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.