pozole

When lime (the mineral) is added to whole corn kernals it creates a product called hominy in the U.S. or pozole in Mexico. The chemical process makes the corn kernals look identical to candy corn and also softens the outer skin and makes the niacin, which is naturally occurring in corn, now available to the human body. It is quite a cool little process, one that was included in the soup I made tonight, fancifully named pozole. It was a delicious combination of chicken broth, tomatillos, onions, serrano peppers, lime juice, epazote (an herb commonly used to aid in the digestion of beans= less gas), Mexican oregano, lard, hominy/pozole, chicken meat, pork meat, avocado, red onion, sunflower seeds, and tortilla strips for garnish.

According to Chef, it was Mexico in a bowl. "If you eat this, you don't even need to go to Mexico!" He was kidding of course because if everything in Mexico is this delicious, we should all definitely go.

staircases

Like a stair case the curriculum here builds upon itself. It is so cool to look back and see where I was 9 weeks ago, just 63 short days ago I was freaking out about getting one dish right, one plate, one shot, just me and my food. Now, I'm part of a team, a half to a whole, putting out 10-12 plates of more complex food. Its purely exciting. And just like a staircase, you keep moving upward but its nice to look behind you, every once in a while, and see how far you've come.

Chili Rellenos

Note to self: quinoa needs to rapidly boil during the entire cooking time in order to cook properly. Its not like rice where it simmers and then burns. Do it nice or do twice. Today, I did it twice.

The quinoa was added to cooked black beans (simmered with carrot, onion, garlic, and sun dried tomato), swiss cheese, Chihuahua cheese, marjoram, and cilantro to make a delicious stuffing for Poblano peppers. The peppers were served with Salsa Amarillo, squash salsa, guacamole, and blue corn tortilla chips.

Salsa Amarillo was yellow bell pepper, onions, garlic, cinnamon, allspice, coriander and water cooked down until soft. The mixture is then blended with lime juice, tomatillos, and salt to make a wonderfully sweet puree.

Squash salsa was made of blanched yellow summer squash, zucchini, and carrots. Then we added chopped chipotle in Adobo sauce, lime juice, cilantro, red onion, and sugar.

Finally, the trick to a good guacamole is to salt it, salt it, and keep salting it. Extra salt is needed to cut the fattiness of the avocado and make all the other flavors shine.

tongue, cheek, eyeball, and brain

What do all these body parts have in common? I ate them all today. We made a whole curry braised goat for dinner tonight. My chef broke down the head into the above parts for us all to taste. Naturally, I ate everything he put in front of me. When will you get to eat stringy goat cheek? Sand paper like tongue? Foie gras like brain? Or crunchy/mushy eyeball (yes, including the pupil and cornea)? Only at the CIA.

pan smoke

Pan smoking is a technique when wood chips/shavings are put in the bottom of a dry pan, a rack with food on it is placed over the wood chips so they're not touching, and the pan is heated on the stove top until they woods starts smoking, the heat source is removed and the food is covered shortly to impart a smoky flavor. We made a smoked sweet potato puree to go with pan seared wild stripe bass, black beans, coconut rice, and grapefruit salsa. Beautiful colors, beautiful food.

saturday class

Because we are going to have two days off for Thanksgiving, we didn't have a 3 day weekend this past week at the beginning of the block (like we usually do) and we had class today. I'm tired and I miss getting two whole days to just relax and regroup, but other than that, I love these classes and that's why I'm here, so if Saturday class is what's needed then so be it.

We make the same menu for two days in a row in rotating teams of two. Each team is responsible for one of the dishes below, we also have a sous chef, tournant (expeditor), and soup/salad. We featured Southern American cuisine these last two days... I love regional cooking, it has such rich history and significance.

