another magical day in the kitchen

A friend of mine from high school asked me what my favorite thing was about cooking. I couldn't answer him at the time but after some thought I realized there was one thing I really loved: the transformation. The way onions go from snow white, firm, and bitter to golden brown, limp, and sweet never ceases to impress me. I love transformations.

Tonight was one of those nights where the transformations were just beautiful to behold. We made Espagnole sauce and Jus de Veau Lie. Espagnole sauce started by heating clarified butter and then browning carrots, onions, and celery. Once the mirepoix was browned, tomato paste was added and cooked so that it would turn from bright red to brick red. Then brown veal stock was added and the mixture was thickened with a brown roux. Now let me tell you something about this brown roux, it was just a combination of flour (60%) and clarified butter (40%) that had been cooked until it turned dark, dark brown and smelled like toffee. It smelled sooooooooooo good. It was just like my mom's toffee. I had another one of those crazy smiles on my face as I scooped out globs of this thick brown paste into a cup because it smelled like our annual Cousins' Christmas Cookie Baking Day when we get so lost in conversation that we forget about the cookies and let one tray go too long in the oven. Flour and butter make lovely smells together! So then the Espagnole sauce is simmered to let the roux come to its full potential. At the same time I was also making a Jus de Veau Lie which started with hot clarified butter and chunks of veal meat. The meat was browned in the pan and then removed. Carrots, onions, and celery were added to the pan and browned and then tomato paste was added just like with the Espagnole sauce. But then the pan was heated up really hot and red wine was poured in to deglaze the pan and get all the little pieces of meat/veg/tomato paste that were sticking to the bottom and sides off and into the liquid. Not only did the wine smell amazing-- like fresh picked berries-- but the messy brown pieces of food that were stuck all over the pan were now sliding effortlessly into a beautiful rich purple red sauce. Brown veal stock was then added and the sauce was simmered until the meat was tender (and delicious!) and then a slurry of cold water, arrowroot, and potato starch was added to thicken the sauce. Finally, the sauces were strained to remove the vegetables and meat.

baking brownies in chinese take out containers

So tonight when I got home I asked my room mate if I could have one of the brownies that had been sitting in a plastic container in the dark corner of her desk for the past week. When I pulled the container into the light I was surprised to find that she had actually baked the brownies IN the plastic container. I hadn't realized you could BAKE in plastic Chinese take-out containers! I remember eating Moo Shu Pork out this thing, and now it had been used to bake brownies. These little containers are AMAZING!

Another amazing thing happened today... I made mayonnaise! Now most things I prefer home made, except mayonnaise I like to leave up to Hellman's. But today, my mayonnaise was pretty good, I wanted to spread it right onto a toast sandwich. We also made hollandaise sauce (which might be my favorite sauce) and poured it over beautifully cooked broccoli. Both sauces start with egg yolk, water, and acid that is whipped like crazy with a whisk. Fat is slowly poured in while you continue to whip like its your job. Oil is added to the yolk mixture for mayonnaise and clarified butter for hollandaise. Its honestly pretty easy, just whip, whip, whip, whip! And FAST.

cauliflower, tomato, mushroom, and spinach

My two vegetarian sisters would have been pleased with today's class because it was the first day we did not use meat or any form of it (i.e. bones for stock). We made Bechamel sauce, Mornay sauce, creamed spinach, cauliflower gratin, and stuffed tomatoes. It was a bit of challenge after having days where we only made one dish, but it was fun as always.

The bechamel sauce is one of the Grand Sauces-- Espagnole, Veloute, Hollandaise, and Bechamel. We made veloute yesterday which is just white stock thickend with a pale roux. Bechamel sauce is milk thickened with a white roux. The creamed spinach was fresh baby spinach that was cooked in boiling, VERY salty water (imagine the ocean) and then tossed in a pan with butter and shallots, and then finished with heavy cream and bechamel sauce. The cauliflower gratin which means "brown on top" was cooked cauliflower (in salty acidic water...lemon juice was added to retain the whiteness of the cauliflower), Mornay Sauce (bechamel+Gruyere and Parmesan cheese), and grated Gruyere and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top and then browned in the oven, or salamander. The stuffed tomatoes were filled with Duxelle which is the name for really any variation of chopped mushrooms filling. We sauteed shallots in butter, added the mushrooms and white wine, and cooked it until all the liquid had evaporated and we were left with a dry Duxelle. We took halved, peeled and seeded tomatoes, stuffed them with Duxelle and topped them with Persillade. Persillade is fresh bread crumbs (white bread pulsed in the food processor), minced garlic, chopped parsley, and clarified butter. Everything was very delicious.

In total I ate: 1 tomato, 1 pint of spinach, and 8 mushrooms. I would have eaten a 1/4 head of cauliflower but I ran out of time because it was so darn hot I decided burning my tongue once was enough.

