Thailand, Vietnam, India

Today was a quick lecture on the 3 regions. I really like most of this food. There is a Cilantro-Coconut Chutney that we made that was so good. It's very similar to what they serve at a restaurant near us, Himalayan Bistro. Now I know how to make it! There was a lot of spice and heat in the dishes we made today. It's great to see these ingredients on their own rather than in a dish. You wonder what these things look like and taste like on their own and it gives you a better understanding of how you can use them.

I was bummed when I got the recipes though, I ended up making a bread called Puri and Batsmati Rice. BOOOORING!!! The good part was that they both had resting times and needed very little attention that I was able to move around and help everyone else on their dishes. The Puri was pretty cool. It's literally flour and water that you make a flat disk out of then deep-fry it. It puff ups in the fryer and looks cool. It's very bland, so it's good we had plenty of saucy foods and chutneys! It was a very quick day as we were out at 2pm! I love early days!



Puris

Lamb Samosas with Raita and Cilantro-Coconut Chutney

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Sweet Mango Chutney

Asian Day 1, China

Today we stated a new genre of the culinary world, Asia. However, with every new genre comes an exam from the genre before. Today we started the day taking our Intensive French unit exam. I didn't study too hard for this exam. This exam is easier for most of us as it's not about memorizing what products come from what region, it's about technique and the science behind the food. I took the exam and new I aced it. When everyone finished, chef asked if we minded if she graded them in class and got them back to us while we were still there. Of course no one had an issue with this! I ended up getting a measly 100. Oh well, I guess I'll have to settle for that!! This is the last exam we have before our big final written exam. There are a couple more quizzes in between, but they aren't weighted nearly as heavily.

We got into talking about all points of China and their specialties. It was a very quick lecture and we got right to work. Chef had warned us that with the Asian classes it's the mise that takes about 2 hours, then you cook everything in about 10 minutes, then you eat. They are generally going to be quick days. The dish I was given was the potstickers. I was very happy about this since I love them and they are easy to make. Some of the other students got to use the woks for their dishes. It looked like they had fun. I should be doing a dish like that next week to get the experience of wok cooking. There was some really good dishes and we had almost all of it in one sitting. It was like a Chinese buffet. There was hot and sour soup, seafood shu mai, fried rice, curry chicken fried dumplings, chicken with vegetables, and eggplant puree, duck breast with a scallion pancake and a few more items. It was all very, very good!

Tomorrow we are still in American and doing Creole Cuisine. Way excited for gumbo and jambalaya!!! Also, there is no seminar this week which just makes it even better!


Potstickers

Hot and Sour Soup

Duck Beast with Scallion Pancake


The Buffet!

American Day 2 - The South and Florida, too!

Today's class I could have done without. Everyone seemed to be off today and it make for a very long day. I think we are kind of frustrated that American seems to be cheesy and a waste of our time and money. The dish I got was the crab salad. It was extremely easy and was good because it had a lot of cilantro! After I finished my dish was when things went from bad to worse. One of my classmates had attempted to make a mayonnaise at least 3 times with no success. I ended up making it for him (we think the he was using had some issues, so we used a different oil). Then, I offered to make the biscuits knowing that I didn't give a damn at how they turned out. I threw them in the oven and let them bake. While that was doing on, two other classmates were making a coconut cake with a meringue frosting. They made the meringue frosting too early, so they had to keep it working in the Kitchen Aid for about an hour until they were ready to frost the cake. It had literally turned out like fluff it was so stiff! They ended up butchering the shape of the cake when they tried to frost it. Then, I noticed another student had a baguette toasting under the salamander. Not even 2 seconds after I saw him check on it I scanned the room and saw flames coming from that area. At first I though 'Oh, pretty', then I realized his bread was on fire! This is the point where I remembered I had biscuits in the oven. I ran to them and thankfully they weren't burnt (well, maybe the bottom) but they were as hard as hockey pucks. They ended up going right in the trash. I kindly reminded the teacher that my original dish came out perfect and that the biscuits were just for fun. The inside wasn't bad and I could see where there were layers in the dough, so I was happy enough. We were also making Hush Puppies that day which led to people calling my biscuits Kill-a-Puppies since they were so hard! By this time we were shot. My classmate was using a microplane to remove the burnt top of his bread, we were full of fried, fatty food and just plain tired. It was nice to see the end of the day! At least we can laugh!!

