This Cook

On to the next thing

2010-06-09T20:21:00.000+02:00

Ok, well back to writing! Before I forget, I actually Graduated!! We'll not to much of a surprise there, but I did, and it does feel like more of an accomplishment than I thought it would. Nothing against the school, it's just that it wasn't exactly a high attrition rate.I'm pretty sure only one person didn't pass and that's because she bombed the cooking final. Even one girl who was caught cheating still graduated, albeit a big fat zero on her written exam. I think i'm going to come back to graduation and write a bit once I get some pictures. Besides, I just finished my first 2 days at my stage, and I'd much rather discuss that and what I think about working in France. For Those of you who don't know I am going to be working temporarily at Le Chiberta. It's a Guy Savoy restaurant, but certainly not his famous 3 star restaurant with his namesake. It's a medium sized upscale type of place with one Michelin star. As I'm writing my this I finished my second day, and let me tell you, it is very intense! The food, the chefs, the kitchen, it's all extremely fast paced, but yet comfortable at the same time. I just wish I knew more french!

I wish I could have come sampled the food one or at least had a nice lunch, but to be honest, it's a bit expensive for my budget. I wish Chloe were here to accompany me, but there's really no way i'm going to spend that type of money for just me. Besides, if everything goes according to plan I hope I will get a chance to spample a few of the dishes myself. You know, being the new guy and all. Restaurant's typically don't frown on that if your cooking, well at least when you are new. They want you to learn the taste along with the techniques so you can consistently cook it the same exact way. Once you're an old hand though, any attempt to quality check/taste the food will be met with a "hand in the cookie jar" glare from the chefs.

Monday. My first day. Well it started of rather bleak. And by bleak I mean early. My schedule goes like this. I wake up, and have to be at work at 8:30. We have staff meal at 11:30 and lunch service goes from 12:00-3:00. Then we clean up and leave at 3:30. The kitchen gets a 2 hour break and then back to prepare for dinner at 5:00. We have our second staff meal at 6:30, the dinner service starts and we are cleaned up and out of there usually at 11:00. All in all it's quite the day. Kind of like working a double back home everyday. And of course since I'm an intern I only get paid in "experience" and "knowledge". Whatever happened to the french 35 hour work week? Apparently no restaurants have ever heard of it. French ones anyways. I do think that most of the staff gets 3 days off a week, but I can't confirm that. We are open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, just dinner on Saturday and we are closed on Sunday. I need to get a pair of crocs back before my feet break clean off. Either that or I'm going to need a wheel chair before I get home. My wooden clogs just aren't going to make the cut. Looks like its on to the next thing.

Greek Sandwhich

2010-05-15T17:02:00.000+02:00

Since I eat these like once a week and every late night out I figured it'd be always interesting to see how the old gyro meet tower was made.

Making Gyro Towers at BZ Grill from Ozersky.TV on Vimeo.

More Rungis Photos

2010-05-11T18:21:00.000+02:00

Pictures of Rungis, Courtesy of Mike Nelson

2010-05-06T23:03:00.000+02:00

Where's the beef?

2010-05-05T23:34:00.001+02:00

Tuesday, May 4th.
8:35 am. Where is the beef ?
8:55 am. Anyone seen the tenderloin
9:34 am. WHERE THE HELL IS THE BEEF?

I know very few people these days are old enough to remember the old Wendy's commercial, that was I guess as viral as viral could be in '85. For those of you not in the know, these three old ladies just wanted what all old people want, what they paid for. Today group C of superior cuisine faced a similar dilema in our morning practical. No beef. For the first of our two practical classes of the day we started with a marinated beef tenderloin dish with beets and diakon radish . Sounds pretty exciting, I know, but only one thing was keeping us from beefy tenderloin nirvana. Apparently the school ran out of tenderloin.

When we got to class I guess there was only enough for 3/4ths of the class to get some beef, and to be honest what was there didn't look all that stellar anyway. Me Mike and Jorge decided to give up our pieces and wait for the 2nd batch which was promised to be on its way in a few minutes. Me and Jorge are both dirt poor and basically live of of what we can scavenge from the LCB kitchens. Our plan was simple. We'd make sure the rest of the class got their meat first, be the heroes of course, then take all of round 2 beef for ourselves to cook for the rest of the week. So we stood around and smiled and waited. As the minutes grew it started to become more of an annoyance and not very funny anymore. See the thing is we needed to marinate the tenderloin in a soy based marinade for at least 45 minutes. Now this is really nothing in terms of marinading a piece of beef, but with the time constraints of our classes we take what we can get. The fact that we had no beef to marinade just compounded the problem. So we made the marinade and put it in the fridge awaiting something to put inside. The next step in the recipe was to start browning the beef trimmings and mirepoix to make the beef jus. Of course again we hit a road block. We simply proceeded to do everything we possibly could besides work with the tenderloin, but even with that we found ourselves standing around and scratching our heads a bit too often. Eventually the beef came from somewhere in the depths of the prep kitchen and we had to furiously play catch up to finish on time. The recipe was good and the class ended up fine, but yeah in my opinion it was a little bit annoying.

The problem as we see it is why exactly is the school running out of beef. I mean I know things happen, but it's just something else we chalk up on the "why do we pay so much to go here again" list. This is something small compared to some of the issues at LCB, but kind of annoying when you're cooking a beef dish and are literally left sitting on your hands. Instead of beef jus I had vegetable soup. Instead of roast beef I had roast beets. Oh well, that's my rant for today.

And now it looks like the rest of the post which I've been typing for about an hour has been deleted! I'm going to blame this one on my lack of a brand new macbook. I mean im using like the model T of macbook pros right now. 1 GB of ram? what's this, 2007? Anyways I'll try and re create what I had wrote as best I can before I pass out. Were going to Rungis in the morning, and I need to be up around 4 to watch baseball and get ready to go. But since I'm always such a studious blogger and never ever forget to blog for weeks nay, months at I time I guess I'll tough it out. This time. The things I do for the readers. All two of you.

Well anyways before I was interrupted by my lack of a serviceable macbook, I believe I was talking about class. Well for our practical class we ended up getting the substitute chef. Apparently from our brief conversations together she has a pretty interesting story. The way she tells it, she was living in Korea well on her way to becoming a doctor. She had finished all her schooling and years upon years of training, culminating in her residency. This is when she discovered that she didn't want to fix people at all, she wanted to cook for them. So she packed up, left her steady career as a doctor in Korea and came to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu. She finished with her Grand Diplome, then attended a few more Parisian culinary schools. After she got a job working at the 2 star l'Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

Putting aside the fact that she is legally a midget, even with her toque on, she is a great cook and a good instructor. She is definitely the youngest chef at LCB (which isn't saying much for the other Chefs) but she's also the only female chef I've ever seen in the place. Shes primarily a substitute chef and never instructs for any of the demonstration classes at school. I think she just comes in and babysits us during our practicals when another chef has an emergency or something. I'd like to have a demonstration class with her sometimes, because honestly I feel like she can relate more to the students. I mean for one she actually went to Le Cordon Bleu, and she didn't start cooking in the 50's like the rest of the Chefs. Sometimes I think our usual chef's think a new recipe is something from '87 or before. It's just good to get a different perspective, and one from someone who's worked in a Parisian kitchen in the last 10 years.

The thing I like best about having her in class has nothing to do with her culinary skills though. I like the fact that she harbors a certain disdain for our super flamboyant Peruvian classmate David. David is a great guy and super nice, but definitely gay as a picnic basket. I mean there is certainly nothing wrong with that, but sometimes David lives in his own world of skipping, giggles, and ooh la-las. It can be a bit grating sometimes when you are trying to get down to brass tacks in the kitchen. He is really hilarious though and seriously needs his own cooking show. I wish I could video tape some of the things that come out of his mouth, along with all of his zany mannerisms. Our petite Chef isn't afraid to put him in his place though and I love it. Below is Jorge and Chef giving him a taste of his own burre blanc while hes trying to concentrate. Don't worry though, right after these pictures were taken he burst into a fit of giggles and blushing.

For the last practical of the day the recipe called for fish and French toast. Naturally I got a little excited about this, but it ended up being nothing like I envisioned it. I was thinking of maple bourbon French toast with cinnamon and powdered sugar, but what we got was just fish and croutons. It tasted good though. and was a nice plate visually. Looks like something you might actually be happy with ordering in a restaurant for a change. Although it would be interesting trying to turn those croutons into mini pieces of french toast and then sticking them to a piece of fish, those flavors just seem a bit well, evil. Well that's it for me, as I need to wake up in 4 hours I should start on first going to bed. Over all though it was a good day for us culinary students. A very long day, but a good one. A cooks day, if you will

3 Star

2010-05-04T00:30:00.000+02:00

Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever been in a stared restaurant in my life, well up until this week anyways for our superior cuisine student dinner. I mean growing up without stepping into Europe until I was in my 20's certainly has something to do with it, but then again I have been in Paris for almost a year now and still haven't mustered up the courage or the euros. Granted I am a poor student, I don't know if that's the main reason for my lack of culinary splurging or not. Actually yeah I think that's it. I don't know I just haven't been to motivated to venture out into that realm of dining. Also I have to contend with the question of who would I go with. I'm sure if Chloe was still here things would be a little different. But I doubt any of my guy friends would be willing to throw down the big bucks either. I think they'd rather spend it in more "scandalous" ways. By that I clearly mean on comic books and bubble gum. Also the jokes based on adding a bro/man prefix to everything can get a bit annoying. For example: "are you being bro-mantic, or did you just accidentally gaze deeply into my eyes". Har Har Har. Well anyways it was really a treat when I realized that for our student dinner we were going to be dining at the 3 star Pavillon Ledoyen. Maybe i'd get a chance to see what real food is like after all. Well For this dinner since it was a little fancier than any I've been to I decided to pull out all the stops and actually wear something nice, and that matched. This meant pulling all my suits pant's and shirts out from the ball they were in and into the dry cleaners. 60euro later I finally had something nice to wear. Seriously though, how can people afford that for a few measly shirts and pants.

My first impression upon getting to Ledoyen was eh not bad. as you can see from the picture above it's a pretty nice place, kind of what I would think of it I was thinking of old school French cuisine. Well see the school told us to be there at 7:30 sharp!! Extra sharp with dinner starting right at 8:00. So I thought I'd be respectful of that and make sure I was on time. Or at least fashionably on time.

I got there around 7:40 and the only people there, or shall I say person was Michael Nelson from Australia. At least when we got there the open bar was well open. After a few gin/tonics and champagne we got in good spirits rather quickly. The rest of my usual crew came through shortly after me and as we raided the open bar and I ate 300 little salmon hors d'oeuvres. We were eating in the banquet hall, not the dinning room, so we just waiting in the kind of lobby area with the doors closed until we got the nod to head in and be seated. It was kind of nice to see what everyone was wearing as they came in. Most people had dressed for the occasion, but a few were still outfitted a little strangely. One person in particular (who I won't mention names about) came complete with untucked polo and backpack. At least a little strange to me since I swear he was dressed very nice last dinner we had. Well anyways for the most part it was fun just seeing everyone dressed up. Usually its just wrinkled chef coats and aprons.

