Got to school around 7:40AM. Surprised how many students show up 5-10 minutes early.
Demo #3 was by Chef Jean-Marc again. It was basically garnish and vegetable cut lesson and consisted of:
- Tomates Concassees: Do not overcook, 5-20 secs depending on ripeness of tomato.. should be firm. Cut stem (pedoncule) and cross on bottom (monder), remove the seeds (epepiner) and finally the chopping of tomato (concassees)
- Portugaise: Stewed tomates concassess with butter, shallots, garlic and bouqet garni in a pot (sugar, salt, pepper to taste)
- Duxelle Seche de Champignons: finely chopped mushrooms (ciseler) which need to be cooked as quickly as possible due to oxidation. with shallots, butter and finely chopped parsley. Cook to pasty consistency.
- Grand-Mere
NB: ETUVER is a method of cooking with butter, salt, sugar and water to the level of the top of the vegatables, a paper lid made of parchment paper on top, and then a steel lid. Remove the steel lid to evaporate water as quickly as possible. If you cook it but leave it white, Glacer a Blanc.. if there is slight coloration, it is Glacer a Brun.
Etuver pearl onions. Cut up pork belly into lardon (5mm x 5mm x 3 fingers) and fry in pan. Remove lardon, cut mushrooms into quarters and fry in lardon fat and then add more butter, put return lardon to pan and reserve. When the pearl onions are glacer a brun, add them to the pan. In seperate pot, boil from cold water some turned potatoes. For the presentation, dip one edge of turned potato in edge of parsely.
- Blanc de Cuisson
- Bouquetiere (Glacer a Blanc, Etuver)
Practice of various cuts.
Practice of various cuts.
- Jardiniere et Macedoine de Legumes
Two major cuts to practice here, batonnet (cut them a big bigger, line up and cut them to even out) and macedoine (cubes cut from batonnet).. Turnips should be in water after cutting.
Two major cuts to practice here, batonnet (cut them a big bigger, line up and cut them to even out) and macedoine (cubes cut from batonnet).. Turnips should be in water after cutting.
- Pomme de terre pour Frire
* different cuts: Chips (use grater) Cheveux (cut up chips), Paille (straw, fine julienne), Mignonette (criss-cross using special grater), Pont Neuf (French fries cute, Frites), Gauffrettes (mae cylinder then flatten one side and grate)
Miscellaneous notes. NEVER season on the serving plate. In pot, pan, prep bowl. Removing of the middle of the garlic is only necessary if garlic is old(er).
Practical #3 started at noon, and once again I didn't do particularly well. I thought I did a decent job with the batonnet and macedoine, and I tried to turn a couple vegetables and did cook the veggies using etuver, but they didn't turn out remarkably well. Chef Jean-Marc was quite nice though and was encouraging and showed me how to turn a couple carrots and turnips. I suffered a second cut on the tip of my left thumb today, so no success in avoiding a cut today...
Demo #4 was run by Chef Benoit. He started with a rant on how Pastry Chefs are a special breed, since they can be quite finicky, and unless you own a very large restaurant (over $1M gross) you would have a hard time justifying a full time pastry Chef at $70K/year. He did however say that there were evil rumours being spread by some students that he is a "closet Pastry Chef", but he denies it. The reason why it is important for all Chefs to understand some basic pastry is that in most kitchens, you will be responsible for at least some simple pastry, so you MUST know the concepts.
Some important notes:
You MUST respect recipes and measurements.. especially for flour and liquid.
Always REST your dough before using to loosen elasticity.
Les Pates
Pates a Foncer -> Pate brise, Pate Sucree
Pates Levee
Austres (others)
Farce Simple MUST contain at least 30% fat.
When rolling dough.. "Move the dough around you, you don't move.", ie. do a 90 degree turn OF THE DOUGH, don't contort your body.
Some terminology
Sabler - sand, to make the pastry a coarse sand texture.. you can do it by rubbing your hands together, Karate Kid style, like Mr. Miyagi.