Crab Salad

Ribs

Nouvelle Cuisine Day 2

This day went a million times better than last weeks class. Originally, this was the last class of the whole program so the go all out. There's foie gras, caviar and champagne! We had a quick lecture on caviar followed by a review for our unit exam next week. The recipe I did was Pomegranate-Marinated Leg of Lamb. I love pomegranates and lamb, so I knew I would have fun with this dish. It was a very quick process and again, it wasn't so much about the taste with these dishes in Nouvelle Cuisine, it's about the presentation. I knew I had to pick myself back up from last week and I feel like I really hit it out of the park with this one. I have also found that I am really good at cooking meat. I feel really comfortable and confident doing so. Chef Jan said I got an A++ for the way I cooked the meat. The sauce was made with stock form the lamb bones and a reduction of the pomegranate marinade. It started out very sweet so we really had to cut it by adding quite a lot of heavy cream, but it came out great and everyone loved it!






Pomegranate Leg of Lamb with Spinach and Potato-Vegetable Basket

Foie Gras!!


Caviar and Blinis!!

American Day 1 - New England

Today before we started our first American class, we had to take our Provincial French unit exam. I studied my but off for this exam. I made her grade it in class because I needed to know how I did. I got a 95.5 (should have been a 96, but whatever). I really needed this grade since I bombed the Italian unit exam. Next week will be the Intensive French unit exam, so I will be head-deep in a notebook all week.

In American we mostly talked about the colonial period (it helped that I had just gone to Plimoth Plantation the Saturday before, I love it there!). It was a pretty simple day. My dish was Red Flannel Hash. It's essentially the same as corned-beef hash with the addition of beets to make it red. It's really good! There were lots of veggies in it too, like brussel sprouts and and parsnips. To go with it, we thinly sliced a huge beet and deep fried them to make beet chips. It was accompanied by a Horseradish Sauce that was to die for!



My Classmate's Dishes:

Straw Potato Leek Cake with Finnan Haddie Cream




Lobster Pie

Nouvelle Cuisine Day 1

Today we move from Intensive French to Nouvelle French cuisine. Nouvelle Cuisine is a movement where some guys were upset with the food not being presented at it's best. They were over the processes of covering the food with heavy sauces, huge portions and not the freshest of ingredients. The plating style is very refined. The sauces is always on the bottom and food begins to be elevated on the plate. My dish was Pork Medallions with Cassis. This class was HORRIBLE. The beige pork was to go on top of 2 purees, celeriac and turnip/potato (both white). It also had a chestnut puree...beige again. My frustrations should be clear by now. NO COLOR! The teacher didn't like anything we were putting on the plate. There was no hope for this dish from the beginning. At least she liked the way I cooked the pork. I pretty much wanted the day to end! There is only one more Nouvelle Cuisine class, so hopefully I can end that section on a good note.

Pork Medallions with Cassis

My Classmate's Dishes:


Cheese Tartines (I made the tomato flower thingy!)


Scallops with Tangerine and Green Peppercorn Sauce

It's been a while....

Sorry it's been so long...November has been a busy month for me. There's no way I can remember what happened during class for the past weeks, but I will at least show you the dishes I made. So far, I've had 2 quizzes. One in our Provincial French class and another in our Intensive French class. I got an 80 on the Provincial French quiz. Since this is all about the regions of France and what products/dishes they are known for it's all about memorization. On the Intensive French quiz I got a 92. This was easier for me because it was more about technique and the science of ingredients. Below are the dishes I created in the past few weeks and the names.


