day 37: fresh fruit tarts

Today, we did our first project with the pate sucre dough we made the other day, fresh fruit tarts. These look so beautiful, I barely want to cut into them. We made a delicious pastry cream, and it was my first time using fresh vanilla beans, which was interesting. I love that these look really intricate, but they are quite simple to make...just takes a little organization, and patience. Chef A said my tart shell baked off nicely, not too much color, my fruit was sliced and arranged nicely, and that I coated it completely with the apricot glaze. I don't think she liked too much the fact that I made a second mini tart with my leftover dough...which made everyone pester her for a mini tart ring...which there were no more...which pissed her off more. Sorry, Chef A. In other news, I'm ready to go on a date with Chef True like yesterday...he is too cute. I hope I get him for advanced baking later on.

day 36: danish pastries

Today, we baked off our danishes that we started yesterday. Laminating the dough with butter was tedious, but fun, as was forming the dough into all sorts of different shapes today. We made pinwheels, envelopes, bear claws, picture frames, turnovers, snails, spectacles, and a figure 8. The dough was a bit temperamental because of all the butter inside, and it's going to take some practice to get the filling right...most of mine crept out, fell over, or otherwise was just not pretty. Chef A said I did a good job laminating the dough, but that I'd taken these out of the oven before they browned enough and so they deflated a bit. Overall, I think they turned out okay, and were definitely the most fun thing we've made so far. Tomorrow: fruit tarts.

day 34: beignets, buttermilk biscuits and blueberry muffins, oh my

Today, we made beignets, which reminded me of home a little bit. Chef True said he'll go for seconds and thirds in the same day when he is at Cafe du Monde. Really? They're good and all...but that good? That's like Pink's on La Brea. They're okay hot dogs, I guess, but not line up around the block good. James and I went to our old room to use the deep fryer while Chef Brown was giving a lecture. He nonchalantly asked if we were making beignets, as if he didn't know. We decided to bring him a plate...only to get beaten to the punch by some anonymous person who'd had the same idea.  Chef A said these came out great, and that was it, really. I guess there really isn't that much to say about beignets. Just remember to hold your breath while you eat these.  Otherwise, you will be inhaling some powdered sugar and looking like you have issues with drugs.

This is what we've all been waiting to make for at least a week now, the blueberry muffins. I think the biscuits were a bit more fun to actually make, because we had to fold in the butter as opposed to just dumping all the ingredients together for the muffins. But wow, they are delicious! I topped half of mine with crumb topping, and half with crystal sugar. I wish I would have reserved about half of my blueberries to put right on top so they would look more blueberry-y...next time, I'll do that. Chef A said these came out great, too.

The buttermilk biscuits were a lot of fun to make, and the most challenging of the three, because we had to work with the ingredients while they were very cold. Because I wasn't paying attention while mising my ingredients, I chopped all my butter up into cubes instead of just using the box grater, which would have been a bit faster. Either way works, but I did have to stash all my ingredients back in the walk-in and then work on my muffins while the butter re-chilled. I wondered how people were getting their biscuits out of the cutter so nicely when mine was so sticky and started falling over when I panned them. I just forgot one simple step...to dust my cutter with some flour, d'oh! I really liked how you folded the dough over itself to get those beautiful layers.  Chef A said I had a nice, even brownness, and she could see the layers so I worked my dough correctly.  She was also right about how you can definitely tell the biscuits that were made out of the scraps...I'm looking right at you, lower-right! These things made me want a box of Popeye's fried chicken, and red beans and rice.

