised my hand. Her cream cheese frosting is that good. And for the record, I used my finger. There was no actual licking involved.

I have those prune plums which I am going to substitute in her peach cobbler cake recipe. It's got cinnamon and allspice which might be good with the plums.

If you're in the Raleigh area and in need of cupcakes, get yourself a Bittycake. You won't regret it.

I forgot to give this post a title. Sorry.

There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.

In week three of culinary school, I think it's safe to say there are some stupid questions. For example, "why do you use yeast in bread and baking powder and soda in biscuits and other things?" You, dear reader, may not know the answer to this question. My classmates, however, should have read chapters 2 and 5 through 9 in Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen and possible a little bit of How Baking Works by Paula Figoni. I assure you, the answer to this question is there. What is disturbing is when the instructor is unable to answer this question. She went on and on about creating flavor with the yeast, which is largely incorrect. Unfortunately my advisor and program head is not actually teaching this class anymore. She has a teaching assistant running the show. She is an elderly woman who calls herself a "retired chef" even though she graduated from Wake Tech two years ago. As a babysitter for 35 wide-eyed culinary students, most of whom will wash out by December, she is perfect for the job. As a culinary instructor required to explain the science of baking to a few in the class with a broad and comprehensive food knowledge and a drive and passion to be the best they can be, she is less than adequate. We were talking about chemical leaveners yesterday. Someone named vinegar as an acid with which the chemical leaveners would react. She wasn't so sure this was correct. The student mentioned red velvet cake. The instructor said, "Well, that probably has other things like baking powder in it." I'd had enough by this point. I spoke up. "No, actually it only has baking soda which is mixed with the vinegar. It's a very old Southern recipe, created before the invention of the double acting baking powders we have today. So it was leavened with what was available at the time." Another student, C., spoke up as well. "The vinegar reacts with the cocoa powder which turns the cake red." The instructor looked dumbfounded. In her thick Southern accent, she said, "Well, how about that. I didn't know that about red velvet cake." (Red velvet cake is a Southern Institution, by the way.) This woman was my TA for Baking Lab on Friday too. She was shocked when she saw me kneading my dough the right way, without instruction. She really is a nice lady and she likes me, which is good. I'll just have to study my book really well and take what she says in class with a grain of salt. It just bothers me that I'm not sure she has the basic knowledge needed to teach a Baking I class. Everyone keeps going on and on about the awards she's won for her cake decorating. That's all well and good, but it has nothing to do with baking. Maybe she ought to teach the cake decorating class instead. I had a good chat with C. after class. She's really cool and is one of the motivated second year students. She gets it. I like her.

I don't want a story, just your dirty dishes.

At the end of class, we are all expected to clean up. Somehow, I always seem to be in the dish pit. I am okay with this. I know how to wash dishes in both the three sinks and the commercial dishwasher and I can do it faster than most everyone else. I keep trying to explain to people that anything that doesn't need to be scrubbed can be run through the dishwasher. They don't get it. Twenty times in a row I hear, "um, Meg, can this go over here?" "Where do you want me to put this?" "I don't think this came clean in the sinks, should I bring it over here?" This tells me that they have never worked in a restaurant. Even if you've waited tables, you understand how the Dish Pit works. If not, the El Salvadorians will be happy to show you the first time. After that, you'll learn not to interfere with The System. "Just set it over there with the rest of the dishes," I say over and over. The chefs repeat over and over, "if it doesn't have to be scrubbed, send it to the dishwasher."

I keep finding knives in the dish area. This is bad. Kitchen knives are big and sharp. They will cut you. They are also expensive. You don't want someone else handling your knives because they will either be damaged or stolen.

I am beginning to think we need a common sense test before acceptance into the program.

But, wait! there's more!

We had our first sauce making lab yesterday. I made Bechamel, a white sauce, Veloute, a stock based sauce, and Espagnole, a brown sauce that a little more complicated. Chef said mine were excellent. We also had to clarify 2 pounds of butter. I let mine go too long and made clarified brown butter. I was not the only one, thankfully. I also poked my left index finger with the point of my chef's knife. Luckily, I was not the first to shed blood in class. It was just small prick of my finger and I can barely see it today.

Stay tuned! Film at eleven!

Very quickly, because I just got home and should have been in bed a half hour ago because I have to be at school at 7-ish...

1. I bought prune plums at Kroger of all places for 99 cents a pound. Is it possible to fall in love with a fruit? I am getting close to deciding what I want to do with them.

2. I made yogurt yesterday. Seriously, it's SO ridiculously easy that I'm mad at myself for not doing earlier. This isn't like me saying jam is easy. This is heat up some milk and let it hang out for a while easy.

3. I just got home from a cooking demo/class at Williams-Sonoma. One word... CAKE. I got to lick the icing paddle in the store. (Sorry, mom. I went there.)

More to come on all of this. I promise.

End of second week review

Hi everyone. I've been studying hard. I have a lot of reading to do. A migraine this week has put me behind a little. Not to worry. I have a Study Hall Monitor is keeping a close eye on me. That's really where he sits when I'm studying.


