Day seventy five

Today's tasting menu

Denver ribs, are they from lamb grown in Denver?

The last day of lamb fabricating. We still have some unfinished work for tomorrow (some groups have a lot), and it's mainly to grind all products left over.

We fabricated today a rack of lamb and a leg of lamb (it was an individual project). It was not difficult task. The Chef explained what to do how to French rack of lamb so it will be pretty and off to go. The leg required more work, we should trim the leg, then debone it, make BRT (boned, rolled, tied) roast from a half of the leg and prepare the second half for grinding.

Lamb is probably my favorite meat. I do not cook it often (may be this the reason why). It has strong flavor, at least more flavor then beef or pork and not everybody in the house is pleased with the aroma of cooked lamb. Right now we do not have ability to grill some parts outside.

After class there was a tasting. The Chef cooked for us rack of lamb from the different varieties (New Zealand, Australia, Colorado lamb). She also cooked tenderloin, loin, Denver ribs, and braised shank. It was

Day seventy four

What you should know buying lamb?

Today we had only one class - meat fabrication. The theme was lamb. The Dean came to our class to show how to break down the whole carcass of lamb. It was really educational and less technical. Of course there were a lot of details and basically attention to details is the key.

There are three major type of lamb, depends on region it came from . New Zealand lamb is considered the best one. They have smaller animals, the animals are grass fed and flavor is exceptional (however some people find it overpowering). Australian lamb may be small or large bread and flavor is mild (less intense then NZ). American lamb is usually larger bread of animals, feedlot fed and flavor is not very pronounced.

There are different grades for

Day seventy three

Our next victim for meat production
a courtesy of

It's Friday - the best day of the week, especially after lunch!

Yes, the week of study and hard work has come to the end, weekend is here.

We did not do a lot at the school. We had no production for today. In the morning there was quiz on beef, veal, and pork, what we have learned so far. Then we worked on special project. Lastly we did small tasks as a team assignment, our team was responsible for pocking up from purchasing department frozen pieces of lamb for Monday, so we can defrost them during weekend in a refrigerator.

The special project we have is also a team project. We suppose to create a meat centric menu including six item. These items must be

Day seventy two

In the middle of sausage making

What is pink salt?

Today we had only one class meat fabrication. That was really amazing, after yesterday 'lecture' we had received from the chef, everyone was so nice to each other. It was a great team work, people were asking 'can I help you?'. I wish every class to be like that and do not have angry chef.

We made today sausages! That was a fun. It is not so easy, but it was not so difficult. The process is quite simple. Prepare meat make the mixture you want to have (lean meat to fat ratio), then cut meat in small pieces so it will be easy to grind (you can't grind big piece). Season meat with salt, pepper, flavoring agents, and preservatives if using.  Then freeze meat, yes freeze. May be an hour before grinding

Day seventy one

Pork loin to fabricate

Crisis of ideas...

Do not know what to say. May be this is a result of difficult week (I am working since Monday from 1 p.m. till 8 p.m.). So I am a bit tired and my head is not clear. Probably this is also a result of overwhelming amount of information we have received  during seven days of meat fab class.

Today we broke down Boston Butt (one of the primal cut of pork) and loin. We suppose to prepare meat for sausages for tomorrow, but we did not have time (too much cit-chat and the chef was pissed about this). Tomorrow should be better.

For management we had a

Day seventy

Half of hog to break down

 How pork is different from beef?

As scheduled, we have moved to a pork butchery. We have today a guest speaker (or guest butcher - sounds better), the guy from the American Pork Association. He was doing demo how to break down pork carcass American way and European way.

For the consumers the difference is not so visible as for the professionals. The main difference is in the loin, or how we separate it. In American style we cut it for three pieces rib eye, tenderloin, and porterhouse. European style is to keep loin whole. Also in Europe instead of making chops, they prefer take the loin from the bones and handle boneless loin.

