Methods Review (Couscous of My Peeps)

Final day of methods review and once again, Chef C didn't give any lecture -- I guess we already know everything there is to know (that's sarcasm, btw). I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I'm not happy with the way our class is being run. More than 1/4 of class-time is dedicated to cleaning, then Chef C divides his attention between what the students are doing and sweeping the floor. There's just a certain feel of disorganization throughout the cooking day.

One student (let's name him Norbit) in particular was a bit loud and boisterous, which was raising the tension in class. Speedy complained to Chef C, and Chef C kind of blew him off, saying that he should take it directly to Norbit. I understand Chef C's position, but Norbit's behavior is really starting to affect the morale of the class.

Anyway, today's menu was Saddle of Rabbit stuffed with mushrooms in a brown sauce; chicken stew, South American style; penne with sun- dried tomatoes and chanterelles; and Israeli Couscous. SinceChef Jr. begged off the leading role, Speedy jumped into the void. I asked to do the couscous, as Israel is my peeps and my mom loved dishes like that. The rabbit was a multi-stage ordeal, so Sp and 2LG got on that, while CJ got on the chicken stew.

I started on the couscous -- while Chef C said to do a half recipe, I doubled it because I knew I was gonna make it good. Sweated a load of shallots in butter; threw small dices of butternut squash and red pepper into the dry couscous; covered it in chicken stock, seasoned; let it simmer until it had a certain creaminess, reminiscent of risotto. Chef C tasted it and not only said it was perfect, but scooped out a 4 oz container of it to eat -- the highest and most honest compliment a chef can give, I suppose.

Rolled straight into the pasta, rough-chopping a ton of chanterelles, beautiful, fragrant mushrooms that are upwards of $20 a pound at the market. Sweated diced spanish onions in butter, then softened the mushrooms. In a large pot, slowly simmered heavy cream with marscapone and a pinch of salt to a bit of thickness. Cooked penne to al dente and tossed it in the cream mixture with the onions and mushrooms, a few handfuls of diced sundried tomatoes, and finished with grated parmesan. Once we presented it, Chef C said it wasn't creamy enough. So we thew in a cup more of cream, a dollop of marscapone, and a ladle of starchy pasta water, which really made the sauce more....saucy. By thinning the sauce a little, it's mouth-feel was greatly improved, delivering a bigger, more confident flavor. I may not like Chef C's style, but I totally respect his opinion.

I'm not a big fan of chicken in general, but the chicken stew had an earthy, interesting flavor. I didn't touch the cooking of it, but the recipe called for a corn-based grain called masa harina, along with poblano and jalapeno peppers, hoja santa leaves, and avocado garnish.

The stuffed Saddle of Rabbit was more than a bit fussy, calling for the saddle (from behind the ribs to the tail, legs removed) to be deboned of the chine (spine) while keeping the two halves connected. Once cleaned and layered with yesterday's prepared mushrooms, we rolled and wrapped them in caul fat, the membrane of the stomach lining of a pig -- and yes, it is a nasty looking as it sounds (see above). Once trussed, the rabbit rolls were browned in a pan then baked. Finished with a fussy mushroom veal stock reduction, unfortunately our rabbit turned out a bit overcooked, dry, and grainy.

ADDENDA:
Took a tourne workshop in the afternoon with Chef T, whose reputation preceded him. He's known to be a bit of a hard-ass, but he was all-business and straightforward without excess verbiage. After two-and-a-half hours of really working my wrist around potatoes, carrots, and turnips to make those little 7-sided bullet shapes, my arm felt like I was 13 years old again. Thank you! I'll be here all night!!

In other news, the East River Cafe, a diner in my neighborhood that's been open and run by Polish residents since the late '90s, closed this past week. This hits me hard because I used to go there on Sunday mornings with my parents for super cheap breakfast. The walk over was better than the food, but we loved going there together. After my father passed, I went with my mom, and it felt a little like my dad was still there. Since being married, I've gone there several times with my wife. Each time we did I felt Mom there with us a little, in between the waffle with bacon and the eggs with free refills on coffee.

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, good granola with good milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, small plate of couscous, small piece of stewed chicken, small plate of pasta, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
After yesterday's burger bash with extra onion rings, this was a relief.

PM TASTING: 2pm, piece of fried brocolli, piece of fried fish, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Chef C was teaching on the floor I was tourneing, so I stopped in to say hello, they were doing deep-fry. The fish was far and away inferior to what Chef M made us do, which was light, fluffy and tangy from beer. Chef C's batter (or at least, his student's) was thin, chewy and bland. Makes me feel a bit guilty for writing that, because Chef C is a sweet guy.