Set up for Family Meal... and our beautiful, GIGANTIC kitchen

Fried Chicken, Braised greens, Mashed potatoes, and Country Gravy

Pane Quail, Saute Spinach with bacon, Red beans with Tasso ham, and rice

Pulled Pork (Western Carolina Style-- vinegar, chili flakes, sugar, and ketchup), Cole Slaw, and Assorted Pickled Veg

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya with fried Mirliton (squash family)--my dish

Apple cakes for dessert.. <3>
Happy Saturday everybody! Tomorrow's going to be a lovely day of rest.

the baker

There is a most unfortunate prejudice on campus between the Baking Students and the Culinary Students. CIA offers two majors: Culinary Arts (cooking-- meat, vegetable, starch, savory cookery) and Baking and Pastry Arts (baking--cookies, breads, tarts, pies, chocolates, sugar sculptures). It is one of the first questions you ask when you meet someone new on campus: "Culinary or Baking?" Sometimes Culinary students will tease Bakers for not working as hard, or taking too many breaks, and sometimes the Bakers will tease Culinary for not knowing anything about baking while they know how to cook steak. Of course when I say tease, I really mean use offensive language and get quite nasty, but tease is really more appropriate because its about as immature as teasing. The thing is we both need each other and neither is inferior.

As a Culinary student, I especially appreciate the Bakers when one lives in my room and gives me treats like the Maple Pecan ice cream above. De-licious.

baby vegetables and the library

While 15 minutes may not seem like a long time it equates to about 1/8 the amount of time I have for cooking in class, and today I spent 15 minutes peeling, trimming, and cleaning baby carrots. I had not anticipated that this particular task would be so consuming but I was pleasantly surprised to find myself bent over each carrot gently peeling off their delicate outer layer exposing beautiful, clean vegetable, all the while being careful not to break off their bright stems. Real baby carrots (carrots that are picked young-- not the "Baby Carrots" we buy in grocery stores in plastic bags for school lunches that are actually big carrots, trimmed down into nice little 3 bite pieces.. shocking, right?) are a sight to behold. I wished I had my camera with me today because the view of the contrastrasting light green stems and the rich orange flesh, is one that needs to be shared. Baby carrots are also cool because they are so time consuming. It is impossible to rush through the process of preparing them because doing so would cause permanent damage, i.e. break them. In a strange way they reminded me of baby humans and their reminder to us of how careful we have to be sometimes and that some things just can't be rushed.

As I mentioned before, I have started a new class this week and my chef is downright inspiring. Every single blog post I have written in the past has been on my laptop from my dorm room, but tonight I find myself in the library computer lab studying his powerpoints, researching things we talked about in class, and pouring over books that he suggested. I am not just here for him either, I'm here looking at books that I've been meaning to read but hadn't quite gotten around to and now that I'm in his class basking in his knowledge, I'm inspired to be more knowledgable myself. It's an exciting attitude shift towards openess. Once I get a taste of facts and stories during his lectures, I only want more. And that's why I find myself tonight, here in the library.

3 weeks

That's the amount of time we have in each class. For most college students a class lasts 4 months, but here they last 14 days. Those 3 week increments allowed me to start classes here 3 days after I graduated high school at the end of June. There are a couple advantages to starting at such a weird time. The first is that my incoming group is pretty small, we have smaller classes (9-12 students) allowing for everyone to cook more and stand around less. I hear about these classes of 18-21 and I wonder what the students do. Second, there is a very diverse group of people in my class not just high school graduates like the majorities of the incoming August classes. It is so helpful to have 24, 28, and 31 year olds giving you perspective about the Food Industry and life. Lastly, we are learning about American cuisine at Thanksgiving time which I think is just awesome.

I am also glad that the classes last 3 weeks allowing us to have a very wide range of Chefs as instructors. There are days when its frustrating to let go of a skill you learned last week with one Chef in exchange for your current Chef's instructions. However, the Chefs here each have something very different and unique to offer that being exposed to so many different personalities provides a very rich education.

prime time

I forgot to mention that yesterday started a new block-- 3 week set of class that just so happens to be Cuisines of the Americas! I say it just so happens because next Thursday is arguably North America's most historical meal and tonight in lecture we talked all about the pilgrims! Its such cool timing I couldn't help but smile.