day 32: brioche and sourdough

Today, we baked brioche, which is French for "I wish I had two mouths to eat this." When you stick your face into a bag of brioche, your eyes roll to the back of your head and you go, "Mmmm." You know that guttural moan that you make when you smell BBQ? Same thing. We started the brioche yesterday and I got to use one of those Kitchenaid mixers for the first time. That was a lot of fun! That dough was pure butter. It was pretty hard to work with today, as I could feel my warm hands melting the butter in that dough, making it very sticky. If I could, I would have setup a station inside the walk-in to work the dough into those boules...but I don't think that was an option. Also, maybe gloves would help lessen the heat coming from my hands. Both things to try next time I make this. Chef A said my balls were each nicely formed in the couronne nantaise pan, and that when she pulled them apart, the strands were short because they were nice and tight so they did not meld together. The brioche a tete (the one with the head) was also fun, and funny to make. To get that ball on there, we had to shape the smaller top ball, then spin it on the table to give it a tail. Then, we had to shape the larger bottom ball, and poke a hole through the center to stick the tail through. I thought it was pretty funny when James said, "my hole doesn't want to stay open"...and funnier when I discovered it was in fact pretty hard to keep your hole open very long. Chef True nipped that right in the bud and punched a hole through it like he'd taken it out for dinner and a show. Later on, Patrick was examining his brioche a tete, and said, "My ball is all misshapen," which again launched me into hysterics.

Sourdough, not as humorous a bread, we did in groups. I made the dough for the white, and James made the one for the rye. Then we both shaped our own doughs. The white is just a large boule, which I could have done a better job slashing. I thought it was going to be more brown, but Chef A took it out of the oven herself so I guess that's what we're looking for. The rye we made into a football shape, and I completely forgot the word for that. I liked slashing that one like a leaf...I thought it was very pretty. Chef A also said my loaves were very well formed.  They should be...considering she formed my rye loaf herself. We didn't cut into the sourdoughs to see what was going on inside as they were still pretty hot at the end of class, but I just ate some of the rye and it was delicious. I asked her why my long slash on top looked like it had exploded, and she said that was just the yeast giving one final burst in the oven before they died. We have a vegan in the class, and I wonder if she considers yeast breads okay to eat. I'll ask her on Monday. Also on Monday, I get a second shot at my epi cuts on my French bread for our quiz...I hope they come out nice.

day 31: pain de mie and pizza

Today, we made a pain de mie in a Pullman pan...which are just fancy words for bread in a sandwich loaf. Chef True taught us that Pullman pans were called that because the pans looked like the old Pullman train box cars. Then, he gave a nostalgic look around the room and wondered if any of us kids had ever ridden such a train, as though he had done so all his life. The guy can't be more than 35! So, we made these in groups, and James and I worked on this together. It was a lot of fun. Even though I'm not a great baker, I really have been enjoying making doughs and breads and exploring a side of cooking I've done so little of before. So the crumb of the bread, or consistency inside, is like a soft, chewy french bread. This is going to make some very good sandwiches in the next few days. Chef A said our crumb could have been a little more dense, as our holes were large and small, just like a french bread. She said a pain de mie should have a fine crumb, and I think she said we may have either overproofed it or underkneaded it...I can't remember which.

Today, we also finished our pizza dough, which we started yesterday and let ferment overnight. I was worried when I saw that my dough had not really grown since yesterday, as though I'd forgotten to add yeast...but that's impossible. In any event, I was still able to roll it out to a workable size and I think it tasted great. I was able to get my pepperoni and sausage pizza into the deck oven so I think the crust came out a little better. The tomato and basil, I did in the Gemini, and you can definitely see the difference in the crust. I even olive oiled the crust on that one, and it didn't not crisp as much. In both cases, I should have added a lot more mozarella, I think...or maybe not, I don't know. We weren't critiqued on these, but they sure were fun to make! Tomorrow: brioche!