First Course: Bulots facon Duglere, Mayonnaise chaude

So for the first course we were brought out sea snails with hot mayo. The presentation was kind of nice, typical mise en bouche style to get the appetite going. I am really starting to like the whole shellfish something to start a meal concept. Whether its mussels, oysters, clams or snails, something about it just makes me hungrier and ready to eat. I hope I can do something like that when it comes to our final, but I don't know the ingredients yet. Maybe I'm just partial on seafood. Even though this course was rather simple without much to complicate or go wrong I did have an issue with the mayo foam. It was good, it was foamy and it was mayonnaisey. I guess if that's the point then mission accomplished. To me though mayo needs something else if your going to put it on something besides a turkey club. I mean I wouldn't eat mayo on toast or something, or better yet mayo with a spoon straight out the jar. That is what I felt like I was doing though, maybe even a herb or curry or something would be better. Apologies to any dutch people who prefer it on fries and can't relate at all.

Second Course: Asperges vertes a l'oeuf sofffle truffe

So for the next course we had asparagus with a truffled egg souffle. Pretty basic for the most part. The asparagus was just like you've had it a billion times, boiled and with a slight truffle flavor that was just average. The most amazing part of this dish was the egg, which im still a bit confused about. It was almost like a poached egg, but the whites were much more fluffy and dry. I'm not sure how they did it, but it was great! I would much prefer an egg like that on something like a traditional eggs benedict. The whites were played a much more important role with a fluffy thickness while keeping the runny yolk. If anyone reading this knows what they did please let me know! I'm a bit interested to try it myself. Overall what can I say for the dish? It was good. Just good.

Third: Selle d'Agneau farcie a l'ancienne, Emulsion d'artichaut

This course got down to the heart of the menu and a nice piece of lamb. Admittedly it was pretty simple, a stuffed piece of lamb sous vide with jus. I'm not sure how many people have had sous vide meat before, but I think it may have been the first time some people have sampled sous vide meat and they weren't really used to that kind of texture. Most people are used to something crispy when it comes to the skin! For this recipe it was kind of floppy and encircled with a ring of fat. I'm not complaining, but you know how people are these days. The last thing you want hanging off a piece of meat is extra fat. Even if it's supposed to be part of the meal it will 9 out of 10 times just be cut out and left for the garbage. I've seen so many people at my old restaurant order the prosciutto or parma ham and cut around the fat? Why even order it/pay for it? All ranting aside the flavor was very good. I know a lot of people complained about it being a bit plain for a three star Michelin restaurant. But I think for a tasting type menu it was fine. I mean over the course of the various plates the chef is seeking to create a picture, not just give the customer multiple stand alone dishes on a smaller scale.

Desserts: Pre-dessert and Givre de Citron vert aux fruits rouges

For the last few courses came the sweets! The oops sorry, The deserts started with a pre-dessert, which I have never really heard of before this dinner. I mean pre-dessert? It just sounds way to indulgent. I guess the concept is basically the opposite of an amuse-bouche. For this meal ours was just Chantilly cream and Bailey's custard. Well as far as I could tell. Very good though, reminds me of an Irish car bomb. Speaking of, can you make Guinness Ice cream? Only one way to find out. The second, real desert was a type of frozen foam with red berries. I really didn't like it at all, mainly because it just wasn't sweet enough. It did look very good, but bitter raspberries just aren't fun for anyone. Make it sweeter and then i'll give it another shot.

Overall it was a great dinner and a great experience. Maybe the food wasn't quite as good as I had hoped from a three star restaurant, but I hear that about a lot of places these days. Bottom line, what you like personally and what you want to spend to get it is a personal taste. You can't really get a guide book to tell you what you will enjoy in a dinner. Although it does help when looking for a starting point to venture from. I would really like to get in the dinning room one day at Ledoyen and get the real food instead of the banquet menu, but I will stop complaining. If you are in Paris and have a wad of cash to spend go to Ledoyen. Then tell ME what you think!

Food!

2010-05-01T22:55:00.000+02:00

Well since it's been a while I guess I should pick up where I left off with the real work of Le Cordon Bleu , the food! Right About now I think we are more than halfway through the course and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm beginning to think about life after Cordon Bleu now, and am ready to get back to reality. I'm not really excited to leave Paris, but I don't want to stay either. Above all else I'm ready to be reunited with my girlfriend Chloe. For the most part we've been great even considering all the long distance stuff. We have some minor issues, but I can tell its just a manifestation of both our frustrations just being away from each other when we want to be together now more than ever. Our relationship is stronger than it's ever been, I'm just ready to go home. I think I'll miss Paris, but more importantly I'm looking forward to working in a real kitchen again. I kind of miss being able to actually cook for real people. I'm sure the chefs here have a heartbeat and are in fact real. But it's like I'm paying them to tell me what they think of my food. There is nothing like the brutal honesty of a professional kitchen. No sugar coatings or "having good intentions". The hours and the experience is something I feel like I can really use right now, not to mention the money. Sweet sweet paychecks. I mean Paris is a tad bit expensive. Ok so to the course work. Where did I leave off again? Haha Lesson 1? really? Well watch this video while I try and find my notes. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of stuffing them in my back pocket after class. Which leads to me washing them, which leads to a billion little pieces of paper-lint in my washing machine. I mean really the notes are in the touch, the feel and the smell of cooking right? I mean that's what I'm banking on anyways.

Lesson 2: Purple Potato Crisp
-Frog legs with garlic puree and Green Jus
-Pan Fried double lamb loin Chops "maintenon"
French Green beans with bacon and purple potato Crisps
-Fresh Fruit minestrone
This was a good lesson, and our first time doing any type of crisp type oven baked garnish. Basically we just took the potatoes made a puree out of them and dryed them on a silpat until they were nice and crispy. Unfortunately this was easier said then done. I think everyone in our class added much more butter then was actually called for/ necessary. Something about french recepies, but they are always butter heavy. Needless to say when we put them in the oven they were way to butter logged and just got plain greasy and mushy. Good for thanksgiving dinner, but not the desired effect. I think they would have been just fine if we left out butter completely, but that's an experiment for another class. On a slightly separate note I think everyone should get a silpat. If you are not too familiar its basically a silicone mat that nothing will stick to when baking. I need to get 3 or 4 but I might just wait until the euro is in shambles before I make any more purchases. Get one though! and send me some cookies or something. I'm dying for some oatmeal raisin.

Lesson 3
-Potato and Scallop salad with Fresh truffles
-Sea Bass in a crust coulibiac style, tomatoes stuffed with broccio cheese
-Dates stuffed with almond cream wrapped in phyllo pastry, saffron ice cream.

I had to skip this lesson because I was *cough* very sick indeed. Luckily some how I still go pictures. It's my network of spies. Looks good though. I wish i could have had the opportunity
to put an egg and fish and rice in bread and then bake it. Sarcastically speaking of course. I don't know why I hate the concept of a whole hard boiled egg in anything, but I hate it. I guess i'm just not french enough or 1930's enough for that. We'll anyways i'll catch up with all these recipes eventually, it just might be in 2012!

Irrelevance

2010-04-11T23:53:00.000+02:00

I know this is not relevant, but I'll been trying to remember what these two weezer songs I heard in a concert were since about 1999. They were never released, but I was a bit of a fan when I was younger
Mad kow and Your sister

Blue Apron

2010-03-31T02:15:00.000+02:00

Something has been bugging me for a while, and is rather stupid, but still has been confounding me for ages. Well if any of you reading this have worked in a reputable kitchen before you've probably seen someone wearing an old gnarly, washing machine blanched blue apron like the ones below
Wow, that's a much bigger picture than I thought it was going to be. Well anyways, in my experience any cook who is wearing these comes from or has worked in some stellar restaurants. Not saying they are a good cook, but subconsciously I've learned from my brief time working in restaurants that if you are wearing one of these then you probably know a thing or two about food. What made me always wonder was why this bizarre connection existed between high quality cooks and a similar blue apron? Also more importantly where do people get these? I've asked everyone I've seen wearing them where d they got theirs, but each person is all mum about the source. It's almost like the first rule of apron club is YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT APRON CLUB. Well as you can imagine, I want one.

The thing about the apron that makes it distinct and quite noticeable primarily are its aesthetics. Two things, the construction and the unique neck tie that no other aprons have I've seen. It's a lot thicker and denser than most typical apron materials. I've had many a spilled horrible red sauce go right through to my chef's coat like the apron wasn't even there. It's kind of annoying and gives you that "whats the point of wearing this feeling". The blue apron, unless completely soaked kind of rappels liquids and keeps you cleaner. It's also much longer then most standard food service bulk aprons. Back at Black's we would call them miniskirts because there lack of coverage. I used to have to wear two and sag one just to keep my pants mildly protected from flying veal stock. The most visible difference though in my opinion is the neck. Most aprons have a standard length neck or at the most an adjustable buckle. With the blue apron you actually have to tie it at the neck at whatever length you want. No plastic, no buckle. It's what you can spot easy with this type of apron. Everyone has a huge blue knot on their chest.

Well tonight I was reading The French Laundry Cookbook by Ruhlman and Keller. I noticed that Thomas Keller, whenever he is cooking is of course wearing this blue style apron. Well I hadn't really thought about the stupid apron since I last saw one and just lingered on the thought for a few seconds, but my curiosity was aroused again after seeing Keller wearing one. not even two days ago I had said something to Chloe about the aprons and seeing them in France, but had no luck tracking down the source. I was just laying in bed thinking about the book, Keller's use of about a billion powders and his technique of drying vegetables in a microwave when it hit me. I grabbed my iphone and voice-searched for "Thomas Keller's apron" A hit came from WikiAnswers that did as advertised and answered my question. Apparently the source of the aprons is the the uniform supplier Bragard. Ok, now I found the apron, but I still didn't know where it came from, or what it meant in a kitchen.

After a bit more research I come to find that apparently blue aprons are the color of traditional french apprentices' aprons. White is reserved only for the Chef. If my understanding is correct Thomas Keller wears these to exemplify his mentality that he and his cooks are always "students" and always learning the intricacies of cuisine. I assume because of this cooks out of the french laundry bring this attitude and their aprons with them and disperse around the globe. That's just a theory, but somewhere I guess it became a sign of professionalism to wear one. Keller's use of them even had a custom beer brewed in its honor.

Now that's some Apron! Well of course its way past my bed time clocking in at almost 2:10 am, and of course I have an early demostration tomorrow morning at 8:30, so I must, finally go to bed! I just thought I'd share and hope that somebody out there is as curious as I am when it comes to useless information that has no uses in the real world. I originally wanted to find this apron because I wanted to buy one, but after all this, I think I changed my mind. I still want one, but now I want to earn it. I want to work for one, and have a story or two to back it up with. If I wear one, I want people to just assume I know a bit about this thing we call cooking. One day, maybe I will.

