day 111: stick a fork in me

I'm stuffed. Stuffed with all the culinary knowledge Le Cordon Bleu sees fit to bestow on me before throwing me out in the real world. I'm going to miss this group of misfits I've been cooking alongside everyday for the last six months. Some of these kids I think I'll be great friends with for a very long time, and some I will likely never see again...but all, I will carry with me the fondest memories of taking my first steps to pursue what I've always wanted to do, to cook.

day 110: korea: kalbi

What are Korean BBQ short ribs doing on our Chinese buffet?  I don't know, but I don't care...I just want to eat them with my mouth!  The marinade was dead simple: soy sauce, honey, sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, scallions, and the secret ingredient: kiwi. The acid made the ribs nice and tender without a braise.  Sohl suggested Asian pears next time I try it, as kiwis are hardly Korean.

day 109: japan: sake no miso

Today was one the funnest, most realistic exercises we've done yet. We fired our dishes like a real kitchen with Chef Watts expediting. I made the miso-marinated salmon with bok choy, and I glazed it with a teriyaki sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar...delicious.

day 108: vietnam/thailand: gỏi cuốn and pad thai

Somebody shattered a bottle of fish sauce all over the floor today.  P.U.!  But I won't lie...I will straight up drink the stuff in the nước chấm, like the one I made for the the spring rolls below.  The Pad Thai got stir-fried chicken, shrimp, tofu, eggs and Phở noodles, tossed in a sauce of Tamarind water, palm sugar, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, chiles and paprika.  I finished it with the carrots, bean sprouts, scallions and cilantro.  Spicy, salty, sweet and sour deliciousness!

My Vietnamese spring rolls were stuffed with shrimp, Thai basil, mint, mung bean noodles, carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts and scallions.  The carrots I julienned really thin and let soak in rice wine vinegar, and I also added it to the nước chấm, which was just fish sauce, water, sugar, lime, chiles, garlic and ginger.  I would have felt quite silly to have messed this one up.  Fortunately, I did not.

day 106: india: masala murgh

Another day, another buffet. I thought my dish would be a lot more exciting because it actually had a protein in it, but it was all about the Samosas today...little fried pastries of spiced potatoes, onions and peas. The Masala Murgh is a braised chicken dish with plenty of onions and tomatoes, finished with yogurt.

day 105: middle east: baklava

Today was buffet day again, and again I made a beeline for the dessert. I made two different kinds: one with the traditional honey syrup, and one with a Meyer lemon syrup, which Shonna kindly brought in today. For the Meyer lemon one, I zested a bunch of the lemons and steeped that with the juice in simple syrup. Then, I strained out the zest, and candied it with the sugar and cinnamon nut mixture which went in the filling. It was DELICIOUS! Tart + Sweet = mmmm.  Baklava is a crowd pleaser, for sure, and I'm gonna give it another go soon with Kataifi, a shredded phyllo dough that makes it look like a Baklava bird nest!

day 104: italy: insalata di arance, caccuccio, osso bucco and risotto alla milanese

As a culinary student, I get asked all the time what kind of food I want to cook out in the real world.  It's a tough question to answer, and I usually shrug it off...but I secretly think Italian all the time.  Nothing is quite as satisfying as a big bowl of pasta...which, we didn't even make today.  Instead, we started with a Sicilian orange and fennel salad.  I tossed in some red onions and baby arugula for good measure.

Next was the Caccuccio, a Tuscan soup of shrimp, mussels, clams and calamari in a tomato soup.  My problem with seafood soups is that poaching seafood is never really flavorful.  So instead, I sauteed all my seafood in garlic and butter.  I also used the anchovies in the soup since it was on our cart.  Why not?  It made the tomato soup taste seafood-y without having to poach all my fish...which wouldn't have given up a lot of flavor anyway.  Again, Chef Watts ate a whole baguette slice...I love when she does that.  I toasted my crostini in a pan with clarified butter and rubbed it with garlic straight off the heat.  I channeled ITALY today!

And for our entree, we braised Osso Bucco and served with Risotto, both in the style of Milan.  I topped my Osso Bucco with Gremolata, equal parts minced lemon zest, parsley, garlic and anchovies.  The Risotto I made with saffron, and finished with parmesan, butter and Mascarpone, for extra creaminess.  Okay, maybe it should have been more SPLAT! than molded, but whatever.  Leftovers are gonna be delicious tonight!

day 103: morocco: b'stilla and tagine lham bil zitun wa l'hamd mrakad

B'stilla are delicious Baklava-like pastries, filled with chicken and Ras el Hanout, a delicious spice blend that contains fennel seeds, allspice, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, sesame, coriander and cumin seeds, ginger, nutmeg, and 742 other spices. We served it with Harissa, a spicy paste, and Charmoula, sort of a cilantro pesto.

