The Point of Mis en Place

Mis en Place is the technical term for your work area while cooking. In cooking school I am marked for how well my mis en place is organized before I start preparing any dish. If I maintain a clean and orderly mis en place during my cooking process.....a better grade for me. The importance of this concept hit home , literally, last night as I was preparing for company to arrive.

I had spent the afternoon shopping for clothes with my four children. It was hot , 40° hot, and my car is not air conditioned. Nevertheless we had  experienced a successful trip, until my son,... for the first time, started to try on dress shirts by himself. Watching his bare feet twist and dance under the change room stall, as he tried to navigate the small buttons by himself, I started to panic. This was a new step of independence for him and I wanted to support him.  However I  only had a certain amount of time, because I was expecting company that evening. I had a carrot cake at home I still needed to make icing for. I started to remind myself that I had picked an easy dessert and it would not take long to finish. I have decorated so many cakes I could.... almost..... make the icing in my sleep.

So leaving the store with my son and his three new shirts, I successfully convinced myself it would be OK...."I'll be fine....I'll be fine...no problem...I can do this."

One and a half hours before company was to arrive I started to clear a work area on my counter. Bowls .....check, recipe.......check, mixer......check. I had enough time to make the cake twice over if I wanted, lots of time! I pulled the cream cheese out of the fridge and the icing sugar out from under the counter. This would be a breeze! In went the icing sugar and cream cheese and butter, .....oops I should have creamed the fats first. Ah well, I told myself confidently, if a chef in training can't handle a little recipe adjustment then I hadn't learned much! ...On went the mixer,.... so a little too much icing sugar flew out of the bowl...no problem! 

The mixer whirled, the icing looked....well......a little grainy....I applied the mixer some more.....still grainy. But heck, what could go wrong? It was icing! The easiest thing in the world to make. My daughter walked by and asked for "a finger full" of the icing. She excitedly dipped her 9 year old finger into the white mass to taste Mommy's latest yummy thing. I watched her face with confidence...ignoring my personal confusion over the graininess. Her surprised stare as she tasted the icing was followed by a polite, reassuring "It's nice mommy, really..............what is it? It isn't very sweet". 

Nice?..... What is it?.....These were not the words of someone who had just had "a finger full" of her favourite thing! I decided to taste it myself.....it was horrible! It wasn't just lacking sweetness, it tasted foul! Again I told myself........  if I was in class, I would be expected to fix the icing ......so by jove..., I was going to fix it! In went more icing sugar and vanilla,..... vanilla solves everything.

 Mixer on, I tasted it...... GROSS! I stared at the icing in amazement. I have literally made and decorated cakes for years! What the heck was wrong with it? I pulled out a second bowl and added a small scoop of the first icing to it with more sugar and vanilla. Mixer on........tasted again.......AWFUL! 

By now I was beginning to feel like I was dreaming. I stared at the white mass in my bowl in total confusion. You can't mess up icing! Icing sugar and fat, that's all you need! It has to work....there is no way it can't work! I added more sugar and vanilla and water to the bowl,.... my icing was beginning to look like play dough. On went the mixer....this time I tried it frustratedly, it had to work! There was nothing that could go wrong!...Still gross....all that sugar and still gross.....I had added almost twice as much sugar as needed and I still couldn't taste it! 

I stepped back from the counter in a stalemate. I had no idea what to do. 

Slowly I left the kitchen and walked downstairs to my husband. I sat on the stairs with my head in my hands in confused defeat. " I can't make icing....I have no idea what's happening...I feel like I going insane!" My wonderful husband stared at me as if I had two heads. I may as well have told him I had forgotten how to walk. " What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"I mean I can't make the #**$# icing," I snapped confusedly, "and I have no idea why!" I looked at him helplessly, apologized, and asked him to taste it. I think I was vainly hoping that during my absence the icing would have magically righted itself. He went into the kitchen, looked silently at the collection of bowls on the counter and the sprayed icing sugar covering everything from the coffee maker to the stove. Tasting the contents of the bowl, he looked at the partially emptied bag of icing sugar, sitting on my counter.  The bag of icing sugar from our local bulk food store. 

You know the kind.... 