First taste of Superior Cuisine

2010-03-28T15:50:00.001+02:00

Well, I've said it before, but honestly I am pretty impressed with what superior cuisine has to offer. Basic and intermediate were fine, but they focused primarily on traditional French cooking techniques and dishes. I guess that step was necessary to become a "classically trained" cook. (Look at this video I found on the left. It's kind of funny, but I have no idea how I found it or where it came from.) I will probably never ever cook 90% of the dishes we did in basic and intermediate, but at least I can say I understand them and know what they represent in terms of our culinary heritage. They were just so "old fashioned" that me and many of my students were just left wondering what the point was many a class. Now I see why all three courses are necessary to get a thorough culinary education. From working in a few restaurants I've seen what and how people cook today. It's modern, flashy, tasty and for the most part exotic. I guess Black's would best be described as American seafood, but what that really means is a bit of everything. Flavors, techniques and ingredients from around the globe make up modern cuisine, while at the same time not quite residing under the ubiquitous umbrella called fusion. It's what i'm pretty much learned how to cook on, but it is something that has changed and evolved since cuisine was invented and the first restaurant established. From learning some of the simple and basic cooking skills of French cuisine it has become much easier to understand and see why we cook the way we do in today's restaurants. Modern cooking is always changing, but the basics will always be just that, the basics. Superior cuisine I think can best be described as the difference between cooking and cooking something you can sell....so far that is. I'm sure it will probably be a better idea to evaluate the whole thing once I'm actually done, but then again what fun would that be?

So Monday, March 23rd, our first day back and my first day back in France. I had just got off the plane at 7:00am and had just enough time to hop on the RER and get a few games of battlefield in on the ol' playstation before I had to go back to class. We were only gone for a week, so there was no real glorious reunion like there was at the start of intermediate. I came early though so I could get the prime locker draft picks. Ironically the only locker left was my stupid old one from last term. Guess I wasn't early enough. The first thing I noticed after I changed was how crowded the winter garden was with new strange people. It looks like a new class of Basic students has begun, which is fun just because its always exciting to meet new and exotic people from the world over. It also brings back memories of the first few days we were in class. The look on the new students face was all too familiar, especially how they looked at us. I don't know what they thought about us in our ultra-wrinkled half buttoned chef coats and veteran swagger, but I thought we looked pretty pitiful. It's kind of like being the upperclassmen now, after only a few months. It's rather strange, but of course everyone is friendly and open to greeting the new students.

For our first class we had Chef Patrick Terrien. (pictured to the right) He is basically the head Chef at Le Cordon Bleu, and perhaps the oldest as well, but that's just pure speculation on my part. Some call chef Terrien the "silver fox", and I've heard like all french chef's he is a notorious flirt. I'm kind of split on his cooking though, I mean he's probably the best when it comes to knowing what hes doing with his tools and in the kitchen. You can tell that he has complete awareness of everything that is going on around him in his world of range, ovens and knives. I seriously could have sworn I've seen his fingers been chopped off multiple times during demo, but some how they remain intact. Let's just say if I swung a knife around like he does my piano playing days would be over. Sometimes while he's cooking though he kind of gives the impression that he's just super bored, but I guess If I was a Michelin stared chef I would be too. Ok, here is the plan of the day for Lesson 1

Lesson 1

Cauliflower and shrimp tabouleh, cilantro and peppermint
John dorry fillets with red spices, wild rice with tropical fruit *practical dish*
Banana baked in its skin, sorbet, hibiscus and rum sauce

For this lesson the theme was "fusion cuisine influenced by Indian spices and tropical fruit". By this they mean we got to use as much tandoori spice, satay and curry as we wanted! This time I am in group C. It's not a bad group so far and I am pretty friendly with everyone in the class. I have Jorge Munoz from peru/spain this time in my group. I had him in my group in basic and we have become pretty good friends since we've been here. He's kind of like me, been cooking for a few years in Spain an has some good experience in a busy kitchen.

We can usually relate over similar kitchen stories and bounce ideas off each other over a few 1664's and a game of FIFA. He's really good at it by the way, so watch out for getting hustled. I guess that's what happens when you grow up on soccer, not American football. So far Jorge has missed every class except one demo. He was came back late from Barcelona, but I get the feeling from him that his excitement about culinary school is wearing thin. I think he's just going through the motions until he can get back to Spain and do some really cooking. He's already got a job lined up in Ibiza, but hopefully since we're in the same group again I can persuade him to apply himself a bit more and party a bit less. Maybe, but maybe not. Spainards go hard.

Another guy from basic that I have in my group this time is Papa Wenbo. He's Chinese and came from working in the sweatshops known as cruise ships. I don't think his first name is papa, and there is some serious debate as to whether the anglicization of his name is Wenbo or Wanbo, but that's what I'm going to go with for now. He is something else when it comes to cleavers. Have you ever seen a guy cutting duck and pork in an Asian butcher shop? that's exactly what he looks like. Sometimes I think he'd prefer to only use a cleaver when cooking. Not the heavy German bone crunchers we use at school, but one of the vastly superior Chinese cleavers that can cut bone or chiffonade basil with equal degrees of ease. The rest of my class are people I met for the first time in intermediate, but it's a good group and we will see how it goes for the rest of my time here at Le Cordon Bleu.

Ok below is my version of the John Dory fillets and Indian spices. The preparation for these were pretty straight forward. The most difficult part was managing the wild rice, which is a bit different from conventional rice that we are all used too. It needs a ton of water and has to cook on a super low temp for about 45 minutes. The result was very good though. For the most part everyone I talked to from our class agreed that this recipe was probably the best fish dish we have done yet. I don't know about all that, but it was definitely something I'd enjoy if I ordered it at a restaurant.

Ok, first class done. What's next?

Spring Break

2010-03-26T00:42:00.008+01:00

First things first, I know I promised to talk about the cookbook festival, but of course I never got around to it. To the right is a video of Chef Caals presentation there. It will give you a good idea of what went on. Hopefully one day I can get back and write about that before I totally forget!

Well picking up at the final where I left of in my last entry, it went great. Much smoother than I felt the basic exam was for everyone, but then again, honestly I think the recipes for intermediate were easier than in basic, for the exam anyway. We knew we were going to have a choice of two recipes, either the lamb or the trout. Of course we were not supposed to know which two recipes before walking into the exam room, but you know how schools work. Nothing stays secret for long, especially juicy gossip like the final exam recipes. I walked in and reached my hand into the all telling all knowing envelope which would decide my fate. I pulled out a red coin, which turned out to be the trout for me. Jennifer pulled the trout too, which in her mind was the worst possible news. Of course like any good hypochondriac she is allergic to fish. Now, ok this is fine and all, but she also tells me she is allergic to water. Is that possible? She just breaks out whenever she comes in contact with 70% of her body? I don't know about all her allergies, but anyway she really wanted the lamb for the sake of her acute trout skin allergies. The exam went very smoothly at a relaxed pace, but my mind was not on the fish or even the classroom. It was across the ocean preparing for my trip home!

Chloe left Paris around the end of January, so it had been two months since we had been together last and there was about a two month gap before that between when I left home at the end of November and when she came to Paris on December 31st. I know for most people 2 months doesn't seem like a very long time at all, and I think in a normal situation it wouldn't be too bad. For us though, 2 months has kind of become the unofficial unit of time that we are comfortable going without seeing each other face to face. It just so happened that the timing worked out that the 2 month period would end concurrently with the start of my "spring break" at school. I pretty much decided before Chloe left that I wanted to come home between intermediate and superior. Even though it was only for 5 days, I knew I wasn't going to get another chance to see my friends, family, dog and especially my darling girlfriend before my time in Paris ended. Everything fell into place with my ability to get a really cheap ticket thanks to my dad. Because of his government job he is currently traveling back and forth from Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S. every couple of weeks. He's been doing this for almost 3 years now, so naturally he's racked up quite a few frequent flier miles. He was gracious enough to let me use Some of them so my ticket went down to $300 dollars instead of around $1000. Without that I just probably wouldn't been able to afford coming back home right now. Lately I've been trying to worry less about how im going to figure out and just understand that where there is a will, there is a way. No pun intended. It's easy for me and Chloe to get stressed out by the whole long distance thing just trying to figure everything out right now. If anything being here has helped me to understand that if we love each other and want to be together, we will find ways to make it work without ruining what we have. So far so good! This last 2 month span was a little easier I think for both of us to handle. Not that we are more comfortable being apart, just we are trying not to sweat the small things and focus on the future when we are not thousands of miles away.

Anyways, as I was saying, I was a little preoccupied during the exam. Of course I waited until the last minute to pack, and of course I stayed up all night before my departure playing Playstation 3. If it wasn't for the fact that I was dominating Battlefield Bad Company 2, I'd be very disappointed with myself. I got up bright an early the next morning, threw random clothes into my bag and hoped on the RER to CDG. The only thing I was dreading was the actual flight. I just wanted to be home, instantaneously. I would have paid someone to club that flight, but the flight attendants weren't to keen on that idea no matter how many times I pressed my seat side call button. They did however supply copious amounts of wine which did the trick pretty good.

So there I finally was. After all the hype, the anticipation, the impatient waiting in the airport, finally I was back in the U.S. My first thoughts were that after living in Europe for a while I would be used to that system and it would be kind of a reverse culture shock thing going on when I got back. I was surprised to find that nothing seemed different at all. I guess home is always home no matter how long you are away. Admittedly though, 4 months isn't that long. Chloe came to pick me up from the airport and I can't really express, in this blog at least how amazing it was to see her. All the things that you can't get over a phone or through a letter come rushing back.

The small details about that person that are so comforting were enough to make me just sit there and stare. She asked me to help her navigate back home from Dulles, but I don't remember looking out the window once on the ride home.

It was a good feeling to be back and also great to see my dog Charlie! When I walked into my mom's house He came up to me and I think he was a little confused until he started to smell me and get more and more excited. It's nice to know that I'm not forgotten, and for the most part he is the same ol' rascal he always was. I actually think hes a little bit worse behaved now. Well not worse, but he doesn't listen as much because I know my mom is not a stickler for rules. How come the dog can do whatever he wants, but when I was a kid she wouldn't budge on anything? Now When I tell Charlie to go in his kennel he kind of looks at me like "You don't really mean that right? I get it I was bad, now lets just all calm down before we get carried away". He still listens to me for the most part though, but I think when I get back were going to have to conduct a mini dog boot camp or something.

Also apparently I found out when I got home that my mom and her friends have been reading my blog. I was greeted by a veritable treasure trove of cookbooks seconds after walking in the door. Below are the books I got.

I don't know where I'm going to find the time to read all of these books, but I love them!! Finally my culinary library is shaping up. It's just too bad that it cost me an extra $50 bucks to bring them back with me. It was a very tough decision, but ultimately any ideas I can get and anything to make me think more are good for me. The Charuterie book was particularly interesting to me, because well besides terrines, I want to learn more about it and how to make it. A great charcuterie plate to me is every bit as good as an amazing entree. (Check out the blog "Charcuterie Sundays") I think some of our old exec sous from Black's rubbed off on me. Speaking of my old exec sous, me and Chloe had the opportunity to go eat at his new restaurant Addie's while I was home.

The aforementioned chef Nathaniel Waugaman goes back to the old crazy days at blacks when were going through a new executive chef every few days. To the left is a picture of Nate getting his signed going away card from the Black's crew. I'm pretty sure he left it in the equipment room so he wouldn't have to explain what the "holes" are for to his daughter. Anyways Nate is a very good chef, and basically held the kitchen together solely with buerre blanc and pure willpower. Most of us were hoping that he got the executive job at Black's but apparently Jeff Black had other ideas. He moved Nate to Addies, one of our sister restaurants, and moved the chef from there to Black's. The Chef we got was out of a job after about a month, but nate has turned Addies into one of the best restaurants in the restaurant group. I still read some local lit on the D.C. food scene and Nate is constantly mentioned for what he's doing at Addie's. It recently moved back into the D.C. top 100 restaurants and will probably be in the top 50 soon. I'm sure this is due in no small part to his charcuterie. The guy is kind of obsessed with it. Below is a picture of roughly what it looks like.

