Regional Cuisines of Asia - Japan

Meet Sergio. Handsome, friendly with a great sense of humor. He has a nickname for everyone in the class and is always teasing me because I move my mouth funny when I'm concentrating. I know I do it because my family teases me all the time at home. Whether or not I'm sewing or knitting, cooking or doing dishes, or working on the computer, whenever I concentrate intently or get lost in thought I do this thing with my mouth. Leave it to Serge to point it out to me - daily. Look at him - he just loves to have fun.
Lawyer turning chef, he is someone who is doing what he loves.

Anyway, Serge began by making Tori Naba Udon. He had made the noodles from scratch the night before. We were all duly impressed. After the water finally boiled his demo got underway. He put the soup together and it was wonderful. (Though we are all still digesting the noodles.)
He moved over to the deep fryer and pumped out Tokunatsu which is a deep fried pork dish.
Another hit.
















He ended with a Japanese style hamburger which was also very tasty. Hambaagu it was called. I thought he was messing with us until I came home and looked it up.

Chef stepped in to demonstrate some sushi rice and sent us all off to get everything ready for the sushi making extravaganza.
After we had all our fixings ready, he gave us a demo on hand rolling with a bamboo mat.





We were all were on our own to
create our sushi masterpieces.


Goodnight

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Thailand

I spent all weekend learning how to do a power point presentation, (thank you Matt Maxson), practicing Thai recipes and going out to Japanese restaurants for dinner.

I put together a nice Thai menu compliments of Joyce Jue, a wonderful cook, teacher and author that I have been lucky enough to take classes from over the years. I used all her recipes for my dishes and loved learning how to navigate my way through a power point program.
Some things never change. I have never liked speaking in front of a group and I still don't. After my slide show on Thailand I began the demonstration and once behind the stove I felt much better. Pictured above are the chilies I used for my dishes and below the Kaffir lime (rind only) and leaves that I used for the curry paste. Jim Traina (taster extraordinaire) bought me a kaffir lime tree for my birthday a few years back, so I had the fresh leaves and lime on hand.





I began with a Lemongrass soup, then made a glass noodle salad, Scallops in a Red Curry Sauce, and finished with Mangoes over sticky rice and coconut milk for dessert.
Whew. One presentation down and one to go!


After I finished, Chef demonstrated a Pad Thai and a Massaman Curry with Chicken.
Another feast.
I came home, went for a run, then took a long hot shower. I still smell like fish sauce.

Goodnight.

Regional Cuisines of Asia - China

Where in the world is Bethina 425? Well, let me tell you. I have been on a whirlwind world tour that I am hoping to catch you up on over this long weekend. Much has transpired this past week in the kitchen since we began our unit on regional cooking. Check in over the weekend as last week unfolds.

We began Thursday morning (5-15) with Regional Cuisines of Asia. Chef had placed all the names of the various countries that we would be focusing on in a hat. When we finished the Baking and Pastry Unit we each drew two countries. Our assignment was to research the cuisines of these countries and prepare a presentation on it along with a cooking demonstration of a menu from that region using ingredients and cooking techniques specific to that country.
We would begin with the regional cuisines of Asia, then move on to Europe and finish with the America's and Africa.
Imagine my horror when I drew Thailand and Japan. These countries fell one day apart on the schedule. Mon and Wednesday. I felt sick. Words like demo in front of the class and, PowerPoint presentation echoed in my brain. I had a week to get ready. My blog was set aside temporarily and I thought seriously about starting zannex.

This morning began our presentations. Two days of China. As I recount the presentations, I thought it woulde be a good opportunity to introduce you to my classmates.

Meet Melvin.
Chef had told Melvin back in Current Trends that he was no longer going to be allowed to cook Asian foods for his finals. It was time to step outside his comfort zone. Chef also made it clear that you drew what you drew, no switching countries with each other. Well, Lucky Melvin drew China, but I'm sure it wasn't easy going first.
He did a great job in all his mise en place, which is key to Asian cooking. He whipped together a celery salad, Hung Pao Chicken and Sichuan style prawns dish like a pro. Good job Melvin!
Chef stepped in after that and demonstrated an Egg Flower Soup then sent us off off to prepare egg rolls, more soup, and some Lo Mein.
We finished with a big banquet style lunch, inviting the baking and pastry classes to join us.
(We're no dummies - they always bring dessert!)

