Well.....here I am back in Denver. Today was our first day in the kitchens! It was GREAT! We met Chef Dale (who will be teaching Hot Plate), Chef Pete (who will be teaching Garde Manger), and Chef Lexie (who will be teaching Bread and Pastry). Chef Pete went over all our knives, showed us how to use a steel to sharpen the knives, then taught us knife skills: a Brunoise is an 1/8 x 1/8 inch dice, a small dice is 1/4 x 1/4 inch, a julienne cut is 1/8 x 1/8 x 2 inches and Emince (eh-min say) which is NOT mincing but is 1/8 slices off a half an onion. We learned to Supreme a grapefruit-which is slicing off the skin and pith until you are left with just a round globe of fruit, then you slice out each section to use in a fruit salad or fruit plate. We did a chiffonade, which is essentially shredding most herbs (like basil) but can be done with lettuce or sorel. We learned to concasse: make a small round cut to core the tomato, slice a light X in the bottom of the tomato, peel the tomato after submerging it in boiling water for up to one minute and then plunging it in an ice water bath. The skin slides right off the tomato after that. Then you seed it by running your paring knife under the seeds and spine of the tomato quarter (seeds and skin are usually what gives people heartburn after eating spaghetti sauce, etc, the body cannot digest them). You can then either use the now "tomato petals" as an appetizer by piping goat cheese (either plain or mixed with any herb) into them. You can drizzle balsalmic vinegar over the goat cheese filled tomato petals. BUT, we julienned them then cut them into small dice.
We also made Persillade, which is four parts parsley mixed with 1 part garlic. You take two cloves of garlic and sprinkle sea salt over them, then chop them into very small pieces. The salt does three things: it keeps the garlic from sticking to the knife, it acts as a pomace when you are mashing the garlic, and lastly, removes water from the garlic "cooking it" in a sense. Once you have done this, use the edge of your knife, pressing and "kneading" the garlic and salt until it is a paste. Next you finely chop (mince) the Italian parsley then mix it with the garlic paste. You can make a pasta sauce with this using either butter or olive oil. Tastes good, smells FANTASTIC!! Yum!! Oh, yes, no more using yummy to describe food, we have to be specific, using terms very similar to those we used in the wine class.
We learned about mirepoux, which is 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery (cut into a Brunoise). This is a great base of flavor for many dishes, both French and Italian. You can also find this already diced mix at the grocery store.
We learned about Mise en Place or translated-"to put in place". Which more literally means, "getting your shit together." You get everything together that you need either for a specific recipe or the next meal or the next day.
By the time we finished with this, it was 2pm (!!) and time for lunch. We were very lucky.....Chef Lexey and Chef Dale made Tourin-which is an onion soup from the Bordeaux region in France, topped with a small scoop of goat cheese with lemon, parsley and a little salt in it. We took turns plating the food and then serving each other. This is something we will all get to do thru out the next three months. The second course was Quiche Lorraine and Simple Salad (which means a spring lettuce mix with viniagrette dressing). Mmmmmm...the quiche was very light, the bacon was not overcooked and the crust was light and flakey. The "Royale" or base for quiche is 3 eggs to one cup of liquid (dairy or water). This can be multiplied to cover as much as you need. "There are two roads a custard can take: either Sweet Street or Savory Way." A cute way to put it, I think, lol. For dessert (and the third course) we had Gianduja Mousse. Any quesses as to what that might be?? I didn't know either, lol. It has a chocolate hazelnut "flavor profile" (you'll hear that term again, I guess I will be speaking "chef" talk very soon, lol). A cake or mousse or candy can be a Gianduja, chocolate hazelnut.
We cleaned up after ourselves and then it was time to leave. I think I'm going to like this part of school!! Tomorrow we all learn to bake bread!!! Yeah!!!!
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