Me and Chloe went to go visit a friend who was a server at Black's, but is now a manager at Addie's. We decided to have dinner and were both impressed with the food coming out of there. Nate sent us out a charcuterie plate and some scrapple. Only Nate would send out scrapple. Below are some more pictures of what our director of operations would call "a scene from hell raiser" The former walk in refrigerator turned into a curing shed. To me though it all looks delicious.

Well what can I say? Not a bad way to spend spring break. Chloe gave me a wonderful welcome home that I will not soon forget. Now if only I could convince her to come back to Paris soon we'd be all set.

I'm sure anyone reading this has had it up to here with the minutiae of my everyday life, but before you ctrl-alt-delete me into oblivion I ran across a few cooking quotes that I think apply to all of us cooks.

"The restaurant business is physical. It's stressful. It's not an an amazing moneymaker, compared with other industries, which can be much more rewarding in terms of money. So you really have to go into the kitchen, or in the dining room, and be there and see how beautiful and hectic it can be.... Working in the restaurant business is like a spiral. You go into it and it absorbs you completely. So you have to really understand where you're going and then be honest with yourself. Say, hey you know what? this is such a passion for me. It's so rewarding for me."
-Eric Ripert, Le Bernadin

"A cook and a chef are different entities. Chef is a title. A chef can be good or bad or everything in between; he or she can be a hotel chef, restaurant chef, TV chef, personal chef, or a corporate chef. Chef denotes a job. But when you are a cook that is who you are. It's your spine and your soul. It suffuses all that you touch. When you see the soil bursting with young lettuce, with tomatoes, with light green vines of peas, all the molecules between your glaze and those vegetables are charged with the energy of cooking. The air sparkles."
-Michael Ruhlman

"I'm addicted to heat, sweat, fire, blood and tears. Those are my drugs. When I'm in my restaurant and it's jamming, there's a great buzz and energy that's my stage, my theater, and I'm my happiest."

-Todd English, Chef/owner of Fish Club

I'm NOT dead. Yet.

2010-03-24T01:28:00.001+01:00

Ok, so it's been yet another extended break from blogging! AGAIN! Well, saying a "break" from blogging seems like such a strong word. I would like to think of it as more of a time of reflection and meditation. A time to take stock of my life and those important things in it. A time to organize and plan for the charge ahead! Well really I just too side tracked. I don't know if anyone else out there has this problem, but I am a chronic post saver. What I mean by this is that I have probably 3 times as many semi complete blog entries that are forever archived as unpublished drafts on my computer. I don't know why I continue to write, but not publish so much. I mean it's not like I'm such a discerning editor, or a maniacal perfectionist to the point that nothing is ever good enough to put out into cyberspace. I know if you are reading this by now you realize I just pretty much put out whatever, whenever. What I like about writing this is that I basically just write whatever is on the top of my mind. With that on mind I don't know why I don't publish some post arbitrarily. Well from another standpoint Maybe it's the fact that I feel like my post are never done. I usually just sit on them and of course promise to come back and re-write/re-read them. Well Whatever it is I need to get back on track!

So Intermediate is done, and Superior has started. I still want to do some catching up on what i've missed, but we've finished 2 demos. and I'll be sure to write about them tomorrow on my day off. More recently (and of course what I'm going to blame for my lack of blog writing) I got the chance to go back home to D.C. and Maryland for a few days! After the intermediate final we basically had a week off until we started superior cuisine. The final was bright and early the Monday before last, and this past Monday was our first day in Superior or as I call it "The Bigs". For this final I wasn't at all stressed or worried about it. By the second time around I think everyone was much less a bundle of nerves and more just ready to roll with the punches. I remember everyone studying every recipe up until the very very last second in basic hoping to cram in that one last exam saving bit of information. One thing we did learn from basic though is to seriously listen to rumors and scuttlebutt. In basic we got word of what the recipes were going to be before the exam, but I don't think any trusted it. This go around everyone believed it wholeheartedly. The first thing I heard was that it was going to be the rabbit dish or the trout dish. Good news for everyone! Well the rabbit was a little bit tricky and used the ubiquitous caul fat , I swear that stuff was everywhere! I think at first I used to be fine with caul fat, now the all to familiar smell makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth just thinking about it. The texture and appearance don't bother me, just the smell. I'd take chitterlings any day. Well I think Ginni told me that, but he heard it from someone who heard it from someone who heard it from a chef or something. You know how that works. Unreliable intel at best, but just the type of thing Americans will fall all over believing. Natural I took it as gospel. Next I heard from Jennifer that it was going to be trout and lamb. Her sources sounded more credible than Ginni's so right then and there I decided I'd get the trout. Last time, in basic I decided I was going to get the beef strogonoff. The other option was the blanquette de veau, but of course I already knew what I was going to get so why study anything else? Of course I got the blanquette. When I walked into the classroom for our more recent intermediate exam I figured, well of course the same thing will happen. It didn't stop me from studying two whole recipes mind you, just preconditioned me to accept my fate. Luckily the god's were smiling down upon me that day and I got the trout! To be honest though, it wouldn't have mattered one bit. I barely glanced at the trout recipe either.

Today I was day dreaming in demo and began thinking about the differences in superior and basic. Obviously after only 2 days of class there are many, but that's not what made me stop and think. There had been a lot of talk around school and the TGC about what we learned in intermediate. I don't think I speak for myself when I say that the general consensus is not much at all. Everyone is excited for superior, and that might have a bit to do with it, but still most people feel like intermediate is just basic 2.0. I've heard it been called everything from that to an outright LCB money trap. When I look back I think I tend to agree, not that it was bad. It just seemed like an extension of basic with regional dishes thrown in. Looking back today I wondered how wrong I really was. I guess there are a bunch of things the administration could do to make intermediate sexier, but I don't think that is the point of it at all. Looking back on the final, yeah I didn't really study too much at all or was I worried about it. Many of my fellow classmates took this approach by the end of intermediate, a kind of cooking stoicism that I call ~~cookicism~~. Wait I take that back, it doesn't have a good ring to it. I always wanted to use the cross out function on blogger. Well what I mean by that is whatever we got or no matter what the recipe was we knew we could do it easily. If we couldn't well we would just figure it out. It was not really the attitude at all in basic cuisine. Where intermediate shines is in the fact that it builds familiarity and confidence in the kitchen. By the time we finished intermediate I know everyone, not just the priors had a new found confidence in their abilities. This is just as important in my opinion as knife skills in the kitchen. I know when you are timid or unsure under the pressure of a screaming chef the mistakes start to happen. Another thing I noticed in practical today is the seriousness of class has become. It's not like an uncomfortable seriousness, just the seriousness of everyone being professionals. Everyone is working hard, everyone's food looks fantastic and everyone at this point is determined to prove something. I like it and think maybe intermediate wasn't so bad after all. I found my peace with it and am ready to move on.

Well it's almost 2 in the morning in time for me to go to bed, but as always I have more thoughts to share with the interweb! Well the good news is instead of saving this draft style into oblivion i'm actually going to just publish it! my New Years resolution is no unfinished draft's, well that and the perennial go to the gym more.

What do books have to do with it?

2010-02-19T20:23:00.000+01:00

ze' cookbooks

I've been thinking, reading and wanting more and more cookbooks recently. I mean I don't think it's just because I'm a cook. Yeah I like them, but who doesn't? Most families have a few somewhere, maybe passed down, or following the latest dieting trends, or just quick and easy recipes for busy schedules. Personally I just like books in general. There is something about holding a book than an electronic device will never beat. (not counting kindles. I still need one of those) Even with today's preponderance of information just a mouse-click away via the interweb, there is something satisfying about having all your favorite and most useful books physically around you. The same goes double for cookbooks because for me, at least I can consider them semi-professional investments. If there is one thing a cook appreciates more than maybe new gadgets or knives is a good new cookbook. My collection is modest, but growing and I'm always interested in a few more. I mean cooking is so diverse. I want to know and see everything that's being done or has been done in the field. I know it's impossible, but I can try can't I?

I just happened upon an article from the New Yorker By Adam Gopnick. It's title "What's the Recipe: Our Hunger for Cookbooks" originally caught my eye because I'm always interested in things like that, but I was quickly surprised by it's content. It's a very good article, and I highly recomend if you get a chance to read the link above. But if you don't feel like it, spoiler alert. he basically says cookbooks are a waste of time. I mean that might be an over simplification on my part, but he goes further, not really with any anger towards cookboooks, but more saying that people can't hope to learn cooking from a book, but more importantly people can't expect to duplicate what some chef's have spent their whole lives learning and creating.

I don't know really. I was surprised because all you usually see these days is favorite cookbook list and what not. I assumed this was just going to be another glorifying article about the authors favorite recipes/memories, so I guess as an article it's kind of refreshing. I get what the author is trying to say anyways. He argues that a cookbook basically tries to distill so much of the nuance of cooking in a a few paragraphs and pictures. I agree but to me that's not only what it is about. Tim Carman for Washington's City Paper had a great response in his article here. Read it. As a matter of fact if you didn't you've read this far and not yet read the New Yorker article scroll up and read that one too. Not trying to be bossy, I just don't want to re-re-rehash things.

Anyway Carman takes a middle of the road approach and just kind of lays out the pros and cons of cookbooks but he comes to the conclusion that reading a cookbook leads to actually cooking which undoubtedly leads to some failures but is instructional in the process. I mean even if you ruin a recipe and it looks nothing like the picture in the book, you still learn valuable skills. It's basically the essence of how anyone learns to cook. You don't learn by being told a never ending list of minote details, you learn by doing and finding out for yourself what works and why. You then apply that next time. It dosent mean you can't cook because you haven't been working in a kitchen for 40 years.

I see what Gopnick is saying, and agree with him that your never going to reproduce by a book what they are doing at The French Laundry even if you do have their cookbook, but that's definitely not the point of them. Cooking is artistic. It's half formula and half art. It's part precision and part seat of your pants. It's does have some doctrine to it, but it has even more inventiveness. Gopnick is looking at from a strange angle. I think he see's it as something purely based on skill derived from experience. That is part of it, but not everything.

To me as a cook I love cookbooks because they show me a world outside of what I am immediately familiar with. I've never been to Morocco, but with a good cookbook I can see and experience what a tagine is, and understand how to make one. Granted I don't have the skill, but the information is still there. I can analyze and understand techniques that I would never have thought of on my own and use them to cook something new, based on my knowledge base. I love cookbooks because they show you ingredients and combinations of those ingredients in a way that is inspiring. My girlfriend Recently got me the Alinea cookbook along with Under Pressure. Yes I know, she's always amazing. I've been reading them, and especially in Alinea, so much of the food is so far beyond my capabilites that I will never in my life be able to cook 90% of what's in the book. I really enjoy them though, not because of what they have in them, but what they teach me about how things can be done. I mean if something looks good to me in there it makes me think, how can I get this effect, this taste and these textures, but in a different way altogether. How could I do what they are doing, but with other ingredients or different procedures. The point to me is that they are stimulating our culinary understanding, even if we never use them to actually cook out of. They are opening our horizons and generally making people more food conscious in general. I like that, especially when it means more people are going to be curious and want to go out and experiment. Hopefully it's at where I am cooking.
Well anyways starting this blog entry I wanted to write about last weekend and the First Annual Cookbook Festival here in Paris. I got the chance to attend and assist the guest chef's give their demonstrations on various regional dishes. I think I'm going to make that Part II though. Stay tuned, it will be a good one though I promise.