....clear 

.....no markings

......the contents, identified by a tag the customer writes on and attaches themselves.......

I always lose those tags

"Is that icing sugar?" he asked

Nope, it was cornstarch..... I had been trying to make icing with corn starch and no sugar, not good. My wonderful husband went out and bought more ingredients. Everyone loved the cake, extra carrots, raisins, with a brown sugar walnut crumble on top of the icing....my kids are having it for breakfast.

This chef in training gets the point of mis en place now...

and not losing those little tags from the bulk food stores!

Cheers, 

Christine

Snow Storm in May

Pride cometh before a fall........

I fell.....oh boy... I fell

My first class in Culinary Desserts was, I thought, going to be a gentle introduction to the industrial kitchen. It would be gentle because I would be learning how to pipe icing, something I have been doing for years.

HAHAHA

My happy dream of a simple class began to dissolve on the bus when , to my horror, I realized I had forgotten all my notes and that day's recipe at home, on the dining room table. After calling my daughter to look up the phone number for the college, I tried to contact the school. My multiple attempts                 (apparently everyone at college had left their notes on the dining room table as well - joke ), were rewarded when a kind person told me I could go to the library a block away from my school and use the computers there.

These are city blocks.....big blocks.

I had not allowed time for this but, thanks to bus schedules, I did have a half hour of extra time.

So I ran......found the library......and had someone translate the workings of a PC to me ( I have a mac). I then got my notes and ran to class.

So what if everyone had nice, plastic covered notes in nice neat binders, and I had a sheet of paper and a pen. I had my nice neat binder too, ...at home,... on my nice neat dining room table. I could bounce back! With my head held high I went into class where I picked a station directly in front of the Chef, because my dad always said to sit at the front of the class........ note the hint of coming doom. Then I began to set up my equipment and measure my supplies.

This is when I realized that my new scale, was quite a bit smaller than the bowl I needed to measure my sugar in.

Seriously.....I put the bowl on my cute little digital scale...and completely lost the scale. My brain knew it was there.... but my eyes couldn't see it. It was only when I  bent down and looked under my bowl that I noticed a tiny shape peeping out under the bowl's base. My scale was barely readable in the shade under the bowl..... and I needed to read it to measure all my ingredients.

I did it...... it took me a bit longer..... but I did it. I ended up crouched under my bowl, peering and squinting like someone who has lost their keys, under the car in the dark. I had everything measured except for my icing sugar, which was half measured .....catch the next hint of coming doom, when Chef called us up to the front for the demo to explain the class.

When I got back from the table to finish measuring my sugar I noticed someone had bumped my bowl off the scale. This meant I would have to remeasure and sift two and a half kilos of icing sugar again......and I only had one large bowl.

 This is when it gets painful, feel free to look away if you don't wish to see the next part.....

Because of the sifter's large size and the smaller bowls I was now forced to use, the icing sugar went into the bowls.....and onto the counter...and onto our notes......and onto our tools....and onto the floor.

We ended up with five small bowls on our table and two large bowls....... I think at this point we were trying to find comfort in large numbers. The sifter was designed for the large bowl, because no one would try to sift 2.5 kilos into 5 small bowls, .....except us! We had a snow storm in May at our station.

Did I mention we get marked on our organizational abilities and neatness of our work area? Don't forget I am sitting directly in front of the Chef.....

The rest of the class was uneventful. I saw, I came, I piped....she said I had a good technique....she is kind.

Next week will be better :)

Cheers,

Christine

Today Baking - and Uncomfortable Shoes

Today I start my baking course, .....I don't have the usual jitters. I have made much of what we will be making before, so I feel I am not venturing into the complete unknown.

Famous last words??

I have to wear a complete uniform for this course and safety shoes. I have tried on many pairs in two different stores.

They all hurt.

I can only say, it is a revealing characteristic about me, when my biggest concern about starting my cooking course is........how much my feet will hurt and whether I can make it 4 hours without going to the bathroom.

My family is waiting in great anticipation to see what I will bring home...........me too!

Cheers,
Christine

Baking starts tomorrow! And I added recipes...

