Saturday, September 25, 2010

Wasn't sure what to do with myself today! Seems weird not to be thinking about school or studying for school. I ran errands today as I will not have much of a chance to do so over the next two days. I did some baking today for Monday and for breakfast Sunday morning. I made a half sheet pan of brownies with chocolate chips and would have added Kahlua if Carl had had any! I also made raspberry filled cinnamon muffins and a Cinnamon-Almond Streusel Coffeecake. I mixed up a batch of Sun and Moon cookie dough-it needs to chill overnight. The dough is similar to sugar cookies but has an orange flavor profile. I will dip them in chocolate after they are baked (hence the sun and moon).

Tomorrow we start cooking and baking for Carl's Party on Monday. It will be Cris, Alta, Paula and I. Should be fun! Interesting to see if all of us can work in Carl's small kitchen, lol!

Looking forward to going home! Can't wait to see Jordan and Janell and Ah Choo and actually have my own kitchen!

Friday, September 24, 2010

I was up by 6:30am this morning so I could do a some more studying. I was at school before 10am which was good because they started our blind taste test (one red, one white) at exactly 10am. We had 20 minutes to figure out which wine was what, then the written exam started. I was a little dismayed at the exam. I finished a little before the time limit was up, but I ended up leaving some blanks because some of the answers I just couldn't remember. I guess I have to remind myself that all I want to do is pass and not worrying about the grade I got! Yikes!

At 1 pm, they cracked open a Jeroboam of champagne and we had a toast to our success. Then sat down to a Southern lunch of fried chicken, defiled eggs, salad with buttermilk dressing, mac&cheese, pickled vegetables of all kinds, buttermilk biscuits with grape jelly (which I had made earlier in the week) and peanut butter pie. Quite interesting! Not quite what you would expect, but good food none the less.
At the end of the meal, we (the students) went around and told everyone how we came to Cook Street as well as one funny story about our time at Cook Street. Everyone had really nice things to say. I'll be posting pictures for you soon!

We left the school to go to the Wrangler, where someone was throwing us a graduation party. How nice was that!? Carl and Bailey came too, my family in Denver, lol. We talked and danced then hugged and cried a little saying goodbye to everyone when we left. Only 8 of us are going to Europe.

Jordan flies out to Denver on Sunday to help me get my car and my "stuff" back to Reno. Myself and several classmates are doing the food for Carl, the owner of the B&B where I have been staying, whonis having a Restoration party on Monday, September 27. The outside restoration of the house is finally done (Capitol Hill Mansion is a historic landmark) and Carl wants to show it off. It will be a good experience for us. Then Jordan and I leave Tuesday morning to return to Reno.

I will not be writing everyday but will continue to log my culinary journies, especially while I am in Europe, so I hope you all will continue reading this blog and sending your comments my way. I'll even have time to share more recipes with you in the days to come! So enjoy and thanks to everyone for their encouragement!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I was up and at school by 7:30am. At 8am, we lined up at our cutting boards and chopped and sliced and concasse and brunoise all our vegetables. Then we fabricated our chicken, making one airline breast and one boneless skinless. We had a 30 minute break, then back at the workbench to make Pate Brisee dough, chill it, make mayonaisse using one egg yolk and one cup of oil, make pasta using one egg and 3/4 cup of flour, then roll out our pate brisee and put it in a tart pan. We were given two hours total to do all these things.

After a brief break, we chose two wines from a box of wines for our lunch, then went into our respective kitchens to each prepare our portion of lunch. GardeMo made an amuse bouche of a tapenade of olives and fish in a little pate au choux puff as well as a Leek Mushroom Tarte. Hot Plate made an Intermet of Cantaloupe Ice with Pernod and an entree of Lamb chops with a beautiful sauce, potatoes gratin and sauteed asparagus. Pastry (Sean) made three breads-french, dinner rolls and wheat bulgar. Collin and Corey made "White Russian" chocolates-you see their picture at the top of the page, lol. And Geoff and I made the Gateaux Basque tarte. All of our food got good reviews from the chef judges. Our total team score was 85. Not bad, considering our previous "cooking without a net" meal only got us a 78. Apparently not one ever gets a 90 or above!

We did not get out at 2:30 but 3:30pm instead. A few of us walked across the street and got something to eat at "It's Brothers" then all went home to study. We have a three hour written final at 10am tomorrow morning. I guess I better go study, as I have not done much in the way of studying today! Wish me luck!!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My last day of school today! Still can't believe it! We had no formal lecture today, instead, Chef Lexie talked again about our practical exams tomorrow morning, then covered our written test on Friday. We don't have to be at school until 8am tomorrow, although I will go a little early to get settled in and set up as needed. Friday, we start at 10am with two blind wine tasting. These will not be for extra credit but will count as part of our grade. The written test is 27 pages long and is broken down into three parts: wine, savory and sweet. Unfortunately, we will not get any grades back until the end of October. I did get a 101.5% on last week's exam. They told us today that no class has had the high scores my class has had during this session. Wow! Hard to believe!

I finished my Charlotte today as part of the dessert buffet. I cut the sponge cake rolls, lined my bowl with them, then made a Bavarian to fill it, then chilled it. You can see for yourself how it turned out! We also served the Nougat Glace I made the other day that has been sitting in the freezer. Geoff made a Frangipane and apple filled tart with caramel sauce. Good eating!

It was a day of odd jobs as well as cleaning and setting things up. I set up the table for the 8 chef judges for tomorrow. It had to be a formal setting, so it took some time-a charger, three forks, two spoons, steak knife and dessert fork as well as a water glass and two wine glasses, tablecloths and napkins. A nice diversion for part of the afternoon. Sean made the bread dough, with a little help from yours truly.

We ate lunch late (not sure why, but oh well) today. Lots and lots of food! Our "last meal" so to speak, lol. Arancinette (little fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella)with Caponata (the Italian version of ratatouille), Broccoli Romagna, Grilled Prawns with Marsala, Orecchiette with mushrooms and peas, Roasted Cauliflower Salad and Grilled Lamb. Everything was yummy and we all ate way too much. Collin made french bread, cheese bread rolls and Rye Beer bread. We had two wines today, a Vermentino and a Canonau, both quite good.

I received a call from Carl during school, he fell of a ladder and twisted his ankle. He's having quite a bit of pain, but it does not appear to be broken-according to Dr Woodward, lol. Just some swelling and slight discoloration. I told him to stay off of it, elevate it and ice it, then wrapped his foot and ankle with an ace bandage. Carl does not sit still very well!

I had dinner tonight with my friends in Castle Rock-it was a nice break. I've decided to postpone my Personal Chef class until the spring. I am just too tired and too tired of school to take another course right now. So I will be driving back to Reno next week and staying in Reno until October 4, when I will return to Denver so I can fly out with my classmates on Tuesday, October 5 to Rome.