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 1 - The Final: Soups, Knife cuts, Soups, Stocks and Sauces

I've been in the kitchen for twelve days and now it's time to show if I can get it together and produce 1 qt. of Cream of Tomato Soup, garnished and "presented," and 1 cup of Demi-glaze and 1 cup sauce Robert (roh-bare).

Well, you know me. This would be actually be my second time around making the soup, since I made the soup Monday night and had our good friends over to critique. Thank you Trainas! I then had them back the next night (no complaints) to taste my Robert sauce, which I served with a top sirloin, roasted couliflower and some sauteed spinach). I even took out my grading sheet and made them rate everything just as I would be graded for the practical.

20 points possible for the soup
20 point for the Demi-glaze
10 pt's for the Robert Sauce

Criteria:
Temperature
Appearance
Doneness/Mouthfeel
Taste Balance
Flavor Balance
They were hard on me...told me that they were disappointed their plates were not heated.


We began today by taking our real knife competency test. I finished my parsley today going for speed instead of accuracy.
I was graded on Mise en Place, Presentation, Technique and Timing. Perfect score!

On to the soup and sauces. I right away began to reduce my stock and espagnole for my demi-glaze (and eventually Robert sauce), and while that was reducing I began my tomato soup.
We had plenty of time and I felt very calm. I started to get nervous when most people around me began to finish and take their plates into the lecture kitchen to be graded. My sauce was not nearly reduced enough and I was just straining my soup. The biggest mistake is to pay too much attention to your neighbors. I just tuned it all out and willed my stock to reduce.
It all came together. I reserved enough for a demi-glaze grade then finished off my Robert sauce- which is adding a mixture of carmalized onions with reduced wine, a little mustard and sugar. It was perfect. I strained and garnished it with a fine brunoise of cornichons.

I plated my soup in a large soup plate and garnished it with a little dollop of fresh pesto, some droplets of basil oil and two croutons. Unfortunately I bumped into someone leaving the kithcen and it messed things up a bit. Oh well, I knew it started out pretty.

Well, I did ok. My soup didn't get best in show but my sauce did ok.
Glenn's soup was the medal winner. He had a beautiful presentation. (Picture to be posted when camera is retrieved...Way to go Glenn!!!)
Tommorrow I get to start Essentials skills 11.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 1 - Puree Soups

Before we took our final exam, Chef demonstrated our last soup. Split pea.We were all soup pros by now so it looked pretty simple. While that was simmering we took our written final for this Essential Skills 101 class.If you had read the chapters in the book it would be pretty hard not to pass. It also helped that Chef had let us review the test the day before. He suggested that we do our knife skills competency test today instead of tomorrow. That way we would have the whole class time to make our cream of tomato soup and our Demi-glaze and sauce Robert for the practical. We all voted to take the knife test.We made our split pea soup in teams. We had a wonderful smoked ham stock to work with and while our soup simmered away we made these nice soup croutons. So easy. You slice a small baguette lengthwise at an angle. You ladle a bit of clarified butter on a sheet pan toss the bread over a few times to coat it, sprinkle a little kosher salt on it and pop it into the oven until it is golden. Pureeing the soup was a bit of a mess. It was reminiscent of when my kids were babies. Pureed green peas everywhere.I have to say that my partner Laurie and my soup came out beautiful. Perfect consistency and beautifully garnishedChef tasted it and said "downtown"
We also finished off our vichyssoise by putting a small dollop of a diced potato salad in leek vinaigrette on top. This was my favorite of anything we had made so far, I brought home some for Jim, (the taste tester) with a dessert from the angels. Well? Jim, are you out there? Wake up and tell me about the soup and the sponge cake.