My exam is over, phew! I past my course, double phew! Baking starts Monday! I am a little nervous about being in the industrial kitchen for the first time, but I know it will be cool,.........as in "great". Actually it will be extremely hot as the course runs through July.....and they wonder what the scots wear under their kilts..?? I wonder  what the chef's wear? Ahem...
ANYWAYS
I will need to show extreme self control as I will be bringing home an obscene amount of desserts over the next three months. Maybe I should keep a running tally of my weight....
all in favour......?
I do have a line up of friends willing to help me get rid of the deserts thankfully! I've noticed my family isn't complaining about deserts coming in regularly........ lol

Cheers,
Christine

Cheese bread worked out - sorta

Well the cheese bread worked, at least I have been told it did. It is not made with a wheat flour but with the cassava vegetable. The result is a very different textured bread, a real culinary adventure, with fresh parmesan cheese warm from the oven with a distinctive chewiness bringing forth a common reaction among many people of.....

gagging,......

 Yup I had people actually spitting it out in front of me in disgust. Not the best for my ego...although people who are familiar with the bread said I made it correctly. Not for the North American palette I guess.

Just a final exam to go then food theory is over!
Recipes to follow ( only the good ones! lol)

Christine

Gluey Cheese?

I am making Brazilian Cheese bread for class tonight. Right now it looks like glue....EEPP! I am using tapioca flour which is new for me. It isn't done yet though, here's hoping!

Christine

Crustaceans and Donuts

Yup, shellfish are it right now, lots and lots of details. I love fish and shellfish so it tends to make me hungry........ I am a little distressed to discover how many of my wonderful shellfish dishes that I love are cooked alive. EEEWW. I would love to cook lobster for my kids but they would probably disown me if they thought I murdered their dinner.

I made churros last week, that's Brazilian donuts, and dulce de leche, which is caramelized condensed milk. The kids love the donuts but I cooked the condensed milk too long and ended up with a very think, actually immovable, paste. So we just ate the donuts.

We had a lecturer visit last week and speak on coffee and tea. Very cool. I know now when I buy decaf to buy swiss water decaf. Why you ask? Because, if the label does not tell you anything, a dry cleaning chemical was used to decaffeinate the coffee. A process which manages to pass health safety,.....but still......I don't think I will buy it.

Oh I passed my midterm! 74% not the best, actually I spent a black night because I had wanted an A. I studied hard, ah well roast beef tonight!

Cheers
Christine

It Doesn't Always Work....

Yesterday I decided to repeat a culinary success I had gained last week. I had made Beurre Blanc and it had been met with rave reviews. Therefore I confidently pulled out the wine, vinegar, butter and headed for the stove.
It started well, I reduced the wine, vinegar, shallots and then added the butter..... Then my daughter got her foot stuck in the door. I mean she was half in the house and half out of the house with her foot caught in the door. I rescued her and then added the butter. Then another child managed to firmly embed a hairbrush into their sibling's head of hair. This took me a few minutes to remove. When I returned to my sauce, the gently heated liquid was at full boil and separated..... disaster.
"Never fear", I thought, "I'll just add butter!"

If you have been counting the amount of times I added butter....well you get the picture. At the end of the day my fine culinary success was creamy, yellow and just.........butter.

I handled it in a very mature manner......I sulked.

I saved it...I will use it for something I am sure!

tonight I am reading about fish and shellfish and the many ways to murder a lobster! EWWWWW!

Cheers
Christine

Great Website...Need one for Canada though!

A great way to promote locally grown foods in season.....

Check this out! I love the idea, wish it was for Canada though.....http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/farmtotable?intcid=epi_hptile1

YouTube rescued us...almost

Last night we had a lecture on rice, grains and pasta....... yes it was boring.

However our instructor took pity on us and showed us a youtube video on organic farming first.
Actually he told us our lecture was going to be dull and asked if anyone knew of a food related video we could watch first.

Sooo we learned about organic farming.

Kinda cool actually.

The alternative was to watch a video about genetically modified pigs! Look out Wilbur!

I did learn not to rinse my pasta if I am going to serve it hot with any sauce. Why?.....Because it rinses off the extra starch which causes the sauce to stick to the pasta. If you rinse your pasta the sauce all slides off, and you are left with a plate full of sauce and no pasta at the end of your meal.
This also applies to pasta salads, which is why my dressings on my pasta salads all collect at the bottom of the bowl and doesn't stick to the pasta!