day 30: french baguettes and whole wheat rolls

Finally, some new food! I wish I'd snapped some pictures of my plates from my final last week, but I was running around like a roasted chicken with its head cut off. I tried a couple of new techniques, like plating my butternut squash soup in the butternut squash itself, which I roasted.  I also used my squeeze bottle to sauce my plates, which looked great when I zig-zagged my plate with Sauce Robert, then laid my beautiful chicken roulades haphazardly on top of the sauce with tourne potatoes and mini bunches of parsley.  So this week, we started baking class, and I think it's going to be a great time. Chef True and Chef A are super nice. Chef A even has some of what I'm calling baker's zen. She always seem so calm ...they both do, actually...which is odd, because the baking lab is basically a science lab, waiting to blow up. I don't think even Chef Pastore had that effortless, just sense of calm while he was working that these two chefs exude. Chef True was kneading some dough , and I don't know how to describe it, but it was like he was barely using half of one full hand to do it, just chit-chatting like nothing was even going on. When I went to knead my dough, I could barely acknowledge my lab partner standing right next to me, I was so into the kneading. Both hands, all in, full body, brain was working overtime...zero zen. I like my french bread, except that I definitely dusted too much bread flour at the end. Also, my epi isn't formed very well. It should be a lot more beautiful zig-zags than that. Chef A said I might have overproofed my dough a bit, but that the holes in the crumb were nice so I measured just the right amount of flour. Next time, I'll move my dough to the walk-in so that it stops proofing until I'm ready to bake. I've also got to go in more at an angle with those epi cuts.

My dinner rolls came together pretty well, except that I think they got a little too brown on the outside.  Interesting fact: these are whole wheat dinner rolls because we used some "whole wheat" flour to make them...not because they are "whole" wheat.  I topped mine with oats, sesame seeds, nothing, and poppyseeds.  Chef A said they had a very soft texture and that I kneaded just the right amount, but that the tops seem to have deflated a bit. She said I can fix that by pulling my dough a bit more taut when I'm shaping them before the second proof. When Chef True was demo-ing how to shape the rolls, he said you want to pull them so that you have a jagged bottom and a smooth top...to which James and I had a good giggle fit later on. But had I taken that more seriously, I would have had nice smooth tops. Tomorrow: pizza party!

day 26: roasted butternut squash potage, seared scallops, and weiner schnitzel

Today was our last day of production before our final, and one of the dishes I drew for my final was this butternut squash soup. I don't really care for butternut squash, but Chef Brown said I did great. The first thing he asked me when I presented was who taught me this plating design to which I have Chef Shalchian to thank. I just took some sour cream, thinned it out with some manufacturing cream, squirted a pinwheel around the soup with my squeeze bottle, and then fanned it out with a skewering stick. When I do this for my final on Friday, I will do concentric circles instead of a pinwheel so it closes better, and be sure I have enough cream in my bottle so it doesn't go splat...you can totally see where that happened. Chef Brown also said it would be more elegant if it was a lot smaller, and I agree. As for the soup, Chef Brown said I had a ton of butternut squash flavor. He said my soup was really dark, and I told him the chicken stock was pretty dark to start with...he liked the flavor though.  I also put a fair amount of nutmeg into my soup, as I already knew he was a fan of that.  We had pumpkin seeds to garnish with, to which I also added my butternut squash seeds when I toasted them. I left out the apple, which was an optional garnish, as apples in savory dishes tend to make me barf.

Here, I've seared some scallops and served them with an orange beurre blanc sauce. Chef Brown said this was a harder sauce to get than Hollandaise...I beg to differ. This sauce is easily broken with too much heat.  Duh, so just don't put it over too much heat.  That's sort of the same problem with Hollandaise.  However, I think my problem with Hollandaise isn't that I don't understand how to make it.  It's that I don't have three hands. Sure...I just lack the human appendages is all. Anyhow, Chef Brown said I seared my scallops beautifully and that my sauce was great, but that I'd let too much color get onto my vegetables, which can overpower scallops and beurre blanc, both very delicate flavors. I agree with him on the veg, but I wasn't quite as satisfied with my scallop. It was perfectly medium and still translucent in the center.  But it would have been nice if I got a good golden crust all along the top, like I did when we made filet mignon. Maybe if I just hit the scallops with some flour right before I sear them...I'll have to try that next time I make scallops.  Also, I could have kicked myself. I saved three perfect supremes of orange I wanted to garnish with, and when I went to present, they were still sitting on my cutting board. Now I know how those guys on Chopped feel when they forget to plate something.