Finger Lickin' Good?

2010-02-12T22:58:00.005+01:00

Image by markhillary via Flickr

I finally did it, I buckled, or more importantly I took a leap of faith tonight. I jumped and of course, who caught me? Why fried chicken of course. I know it sounds a wee bit strange, but what I'm talking about is my first trip to my local neighborhood KFC, or more importantly my first taste of fried chicken since I left home.

I just came back from the movies and was, well a bit starving. Lately all I've been eating is Special K (red berries), pears, yogurt and oranges. I know I sound like i'm on a crash diet or something. Well I forgot the baguette and jam. I eat a lot of that too these days. That's basically all I can cram into my super small refrigerator. I think the thing was made to hold mini wine bottles in some hotel room across from the Louvre. Anyways, I didn't want to eat breakfast food for every meal, and it was already getting a bit late. I mean restaurants are open late, but I didn't want to put up with the time or money that entailed. That left basically gyros, crepes, falafel, pizza or McDonald's. AKA no, no, no, no and gross. So I figured it out, I would have 2 pears and a yogurt, then maybe another yogurt if I was still hungry. Just when my misery was setting in for good it hit me. KFC! Fried chicken! That's exactly want I wanted to eat, but will it be worth the effort or will I be sworn off French fried chicken for ever more?

I consider myself a fried chicken connoisseur. I know that might be to some an outlandish thing to say, but I think it's about right. I've had it all. From Roy Rogers, to Bojangles and from Rosco's to Church's and even Wonder, It's all good to me. Now it can get controversial sometimes why I love fried chicken so much. Some will say its cultural, some will say its ethnic and even others will say it's a mix of both. I think it's some of those things, but bottom line, who dosen't like fried chicken once and a while? I mean what really isn't to like about it. That's what kind of got me scared though. I mean I've had french versions of "hot dogs" and "hamburgers" and they are not the same. Coca Cola isn't the same to me here. Snickers taste different. McDonald's fries have a strange after taste. It's weird, like something familiar but you can't quite place it. It reminds me about the sound the smoke monster makes on Lost whenever it rolls through. Like you know it from somewhere, but its just off a bit. I don't quite understand whats going on here, but I don't like it. I mean don't get me wrong. France has so much good food that cheap ordinary American stuff isn't even a blip on the culinary radar in Paris. I just am perplexed at how seemingly simple American food that you can get on the street back home isn't quite right here. I mean whats so hard about a hot dog. Take a couple of Esskays, (I'm from Maryland) and put them in water. Done. But then I guess you can't get a pack of Esskays with an oriole on them here to save your life. And that's why I guess it doesn't work. They just don't have the ingredients to make typical American food, at least the way we do it back home. It's also the same way with the roles flipped.

All of this is why I was worried deeply about trying KFC here in France. Normally even on the best of days a KFC in D.C. is my least favortie plaace to go for chicken. KFC just isn't that good normally. It will only do if you absolutely positively need some fried chicken. Almost any place is better, but that's just my opinion of course. I didn't want to go earlier because of course I didn't think they would get it right. I don't how they could if they couldn't get anything else American down pat. I figured I'd rather just wait until I went home to get the real deal instead. Well finally the craving was greater than the doubts so I tried it. The verdict? It's actually quite good. I would say it's better than any KFC I've had back home. I know that's not saying much compared to KFC back home, but honestly its the closest thing I have done yet to eating something that reminds me of back home. I'm pretty sure whatever recipe they are using isn't the same as the one they use across North America. I don't know why though, because it's far superior. Bottom line is try it if your in Paris, just see what you think.

NECI vs. JWU vs. David Rabin

2010-02-11T11:44:00.012+01:00

Today I'm doing something a little different, this post isn't exactly written by me, but it's kind of a guest post from one of my friends I used to cook with at Black's, David Rabin. He recently started this January at the New England Culinary Institute, but had spent a few years at Johnson & Wales before that. I was wondering really what the two schools are like, and how they are a bit different from one another. All I know is Le Cordon Bleu, but I almost wish I could go to every culinary school just for a few hours at least. I'm curious how the instruction, the curriculum and the facilities are different, and compare to LCB. I'm always a little curious to how they stack up, and also which schools are doing the bet job. Well anyways those are the strange things that keep me up at night wondering.

David had been working at Black's almost as long as I had, and as such has seen the ups and downs, the good and the crazy at Black's. He's worked in more kitchens than I have and knows the deal pretty inside and out by now. Well without further ado, here's David:

So far in my young culinary career I have been able to work in some very upscale restaurants as well as attend some well known American culinary schools. I've attended a Vo-Tech program for culinary arts at Thomas Edison High School of Technology, Johnson & Wales University: College of Culinary Arts, and New England Culinary Institute.

During my time at JWU we had classes 4 days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I had labs from 1pm to 8pm, for 9 days at a time. During these classes I learned basic cooking technique Foodservice Fundamentals, Beverage, Production Identification and Purchasing, Meat-cutting, and Nutrition and Sensory Analysis. Through these classes I learned the basics of Moist and Dry Cooking methods, bar tending, wine service, table service, and principles of nutrition. Then I took Algebra/Geometry, Biology, English, and Professional Development. Most my time in Providence, RI was spent partying and having a good time. The people were like me and liked to party perhaps excessively, but still cooking was still my passion and what drove me so studies came first. To be honest I had 2 years experience before attending JWU and the classes were a breeze, the academics were on an 8th grade level. Granted I know if I had stayed longer I would have learned much more, however I did not like their policy of accepting just about anybody. However, I did enjoy the mixture with normal college kids, which made JWU more of a College experience.

A good portion of the kids just decided that the culinary arts program would be easy. They dropped out quicly, however and there were the kids who still went through with the program, having absolutely no intention of ever working in the foodservice industry. They decided that it was easy enough and it was a college degree so they were set.

Providence was a great town to have drinks and such. Much more comfortable for me being a "big" city in a small package. it was easy adjusting having my "city roots". It was very similar to DC, lots of things to do, everything open late, mixing of cultures and just a general good time (being a college town and all) I have a lot of great stories with the people I had met, and created many great friendships with my classmates, perhaps a brotherhood. Something about being actually devoted to our trade. In reality it devours our lives, but we still love it.

So far at NECI I will have taken Cooking Theory & Food Science, Table Service, Meat Fabrication, Baking I, Inventory Management, and Sanitation. Along with the academics of College Math, Information Technology, and Professional Development. In Cooking theory I learned basic cooking techniques, stocks, soups, sauces, knife skills, and protein cookery. I honestly learn 30 times more in a class with 10 people oppose to 21 at JWU. Also because the Chef Instructors at NECI understood on a scientific level what we were doing so we learned how to do something along with why it happened. In Table Service I learned about wines, FOH duties, actual table waiting, using the ticket programs, and the tastes of many different ingredients. In meat fabrication I learned red meat and fish butchery, and basic terrines, pates, and sausages. Inventory management I learn about purchasing, product ID by sight and taste. And Sanitation I re-learned servsafe (which hasn't change so why the hell does it expire, we aren't retarded). In College math it was really culinary math, actual math I would need to know about pricing, purchasing, recipe conversion, product yield, and food costs and labor. In I.T. I learn how to use computers and develop a E-portfolio, and spreadsheets and such. In Professional Development we learn how to do resumes, mock interview, dealing with employer and/or employee, and setting up our internships. I have class 5 days a week and each lab for a month and academics continuous. After my 6 months here I will be going on internship for 6 months at a restaurant of my choice.

Montpelier is a small town, which for me was a big shock. Growing up in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Having a small little main street with all locally owned establishments. Instead of seeing corporate vendors everywhere, Montpelier contains mostly ma and pa shops. I definitely enjoy Montpelier now that I am used to everything closing at such a ridiculous hours. Here there is that confidence knowing that everything is fresh and made from all local ingedients. The food here is fantastic, local breweries galore, many cheese makers, many curing and smoking charcuterie co-ops. Everything is either made in town or some other small town in Vermont. Vermont is a very beautiful state, with its green mountains, beautiful view, ice, snow arctic weather, and extremely polite and friendly people. The people I have met I will always remain friends with, and people I can push to be better and return push me to be a better chef.

In my opinion New England Culinary Institute is a better culinary school for the dedicated, aspiring chef. It has a more one on one education, gearing entirely towards fine dining. But to be honest the best way to learn is to find a nice restaurant and just work, even if you have to be a dishwasher or a prep cook first. Thats where I met Will at Black's Bar and Kitchen, I consider Will to be my brother besides that we worked almost everyday together and hung out after work for a few drinks or just to chill. He is a brother being an aspiring chef also. The bond of a tightly knit line creates a great brotherhood/friendship. Wes I met partying at JWU in Providence, and then my stage at Black's who do I see working Saute 2, Wes, a good friend I made at JWU was now my co-worker. Same Deal absolutely great friend and great cook both Wes and Will I will always consider brothers. And all I have to say is.....

Sex, Drugs, & Mise En Place,

David

Thief Among Us?

2010-02-10T18:08:00.005+01:00

What we need in the men's locker room!

Ok so a few weeks ago I put up a post about knives. I posted on some knives I was drooling over, and how much I wanted a new knife. This issue has become more critical because of course someone has stolen my most important knives right from under my nose! Ok, here is what happened. Two days ago I was at school changing and I guess didn't click my lock closed. Well I've never done this before, and am usually good about locking everything and making sure I have everything secure before I leave. Well I come in the next day and low and behold no lock. Well I think this is pretty strange so I look inside and everything looks like it is there. I mean my knife bag, my uniform, my safety shoes everything. But as I try and figure out what happened to my lock I look closer and notice that most of my clothes are de-shoveled and in a heap underneath my knife bag, where is exactly not where I left them. I carefully placed them folded and neat so that they wouldn't be wrinkled for my next days practical. Well by now I figured out someone had gone through all my stuff so I check my knife bag. Someone had gone into my bag taken my Shun chefs knife and slicer, my LCB chefs knife, paring knife and fillet knife. Besides that everything was there. Well it goes without saying that I was pretty upset about all of this, but I guess it is my own fault for not being careful with my stuff. I am not to upset because I have more knives, and better knives back in the U.S. The two shuns that got stolen were pretty much my first knives, and had gone through my first sorry attempts at sharpening. They were pretty roughed up, but still they were mine. Obviously there is no point in being upset about it any more, but I think its getting a little ridiculous at school. This is far from the first time this has happened at school. I mean I've heard more stories about things getting stolen than I can even count at this point. Most of them revolve around knives or other personal items in the locker room. I don't know what it takes to do something about this on the part of the administration, but for now all I can say is if you come to Le Cordon Bleu and put anything down without an eye on it worth more than a few euro, it will definitely get stolen.