Anyway, enough for now.......Wish me luck!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I was late for school today cause I stopped to help Carl with his computer. He's been having lots of problems lately. Oh, well....he's going to call his IT guy and have him come over this afternoon to continue working on it.

We're having cheese for dessert today, so I worked on a variation of a Charlotte Russe. I made a vanilla bisquit-type cake and baked it in a flat sheet pan. Once it came out of the oven, Chef Lexie and I rolled them (I had enough dough for two) in a cloth to cool (so they would cool wound up. Once they were cooled, I brushed them with a white rum flavored simple syrup, spread some pureed strawberry jam on them, then rolled them up again. They are wrapped in plastic in the walk-in. Tomorrow I will slice them, then line a bowl or pan with them, fill the pan with some Bavarian (cream), put more slices on top, then chill this. It will be unmolded onto a plate and served along with the Semi-Freddo. It is going to be a dessert buffet so I am sure we'll be making more things!

Geoff finished making the Gateau Basque-the tart/cake will have to make for our final. It tasted pretty good, but we now have to figure out how to plate it attractively. That requires imagination! We are going to make our three bread doughs tomorrow afternoon, that is the only thing they are going to let us do ahead of time. Otherwise, we have about two hours to get everything done we need to get done AND plate them attractively AND serve them to the judges. Chef Lexie decided today though, that we need to make two Gateau Basque tarts, one they can look at and judge and one that we cut and serve (to check taste, presentation, etc). I think we'll do ok.

Chef Pete lectured on Southern Italy. This includes Umbria, Calabria, Campania,the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, Marches, Latium (this region contains the large city of Rome), Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, and Basilicata. Quite a lot! Umbira is the only southern landlocked area. All the other regions border the Mediterranean Sea, the Tyrrhnian Sea, the Tonian Sea and the Adriatic Sea. So as you can imagine, lot of fish and shellfish. The geography of these regions is mountainous, rocky, hilly and hot. There are flat areas along the Adriatic coast.

Southern Italy was colonized by the Greeks in about the 8th Century B.C. The Greeks brought grapes and olives. In the 3rd century B.C. the Romans invaded and unified the peninsula-the first step towards social and economic developments. In 1030 A.D. the Normans invaded, bringing salt cod to the area. In the 1700s the tomato was brought over from the New World. 1861 was the year Italy was unified. From 1880-1920, 5 million immigrants from Italy came to America (4 million are actually from southern Italy, bringing Italian foodstuffs and styles with them.

The pillars of the southern Italian table are bread, wine and olive oil. Pig is "king" meaning, there are lots of pork products from this region-bacon, mortadella, pancetta, sprressota, capicolla and coppa. Olive trees thrive here as do citrus trees-lots of lemons and blood oranges. Artichokes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, figs, tangerines, quince, almonds and pomegranates are also grown here. These regions eat lots of fish-tuna, shrimp, squid and swordfish.

The wines of this region are Montepulciano d'Abruzzi, Trebbiano d'Abruzzi, Marsala, Rose, Frascati, Primitivo (zinfandel), Vermentino and Orvieto. You will also find grappa and Limoncello here.

It was back to our kitchens after the lecture to get ready for lunch. Breads today were our usual French bread, semolina bread and ciabatta. Collin has done a great job all by himself this week, turning out bread! Like I said, not much for Geoff and I to do for dessert, as they cheese was delivered from the Truffle Cheese Shop and only needed to be plated.

Our appetizer was Affettata-which is a cold plate of cured meats, served with olives and roasted red peppers. GardeMo also roasted some red grapes-they were better than I thought they would be! The grapes were left in a bunch, rubbed with olive oil and salt and pepper, then put under the salamander (broiler) for 4-5 minutes, then removed. This is definitely something I will try at home! GardeMo also make Fried Fish Marinara-fried cod served with vinaigrette dressed salad and marinara sauce. Our entree was Braciole with Orzo. Braciole is flank steak pounded out flat, then spread with, in our case, an olive/garlic filling, rolled, tied, seared and then braised for several hours. It really was delicious!

We cleaned our kitchens, then I made it home in time before it started to rain, complete with thunder and lightening! Some of the students are getting together tonight to practice slicing and dicing, but I needed some time to myself so am staying home tonight. Tomorrow night, I am going to have dinner with my friend Kim and her husband, Eric, out in Castle Rock. Another nice break from the stress of this week (although I seem to be affected by other people's stress more than my own!).

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this blog. I appreciate the support. I will try and continue with it while I am in Europe so you will hear about all I learn and all I see.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Still things to learn! I started to Mise for the Semi-Freddo (essentially a frozen mousse) that we were suppose to have for dessert at lunch today, but no cream was in the walk-in. Had to put that on hold. The school is gearing down it supplies as after Wednesday, no students will be cooking in the kitchen until Monday, October 4. Instead, I got out the ricotta cheese I had removed from the freezer on Friday, wrapped in cheesecloth to drain and set it in a bowl strainer over a bowl with a weight on top of it. Helps to compress the ricotta so it drains better. I put the ricotta in the Robot Coupe food processor, along with sugar, vanilla and eggs and let it process. Ricotta can be grainy and the cheaper the brand, the worse it is. Putting it in a food processor helps smooth it out. I then put the ricotta cheesecake mix into individual rings covered in foil, to make individual cheesecakes, then set them in a hotel pan. Once those went in the oven at 250 degrees in a bain marie and covered to keep them moist, I made a sauce of dried apricots simmered in white wine, dark rum, GrandGala (an orange liquor) and a little cinnamon. The apricots that did not get "mushy", I set aside, then took the wine sauce and the rest of the apricots and put on that in a food processor and "woodged" it around. Then, of course, you have to make it taste good, so I added brown sugar and salt and a little more dark rum. It turned out well, although after a while, you can't taste the difference any more, so I had to ask a couple other people to help taste!

Then it was time for our lecture-see there still are a few things left to learn! Chef Dale lectured on Tuscany, which is bordered on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea. To the north it is bordered by Ligueria and Emilia-Romagna. To the east, Umbria, and to the south, Latium. The longest river in Tuscany is the Arno River, which runs across Tuscany west to east, curling up on itself just outside Camaldoli and Poppi. The major cities of Tuscany are Florence, Pisa, Grosseto, Montepulciano, Siena, Arezzo, Lucca and Carrara. Florence is considered the birth place of the Renaissance and was home to the de Medicis-a powerful ruling house around the 11th century. The Etruscans first settled this area and gave Tuscany it's name. You can still see Etruscan architecture in this region.