I just love it here

Here at the CIA, they teach you the methods. We are not learning how to make Lentil Soup or Cream of Broccoli soup so that we can make Lentil Soup and Cream of Broccoli soup for the rest of our lives, but so that we can make puree soup and cream soups the emphasis is on learning the technique. I love that. I like being given the tools and then letting me decide how I want to use them. Constantly, we are being told the sky is limit and you can do anything you want in the Food Industry because there are so many opportunities. Teach, farm, cook, write, photograph, travel, sell, etc. You can do anything you want, I like that attitude.

a good day for a bad day

I have never wished I was having a bad day but today when I was whacking fish skeletons into manageable pieces for fish stock, I knew this would be a great way to relieve the tension of a stressful/bad day. We received a big black bag full of fish skeletons with lots of smelly fish juice dripping off the sides from the Fish Room (where I was in class two weeks ago) that we turned into a wonderfully flavored liquid called fumet. The difference between fumet and fish stock is that you sweat the bones and mirepoix first in hot butter and then you add the water, whereas with fish stock you just add bones and mirepoix straight to cold water.

bacon and onion, mmmmmm.....

I knew the lentil soup was going to be good the instant the bacon hit the pan. Not even a second later, sweet smokiness filled my nose and I fell in love with bacon all over again. It happens to me every single time I fry bacon, without fail. Then I added the onions and let those release their incredible fragrance. I took a deep breath as I leaned over the pan, "mmmmmmmm," I sighed. I thought of my room mate tonight because one day she told me that she was "firmly convinced that the presence of God smells like that of fresh cut cilantro". However, I am firmly convinced that the presence of God smells like bacon and onions sizzling gently in a pan.

About a year ago I read an article by my favorite chef, Grant Achatz. He talked about how people taste food differently and the difficulty that poses to us as cooks. I thought it was a fascinating piece and one that I thought about for days after reading it, and still think about a year later. This particular article also made me really insecure because how was I ever supposed to be able to season food properly if everyone tasted it differently? So last week we did an exercise that has dispelled my fear of seasoning and made me a more confident cook. Chef took equal amounts of chicken stock, and lined them up with ascending amounts of salt (none, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp, etc.) and we tasted them all and told him what we thought was perfect. On the chart of saltiness I fell into the lower half (meaning I like less salt) but very close to the middle. However, Chef was above me on the salty scale. I now know that when I am seasoning my food in class, which he tastes and grades me on, I need to salt it to where I think is appropriate and then salt a little more in order to get to his preference. Tonight, I thought my lentil soup was perfectly seasoned and like clockwork, Chef thought it needed salt. I got so excited because it tasted wonderful to me that I forgot I should add that extra little pinch.

daddy's girl

My dad and I share several common loves: driving around on back country roads, my mom, sleeping, and potatoes. Fried, mashed, baked, or in chip form, my dad loves potatoes. So I was thinking about him today while I was cooking Potato and Leek soup and making mashed potatoes. We were also visiting my dad's family in California when I first had Potato and Leek soup and we made mashed potatoes the same way his mom did by using a food mill or ricer.

The Potato and Leek soup was simple and absolutely delicious. First, the onions and leeks were sweated (the moisture drawn out over a med/low heat) in clarified butter. Then diced potatoes, chicken stock, and a sachet d'epice ( "bag of spices":a little pocket of cloth with thyme, parsley stems, crushed black pepper, bay leaf, and a clove of garlic... all for flavor) were added to the pot and cooked until the potatoes were tender. I forgot to add my sachet d'epice when I added my stock and I didn't realize it until I was ready to puree my soup and remembered it was important to remove my sachet from the soup---when oops! I couldn't find it because I had never put it in. Luckily, I had 50 more minutes until my soup had to be ready, so I added the sachet and turned the heat way down to low and let the flavors infuse. After pureeing the soup in a blender, I added hot cream and chopped chives. It was smooth, full flavored, and so, so easy. The next time you are looking to make something wonderful, look no further than this soup. Here is the recipe:

1 oz clarified butter
6 oz leeks
1.5 oz onion
10 oz chef's potato
1 qt chicken stock
1 sachet d'epice (1 bay leaf, 5-6 crushed black peppercorns, 1 clove garlic, 2-3 parsley stems, and 1 good sprig of thyme)
6 oz cream (hot)
few chives chopped
salt and white pepper to taste

Heat the butter, then add the onions and leeks. Let the onions and leeks sweat for a few minutes, being careful not brown them, and keeping the heat about med/low. Add the potatoes, stock, and sachet. Simmer gently until the potatoes are tender. Blend in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer blended soup back to cooking pot, and add hot cream. Season. Stir in chives immediately before serving.

It is important that the cream is hot because when the hot starchy potato molecules are exposed to cold, they'll seize up and get very gluey. It is part of a process called gelation.

Also, when making mashed potatoes, we dried out the potatoes after cooking them to remove excess moisture. We did this by draining the potatoes from their cooking water and returning the potatoes back to their pot and then letting them sit a hot oven (400°F) until they get little white spots all over them and are very dry. Chef said this makes them fluffier.

p.s. Day 6 is a good day for food-- Banh Mi sandwich for lunch and fried pork cutlet with spaetzle for dinner.