Cheers,
Christine

Mid term over-no second guessing!

Last week I was hit by a nasty head cold. This week I have been studying for my midterm which was Thursday night.
By Thursday afternoon I was convinced of my serious lapse in judgement in ever going back to school.
I mean WHO in their right mind, after 20 years, willing goes back to assignments and exams?

OK me...

The midterm is over now, and besides the fact that I would like to rewrite my answer to the bonus question, I think I did OK. One could think that since I am a culinary student my family has been eating well through this time, ......HA HA HA HA HA. Frozen food and soup...I think my husband has been hungry all week.

BBQ'd steaks tonight...with Béarnaise sauce and some funky potato, we did potatoes last night.

Cheers,
Christine

Sickness and Scrambled Eggs

While my family has been hit by a lovely cold/flu combo I have been attempting to study for my midterm. I spent several hours last night reading about the properties of eggs. I now know why my hardboiled eggs have a green tinge to the edge of the yolks..........the sulfur in the egg whites react to the iron in the yolks when eggs are cooked at too high a heat or for too long. This makes iron sulfide.  Which is why we should never boil our hardboiled eggs. ....oops, who knew?

It was a race which would win. The pile a kleenex on the table or the chapter on eggs.

My red nose and throbbing head called an end to the race. A tie between them was declared at scrambled eggs.

This week's class is on potatoes. At least I am studying comfort food.....

Sniffly yours,
Christine

Brazilian Churrasco

Last night I went to the Copa Cabana. Anyone who immediately starts humming Barry Manilow's song may move to the front of the class.
For a fixed price Latin waiters came around to individual tables with 2 foot long skewers holding large pieces of meat. They would then shave off thin wafers of meat onto your plate. There was probably 15 different types of meat seasoned with everything from traditional sea salt to funky marinates. We were given a card, red on one side and blue( traditionally green) on the other. You turned the red side up if you wanted them to stop with meat, the blue side up if you wanted a break. My group from class all ate until we were in pain.  Then we enjoyed the buffet......

It was carnivore heaven,

Midterm in two weeks...

Maybe by them I'll fit back into my jeans! lol

Christine

Feijoada Experience

I did it! I made the Feijoada, pigs ears and all, and my family ate it. It helped that there was many different types of meat so everyone had several meats on their plate that they liked. My husband liked the texture of the beans in the stew. I served a salad with it which was good as the stew was quite rich in flavour.

Of course the main thought in my children's minds....where are the ears?

I do have quite a bit of leftovers....hope it freezes well.

Christine

I am going to a Brazilian restaurant this week with my study group as part of our project....BBQ Rio style should be fun....with all this eating, losing weight is a killer right now! lol

Egg Whites Look like Magic!

Wow!  I just clarified my beef stock, which by the way is being treated like liquid gold. I was distracted and let it boil,....not good, it breaks down the impurities and gives you a cloudy stock. So that's what I got... cloudy stock.
After babying this stock for two days....yes TWO, I did what every self respecting cook would do...

I moped..

THEN I remembered what Chef_________ said about clarifying stock with egg whites.
So I tried it, putting out of my mind that if I had been in class I would have failed my stock for letting it boil.

Oh wow ...sooo cool. It worked,... all the impurities coagulated with the egg protein,....I think...I need to check that.... and I have super clear stock.

Nifty...soaking beans for my Brazilian dish tomorrow.

TATA
Christine

Smells Amazing

The brown stock smells amazing! Really need a proper skimmer to get the foam off, the slotted spoon doesn't cut it at all! I am definitely making stock this way from now on!

I Found Them!

I found pig ears...oh yeah.....and all the other stuff! Tomorrow I will make beef stock by the book including roasting the bones to brown them with mirepoix and tomato products. So I will be making a brown stock not white.
I'll post the instructions for brown beef stock in the recipes section....

Then on to Fejoada!

I'm so excited!!! lol

Christine

Julia Child Rules!