Oeufs en Meurette (Eggs in a Red Wine Sauce)




Flourless Chocolate Cake (left) with Peppered Strawberries

Bouillabaisse with Rouille

Chaussons de Fondue Jurassienne (Crepes with Gruyere)

Veau de Lorraine (Veal)


Kulibyaka

Stuffed Cornish Games Hens

Savarin

Vegetable Terrine with Tomato Vinaigrette

Salad of Duck Breast with Endive, Watercress, Candied Papaya and Chili-Spiced Pecans

Touraine

Today's class was nothing special. In all honesty, I am sitting here writing this and I can't even remember how lecture went or what we did in the kitchen. I think the sleepiness is catching up to me. The classes are pretty exhausting and I am usually pretty good at not letting it get to me, but this week it has. My brain really feels like mush right now! Oh well, it's all part of the journey.

There wasn't much that I learned in lecture. We mostly discussed this region of France being known for it's chateaux. This regions is where they started to guide away from the huge feasts and started focusing on the elegance of the room. The now had chandeliers, fine linens and china. They also made grand gardens. These gardens would be separated by what they were growing. Obviously, they would have flower gardens, but there would be a 'kitchen' garden with all of the herbs, fruits, vegetables. These gardens were located right outside of the kitchen for easy access. I would love to have a chateaux with a huge kitchen garden!

We got into the kitchen and started cooking. I was given the recipe of Fricassee de poulet a L'Angevine (chicken fricassee with mushrooms and onions from Anjou). It was a very easy recipe. It was quick to prep and cook. I could have been ready to cook and serve it well before the appetizers went out, but I held off. I had to break down 2 chickens for this recipe, peel 24 small pearl onions and clean some mushrooms. It really didn't take me that long to do any of that. Once you learn how to break down a chicken it's so easy and quick! I had to cook the chicken on all sides, then add the onions and wine and chicken stock and cook that until the juices ran clear in the chicken. In a separate pot I cooked the mushrooms with water, lemon juice, salt and pepper for about 5 minutes. I then took the chicken and onions out of the pan, added the mushroom liquid to the chicken pan and cooked the sauce down. I added an egg yolk beaten into some heavy cream to enhance the thickness and richness of the sauce. Once that reduced, I added the chicken, onions and mushrooms back to the pan to heat through. It was a really good dish. Quick, easy, and hearty. Everyone loved it!

For seminar, we discussed the kitchen and it's tools. We spoke mostly about colonial times and their use of hearths and beehive ovens. It made me want to go back to Plimoth Plantation or visit Sturbridge Village. I started my Food History report on Onion Soup. It seems like it's going to be an easy paper to write. Next week, the instructor is going to be cooking for us. This will be cool because he's going to be cooking recipes from the colonial time period and use authentic ingredients. I'm expecting it to be bland. The did use salt, but they were so limited on their ingredients that I don't think they could have produced the types of flavors we have today.

Today's Recipes:Tarte au Fromage de Chevre, Aumoniere de Saumon aux Poireau et Asperges, Rillettes de Porc D'Anjou, Fouaces, Soup Tourangelle, Fricassee de Poulet a L'Angevine, Gateau Anjou de Pomme de Terre, Pain de Carottes a la Tourangelle, Salade aux Fines Herbes, Poires Belles Angevines Fourrees de Cremets a la Creme Anglaise Parfumee, Gateau D'Amandes

Classical French, Day 2

Today was a very good day in class. We discussed the Renaissance time and emulsions. Today was the first day we started at 8. In all honesty, it didn't feel any different. Our lecture lasted almost 4 hours!! Chef Jan is awesome and gets really excited and she just can't edit herself. I would never want her to either, she's too much fun! We talked a lot about terrines. She gets very excited about these types of things. She showed us pictures of past student's terrines and they were really nice looking. They just take forever to make! Two of my classmates worked on one today and we won't see it until next week. It's still not done! They are easy to assemble, but there are just so many steps and after each step you need to chill it. It really is a labor of love! We are all expected to do a terrine in the upcoming weeks, so I will keep you posted on when mine is made!