Yesterday's and today's menu was:

New England Style Clam Chowder
Amish Corn and Chicken Soup
Apple Cider Vinaigrette on mixed greens
Old Fashioned Salt Cod Cakes with bacon, cole slaw, and remoulade sauce
Yankee Pot Roast, root vegetables, peas, and pearl onions
Turkey Breast with Chestnut Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce
Johnnycakes with Mushrooms, White Cheddar, Roasted Acorn Squash, Corn, and Beans

I also couldn't have anticipated how exciting it would be to learn about American food (North and South America). I have always felt a strong connection to home and where I came from and so its really not a surprise that I love learning about American food, but I guess I'm surprised at how rich our food history is. There is historical meaning behind every single item on our menu today and that's what my chef keeps highlighting, the importance of the ingredients. My class is really like a history class through food. Here are some of the interesting facts:

• Salt Cod Cakes are a mixture of cod and potatoes, pan-fried and eaten warm. Salt Cod was popular among settlers because cod was abundant off the coasts of New England and salting it was a method of preserving it. Combining the fish with pureed potatoes extended the use of the fish thus creating a fish version of meat loaf.
  
• Yankee pot roast is a more refined version of New England Boiled Dinner... settlers would take animals' hides, fill them with water, put bits of meat and vegetables in the water, and add a glowing hot stone that would instantly boil the water creating a flavorful liquid--broth. The thickened roux based, gravy-like, fortified-with-wine sauce we now associate with pot roast is the French influence. Traditional American Pot Roast though, is just boiled meat. Root vegetables are also native to the Americas and many settlers ate wild root vegetables before they developed a taste for carrots (originally from Afghanistan), squash (Peru), and corn (Mexico).
  
• Johnnycakes were originally a Native American staple food called "Ash Cakes" because they would take ground corn meal and cook it in hot ashes. Settlers saw this and revised the recipe by frying the ground meal in pans. After a demonstration in class yesterday, it was confirmed these cakes are durable and can withstand frisbee like conditions. They were carried by soldiers like "Johnny" during the Revolutionary War because of their durability. As the cakes made their way south, they were eaten by field hands who would hold their shovels or hoes over a fire in the fields and cook the cakes on the ends. In the South they are still referred to by many as hoecakes.
  

I love class and I can't wait to go back tomorrow.

johnnycakes, mushrooms and white cheddar sauce, succotash

There is something so lovely about heavy cream, butter, and cheese all melted together and cooked down to form a wonderous sauce. Throw in some mushrooms, shallots, Madeira, brandy, white wine, and you've got the sauce I made in class today. Delicious.

The sauce was layered between Johnnycakes-- which are cornmeal pancakes but firmer, more savory, and smaller than breakfast pancakes. The hearty corn and delicate mushrooms played very nicely together as their contrasting textures heightened eachother's crunchy and silky characteristics, respectively.

Acorn squash was quartered, brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with maple sugar, then baked at 350° for about 45 minutes. 1/2 inch green bean pieces and corn kernals were tossed in butter, seasoned with salt and pepper and spooned over the sqauash. Toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped parsley, and chopped chive were the final garnish.

Vegetarianarianism

I went running along the Hudson River today... how was your day?

After my little jaunt along the water, I headed to the kitchen for Day 14 of Skills III which is focused on Vegetarian cookery-- no bacon on the vegetables, no chicken stock in the rice, and no beef stock in the sauce. My team made Pierogies with caramelized onions, sage brown butter, butter braised cabbage, and sour cream. Making the pierogies was so fun because standing around a counter rolling pasta with other people creates almost a magnetic field that pulls people in and allows them to share stories.

I also ate a most wonderful combination today. As I sat in the dining hall eyeing the tray of peanut butter cookies and wondering what they would be like dipped in Chocolate Milk, I got a little smile on my face. I had already eaten a Chocolate Chip Peanut cookie dipped in milk and I figured one was enough for today. I couldn't shake the idea, so I eventually just gave in and could not be happier that I did. It was the best thing I ate today. The Chocolate Milk at our school is supplied by Hudson Valley Fresh and they produce one heck of a Chocolate Milk.

Peanut butter cookie+ chocolate milk= happiness

Cooking Practical

There is a wonderful little trick called beurre manie. It is when flour (50%) and butter (50%) are kneaded together and small amounts are added to a sauce, soup, or stew to thicken it at the last minute.

