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!