Mozzarella

My friend asked me for mozzarella recipes and I remembered I had grabbed recipes from the Team USA during their workshops. We got together and the ingredients to make homemade mozzarella. It was a lot of fun and work as well. Temperature control I found was the most important factor in making the cheese. Instead of doing the boiling bath method, we did microwaved it for a short time because we did not have the proper gloves. The mozzarella I think turned out really well!

Fish fabrication

We've learned how to fabricate both flat and round fish. The day before I made a la meuniere. I breaded two fish fillets and then sautéed them in butter. The fish only needed to cook for a little while because the meat is so tender. I pulled the fish out of the butter and drained it, then added wine and lemon to the leftover butter to make a sauce. The fish was very delicate and the Cajun seasoning with the lemon tasted very flavorful and brought a tingling sensation to your mouth. 

Today we cooked fish four different ways. One way I steamed fish. I didn’t add as much butter as last time and sprinkled some onions and other seasonings with it before letting it steam in the oven. Another way we cooked it was panfrying. I added butter and some oil in a pan and let it heat up. I seasoned and breaded the trout and placed it in the oil. The fish only needed a minute to cook  before being flipped and then quickly taken from the heat so that the fish would still be tender and stop cooking.

                I also deep-fried fish. I breaded and seasoned the fish before placing it in the vat of oil. It only needed a few minutes as well before being pulled from the heat. Lastly, I broiled a fillet. I lightly coated the fish with butter so it would not dry out and placed in the broiler to cook. Once the fish had some nice color I pulled it from the heat. 

deep and pan fried fish fillets

a la meuniere 

Breakfast Day #1

Today we learned several different ways on how to cook an egg. One way was the French Omelet. For this method, I had to scramble the bottom of the pan of eggs with a fork to ensure that all the eggs were evenly cooked. When the eggs had cooked enough together, I flipped the egg on its other side for a very short amount of time before flipping it again and adding the toppings. For the omelet to be French I had to flip both sides into the middle and then turn it on its back to form a nice oval.

                For the crepes all we had to do was ladle the right amount for the pan. I moved the pan in a circle, so the batter would reach around the pan in a nice circle. Once the side was cooked I flipped it over and let the other side get some color.

French omelet

Crepes

 As a group, we made caramelized apples for our crepe filling. First, we sautéed the apples in butter before throwing in brown sugar and cream to let it braise for a few minutes to soften.

                The American omelet actually took me the longest to figure out. I had a few goes at it but finally was able to flip it correctly. The first step is to let the garnishes sauté for a minute before adding in the egg. To make sure the bottom wouldn’t brown, I had to lift the edges of the egg and let the raw on the top go under it. Once the top of the egg wasn’t so raw I had to flip it over and let it cook like with the French omelet. However, once it was fully cooked, all I had to do was flip it in half and take it off the heat.

                With French toast, we soaked the bread in the batter and griddled the pieces until they were cooked all the way through. Another way we cooked an egg was poaching it. I let an egg soak in vinegar for a few minutes before letting it drop in a hot pot of water. Once the egg solidified into an oval and the whites were set, it was ready to take out of the pot. 

Elderquest #2

The elderquest is a monthly catering event for our program, so we had the opportunity to feed them again. This time around, our class is more knowledgeable and have figured out the general procedures of time management, sanitation and mise en place to be successful in the kitchen. The day before, we had split into teams and prepared and cut everything for the entree we were going to serve. It was so well prepared, we had time to do some freestyle cooking and work what we wanted to. I decided I wanted to practice cooking a soup since I've only done it in a team, but not as an individual activity. I first sauteed the vegetables in oil before throwing in the potatoes and stock to let it simmer. Once the potatoes were soft enough, I blended the soup and and pureed it to the right consistency.

For the catering event all we had to do was saute the vegetables for the ratatouille before letting them cook the rest of the way in the hot box before service time.

                For the chicken and potatoes, we roasted them in the oven together. The potatoes had to be blanched before being roasted so it would finished around the same time the chicken was done.

                Pesto was made by blending the ingredients together, we had to make sure the consistency was correct and that it had good flavor.

Potato Puree

Pot Pies!

                This particular recipe I've been excited to make all block long! As a classic that my mom made all the time as a kid, I've always wondered how to make it homemade.