Buying pork you should pay attention that pork is not PSE. PSE stands for pale, soft, exudative. This meat will be very tough after cooking, with watery taste, absence of flavor. Pork should be nice pink or dark pink color and has certain amount of marbling. In case you have concerns about your diet and trying to cut fat consumption, may be it's better to choose veal instead of pork, or other type

Day sixty nine

Tasting menu for today, veal loin, veal chop, scallopini
sweetbreads, and kidneys

Can veal be grown to a beef?

That was a question asked today during the lecture. It's really funny, the question is similar to 'can a kid grow up to an adult?'

So we moved forward today from beef to veal (it might be logical to go opposite direction, but this is what we have). So, veal is a young cow (calf). Since it is young, the carcass is not formed completely, muscles are tender, color is pink (not dark red as in beef).

There are probably two major difference between meat from beef and veal. The first one is that you don't have to age veal. You may use meat almost instantly after slaughtering. In case of beef you need to age meat, so enzymatic changes will take place before you eat it. Second difference is

Day sixty eight

Tasting menu for the class

Secrets how to cook steak.

It would have been an easy day, if I were in St. Helena. I had to drive from San Francisco and back. It was still a good day.

We did portioning meat from the last three days for steaks, cubes (for stew), and grind for hamburger. Also we made a few roasts (tied meat evenly).

Portioning sirloin for steaks was quite easy. The meat is even, so the task is to weight the whole piece and then evenly divided it for required amount of portions (8, 10, 12 oz each).

When we have tenderloin, the task is not so easy, because the tenderloin has a conical form. So you have to use your imagination where to cut. A margin of error

Day sixty seven

Rib Primal Cut is almost broken down by Chef

Do you know where is rib eye comes from?

It was a good day today. Today we have only one class - Meat Fabrication. We started around 8:45 in the morning and we finished around 12:30 afternoon.

In the class we have a guest speaker. One of the chef instructor came and showed us how to handle three cuts of beef - tenderloin, striploin, and rib part. He is really amazing in breaking down animal carcass. I saw him once breaking down a half of a pig and it took him about an hour to do everything, including verbal explanation for every step.

Today he explained all steps as well and we were able to do our job. An individual assignment was

Day sixty six

Beef shank before fabrication

How much meat do you think we can get from a beef shank?

Back to routine of the new semester. What I like here is that we have more free time. Or may be I am missing something? There is crazy course - English writing. It's crazy because it's on-line course. We were told that many people worked to create a platform for this and another courses, a lot of cash was spend. However, for some people (like me) this is a real pain in the ass, just to understand what to do, when and how.

Management was about authorities and management styles. Many things we were told are quite obvious, when you hear them. For example authorities. Authorities may be granted as per positon you have. Authorities might be

Day sixty five - new semester

A big piece of meat to work with.
If you trim the shank and cook it
for 8 hours that will be steamship roast 

Is it a special animal - kobe beef?

Today for me was the start of the second semester at the Culinary Institute of America. This semester is different from the first one. It's different due to a number of reasons. We have new subjects, the majority of them are going to be short, probably three to four weeks. The longest class we are going to have is College Writing. It will be for the whole semester.

We started day with the Introduction to Management. The course is very useful and I do hope to get a lot. Management is not my strength. Would rather do things by myself, unfortunately, I have only two hands and limited time. I have to learn how to deal with people at work. We started with very basics,

Day sixty four

I've finished my calculation.
We can't afford the dog.
It has to go..

This is official! The first semester is over!

Yes, it's over. Yesterday (sorry for publishing this late) I took the last two exams. One was Math and another was Nutrition.

Math was quite easy. There was one linguistic question and I asked question, just to make sure that my understanding was right. I missed one question (stupid me). Indeed it was ridiculous - instead of dividing I multiplied, and there were at least ten more questions for the same problem and all of them I did right. The good thing was that there were two extra credit questions, so my result is 100%.

Nutrition I think I did all right, probably missed a few questions. Now we are waiting for the results of all our exams and tests to be published on-line. I think during the next week we will see all results.

Day sixty three

What was the question? (a courtesy of)

Strategy for a test? 