PM SNACK: 5pm, half a large coffee cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Baked good from the farmer's market. I chose it because it reminded me of a similar cake I had in a windowless break room of a corporate chain record store I worked in when I was in college - horrible chemically stale thing from the cafe. This version was fresher, less chemically, but the brown crumbly part was 4x bigger than the cake part, and was still kinda gross.

DINNER: 7:30pm, tuscan panzanella, pancetta risotto, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dinner with Yana at Supper. I always eat too much when I hang with her, but it's so much fun.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, chocolate soft serve cone, .5 bowl, hunger 2/5
It's Yana's fault.

Methods Review (Tum de tum tum tums)

Again we went straight into the cooking without much of a lecture. When we started working with Chef C, he had handed out a tempura batter recipe for onion rings. Even though deep-fry wasn't on the cards today, most of the recipes were pretty simple, and fitting it in wasn't a big deal.

As we set up, the question of team leader came up again. Rather than switch back from Speedy to me, I insisted on Chef Jr. taking the reins, telling him that he definitely has the skills (and the temperament), all he needs is confidence -- and today was going to be an easy day anyway. So CJ got to it, assigning Speedy to the grilled tuna and marinade; 2L to the grilled hanger steak; Roundhead to the grilled burgers; and the two of us to tackle the most ornate recipe of the day, Caribbean Vegetable Stew.

The burgers were ridiculous -- seasoning and shaping the patties, assembling the garnishes , toasting the buns. We added minced garlic and onion to the meat, and I had Chef C call down for a quart of veal stock, which I reduced to about a quarter cup for a nice syrupy glace to kick the burger up a notch.

Once the steak and fish were in the fridge marinating, we got to work on thick-slicing the onions, then dredging them in flour, a thick tempura batter, and then finishing in panko breadcrumbs. I ran about 3 tests in the hot oil, adjusting the seasoning in the batter as we went along. Suffice to say, before I knew it, I had eaten 3 rather large and delicious onion rings.

The vegetable stew was odd. First we made a sofrito, a base involving a lot of different kinds of peppers, like a funky mirepoix. Blended in the robo coup, was set to stew with chicken stock and cubed vegetables, including yuca and batata.

A few people deep fried tostones, Dirty Kim made a beautiful tequila-based dipping sauce. A lot of people basted bacon with honey as a garnish for the burgers.

Again, the class was a bit disorganized. These dishes did not require 4 hours, and the class started cleaning around 10:30 and stretched out until 11:45, when we were dismissed early. A pastry class sent up a plate of wonderful brioche, and Dirty Kim busted out some pound-cakey cupcakes in honor of Chef Jr.'s birthday -- and who can say no to homemade cupcakes? Tomorrow, the third and final day of methods review.

ADDENDA:
Speedy got a nasty cut on his finger, so I assisted him at the first aid kit that is hung near the hand-washing station. All band-aids and bandages, burn cream, cortisone, anti-itch stuff, aspirin, and three different kinds of indigestion meds, he he he. Tum de tum tum tums, indeed. My tummy was not agreeing with me by the end of class.

Went for a nice bike ride out to Coney Island last night, where I indulged in 2 hotdogs, about 1.5 more than I should of, since I kinda knew I'd be eating unhealthily this morning. Still, it's Nathan's of Coney Island, man! It's the taste of Brooklyn my parents knew, and it's the taste of Brooklyn I know today. Sure, you can get a tube of lips n' snouts n' buttholes at any fastfood franchise of this brand, but to eat it AT Coney Island, it's just....right.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, smoothie, 1.5 bowls, hunger 3/5
Good yogurt and milk, ripe banana, cherries, grapes, a dash of wheat germ, ice. Tasty

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, 1 grilled burger with all the fixings, small piece of grilled hanger steak, small piece of grilled tuna, a spoonful of vegetable stew, a large number of onion rings, 2 pieces of brioche, cupcake, water, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

Oy.

PM SNACK: 5pm, cashew-butter chocolate gelato, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, large green salad with Italian dressing, 2 bowl, hunger 3/5

Methods Review (Sweet Sweetbread's Baaaaadasssss Song)

Today was a mishmash of recipes to review different cooking methods. On the menu today was baked stuffed potatoes, sautéed supreme of chicken with white port reduction (a.k.a. pan sauce), wild mushroom fricasse, BBQ baby back ribs, and braised sweetbreads. There wasn't much lecture, and we got to it pretty quick.