My class was given a sauce tonight which, without looking at a book or our notes, we were expected to explain in detail. Wouldn't you know it, it was Beurre Blanc the sauce Meryl Streep goes on about in the movie Julie and Julia. I knew I loved that movie for a reason! Ok so I thought it was clarified butter instead of raw butter, but I still knew more than the others in my group!

Yeah Me!
and Meryl,
and of course Julia

"Oh what big ears you have!"......NOT

Cooking school with kids, ...love the school ...love the kids more. Sooo...... I still don't have the ears or the meat, I will prep the beans today. Of course, I didn't think about my children reading this blog when I posted about cooking with pig's ears yesterday. My oldest informed me that I was NOT going to serve her something with pig's ears in it. Compromise was reached when I told her I would take them out before serving the stew.

I have great kids!
But I don't think I'll inform my youngest about the ears...

Christine

Feijoada and Pigs Ears

I have to do a group project in my food theory class and my group choose Brazilian food to study. I have to admit I am enjoying the process. I love learning about new ways of cooking and trying new things. I am supposed to research a national dish and Brazilian cooking methods. So this week I am hoping to make a bean and meat stew called Feijoada. Its origins come for Brazil's slavery days where they would collect meat scraps left over and cook them with beans.  The recipes vary but all include pork, sausage, ribs, beef and of course black turtle beans. I assume these have nothing to do with turtles.

It gets interesting when they start adding things like pigs feet or pigs ears to the recipe. I don't mind trying unusual ingredients it's finding them. I will go to a butcher today and see if I can find pigs ears.

I don't know if I will buy them,..... I don't know if anyone will eat the stew if I use them.

EEEWWWWW, ok it's gross.

I also need ham hocks, hopefully they will be easier to find.

Maybe if I hide the ears no one will notice them.

Christine

Sauces

I am overloading in sauces,.......... reading, reading. Julia Child where are you when I need you?

Need to make some to figure them out!

time to watch the waist line GROWWWWW!
lol
Christine

Yesterday' Food Success

Yesterday I experimented! Yeah me! I cooked sausage in olive oil with caramelized apples which I watched so they did not burn. I also cooked potato wedges with a new spice combination of ground thyme and fresh rosemary. These also I watched so they too caramelized beautifully.

I didn't burn anything and I tried something new. I even covered the food done early so it would not lose any moisture.

yum!

Applying What I Have Been Learning

I would love to say that my few classes on food theory have resulted in tastier food at home. More adventurous cooking, more variety in my menus and more experimenting resulting in the beginning of a well honed skill.

Uh.....no

What I AM doing is watching how I am cooking with a greater degree of knowledge. Rather than cooking better, I am able to explain with a greater degree of knowledge, ( FAR from complete), why my mistakes and errors in the kitchen are happening.  I guess you could say I can explain my mess ups better. I now understand what is going on in the pot when I caramelize onions for french onion soup and why the onions partially burnt.  I know can explain in detail why my bread burnt on the bottom shelf but not on the top. I now know why there is a white film on the bottom of the pot after I cook milk.

Hopefully this knowledge translates into better food.

Hopefully.......

Off to fix my baked beans,.....( I didn't put the meat in with them, so the sweetness had little to balance with, result ....too sweet )

Cheers 

Christine

No Notes!

I forgot to mention that I had a fear of taking notes in this class. I was always bad at note taking in university. I went with my pen and paper, without a lot of optimism to the first class. I was however thrilled to find out that my dinosaurish ways of note taking are a thing of the past. Those of you familiar with today's lecturing stye are, I am sure, rolling your eyes at my ignorance of the usage power point in the classroom. All I can say is.....

Technology is great! I can download notes at my leisure from Chef ___________.

Remember this blog does refer to the author as "original retro".

Christine

whale phlegm?????

It's been a week, busy, busy reading all about Molecular Gastronomy.......that's kind of like cooking at the molecular level. I finally figured out the difference between saute and panfry . I know you are dying for me to tell you so here goes.  You jump the food in the pan when you saute with less fat at higher heat.
My first thought was " That's a good way for me to get burnt!". I don't have to do it yet, so I'll practise first, ...maybe I'll post the pictures of my burns...then again,.. that's gross,.. maybe I won't.