For the chicken pot pie, our team had to sauté the onions until they were sweating and then began adding in the other vegetables. Immediately after, we added in some stock to help soften the vegetables and basically braised the vegetables until they softened. Then we mixed in the veloute sauce and placed the pastry crust over the top. Lastly we let it bake in the oven until the crust was a golden brown.

                The couscous was very similar to risotto. We first sautéed the onions and then had to boil stock before adding in the starch. Once the couscous and onions were mixed together, we covered it to steam and pulled it off the heat. In 5 to 10 minutes the couscous soaked all the moisture and it was ready to be seasoned and then served.

The pot pie with and without the crust

Couscous

Soup

                Today we learned how to make some of the thick soups. My team was assigned to complete the cream of broccoli and celery root puree soups. Because we had to make 2 gallons per soup, we took some time to do the math and the conversions. We cut what we needed to measure it out. The puree was quite easy. We let it the root and onions sweat before adding in the stock and let it simmer for about half an hour. Then once the root had softened enough, we pureed it with an immersion blender. After adding salt and pepper for taste we let it simmer again. We then poured in the heavy cream to thicken. Once we tasted it, we decided to use puree the soup just a bit longer since it was still chunky and not as smooth as it should be. Once it was pureed again, the mixture had a perfect consistency.

Celery Root Puree

Midterm

For the midterm, I was assigned to cook a veloute sauce. The chicken stock came to a boil and I made a slurry of hot stock and roux before mixing it into the rest of the stock. I whisked it in and added a little more roux before taking it off the burner

                I was also assigned the espagnole sauce to make. The first thing I did was roast a few chicken carcasses. I let the bones roast for about 15 minutes. I timed the roasting so that I could have all my vegetables ready to sauté. The mirepoix caramelized in clarified butter and browned even more with the tomato paste. I threw in the stock and chicken carcass and brought it to a boil. I turned the heat to a simmer and let it cook for only an hour and a half. The reduction happened faster than 2 hours so I took it off the heat and let it cool.

                I chopped mirepoix for the vegetable stock and piled it into a stockpot with cold water and a bouquet garni. I let it simmer for an hour and once it cooled I strained the stock.

                I also steamed carrots. I used parchment paper and utensils to hold it down to keep the moisture in.

                I had to grill poach and chicken for my moist and dry heat method. I forgot about my thighs on the grill so I had to redo the whole thing and use wings. I seasoned them and then let it cook much shorter since it is a very lean piece of meat.

                I am still getting confident in poaching a chicken to the perfect amount of doneness. I combined water, wine and butter to a sauce pot and then added the chicken breasts. I used parchment paper to cook the not submerged top half of the chicken and I let it very gently cook. I learned that being fully prepared with mise en place really does pay off. I still am working on multitasking and had a few hiccups, but luckily nothing that took too long. I also am still learning how to poach. 

Five Saucy Mothers

                 Ignore my cheesy title if it's too cringy, but today, we learned how to cook the five different mother sauces.

The veloute sauce is a white sauce that I had to bring to a boil. Since we did not have any white stock we just used chicken stock so the sauce wasn’t as white as it should be normally. Once it came to a boil, I had blonde roux ready in a boil and mixed some of the hot stock with it. I created a thick slurry and then whisked it into the rest of the pot.

                The béchamel sauce is made from milk and a biquet of onion, bay leaf and clove. I let the milk come to a boil. After adding in a roux slurry, you need to add the biquet in the sauce and let it slowly simmer for about 15 minutes.

                The tomato sauce was my favorite to make. It took a little over an hour to make so it was one of the first things I did yesterday. I sautéed onions and let them sweat before I combined the canned tomatoes and herbs. Because the canned tomatoes had a lot of liquid in them, we didn’t have to add anything else. I let my sauce simmer for about an hour. At one point the sauce look very dry and had barely any liquid left, so I added some chicken stock to add a bit of moisture and flavor. Once it was finished, I threw in some sugar to balance the acidity.

                I think I did better with my buerre blanc sauce this time around. To make the sauce, you have to let the wine and vinegar reduce down to about a tablespoon of liquid before throwing in cream to let it thicken. The first time i had ever made it, the sauce was way too thick so yesterday I put in half the amount of cream than last time. Then once the sauce reduced to nappe, I slowly added in butter to the reduction and whisked it in as it melted.

                The brown sauce took the longest to cook. The first thing we did in the kitchen was preheat the oven for browning chicken carcasses. We let the bones roast for about 15 minutes. First you must sauté the mirepoix until it has caramelized in the clarified butter. Then you slowly add more ingredients into the pot before letting it come to a boil. That’s when I added the sachet and then brought the mixture down to a simmer. After two hours the sauce reduced to a thick consistency. 