The recipe I made today was Noisettes of Lamb. This means rounds of lamb loin placed atop a crouton. Today's happened to be topped with a mint hollandaise sauce called Sauce Paloise. This recipe would not have taken me most of the day if it had not been due to the fact that I had to debone the lamb loin and trim the fat from it. Lamb's fat has lanolin in it which causes a bad taste. This has to be removed as much as possible. However, lamb has a lot of fat that runs through it, so it makes it tough to get all of it without separating the muscles. Once the clean up of the lamb was done, it was quick from that point on. I toasted the bread in clarified butter until they where crispy. I then seared the lamb loins on all sides and threw them in the oven to finish off. While they were in the over, I made the Sauce Paloise. You take tarragon vinegar, white wine, parsley, mint and shallots and boil that down. You take this off the heat and add 3 egg yolks and whisk until thick and creamy. You then put this back onto low heat and slowly mix in 1 cup of butter. This was an amazing sauce and was a perfect partner for the lamb because of the mint running through it.

Almost all of us agreed that this entire mean was one of the best meals we have done together. I think the flavors were there and we were all on point with our recipes that it just worked. Hopefully tomorrow will go just as smoothly! Now I have to get going on that Food History report. I've narrowed the recipe down to either cole slaw or onion soup. Not sure which one yet, but I think either will be good!

Today's Recipes:Marjolaine Tartlets, Rabbit Terrine, Poireaux Vinaigrette, Potage Puree de Cresson, Noisettes of Lamb, Pommes Anna, Macedoinse de Legumes au Beurre, Riz a L'Imperatrice, Gateau Alcazar

Normandy and Brittnay

Today was the first class of Provincial French. In this class, we will be discussing the regions of French. This class is a lot less time consuming than Classical French and the food is more rustic. We started out with lecture as usual. The lecture was pretty boring and the chef I have for this class can go off on about 10 different subjects at time. It's very hard to follow her and feel confident in what she is telling us. I've had this teacher a couple of times last semester and wasn't that fond of her back then. Oh well, I'll just have to suck it up and focus on what I am really there for.

The recipes I made were the Coeur a la Creme and Huitres aux Amandes. The coeur a la creme can be either savory or sweet. We made a savory version. It included garlic, shallots and herbs. Essentially, you mix together cottage cheese, cream cheese and whipped cream with the above ingredients. You then put in in a heart shape mold (coeur means heart in French) with cheese cloth. There are special molds just for this recipe. The have holes in the bottom and the mold is raised to allow for the water to drain from the bottom, producing a block of creamy goodness! I have to say I didn't get a lot of flavor from the savory one and would much prefer a dessert one with a raspberry sauce. The other dish I did was oysters, topped with a compound butter of almonds, garlic, brandy and Cayenne. Then, on top of that was breadcrumbs with parsley. They baked in the oven for 5-10 minutes. I have to say, it was very good considering I don't care for almonds in my food.

Once lab was over, some of us headed over to Spirit, the bar we hang out at between lab and seminar. The reason I am bringing this up is because they had a beer on top there, Shipyard's Pumpkin Ale. It's so good. It's like pumpkin pie! You should try it.

For seminar, it was the first class of Food History. I have to admit that it wasn't as thrilling as I thought it would be, but good nonetheless. We learned about the history of the recipe. In reference to the whale vomit, it's a secretion from the whale that is very rare. They used to use it in old English recipes. Now, it's used by fine perfume manufacturers. The teacher told us about a couple in Australia coming across a huge glob of it that weighed 32 pounds, they made over $300,000 on it!!! Anyways, I actually have homework for this class! I'm kind of excited about it. I need to find one common recipe, then find it in 5 different cookbooks over time. I need to compare these recipes and write a report on it. I have to give reasons as to why the ingredients may be different, the cooking techniques may be different and how lifestyles were depending on the years these recipes were written for. I think this will actually be really cook to do! I super excited because I bought a Plimoth Plantation cookbook while we were there last and I know they have some cool recipes in there. Next week we will be discussing the history of the kitchen. This one should be cool, especially if we talk about the evolution of the 'tools' in the kitchen.