The Tagine is a braised lamb dish with olives and preserved lemons, served over couscous.  I sweat some onions with parsley, oregano and saffron, and braised my seared lamb in chicken stock, finishing with the olives and lemons, which added a very interesting salty flavor.  Sort of like using anchovies or fish sauce, it adds another nice layer of flavor.

day 101: germany: kartoffelpfannkuchen, linsensuppe, and rheinischer sauerbraten with spätzle and rotkohl mit äpfeln

 

After being in a weird (cooking) funk for the past couple of days, I was all about being the comeback kid today. The potato pancakes I've made about four times in school now (once with apples!), so hopefully I know what I'm doing. Chef Watts ate a whole pancake, which made me feel really good.

The Linsensuppe, or lentil soup, also came out really nice.  Unlike yesterday, I remembered to add the bacon back in...no vegetarian soup today!  It also didn't hurt that I brought in my extra bacon fat.

And for the entree today, I braised the Sauerbraten and served it with spätzle tossed in butter and sage.  I didn't get a single critique today for any of my dishes, which was awesome...although I'm not too sure about this cabbage I made.  I never know how cabbage dishes are supposed to taste because I never eat it (e.g. cole slaw, sauerkraut), so I just tried my best to balance the acid with sweet and salty.  Not too shabby.

day 100: russia/denmark: borscht, pel'meni and mørbrad med svedsker og aebler

I thought Eastern Europe day would be a lot heavier foods, but the soup and appetizer were quite light. The Borscht is a beet soup, with parsnips and celery root, braised in veal stock and red wine vinegar. Chef Watts said I didn't have enough meat flavor in mine, and when I went back to my station I realized I, uh, forgot to put any meat in at all. I should have advertised it as Vegetarian Borscht. 

The Pel'meni are little dumplings of ground beef, pork and onions, poached in veal stock. Our book says these were traditionally made with horsemeat. Uh, delicious.

And for the main course, we have the one that's hard to prounounce, which hails to us from Denmark.  It's a pork loin, stuffed with apples and prunes that were cooked in Aquavit and finished with cream.  I seared mine in bacon fat to give the hunk of meat some flavor, and I tossed my potatoes in the bacon fat too.

day 99: mexico: churros

Today was supposed to be a trip through Spain, but I think I went on the cheap and headed to Mexico instead.  The churros got chocolate and caramel sauce, which was delicious.  But the horchata just tasted like sugar-y water...I guess two hours isn't quite enough.

day 98: france: poulet sauté à la normande avec la purée de céleri-rave

We visited France on the first day of International, really a radical departure from everything we've done so far.  Or not.  I guess slapping that Camembert on the seared chicken breast makes this "in the style of Normandy"...uh, whatever.  Hopefully, the final three weeks of school will be a lot more exciting.

day 97: mushroom terrine

Garde Manger has to be my least favorite class of all.  Aside from the bacon that we cured, I can't think of a single thing we made that I care to make again.  Thank God that class is over.  Unfortunately, Garde Manger is probably one of the first jobs I'll get in a real kitchen.

day 96: sushi

Sushi is a nice snack, but I don't know how you get a whole meal out of it unless you're just wiping your ass with cold hard cash.  Even then...for raw fish?  Pass.  And the sticky rice reminded me of enrobing chocolate truffles...a big hot mess all over my hands.  Double pass.

day 95: antipasti platter; caprese salad

Today, I made Caprese salad with the mozzarella we pulled yesterday...it was a million times better than the chunks of sliced mozarella I put in the one for our BBQ buffet. We also had heirloom tomatoes instead of the usual roma tomatoes, which was a lot nicer. Chef Pastore likes to meander past our plates a lot this term even though he's not our teacher, and he tried to take credit for the inspiration of my stacked Caprese salad.  Sorry Chef, Jacques Pepin beat you to it! But your plate was impressive, nonethless. I also made a ton of different kitchen cheeses yesterday, and I oven dried some roma tomatoes and soaked them in olive oil, garlic and basil overnight. It was delicious with the baby artichokes Jennifer marinated, and the crostini we toasted in butter and rubbed with garlic. And kudos to Brittany for iPhoning a beautiful platter presentation for us. An antipasti success!