Bechamel sauce

Veloute sauce

Master chefs

                 Our program had the amazing opportunity to have a few lectures from master chefs on Team USA! They had a few workshops on cheeses and legumes.

We tasted favo beans, mozzarella and ricotta prepared by a chef from the USA Olympics Team.  The favo beans were a bit crunchy and had shredded cheese and sea salt for flavor. It was a yummy snack that reminded me of chips. The mozzarella was really thick and moist and came together really smooth and soft. It was mesmerizing to watch the chef wrap the cheese into one consistent massive ball.

                The ricotta was an interesting sour flavor, but better tasting and had a superior soft texture as well to something you’d buy at the store.

                 In the lectures, I found the advice interesting about food trucks as a great future and easily attainable in the food industry. I also really liked when one of the chefs told us to find our “niche” our specialty in food service. And that can only come from learning all that you can, especially in the fundamentals.

Moist heat

               After yesterday, today I was introduced to moist heat methods of cookery. this included poaching, steaming and boiling, as well as a braising chicken and vegetables. 

With the Court Bouillon, we started the poaching process. I added several cut vegetables like celery, carrots and onions to a few cups of water and wine and threw in herbs to my liking (sage and thyme). I then put in the raw chicken thigh and let it slowly cook on the burner. I also added peppercorns and caraway seeds before letting it cook. I got distracted with my stew at one point, so I think I let it get too hot and it began to simmer. This is probably why my poached chicken was slightly overdone. Once it simmered, I placed a parchment paper over it and let it cook for about another 10 minutes before removing the poached chicken from the broth and straining the broth of all the vegetables and herbs.

                We made a buerre blanc sauce with star anise, I began with some melted butter and flour in the bottom of my pan and let warm. Then I added about two cups of heavy whipping cream and let it heat up until it began to simmer. I whisked the flour roux clumps into the heated cream and then added some stock to the sauce. Afterwards I combined the broth from the poached chicken into the cream mixture and whisked that until it was bubbling occasionally. I kept the heat on low and added salt and pepper to my own taste.

                The chicken stew was my favorite to make today. Chef John let us do whatever we wanted with the mixture and add whatever seasonings and ingredients. I let a pot get hot with oil and then sauted 4 cubed chicken thighs to about the point where it was half cooked through before removing t from the pot. Next I added more oil to the bottom of the pot and sauted a cup of onions and then began adding carrots, celery, shallots, and potatoes. I also used a fair amount of salt, pepper and Tuscan rosemary seasoning to it. Once it was all mixed in I coated it with about a ½ cup of flour and let it get sticky like chef showed us. When there wasn’t much liquid left in the pot, I added some white wine and then added about three cups of chicken stock to the stew. I let it cook for a while to where the potatoes were almost soft and put the chicken back in the stew. I let it cool to thicken a little bit more and I think this is why the bottom of my pot had some brown stuck to it.

                The Rice Pilaf was about the same beginning process as the formers. I sauted some onions and garlic in a small saucepan and let cook until translucent. Then I added the rice. The recipe said to only cook for about 30 seconds before adding chicken stock to the pan. Once it started to simmer, I took it off the heat and covered the top with some aluminum foil before placing it in the oven to cook the rest of the way.

                The steamed chicken was an interesting process. We used a buttered parchment paper cut to be an en papillote and l placed a chicken thigh with carrots, celery, thyme and a few cubes of butter before wrapping it and placing the butter knives as a weight so that the chicken could steam properly in the oven.

                I also braised carrots today and successfully cooked them, so they were not undercooked like last time with the parsnips. I sauted them first before adding a bit of stock and then brown sugar and let braise for a few minutes. After tasting them, I was pleased with the texture and how it was not overcooked either.

Dry heat

In addition to our classroom times, I learned even more about dry heat methods of cooking in the kitchen. Today we practiced pan-fry, deep-fry, broiling and grilling chicken. We also practiced combination heat methods in making a basic risotto

With Risotto, first you must sauté onions in a hot pan with oil and let cook until the onions are clear. Then add the rice and quickly sauté. Before it browns, one must add 1 cup of chicken stock and let the rice absorb it, and then add another 2 cups once the rice has absorbed it each time. This is a sort of braising method, first sautéing and then adding liquid for it to cook the rest of the way in.