I think it's sad because, especially in the locker room its not like its a billion other people from outside the school going through the place. It's obviously students, or people who work at school. (more likely students) I mean my girlfriend was there for a few hours before her camera got stolen. Well every week I hear more and more of the same and it makes me very uncomfortable knowing that someone there, probably someone who I see everyday is going through peoples things stealing. I wish this was not the type of people coming to Le Cordon Bleu, but obviously it is since the problem was just as big during basic last session. I know the vast majority of people at school aren't thiefs, For the most part students look out for each other. I just wish I could say this was always the truth. Well that's all I'm going to talk about that. I just have to remember! Don't trust anyone with your knifes!

On a happy note because of this thief now I can justify getting new knives which is one of my favorite things to do. I decided to get a knife custom made from Ray Rodgers Cutlery. here's the run down of what its going to be:

Cherokee Chef

10" carbon steel blade with visible temper line

Turquoise spacer

Ironwood handle, coke bottle shape

Wrought iron ferrule

its going to look something like this

Just kidding. Although I bet that could fillet salmon like a charm. Anyways I'll keep you informed, hopefully I can get some insight too on the knife making process as well. And if you see my knives, use them to stab the person who took them in the throat.

Almost Famous

2010-02-02T20:25:00.004+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

Ok, admit it. Honestly what cook doesn't watch Food Network once in a while? I know if not to rage at the technique, or the absurdity of some of the situations every food loving person likes to check it out and just foodwatch. The one thing I've always thought was missing from culinary entertainment was almost anything student related. The country, and the world has fallen in love with the idea of celebrity chefs and their bigger than life food and personalities. They spend their time trying to figure out how to cook meals that the average joe or joette can go home and quickly reproduce in their own home to the delight of friends and family. The idea is making cooking accessible and understandable to everyone, not just highly trained chefs who have spent years in the kitchen learning their trade.

If this is the case and the point of most food based media, then where are the students? Where are the young impressionable ambitious chefs who have nothing to lose and everything to gain? I always wonder why there is almost no programs out there about and emphasizing culinary students. In my opinion what better way is there of making cuisine accessible to everyone than through the eyes of a student? Maybe it's my own ability to relate as a culinary student myself, but I think this is a badly missed opportunity. People around the world wonder to themselves, what's it like to be a culinary student. Why not just show them the glory and the stress. The competition and the drama. The skills necessary to become something more than a cook. I'd watch. Even though I am a student myself at Le Cordon Bleu, I'm always curious. I have a few friends in culinary school around the U.S. and I want to know what they are learning. Most young people now are used to the notions of a celebrity chef. I'm sure many students are in culinary school because they want to end up in from of a camera or on the cover of a magazine. Cooks now live in the age where you can open your own restaurant at 24 not 44, where Oprah can talk about you in her magazine, where cookbooks are half photo shoots and oh yeah, a few recipes. Today's media fills people with these dreams an hopes. The media is making the next generation of chefs so for goodness sakes! Go ahead and show what happens when people pursue these dreams!

Honest to God I was just going over this rant in my head while watching Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares in French on my one inch diagonal TV, while laying on my too small love-seat. Apparently being 6'2 is not the ideal size for france, but that's for another blog entry all together. Anyways that's when I came across Almost Famous. Forget Kate Hudson, I'm talking about A culinary competition. Not just any culinary competion, one that put's the spotlight on culinary student's in a way I've never heard off. Until now.

The S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition (Yes the water company that chefs are fond of drinking instead of tap water like the rest of the cooks) is an annual event that has been going on since 2002. They take the winners from 10 regional competitions and host the finals in Napa Valley crowning one Student-Chef Almost Famous chef of the year. The would be mini-celebrities compete in 3 events. The first is the Mystery basket. I know, sounds spooky doesn't it. In this event the chefs are literally given a mystery basket of ingredients and 2 hours to come up with a winning dish. Very Choppedesque. The next event is the Signature Dish. This is just how it sounds, each competitor teaming with a sous chef of their choice to make their signature dish, which got them this far in the competition. The final event is the Peoples Choice award. All attending guest with vote and to the peoples champ goes the spoils. By the way the winners of each stage get 3,000 dollars each, or converting for those of you in Europe about 25 euros and a bottle cap. I hate the conversion rate. Anyways after each of the events the judges will decide who is the overall winner. The winner will recieve $10,000 and a 1-year paid internship with one of the judges. One of the former judges was Michel Richard (OMG!!! Citronelle and Central) Arguably the best chef in D.C. Arguably! So don't bite my head off. I've wanted to work in Citronelle since I understood whats the difference between cuisine and food. Well That's what its all about. I would kill to get that opportunity and experience! Why is it that As soon as I leave to go to school in Paris they have something like that in the U.S. It should be international, but I guess I'm stuck following along on twitter.

I want to go. It's amazing to me that there are culinary students out there who do things like that and actually win. I mean I know how hard and how much pressure is on at my school when the chef comes around with his tasting spoon. At Black's on Sundays, when all the senior citizens had left their 5:30 dinner reservations behind, me and our Sous Chef would have our own version of Top Chef. Usually the secret ingredient was something we had to sell before monday orders came in, so it was nothing fancy. Even in that position, especially as a new cook the pressure for me was unbelievable. It made me sweat, it made my hands shake, it got under my skin like few things ever have. I want to go simply to meet these people and watch how they react. This is a competition about inexperienced culinary talent. As a student I want to be a part of that. I want to go because at least if I can't be a part of it as a competitor I can sit back and enjoy the show! I know Im not the best writer, but I do enjoy writing almost as much as cooking. I want to go and write about this and actually see how the food media works. I've spent my extremely short culinary career behind a stove, it's where I'm comfortable, but I want to get out in the culinary world and see what else is going on besides blanched vegetables and boning chicken. Well I guess there is always next year.

Since it looks like I am not going, I need your help in spreading the word. If you are reading this tell someone about it! Enter a culinary contest yourself! Even if it's making cookies for a county fair, give it a shot. Host your own culinary competition and have your friends judge! If you are going to be around Napa (Mark!) maybe check it out. If not still help out, by putting something in facebook, or twitter or whatever about it. Tell your cook friends to check it out. If you are a student and your school doesn't enter anyone, next year do something about it or enter yourself! Whatever you do as a cook, check these things out. It helps you stay involved in the community, and who knows. Maybe we'll all be eating your microwave dinners someday. Put some pressure on yourself as a cook! After all that's how we get better.

Good old McGee

2010-02-02T13:41:00.003+01:00

I don't know how many of you reading this have ever heard of Harold McGee , or his book "On Food and Cooking", but if you haven't heard of this book then I'm glad I am bringing it up, because if you have any interest in food you should get this read as soon as possible. I'm quickly finding out for myself that it has so much more information about foods and cooking than I knew existed! This book is a perfect example of how food and science intersect, and how understanding this is a good practice for anyone, not just a professional chef.

The first day I set foot in Black's I didn't know anything about cooking. Well honestly I guess I wouldn't go that far, but looking back I'm still surprised about how much I didn't know. Looking even further back I was even more surprised by what the average person doesn't know about food. Everyone cooks whether they know it or not everyday (well at least everyone eats I guess is more appropriate). Even if it is cooking microwave popcorn, or making coffee principles of cooking are happening.

So what is McGee's book all about? I think this is best explained through one of my first experiences in a professional kitchen, at my old stomping grounds Black's Bar and Kitchen. The first day I worked at Black's and actually did anything besides just watch and keep myself from get cut or burned was, lets just say "interesting". Naturally I had a lot of questions about everything and anything in this new world of culinary delights. It was loud, it was hot, and everything I thought to do logically seemed to be at odds with what the kitchen had long ago accepted was the right way to do something. I had so many questions and no background base of information useable to formulate a reasonable conclusion myself. I didn't know whether to put oil, butter or clarified bu tter in a 500 degree pan. Speaking of that I didn't know what the difference was between brown butter and clarified butter. I didn't know because I never had to know up until that point how butter reacts. Honestly until that point I have spent most of my life eating margarine whenever I needed to add fat to a food. I didn't even know the difference between margarine and butter besides just always thinking it was healthier than using butter. Long story short, I had a lot of questions. My second fault on my first day besides being ignorant, was asking someone (my new sous chef) to fill me in on all the questions I had. When I was just working for free at Black's as an outsider looking to learn, everyone was more than happy to answer my questions about their intriguing world of cooking. As soon as I got on the payroll things changed. Not that anyone was unfriendly, but of course, in a restaurant time is money. If I started asking too many questions about how to do something basic some of the chefs would just take it and do it themselves. Not because they were trying to be rude, just because sometimes it would take less time for them to do it themselves then explain to me the nuances of culinary technique. This lead to a lot of horrible mistakes because I didn't want to constantly be admitting how ignorant I was. Unfortunately this equated to a lot of ruined food. The worst was when I blanched the nights special of lamb shanks instead of braising them. You should see the look of a chef staring at 15 lamb shanks in an ice bath. I think I'd rather put my hand in the deli slicer. The worst feeling about being a new cook is feeling worthless, especially at something you are trying so hard to be good at. In a kitchen peoples feelings do get hurt. Cooks will cry. You will get called something very offense and or derogatory. You will want to quit, walk out, and burn the place down. That's just how it is though. The only saving grace is for a new cook, ignorance is bliss. If no one told you how to do something then the Chef knows he can't blame you. But then again he/she will blame and talk (chew out in front of everybody)to the sous chef for not teaching you properly. Although your Sous Chef will make your life horrible for it, it is still slightly better then having the Exec Chefs attention solely on you. Plus you get to see your Sous made to look like a fool in front of the whole kitchen, which cooks around the world universally accept as a good thing.

Anyways, After a while my Sous chef got smart and when I had a question he would say "look it up in McGee". He didn't quite seem to grasp that I didn't even know what he was talking about anyways, once again, and was doing the whole nod and smile thing. I think he got it though, he didn't really care either way, no I didn't have an excuse because he could always say he instructed me to look something up, effectively rending him blameless and me in the merde. So I got a McGee, looked up a few things and thought the book was thougholy interesting, but no harry potter and the sorcerers veal stock. It was a hard book to keep my attention. Plus I had more to worry about getting the basics down then knowing whats actually in something like milk. By this time I was working the hotline and my sous chef had long since been fired. I knew enough to cook well, but I always wanted to go back and read more of McGee and understand my craft that much more.

So since I'm here in France studying cuisine, and since I have a lot of time on my hands, and have yet to find a good English bookstore, I am going to read of of "On Food and Cooking". I am going to read it cover to cover, no skipping or skimming. Like I do for most reference type technical text, I am going to read each section twice before continuing to the next. I am also going to do my best to consicely sumerize in this blog about what I am learning so those of you who have McGee can compare notes if you wish, or those of you who don't can at least follow along. First Chapter Milk and Dairy Products!

Today

2010-01-31T22:35:00.002+01:00

Today I feel like im stuck in a Devotchka song.

Interview with a Vegan (and eating better)

2010-01-29T12:30:00.012+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

Eating better, healthier and greener is something that every chef should be considering these days when planning a menu. These aren't just catch phrases, but things more and more Americans are seriously basing their spending on. As such I find that cooking healthy environmentally friendly meals as a professional is something that cannot be ignored and is a vital part of a chefs education. That being said, I want to learn more about organic and raw diet's as well as cooking with health in mind, not simply whatever taste good. Unfortunately so far Le Cordon Bleu has been a great school for classical technique an recipes, but is still maybe cooking for 30 years ago. French cuisine isn't known for its health benefits, but even that is changing.