So I never knew that this was a true Weiner Schnitzel. I always thought they were those godawful hot dogs from that place of the same name. I've ate at that place exactly twice in my life...and the second time, I asked myself if I just forgot how disgusting it was the first time. This schnitzel though...delicious. We pan fried a veal cutlet that was pounded out, then breaded in panko. We used panko for our rack of lamb the other day, but today it was really delicious when we fried something in it! We have a similar beurre blanc sauce from before...only this time it wasn't strained so you can see the shallots, lemon zest and lemon bits in it. Once again, I didn't plate any of my lemon supremes, but this time it was because I'd thrown them all in my sauce and they sort of disintegrated. Other than that, Chef Brown said I did a great job seasoning and frying my cutlet, and made a good sauce. Tomorrow, we prep for our final dishes and Friday is fire day!

day 25: roasted pork tenderloin and grilled pork chop

Today, we roasted a pork tenderloin which was served with our roasted fingerling potatoes. I've never had fingerling potatoes before, but I've sure seen a bunch of them on Food Network. So it was nice to try a new ingredient. I also learned an easy way to truss the tenderloin and still be professional (I normally would just cut a bunch of small segments of twine and tie them around separately). My mom does it the professional way, yet I never learned that from her for some reason. So the pork is a bit overcooked, and my potatoes are way overcooked. Chef Brown did like how I laid my potatoes on the fresh rosemary while they were warm so they would open up the oils from the herb and infuse them with more rosemary aroma. Two things. First, I like that Chef Brown was able to appreciate that professionally, as he is not a lover of rosemary. And second, I was just trying to add something aesthetic to my plate...I never even thought of the potatoes having done that. In fact, what I was thinking when I was plating was, should I?..Chef Brown doesn't like rosemary. I should. And I did.

The pork chop. The money item. I love pork chops. And I don't care if I am in culinary school and made this Sauce Charcutiere or whatever. I love my pork chops with Heinz 57 Sauce, and that's how I'm going to have it later, when Lost comes on. I can't imagine a better Tuesday night dinner and a show. I'll call it wild boar chop and have one of my Hawaiian rolls with it, in honor of the island. So the pork chop is served with a Deutscher Kartoffelsalat, which is a warm German potato salad. I just love calling it the first thing. On top are braised cabbages and red onion in balsamic vinegar and currant jelly. My cabbage turned out fantastic. My potatoes were a bit acidic...I knew I'd used way too much white wine vinegar, and Chef Lora helped me balance it out with more sugar, which made it palatable...but, I should have started over. Chef Brown said my pork chop was perfectly well done...which is to say, overdone, as we were shooting for medium rare to medium. Today, we also drew menus for our final, and someone can shoot me now. I have to make that crispy skinned fish again, which I mangled the first time. However, I'm going to thank my lucky stars I don't have to make any Hollandaise sauce.

day 24: chicken roulade and rack of lamb

Today, we finished our chicken roulade that we started at the end of last week, and one my favorites, roasted rack of lamb. I wish I'd have snapped a picture of the chicken before I seared it. I loved using that caul fat that I've only ever seen used on Top Chef, and Iron Chef. When I went to cook the chicken today, I'd honestly forgotten that we pounded it out thin and stuffed with spinach, mushroom duxelle (minced cremini and shallots sauteed, then reduced in white wine), roasted peppers, and asparagus...I guess I was mesmerized by the caul fat. When I went to pull it out...which was much, much later...I knew I'd overcooked the chicken as it was pretty firm. Chef Brown said it was the perfect appetizer portion he was looking for, my tournes rocked, and the chicken would have been overcooked had I left it in there for just one more minute. I'll take that. He also said my sauce was good, but that I'd reduced it a bit far (into syrup land) which can happen as the port wine we used has a pretty high sugar content. My thoughts: pretty dish, blah on taste.

