Mod 3, goodnight

Mod 3 was one of my favorite mods. Not only did we get to apply all of the technique we learned in mod 1 and 2, we were studying 3 cuisines that are each unbelievable. Unfortunately I lost the pictures from the Italian series, however Id like to share the type of food we made.

While I was working at Eataly selling fresh pasta, I was counting down till the day we began making fresh pasta at school. It seems as if I'd be sick of it, but in fact I was excited to see how I could transfer everything I had learned to a home kitchen. The machines at Eataly are the size of a standard NYC apartment, and cost a years rent. Therefore, I wanted to learn on the small machines that I could use at home.

The first day of Italian cuisine, we made ravioli and flat noodles by hand. Butternut squash and fettuccine were some of the examples. We made them using the Cuisinart, a machine I later got for graduation (thank you family!). Moving forward, each day we made a different type of fresh pasta to use in our dishes. We made dishes with fresh ragu, tomato sauce, cauliflower sauce, and a ton of other delicious dish.

We also made things such as Ribolita, Tuscan bread soup and fresh mozzarella. Making fresh mozzarella was one of the coolest things of all of culinary school. I knew 'fresh mozzarella' existed, but I never processed the fact that I could personally make it by hand. With a combination of salt, water, cheese curd, and some heavy duty gloves to allow your hands to stay in 160 degree water, you have fresh mozzarella!

Although I don't have the pictures to document it, this whole week was really special. After studying cooking in Florence, Italy, it was really exciting to revisit a lot of the same food I spent so much time cooking and eating throughout Italy. Although I have always loved to cook, it was that semester in Florence that really sparked my passion for food. Although I took some time to get into the culinary career, it was obvious at this point that cooking was something I wanted to do forever.

Noodles, dumplings, sushi!

The name of this post just makes my mouth water! Talk about culinary school nostalgia..

First off we had noodle day. One of my favorite things in the world is asian style noodles-any which way.

Pad Thai-I requested to make this dish. It is one of the most time consuming dishes to make because there are so many different ingredients, but it was really fun making it. We got to use a large wok to cook everything, giving it an even more authentic feel. The interesting thing we learned about pad thai, and which Ive realized through eating around NYC, is that no 2 pad thai dishes taste the same. While I made one recipe of pad thai, another student made the same recipe but we were told to sample each and see how different they may be, regardless of same ingredients. Indeed it was true-and both were amazing.

 Pan Fried Chinese Egg Noodles with Beef and Broccoli

 Vietnamese Rice Boodle Bun Salad with Beef. This was kind of like a bulgogi meets salad, win win.

Dumpling day was so much fun, and a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the previous week. After making the fillings for each dumpling, we all worked on shaping them. This was oddly therapeutic as we were all standing still and wrapping up the dumplings in fun shapes. Standing still is not something you hear often in any kitchen, especially when 6 people are making the entire menu so it was a nice break.

Pork and Vegetable Shao Mai

 Shrimp Summer Rolls

 Shrimp Shao Mai with Cilantro Chile Dipping Sauce

 Chinese Pork Potstickers

 'Better than Zen Spring Rolls'-truth in the name.

 Mu Shu Chicken with Peking Pancakes-This was so fun to make, especially since we got to make our own pancakes!

 Sushi Day!!!
We learned a lot about the history and importance of sushi in Japanese culture. In order to be a sushi chef, you need to train for something like 10 years! Our chef helped us by demonstrating a bunch of times and then allowing us to practice until we ran out of ingredients. We prepared vegetables, sliced fresh fish, made spicy mayo, and cooked some duck teriyaki (wow) as our ingredients to choose from. Then we were each given a mat and a bowl of rice, and a lot of room to play. This was such a fun class, allowing each of us to make exactly the type of sushi we like, and getting the repetitive practice. As you can see below we made enough sushi for, Id say 20 people. It was great timing because my mom was coming in to meet me that afternoon. We had a 'free' (minus tuition) sushi lunch!

India

Although Indian cuisine isn't my favorite, it was really fun getting to learn about all of their spices and techniques. We used an enormous amount of spices this day, some of which I have never used. We also made a lot of spice combinations, formally known as Masala.  For example, a masala known to southern india contains: coriander seed, poppy seed, black peppercorns, cumin seed, turmeric, fennel seed, fenugreek seed, caraway seed, black mustard seed, cinnamon, clove, and cayenne. Talk about a lot of flavor. This entire series of recipes began with making different curries, masalas, and other blends of ingredients that are the base to many indian dishes. 

Moti Matal Shrimp-this uses a traditional ingredient called Chaunk. To get chaunk, you brown onions with ghee (Indian version of clarified butter), ginger, garlic, and chiles. 

Coconut Jasmine Pullao, a type of rice.

Red Chicken Coconut Curry

Thai Green Vegetable coconut curry

                                       

Naan-Indian Flat bread. We made a ton of different chutneys as well. Usually the bread acts as a mode of transport for the dip, however both the chutneys and naan were amazing.

Asia

Hello everyone! I apologize that I stopped posting on my blog. Between school, a job and an externship,  I had no time to keep up with this. Fortunately, I want to record everything that I made in school so I will be going back and writing about all of the cuisines we did in any free time I get.