The weirdest spice I have heard of is ambergris. Hold your stomach for this one. It is dehydrated whale phlegm. It is comes from medieval Europe. I think I wouldn't mind if it had stayed there! I told my hubby about it last night, thinking to gross him out, I mean really shock him. No luck, apparently he was already educated in whale phlegm.

Check out my page Helpful Tips. I've learned a bunch of herb/spice combinations to cook with that sound cool. Also a way to get salt out of your dish if you have added too much!

Reading reading reading...tonight pork roast and veggies.

Ta Ta
Christine

First Class

      I had this incredible urge to giggle and clap my hands with excitement when I first arrived. It was really neat to see people walking around in chef's uniforms. However I do not need a uniform for the class, this is strangely disappointing.
     First class was great.It is all about food and ....stuff, ingredients and preparation techniques. Did you know you should peel cheery tomatoes when you put them in a salad? My prof, actually I think he in an instructor who we address as Chef _____________, is relaxed and engaging. The textbook I need for the class could double as a lethal weapon in a dark alley. It should be an interesting read even if I do need a forklift to carry it ( not to class thankfully).
    Next week the class, which is 3 hrs in length is on salt and pepper, spices and things I can't pronounce. I have to read a chapter on herbs.
    One thing I have noticed....three hours talking about food makes one HUNGRY!

Let you know about my chapter reading...maybe it will tell me why my Lovage died on the windowsill.

Grade 9 - Bare Naked Ladies - Gordon

First Class Tonight

There are days.......oh there are days.....
But then I filled my spice jars ( I love the smell) and thought about 2 blissful hours down to my class tonight.
I realize 2 hours in transit may be a nightmare to some,... but to me in means glorious isolation!

Like I said it has been a day.

I have no idea what kind of class this is, no idea at all. "They" told me not to bring a uniform, so I am not ( overly trusting?). I'll bring a notepad, pen (or should it be a pencil?)and paper. I guess the notepad counts as paper, or should I bring a binder? .......Should I bring a backpack?

I feel like a "minor niner".....

I don't have Duran Duran on my pencil case, so I will be "cool"-that's a joke ........Oh yeah, should I bring a pencil case?

At least I haven't forgotten my Snoopy lunch box!

Cheers!
Christine

I Found my Stomach

My stomach flu is over! A nursing friend told me that when people are sick to there stomach it is not called the flu but something else( I am not going to try to spell it). However I will call it the flu, it is simpler.

You know you are an addicted foodie when while struggling with a stomach ailment you attempt to read cook books to past the time! ......I couldn't handle it for more than 10 minutes at a time, at which point my stomach would flip over, but I have been fascinated with meat pies lately so I have been reading up on types of pastry and filling. It was kind of like self inflicted torture.
I had to send an email off concerning the uniform requirements for my Theory of Food course. They have told me to just show up on the first day and the instructor will tell us what they want.

I really hope this is not another administrative goof on their part, I have these dreadful thoughts of arriving for my first class the only one NOT in uniform....... Ok I am getting my first class jitters .

Grade 9 flash backs lol!

Enrolling.........

Ok, it is 11:00 pm but I said I will enrol today in this course, so here goes....

hold on while I open another window to the school ( my daughter taught me how to do that, very cool)

shoot, they need a student ID#,....... gotta get my purse and check my email ( another window opens, ...I am SO techy! lol)

Argggggghhh! I lost the window thingy! Too many windows, I don't even remember opening some of these!

Found it, whew, .....wait...... I have 15 min to pay or..what? It blows up? I get arrested?
pressure, pressure

Paid, I'm in, Theory of Food 1 here I come!

Computer technology is great, but harrowing

I still don't know if I passed the sanitation exam, but it turns out I don't need it for this course, remember I am learning how to cook, apparently I may also need to learn how to read better! lol

Now I have to buy a chef's uniform, ...tomorrow

Ta ta for now!

Next step?

I am going to call today to see if I passed my exam! I couldn't call over the holidays because they were closed. If I pass I am hoping to take Theory of Food 1 . This is a course based on soups and stocks and sauces and.....stuff.
I have wear a full chef's uniform to attend the course! Too funny!

I wonder if I will have to wear one of those top hat thingys?

I'll let you know if I passed!
Christine