In order to learn more and understand the food we eat and the effect it has on our lifestyle and health I want to understand vegetarianism a little better. For this I interviewed a friend of mine Sophie Aaronson . In my opinion she is closest person to an expert on the subject I know, and very kind for answering all my questions. Thanks Sophie!

First a little background. Sophie graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a bachelors degree in Psycology. From there she went into research in the field of health psychology, specifically dealing with cancer and how the body reacts and copes with ocular melanoma. Sophie then decided she wanted to take her career on a different path of one of research and earned her national certificate in fitness and nutrition from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. During this time Sophie was also completing over 400 hours of yoga instructor training.

Sophie got her start in raw food by spending 2 years working as a manger in a raw foods store and juice bar in the heart of Hollywood, CA. Here she specialized on creating holistic body cleanses and detoxes using nothing but raw organic foods and juices. Today Sophie considers herself a Holistic Health Coach. She has taken her experiences and created a company called Philosphie. Within this company she creates a private raw, vegan cleanse experiences for her clients that last 3-5 days to restart their digestive system and body as a whole. She also utilizes her background in personal training and yoga to provide her clients with a case by case program based on what they need.

Ok, now you know about her background, on to the questions I had for her!

Thiscook- How long have you been vegan? what motivated you to adopt a vegan diet?

Sophie- I slowed down my consumption of red meat when I was 18, realizing that just like anything, I had a choice. I never used to love the taste of red meat, especially if it was rare... And once I learned I could eat other things or buy my own food (in college) things really started to change. I also was hyper aware of my father’s high cholesterol and decided early on that I had an option by choosing to eat less high cholesterol foods. I am not 100% vegan, vegetarian, raw or any one absolute way. I eat fish when I crave it but I don’t like rules and I’m not good at sticking to them. I make up my own. I think that people have framed this common conversation in absolutes. Either you are or you aren’t. My way of eating the past few years has been mostly raw/vegan by day (green vegetable juices, raw vegan smoothies, seeds, nuts, big salads) and then at night a cooked dinner (maybe brown rice, veggies and salmon) to calm down my body and mind for rest. Eating raw/vegan energizes my body and sometimes it’s hard to sleep if I eat that way all day and night. The word vegan does a disservice because there are a lot of people that care but maybe don’t care about the big picture. I’ve met people who are “vegans” yet eat nothing but processed tofu and junk food that is “animal free” but are getting less nutrients than a person that eats a healthy, balanced diet. I think try to be a more conscious, mindful eater and that’s more important than putting myself in a box of absolutes.

Do you not eat meat because you view that it's unfair to animals or it's bad for your health?

When I first moved to California, my knowledge and awareness about food and life in general increased rapidly. I think it was a combination of the receptive, open-minded age I was and the abundance of accessible information available. I began going to farmers markets, getting into political debates at school and with my family and forming my beliefs and opinions. I remember being really affected one day at a farmers market I went to in Hollywood. Someone was holding a sign up of a baby lamb and it said something to the effect of “the violent act of murder and pain I endured is contained in the dead meat you will eat from me later.” I sat on the curb listening to a reggae band beat the drums, sun beating on my shoulders, crying my eyes out.

I don’t think it’s fair to kill animals, but if we are going to eat meat I think it’s imperative to chose the healthiest, most environmentally sustaining options. Organic, free-range, kosher, locally purchased meats are by far the best options. And just being thankful for the food, and being aware of where it came from and how it landed on your plate is incredibly important.

Have you inspired anyone else to go vegan or change their habits since they've gone vegan and what it was that they did to inspire them.

Pretty much anyone around me in my life, near or far, has been affected by my eating habits. All my friends eat less meat and are at least more conscious of their eating habits. At my wedding for example, at least 3 people who gave speeches (and made jokes) mentioning something about my healthy eating (raw juices, healthy food) and how they have changed their own habits because of it. We even had a “Vegan Duck” entrée served at the wedding. (along with Steak and Salmon)

Do you have friends who eat meat? Does their diet affect how you relate to them?

I don’t judge my friends and others that eat meat. Whatever makes others feel good is all that matters. I think everyone can work on being a little less judgmental of each other, in general. That’s a lot healthier and will make a larger impact than eating less meat!

Do you think you get enough nutrition?

I do think I get enough nutrition. I think it’s all a balancing act, anyway. At some times in my life (when I’m more vegan/raw) I get an abundance of vitamins, minerals and super-foods in my diet. When I crave protein, I know it’s because my body needs it and I usually turn to Fish. Veganism has taught me to listen to my body and be more aware of what I need, and what I don’t.

If you were raising a child, would you raise him or her vegan? why or why not?

will teach my kids, just like with everything (religion, politics) what I believe and lead by my example. They live in the real world with many other people with wonderful, conflicting views and opinions, and I welcome those views. I will be sure to educate them so they have all the tools they need in their toolbox to decide on their own.

I’m actually pregnant right now with my first child, and I’m craving anything OTHER than my normal raw/vegan diet. The only thing that is curbing my nausea is white challah bread, eggs or sweet potato fries!!! It’s hilariously awful, and my husband gets the biggest kick out of it. I’m trying to be patient and listen to my body.

I certainly won’t give my kids processed food and I won’t be preparing steak. But as long as my children get adequate nutrition and don’t eat too much crap, they can decide on their own what they do and don’t want on their plate.

How has being vegan affected your social life with friends and do you find it difficult to be in social situations because of it?

I’ve never been super difficult with friends and in social situations. I’m not one of those people that wont eat a soup because it’s made with chicken broth or can’t sit at the table with someone eating steak. The first few years I was dating my husband, he thought he could never take me to a steak house because I’d be grossed out or unhappy. They serve other things at steak houses besides steak!

I’ve figured out how to travel or stay with friends now..bringing my own raw/vegan snacks and making sure a few of my meals consist of the things I love. But if it still poses a problem, I usually just go with the flow so I’m not too much of an inconvenience. It’s really not that important!

Is the concept of "being vegan" something that defines you as a person (i.e. "I am a vegan") or is it more of a lifestyle choice?

Throughout the past 8 years of this journey into veganism, I’ve learned a lot. Now my lifestyle choice has turned into my profession, mostly because my passion of healthy living has transformed into my job. I am a yoga teacher, personal trainer and raw food cleanse consultant, so this “way of being” is just my life. It definitely defines me in many ways: It surrounds me, but it’s flexible and always reshaping.

Well there it is! I hope anyone reading this got a little bit more insight to what a vegan lifestyle is like. Thanks again Sophie for the help and taking time out of your busy schedule! Best of luck with everything in the future, and congratulations on the baby!!

Cold Meat Day

2010-01-27T23:21:00.022+01:00

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Ok, raise your hand if you like terrines, I mean really like them and aren't just pret
ending because you are a foodie. Well i'm not including the good old foie gras kind. I'm talking about everything else. The fish, rabbit, chicken, lamb, or whatever else you can stick in a dish and cover with asp ic type. That's exactly what I thought, nobody. You know why nobody likes them? It's because they are cold, slimy, bland, and a pain to make (2 day waiting period before they are good??), and they destroy everything they come in contact with. Well to be fair, I'm sure somewhere there is a terri ne fan. Just one though.

If you haven't guessed yet we just spent the last two days having a cold meat extravaganza. I thought I liked terrines before today, but I guess I was horribly wrong from the start. Here is what we did for lessons 11+12

LESSON 11

Ballotine de volaille a la mousse de foie gras et aux pistaches / Chicken stuffed with foie gras mousse and pistachios
Gelee de volaille au lard paysan et vin de Chablis / Aspic coated chicken with country bacon and Chablis wine
Boudin Blanc aux pommes / White Sausage with apples

Lesson 12

Mosaique de daurade et tomates en gelee et sa petite salade dans son croustilant / Sea bream and tomato jelly mosaique with salad in a crispy pastry
Clarification de la cuisson de la ballotine / Clarification of the ballotine cooking liquid

Basically what this all boiled down to (literally) was a two part demo and practical. On the first day we would make the ballotine (stuffed chicken). Because its cold and terrinish, the longer it's refrigerated before being served the better. On the second day we would take out the ballotine from its liquid make a consume out of the poaching liquid and clarify this liquid. After clarification of the liquid, we would make a jelly out of the liquid for serving with the ballotine. Along with finishing the ballotine we also made a half recipe of the boudin blanc. This was actually the most exciting part of these two lessons for me because I have never made sausage myself.

For the first demonstration our chef was Chef Patrick Caals. (to the left) I personally really like Chef Caals and his style of teaching. Ithink he is the youngest Chef-instructor at Le Cordon Bleu, and because of this has a much more modern perspective on cooking than a lot of the older chefs. As far as I can tell when learning how to cook as much diversity as possible in instruction the better. Apparently our class doesn't think so, but I will get back to that. We rarely get him so far because I guess his does more of the second half of intermediate. Mostly the only chefs we have for demo is Chef Bruno Stril and Chef Tivet.

The main difference between Chef Caals is He is very efficient, almost restaurant efficent during class. He has many simple things ready prepped or cooked before the demo even starts. He also does everything for every course at the same time so they are all completed at the same time. This method makes it necessary for a little more attention by the students, but I mean its the way cooking works. Everything during demo was fine to start, but because of his methods our class almost fell apart. Because we was switching back and forth from sausage to ballotine to fish terrine without explicitly stating which recipe he was workinslang on most of the class got confused. it got worse when everyone who thought they knew what they were doing started talking at once to explain to those who didn't. Of course this made our translator confused as well, which then made Chef Caals confused.

This is by far my least favorite part of demos. People ask way to many questions that could be answered by just glancing at the recipe before class or at the very least waiting until the chef is done. Usually, well actually always, things are cleared up if the chef is given a chance to finish what he currently doing. Anyway I wish we had Chef Caals more. Even in practicals he knows what the "right" way to do something is, but he stresses that there are other ways if you use your head that work out just as well. Personally I think that's what cooking is all about, and what makes one chefs food different from another. I find that a lot of students don't like that concept that there isn't a right and wrong way to cook. But I guess their perspective is to find the "right" way and learn that before figuring out your own interpretation. The second demo was even worse. It consisted of making consume, which we have done before, and watching Chef Tivet decorate a serving tray with vegetables and aspic for an hour. I felt like Lonely Day by System of a Down was playing over in over in my head.
Just every time they say lonely change it to boring.

Ok now to practical. Well it was kind of interesting, or at least different this time. This was the first time I completely boned a chicken before, or as Jennifer calls it, "taking off it's pajamas". It was kind of fun. The whole process kind o reminded me of a turduken type of thing, but no, we had to ruin it by serving it cold and with jelly. The hardest part of de-boning a whole chicken is just paying attention to what you are doing and making precise cuts. Quite a welcome change of pace from cutting into pieces of 4 or 8 like we always always always do. Here are a few pictures of Jennifer boning and of course the finished product. Under That is my work. A partially and fully deboned chicken. Next was the easy part, just stuffing it with forcemeat foie gras and
pistachios. Also about the above photo, the strange thing is Jennifer's face actually stuck that way. I know gross right?

Well after that was just the consume. Everyone knows about consume, so I won't bore you with the gory details. Just grind up some vegetables and meat and egg whites, put it in what you want to clarify, wait until it makes a raft, and that's it! Sounds so simple right? We'll it is for some people.