Tuscan cooking has often been described as the best "cucina povera" (poor cuisine) in the whole of Italy, povera in this context meaning lacking elaboration and based totally on the quality of the ingredients. Although the city-states of Tuscany were torn apart by fierce and bitter clashes all thru the Middle Ages, they remained unified in their cooking. One of the main elements common to all Tuscan cooking, apart from its simplicity and the excellence of the primary ingredients, is the wide use of herbs. Thyme, sage, rosemary, and tarragon, the last seldom found elsewhere, area added to soups, meat and fish. Spices are common in Tuscan cooking, fennel seeds and chili being popular. Chili is called "zenzero" in Tuscany, a word that elsewhere in Italy means ginger.

The Tuscan olive oil is what makes the region's food so unmistakeably Tuscan. Rather than a dressing, it is the main character in the gastronomic scenario of the Tuscan table. Food is sauteed and fried in it, soups are benedette by it (given a last minute benediction by spooning some oil into them), and every vegetable is made tastier with a couple of tablespoons of it. A traditional tuscan meal starts with a soup. Thick and nourishing, full of vegetables, beans, herbs and olive oil, it will be ladled over the local pan sciocco (unsalted bread). Traditionally pasta is not a Tuscan forte, although nowadays you can eat a good dish of pasta in most restaurants. There are however, two pasta dishes that are Tuscan through and through, Pappardelle con la Lepre and Pici.

The other great Tuscan love is the bean. Not for nothing have the Tuscans been nicknamed "mangia fagioli" (bean eaters). they invented the best way to cook fagioli, namely in a flask, to retain the taste of the while cannelloni. the modern equivalent of that method is to stew the beans in a cone-shaped earthenware pot. beans are served as an accompaniment to pork, as in arista (roasted) or with broiled chops and fegatelli (broiled liver wrapped in caul fat).

Wines of Tuscany include Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

After the lecture, I did get to make the Semi-Freddo, killing two birds with one stone so to speak. I have wanted to learn to make Nougat candy (the Italian soft white candy with nuts you see around Christmas time). Chef Lexie gave me a recipe for Nougat Glace (what they call the Semi-Freddo) and then walked me thru what I would do to make the Nougat candy instead. It turned out great! We will have it for lunch on Wednesday. I'll let you know how they like it!

We had a Tuscan lunch today, surprise! GardeMo made Passatelli, a meat broth with "pasta" made from bread crumbs and cheese which is then pushed thru a colander, (much like spaetzle) and cooked in the broth. Our main course was Bistecca Fiorentina (grilled Porterhouse steak) served with Tortellini stuffed with ricotta and pine nuts, All delicious! (Can't say we expect anything less at this point!) Dessert was the Ricotta Cheesecake. It was somewhat deconstructed as we made Pate Sable (a nut flour dough), then cut out little circles, baked them separately, then stacked the pate sable on the bottom, ricotta cheesecake on top, then topped the ricotta cheesecake with the apricots. You'll see what I mean-I took pictures!

Clean-up, then back to the B&B only to find a photographer taking pictures of Carl and Bailey for a magazine article. Carl is being interviewed tomorrow. Carl really has been a good business man, getting out there and meeting people, being involved with Tour Denver, etc. I wish him continued success, although he says he sure will miss me when I am gone!

I should study tonight for our exam Friday. I am not really worried about the practical exams (cutting and fabricating, making mayo and pasta)--those should be ok. I do feel a little like I did before my nursing boards-if we don't know it by now, we're in trouble!! So off I go.....

Friday, September 17, 2010

Geoff was back at school today, albeit a little slow. He made Pate Brisee for our dessert and I made the Roasted Strawberries with honey and thyme. Getting that all together and done, took about an hour. Corey and Sean worked hard on getting French Toast to the breakfast table for the hungry hoards. Chef Lexie made a bread pudding out of my panettone bread from the other day, threw in the custard I had made along with the caramelized "schmoo" from yesterday. It turned out very well!

We had a blind wine tasting at 8:45am. It turned out to be a chardonnay from the central coast of California. I was right about most of it but I thought it might be a pinot grigio. Silly me! Then we had our exam. Not as bad as I thought is might be. It was our last exam. All that's left is our day of practical exams and then our final!

Chef Dale showed us how to put together Cassoulet, a French casserole dish made with white beans, duck confit, lamb, sausage and bacon. Yummy! This was the dish we made back when I did my Chef for a Day this last March. It was better than I remembered!

Then we had our Iron Chef competition. It was Corey and Cris against Alta and Sean and Kim and Vanessa. The protein was Cornish game hen, otherwise the playing field was open. Alta and Sean, Kim and Vanessa had chicken that was not quite done, which pretty much took them out of the running. Although Kim and Vanessa had great sides! They made orzo with a Mediterranean flair-olives, feta cheese, and tomatoes, served with roasted Brussels Sprouts. Cris took the bones out of the game hen and pounded it to flatten it out, so they got a cooked meat with a wonderful pan sauce. Their polenta was a little rubbery, but their dish was the one every one wanted to eat by the end of the competition. Corey and Cris were both given a bottle of wine as a prize. They were very happy!

After that, Chef Pete showed us how to make our own bacon. Pretty cool! He had two slabs of pork back that he had placed in our salt/sugar mixture for two days. He removed it from the walk-in, rinsed it, dried it, then took it out onto the patio to place it in the smoker. The school has an expensive smoker that can also be used as a grill. It runs on electricity, gas and wood pellets. Again, pretty cool! He left one pork back plain, but put a flavored mixture on the other slab to "funkify" it. Hopefully we will be able to try them both next week. I am amazed how into charcuterie and curing Chef Pete is. He is very good at what he does!

Once we were done with that, we went back to our respective kitchens to get ready for lunch. GardeMo made a salad with roasted beets and blue cheese. The greens were dressed simply with a vinaigrette. The main entree of course was our Cassoulet. For dessert, we had the Roasted Strawberries with honey and thyme.

We got our early today and I was home by 3pm!! So I am going to enjoy my weekend, do some studying and pack up some of "stuff" to ship home. Time to think about getting everything back to Reno!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

I started Desserts today. As Geoff was sick with strep throat, that left me to make buckwheat crepes-this took over an hour to make 36 of them cause they could not have any tears in them. Then once I finished that, I made a custard mixture for the rest of today's dessert. Then I MEP'ed my apples so I could make caramelized apples after our lecture. Busy, busy!