Not so blah...my rack of lamb! I hope I get this dish for my final, because I know I can do a better job plating than that. Chef Brown, on the other hand, said my plating was high. Towering! I should take a moment to thank Chef Shalchian for that nugget of advice...always plate in the center and as high as you can. I purposely stole a full 12 inch sprig of rosemary at the beginning of class in hopes that I could get it that high, a la Hash House in San Diego. Unfortunately, I had to cut it in half and only used 6 inches in the end. But I have some ideas. Next time, I will build my potatoes into a pyramid and stick as much of the 12 inches into the center of the pyramid. I need something more structural than stupid sauteed spinach though. That was no help, obviously. Back to the food...Chef Brown gave me one of the best compliments yet on the doneness of my lamb.  He said he would be proud to serve that piece of meat, I'm assuming in his restaurant. When I cut into it, I knew I'd struck gold. Unfortunately, what I didn't know how to deal with was the blood that is obviously dripping into the mashed potatoes. I did let the lamb rest a good bit before I cut into it, so I'm not sure what's up. I thought I'd done a good job hiding it when I poured my sauce around it, but I can still see it and it's driving me nuts. Chef Brown said my potatoes were really creamy...they were. I'd barely even used any cream or butter...I wanted my potatoes to hold up better.  Next time, maybe I will start with just the butter and try not to use any cream at all.  They already come out pretty creamy when you run them through the food mill.  We put roasted garlic into our pommes puree today, which I did not remember until I wrote that just now, and I think I will go grab my tupperware.  I also sauteed my spinach with some garlic, which Chef Brown said I may not want to do because once you taste that fresh garlic on the spinach, the roasted garlic in the potatoes dull. Which is true...I need to practice a little more restraint in my cooking.  Not everything I like has to go into every dish I make...my pearl of wisdom for today.

day 23: coq au vin

I was pretty excited to make this dish today after seeing it on Good Eats...but I now think it's a bit overhyped. Sure, it's delicious and all, but it's not something I think I would crave and have to have. I do think my tournes on my potatoes are getting a lot better...I'm looking forward to the day I can get them to Chef Pastore's level. Chef Brown said my chicken was perfectly fall-off-the-bone tender, although my plate wasn't hot enough and my sauce got cold. I think I may have been a bit shy about heating my plate after I burned him with my fish en papillote plate the other day. I also used a bit more butter than I needed on my potatoes, and it started to separate with the sauce on the plate. I do hope I get one of these braised dishes we've been making the past two days for my final...it's a lot less stressful than dishes you have to constantly babysit.

day 22: shrimp gumbo and hungarian goulash

 

I definitely took the most liberty with my food today, straying quite a bit from Chef Brown's demo. Come on...we had gumbo! And I'm from New Orleans. Chef Brown made it probably the more traditional way, but I hate to see both shrimp and sausage just cooked in some boiling liquid when everyone knows they taste better when you brown them. So I sauteed both to give them some color, and a whole lot of flavor. While I was at it, I also pan fried my okra with a little dusting of flour on it, so I used the gumbo file and the roux as my thickening agent. My actual gumbo itself was probably pretty plain. It just had the roux, the trinity and the spices basically. Chef Brown asked if I darkened my gumbo with something at the end, but I told him I just took the roux really dark at the beginning. He said he was surprised I was able to get it that dark without a burnt flavor, but I know that a true gumbo should have a dark roux, beyond brown. He did say that the gumbo could use a little salt, and to coat my shrimp with the gumbo next time, but I don't know...I didn't sautee beautiful shrimp just to cover it up in sauce!

Next we have the Hungarian Goulash served over spaetzle. I've never had any of these things before, but braising the beef reminded me of how my mom taught me to do ribs...long and slow. Chef Brown said the spatezle was nice and that he noticed the amount of nutmeg I used in it...he liked that. I've always heard that once you taste the nutmeg...you have eggnog. But I prefer hearing it his way. The amount of butter I finished the spaetzle in though, well, you can see for yourself.  He also said the meat came out perfectly tender, and the sauce tasted delicious. However, I didn't find the same paprika flavor in mine as he had in his...which I really liked. Next time, I'll have to up the amount of paprika I used. Not having ever used paprika before substantially, maybe I just need a bit more of a push. I sure wasn't shy when it came to those caraway seeds though, when I dumped a ton of them in. I still don't know what they taste like though, on their own. I'll have to remember to try those tomorrow. Also tomorrow, we finish our Coq au Vin!

