Soup du Jour

Well, we've finally graduated from sauces and are now making soups.  Today we made Clam Chowder, French Onion, and Consommé.

So, What makes a chowder Chowder?  Anyone?  Raise your hand please.  Potatoes?  What about the potatoes?  Ah yes, that's absolutely correct.  For it to be a Chowder there Has to be Potato chunks in it.  No Chunks, then it's just Cream of Clams.

I'm going to share this recipe for New England Clam Chowder with you because it's YUMMY.  This is a serving for 2.

2tsp  Olive oil                                                4oz  Milk
1/2 c   Canned minced clams                          4oz  Heavy cream
1oz  White wine                                            2-3 sprigs Thyme, fine chop
1oz  Bacon, Finely diced                                1/2 tsp  Parsley,  fine chop
2oz  Onions,  small dice
1/2 oz  Flour                                                  Salt and White Pepper to taste.
6oz  Potato,  small dice                                   8oz Clam Juice
2oz  celery


In a small pot over medium heat add Olive oil and bacon.  Do NOT brown the bacon.  Stir constantly while rendering the fat from bacon.  Add the onions and cook slowly til onions are translucent, don't brown.  Add flour and stir it well and cook for about 3 mins.  Do NOT brown.  Using whisk slowly stir in the wine and let it reduce by about 1/2, cooking out the alcohol.  Now stir in 8oz clam juice and bring to a boil.  Stir constantly to make sure the liquid is Smooth.  Turn down to a simmer and Add potatoes and celery and cook until the potatoes are tender.  Stir in the Clams, Milk and Cream, Heat gently.  DO NOT BOIL.  Add finely chopped Parsley and thyme, Bring to a simmer and you're done.  Add Salt and Pepper to taste...

If you want to keep this heated then put a pan on the burner, add water and put your pot in the pan.  The double boiler effect is the best way to keep your cream soups from getting scorched.

The Consommé is a tricky SOB to make but if you do it right you could see a coin at the bottom of a cup full of consommé.  Mine turned out quite well, thank goodness.  As well did my French onion soup, too bad I don't like French Onion or I would have been chowing down during class today.  I brought my Chowder home to share with the family.

All the running around during class and sweating about getting stuff done correctly and on time has been kicking my Ass all the way to Timbuktu and I've just been exhausted when I get home and I've been slacking on my blog but then again there really hasn't been much to write about since it's just been on sauces.  Am I trying to justify being a lazy bum and not writing?  Yes I am lol...

Enjoy the Chowder.  That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Rinse and Repeat

Well now we're just making sauces over and over again getting ready for a test tomorrow.  So... That makes for a boring blog AAaaand no vids. 

Today we had to make 3 sauces to save for tomorrows test.  Velouté, Bechamel and Espagnole.  Also practice Hollandaise and Beurre Blanc.  I pretty much have them down.  I get nervous about making the sauces to thick so it takes me forever to get the sauce to the right consistancy because I'm adding so little roux at a time.  But I made all 5 sauces today which is good, compared to some that only did the minimum required 3.  And that was with having to make more roux for my sauces...

I have to work on keeping my work station in order.  I'm at an organized chaos stage lol... I know where everything is but it's kind of all over the place.  I'm not cleaning as I go too so I have neat little stacks of things around.  Note to self... Clean up the neat little stacks lol.   I'm cooking fast enough, just not neat enough and it shows on my grade /sigh...

Had to set up the router for the internet today, took way too long and so now I have to cut this short and go study for the test tomorrow.  

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Small Talk...

Mother sauces...Everyone, well, Almost everyone loves French cuisine and French cuisine is known for it's Sauces.  The Chef Saucier (sauce making chef) is one of the most respected positions in the Kitchen Brigade.  Making Gravy is easy, it takes a whole lot more to make sauces.  Mother sauces are the foundation of all things Yummy.

