Watch your fingers!!! Knife Cuts

I didn't get the opportunity to blog last week...I think it was because I was too busy taking care of a sick household, studying for 2 exams, and preparing my speech. Last week we were taught the proper knife cuts for everyday and professional use. Looking over the lesson, I truly thought it was going to be easy as pie, but boy was I wrong!! It is extremely hard. I watched my Chef Instructor show us how to do each of the cuts and as soon as we were able to try on our own I froze up. I caught myself maybe caring too much...The good news is we had tostada night the other day and I was able to practice more and get more comfortable cutting the right way. All I needed to do was build my confidence and I do believe the more I practice, the better I will get.

 

Knife Cuts

Below are each of the measurements (and pronounciation) of professional knife cuts:

Cutting Sticks by 2 in.

-Batonnet (batenay) 1/4 x 1/4 x 2                - Fine Julienne 1/16 x 1/16 x 2

-Juilenne (julianne) 1/8 x 1/8 x 2                

Dice Cuts

-Brunoise (brunwa) 1/8 x 1/8 x 1/8                     -Medium Dice 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2

-Small Dice 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 (Batonnet diced)      -Large Dice 3/4 x 3/4 x 3/4

-Paysanne (pieson) 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8 (medium dice, thin)



 

Round Cuts

-Tourner (toornay) football shape-7 equal sides (stand for 7 cooking methods)

-Parisiennes (pareesions) use melon ball cutter on fruits or veggies

 

I have decided to just upload a photo of the rules we go by. Its like a hard copy of what our cuts should look like that we get to keep on hand in our knife case to measure if needed.

 

Well here are my FIRST classical knife cuts!!

Cutting Tips

• Never fully lift your knife off of your cutting board.
• Place a damp towel under your cutting board to prevent it from slipping.
• Make a 'claw' with your hand, thumb tucked back. Middle finger knuckle should stick out the furthest..use this knuckle as a guide when you are cutting.

The best news of the day is that I DID NOT cut myself. Some other students got ahead of themselves and did, so I guess I can consider myself lucky! I really hope to practice more and more and more to where cutting just comes as a second nature to me.

Quote of the Day

"Good cooks never lack good friends."



Knife Sharpening/Clarified Butter

Although today was a dreary, cold, rainy day- I knew I had my food prep class and that kept me going. We had a knife sharpening lesson from Chef Rusty and Chef Joanna taught us how to make Clarified Butter.

Knife Sharpening

"With a sharp knife, the skilled chef can accomplish a number of tasks more quickly and efficiently than any machine."

A Tri-Sharpeing Stone

You should be using two ways to sharpen your knife. The first is a Sharpening Stone, a flat brick of synthetic abrasives that is used to put an edge on a dull blade. There are various grit sizes and the most practical sets include both coarse and fine-grit stones. You do not want to be using the Sharpening Stone daily. It can damage your knives if you do so.

A Sharpening Steel

The second sharpening instrument you should have is a Steel. The Steel is a scored, slightly abrasive steel rod used to hone or straighted a blade immediately after and between sharpenings.

Tips when using a stone:

-Start from heel and go to tip each time.

-Only use Honing oil for stone before each use..Do not use water or vegetable/olive oils. Water will corrode your stone and the vegetable/olive oils will get rancid-leaving an awful rotten odor.

-You know your knife will be good and ready when it 'sings to you', you will hear a different pitch than when you started.

-Wipe blade in between stones, while holding blade AWAY from you.

-Use wrist and arm both, covering entire stone.

-Stone should be flat all the way across. If your stone is uneven you are not sharpening properly.

-A good, sharp knife should be able to cut cardboard easily.

Tips when using a steel:

-Use dominate hand to hold the knife. Opposite holds the Steel.

-Always sharpen away from you. "heel to tip"

-Hone before and after each time you use your knives.

-Takes about 6-8 times to be finished.

Clarified Butter

After a lesson on sharpening our knives (which looks alot easier than it actually is) we made Clarified Butter.

Unsalted whole butter is approximately 80% fat, 16% water and 4% milk solids. Although whole butter can be used for cooking or sauce making. sometimes a more stable and consistent product will be achieved by using butter that has had the water and mild solids removed by a process called clarification.

Since we are studying mostly classical French Cuisine, it only makes sense to know how to do this process. We broke up into groups of 2 and each group had to clarify 5lbs of butter a piece.

Procedure for Clarifying Butter:

1. Slowly warm the butter in a saucepan over low heat without boiling or agitation. Do not stir at anytime. As the butter melts, the milk solids rise to the top as a foam and the water sinks to the bottom

Photo of my Butter in the process. Note the milk rises to the top.