Fleurer - Throw flour across the table
Abaisser - to roll using palms of hand
Fraiser - with palm of hand push a small chunk of dough forward to ensure mixing (of butter)
Compote(r) - a reduction of something (apples, onions)
Chiqueter - to use little pinchers to shape top of the pastry crust
Reposer - to allow something to rest
Cuire a Blanc - pre-cook a pastry shell, often by putting parchment paper in the crust to keep the shape, and filling with beads
Appareil a Creme Prise
Fontaine - make a well in the middle of a pile of flour to keep in the liquid
We mostly use all purpose flour in North America, which is about 50% humidity. In Europe, they have 30-65 and cake flour times, which is the amount of water left after evaporation. When you add water, it binds the protein in wheat (called gluten) and must be left to rest.
The word farce is used as soon as meat is used. Farce simple is coarce, rough texture. TOO DRY without (at least) 30% fat.
Wine and cognac in the kitchen is often pre-salted to avoid boozing. Most restaurants use really cheap wine/cognac anyway so I don't know who'd be alcoholic enough to want to drink. Wait, I often feel like it during class...
Chef Benoit proceeded to make Pate Pantin, Quiche Lorraine, Flammiche au Maroilles et aux poireaux, and a Tarte aux pommes.
Extremely tired, I went home, did some laundry and stopped by Shoppers Drug Mart to buy some liquid skin for my fingers. Works amazing. Two bloodied thumbs up to the inventor.
To end this blog post, I'll quote Chef Benoit's view on using butter for certain recipes: "It's like an Angel crying on your tongue."
Practical #3 started at noon, and once again I didn't do particularly well. I thought I did a decent job with the batonnet and macedoine, and I tried to turn a couple vegetables and did cook the veggies using etuver, but they didn't turn out remarkably well. Chef Jean-Marc was quite nice though and was encouraging and showed me how to turn a couple carrots and turnips. I suffered a second cut on the tip of my left thumb today, so no success in avoiding a cut today...
Demo #4 was run by Chef Benoit. He started with a rant on how Pastry Chefs are a special breed, since they can be quite finicky, and unless you own a very large restaurant (over $1M gross) you would have a hard time justifying a full time pastry Chef at $70K/year. He did however say that there were evil rumours being spread by some students that he is a "closet Pastry Chef", but he denies it. The reason why it is important for all Chefs to understand some basic pastry is that in most kitchens, you will be responsible for at least some simple pastry, so you MUST know the concepts.
Some important notes:
You MUST respect recipes and measurements.. especially for flour and liquid.
Always REST your dough before using to loosen elasticity.
Les Pates
Pates a Foncer -> Pate brise, Pate Sucree
Pates Levee
Austres (others)
Farce Simple MUST contain at least 30% fat.
When rolling dough.. "Move the dough around you, you don't move.", ie. do a 90 degree turn OF THE DOUGH, don't contort your body.
Some terminology
Sabler - sand, to make the pastry a coarse sand texture.. you can do it by rubbing your hands together, Karate Kid style, like Mr. Miyagi.
Chemiser - means to line a mold.
Fleurer - Throw flour across the table
Abaisser - to roll using palms of hand
Fraiser - with palm of hand push a small chunk of dough forward to ensure mixing (of butter)
Compote(r) - a reduction of something (apples, onions)
Chiqueter - to use little pinchers to shape top of the pastry crust
Reposer - to allow something to rest
Cuire a Blanc - pre-cook a pastry shell, often by putting parchment paper in the crust to keep the shape, and filling with beads
Appareil a Creme Prise
Fontaine - make a well in the middle of a pile of flour to keep in the liquid
We mostly use all purpose flour in North America, which is about 50% humidity. In Europe, they have 30-65 and cake flour times, which is the amount of water left after evaporation. When you add water, it binds the protein in wheat (called gluten) and must be left to rest.
The word farce is used as soon as meat is used. Farce simple is coarce, rough texture. TOO DRY without (at least) 30% fat.
Wine and cognac in the kitchen is often pre-salted to avoid boozing. Most restaurants use really cheap wine/cognac anyway so I don't know who'd be alcoholic enough to want to drink. Wait, I often feel like it during class...
Chef Benoit proceeded to make Pate Pantin, Quiche Lorraine, Flammiche au Maroilles et aux poireaux, and a Tarte aux pommes.
Extremely tired, I went home, did some laundry and stopped by Shoppers Drug Mart to buy some liquid skin for my fingers. Works amazing. Two bloodied thumbs up to the inventor.
To end this blog post, I'll quote Chef Benoit's view on using butter for certain recipes: "It's like an Angel crying on your tongue."
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