CULINARY FOUNDATIONS, WEEK FIVE

February 11, 2013

This is our last week for Culinary Foundations.  I found out my next class will be Food and Beverage Management for 6 weeks.  I am not sure how exciting this class will be and I know that there will not be any kitchen time involved. 

We were in the kitchen today making rice. 

Rice Pilaf

We made rice pilaf, parmigiana risotto, and the grains that we picked up from Whole Foods last week.  The rice pilaf was made with chicken stock and turned out really flavorful and tasty. 

Parmigiana Risotto

From watching Hell's Kitchen, I knew that risotto is always a problem dish. The risotto making required constant stirring and adding of the stock so it was time consuming to make. The chef had indicated that most risottos do not turn out the first time being made. Luckily we followed the directions explicitly and our risotto did turn out made properly, cooked through, and the right consistence. The chef had one comment and that was that once you get good at it, it will take significantly less time to make. Prior to adding the parmigiana we tested it to make sure is was cooked through but it was not a very good flavor. After adding the cheese, I found that the risotto tasted fine but I guess I can say that I actually don't like risotto.  

Kumat 

Most of the grains we cooked are not meant to be eaten straight up (generally they are mixed with something else), so many were not a good taste alone. The Kumat that was cooked was a very big pieces and had a significantly grainy tasting.

Rye Berries

For the grain we selected at Whole Foods, we made Rye Berries. It took one hour of simmering after we brought everything to a boil. Cooking with gas is so much quicker to bring water to a boil, it is amazing to me. Not sure what it would take to bring gas to our house but I would love to have it!  As stated before, most of the grains you mix with other items, this one was no exception. It was a grainy taste again, but better than the Kumat straight up.

Quinoa

My favorite grain made was the quinoa (keen-wah). It is not actually a grain (just grain like), but is an edible seed. The chef mentioned that red quinoa is supposedly the favorite of the quinoas. I had never tried it before and found it to be quite good plain. It tastes a lot like rice. It is high in protein and good for you. I plan on purchasing some and maybe mixing with some sauteed vegetables. 

February 12, 2013

We continued lessons with nutrition, learning about carbohydrates, protein, fat, and cholesterol. We were each assigned a different area to research last week and had to provide examples to present. Mine was complex carbohydrates. I learned that vegetables are the right source for good carbohydrates in your diet. I always thought of carbs more like starches and not that good for you. My classmate sitting next to me did fall asleep again in class today but at least he was not snoring this time. We finished the class with review for the final written exam on Thursday. Tomorrow is the practical exam!

February 13, 2013

We started the class by going into the kitchen to review herbs and spices by looking at them, touching and smelling them. The chef had informed us yesterday that as part of the practical exam he would be asking us to identify 30 herbs and spices by look, touch and smell alone. We discussed around 50 different herbs and spices in the kitchen. Many we have not reviewed or discussed before today. The chef indicated that he wanted to offer us a challenge to try and identify these as part of our exam. 

Cashews

We continued the last of our lessons with review of fruits and nuts.  It was interesting to learn that we label things like peanuts and cashews as nuts when peanuts are actually from the legume family (beans/peas) and cashews are the seeds of plant related to poison ivy.   Also the shell of a macadamia nut is so hard you need to cracked them open with a hammer or a metal vise.  

After learning of fruits and nuts, we went into the kitchen for our practical exam.  We were given a list of vegetables and herbs that we were required to cut and the cutting styles we were required to use for each.  Our exam was to go into the kitchen and cut the requirements and the chef walked around watching each of us.  Very nerve racking to have someone standing over you who is an expert watching every move you make!  I was holding my knife so tight during the exam because of nerves that I now have a blister at the base of my index finger. After we completed the cutting, the chef than came to each table and examined our table for cleanliness, organization, and examined the cuts with our rulers to make sure we cut each to size.  Yes, he measured the medium dice to make sure they were 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2" and brunoise cut to make sure they were each 1/8" x 1/8" x 1/8"cuts.  

Luckily I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and little OCD.  The chef's first comment on my table was that he could see the pastry chef in me as everything was clean and in place just so and my tourney potatoes he thought were best in the class.  After review of my cuts, he said that I needed to work on making my small cuts all even, maybe cut only 2 or 3 batonnet/julienne sticks at a time to achieve a more uniform cut. However, my cuts and table were good enough for 5's across the board. Whoo hoo!  I think I got most of the herbs and spices right, maybe missed couple. I will never know how I did on that part of the test as tomorrow is the last day and they will not be graded by then.

February 14, 2013

Final written exam was today.  We started class by doing a end of session kitchen clean. Every 6 weeks, the kitchen is broken down and everything deep cleaned and organized. This took about an hour with all of us in the kitchen. Afterward we had a potluck. Everyone had brought something in for each of us to try. I made a new batch of chocolate-banana bread and brought that to class. All was dishes brought in were really good.  With full stomachs, we were then given the final exam. I was nervous about the measurement conversions but did fine with that as far as I could tell.  My fill in the blanks were not as easy but I guess we will see the end result next week when my grade is posted.