2. When the butter is completely melted, skim the milk solids from the top using a spoon or ladle.

3. When all the mild solids have been removed, ladle the butterfat into a clean saucepan or storage container, being careful to leave the water in the bottom of the pan.

My partner pouring our finished Clarified Butter into a storage container for future use. We will be using this butter for the remainder of the semester. If you look closely in the background to the left, you will notice another pan with the milk we skimmed off of it. Also, pour slowly and watch for the water in the bottom of the pan. DO NOT POUR THE WATER IN, IT WILL RUIN YOUR BATCH!

4. The Clarified Butter is now ready to use. Since you have removed the dairy product from the butter you can store the butter on the shelf now. For my friends that have a food storage, this is great because it has a longer life expectancy. Clarified Butter on the shelf can last up to 6 months. You can still keep for extended periods in either the freezer or refrigerator.

I am doing my best on this blog and having a ball doing it. I got permission from my Chef Instructor to take as many pictures as I would like. She is so kind and helpful!

On another note I found out of a cool thing going on in the Culinary Arts Program. We will have the opportunity to go to Chicago this Summer and get experience there. I don't know alot of the details yet, but what I was told was that the top 4 students with the best GPA's get to go to free! Man, if that's not an incentive, I don't know what is!! :D I'm thrilled and will be working hard for that!!! Hope I get to go and take pictures of everything to share here with the rest of the cooking community!! I also hope all of you have a fabulous weekend and cook something fantastic!!

Quote of the Day:

"When you become a good cook, you become a good craftsman, first. You repeat and repeat and repeat until your hands know how to move without thinking about it."

-Jacques Pepin, French Chef and Teacher

Course Schedule for Basic Food Prep

Some were wondering what I will be doing this semester..here is what I'll be doing week by week and I plan to post a blog each time after these classes for tips, recipes and experiences...

Course Schedule

Week 1: Greetings, Expectations, Syllabus Review, Tour of Facilities.

Week 2: Knife sharpening by stone, Kitchen equipment usage and cleanup demonstration, shown safety items in the kitchen, MAKE Clarified Butter.

Week 3: Knife Cuts: Batontte, Julienne, Fine Julienne, Large Dice, Medium Dice, Small Dice, Brunoise, Oblique, Paysanne, Chiffonade, Mince, Rough Chop, Tourne

Week 4: Tomato Cancasser, Mirepoix, Knife cuts

Week 5: MAKE STOCKS: Beef, Chicken, Vegetable

Week 6: MAKE SAUCES: Veloute, Bechamel, Hollandaise, Espangnole, Tomato

Week 7: Kitchen Math, Conversions

Week 8: Midterm

Week 9: MAKE SOUPS: French Onion, Potato Chowder

Week 10: Butcher and trussing chickens. MAKE Roast Chicken with Natural Gravy, Sauteed boneless breast with tomatoes and basil.

Week 11: MAKE Butternut Squash, Broccoli Almandine, Green beans with peppers baco, Carrots vichy

Week 12: MAKE POTATOES: Gratin dauphnoise, Deep fried potatoes, Potato croquettes, Mashed potatoes with oven roasted garlic.

Week 13: MAKE Rice pilaf, Fettucine alfredo

Week 14: MAKE Fish and chips, Ceviche, Baked fish with hollandaise

Week 15: Review for final.

Week 16: Final- Written exam, timed knife cuts, Hollandaise, and one of the mother sauces chosen at random.



Dishes Galore!

It has been two days since I have updated my blog...I wanted to update yesterday but my new Slimnastics class kicked my behind right into bed last night. Before that, I had my first Nutrition class, which our Professor gave us our project information that we will working on at home the rest of the semester. I purposely took Nutrition at the same time I am taking my Basic Food Prep so I can become more knowledgeable about food and its benefits while I'm exposed to it each week. I'm sure it'll work out fantastically.

Today I had my very first Food Prep class. This is the class I have once a week for about 6 hours in one day. We went over our syllabus and materials needed, as well as kitchen policies. My favorite thing I received was our course schedule which I'll type up later on for those wanting to follow me week by week.

After all those things ^^^we took a tour of the new facility! There are 2 new, state of the art 'teaching' kitchens and enough room that each student has their own workspace. There is a restaurant in the front of the building that will be open Wednesdays and Thursdays so the advanced students (I'll be in that class next semester) can practice their cooking skills for the general public. On Wednesdays, the kitchen will be serving Casual Dining and will be open to the general public. Then on Fridays, the kitchen will be serving Fine Dining for reservations only. I can post more information later as I learn it if ya'll are interested.