Back together with Chef Jr, Speedy, Roundhead, and 2LG, I asked, "Who is leader this time?" CJ begs off, though I think he would be an excellent organized leader, he just needs the confidence. Speedy wants it; he got it. RH starts asking me what to do and I'm all, "Don't ask me, Sp is the leader." I'm set off making a simple shallot compote and sautéed shittakes for the port reduction sauce for the chicken, then make the sauce, having fun flambéing with the strong white port. Sp takes the chicken, and I assist him in pan sautéing to a nice crispy exterior before finishing in the oven. CJ rubs spices on the ribs before enclosing them in foil and into the oven. RH cleans up the sweet breads, assembling the mise and then helping to finish assembling the mushrooms with 2LG.

As the ribs are in the oven, CJ gets the potatoes in the oven; then, when they are soft, he takes them out, scoops them hollow, rices the guts with butter and salt spices. The potatoes are placed in a plastic bag with a metal tip, then are squeezed decoratively back into the potato skins. Finished with grated cheese, they are browned in the oven before being finished with parsley.

Even though we agreed to slice the sweet breads thinly and pan-fry them with standard breading, RH stuck to the recipe cards that called for braising. Thing is, this lesson focused on methods -- and as cooks, we should be able to switch up methods and still keep a cool head and know what we're doing. RH was too enamored of his own cards and not thinking independently.

Sweetbreads are glands from a veal cow's head, below the brain. They are soaked in milk and are eerily white. They are braised and cooked in liquid after a browning in a pan. Braising really softens a meat. I tasted the sweetbread -- it tasted very much like neutral chicken, except the consistency was slightly gelatinous and pasty/firm at the same time. As I was chewing, my stomach felt queasy and for the first time in class, I spit into a napkin without swallowing. Braised sweetbreads without sauce are kinda gross -- if we used a crispy method, that kept some firmness, it probably would of been a lot more palatable. Roundhead, THINK!

And while I'm getting down on my fellow students, Speedy is speedy out of the gate, but as he gets into it, he gets a little bit too precious about his food. When running late, we need to get things to a stage of "good enough," not perfect. Perfection may only take an extra minute, but getting food on the plate at the appropriate time has to be balanced with the quality of the cooking if we're ever going to get into this business seriously. And Speedy is always the last one out of the gate when it comes to solo-cooking recipes. (I'd say Late Kid was, but LK got suspended for being late all the time....)

I like Chef C, he's a sweet guy, charmingly dopey and he aims to please. However, he does not run a tight class like Chef M did. We kept the same groups, which is comfortable, but it's lazy and unchallenging. The recipes went by a bit quick, and we ended up cleaning the kitchen around 11am, and left around 11:45am. During this time, rather than ride the class to move quicker, Chef C helped clean. If we were all equals, that would be cool, but he needs to be the 5-star General. He should be teaching and leading, not on his knees moving cutting boards. Cleaning should have been 30 minutes, and that half hour could have been dedicated to, say, intense knife drills -- something productive. Urgh. Regardless, I think it would be fun to stage (assist) for Chef C in a recreational class for the public. However, I would not want him to be my mentor.

ADDENDA:
I've been slowly cluing in some of the cooler students in class about this blog, and so far the feedback has been surprisingly positive (surprising, as NO ONE comments on these entries! Hint hint...) Dirty Kim said her family has been really enjoying reading down in Trinidad & Tobago. Hollah to the Dirty Family! Get your lives together!

Once again, 224 lbs o' heaviness this morning, despite the crazy weekend eating.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola with good milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, sauteed chicken with port reduction sauce, 3 babyback ribs with bbq sauce, one stuffed potato, 1 bite (spit out) of sweetbread, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, ramekin of soy-based chocolate-chocolate-cashew ice-cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Need a shot of sugar and caffeine to wake up.

PM SNACK: 4pm, baby carrots with hummus, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
So Ilsa will yell at me a little less tomorrow.

DINNER: 5:45pm, homemade pizza, grape soda, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oh my. This is exciting. The best homemade pizza yet. I proofed the dough from Friday morning through Monday, in the fridge. I topped it with some sauce I made weeks ago, grated a few random cheeses in the fridge, moz, parm, gruyere, swiss, little bits of each. The crust was amazingly chewy, crisp to the bite, a wonderfully yeasty aroma, thin and crisp at the middle, pillowy and chewy at the edge. Now if I can only do this 500 times a night, I'll be in business...

EVENING SNACK: 8:15pm, 2 hot dogs with kraut & onions, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Nice bike ride out to Coney, communed with the elder spirits of Brooklyn by chowing down on nitrate-laced lip n' butthole force-meats.