Today's Recipes Coeur a la Creme, Huitres aux Amandes, La Cotriade, Potage au Deux Haricots, Roti de Porc au Pruneaux, Apple and Onion Stew, Buckwheat Crepes, Chou-Fleur au Gratin, Salade aux Fines Herbes, Le Floron Bread, Gateau Breton aux Apricots, Kough Amann

Classical French, Day 1

I made it through my first day of Classical French! Our instructor is Chef Jan. She is the best! We had her for one class previously and I loved her then too. She loves food and cooking and her passion and excitement is infectious. She will constantly let you know when combinations of ingredients should result in a 'C.O.' or culinary orgasm! She's just so much fun that you want to listen to her lectures just to hear what she's going to say next. She's always throwing out her "Tips from Jan" and it's like a party while you are with her! Anyways, she's going to make Monday mornings so much easier to get up for!

We got into how Classical French will be set up. It's very intense and time consuming, so much so, that we need to start class at 8AM now to be out in time for the night class that's right after us. This doesn't bother me. I'm there at 7:40 anyways. We got talking about the history of french cooking and a man named Taillevent. He wrote the first French cookbook and created almost 5,000 French recipes. There is currently a restaurant, named Taillevent, that would cost you around $600 to eat there. I have added this restaurant to my list of places to eat! Sauces are a must in French cooking. I like this because I am a sucker for a good sauce!

We then got into talking about the recipes for the day. There were only 7, but they were all intense with multiple ingredients and steps. I was given the dessert recipe with another student. Not too thrilled about this since I had to bake a genoise, but, I guess someone had to do it! I really wanted to do the duck consume since that is an extremely classical dish, but I didn't get it. She has a good method of rotating out what dishes we get assigned, so I am sure I will get my chance along the way. The dessert was an Orange Dome Cake. I thought it was fairly simple since it's like most of the desserts we've made in the past. It's just that the French have to go over the top with their ingredients, steps and presentations and that all led up to taking the while day to complete the dish!

It was a really great day. I realized how much I missed my fellow classmates and the kitchen. I'm really excited for tomorrow and especially the Food History seminar!

Today's Recipes:Aigrettes, Consumme De Canard, Fillet of Sole Mimi, Concombres au Beurre, Crepes Surprise, Broccoli Noisette, Salade Bouguignonne, Orange Dome Cake

My last semester!!!

I start up classes again on Monday. For the last month, I have been dying to get back to school. I miss the hours of cooking in a commercial kitchen and I really miss the people in my class. They are a great bunch and it's nice to have people with the same passion as you. To focus on school more and to make it easier to fulfill some requirements (event credits) I have decided to not work Fridays anymore. This last semester I am going to focus on the finer details like my resume, building relationships with the administrators at the school and doing everything in my power to set myself up for success before the year is up.

I failed myself this summer. I set a goal before the first semester let out to look for a job and have it by the time this second semester started. I simple didn't do anything to achieve that goal. The only reason was because I was scared. I've never been in a position like this before. I feel like employers won't take me seriously. I have no idea how a commercial kitchen runs...why would anyone hire me? This semester I am going to kick some ass, get the references I need and get the job I deserve and know I am fully capable of doing!!

I was just looking at what types of classes I have in store for me and I am so excited! The lab classes are: Classical French, Provencal French, Haute Cuisine, Garde Manger, Nouvelle, Cuisine, American, Asian and Fusion. The seminars include: Food History (really giddy for this!), Nutrition, Recipe Writing, Cheese, Coffee, Tea and ICE SCULPTURE (sweet!!).