Now why oh why did I name this post Dishes Galore?? Well, since you asked...we are in a completely new building this year and with that comes ALL NEW DISHES.  Now imagine getting every dish you have in your kitchen, times like 100 since this is a COOKING SCHOOL, now clean them, because that's what I did for 4 hours today! Pots, bowls, silverware, trays, pans, whatever dish is made in this world, we washed it! Haha... I can't believe I survived. In the end- I know it had to be done and I was more than happy to pull my weight and most importantly, I made some new friends that I think will last all semester if not longer. I don't really mind doing dishes after all.

For those who were wanting to know what I'd actually learn in this course, here is my Student Learning outcomes, according to the syllabus (which I'm so so so so excited about!) 

1. Demonstrate skills in knife, tool and equipment handling, and operate equipment safely and correctly.
2. Demonstrate proficiency in dry and moist heat cooking methods.
3. Produce a variety of food products applying principles of food handling and preparation.
4. Implement professional standards in food production.

I have kind of figured how I would do my blog...After each week I will update it on what I learn along with any recipes I find useful. Please feel free to ask questions that you may have or add anything interesting.

Quote of the Day

"The best time to plan a book is while you're doing the dishes."

-Agatha Christie

This is inside of the advanced kitchen...more photos to follow.

1st Day of Sanitation and Safety Class

So, I've had my first day of my Sanitation and Safety class today. This class is the ServSafe Certification class and when I pass my test in this class, it will certify me for the next 6 years as a Chef in almost all 50 states. I can tell this class is going to be very by the book: rules and regulations of the kitchen-which I think will be easy to memorize it all. My Professor's name is Chef Johanna Bryant. I actually know her through Theatre Arts from back in high school so it was comforting to already know her and vice-versa. The class was full and I made a couple of friends. Its actually better than other classes I have taken before because the people in this class will more than likely be with me throughout the rest of my time in school. The Culinary Arts Program is just like the Nursing or Dental..the class you begin with (if they stay enrolled) will stay together so hopefully I will make more friends to work with and study with in the class. .

Introductions were nice and I had to fill out paperwork for the state of Texas because apparently the Culinary Program and all of the new, state of the art equipment are funded by the state so there were waivers to sign and information to give. The only thing I would do differently to better this experience is I think that the Instructors should have an orientation before each class begins to get all that paperwork filled out and since about half of the class did not know that they were required to order their uniforms and knives, maybe they'd mention that as well. With that said, they will not place our orders until the end of the week and we were told today they would come in about 2 weeks from then.. So maybe a month from now I will have my stuff.

The class was great and the first chapter is over the most important subject matter: Providing Safe Food. It included Foodborne Illnesses, Preventing Foodborne Illnesses, Key Practices for Ensuring Food Safety and The Food Safety Responsibilities of a Manager. I will be studying these later tonight.

Tomorrow is my Nutrition class and I have been wanting to get back into shape so I enrolled in a Physical Education class called Slimnastics. It is weight training, step aerobics, and basic exercising all rolled in one 3 hour class on Wednesdays. I figured with all of the cooking and tasting I will be doing, I am going to need a way to work it all off :D

Quote of the Day

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.”
- Oscar Wilde

'Twas the Night Before Culinary School...

I have always had a passion for cooking. I started cooking very young when I had to learn how to fend for myself as well as my siblings. I think I inherited that passion through 2 people in my life. First and foremost my Granny. From ever since I can remember she was always cooking when I would visit. Sweets, breads, sweets, meats, sweets, you name it--all from scratch. Secondly my Dad. My Dad was always the best at coming up with his own recipes. A little of this, a little of that and Viola!! Oddly, it always turned out delicious-no matter what he made. I think that is where my creativity came from. I hope to utilize my past and creativity of having to make something out of nothing to better and perfect my cooking skills.

I have created this Blog for a few reasons. At first I thought it'd be a great way personally to keep track of what we make, and what I learn in class, kind of like a journal. But then I thought that I could share it with the rest of the cooking community. After all, you have to eat to survive so why not enjoy what you eat. So this Blog will be for me to share my Experiences, Recipes I enjoy, Techniques I learn to become a better Chef, and for me to post pictures of my wondrous creations. How fun will it be to look back on these when I graduate? Very Fun.

I start school tomorrow. I am very anxious to learn and feel like such a nerd because I have already cracked open my Cooking Instruction Book that is required for my class. I have already ordered my uniforms and knives. Before you know it I will be in the classroom. I am following my dreams to do something I love for the rest of my life. Can you perfect perfection?? :) We will surely see..

Quote of the Day

"I don't like food that's too carefully arranged; it makes me think
that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking.
If I wanted a picture I'd buy a painting."

-Andy Rooney