Banging out a buffet

The class reconvened with four students to present a buffet for the parent-teacher conferences. When I arrived, I took the chicken stock out and scooped off the hard layer of fat to find chicken jello -- just what you want. This is some triple-strength stuff, and will go a long way when we cook grains next week. I rendered the fat in a saute pan and put it away.

The mac n' cheese just got warmed in the oven and presented in the hotel pans, no fuss no muss. The brownies were a little over-cooked, so I had them trimmed of their edges -- voila, every piece is a center piece. Put on a shiny silver plastic tray and sprinkled with powdered sugar, it looked just as good as any fancy catering outfit. Salads were put out from yesterday, but yesterday's vinaigrette was rushed and not very good, so I had the students do it again.

SIMPLE RED WINE VINAIGRETTE

Yield: 2 cups

Red wine vinegar 4 oz
Dijon mustard 1 tsp
Olive oil 12 oz
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Sugar to taste

1. Combine vinegar and mustard in an anchored bowl.
2. Whisk in oil gradually.
3. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.

This time, I had them season it correctly -- meaning, a lot more than just a pinch. We tasted and tasted, and eventually the right sugar and salt balance made the flavor explode. At first it just tasted like oil, then suddenly....vinaigrette.

We received two 3-foot hero rolls; a lot of prep went into breaking down all the vegetables to go into the sandwiches -- tomatoes, onions, iceberg lettuce, etc. We took romaine leaves and made a bed for the sandwiches and, when one student suggested hard boiled eggs as a garnish, we knocked those out, too. We made mayo again -- always good practice.

HERBED MAYONNAISE

Yield: 2 ½ cups mayonnaise

Egg 1 each
Egg yolk 1 each
Salt ½ tsp
Ground pepper ¼ tsp
Olive oil ½ cup
Vegetable oil 1 ½ cups
Lemon juice 2 to 3 tsp
Chopped fresh herbs ¼ cup
(Parsley, chives, dill, etc.)

1. Place egg, egg yolk, salt, and pepper in an anchored mixing bowl. Whisk until blended
2. Whisking constantly, drizzle in the oils, gradually increasing the amount added as the sauce thickens
3. As soon as the sauce is very thick, thin with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, followed by the remaining oil.
4. Add herbs, whisk to combine.
5. Taste. Add more lemon juice, if necessary. Season to taste.

It was fun talking about sandwich theory, it's something you kind of forget after c-school. Rather than get anal and give a sandwich recipe, we talked more of method...

SANDWICH FORMULA

Four elements: bread, filling, spread, garnish

• Bread: Open or closed. The base is the only element compulsory.
• Spread: fat-based spreads applied directly to the bread provides barrier to keep bread from getting soggy
• Filling: Focus of sandwich – hot or cold, substantial or minimal. Determines other elements of sandwich.
• Garnish: Should compliment or contrast the filling. Either on sandwich or as a side garnish.

I showed them all the meats we had and discussed them: turkey, roast beef, Genoa salami, and prosciutto. We tasted and discussed each, and I gave a quick anatomy lesson about the leg of a pig (where prosciutto comes from), versus the belly (bacon). The ideas of balance, over-stuffed versus minimal meat, and spreads as a cohesive element that brings a sandwich together both physically and flavor wise were covered. Could not forget to show how to lay meat, with a fold to add spring and air rather than just stacks of flat stuff.

We did the sandwiches last; we were done with half of them when the crowds started to file in. The supervisor had to run out and get more bread (the sandwiches were very popular!), and we had enough fillings to keep going. It was nice to see the kids under a bit of production pressure, and pull through.

Next week, some rice dish, another grain, and using that jellied stock...yum.

Sandwiches (Let Them Eat Tea Sandwiches)

Tired from the long day yesterday, but still got to school on time and had a productive day. After a short lecture about the nature of the sandwich, we got straight into it. Dirty Kim and LI Lolita did grilled chicken sandwiches and curry chicken salad, Dirty Dave and I went after the grilled ruben, smoked salmon tea sandwiches and Deviled Quail Egg Canapes.

Today, the last day of lessons before our exams for the module tomorrow, Chef C found his inner meany and started yelling a little bit at the other two groups, who were lagging and arguing with each other and misidentifying lettuces and breads, therefore coming up short on many of their recipes. Our team just floated back and forth, basically just doing the jobs in front of us and occasionally one asking if the other needed anything. Makes for a smooth, fun class -- but a boring blog-entry.

Putting together the Deviled Quail Egg Canapes did get me thinking. Here is a super-delicate finger food, with specialty ingredients, that only appeals to a small minority. Last night, at the James Beard House, the people for whom we were cooking were almost uniformly white, upper-class, or in the food media realm. The people in my program, and working in the kitchen last night, were almost uniformly multi-racial, young, poor, and struggling to get a foot in. Are we being trained to be servants for the rich? Is this a meaningful pursuit? Or just the necessary first step to get somewhere else?

The smoked salmon tea sandwiches (rye bread smeared with chived-creme fraiche on both sides, one layer of smoked salmon, cut into crustless rounds) generated silly amounts of waste, which was quite delicious but quite ridiculous. The Ruben was fun, and Dirty Dave even brought his own bacon fat to braise the kraut in -- that's a symptom of why it's great to work with people who really a) are prepared and b) want to be there as opposed to Explorers or blabber mouths. I assisted LIL on assembling the fussy curry-chicken salad canapes, tearing bibb lettuce to fit the breads (again, waste) and DK had her grilled chicken sandwiches with funky aioli on lock down.

We were the first to get our stuff out to the table, and the Rubens were the first sandwich to disappear. Chef C gave a lively little talk about team work, which made me think that by culling DD, DK, LIL and myself into one team, kind of let the rest of the class sink a little bit. Not that I'm complaining...if I ran a business, I'd cull us and fire everyone else.

Tomorrow, tests.

ADDENDA:

After class, I went back to the Fancy Food Show to do another shift with the D'Artagnon people. This was the last few hours of the show, and Chef Lee was stubble faced and a little beat up, but still cranking. The energy of the entire place was a bit low, and there was another student and a woman who taught rec classes in LI helping out. I got to wander around for 45 minutes during and ate a lot of random crap again, and stuck around to help Lee break down the kitchen onto palates. He invited me to assist him travelling around NJ cooking game meats for various producers and clients, but I had to say no due to school and work obligations. Still, a good contact to have for the future.

After that, went back to school and sat in on a demo of entire side of beef be butchered. After quite an involved day, it was nice to sit for 3 hours and just be passive. I wasn't so much listening as just watching the master butcher's very precise, silky-smooth knife handling as he simply drew his blades across the carcass and perfectly seamed meat would just fall away like magic. Having done some of this kind of work in class, I can appreciate the years of experience in his hands, how he makes something extremely difficult look ridiculously easy.

Today was the first day that I did not eat a meal -- just kept on eating where I was, first at school, then at the show, then samples of all the different parts of the cow at the demo. Not the healthiest, but the most, ummm, educationalist.

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

AM SNACK: 10am, cuttings of a smoked salmon tea sandwich, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM TASTINGS: 11am, half a grilled ruben, quarter of a grilled chicken sandwich, cheesy shrimp toast thingy, quarter of a freshly ground chicken burger, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

PM TASTINGS: 2:30-3pm, random Fancy Food Show samples including cookies, chocolates, juices, a shot of Margarita, a gluten-free small pizza slice, etc., 2 bowls, hunger 3/5

I really gravitated towards sweets.

EVENING TASTINGS: 8-9pm, slices of several different parts of the cow from bottom round to prime rib, all grilled with salt and pepper, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5