Monday update

Hey everyone,

In cooking theory yesterday we made more mayonnaise and hollandaise, and there derivatives. In addition to that we made compound butters, risotto, and pilaf. For my hollandaise, I made the derivative that was called Mousseline, which has whipped cream folded into it (unsweetened). Chef Emma made us some crab cakes for our mayonnaise based sauces. Here was mine:

Sweet chili garlic aioli
1 C. Fresh Mayo
1/4 C. Chili Sauce
1 T. Chopped garlic
1 T. Sherry vinegar
1 T. Lemon Juice
2 t. Sugar
1 T. Chopped capers

Fold all ingredients together.



Here is my Hollandaise set up!


Next, after breakfast we went back down stairs and chef Emma delivered us this speech,
"now we will learn the risotto method and the pilaf method which will haunt you for the rest of your culinary cuisines. From this point forward its on you to remember these."

The methods she talks about both start the same, by sweating onions (and other aromatics) in oil. Next you add your grain (arborio in risotto, Pilaf can use many different grains). Then you do a process called Nacre which means to coat the starch in fat and cook until they are hot to the touch. when you Nacre rice for pilaf, it gives you a fluffy texture and each grain of rice is seprate from each other. After the nacre risotto and pilaf methods change from each other.

For the pilaf you add stock and simmer, covered. once its cooked (15 minutes) its finished.

For the risotto you add wine and allow that to evaporate before you add hot stock slowly and stir constantly to develop the starchy liquid that surround the risotto and makes it creamy. To finish risotto you fold in herbs, cheese, and butter.

So I made a basic rice pilaf:

Rice Pilaf #1

Ingredient
1 ounce Vegetable oil
1/2 each Onion Small dice
1 cup Converted or parboiled rice
1 1/2 cup Stock
1 each Bay Leaf
To Taste Salt and pepper

Preparation
1. Sweat onions in oil until clear. Add rice, stir to coat evenly, cook 2-3 minutes to nacre. Add stock, bring to a simmer, add bay leaf and cover.
2. Reduce heat to low, cook for 15-20 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Try not to lift the lid!
3. Remove from heat, let stand ten minutes, season.

For my risotto i attempted the famous (in my family) pear and gorganzola risotto. In my opinion it came out pretty good, a nice balance of sweet and salty. Chef Emma said it was cooked properly and seasoned well but she gave me some ideas to think about and change next time. For one, Only make when pears are very ripe so the have an intense flavor (not sweetness, flavor). Another point was to use a hard blue cheese instead of gorganzola because the risotto becomes off textured when adding a creamy cheese. It was so great to get the constructive criticism right on the spot.

Next was the compound butters. Basically to make a compound butter you dice cold butter, add your flavorings, and combine with your hands. I made a garlic, herb (parsley, chives, thyme), and roasted pine nut butter. We each got some hanger steak to sear off, which i cooked medium rare, sliced on the bias and topped with my butter. It was delicious although i would have liked some more pine nuts because they were subtle.

Thats it for now ill update about tuesday soon!

Extra love to everyone at home,
Saul

Thursday and Friday Update

Hey everybody,

Yesterday was another awesome lecture from chef Herve. We talked about food and plate costing which is an essential skill. Below are my handwritten notes (if you can read them) which shows how much money you can loose on a piece of beef but how you can balance the losses with a better item such as a salad or chicken. For example, a vacuum sealed tenderloin (portioned) costs 32$ a pound. Just by putting that on the plate (8 oz.) the plate cost is already 16$. Even to get a 35% food cost you have to sell the steak for 50$ which is pretty outrageous especially at the restaurants we run. (this is without potatoes, veg, or any sauce which might accompany the steak). Now take chicken which costs 2.50$ a pound (local farmer, all organic, Free range). If your selling a 6 oz. B/S (boneless skinless not the other phrase) chicken breast the plate cost will only be around 1 $ (chicken only). Although the profit margin is considerably lower, you are more likely to sell more because the price is lower for the chicken, and you are likely to make more because your food cost is around 12%. Any way this was fascinating but moving on. Next we put together the daily racks (the food stuffs that different classes require such as all of the prep for AM line and bakeshop). And then mopped and swept and swept and mopped until the floor shined to chefs satisfaction. Inventory was next which showed us what chef talked about during the lecture (its confusing but here goes, to find monthly cost take amount of product in inventory at the beginning of the month, add it to the cost of products ordered for the month, subtract the end of the month inventory, and divide by sales total $). I got to do inventory of the protein cooler! There was 8000$ worth of meat and fish, plus 20 lbs of pure duck fat! I loved it, although i almost froze. Once we turned in the sheets we were done for the day, Here are my notes:



And on to today (sorry if im boring you). Since classes dropped on tuesday we got to make up culinary theory today. TOday we made emulsions, which include mayonnaise (Richardson's made me a pro at this), buerre blanc, buerre fondue (butter emulsified into water for cooking veg), and vinegarettes. We were supposed to make hollandaise but ran out of time so well be doing that on monday. I wasnt happy with my buerre blanc because it was a touch too salty but i learned for next time. Here are some of the heart healthy and delicious recipes:

Buerre blanc (classic)

4 oz. Shallot Brunoised
1/2 C. white wine
3 T. white wine vinegar
8 Oz. Butter
S&P

combine shallot, white wine, and ww vinegar in sauce pan. Reduce until Au sec (almost dry) slowly wisk in the butter (1/2 a pound can you believe it) and season to taste.

Buerre fondue

2 oz. H2O
8 Oz. Butter
S&P

Simmer water then wisk in butter, season to taste.
This can be used to thin gravies or to add some flavor to legumes or potatoes (for mashed potatoes)


Sauls Vinegarette

I was inspired by the honey lavendar vinegarette at Richardsons
(Emma liked it)

2 T Dijon (1 whole grain 1 regular)
1/4 C. Cider vinegar
3/4 C. Oil (vegetable)
1/8 C. honey
2 T. Lemon juice
1 T. Chopped fresh rosemary
S & White P

Wisk together dijon and cider vinegar. add honey then emulsify in the oil. add lemon juice and rest of ingredients. Add a splash of H2O to get perfect consistency if desired.

EMULSION NOTES


I will upload pictures later but right now its dinner time.
Love to all,
Saul

Wednesday

Today i had knife skills with chef Steve. As soon as we arrived we were instantly thrown into a relay race in which we had to peel 50 # of onions and carrots, weigh them before and after, and calculate the difference to see the percent yield. (by the way we had 30 minutes.) Next in true knife skill fashion we continued to peel and slice 15 # of garlic then the same with shallots. We then each got a whole top round to butcher and truss which means to tie up the meat with twine which tightens the meat to create even cooking. (below is the one pic I have from today) After that I went to the local gym where I swam and went ino the steam room. Now Im am actually in my other class (information technology), so i will leave you all with this for today

Love,

Saul

(graphic picture of meat below)

Happy Tuesday!

Hey everybody welcome to the new site! Here you can subscribe to my updates, or leave a comment directly on the site! I have no classes today so im just gonna have a short post but look forward to a full one tomorrow.

Love to all,
Saul

Another beautiful day in Montpelier!