                I also pan-fried chicken tenders. To pan fry, I had to add quite a bit of oil to a pan and let the breaded chicken fry before flipping for a nice brown color. Another dry heat method we executed today was deep frying breaded chicken. It is very similar to pan frying in that the chicken legs were breaded and then placed in hot oil to cook, except for deep frying there is more oil and it does not need to be flipped.

                 Grilling the chicken thighs was a bit easier than broiling since I did not need to stand over and watch it, and it was much more accessible. I made sure there was a good cross of char on the skin and did not overcook it. Grilling the chicken mainly was making sure the poultry did not overcook and burn, but also not taking it off too soon. Chef had a cooler side of the grill which I’d never though of before and is a really good idea to not completely burn the skin off the chicken. I also broiled chicken for the first time. I think in the future, basting the piece would be beneficial to making sure the chicken would not overcook.

                In addition to practicing dry heat methods I also had time to work on knife skills. I still have not got down the tourne completely, but I think next time I will be able to get them thinner. I also need to work on keeping the battonets thicker and my paysannes as well.  I learned that I need to keep better track of time to accomplish everything I need to do. I was taking too long with my knife skills and ended up rushing to cook all my chicken. I didn’t have any time to even start making the risotto. So I definitely need to prioritize my time and multitask while I am performing knife skills. 

Here are the results of my different dry heat methods on chicken and tourned potatoes

              

Heat methods

Today we discussed how different methods on how to cook foods. We tried out a dry heat and a combination method in chicken and parsnips. I had to first sauté the parsnip obliques and then added chicken stock and brown sugar together to cook the parsnips the rest of the time as a braising method. 

                I had prepared several vegetables to stuff my roasted chicken with. I stuffed the chicken hole with apples, onions, celery, lime, parsnips, rosemary, sage and minced garlic and made sure to sprinkle salt and pepper. Then I tied the butchers string around my raw stuffed chicken and trussed it tightly and correctly before placing it in the oven. I had to return it to the oven twice to warm to the proper temperature so that it would not be raw.

                I practiced my knife skills and cut tourne style with my potatoes. With clarified butter, I sautéed the potatoes to give it some brown color before placing them in the oven to be roasted for around 10 minutes. Today was a very busy day and I learned a lot of the standard procedures of basic cookery.

Here are my improving knife skills and my finished trussed chicken

I had the chicken with the breast down to the rack to allow the whole chicken to cook thoroughly and not be overcooked.

Elderquest #1

Today we boiled potatoes and used that product to create mashed potatoes with a food mill. We added butter and milk into the mashed potatoes to add a smooth texture and better flavor. We also made fried chicken with flour, egg yolk wash, and then bread crumbs lastly to create a crust on the raw chicken. The breaded chicken went into oil at 350 degrees Fahrenheit to be deep fried to a golden-brown color before being taken out and salted. The chicken then was arranged so thighs and legs were pan fried together and breasts were separated since they cook faster than the former. The chicken was kept in the oven for around 15 to 20 minutes before being served. Lastly, we sautéed brussel sprouts until they had a nice brown crust and were softer.

              My team and I learned how to work really well together in an assembly line as we each had our own role in breading the chicken. This helped when we plated the prepared food for the members of Elderquest and had to form an assembly line to position each part of the plate. I had the position on the table to plate the fried chicken and with only being a week in, I'm proud to say our first catering event was a success!

First day!

This is my eportfolio for my CA1120 class. Today was the very first day cooking in the kitchen, which I was very excited for yesterday. Some of the things we learned about was stock making, specifically vegetable stock. First we had to cut vegetables for the stock. We worked on dicing vegetables in small, medium and large dice with carrots, potatoes and onions. The scraps went into containers for later use. The onions and the leftover carrots were put into the stockpot with a sachet and few gallons of water to create a vegetable stock.

                Lastly we combined a pot of boiling vegetable stock with the cubed carrots and a sachet and let the carrots soften before putting the soup through the blender to puree. We placed the soup in containers to cool and use tomorrow.

                The critical point in the carrot soup was softening the carrots in the stock and then pureeing afterwards. If you didn’t not puree the soup it would be oddly chunky and without a whole lot of flavor. The consistency would be lacking and not have a creamy and smooth texture.

Today was the first day in the kitchen, so we practiced a few knife cuts. Here are some of my first cuts.