Chef Lexie talked to us today about our Practical Exam. Next Thursday, 9/23, from 8am to 9am, we will be judged on individual knife skills. We'll have a series of veggies we will need to make different cuts on, then we have to fabricate a chicken. We will have a break from 9-9:30am, then from 9:30am to 10:30am is the individual Skills Series where we will have to make mayonnaise, make pate brisee and roll the brisee out into a tart shell. From 10:30-10:45am is Class planning and Wine selection for the meal we will make for our eight judges. Even though we know the menu (and they added a LOT to our simple Basque menu), we cannot mise the day before or the morning of the skills test. At 10:45am we begin the team practical. We have to have an amuse busche done by 12:45pm, the first course at 12:55pm, an Intermet at 1:10pm, Bread at 1:20pm, the main course at 1:35pm and Dessert at 1:50pm. Not only are we going to have to bake a basque tart, but we have to bake bread AND make molded chocolates. Oh, my, a little more than we expected. Although Chef Lexie keeps telling us they would not have us do all these courses if they did not think we could do it. We will be graded as a team (all three kitchens together) for the dinner, not individually or individual kitchens. Each kitchen will serve their own dishes.

We did have a lecture today on Normandy and Brittany. These two provinces are located in the northwest portion of France. There are 350 miles of coastline, which means lots of fish and shellfish. Normandy is a land flowing with good things-butter, cheese and cream, apples with their alcohol derivatives and fish and shellfish. The province is certainly noted for its dairy products and the Normandy breed of cattle-white with pale and brown patches and brown speckles-is one of the most important in France. Calvados, the cider brandy, is produced throughout Normandy and named after the region of origin (i.e. Calvados du Contentin, Calvados du Calvados). The best comes from Auge, the the AOC Calvados Paus d'Auge. Cheaper, less refined, apple brandy must be called eau-de-vie cidre, not Calvados. Cider, of course, is the great specialty of Normandy, and has been made there since the early Middle Ages. Basically, it is made in the same way as wine, and the various different sorts are determined by the proportion of sweet, sour and acid apples used. Cidre bouche is the cider equivalent of Champagne, made by the champagne method, while cidre mousseux is slightly less sparkling.

The ancient land of Brittany was called Armor-the sea country-by the Gauls. It was colonized and converted to Christianity by Celts from Britain, who named it Little Britain, and was an independent kingdom and duchy before the union with France in 1532. Brittany is still farming country and its vegetables, particularly artichokes, cauliflowers and garlic are well known in France and abroad. The local charcuterie is of high quality, with boudins, hams, pate de campagne, andouilles, and andouillettes. The coast, especially in the south, is dotted with fishing ports, landing in a whole range of fish from sole and bass to mackerel and herring. Cotriace is the local fish stew. The Gros Plant Nantais is a white wine grown in the same area, with more bite than Muscadet but a refreshing summer drink. Coteaux d'Ancenis is a cheerful red made from the Gamay grape. However, the principal drink is cider, those from Fouesnant and Beg-meil being worth special attention.

Some of the history of these two provinces is that they were conquered back in the first century by Julius Cesar. The Romans brought oyster cultivation and salt harvesting (both found because of the long coastline). In the 15th century, the Arabs came thru and brought with them buckwheat, which took off in the region. It gave these people lots of food options and as an aside, has no gluten, which causes anything made with buckwheat to be flat. Hence, it is used for pancakes, crepes and flat bread.

After lecture, we all went back to our kitchens to finish lunch. I got to Flambe caramelized apples. I have to say I really enjoyed that part, lol! There was a photographer from the "Western Front" magazine taking all kinds of pictures. He caught one of me lighting the brandy on the gas stove. It is quite impressive! Chef Lexie and I put the crepes into a muffin tin like little cups, then piled in the caramelized apples slices, poured custard over the apples right before we baked them and put them in the oven as we sat down for lunch. Yesterday, Geoff had finished off the creme anglaise I made with a caramel sauce to make Caramel Ice Cream, which we scooped over the apple filled crepe. We made a reduction sauce out of the juice from the caramelized apples (you do them in batches to get a good color and Chef Lexie asked me to use a little extra butter and brown sugar so we would have extra "goo" to make a sauce once I finished cooking the apples) and served that on the side. I was happy to hear that everyone raved over dessert!

The first course today was a chicken Terrine made with curry and served with Puy Lentils. They did a very good job! The curry was just right and the chicken was not too dry. Hot Plate made Sole Normande with Shrimp Mousseline and Rice Pilaf. Our wine was a Muscadet as well as serving B&B (Benedictine and Brandy-a drink common to Normandy). Wow, it was all good. It will be a let down when we finish school next week and stop eating like this, lol!!

I came back to the B&B and made Banana Muffins for Carl to use for breakfast in the morning. Bailey thought they smelled delicious but couldn't place the smell. When I told her that was freshly baked Banana Muffins, she was surprised!

Now it's time to study for our exam tomorrow. I got a 98 on last week's exam! I also need to start studying for our final, that will be an overview of our entire four months, including wine. We also have the finals for our in-house Iron Chef. We have three teams competing.

Tomorrow morning I make Honey Roasted Strawberries with Thyme and then try to figure out how to serve them in an attractive way for lunch. I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

My last day in bread! Corey and I made French bread, wheat bread, sourdough and panettone. My panettone did not turn out as well as I wanted it to-fresh yeast gave it a distinctive flavor (not bad, just distinctive) and the large loaves I made were undercooked-I pulled them out of the oven too soon! The rest of the bread turned out well though!

Today's lecture was a review of pastry with Chef Lexie. I've added a picture of her-the cute short haired brunette! We all had to talk about our favorite desserts and what pastry components were involved in them. It was a nice review and I think we found out we knew more than we thought we did! We talked about pate brisee, pate sucre and pate sable, royal, custards, meringues and butter creams, cakes and laminated dough, cakes, dessert sauces, petit fours and chocolate.

We also chose a menu from a group of menus copied from each of our projects. After much discussion, we chose Chris's Basque menu. We will still only get about two hours to do this, so it had to be doable in that time frame. We'll be making that menu next Thursday as part of our practical final.

Lunch today was patterned after a French menu. GardMo made an eggplant mousse in tomato pedals. Hot Plate made Braised Veal Short Ribs with Saffron Aoili (a mayonnaise derivative made with garlic but in this case also with saffron). Sean made Poached Peaches set in a toile cookie with a Sabayon sauce. All of it was yummy as usual!

I locked my scooter keys in the "trunk" of my scooter with my helmut. Carl was nice enough to bring me my extra set. I was talking to Collin as he walked bymand just threw my helmut and gloves and keys in together! Not very smart! It all worked out though!

Just a quiet evening at home. Carl is having Internet problems at the B&B so I am posting this on my iPad. A little limiting and I can't post pictures so I'll add them later.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

It was a busy morning for the baking crew. Geoff is still sick, so we all helped Collin get ready for the "hungry hoards"! We made French bread dough, pain de mie dough (the French version of white bread)' finished our brioche dough and I finished my Panettone dough, which will be baked tomorrow. Collin made doughnuts today. They were a big hit! I made smoothies but when I went to pick up the second batch, the carafe broke and went everywhere!! I had pink shmoo all over my shoes, my pants, my apron, the counter, the floor, everywhere! What a mess so early in the morning!