What are the mother sauces?  There are 5 Mother sauces and one Honorary.  1. Espagnole (brown sauce made from brown stock)  2. Velouté (White sauce made from Chicken, Veal, or Fish stock) 3.  Bechamel (white sauce made with milk) 4.  Tomato sauce (using white stock to thin) 5.  Hollandaise (Butter base)  and our honorary cold mother sauce Mayonaise.  For the veg heads you can make a stock with veggies and go from there.

So from these mother sauce we can make All of the Small sauces.  For instance, from Espagnole you can make Bordelaise, Robert, Mushroom, Madeira etc.  From Béchamel you get Cheddar, Cream, Mustard etc.  From Veal Velouté make Allemonde and from that you get Curry, Hungarian etc.  Chicken Velouté make Suprême then Mushroom, Albufera, and the list goes On and On... You can also make Soups from your mother sauces such as Bechamel base makes your Creme soups and Chowders.

And you know how when you watch all those cooking shows and the Chef says "and I made a beautiful aioli sauce to go with the blah blah blah..."  Well, let me burst your bubble... That "special" sauce is Mayo made from scratch then you fine chop and toss Garlic into it and Voila you have Aioli.  Best Foods mayo with chopped Garlic in it is Aioli lol...

Learning how to make Mayo and Hollandaise sauce is a beautiful thing.  If you want to impress your friends, learn now to make them because, even in my class at school there are people who still have problems with getting emulsification down and not having the sauce break on them.  Emulsion is bringing 2 immiscible liquids together such as oil and vinegar.  See my vids for making mayo or hollandaise.

So in class we made Remoulade from Mayo which is a really yummy tartar sauce.  In the mayo you chop up parsley, chervil, terragon, gherkins (small sweet pickle), capers, dijon mustard and add Anchovy essence.  Eeeeeeew Anchovies?  Yes, Anchovy.. and essence is the oil that the anchovy is packed in.  Why?  It's the UMAMI factor.  Do you really want to leave it out and sacrifice flavor?  Well that's your choice but let me tell you...YUUUUUMMMM.

We made Spanish sauce from Tomato sauce and that took fine chopped Anchovies along with chopped garlic, diced onions and bell peppers and red pepper flakes.  It was simply divine.

Learn your Mother sauces and from there the world is yours for the taking.  Don't be afraid to add something that you think you don't like into the mix because that is what separates the Cooks from the Chefs.

I made my sauces and went up to get them graded.  Taste, taste, taste, badabing badaboom he says, "It's all good"  I say "Thank you Chef" and... It's all good and I walk away with a good grade and a smile. 

It's a very fullfilling feeling to be able to walk away knowing that I am doing well in what I set out to do.  I want to thank Everyone who has supported me in my decision to go back to school.  I love you.

That is my blip for my BFFs today.

"Please sir, may I have another?"

Sauces and more sauces.  I'm pooped.  We made that Brown sauce yesterday and today we made 3 derivatives of the brown sauce...We also made Tomato sauce, saved the tomato sauce so that we can make more sauce tomorrow...

My Tomato sauce was awesome.  My 3 sauces on the other hand had wonderful flavor but I Mounted with Butter too much or sautéed with too much butter or whatever with the butter but Chef said it was a little on the greasy side.  Not much but just enough to leave grease "bubbles" on the spoon.  I guess I shouldn't have mounted that butter today, but I'm sure if I was making that sauce for Darcy she would have been all over it with the extra pat of butter.  /sigh And there is proof that it's not always going to be the greatest day ever for me. 

I'm tired today.  We've been making the sauces individually so it's a bit hectic in the kitchen.  But Mise en place was on today so people did much better today than they did yesterday.  Now if only they would clean as they go then we wouldn't be all backed up at the sink at the end of class.

What a boring day, everyone being so focused on cooking that nothing too exciting has really happened.  I'll upload the vids for you to check out the sauces.  

Today we made Sauce Robert, Marchand de Vin, and Chasseur.  All were really wonderfull.   First we took our brown sauce and mixed it with equal parts of brown stock and simmered.  When we added the wine to the onions we reduced it to auc sec (to Dry) then added the brown sauce mixture, Mount with butter, TAAT and you're good to go.  Watch the vids for quantity and procedures...