Today was one of the two days full of tests. The end of semester is not easy. Too many tests and other activities. Today was due day for the last homework for Nutrition and for the Final Project for the First Year Seminar.

At the Math class we did a final review and ready for tomorrow. Gastronomy we took the final test and after that we watched two videos regarding different management styles. The both videos were about conductors and how they are working. It seems to be quite similar (in some ways) what is going on in the kitchen. A few creative people should work together under a chef, who is responsible for the final impression. Yeah, that was

Day sixty two

My plate for Practical 

Can you cook a full menue in two and a half hours?

Today was Final Practical for the Culinary Fundamentals. We started from the theory and had to answer 35 questions. Some of these questions were multiple choice, some - true and fault, and some an essay questions. We had one hour to finish the test.

The second part was practical itself. We draw the menue which we suppose to cook. I hoped to get grilling menue, however I got sauté menu. I did not want that menu because of one item, which was steamed broccolini. For me vegetables are complicated, protein cookery is easier.

My menu for today was Saute Chicken Breast, sauce Fines Herbs, Steamed Broccolini, Glazed oblique Carrot, Basmati Rice Pilaf, and Mayonnaise. I had to cook ans present two identical plates. After 30 minutes of my time, I realized

Day sixty one

Today's food - buffet style

Do we need 'to rest' meat after grilling? And other secrets of successful grilling.

The day before practical exam for the first semester. I was about grilling. Our menu was: Grilled Beef NY Steak, compound butter and sauce Bearnaise, French Fries, Grilled Vegetables Provencial Style.

Let's start from the basics. There are a few techniques quite similar to each other - grilling, broiling, griddling, and BBQ. They are all similar because they are an examples of dry heat cooking. Grilling is when you have source of heat under you food item. The BBQ is a way of grilling. Technically BBQ is done

Day sixty

A courtesy of

Obesity is a real health issue in the USA.

TGFI

This week is finally come to the end. Friday is usually an easy day. We do not have First Year Experience. Only Math, Gastronomy, and Nutrition are on schedule.

Math was review for all what we have learned during the semester. It's useful, but boring at the same time. Useful because that will help to prepare to the final exam. Boring, because nothing new...

At Gastronomy we discussed organic food, sustainability, and

Day fifty nine

Gargouillou

Can the whole part be more than 100% ?

Today was all about Liberal Art Classes. All as usual - Math, Gastronomy, Nutrition, and First Year Experience. We can feel that we are going to the end of semester.

The next week is the last one. We will have practical exam on Culinary Fundamentals (knife cuts, written exam, and practical) and quizes on all other subjects. Also we have to complete final project for the First Year and probably something else...

Math today was a little bit about ratios and we started to review what we have learned so far. Answer to the question at the beginning of this post is yes, in case we use baker percentage. Do not think that bakers are crazy people and therefore they have more

Day fifty eight

Today's plate

What is collard greens?

Today was a disaster, indeed. We were late from the beginning. And sometimes, you can smell troubles even before any indication appears. We were in weeds from the beginning. Requisition came late, we were trying to distribute them, but due to inconsistant instructions, that took quite a lot of time. Our group finished cooking almost one hour late. Also there were not enough space at the ovens. Some days you are just glad that it's over...

Our production was not so difficult today. Team assignment was spicy collard greens, sauce Espagnole, and beer battered onion rings. Individual production suppose to be pan fried pork cutlets with sauce Charcuterie, spaetzle, coleslaw, and sauce chasseur.

What can I say?

Day fifty seven

Today's plate

Why some cooking techniques are called a la minute?

Today was about sautéing fish. This was our menue: Saute trout Meuniere, Wild rice pilaf, Brussels sprout with bacon, tourneyed carrot, and  sauce Beurre Noisette.

Sautéing usually refers as a la minute technique, because it literally takes a few minutes to cook main item. Let's say today trout was pan fried within four minutes (ish...) Do I like it? Yes, very much, that was my lunch for today. The issue you may have making this at home is a bit of smoke (if you have hood in the kitchen - great) and a bit of oil on the stove around a pan.

So, let's start from the middle (as per picture from the left).