Our lecture today was on Burgundy in France. Burgundy is in central eastern France and is known as the "heart of France". It's major cities dijoN (bet you can't guess what product comes from Dijon....Dijon mustard!) and Lyon. There are several majornrivers in Burgundy, the Loire, the Saone, the Rhone and the Lyon. Burgundy is a fertile countryside, pastoral with farms and plains. The summers are hot, the winters are cool, with a good amount of moisture. Historically speaking, the Greeks and Romans ruled this are for quite some time, bringing irrigation systems, farming, grapes markets and maximized the waterways. Over time, Roman rule fell away and the Church was left to run this region. The monks, wihh little else to do, began tending the vineyards and kept meticulous records on the grapes, then soil, growing conditions, etc. This has lead to some of the best wines in the world coming from this area, coming mainly from the Chardonnay and Pinot grapes. The "holy trinity" of Burgandy are wine, Charollais beef, and Dijon mustard. Local dishes include Jambon Persillee (pars lied ham in gelatin), Coq au Vin, Beouf Bourguignonne, Pain d'epices (French gingerbread), and Gougeres (cheese puffs).

Lunch today was a buffet og Jambon Persillee, liver pate on toast, Beouf Bourguignonne and Current Tarts. All very good. Chef Lexie complimented Corey and I on our bread production this last week. Nice!

We had a meeting about our Europe trip after school today. We will be spending a night in Champagne before we go to Paris. How cool is that? Otherwise things seem set.

Carl made it home today, tired but in one piece.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Well, first thing I need to tell you about is (I was reminded that I did not put anything on my Friday blog) about our "Iron Chef" competition last Friday. It was Becklien and I against Kim and Vanessa. The "secret ingredient" was a whole fish (not even gutted and with head and tail on!). Becklien filleted the fish and did a great job! She did the fillets in a pave, then breaded them with a spiced flour/cornmeal mix and quickly fried them. I was in charge of the starch and they veggie. I made some couscous with oven roasted tomatoes and shallots as well as asparagus sauteed in butter. Becklien made some pan sauce when she finished the fish using some pancetta-she did an awesome job!! Kim and Vanessa filleted the fish, sauteed it and served it with a buerre blanc sauce with polenta on the side (undercooked I was told). They also made a cucumber soup (should have strained it Chef Lexie said). All our food was perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked and we STILL lost!! I felt worse for Becklien than I did for myself-she really wanted to win! Me, I was happy not to have the added pressure of competing this Friday in the "Final Showdown" competition!

We have firewood again, so Corey started a fire this morning for our French bread. We also made Cracker bread and started dough for brioche tomorrow and panettone (that's the one I really wanted to do!). I finally finished my granola today. Because it was done in bits and pieces, it seemed like it took forever!! I will have to try some tomorrow morning.

Our lecture today by Chef Lexie was on the Savoie and Dauphine regions of France. Now, I have to admit, these regions were not on the map we were given of France so not sure where these came to play. That being said, Savoie (sa-voy) borders the Alps to the north, running from Alsace all the way down to Provence and the Rhone River area. In the mountains, the winters are cold and harsh. Because of this, there is a lot of charcuterie (preservation of meats). They raise cows in this area so make a lot of cheese and butter. The further south you travel, you begin to see forested areas, which means lots of game available for stews and braises. Chessnut trees and hazelnut trees are also abundant. There are also fruit trees (cherries and apricots), rivers and springs (fin fish) and in the southern area they grow corn, potatoes, squash, onions and some grains. Because of all the milk and butter, many familiar cheeses are made in this area: Emmenthaler, Fontina, Gruyere, Compte, and Reblechon.

The history of this area is remarkable for the "House of Savoy", known in the 11th century as a strong ruling house. They held their seat of power for about 200 years. If you remember, they were French but also took over a portion of Italy (Piedmont). Savoie and Dauphine have alternately been under French and Italian rule, but in 1860 with the treaty of Torin, when all the Italian provinces united as one, Savoire fell back under French rule and has remained under French rule.

Regional dishes include Fondue, French Onion Soup (every one's heard of that one!) and Pomme Dauphine (Twice cooked potatoes). Not a lot of wine is grown in this region but they do produce Eau de Vie ("water of life"), Pinot de Savoire, Apremont and Chartruse.

Once lecture was over, it was back to our kitchens to prepare for lunch. GardeMo made Cracked Pepper Pasta with a cheese sauce and cooked cucumbers. Most of us had never tried a cooked cucumber but they were really good. They were cut in a torne shape (looks like a football) with a little of the skin left on it. Hot Line made Pork Tournedos with a Juniper Jus and Matefaims (which literally means "to end hunger"). The matefaims are crepes that can be filled with almost anything. In this case, they were filled with julienne of zucchini with a mild white sauce, then folded in half and half again so they were served in quarters. The pork was placed in the center of the plate then the matefaims were placed on either side so it looked like angel wings! Very tasty! For dessert, we had Profiteroles filled with chocolate ice cream (some of the best I have ever had!) with the option to pour hot fudge sauce on top of that. Yummy!

No baking after work today, the B&B is very slow right now. My project is done and handed in-that is a HUGE relief! Now I just need to study for my final...

Friday, September 10, 2010

We had our quiz today. Only one quiz left before our three hour final! Chef Lexie told us today that there is a BIG product ID on next week's test-50 things! Crazy!

Today Corey and I made ciabatta and french bread. My panforte did get salvaged and we served it for breakfast. It was gone by the end of breakfast! Several people told me it tastes like Christmas. I have to agree with them!

The lecture today was on Variety Meats: innards, guts, internal muscles, viscera, etc. These are called Offals (not awful, lol). The problem with eating organs, according to Chef Pete, is that our brain says "NO"! The other thing that bothers us is the texture. Tongue and heart are muscles and they tend to be tough, or at least not as soft as the otherwise like liver, kidney, etc. The best organ meats are from veal and lamb because they are younger and milder in flavor. Usually they need a long slow cooking, like braising or stewing, or hot and fast (this applies to liver mostly). Sweet breads, or the thymus glands are highly prized because they are young, mild in flavor and have a nice texture. The thymus glands disappear in animals after one year, the body absorbs them. The four steps for making veal sweetbreads are to 1. purge in water, 2. poach in water with a splash of vinegar, 3. press between two sheet trays, weighed to get a uniform thickness and 4. peel just the thick outer membrane.

Lunch today was-guess?? Sweetbreads! We had them in a puff pastry for a first course along with a nice white sauce with corn and mushrooms. They actually tasted really good. My friend Ric, loves eating sweetbreads, he would have loved today's meal! Our main course was Duck Breast with Pureed Potatoes and Watercress with a nice pan sauce. Dessert did not flame today! It was Quatre Quart or pound cake topped with orange segments and candied orange jest. Very pretty!