Next up was the sausage or boudin blanc. I guess this is just a typical type of sausage, but from my understanding boudin is french for pudding, not really sausage. The word for sausage is reserved for products much harder in consistency. Our sausage really was more like a meat pudding put into a sausage casing and cooked. Because of this when finished it was very soft inside. Much different than any American is used to getting with a sausage. It was good, but personally I would prefer much more of a coarse consistency myself. Well anyways It looks like I will have to cut this somewhat short. I'm supposed to be meeting my classmates and friends Eduardo and Jorge for dinner at the Hard Rock. Don't mock our choice of restaurants, They love that type of thing. Below are the rest of my pictures from practical and what the finished product ended up looking like.

Here is also a few pictures from Chloe's visit. Just click on the picture, its a little easier to see that way. I forgot to mention it but she "lost" her camera while she was visiting LCB!! She was in the computer room waiting for me to get out of a practical because I forgot to give her my apartment keys after demo. We are pretty sure she left her camera on the table, and she was the last one in the room. Once we realized it I woke up extra early to be there when school opened. I was the first one in the computer room and no camera! Everything was eerily clean though....too clean. I'm not accusing anyone, but if whoever stole it is reading this I know who you are and will find you and kill you. Then take a picture and tag your remains on facebook. Just kidding, but if anyone happens to know anything tell me please!
Speaking of stealing I thought I lost my knives for a little bit in the locker room. I've heard a lot of things about theft at LCB. Does anyone know why the administration won't do anything about it? They should put camera's in the winter garden or something. I just don't see why at this school people have to hold their belongings like they are in Pigalle at 2:30am. Just saying.

Time for new knives (part two)

2010-01-26T12:01:00.008+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

Ok ok, so it's been months, and I never got the super expensive, super artistic Mic hel Bras knives from Shun that I was drooling over. I'm completely over my infatuation with them at this point. It's done. They are too expensive, not even constructed that soundly, and frankly wouldn't hold up a few months in a professional kitchen. That being said I am into a completely new range of must have knives. My new "must have or die" kitchen knife has to be a custom handcrafted one of a kind tool.

I guess the main reason I want a custom knife is just that, the customization factor. Not just because of aesthetic reasons, but for functionality as well. For a handmade knife you can personally adjust everything from the hardness of the steel, the pattern of the Damascus, from high carbon to stainless and even the angle of the blade edge. You can adjust the weight, length, thickness and even handle material. Because of this it is much easier to formulate the exact knife you want. Even with all the added cost of custom manufacture they are often just as expensive or cheaper than buying one of the high-end industrial brands. This is because an industrial knife will always have that profit making and store front margin of mark up. Anything you buy at Willams-Sonoma is going to be expensive, especially knives.

I decided it would be best for my culinary education to try one at least, and see if and how much better a handmade knife really is. We'll i've done some research and narrowed it down to a few choices I am comfortable with. First I would Like the knife to be made from an American blacksmith. I guess simply because I'm an American. I'm tired really of Asian steel or European steel being basically the only high quality cutlery options. I feel like they are to similar within their regions and to ordinary these days. Everyone has shuns and quite honestly whats the big difference between a Wusthof and a Henkel? I feel like at least an American knife would be something different. Here Are the knife makers I am looking at and examples of what they produce.

Wildfire Cutlery
I like these knives, although they look a bit like a Bob Kramer clone to me. These are the cheapest of the bunch and the simplest, but I've heard great things about the quality and durability, especially in a professional kitchen where things get tossed around accidentally. I'm not sure I want a super expensive knife around anyway. You can usually be sure in a kitchen that when you aren't looking somebody is using your knife for something crazy like cleaning a drain or cutting metal. It never fails.

Ray Rodgers Handcrafted
I really Like this knife maker, and it is so far my top choice. Just because of the quality and aesthetic beauty of the knifes he makes. A little more expensive than wildfire, but I think they look better. Also Ray Rodgers uses a higher carbon steel or stainless as an option when designing a knife.

Bob Kramer Knives
Bob Kramer are probably the most well known and hardest to get knives, mostly because he has designed a commercial line of knives for Shun. He still makes custom handmade's, but they are expensive and hard to get. Getting him to make one for you takes more luck than anything. One of our chefs at Black's Used one of the Shun Kramers, and I liked its look and feel, but would change a few things if I could. I'm not sure the process for making the Shun's, but i'm sure its not Bob who's hammering them.

Jay Fisher Knives
The Jay Fisher Knives begin to go outside the realm of practicality and into the realm of show pieces, but they are nice to look at none the less. I think I would never get one for everyday use. Maybe for home use, but you have to admit they look nice. Jay also makes custom sheaths for all of his knives. No two are the same and each one is made out of exotic custom materials. Maybe after I become rich and famous, and have nothing better to do then watch movies and cut grilled cheese sandwiches I'll get one.

Well I hope if your reading this you click and the links for the knife makers and check them out. Let me know what you think and which one I should get. Also let me know where I'm going to come up with the money to actually get one. I guess that's an important factor too. I need a daddy Warbucks.

Catch up!

2009-12-18T15:38:00.010+01:00

Ok, so it been about 10 years since I have posted anything about scho ol, classes and everything else about my life in Paris. I've been so busy with Le Cordon Bleu and being social that I've had little time for much else. A strange thing happened during the second half of our basic program. Everyone in our cla ss basically much became really good friends. I don't know if it's the intensive nature of the program that made us so close. I mean we spent usually 5-6 days a week together. Maybe it was our passion for food. I mean that is the common factor bringing us all together. Maybe we are all just friendly people, and would get along with anyone. Whatever it was or is, we had a good group so far. As I'm writing this, class is over, done, the end. Many people have already boarded planes and headed back home. I miss everyone. Well to be fair, just Basic Cuisine is over. Those of us getting the dipome still have intermediate and superior along with 6 more months of class to go. On top of that we have our stage for 3-4 months. Anyway half our class is coming back in January, so before I get to nostalgic and teary-eyed (one day after finishing basic) let me fill you in on the scuttlebutt of the last month and a half! First I need to figure out where we left off. Oh yeah, the market tour. Soooo long ago.

So much has happened since last time, mainly all the important winter holidays and of course my girlfriend Chloe coming to visit. This post has basically been sitting in draft form the whole of winter just gathering dust. Well now I guess I'd better dust it off and get back to work. (For real this time!)

Well today is January 25th and looking back on Basic from almost a month a go I miss it. Mostly for the people, but a little bit of everything really. I think I really like the pace of intensive. Maybe it's from me working in a restaurant before I came. But I like being in a kitchen all day. Also to be honest, I just want to get it done. I feel the slower pace of the regular class schedule is making me get a bit rusty and lazy in the kitchen. It might be all part of my imagination, but none the less I want an extra job or something just so I can get more cooking time. I also miss our primary basic chef, Chef Lesourd. Don't get me wrong all the chefs at LCB are great, Lesourd just had a comedy about him and a laissez-faire attitude that made sitting through hours upon hours of lectures somewhat easier.

Alan and Chef Lesourd (somewhat larger for effect)

My first impression of Intermediate is that it is just an extended version of Basic Cuisine. The main difference is that most lessons now are accompanied by a region of France as well. Not only do we cook from a specific region, but we get a little back history on the background, influences and style of each region. As a student of history, this is always interesting to me, but unfortunately we get this information in the way of an extra handout in our recipe binder. I wish we got an actual part of a lesson or something. I guess the recipes take top priority though.

Another thing I miss about basic is the small c lass size we enjoyed. For Intermediate we almost have every seat taken up. There is a lot of people I have yet to really even say two words to in intermediate. It's kind of daunting, especially since most of the people from the regular basic class at least know each other to a certain degree. The small size of basic was kind of comforting in the respect that everyone in the class was basically your friend instead of a stranger. Like I said earlier though, who knows what will happen with time though.

Chloe came to visit. Wait that needs more pomp and fanfare. CHLOE CAME TO VISIT!! FINALLY!! That's better! Too bad I can't make that statement flash on an off or something. Chloe has been the one thing keeping me sane and motivating me while i'm here in Paris so naturally I was looking forward to her arriving so so so so much. Needless to say Chloe's visit to Paris was everything I hoped for and more. As much as I enjoy Paris, it is truly different being here with someone you love. It seems a lot more romantic and a little less dingy everywhere you go. I think it was great for our relationship because the one thing time apart makes us consider is how bad do we really want to make the whole across the ocean thing work? Lucky both of our responses to that is really really (without any doubts) bad. I think it was great for her to actually see what it is I do and where I go along with the people I hang out with. Up until this point most of that was just what she put together with her imagination. Now when I tell her I did this or when there with someone she knows exactly what I am talking about. Chloe also had the opportunity to come to class (almost everyday I did). At LCB we are allowed to bring guest, but I think by the end of Chloe's visit everyone was convinced she was secretly a pastry student. I don't think she has a new found need to go out and cook, but I think it was interesting for her none the less. The only downside is now I can't wait to be reunited with her again, hopefully sooner than later.

Well there it is i'm back. Tomorrow: Demo 0830. Don't let me get behind on my blogging anymore!

8:30-2200

2009-12-05T00:28:00.006+01:00

Well here I am, at the same spot I always end up at. Behind on my blogging! I don't know how it happens, but I'm over it, its the weekend anyways. Today was a long day. Cooking from 8:30 am to basically 10:00 pm. I figured I should share a few pictures from our long day. We had to lessons and two practicals, but a little bit of down time in between. I'm too tired now to write a real post and have class at 8:30 Saturday morning! Stay tuned though, I will be back probably Sunday for all the details on what's been going on in and out of school.

Taking a break to steal cake from the pastry students. (I'm almost Hidden)

Beer Break! (Thanks Alan)

Bernie learning how to shuck oyster without killing himself

I did learn something rather interesting tonight though. This innocent piece of kitchen equipment looks harmless enough. I mean many of us have seen it some where before. It's a powdered sugar shaker or something like that right? Wrong! In France it's basically called a rather vulgar sexual hand motion. This gesture is produced from the motion of applying powdered sugar to something. I'm not going to put the word, but I bet you can figure it out. That's actually what they call it in French Kitchens. French cooks can be obscene sometimes. By sometimes I mean always.

Market Tour (Slide Show)

2009-11-25T00:42:00.004+01:00

Today we took our tour of a traditional French Market with our chef. I took a lot of pictures and wanted to upload them all, but the only way I could figure out how to do this, without linking to flickr or picasa was to make a slide show type movie.

The market tour was a great experience because frankly we don't have anything along the size and scale of that back home in the U.S. Most of the people selling the food at the market were also the people who grew/harvested/raised the product in the stands. I don't know very much french, but from seeing the chef interact with the vendors, its easy to see how this provides a closer link to the food your eating than a modern supermarket can provide. If you want to know what a chicken was fed, and how many times a day, all you have to do is ask.

The surprise at the market is how much strange meats and animal product they had at the market. From calf brains to cow faces, I didn't know the french ate such weird food. I know most Americans would gag at alot of stuff for sale. They even had a horse butcher. Our chef explained that mostly old people eat things like that nowadays. Apparently the war years and immediately after made most of the french diet into just really bizzare and cheap meats. Now he says, young people eat just like Americans.

This Cook

On to the next thing

Greek Sandwhich

More Rungis Photos

Pictures of Rungis, Courtesy of Mike Nelson

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8:30-2200

Market Tour (Slide Show)