Basic Culinary Preparations (I Roux the Day)

Before class began, Chef M brought the veal flanks out from cold storage, where they have been curing in salt, brown sugar, and aromatics. We took them out of the hotel pans and briefly rinsed them off before laying them on drying racks and patting them down. Just a few more days to veal bacon. Other than smoking for additional flavor, I see few reasons why I won't be making my own bacon at home soon -- in fact, a friend of B's who went to another local culinary school (and gave me loads of good advice) is a fiend for her own home-bacon.

Sauce: it is not broth and it is not stock -- it is thicker. The term for its consistency is nape (pronounced nah-PAY), which is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, but thin enough to pour easily. Thicker gives the illusion of having more flavor because they literally hang on your palate, unlike thinner liquids which can be washed out a lot quicker.

In the ol' days (pre-mid 18th Century), culinary thickeners came mostly from protein (gelatin from bones, blood) and fat (butter, yolks, cream), but all were expensive and unstable. Now, with the refinement of carbs, have come starches -- wheat flour, corn starch, arrowroot, rice flour, potato starch -- perfect for thickeners.

There are three basic culinary preparations to introduce the starch into a sauce: Roux (fat and flour cooked together), Beurre Marie (fat and flour kneaded together cold) and Slurry (a pure starch in powder form and liquid whisked together). Chef M explained that in restaurants, roux is used at the beginning of the cooking process and Beurre Marie is used at the end as a fixer if additional thickening is required. In that setting, it is referred to as "BM" which I thought was hilarious, but most of my fellow students didn't get it. Yes, I have the sense of humor of a 9 year old boy.

There are three inviolable rules of starch thickening:

1. Approximately 1 tablespoon of starch will thicken one cup of liquid.


2. Either the liquid or the starch must be hot, but not both.


3. The mixture must be stirred until it returns to a boil.

Note that because something like a roux is only half starch, it takes 2 tbsp of Roux to thicken a cup of liquid. If both starch and liquid are cold, lumps will form on the bottom and burn. If both are hot, it will cause the mixture to boil over. It must be brought to a low boil for the chemical transformation of the starch to become a net that holds starch molecules apart that cause the thickness.

We were explained the three stages of roux, from a quick white roux through a longer blond roux to the long n' dark brown roux. The more time spent on the stove, the darker it gets, developing a nuttier, deeper flavor.

Chef M went on to discuss the mechanics and physical changes in the process of whipping eggs and cream. Whipping whites is stretching out proteins to form a net that holds air. You can add tiny amounts of acid or salt to aid whipping, and sugar can prevent overstretching the proteins, but should be added later in the process or you'll never get anywhere.

When the knives came out, we diced onions, garlic, and shallots. Chef M demonstrated Tomato Concasse -- French for rough chopped tomatoes, though it's a little bit more involved than that. First, you draw a small X through the skin of the bottom of the tomato, drop it in boiling water anywhere from 5 seconds to a minute depending on ripeness; then, once the skin comes loose by pushing a little, drop it in an ice bath till cold. Peel off skin with thumb and paring knife, then slice into quarters to scoop out all seeds. What's left, you dice. (This summer, I'm going to forgo the cans of tomatoes and go crazy with the fresh -- instead of San Marzano DOC, I'm gonna have NYC DOC tomato sauce for my pizza!)

Red peppers were put on spiders (the iron prongs that cover the burners that hold pots) and left to char, turning occasionally. Once almost fully covered with black char, they were thrown into a pot with a cover, left to steam under their own heat. At the end of class, we pulled out the cooled peppers and rubbed off the blackened soot -- but not completely, as a small amount of the brown will keep a nice charred flavor. Browner the food, deeper the flavor.

We took our rouxs and heated them up in the appropriate amount of chicken stock to watch them thicken. We also experimented with BM (he he he) and slurry, each one a simple sauce named Veloute.

To whip eggs, each person takes 4 prep bowls -- one for the yolks, one for the shells, one for the white you just cracked and one to collect the whites. You do this because if any yolk gets into the whites, it'll prevent whipping. Suffice to say, many bowls were cleaned at the end of class.

Chef M roasted racks of lamb chops for us at the end of class, dressed with nothing but kosher salt. After all the arm work through out the morning, the lamby juicy red meat was a welcome pause. It seems my bicycle-riding legs are much more developed than my whipping arms. My stand mixer's whipping attachment will be taking over from here for the time being.

ADDENDA:
I'm attending volunteer orientation at God's Love We Deliver in a few weeks. Not so enthused about the organization's name (they deliver the love of humans, not a mythological deity), but really dig their mission -- deliver food to AIDS/HIV and cancer patients who are at home and have limited means and social networks to feed themselves. I lived with my mother for the last 6 months of her life while she dealt with cancer. If I was not there to cook for her (among other things), it truly would of been a horrific situation.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, organic cheerios with good milk, apple, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH #1: 11:30am, 3 lamb chops on the bone, large piece of french bread, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

Chef M cooked up a few racks of chops we frenched yesterday, really good n' juicy. Not enough for a big meal, but will get me through yoga this afternoon.

LUNCH #2: 4pm, seitan, hijiki, millet, dahl, vegan chocolate chip cookie, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Organic vegan eats at the cafe of the yoga studio. Fun writing out recipes involving veal stock and pork bones while surrounded by the crunchy hippies, eating yummy crunchy hippie food.

DINNER: 7pm, 1 slice streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
I used to think pizza was like sex -- even when it's not so good, it's pretty good. Now that I'm in my 30s and have eaten more pizza than the average person (and had some unappetizing sexual encounters before meeting B....but that's a whole nuther blog!), I've lost my taste for streetza. It's just kinda lumpen and low quality. I much prefer my homemade pizza to NYC pizza, other than the 10-15 gourmet top-line joints scattered through out Gotham.