To Fry or not to Fry?

This week in school, we finished up dry-heat cooking techniques which included deep-frying, grilling, and roasting. The deep-fry day felt so natural for this Southern girl as we coated what was a healthy piece of cod or chicken in a thick, floured batter and threw it in the hot oil where it fried into golden brown perfection. We made fish in chips, Southern fried chicken (everyone assumed this was my specialty), and fried oysters. I have never enjoyed fried food so much as eating french fries hot out of the oil, except maybe at Shake Shack. At our grilling lessons, we learned how to make perfect quadrillage or "cross marks" from the grill grates. I love learning how to make food look pretty because it does not come naturally, so I got a kick out of learning this simple presentation technique. We grilled strip steak, flank steak, every kind of vegetable, pork chops, and salmon. 

On our first roasting day, we had a substitute named Chef Lorrie, meaning that the start of class was a blur of confusion, chaos, and an unwanted change to the class structure that we have familiarized ourselves with under Chef Sobrina's instruction (we are NOT excited for the day we get a permanent new chef instructor). I personally found this day entertaining as Chef Lorrie used my group's prep work as the model and basically did all of the cooking for us "in the name of demonstation." It was pretty great as my group got to hang out, eat our deliciously roasted items, and be the first team done with our clean up. 


One dish that was so fabulous that I must share it is the Roast Rack of Lamb Persillade. It starts with a rack of lamb that has been frenched and seared in canola oil to get a nice browning on the outside. After that, it is then coated with Dijon mustard and fresh garlic that has been roasted and mashed. It then coated again in breadcrumbs seasoned with thyme and parsly. After letting the breading set in the frige, the lamb is roasted in the oven until the inside reaches an internal temperature of 130 F. Ultimately, the result is a tender and juicy lamb rack that looks elegant and tastes amazing! The roasted garlic gives it a perfect kick, so to all my fellow garlic lovers, this recipe will not disappoint. 

*Our family style platter of roasted chicken, beets, sweet potatoes with orange and sage, fingerling potatoes, and of course, the rack of lamb 


Overall, it was a great week of cooking, but the negative part was the new knife cut we learned: the tourne. It is usually done with a potato with the shape being basically a 7-sided football. It is sooooo hard to make look good! The first time we tried it, my left thumb got in the way, making for my second finger cut thus far. Once the cut gets easier, I will take a picture. For now, just picture a jagged rectangular-like shape and that is what my tourne cut looks like. 


Happy eating everyone!

Now We're Cookin!

First and foremost-


Happy Pickle Day!!! 


Today is indeed national pickle day, so I hope everyone honored this most sacred of all holidays by eating pickles ALL day long!


This past week in school, we finally made the transition into module two, meaning that the real cooking begins. The goal of this second module is to perfect the art of basic cooking techniques and to begin weaning us off following recipes. As a girl who started her love affair with cooking in the world of baking, recipe-following is what I do best. However, the thought of making the leap from following a piece of paper versus relying on my own knowledge of cookery would make me feel so much more professional :)


This week's techniques were the simplistic, but pivotal, arts of sauteeing and pan-frying, where we sauteed and pan-fried practically every available protein which were then paired with some form of sauce. Our first item on the menu was a simple chicken breast with a white wine pan sauce. After successfully cooking my first dish, there was a feeling of satisfaction that emerged when I presented the chef with my chicken that was golden on the outside and tender on the inside. 

Other dishes that we made included crab cakes with an avocado sauce, sauteed strip steaks with aguardiente, brined pork tenderloin, and fillets of sole with a lemon butter sauce. The most interesting one to make was the Paillasson de Pommes de Terre, which was basically a giant potato pancake made from grated potato strips, pressed together to form a pancake, and cooked in 100% butterfat- it was amazing! My favorite tasting dish of the week was the sea scallops a la plancha estilo tipitapa (see the horribly long names that I have to pain-stankingly learn??). The scallops were sauteed and paired with a delectably creamy caramelized onion sauce. The sauce definitely made this dish, as most good sauces do. 

Now that we are actually cooking real meals in class, there will be SO much more to talk about. Tomorrow we start deep-frying so stay tuned! Once again:


Happy Pickle Day!

Mom and Dad in the Big Apple!