I finally got my new messenger bag today! Yay! It turned out really cute! I couldn't be happier with it. Like I said, the quality is great, the style is unique. If you're in the market for a new bag, give Holly Aiken a hollah.


The main color is called parchment, the stems are called olive and the inside is the same royal blue as the flowers. You can see the two pockets on the inside.


In Basic Culinary Skills lab on Tuesday, we started the class with an hour of knife cuts. We lay them out on a plate, label it with our name, and leave it out for Chef to look over. Here's what I have from the second lab.


The cuts are as follows, from the green stuff clockwise:
Spinach, chiffonade (shiff-uh-nod)-a thin, ribbon-like cut of a leafy green
Onion, julienne (julie-n)-a thin, usually matchstick-like cut, in the case of an onion, a thin straight cut following the shape of the onion
Potato, tournee (tour-nay)-a small, 7-sided, approximately 2" long, football-like cut of a firm vegetable, usually potatoes
Carrot, brunoise (broon-wahz)-a small dice measuring 1/8"x1/8"x1/8"
Carrot, rondelle (ron-del)-an 1/8" thick round cut
Orange, segment or supreme (like creme)

And finally, from Friday's Baking I lab....the moment you've all been waiting for.


I didn't get a photo of my challah knots (rolls), because I forgot my camera on Friday. They came out pretty good. I need some work with my braiding technique, as you can see the challah is a bit wonky. The baguettes came out great. This was an authentic baguette dough too. Flour, water, salt and yeast only. It was the first dough we made yesterday. The new instructor came by as I was kneading the baguette dough with the proper technique. She looked really surprised at what I was doing and asked me if I had done it before. I also figured out why my lean bread from last week and this week are too light when they are cooked. For one, the oven temperature is lower than it should be but that's not something I can change. Also, if I add a bit of egg wash before and after the proofing, it should help get some color on the crust.

In other news, we had a guest this week in our main culinary classroom. A very, very chirpy cricket. He didn't shut up all week. Hopefully someone finally killed him. You have no idea how difficult it is to concentrate on the instructor when there's a cricket echoing from the drain under the cabinet.

Elvis says I'm done procrastinating. See ya next week.

Purchasing, homework and lessons learned.

I got my first grades in Purchasing. I received 100 points on my homework assignment and 88/100 on the first quiz. The quiz is taken through Blackboard, an online educational program-website deal. When I was taking the quiz, I went through and answered all of the questions right away. My plan was go back and review my answers and correct them if necessary before submitting the final quiz. I accidentally hit submit instead of going back to the first question. Oops. The good news, I still got a B and knew most of the information off the top of my head. It's the first of 20 or so quizzes, so I'm not worried.

Why I do this, part 375.

I think people underestimate how difficult culinary school can be. There is much more to being successful than showing up in a floppy hat and learning a few new recipes. There is a lot of work that goes into learning this information and these techniques. First, I have a lot of reading. For Baking I this week, I had to read chapters six through nine. Granted the last two chapters were heavy on recipes, but I still have to be familiar with the recipes. The first two chapters, six and seven, had a lot of information about the process of making yeast breads. There is a lot of science in this information. A lot. In Basic Culinary Skills, we're taking two weeks to cover one chapter. Two weeks. We're covering stocks and sauces. This is really important information. In addition to learning this information for my lecture classes, I have to be able to make this stuff in my lab classes. I had to make a brown veal stock and a white chicken stock today. Had I not done my reading or paid attention in class, I couldn't have made these stocks today. I have weekly quizzes in all of my classes. I have to study extra hard because my department uses a seven-point grading scale even though the rest of the college is on a ten-point scale. Attendance is taken very seriously in my department as well. Being late twice counts as one absence.

Aside from the academic aspect of my program, I also have to be comfortable handling expensive and potentially dangerous kitchen equipment, like knives, gas stoves and ovens, steam jacket kettles, slicers, commercial garbage disposals, and the list goes on. I need to be able to stand for long periods of time, and longer periods of time once I graduate and get a job. I have to lift heavy things. I have to clean well enough to please the health department. I have to clean dishes and pots and pans that I didn't dirty. I have to wear a uniform with long pants, long sleeves, a hat, and apron even when it's 95 degrees out and 110 degrees in the kitchen. I have to keep my uniforms clean and pressed. In addition to bringing my books and notebooks to class, I also need to bring my knives and toolkit with me too. I have classes for 4 or 5 hours at a time. One class I will have next semester is nine hours long. I don't always get to take a potty or lunch break when I need to. My dough or sauce is the priority. I might get cut. I might get burned. I could get cut or burned by someone else who lacks practical kitchen experience.

I do this because I am passionate about food. I am passionate about making a dinner or dessert you will remember for years to come. I want to learn every bread baking technique. I will not be satisfied until I know how to make puff pastry. I will sit and read a cookbook like you read a romance novel. I want to know every difference between Northern and Southern Chinese cooking. I want to taste every funky tropical fruit I find in the produce department. I want to be able to make a perfect Hollandaise. I want to know everything there is to know about food and cooking. I understand that I will not be a chef when I graduate from school. I understand I will work six or seven 12-hour days in a row, or more. I know that I will not be able to celebrate New Years Eve with my friends or Valentine's Day with a honey because instead I chose a job that requires me to make your evening special.

