Culinary Dishing

So here we are, a month after my last post. I was in such a rush to get through Baking and Pastry, and believe it or not, it’s finally over. This was going to be the class where I shared all these tips and recipes, and well, it just never happened.  Turns out apartment hunting and work took up all of my free time, so I apologize to those that were excited to experience this with me. I will say that as much as was packed into the lesson plan for this class, I was able to learn a lot and already have plans for recipe testing/sharing when my nights are eventually open (6 more weeks!) I’ve already told John that my next big purchase at Sur La Table is a stand mixer, for all the doughs, batters, and meringues I want to cook at home.

Regarding the Nazi Chef, or Chef Jack, I have to assume his astrological sign is Cancer, or the crab. Hard shell on the outside and but soft and mushy on the inside. This guy turned out to be as sweet as pie, although he would never want to you to know it. Every night while we were chaotically trying to bake what seemed like an endless list of cakes, cookies, custards, pies, etc., Chef Jack would be making us some sort of hot meal just so we had something in our stomach for the road and so we wouldn’t just die from the sugar rush. What I really love about him though was his judgement of character. It didn’t take him long to figure everyone out, and who was serious about his class and who just wanted it to be over. And while we all really wanted it to be over, some of us put a real effort into it.  I am happy to say that I did well in his class. It definitely pushed me to the edge but I learned some good lessons, one being the importance of team work.  I had a great partner and a good amount of support from good friends.

Tonight starts International Cuisine, our last class!!!  Another new Chef so should be fun.

Regarding the externship, most of you know already that Spain is a no-go due to Baby Lane on the way.  Being 5 months pregnant in a foreign country is probably not a good idea.  So instead I found something a bit more appropriate, a place called the Kid’s Table that teaches cooking classes for kids, teens,and families. I’ve already volunteered there and just love it. They cook innovative and interesting things with kids and the hours are day time, important right now.  Sometimes I wonder if I should have picked some crazy, well known restaurant, but I never went into this with the intention of working in a busy restaurant…. I was looking for a niche and this may be it. It’s at least a start…..

Some pics from the past month;

This was from early on and I cannot wait to start making pizza dough at home. One trick, add a tablespoon of honey to the dough. Also, corn meal or semolina on the sheet pan gives you that authentic pizza place feel.

The carrot cake

marzipan carrots

Jeny decorating...

This is how Hayne and I feel about marzipan carrots....and Craig Bell.

Raspberry souffles...yum.

Prctice crepes I made for my demo at Sur La Table...

Tags: baking, basic cooking skills, cooking techniques, culinary school, le cordon bleu

Day two week two in Baking and Pastry class.  I still have mixed feelings about the Chef. He seems to be easing up a bit but I still don’t think I’m really understanding the “why”.  Consequently, the “how” isn’t going that well either. Mix ingredients and bake, right?… no.  This is where the class needs direction. Is this what the dang dough is supposed to look/feel like?  Even though the Chef demos each product, anyone without baking experience just can’t assume the product is perfect before baking.  I have to say Chef was around a little more last night with some tips, but for the most part I feel like we are on our own.

So far this week we’ve made a laminate dough and more bread dough.  A laminate dough is what they use for croissants or anything that’s heavy, heavy in butter and flaky.  So aside from croissants we made cherry and blueberry danish and cinnamon rolls.  The trick with the laminate dough is you have to add A LOT of butter and continue folding it over and then rolling it out (this creates the layers). With the bread dough we made brioche. Out of all the things, this looked the best, so I took it home and may have a piece for lunch.

The laminate dough

Anyways, the reason I say “amateur” night is because everyone’s stuff looks really homemade.  Not to insult anyone in the class because it’s the first time for all of us…. but it’s almost humorous.  I guess I won’t take bakers for granted anymore because even my croissants looked like doody (yeah I said doody).

The dough for the brioche...

Cinnamon rolls...

Shaped danish dough before jelly....mmm, jelly.

Finished products.

Otherwise, all is well. John and I are looking for an apartment as our lease is up in a month.  I’m also starting to think about another externship option as Spain seems to be getting further and further away.  There are reasons why…. one day I’ll get there, but just not right now.  So the big question is, do I just pick a restaurant and cook on the line for 6 weeks?  Or do I try and get creative and pick something a bit different then the standard?  Well, I know what I would do, it’s just a matter of finding the right thing.

Best buds... happy that class is over.

Tags: baking, basic cooking skills, cooking techniques, culinary school, le cordon bleu

“When I was your age, we didn’t have ovens… we had to bake over an open fire, so shut the hell up and focus on your muffins!”

I wish I was completely exaggerating about our new baking and pastry chef, but the last part of the quote is pretty right on.  Chef Jack is an old timer. 70 years old and still going strong.  He is the Chef Nazi… well, let’s just say that he’s really tough. He knows a lot and keeps promising that his way of instructing is how the “real world” really is (like we’re seniors in high school or something). But I have to respect him because he doesn’t put up with crap and expects only the best from his students.  Teachers like that always make an impact by the end.  I wish he was a little bit more laid back though. He really expects us not to talk while we’re “producing” and if he see’s something he doesn’t like, well he’ll stop us and lecture about it for at least 15 minutes…. a different generation of chef for sure.

I have no pictures yet but new Chef did say he encouraged cameras, so I’ll start snapping away.  It’s been so long since I’ve blogged (I’ll blame it on the week off we had). The last pictures I have were from the last week of Culinary III and the delicious lobster we finally got to make. Yes, I’m a lobster killer

So the new class is going to be a LONG 6 weeks.  I figure the best way to count down is week by week… after today, 5 weeks to go. We’ve already made biscuits, scones, and muffins. Surprisingly, this isn’t that easy! We used a few different methods on the muffins including the creaming method and the muffin method (duh) and we had some interesting results.  My creaming method muffins were heavy, dense, and could have been used as little blueberry weapons.  What the hell??? This is definitely more scientific… I have to assume either my measurements were off or I creamed the butter and sugar too long… who knows but I’m investing in a digital scale tomorrow!

Last night the class made cookies. I actually missed last night because of a work event I just had to go to; a free early preview of Julie & Julia.  It was good, entertaining, and actually lit a fire under my ass about why I’m in culinary school in the first place.  So no cookies to take home but a good life reminder.  It’s funny how you can take a hobby or passion so far that you start to second guess why you loved it in the first place.  Having to cook all week makes it less fun for me to cook at home.  I think that will go away once class is really over and I have more me time in the evening. Right now the weekends are the only time I really can cook and I’m usually working or just beat.  I’m planning on a nice dinner for John tomorrow night, we’ll see.

So next post should be about the great breads I’ll be making,with some pictures included, should be fun.

Tags: baking, basic cooking skills, cooking techniques, culinary school, le cordon bleu