When I came home from school today, I baked banana bread (there were two VERY brown bananas sitting on top of the cooling rack, I thought maybe that was a hint to use them, lol) and made Om Ali, a Moroccan form of bread pudding made with a variety of nuts, chopped apricots, raisins and phyllo dough. Then you pour sweetened cream over all that and bake it. We had it at school one day for breakfast and I liked the way it tasted.

I will be working on my project this weekend. It is due at 8:45am Monday.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I got to start the fire in the wood burning stove this morning! I stacked the wood last night, that lets it dry out a little, then we light it in the morning. Once the fire is lit, you push the logs to the back of the oven to start heating the whole oven. Logs get added at about one hour intervals, stopping at 10am. From there, you let the logs burn into embers then spread the embers over the entire floor of the oven and let them sit a while. Once the oven gets to 730 degrees, you scrape the embers out into a little slot at the front of the oven. Once those are scraped out, you mop the floor of the oven to get all the ash out of it, then let it cool off to 600-630 degrees Fahrenheit before you put your French bread in using a wooden peel. The bread cooks pretty quickly, as you can imagine. The trick is to leave it in for long enough to get a dark caramel color (which gives the best flavor to the crust). Unfortunately, we used all the wood today and so do not have any for a fire in the morning. We'll probably have to use the "easy-bake oven" in Pastry. That oven will bake things just fine, it just won't taste the same as the wood burning oven bread.

Our lecture today was on lamb leg fabrication. We paired up into teams of two and after Chef Pete gave us a fabrication demo, we had to do our own. Lamb leg fabrication is the same as veal leg fabrication only on a smaller scale. this was Colorado lamb and they are larger than New Zealand lamb. You can save a lot of money as a business by fabricating your own meat. There are nine muscles in the lamb leg: top round, bottom round, eye of round, the flaps, knuckle, tenderloin, top sirloin, upper shank and lower shank. I was with Paula and we finished fairly quickly. Once we were done with that, it was back to our own kitchens to finish our work.

I talked to Chef Lexie today about being a better baker. She is going to help me learn to be more efficient and faster in the kitchen. I'm kind of excited about that, as I feel I am already a good baker, even though I know I still have much to learn. Chef Lexie is always willing to help students with extra projects and answer questions.

I did get to make my Sweet Raisin Challah bread today. Corey and I shaped two loaves, one three braid and one four braid loaf. The loaves turned out well (using the easy bake oven)-good crust and tender, flavorful crumb. I also had made panforte yesterday afternoon and left it to cut today for lunch but when I went to cut it, it was still very soft, so back in the oven it went. It baked for quite a while and I think I ended up caramelizing the "schmoo" that holds the panforte together. I only hope when I go back tomorrow, that it still tastes good! I'll let you know!

I also started granola. I have been "bugging" Chef Lexie about making this since I started Pastry but she kept saying it takes a long time. I couldn't imagine why, until I asked her and she said there was lots of cutting and chopping. AND when you make granola at Cook Street, you make a LOT of granola!! So, hopefully I can finish it tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Corey and I are going to make ciabatta. I'm excited about that. No wood burning oven though...

Lunch today was Pasta Carbonara as a first course. GardeMo made homemade pasta. Carbonara Sauce is made with bacon, eggs and cream. Very nicely done! Hot Plate made Roasted Lamb (what a surprise!) with Roman Artichokes and Polenta. The sauce used with the lamb was a Demi-glace. Another yummy meal! For dessert Collin and Shawn made Zuppa Anglaise (the Italian version of an English trifle). Dustin (who apparently learned how to set drinks on fire when he was a bartender) lit the top of the Zuppa Anglaise on fire (it is topped with Swiss Meringue, so the effect is a little like roasted marshmallows!). Hopefully you will be able to see this in the picture I took! Chef Dale was standing by with a fire extinguisher as last time they tried this, Chef Lexie thought she would use all the "booze" she had poured and they couldn't get the fire out! Chef Dale thought he had put it out with a sheet pan, but once he removed the sheet pan, the fire restarted!! Unfortunately, that class did not get any Zuppa Anglaise as the cake layers are soaked with Marsala wine and rum. Lesson learned, lol!

I have an exam tomorrow, so better get studying! I got a 95 on last week's exam. Can't know everything, I guess!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

First thing this morning, Corey and I started the wood burning stove, then mixed up our French Bread dough and let it proof. We did our Mise En Place for our bread tomorrow-more French Bread and for Corey, dinner rolls. Me, I'll be making Sweet Raisin Challah bread.

Our lectures today covered Bisque and Foie Gras. But not before we finished our chocolates we started yesterday. Paula and I made a white chocolate ganache then flavored it with Amaretto. We put a dried cherry into the center of our chocolate shell, then filled it with the ganache. Once that was done, we tempered more chocolate and put a bottom layer on the chocolates then let them sit. Everyone got to chose what filled they wanted to use. We then had them for lunch. They turned out great! Everyone did a good job!

Chef Pete talked about making a Bisque, which is a thick soup made using a concentrated essence (lobster bisque, asparagus bisque). It is classically thickened with rice. There are 8 steps to making bisque:
1. Make your base (using mirepoix, bouquet garni, lobster shells, etc)
2. Flambe, then add other liquids (flambe with brandy, then add stock and/or wine)
3. Add rice, cook til tender (1/2 cup for 6 servings)
4. Puree (using a blender, food mill, food processor)
5. Strain using a chinois
6. Finish with reduced cream
7. Double check your seasoning (add salt, pepper, herbs)
8. Serve and garnish

Foie gras means "fat liver" and is made from duck or goose liver. The discovery of Foie gras is believed to have occurred in Egypt around 2500 BC when hunters noted that the goose liver was significantly larger during the period just prior to the annual migration. Upon tasting this delicacy they decided to improve upon its qualities and availability by inducing the natural inclination of the animal to store feed in controlled daily forced feeding. There are hieroglyphic records of this procedure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

The ducks (the best being from the Moulard Duck) used for their livers are fed twice a day with a special corn meal mash made with fat. By the time they are 12 weeks old, their livers can weigh as much as 1-1 1/4 pounds! There are three grades of Foie Gras, Grade A, Grade B, Grade C. Prices start at $30 for grade C and go up to $50 a pound for Grade A. There are two producers in the USA: Hudson Valley and Sonoma Saveurs, who treat their birds humanely and keep them in an open and clean environment (unlike many chicken farms).

Common cooking methods for Foie Gras include a terrine (cold), a Torchon (cold), poached or roasted whole (cold or hot), pan fried (hot) and mousse (cold).