If you feel the need to ask me which program I think you should follow, Culinary or Baking and Pastry, and "which one is better," you might want to reevaluate your career priorities. If it's never occurred to you to try Vietnamese food or think a dessert with a lime cilantro shortbread, tomato jam and avocado ice cream is "weird," you need to think long and hard about why you're taking these classes. If you can't stand for five hours at a time, carry hot and heavy pots and pans or have an issue being two elbows deep in a sink full of hot, greasy water, you will not be successful.

I am preparing for a career that will be physically and mentally draining. It will challenge me constantly. I will have to be creative and solve problems everyday, even if I don't feel like it. I will have to work with and taste foods I don't like. This also means I will not have to sit in rush hour traffic anymore. I will not have to wear a suit or be confined to a cubicle. This career will feed my soul.

Because I didn't get enough time in the kitchen yesterday, or why it's good to be my friend.

Last night, I hijacked the kitchen of dear friends, J&L. They bought a house about a year ago with a really nice, spacious kitchen. He also works for That Famous Kitchen Store you see at the mall, so their kitchen is stocked with at least one of every gadget, tool or appliance one could need, or at least that I could need. My kitchen on the other hand, is small, lacks storage, only has one sink and no dishwasher. On the bright side, it has more counter space than my last kitchen had...a whopping 12 inches. Can you say, "kitchen FAIL?"

I've been craving cioppino recently, but as I proved last night, it is impossible to make cioppino for one. For those unfamiliar, cioppino is an Italian influenced seafood stew from San Francisco, CA. In the late 1800s, in San Francisco the Italian fisherman created this dish from their catch of the day and a tomato and wine sauce. It can be served over or with pasta. It prefer it with bread. If you go to Italy and try to order cioppino, they will think you are crazy. It's not an Italian dish.

There aren't many rules for cioppino, except for the whole seafood, white wine and tomatoes thing. Last night, I used a Three Buck Chuck white wine, a can and a half of crushed tomatoes, a can of diced tomatoes, two fennel bulbs, garlic, an onion, leeks, lemon juice, parsley, basil, mussels, clams, cod, scallops, and shrimp. I cooked it in a 7qt. Le Creuset Dutch Oven. The pot was full almost to the top! It was served with the bread I made in class yesterday. It was delicious.

Before


After

Baking Lab, Day One.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!

We had our first lab today for Baking I, yeast breads. We had to use a weighted baker's scale, rather than a digital scale like I'm used to. I had to come home and give my digital scale a hug. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's one of these. Okay, not that one, but one that looked more like it's grandfather. Turns out, I've been spoiled with my wonderful, fantastic Salter digital scale. If you're in the market for a digital scale, I give it two thumbs up. These crazy old baker's scales...not so much. Turns out that if you aren't used to it, it can be wildly inaccurate. Nearly everyone ended up with a dough that was too wet, including me. We worked with partners to scale our individual ingredients, then proceeded from there on our own. I think my partner and I didn't accurately zero out the weight of the bowl on the scale. No worries. It worked out okay for all involved. All you do is add more flour once you get it on the bench. You knead it longer, but it works out okay. Observe:


Each recipe gave us five baguettes and about two dozen rolls. It took me a lot longer than some people to get my dough ready to rise, but when it came to portioning it, I was much faster than everyone else. I was also able to cut the 2 oz. rolls more accurately too. To shape the rolls, you hold one under each hand and roll around on the bench to for a nice smooth little ball. Since I was familiar with this technique already, I was able to knock out a pan of rolls in the time it took most of classmates to do five or six. I discovered that our ovens don't seem to brown this so well. I'm not sure why this is right now. Next time I'll be a bit more heavy handed with the egg wash. The picture is a bit washed out, but they aren't quite dark enough for me.

Unfortunately there is no professional experience requirement for my program like other school. For example, the Culinary Institute of America requires that you have worked for six months in a restaurant before they will accept you. I have many classmates who have only cooked at home or at church, so they don't understand kitchen etiquette. What I mean by this is that you let people know where you are. If I'm walking behind you, I'll say, "behind you!" loud enough that you can hear me. If I'm walking behind you with something hot, I'll say, "hot behind you" or "hot coming through." If I don't know you are back there and I turn around and walk into you, we could have a big mess, or worse. We had a lot of people who don't get that. I was sweeping at one point and turned around to find one woman standing behind me with a big bowl of dough. Just standing there. Waiting. I think some of these folks will be in for a big surprise when they go to work. I'm not being mean, mind you, just honest. Don't believe me? Read this post. Or this one.

When it came to clean up time, there were several people who were team players and several who stood around like they had no clue what needed to be done. Of course, I had no qualms about pointing out the equipment that needed to be put away or the floor that needed to be swept. I volunteered to stay late for class, by almost an hour today, to finish the clean up. These things will be noticed by the Powers That Be. I got to know a couple people in my class. One of them is J. who is also a B&P student like moi. He's cool. He has a fine arts degree, which is what made him choose pastry rather than culinary. It's nice to see another serious pastry student.