So, my parents came in town this weekend and there are three words that adequately describe our time together: SO MUCH FOOD. I think I'm still full from all of the places we went. We had an incredible time!


It began on Friday night when they arrived and we dined at the Old Homestead Steakhouse, a longtime favorite of my dad (you know it has to be good if he likes it). However, our meal could not officially begin until we tasted the Kobe beef sliders being sold on the street AND after sneaking next door to taste Pop Burgers, deliciously prepared mini hamburger-sliders presented on brioche mini buns, an excellent start to our appetizing weekend. Unfortunately, I think we all would have been content with more sliders because the Old Homestead did not live up to our high expectations. One of the biggest things I have learned in school is how to make a restaurant unique and stand out among the other thousands of competitors. Homestead must have missed this lecture. Although the food was lovely in appearance and tasty in consumption, there was nothing that wowed us Texas foodies. Better luck next time Homestead...


The next day, we walked all around the Flatiron area, as my dad's knowledge and perspective of New York was significantly amplified. This tour obviously included a lunch at Shake Shack and for the first time in my Shake Shack history, there was hardly a line when we hungrily walked into Madison Square Park- unbelievable! My parents must have the magic touch, and they must have been thinking that same thought about this hamburger joint that left all of us in a Shackburger coma of pure divinity (aka- they liked it).

The rest of the day was spent walking around, tasting bits here and there but salvaging our appetites as much as we could for the delicious Italian meal in store for dinner at Trattoria Dell'arte. It was heaven. We ordered a margarita pizza that was as big as the table while maintaing a thin, crisp, and delicate texture. Mmmmm. We also ordered a fantastic veal parmesan and a crabsteak. What's a crabsteak, you ask? It's only lump crab that is cooked together and nestled upon a toasted brioche baguette. Let's just say that we were much more content with this meal than the one from the previous evening.

The next day, I was forced to do a act proved demoralizing for all New York City residents- ride the double decker tour bus. However embarrassing it might have been, it was really fun! We rode it to Battery Park where my mom put her bartering skills to the test in attempt to buy fake brand name purses at the cheapest price (I think she needs to work on that skill). After that, we spent the afternoon walking through Chinatown and Little Italy. My dad discovered Rice to Riches, an eatery entirely dedicated to rice pudding- there were about 30 various flavors to choose from. Crazily, their target niche is the younger crowd, a generation who is foreign to the concept of rice pudding. However, from what we saw and tasted, Rice to Riches is doing pretty good.


For dinner that evening, we dined at the Union Square Cafe, Danny Meyer's original restaurant. Danny Meyer is the most successful restaurateur in New York City, so we had to eat at this legend of a restaurant to see where the Meyer empire began. All of the acculades were rightly rewarded as the restaurant offered wonderful appetizers, delicious entrees, and a free course of the most incredible pasta we had ever tasted. Unfortunately, the ricotta gnocchi I ordered tasted like airy lumps of bland cheese, but everything else was spot-on fantastic. 


The final day was, again, spent on the tour bus as we ventured to the Uptown loop of the city. However, this was after we ate brunch at Normas and my mom ordered the BEST blueberry pancakes I had ever tasted. Later, we toured around as my parents took in their final moments of Times Square. 


As my parents prepared to head home on Tuesday morning, we spent our last meal hopping in a cab to get breakfast at Donut Plant. This is a gourmet donut shop that has taken an ordinary donut, added some originality and flair, and has become a successful landmark in the donut world. Our favorites are the coconut cream and the PB&J, the two square, cream-filled donuts offered. 

All in all, we had a wonderful time together and I was sad to see my mom and dad go. I am so thankful to have such selfless parents who have whole-heartedly supported me on this crazy, culinary adventure of mine. I love them so much.


Have a wonderful week! 

Soups, Sauces, and Guacamole!

This has been an incredible week filled with food, tours, and famous chefs!


It all began on Monday, when my culinary management class when on a field trip to Daniel, Daniel Boulud's infamous restaurant. Chef Boulud is a world-renown chef owning restaurants all across world, but Daniel, is his crowned jewel of them all. Before the tour, we were told that Chef Boulud would be in China, therefore we would not be meeting him on our tour. When we arrive, a handsome French man shows us the amazing decor and of the dining area. As we are admiring the incredible 10,000 square foot restaurant with an unbelievable basement prep-kitchen, a man comes down to the main kitchen to greet us. I naturally assume he is one of the general managers and drown him out with my own daydreams of opening a restaurant myself one day. As we head back to school after the completion of the tour, my classmates are gushing over getting to see Chef Boulud. As it turns out, the "general manager" that greeted us in the kitchen was, indeed, Chef Daniel Boulud!!! I was so upset by my lost picture opportunity, but I am still so excited that I can say I have met such a powerhouse chef in our culinary industry.