Lunch today was Lobster Bisque, followed by Tournedos Rossini (very haute cuisine!). This is a round piece of buttered toast, topped with a round of beef tenderloin, a round of seared Foie Gras and topped with a shaving of black truffles. Oh, and did I mention the Sauce Perichord? Yummy!! And you already know about chocolates for dessert....

Home to the B&B to bake Molasses Cookies. Carl is going out of town for 5 days, so his daughter, Bailey, will be running the B&B. Carlos will be cooking breakfast and I will be doing the baking. We should be ok, although I will miss Carl!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Back to Denver and back to school! The weekend was very nice, we went to the Davis Farmer's Market, saw our friend Christine, visited with my sister, Janell and had friends over for a grilled chicken and ratatouille dinner.

Our lecture today was on chocolate. We tasted 14 different types of chocolate and believe it or not, each one was different! Even the ones with the same percent of chocolate tasted different, depending on the manufacturer.

There are four different types of chocolate: 1. White chocolate, 2. Milk chocolate,
3. Semi-sweet/Bittersweet (which are actually the same thing) 4. Unsweetened chocolate. The thing that gives chocolate it's chocolate flavor is cocoa mass. Cocoa butter is what gives chocolate it's texture. White chocolate is made of cocoa butter, sugar and dairy-no cocoa mass so most people don't consider white chocolate, chocolate. Milk chocolate contains a minimum of 10% cocoa mass and cocoa butter, sugar and dairy. Semi-sweet/bittersweet contains a minimum of 35% cocoa mass and cocoa butter, sugar and NO dairy. Unsweetened chocolate should contain 100% cocoa mass and cocoa butter (no dairy, no sugar).

Chef Lexie talked about cocoa powder. There are two kinds: 1. Traditional or non-Dutch process, which is a lighter color (reddish), fruity and acidic. 2. Dutch process cocoa, which means an alkaloid has been added to the cocoa powder to neutralize the acidity. This makes the color of the cocoa darker as well as more chocolates.

We also learned NOT to use chocolate chips in place of chopped chocolate. Chocolate chips are made to hold their shape so have additives to help them keep their shape. We also were told NEVER to use Baker's chocolate because it has more wax in it than real chocolate. Chocolate, made especially for making candy also does not contain much real chocolate.

Couverture can be either white, milk, semi-sweet/bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate but is high in cocoa butter, which makes it more fluid. This type of chocolate is used mostly for fine chocolate work (putting a thin layer of chocolate on candy or making a thin candy shell).

There are three types of cocoa beans: 1. Criollo (which is the original strain of cocoa beans but is disease prone so accounts for only 1% of the world production of cocoa beans), 2. Forastero (which means "foreigners"), which accounts for 85% of the world production of chocolate and 3. Trinitario, which is a natural hybrid of the Criollo and Forastero cocoa beans. This last bean accounts for 14% of the world's cocoa production. Cocoa beans like 70-80 degree weather, year round (who doesn't?!) so grows in the warmer more tropical regions of the world. They also like 80% humidity (me, not so much humidity). From the flower stage to harvest takes 150 days. All cocoa beans are harvested by hand, never machine, otherwise you risk killing the plants.

To make chocolate, you pick the beans, ferment the cocoa beans and the pulp found in the pods. This is what makes chocolate taste like chocolate. Fermentation lasts anywhere from 5-10 days, depending on the bean. Then you dry the beans. At this point, the beans can be shipped to chocolate makers when they want to roast their own beans, which is the next step. Cocoa beans are roasted just like coffee beans. the darker the roast, the more intense the chocolate flavor. Next comes winnowing, when the beans are separated into the nib (you keep this part) and the husk (this part gets thrown away). The cocoa nib has equal parts cocoa mass and cocoa butter. next comes grinding, where the cocoa nibs are ground into a paste, which is called chocolate liqueur. The next step, milling, gives you your final particle size: this is also where texture comes in. The last step is conching: refining the flavor and texture by driving off acid and smoothing out the particles. You can lose some of your flavor by conching too long.

The percentages you see on chocolate labels refers to the combined total of cocoa butter and cocoa mass. The higher the percentage, the higher the quality of chocolate and the less sugar is used to make it. It is not, however, a garantee of flavor.

We learned to tempered chocolate today and also made truffles (chocolate ganache rolled in cocoa powder). Once we tempered the chocolate, we poured it into candy molds, which we will fill and finish tomorrow. Ganache is an emulsion of chocolate and cream.

We did not really spend much time in our assigned kitchens, so Chef Brian and Chef Dale made us a lunch of Salad Nicoise. We had Chocolate Truffles for dessert. We did not have bread today because both our bread guys were ill.

Corey and I start bread tomorrow. French bread gets done every day and we will learn to use the wood burning oven. We both gave Chef Lexie our list of breads we want to do over the next week.

Then home and more studying. I also need to get my project finished this week, it's due on Monday!

Friday, September 3, 2010

The hungry hoards were less rabid today,lol. There was a little food left over, not much but some! I made Almond Caramel Coffeecakes as well as putting out a fruit platter, yogurt and a few Bouchee (small puff pastries).

We had our exam today after breakfast as well as a blind wine tasting. I was encouraged by the fact that I guessed the vintage year as well as the varietal. It was a Pinot Noir from Oregon ( Kim w. And I both thought it was Old World because it was so mellow).

We had our "Secret Ingredient" contest. Three teams. Pork was the protien, otherwise they could do whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, all the pork was undercooked, but the winning plate was a salad dressed with vinaigrette and topped with pork medallions and a blue cheese sauce. The other teams did well thigh. Next week is my turn. It will be Becklien and I against Kim and Vanessa. May the best women win!

We had a demo by Chef Dale on making "Franken chicken". You split the whole chicken down the back, then removed the carcass, leaving the entire chicken otherwise intact. You do also remove the wings, pulling then out from inside the body and remove the thigh bone. It was kind of cool! Then you stuff the body with sausage meat, Duxelles (a mix of mushrooms and garlic), and more sausage-flavored differently than the first sausage. Once that is done, put the chicken back together. It made a great lunch!

I left a little early so I could catch my flight to Reno. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

I felt like I was feeding the "hungry hordes" for breakfast this morning. I made a large frittata this morning, two Almond Cream Cheese Tea Loaves and put out a fruit platter, yogurt and juices. Chef Brian put out a cheese and meat platter. It was gone before my class even had a chance to get anything to eat! Amazing!! Of course there are a couple of young guys in that class that I think may have eaten their parents out of house and home! For tomorrow I have already made three coffeecakes, will put out some little puff pastry/onion tarts, a fruit platter, juice, yogurt and three coffee carafes. Chef Brian is going to make pizza for the new class. It sure helps to have someone share the responsibility of breakfast! Chef Brian also makes lunch for them every day.