day 21: gnocchi with asparagus and maitre d'hotel butter, and mahi mahi two ways

After yesterday's poaching debacle, I can't say I was looking forward to steaming foods today. But I got my execution down today and had a pretty successful day. First, we made one of my favorites: gnocchi. I think I'm finding my baker's touch...I'm not manhandling foods as much, and the gnocchi were pretty delicate to work with. I don't quite have the shape down yet...Chef Brown said they were a little flat looking. But I think that will come with practice. Chef Brown said they more potatoy than doughy, which is exactly what you want. I also had fun making the herb butter I used to saute the asparagus and cooked gnocchi.

Next, we made mahi mahi steamed in a cabbage leaf, with more steamed vegetables, and service with jasmine rice and the broth that was the steaming liquid (soy sauce, fish sauce, mirin, scallions, cilantro, garlic, ginger and lime juice. My fish came out beautifully moist, and Chef Brown said I'd made a great broth, although he didn't taste soy...he said he tasted vegetables instead. I'd really only let the broth sit in those steamed vegetables for a couple of minutes while I was waiting to present, so I'm not sure why. But I think I've found Chef Brown likes food saltier than Chef Pastore so I'll just up the soy sauce/fish sauce if I do this again for my final.

Now this was the one that had me nervous as hell, becuase I couldn't look at it before presenting. It's always scary to present food you haven't seen/tasted so there's really no correcting yourself if you didn't get it right. Obviously, I got it right. Look at that thing! That is super moist, and I was pretty proud of my Mahi Mahi en Papillote. I also used the compound butter here, and I set the fish over some leeks and shallots I'd sweated before. I also had some tomatoes I'd julienned, and poured in some white wine to cook it in. Delicious. Tomorrow...shrimp gumbo!

day 20: sole vin blanc with mixed grain pilaf and sauce supreme, and poached salmon with steamed vegetables and hollandaise sauce

Today was a bit of a mixed bag. My sole vin blanc came out great, but my poached salmon suffered a bit from overcooking. The sole plate had a lot more elements, but the salmon had a few twists that made it a bit more difficult. More on that later. The sole was wrapped with some salmon mousse and poached in a court bouillon. I started the court bouillon first, along with my wild rice as I knew those would take some time to cook/develop flavors. My rice pilaf came out great, and I just re-added the wild rice and some toasted flax seeds to it. Chef Brown asked me if I just plated the sauce supreme he made...he said it tasted identical. That's a great compliment, but I definitely took a few different steps making it than he showed in demo...mostly, because I was scurrying to get it done. I'd added way too much liquid, and it was taking forever to reduce down. I just added a bunch of cold butter to it to thicken it up, and actually, it did taste great. The fish was perfectly cooked, and Chef Brown also complimented my tourne cuts on the carrots. Of course, I did use three carrots until I found my most beautiful cuts to plate. However, as I found it was easiest to cut from the root end, it was a bit woody and undercooked. Chef Brown said it would be easier to tourne the carrot in its round form, but I just couldn't get on board with that. I needed the edges for a point of reference, and I don't have time to test new things on the clock! I might give it a try when we're not being timed.

Now this plate was just a disaster. Overcooked vegetables. Overcooked fish. Hollandaise was too thick and too acidic. Potato gaufrette (waffle-cut) never made it to the plate. Chef Brown was definitely trying to make me feel better by saying it looked like I had the execution down, but I just needed work on the timing. I say if the timing isn't right, you haven't properly executed your dish. Over the past week, I've been flying by with executing my second or third dishes after our first plate went in. I hate having food sit, and that's something I need to work on. I'm sure in a restaurant, you don't cook everything to order, and I need to start thinking about parcooking, or letting things sit in the oven rather than doing 50 things at the last minute. Aside from timing issues, my other Achilles' heel was the Hollandaise sauce. I've yet to properly make that damned sauced, and that's just something I'm going to have to practice repeatedly until I get it. Tomorrow, more steaming food (ugh).