At the end of the semester, there are 3 biggies I need to focus on. The written exam, which I am pretty sure covers all 37 weeks. The final practicum, which differs from my mid-term practicum as they only give you the name of the dish - no ingredients or anything...you are really on your own knowledge for this one! The last, but best, is the creative practicum. This is a dish you make on your own. Something no one has ever seen before. I have an idea, but need to work on it to see if it will be successful, but I do need to start thinking of backups just in case!

As I am writing this, I am thinking about the end already. I'm really going to miss this experience. I'll miss being a student, I've always like being a student. Here's hoping it will all pay off!!!

Sicily and Sardinia

This will be a picture entry. I am done with classes for the summer and just need to take my Italian exam on Saturday than it's Mondays and Tuesdays off until September!!! Still no wine exam grade. I may not get it until I get my end-of-semester report in the mail in a few weeks. Here is the food we made over the last 2 days! Feel free to send me questions on any of it!!! (ps I made the eggplant/pasta round thingy and the anchovy and mozzarella-stuffed sardines)

Campagna

Today was all about 'bar food'. We had Fried Mozzarella Sandwiches and pizzas. It can't get better than that! I made the sandwiches. I did half with only Mozzarella and the other half had Mozzarella and Anchovies. They were very good. The were to soggy on the outside though, I would have preferred a crispy outside like a true grilled cheese. This was a really quick dish, so I also cooked some mushrooms in butter and parsley to go with the main dish which was pork chops.

We had about 3 or 4 different pizzas followed by paste e fagioli and a seafood salad. The main dish was Pork Chops, mushrooms and rolled, stuffed eggplant. There were a couple of desserts, but I didn't try them. I was too full!

In other news, I got an 83 on my Italian quiz. I wish I had done better, but too late now. Still no news on our wine exam grade. I expect to get that next week. There is just next Monday and Tuesday left before summer break. I cannot wait for this, I really need 3 days off a week for 3 months to relax and rejuvenate. Although, I really should be job hunting this summer so I can start working in the field before second semester starts.

Today's Recipes:Mozzarella in Carozza, Pizza Margherita, Pizza Bianca, Pizza All'Aglio, Calzone, Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, Insalata di Frutti di Mare, Costata di Maiale Alla Pizzaiola, Involtini di Melanzane, Funghi Trifolati, Zuppa Inglese

Lazio

We started the class today with our 1st (and last)quiz of Italy. We will have a final exam on the 20th for everything we learned during the 6 weeks of Italian. The quiz wasn't terribly difficult, but it was not set up the same way as our Food Basics and Baking quizzes. Plus, the 'review' by the chefs was not nearly as helpful. I know I didn't get an A on it, but I will be happy with the B that I pulled given the lack of studying I did for it. Next week I will have the exact grade, if we all got a certain question maybe Chef Adrian won't count it against us, the same way Chef Jim would throw out questions if we all didn't get it. That may be the only way I get an A.

Today I made the dessert. It was a ricotta souflee with citron and candied orange peel. It was served with a raspberry coulis. It was a really easy recipe that could be done ahead of time. Those are always my favorites to do in class, because once I am done, I can watch what everyone else is doing. I had to let my desserts cool, but I didn't let them cool completely (since I wasn't instructed that way). When I unmolded them, the bottom stuck. It was ok though, because I had the raspberry coulis to cover it up. I left one in the fridge to cool down as an individual presentation and that came out clean since it was cold. Ok, lesson learned on that one! The food today was really good. It was still relatively simple, nothing too fancy.

Tomorrow I have my wine exam. I think I will study for this one and try to pull a high A. I received my 'up-to-date' grade in the mail and am at a 91.98 so far. So, if I do get a B on my Italian quiz, the grade from the wine exam should pull me up from that.


Today's Recipes:Olive Condite Di Montefiascone, Suppli al Telefono, Carciofi alla Romana, Tortino di Crespelle, Saltimbocca all Romana, Funghi della Mia Mamma, Asparagi al Forno, Insalata di Peperoni, Budino di Ricotta, Tozzetti