Our final practical examination for Skills III consisted of making Beef Stew, mashed potatoes, cut vegetables, and broccoli cream soup. Everything was going swimmingly until our Beef Stew was still thin right before service. What did we do? Knead some butter and flour together, throw small amounts into the stew, stir, and bring to a simmer. What did we end up with? Beautifully, rich, thick beef stew. Yum.

disappointing

Late for service. We got slammed tonight even though it was deep and shallow poach fish (which are commonly unpopular). My menu was: one fillet of shallow poach trout stuffed with salmon mousse, one fillet of pan friend trout, vin blanc sauce, spaghetti squash, thyme roasted tomatoes, and broccoli.

Each day we come into the kitchens, set up our stations, check in our food order (meat, produce, dairy, etc. all the food needed for the day's menu), and start cooking for dinner. When service comes around, we have most items cooked. During service students and faculty come to the kitchen, tell Chef what they want, he calls it out, we plate the food to order, and then we send the plate to the front of the kitchen where Chef hands the plate to our customer.

Tonight, there was a misunderstanding about who was going to be doing what stations during service. We break down the different components of the plate into different jobs, so for instance someone will be in charge of heating the broccoli and getting it on the plate. The broccoli is cooked earlier in class, cooled, held in the "lowboy" (refrigerator below our station), dropped in hot water, drained, tossed in butter, and put on the plate. Somehow, I ended up plating everything and taking care of all the vegetables. It was awesome because I got a system going and I was in the groove, hammering out beautiful plates. The only problem was I should have been working with more people (my team mates) and we should have been even faster. When I started to get backed up, my team mates realized and wanted to help but I didn't know what to tell them to do because it was easier to just keep plugging ahead than stop and reorganize to incorporate more people. If you ever find yourself in this situation as the person who wants to help, come up with a solution to be more efficient and then approach the person who needs help because they don't have time to stop and think of a solution themselves. Overall, it was a frustrating day because while I am here to be my best, I am also part of a team and the team struggled tonight.

Career Fair

So many cool employers were at the Career Fair-- Chipotle, Whole Foods, the Little Nell, Marriott, Tribeca Ovens, Wegman's, and the Taco Truck are just a few. Career Fair was awesome today and it felt so good to have my resume ready to hand out and I really enjoyed talking with employers about their companies. One of the employers asked me what the best thing I ate recently was and I had to think-- Wild Mushroom Risotto and a Balsamic Dressed Mixed Green Salad. I came up with the answer pretty quickly but he caught me off guard and it was a good reminder to be prepared.

:)

We made Chicken Fricasse again today and I loved it the second time too. The neat thing about the food here is that its all homemade and I like knowing that. We make all our stocks here (Chicken, Brown Veal, Fish, White beef) and every dish starts from the ground up. I think that's what makes Chicken Fricasse so good, the ingredients are honest and the flavors are pure. Its a very simple dish and the chicken gets a chance to shine honestly.

Also, I was in the community kitchen in my dorm tonight and a friend of mine brought his guitar and started playing songs while I washed dishes. As I sat at the table and pretended to do homework, I felt so incredibly happy. Good music, good food, good people-- good day.

beef stew beef stew, whatcya gonna do?

So it's always been a mystery to me how to cook different pieces of meat. I've wondered why you fry some, roast some, cook some in a pan, and others you cook for a long period of time with lots of liquid. It was always this last category that fascinated me because that meat seemed to undego the greatest transformation from tough, stretchy, grey meat to melty chunks of deliciousness. As it turns out that type of cooking is called stewing or braising (the main difference being that stewing refers to bite size pieces of meat, and braising is done on large cuts that are later portioned into individual servings). When it comes to trying to decide what type of meat is best for what method of cooking, it is important to look at the animals muscles and classify them as high activity or low activity muscles. Shoulders, necks, and legs are high activity muscles because of their intensive use and extended periods of engagement i.e. all the time. Low activity muscles include muscles surrounding the belly, back, or rib cage because on most four legged animals those muscle groups are not used strenuously. High activity muscles are tough when cooked and posses high amounts of collagen connective tissue, while low activity muscles are often very tender and have little to no collagen. This collagen is important to consider when cooking a high activity piece of beef because in its raw form the collagen is stretchy and incredibly tough to cut through, however over low heat for a long period of time, it melts and becomes wonderfully rich. Activity level also correlates to flavor, and that is true for fish as well. Because tenderloins are virtually useless in an animal (they are surrounded by much, much larger muscles that instead do any work required) they also have virtually no flavor when compared to say a beef shank (pictured above, from the leg) that is just so full of beefy flavor, its awesome. Stewing and braising are best for high activity (tough) cuts of meat while sauteeing, roasting, grilling, and poaching are best for low activity (tender) cuts of meat.