I'm falling asleep as I write this so I'm gonna go take a nap then upload the vids.

Thats my blip for my BFFs today.

Mother Sauce and its Derivatives.

Today was a busy, busy day for us.  We had to make 3 mother sauces on our own and from those sauces we had to make a derivative out of 2 of them. 

And to start my day at class I was setting up my mise en place, getting out my tools and then realizing that the spatula that Katlin was waving about yesterday was mine.  Yep, I couldn't find it anywhere in my bag.  I'm usually really good about washing my stuff and putting them right into my bag but I was obviously side tracked.  So, no spatula for me today and as i was straining my sauces a lot of it was left in the bowls but eh, it all worked out.

I was trying hard to clean up my mess as I went but it seemed that I accumulated a lot of bowls, pots, rewashing utensils several times and then Chef is announcing over the intercom..."The pass is open but will be closed in about 15 minutes... Some of you Need to start getting up here."   Yes, I was one of those somebodies.  I was so afraid to put too much roux in my sauce, my brain was in overdrive.  "the stove is too high, move the pot to the side, start your other sauce..."  It was an incessant buzzing in my mind.  "TAAT, TAAT, TAAT!!!"

"You have 10 minutes to get up here..."  RUUUUUN FORREST RUUUUUUUN!!!  I think I lost 10 pounds today,  I finally got up to the pass and watched the Chef taste and critique those in front of me in line.  There were so many, " your sauce in under seasoned" "your sauce is greasy" "your sauce is too thick"  that I was starting to second guess my ability to cook.  Then I felt so bad for the guy in front of me because out of a Quart of stock he presented the Chef with what looked to me to be 2 tablespoons of brown stock, from a pint of chicken stock was maybe 1 tablespoon of sauce and of 1 pint of milk maybe a teaspoon of sauce.   That was some SERIOUS reduction...

I know my friends always say I can do this, that I'm a good cook etc. but that still doesn't stop me from being nervous in front of the Chef as he tastes and tests my food.  Lucky for me he tested the thickness of my sauces and tasted them and said, "It's all good."  Slowly my heartbeat slowed down and I was able to relax and calm my nerves. 

I love cooking but now i'm thinking, I went from a job that was low stress, almost nil, to going to school with high stress expectations, what in the Hell did i get myself into lol... BREATH.  Just writing about today has my fingers shaking lol...I can do this... breath...

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Iron Maiden

First order of things, we made Fumet today.  And what is Fumet?  It's a fast way of making fish stock.  Why not just call it fish stock?  Well, because it's the process of cooking that makes it Fumet and not just fish stock.  Fish stock you take the bones, add the aromatiques and water then simmer it for a while, an hour or so.  Fumet you sweat the aromatiques in butter, add and reduce white wine, cook the fish til it's opaque, add the water, bring to a simmer and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

We had to work as a team and Nikki was my partner today.  We had to make the fumet together but individually make roux, blanc, blonde and brun.  Chef did his demo on the fumet then Ding off we went to set up our mise en place and cook our assignments.  So I asked Nikki to get our roux ingredients while I got the Fumet stuff.  Badabing, badaboom we knocked out our fumet and roux like pros.  The Chef walked around to check out everyone at work and we passed with flying colors. 

Poor Leslie and Leonard didn't have much luck though, Chef made them step back and take a look at their work space, I couldn't help but look over to check it out myself.  It looked like the Cabbage Patch kids ran amuck in their area, and they looked a little overwhelmed, then come to find out that they were individually making fumet as well as roux... Ooops...  I'm so glad that I can't stand to work in a mess and have always cleaned up as I cook ever since i can remember. 