We shaped our croissants today before lecture. They turned out well. Our class had a "snack" at 11am of chocolate croissants (pain au chocolat) and plain croissants with butter and a variety of jams. Yummy!

After getting our croissants done, Chef Pete gave us a lecture on the Loire Valley and also on game (birds, venison, etc). That slice of France which is usually thought of as the Loire Valley stretches from Nantes in the west (technically in Bretagne) to the Nivernaise in the east (merging with Burgundy), and embraces Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Berry and the Orleanais on the way. This is not only the land of Cateaux, but also the garden of France, abundant in fruit-including Williams pears from Anjou, Reinette apples from Le Mans, plums, quinces from the Orleanais, strawberries from Saumur, peaches, apricots, Chasselas grapes, melons--and noted for ealy vegetables and particularly asparagus, artichokes and cultivated mushrooms. Not surprisingly, freshwater fish from the Loire and its tributaries are something of a feature: pike, carp and shad are traditionally served with beurre blanc or stuffed with sorrel; Vierzon in the Berry is known for lampreay; eels appear in the bouilleture of Anjou, or en matelote (fish stew) with the characteristic addition of prunes in the Touraine and saffron in the Orleanais. The forests of the Sologne have given the Orleanais a reputation for game and game products, such as lark and partridge pates and hare terrine. Indeed, the charcuterie is varied and excellent throughout the region, with many towns making their own versions of the local rillettes (a cross between a pate and potted meat) and rillons as well as andouilles and andouillettes and poultry preparations like boudins and jambons de volaille.

In 1129, King Henry II received Aquitaine as part of Eleanor of Aquitaine's dowry, making Chinon one of the most important seats of power in Europe. It was at the Chateau in Chinon that Joan of Arc convinced Charles VII to defy the English in 1429, thus giving rise to modern France. Catherine de Medici married the future King Henry V in 1533 and brought her cooks, flatware, etc, from Italy, therefore launching France into a culinary revolution.

The Loire Rivery Valley produces a variety of cheeses-Bleu d'Auvergne, Forme de Cantal, Port Salut, and Crottin de Chavignol. As for wines from this region, they produce Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume (sauvignon blanc), Cheverny (sauvingon blanc), Touraine (sauvingnon blanc), Vouvray (chenin blanc), Chinon, Bourgueil (100% cabernet franc), Rose d-Loire, Rose d-Anjou and Muscadet. Their production of sparkling wines is second only to Champagne. Cointreau comes from this region as well as Poire Williams (pear brandy).

Lunch (although I have to say a lot of us were not very hungry today, after croissants at 11am, although lunch was not until 2:30-3pm)! GardeMo made traditional French Onion Soup. Hot plate served Saddle of Venison with a Sauce Grand Veneur and Chestnut Puree. Corey and Collin made Tarte Tatin-the upside down apple tart made popular in France. Apparently two sisters famous for their apple pies, forgot to put a crust on some of their apple pies. So they slapped a crust on top of the pies, turned them out onto a plate so the apples were on top and served them anyway. They were a hit!

Back home, just doing laundry and now I need to study for my test tomorrow. I got a 94 on last week's exam. Only three more tests left and we're done! Time to get serious!!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September 1st!! Where did the time go?!

For breakfast this morning, I did a fruit platter and baked two quiches (with sliced asparagus, diced ham, sauteed shallots and a mix of Gruyere and Grana cheeses). Everyone said they like it and Kim W. (who did Baking and Pastry her first rotation and who has also been cooking her whole life) said it was exquisite! How nice is that? Many of the students in the other class thanked me for making breakfast. That was quite nice of them! After lectures were done, I made dough for tomorrow's breakfast of Almond-Cream Cheese Tea Ring. The dough is done, the filling is done, the icing is done. I just need to put it together tomorrow morning first thing, let it rise and then bake it. Whew! I cut up my fruit platter for tomorrow (I couldn't believe Chef Lexie let me do it early, but I appreciate it!). And I went thru the walk-in for a "everything but the kitchen sink" frittata to serve as well.

Our lecture on Southwest France waited while we finished making croissant dough with Chef Lexie. We rolled out the detrempe we mixed up yesterday into a rectangular shape, laid our buerrage over it, first in the center, folded over one third of the dough on it, than laid the other half of the butter on top of that and then folded over the top of the rectangle, until we had a package or paton. Then we turned and rolled it out twice more, then put it in the walk-in to rest and for the butter to become cold again. We turned the dough four more times before we went home for the day.

Then came our lecture on Southwest France. The south-western corner of France embraces the old Pyrenean states of the Basque country and Bearn, plus the tiny Bigorre and Foix; Gascony, based on the Landes and Armagnac; Perigord, with Quercy and the Agenaise on it southern borders; and the Bordelais. Historically, this region was at the heart of the Angenvin Empire of Henry II of England and it was only with the end of the Hundred Years Way in 1453 that the English released their hold on France.

The best wine to come out of these regions comes from the Loire Valley using Chenin, Savignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gamay and Pinot Noir grapes. East of Bordeaux, on either bank of the Dordogne River, are grouped the vineyards of Bergerac, Pecharmant, Montravel, Cotes de Saussignac and Montbazillac. Red wines are made from the same grape varieties as in Bordeaux, Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec. Semillion, sauvingnon Blanc and Muscadelle are used for white wines, which range from dry to very sweet but are mostly half and half.

The southwest is the land of the goose. Goose fat is the cooking medium, rather than butter or oil and the characteristic confits of goose-and also duck, turkey and pork-are made in all the provinces. Perigord has a reputation for its foie gras and so, more recently has the Landes. Indeed, there is a wide range of charcuterie throughout the region. Bayonne ham is used in many Basque dishes, although sweet peppers, tomatoes, garlic and onions are also very typical.

The pride of Gascony is Armagnac, France's second greatest brandy. The first, of course, being Cognac!

Lunch today was based on this region. The first course was Duck Breast and Wild Mushroom Salad, very well done by GardeMo. Our entree was Pan Fried Trout with Bacon and Basque Rice. Chef Dale said Americans think they came up with cornmeal breading but it was really the French! Dessert was made by Corey and Collin. They made Napoleon. It was VERY good! They did a nice job! Corey sat next to me and asked me, "Is it me, or are our meals getting better?" I had to laugh (he's our resident 19 year old) we are getting better as we near the end of our training so I guess our meals are getting better! All the chefs have complimented us by saying some of the best food they have ever seen at Cook Street has come from our class. What a nice thing to say!

After I got home from school, I made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins for Carl. He reminded me I needed to do laundry and pack tomorrow (thanks dad, lol). I am going to Reno for Labor Day weekend, just when he will have a full house! Oh, well, we all need a little time off.

Time to study some more and get some reading done. Night all!