So today we made beef stew which turned out okay due to the fact that our meat did not simmer long enough and was still chewy. Other than that, its Friday. What more could you ask for?

IIPC

Introduction to Interpersonal Communication

I started taking this class last week and since then I have learned my emotional intelligence, Myers-Briggs personality type, and top 3 personality traits. I love stuff like this because it helps us communicate and understand in so many awesome ways.

fireside chats and steak

As I was walking out of my room today my room mate was bubbly with excitement about what she was watching on her computer, curious I leaned in and waited with her for the president to address the nation. I am so thankful that there are such diverse people in this world because I had totally lost sight that yesterday was Election Day and yet my room mate was closely following the election. Standing there huddled around the computer watching our president speak, we reminded myself of a modern day version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats" and their incredible impact on our nation. I was excited as I walked to class by how lucky I am to live in such a cool country and on a much smaller scale how lucky I am to live in a room with such a cool girl.

The excitement continued as I fried potatoes for French Fries and grilled steak for our dinner service. I love deep fried food. Do I want to eat it everyday? No. Do I love whole grains and tofu? Yes. I'm not on one end of the spectrum or the other, I love deep fried food and I love healthy food. There is just something wonderful about the satisfyingly crisp, golden texture that develops on fried foods and the wonderful rich flavor.... mmmm. And who doesn't love a good steak? The plate was completed with a mushroom stuffed tomato and buttered broccoli.

Nothing.

That's we got... nothing. We were both on time for service and lecture tonight. No paper, just another day in paradise.

When I was assigned to make the glazed beets tonight, I knew it was going to be good because when you feel a special connection to an ingredient, it makes you want to work that much harder to make it beautiful and let it shine. I wish I could say I felt that way about every single ingredient that has ever passed in front of me in a kitchen but the truth is I haven't, some will always remain special and I will always feel a special drive to do them justice. Fresh squeezed orange juice is one such ingredient. As I watched my friend squeeze the oranges for their liquid gold I just smiled because there is nothing in this world like fresh squeezed orange juice. Nothing.

I gathered the sugar, water, butter, salt, and fresh squeezed orange juice for my glazed beets. I heated up a pan until it was really hot (but not smoking), so that when I poured in the orange juice (6 oz) it would steam instantly and sizzle up into a million bubbles. I stirred in the sugar (8 oz) until it was dissolved and then added some water (maybe 6 oz), and simmered the glaze until it rendered thick, glossy bubbles. I added a good pinch of salt and about 2 oz of butter. The end result was a stunning gold glaze. I tossed cut, cooked, and peeled beets in the glaze and served them with braised kale, spatzle, and a breaded veal cutlet.

When cooking beets they should be left whole and brought to boil in cold, salted, acidulated (1 oz lemon juice or vinegar/ 1 Gallon water) water. Don't peel them because all their betalaine (purple vegetable pigment) will seep out into the water.

CAUTION: eating large amounts of beets will stain your teeth pink. While this may be endearing to some dinner guests, I can also see it being embarassing in some dinner situations. Not that it's not worth it, or that pink teeth aren't cool because they are, but just be aware that its a side effect.

wish you were here

The view here today was spectacular. It has been annoyingly warm here for the past week and yesterday Mother Nature finally decided to realize it was almost November and it should be cold. So today on the first day of November, it was wonderfully chilly and awesomely sunny.

The kitchen today was not chilly or sunny, it was however late. We were making Breaded Pork Cutlets, glazed beets, braised kale, and spatzle, one of my favorite meals here. Then we also made Filet Mignon, Cauliflower, green beens, and potato gratin. As I mentioned before, we were late for service and for every minute we're late, we have 1 page to write. And then for each minute we are late to lecture (8 p.m.) we get 1 page. Tonight was 7 minutes late for service and 18 minutes late for lecture. That's 25 pages... Chef gave us the option to gamble Double or nothing... so we're either going to have a 50 page paper due Wednesday or nothing at all. We can be on time tomorrow, I have faith.