During mod 3, we spent a full week covering different Asian cuisines. We studied, Thai, Chinese and its different regional cuisines, and Japanese. 

Some of my favorites are below. 

Braised tofu and turkey-this was my chef instructors favorite, and instantly became my favorite as well.  

 Steamed white rice-Lots of it.

Crisp Velvet Shrimp with Walnuts and Shitakes-velveting is a marinade using kosher salt, chinese rice wine, egg whites, and cornstarch.

Stir Fried vegetables

Peking chicken with cabbage salad

Egg drop soup

Day 50: Midi, France

Midi is known for making dishes such as duck, and casseroles. We touched upon each of these ingredients throughout this lesson. highlighted in the dishes below. 

Pommes a la Sarladaise is potatoes sliced thin on a mandoline, then layered with black truffles. This potatoes get very crispy and are a pretty dish to serve with a lot of flavor. Since I sell truffles at work I have become a bit of a white truffle snob. Therefore the black truffles don't excite me all too much (occupational hazard) any more, but at the end of the day a truffle is still an amazing treat to have. 

Pommes a la Sarladaise

The cassoulet is one of the most hearty dishes I have ever set eyes on. It is broken into 4 layers. It starts with a lamb stew, followed by soaked beams, pork loin, and lastly with duck confit. Each layer is prepared separately and then set into a large casserole dish. It is then topped off with the juices of each meat, duck fat, and breadcrumbs to make a crust on top. It is best made when it sits over night so all of the juices can get absorbed, enhancing the flavor and making the meat and beans extra tender. The final step is to bake the entire casserole in the oven to completely heat it through and lightly crisp the top. We ate ours the day after it was prepared (at 9am). It is one of the most flavorful dishes i have ever eaten, with each layer highlighting a different set of flavors. I am most intrigued as to when this dish is eaten in France. While I started this topic by saying French food isn't always heavy, this is most definitely heavy! It is also a special set of ingredients, using many expensive items. So indeed it is used for special occasion, and as a way to preserve meat in the olden days. Lucky them. 

Cassoulet

Tarte aux Blettes

This tart uses a tart and is then filled with many regional ingredients. Ingredients include swiss chard greens, gouda cheese, currants, rum, apples, and pine nuts. I was expecting the dish to be on the sweeter side but since there is so much swiss chard it was pretty bitter, making it a definite savory dish. It is a nice dish since it really expresses what the region represents in one little tart. 

Day 49: Alsace France

As I mentioned earlier, French cuisine varies region to region. They target their recipes based on availability of products in each region. 

Tarte aux Pommes de Terre 

This is a tart filled with hard boiled eggs, bacon and potatoes. It is a hearty tart that is eaten as part of a savory meal.  This was our first introduction to rolling dough so it was a really cool lesson.

Spaetzle 

We made Spaetzle paired with Sauteed Trout. Spaetzle is a fun dish to make, and my chef's favorite. It is a basic combination of ingredients such as yogurt, milk, flour and a few others, and then poured through a strainer into frying oil. The process of pouring it through the strainer allows little 'spaetzles' to form, basically making small pasta nibs. 

Chourcroute Garni

This dish is a combination of sauerkraut, sausage, every 'wurst' that exists, pork and potatoes. While reading the recipe I thought it straight up sounded gross. However, the combination of all of these meats with the sauerkraut cancelled out the pungent flavors leaving it extremely tasty. It is a really wholesome dish, and shows the german influence on certain regional french cuisine.  

Day 48: France!

Welcome to French cuisine! I have never been all that interested in French food but after cooking through its many regions I have a strong appreciation for French food. Although looked at as heavy and fattening, they focus on fresh, tasty products that are used chosen for their availability in each region. 

Cotes de Porc Normande

This dish is a pork chop topped with apples, giving it a nice balance between sweet and savory.

Souffles d' Alencon en Timbales

In english this is called a 're-inflatable cheese souffles with a mushroom duxelle'. In my language it was 'eat me' because as soon as  I took my first bite I could not stop. It is a light and fluffy soufflé topped with mushrooms and heavy cream.

Homard a l'Americaine with a Riz en Couronne

This is a lobster sauce that is placed into a ring of molded rice pilaf. While you all know I hate killing lobsters, this dish was so delicious that I am trying to look past it. The molded rice makes a really nice presentation and goes really well with the rich lobster sauce.

Salad of Duck Confit with Red Cabbage, Chestnuts, and Watercress

This dish looks simple to make, but it actually is a two day process. The key aspects of this dish are the roasted nuts, cabbage vinaigrette (which is a lot better then it sounds) and duck confit, the money maker. Duck confit needs to marinate over night in salt and herbs. It is then cooked in additional duck fat until tender. We then took the skin and made 'cracklings' which are pure pieces of crispy, heavenly fat. It is one of the most flavorful meat dishes I have ever had, but of course it is because it is fat+oil+more fat. Once all pulled together the flavorful meat tastes great on a bed of lettuce with a sweet vinaigrette and sweet nuts all mixed together. Topping it with cracklings gives it an extra crush and texture.