Grilling (Squash Booty)

The second and final day of grilling opened with a short and sweet lecture. Some of our preparations involved toasting spices and dry chili. The method involves only warming them in a pan with out oil -- once you can smell them, you're done. This reactivates the oils in them, but does not burn or damage them. If it starts to smoke, you've gone too far and they must be tosses, or you'll have a burnt, bitter taste in your food

Today's lamb and pork had the bone on. The bone keeps the meat moist and gives more flavor, but takes longer to cook and the meat nearest to the bone cooks a lot slower than the rest of the meat. Protein contracts because of heat, but the bone stays big, preventing grill marks in parts.

We were split into new teams today. Chef M put numbers on paper and threw them in a pot. This time, I cheated; I pulled three numbers, one after the other, until I got the one I wanted. My partners today were some of the sharper tools in the kitchen shed, including my Arizona friend. I shall call these two new team mates Dirty Dave and Dirty Kim, because right from the moment we were in a team we all got down n' dirty.

I hadn't even gotten to our table when DK assigned DD one thing and me another. Good for her, she in a way showed her dominance first and oversaw the logistics of who does what in what order. After being with a bunch of quieter, more passive folk for the past month, this was quite a relief -- a guarantee that good communication is going to happen, even if I'm not the one paying 100% attention.

I set about making the Roasted Poblano and Cactus salad to accompany to accompany the pork chops. Red onion, tomato lime juice, and cilantro made this something like a salsa, but roasted green Pablano peppers and a grilled weird Mexican squash (the cactus paddles had to be sent back, as they were moldy) really made this dish nicey nice. After peeling the squash, I couldn't help but notice that the top of the gourd looked exactly like a human butt. We get our small pleasures where ever we can.

As DD toasted and grinded fresh spices and DK trimmed and prepped the meats and fish, I made the vegetable marinade, sliced up potatoes, asparagus, fennel, and onion. I blanched and shocked the taters and fennel, and by that time we cleaned up our station and got ready to grill. Yes, we were first in class to finish our mise and get the grill station up.

Grilling is a fast method, and our food came out swell. I'm no fan of boring salmon, but I ate my piece of grilled salmon with relish -- the cross-hatched grill marks gave it a nice smokey depth you just don't get with baking or saute. The pork chops were great, tender at the bone, and Chef M complimented my cactus salad as having a nice "acid balance" -- which is intersting because after I made it, and our team signed off on it, I thought it needed more lime juice and squeezed another whole lime into it. Lamb chops were nice and pleasantly lamby; the grill flavor definitely complements its strong character. Shrimp, too, really benefits from the grill flavor -- definitely going to try this method on shrimp at home on my grill pan.

Tomorrow, off the stove top and into the oven for a day of roasting.

ADDENDA

At the end of class, a woman came to class to talk to us about externships -- it's time to start thinking about them. To graduate, we must extern in a restaurant or food-related business for 210 hours. She made an aside that for those of us going into media should start thinking now, as those externships tend to be less available. I spoke to her after class and will meet with her one-on-one to see what we can do.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, granola with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM TASTINGS: 10:30-11:30am, grilled pork chop with cactus salad, grilled lamb chop with mojo sauce, grilled shrimp kabob with grilled potatoes, piece of french bread, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, 1 beer, 1 small bratwurst with kraut, spiceymustard and shaved horseradish, small portion of spatzle, handful of lightly chocolate coated hazelnuts, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Why am I feeling more and more cravings for sugar? I hoped today to be a sweets-free day and before dinner I had a jonesing for sweets. Went to a nice Austrian/German pub with friends and ate a small plate at the bar. Of course, at the end they come at us with complimentary chocolate hazelnuts and it's not really in my willpower to say no.