Culinary Update: Fish, Shellfish, Beef, Pork and Veal

It's been a few weeks since I've posted an update on what is happening at culinary school. On the academic front it's been pretty intense. We have completed a couple of research papers and tests and tons of reading assignments that are completed at home during the week. It seems that all I do everyday is study and read and take notes. I'm learning a lot though so no complaints here!

During school we have "knife drills" each day. We work mostly with potatoes and the goal is to cut perfect squares that are exactly 1/2" X 1/2" X 1/2".  All of the squares have to be identical. No rectangles, triangles or trapezoids.  Perfect squares, quickly! We have little plastic models to compare our cut squares to. It's challenging but it's so pretty to see a bowl full of perfectly cut little squares of potatoes.  Eventually we will progress to cutting squares that are 1/4" X 1/4" X 1/4".  Quickly and perfectly.

The last 2 weeks have been jam packed with all things protein. Last weekend we worked with seafood. We learned how to correctly gut and filet a flounder, a striped bass, salmon and a mackerel. We saved the bones of the flounder and bass and added lobster and shrimp shells to make a fish stock. Later, we made a fish stew with the stock.

Dispatching a lobster video.

It's graphic.... so view at your own risk:)

We "dispatched" a lobster with the point of a knife to the head. Evidently this is the more humane way to kill a lobster, rather than dropping them into a pot of boiling water. We also cleaned shrimp, squid, clams, mussels and scallops. All of these were used to prepare the fish stew. It was so yummy that I brought a quart home for Bob's dinner.  He loved it!  I'll post a similar recipe along with preparation pictures in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

This past weekend we continued to learn about stocks. We made chicken stock and brown veal stock. We will use both of these stocks next week as we learn about the five "mother sauces" and all of their derivative sauces.  I'm very excited to learn the mysteries of sauce making!

We butchered whole chickens and ducks, and learned several alternate techniques to properly fabricate the breast, legs and other parts of these birds.  It was very interesting to learn that the proteins that we know as meat are simply the muscles of the animals, separated by the fat, connective tissue and collagen that are holding them together. These muscles are fabricated into cuts of meat by separating the layers of fat, connective tissue or collagen with the tip of you knife. Once you can see the roadmap of the layers of muscle and connective tissue and fat, it's very simple to know where to cut.

We were given large sections of beef and pork that we fabricated into their smaller marketed forms. We cut beef into prime rib, strip steaks, tenderloin, filets, and other various cuts.

We worked with a whole pork loin and cut all of the various market forms that are derived from it. We took a Boston Butt and divided it up by carefully making our way through all of the various layers of fat, silver skin and collagen. We fabricated a rack of veal and then cut the ribs into veal chops. We pounded out veal scaloppini that we will cook in a future class. We also butchered a lamb and a rabbit.

By the time we worked on the rabbits, which were very small, 2 to 3 pounds each, we completely understood the concept of layers of muscle that are divided by connective tissue and fat and bones. This knowledge will forever change the way I see meat.

Until next time,
The Garlic Rose

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Day 1 - Kitchen 1402

The first day!  It would have to be the day we "spring forward" for daylight savings time. I arrived early though and checked in, got my books and locker. I changed into my uniform and went to class. The maximum class size is 16 students but we only have 9 in our class. Five men and four women. Being in a smaller class is going to be great, I think.

The first two hours was an orientation. We received our (seriously sharp) knife kit. Then we were introduced to Chef Ted. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America and has been a chef for over 30 years at locations all over the country. He has been teaching at The Institute of Culinary Education for the past 10 years. He will be our Chef Instructor for the first two terms, which ends on June 25th.

No cooking yet:(   Today's lessons were about sanitation and food and kitchen safety. We talked about biological, chemical and physical hazards relating to the food service industry. Food borne illnesses, parasites and how to avoid them. We discussed the safe handling of food and the health laws that govern how restaurants store, handle and prepare food. Evidently the New York Restaurant Health Code is the most stringent in the country. That's good to know!

All in all it was not very exciting stuff but it's information that we need to know. Next week we'll have our first exam so I'm glad I took lots of notes. I have tons of reading homework.

Next week's lessons:

• Knife safety and skills. We'll make salsas with all of the vegetables that we chop.
• Nutrition, vegetable and herb identification.
• Cheese identification and the attributes of a variety of cheeses. I'm not a fan of cheese but I've decided that I will have an open mind about eating things that I normally won't even look at. (sweetbreads and calamari - yuck)
• We will practice our knife skills again on vegetables.
• Next - Boiling, blanching, shocking and pureeing vegetables.
• We will make a vegetable puree soup.
• We will begin culinary math.
• Vinegar, oils and cooking wines will be discussed.
• We will wash lettuces and make a simple vinaigrette
• We will cook several different types of greens.

It sounds ambitious! I can't wait:),
The Garlic Rose

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