In culinary class, the week was spent finishing our lessons on sauces as we made chutneys, salsas, and infused-oil sauces. One day we had a sub, Chef Alan, who found out I am from Texas and accused us, Texans, of sitting around eating mayonnaise sandwiches and shopping at Neiman Marcus. What?! I stood up for my state's culinary taste because who over five really eats mayonnaise sandwiches? Ironically, we made mayonnaise from scratch the next day as we transitioned into emulsion sauces. This also included Hollandaise and Bearnaise sauces which I cannot wait to whip up the next time my dad grills up a steak at the ranch. 


After our sauce days were complete, we started our soup lessons that included Cream of Broccoli, Puree of Carrot, French Onion, and Lobster Bisque. It was so much fun to see what it takes to give soups bursting flavor and perfect consistency. One of the things I am thankful for about my school is that they always tell us how to fix our mistakes and still make a dish taste great by adding this or that (since we all know there are many mistakes to be made). There are many times a soup will need to be thinner or thicker, which can be done by adding flour, more stock, or whatever else is needed to achieve the main goal of the dish. One of my personal highlights of the week was being able to kill another lobster for lobster bisque- is it weird that I find that to be so much fun? Here are some pictures of the week:

 Salsas, Chutneys, and oil sauces

 French Onion Soup

Lobster Bisque

On Thursday, we took another class field trip to Rosa Mexicana, a chain restaurant that specializes in authentic Mexican cuisine. They intentionally try to stay away from Tex-Mex, much to my queso-longing dismay. It was a really wonderful tour as we learned about how to operate a restaurant that is both casual but achieves a fine-dining feel to it. The best part was the massive bowl of guacamole they served us at the end of the tour:

We totally finished it.


All in all, it has been a wonderful week, but it is the weekend that I have been looking forward to the most because my parents are here! So many good restaurants, so little time!


Happy eating!

ICE Week 5

My first four weeks of class consisted of long lectures, thorough demonstrations by my chef-instructor, Chef Sobrina, of the skills to be learned that day, and repetitious practice of chopping to drill these new skills into our young and vulnerable culinary minds. Now, everything has changed as we near the end of Module 1.

As we entered into Week 5 this past week, the organization of my class transformed from slow, technical training, to multiple recipe assignments that sent my classmates and I into a fast-paced cooking frenzy. The focus of the week was sauces, sauces, and more sauces. This afternoon, my partner, Kate, and I completed 7 intricate, technical, and incredibly delicious sauces. There were homemade tomato sauces, creamy sauces, and brown sauces used as meat glazes. 

With this new class set up, we begin each class with the various recipes of the day previously studied and written out so we will be able to anticipate cooking times, ingredients, and the skills needed to excellently complete our tasks on time. We are beginning to understand the amount of urgency that is necessary to succeed in a professional kitchen. After Chef Sobrina gives a quick run over of the recipes, we are sent off to perform what is required to receive our daily grade. Today, what was required of us was to have 7 various forms of sauces warm and ready in 3 hours. It took quite a bit of organization and teamwork from Kate and me. At one point we didn't have enough cream-based stock to complete the classic French cheese sauce called Sauce Morray, so we just threw in a heaping amount of freshly grated Gruyere and Parmesan cheese to compensate (about twice as much as asked for in the recipe). It turned out to be a thick, stringy mess! It might not have been the best Sauce Morray in the class, but it was a wonderful practice to think like a chef when something isn't going properly in the kitchen, and it made for a good laugh in the nerves of the preparation. 

Next week is our final week of Module 1 before we take our Mod 1 practical exam (ahhhhh) to move on to Module 2. That means we are already 1/5 of the way to graduating as chefs! I am nervous about the practical, but I cannot wait to be in Mod 2 which is primarily focused on various ways to prepare meat (my dad will be proud). 

I hope everyone has a wonderful October weekend! Happy eating!!!