Time for Testing our finished product.  As I was draining our fumet through the chinois the aroma of it was wafting about and I had Nikki lean in to smell it as well, OMG it smelled so good and the color of it was really nice.  We were both drooling and if we could have we would have seasoned it up and eaten it right then and there lol.  I walked up and handed Chef the taster spoon as an indication to him that we were ready to be scrutinized.  He dipped the spoon into the cambro, tasted our fumet and whispered "wow".  So, I do believe he liked it with a response like that lol.  Roux was also on the money and we got really good scores.  Yay Us...

Everyday we have to line up and have our uniform inspected for cleanliness, wrinkles, black socks, properly tied cravat, trimmed nails and hair in nets or trimmed and for the guys, if they've shaved.  First person Chef goes to he says, "your apron looks a little wrinkled."  he looks at the next guy, "your apron looks wrinkled too"  then he looks around and says "Sol, please step forward."  And as I do so he says, "That is how your aprons should look.  Nice and pressed."  So I turn a pale shade of pink, turn around to face the class, held out my apron like a skirt and gave them a curtsy.  I can't help it if I'm anal about how well pressed my clothes have to be lol.  Can you say Obsessive-compulsive disorder?  A mild case but a case still the same lol...

And that is my blip for my BFFs today.

CF2 Term 2

So here we are at the beginning of the second term.  Today we made Veal Stock/Brown Stock.  After doing our usual line up for inspections we went thru a review of all things past for a refresher then they went into the walkin and pulled out about 75 pounds of veal bones.  The process is all fairly simple and home made stock is a lot better than the stuff you buy in the box at the super market. 

We begin by putting the bones on a sheet tray (cookie sheet), turn the oven to 400° f.  You don't do anything to the bones except put it in the oven for 25 mins.  Now while you're waiting you can cut up your mirepoix.  What in the hell is that?  Rewind....

Ratio:  In your stock pot you want 50% Bones, 100% water and 10% Mirepoix.  So...for 5 #s of Bones you want 1# of Mirepoix.  

Mirepoix is 50% onions 25% carrots and 25% celery cut into appx. 1/2 dice.  Then you can also make a bouquet garni to go in there and that is celery leaf, thyme, parsley,  bay leaf, peppercorn wraped in a leek and tied off with butchers twine.

Now, for brown stock you want to Roast the bones first.  So, 25 minutes us up, Ding, you take out the tray, flip the bones and put it back into the oven for appx 10-15 mins.  Ding, tray out, add carrots and onions and back in oven for about 10 mins.  Ding, tray out and you take tomato paste and mix it all up with your bones, carrots and onions.  Roast for 5 more minutes.  All is nice and brown, not burnt... onions may be just a wee bit on the edges but that's okay, then you take the bones and put it into your stock pot.  Add the celery, bouquet garni and fill up your pot with cold water.  Put the tray with all the dark crusty stuff on the bottom on the stove top, turn on your stove top and add water or red wine to the tray and you're going to deglaze that tray, scraping the bottom to losen up the "suc".  Now you take all that yumminess from the bottom of the tray and pour it into the stock pot.  Bring the pot to a simmer, not a boil,  and you'll want to simmer for 6 to8 hours.  If you're not crunched for time 24 to 36 hours is the best.  Do not stir or cover the pot.  Just let it sit and simmer and do it's thing.  Please don't put a lid on the pot. 

5#s of Bones should yeild 1 gallon of stock for you to make your sauces.

So team work is the name of the game now and our teacher gave us a little getting to know you excercise.  We had to pair up with somebody and interview each other, goals, experience, and find out something that nobody in the class knows about that person.  So I got Nikki.  She is a Filipino with a long ass Greek name lol Thessalonikka so we call her Nikki.  So we sit in this circle and tell everyone in class what we've found out about each other.  So... Nikki, used to be a travel agent back in the Phillipines, no prior cooking experience, and her goal is to one day work as a Chef in the White House.  And the big mystery box unfolded revealing that she was once a Runway Model in the Phillipines.  I also told the class that she spent late nights porn surfing.  I got a good laugh out of them and a blush from Nikki but I don't think they believed me.

That's my blip for my BFFs today.