We mise en placed for our knife drill, which was;

Produce 2 ounces of julienne carrot

1 onion-fine dice1 potato -medium dice

Two small tomatoes peeled seeded and small dice and pulp concassed.

1 potato cut into brunoiseProduce

4 T. minced and rinsed parsley.

Ready, set, go!

30 minutes later Chef yelled knives down and came around to grade us.I didn't get to my parsley. Darn.Then he said that was just for practice. See you tomorrow.

He enjoys toying with us.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 1 - Chowders and Bisques

Soups and more soups.
Moving right along, we went from broths and cream soups to chowder, bisques and pureed soups. I had to really get my "mise en place" together to get all my soups done on time today. The temperature in the kitchen was turned up a notch, and with our final just a day away you could feel the stress barometer rising. We began with our lobster bisque. I had never made one before, so I was quite surprised with the use of the lobster shells. After caramelizing the mirepoix and shells, I added the garlic, tomato, and little brandy. Then: flambé. Thank goodness the oven sprinklers were not activated! There were some major flames going on! I added some wine - reduced, added lobster veloute, and then let it simmer before I strained and finished.


On to my chowder. I cooked my potatoes for the chowder and the vichyssoise separately then began the clam chowder. (Chef always cooks his potatoes separately for this, in clam juice, so the finished chowder had perfectly cooked potatoes.) I rendered my fat, cooked up my onions and celery, made a roux then added my stock and sachet. While it was safely simmering, I then riced my potatoes for the vichyssoise, cooked them with some some crème and a little saffron "tea" (pictured at left), and cayenne. I then strained that and put it away to chill so I could finish it off the next day. Back to the chowder. I scalded some milk and cream (yes, I'm gaining weight) and added it to my base along with the clams and potatoes. I adjusted the seasonings. A little Tabasco and Worcestershire (Chef Parker Sauce) and it was done! Whew!

My review was good.

My written final for Essential Skills 101 is tomorrow. My practical knife skills test is tomorrow. I'm tired.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 1 - Broth, Consomme and Cream Soups

Soup is on!

We moved from stocks and sauces to soups today. This is a perfect fit for the cold and rainy weather we have been experiencing here in the Bay Area.

Well, to begin. We made "broth" not "stock." There is a difference. Just like a wonderful sauce has to begin with a rich stock, a good soup has to begin with a flavorful broth. Oh my gosh - I'm starting to sound like Chef Parker! (Basically, broths are cooked with meat, and stock with bones.)We started off with a cream of broccoli. After "sweating" the broccoli and vegetables, and simmering them in the Veloute sauce we made last week, we put it through a food mill then strained it through a chinois (a very fine mesh strainer). This process left us with a beautiful base. We finished it off back on the stove with a little cream.

Next, we made a hearty vegetable beef soup. This was good practice, since all our vegetables had to be a 1/4 inch dice, which will be part of the final on Thursday. While that was simmering away, I started my consommé. This was a little tricky. You whisk up some egg whites and add some finely minced meat, carrots, onions, celery and tomato concasse. You cook this with your stock, an onion brulé, which is half an onion seared, cut-side down, in a sauté pan until it is carmalized a nice brown (a great trick to add flavor and color to any dish), as well as a sachet with some herbs and spices. As soon as this starts to boil, you leave it alone and turn it to simmer. As it simmers all the particles in your stock adhere to this egg white mixture and a "raft is formed”. Once it is formed you just simmer it for a bit to increase the flavor. Don't mess with the raft! Under this mess lies the beautifully clear consommé. When it was done, I carefully ladled it out and strained it through a coffee filter. All this and I had under 2 cups! It was wonderful. (Chef calls it Texas Tea.)

We had to garnish our soups and present them to Chef. He tasted and critiqued. It was fun to plate them and add our own personal touch. I blanched a couple of broccoli florets for my cream of broccoli soup and for my consommé I sprinkled it with a fine brunoise of carrots and celery that I cooked with my florets.
I got another nod.

Tomorrow: chowder and bisque.

Goodnight.