CUCINA OSPIZIO

There's nothing like home-cooking in your mother's kitchen. I can remember watching my mother cook with fascination ever since I was old enough to peer over the side of the oven. My initial curiousities were spawned by soft-boiled eggs, pastina, tapioca pudding and chocolate-chip cookies and "helping" by stirring the spaghetti helped put me on the path I'm on today. It's been the feasts Mom cooks for family events that have taught me the satisfaction of making others happy with homemade food, something I did for buddies and girlfriends throughout college and since, often experimenting with sometimes varied results. Until I started culinary school, those family feasts had also skewed my portion sense; I'd always cook at least double the amount of food needed for dinner. When you're cooking for a bunch of guys it works; if not, freezer-food.

But the picture of the kitchen above isn't physically the same kitchen I grew up with. It's the same area of the house but expanded and redecorated with a six burner stove and an island with a lot of counter space, something I can only dream of while cutting away on my square foot counter space in Greenpoint.

I served the Potage Cultivatuer with toasted French baguette and grated gruyere per the school recipe to begin the meal. Mom's main course? Stuffed peppers, potatoes and carrots (grandmother's recipe with Mom's secret ingredients added). I served my "Reconstructed Carrot Cake," for dessert but the peppers were the highlights-- recipe after the jump.

STUFFED PEPPERS RECIPE

- 1 Package of Ground Pork
- 1 Package of Ground Beef
- Italian Rice
- 2 Eggs
- Locatelli Romano, grated
- Onion Soup Mix
- 1/4 cup Ketchup
- 5 Green peppers
- Bread crumbs
- Grandma's Homemade Tomato Sauce (made with garden-grown tomatoes), frozen

1) Cook Italian rice, 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water,
2) Mix the ground meats together then add the eggs, cooked rice and the grated Romano. Add a pinch of salt and season to taste with pepper, onion and garlic powders. Add secret ingredients: 1/2 packet of onion soup mix and 1/4 cup of ketchup. Mix well.
3) Cut tops off peppers but keep intact. Remove pepper pitch and stuff with seasoned meat and rice mixture. Sprinkle tops with bread crumbs.
4) Ladle tomato sauce along bottom of casserole dish, place stuffed peppers in casserole. Ladle remaining tomato sauce into dish around peppers. Cover with tented foil so that no sauce touches foil (the tomato acid reacts with the foil if they touch).
5) Cook in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
6) Remove from oven, slice peppers in half and drape with tomato gravy from casserole.

FULL POST...

BAGEL ME

Besides sleeping late, Saturday means one thing: bagels.

I'm lucky enough to live a quarter of a block from Syrena, the Polish bakery in Greenpoint on Norman Avenue. During the latter parts of summer evenings the smell of fresh baked bread fills the block (on the other side of the BQE near the Lorimer stop on the L, near the headquarters and bottling building belonging to Manhattan Special, the coffee soda brewing company, the smell of brewed coffee can lead you by the nose to the source as well).

But depending on the way the wind blows, I really only love the idea of Syrena. The problem is that a few blocks behind the bakery is a water purification plant. On late, hot summer nights there are two distinctly unpleasant situations possible: 1) there is no breeze and the odor from the purification plant plops down on top of the baked bread smell. The result? Poop-bread. The best thing you can do in this case is run for the air conditioning. 2) a breeze is blowing but it's wafting the smell towards Norman Avenue and once again, poop-bread. Very unfortunate.

But you really don't go to Syrena for bagels anyway. The breads are good, their pastries sweet as the Polish girls behind the counter but their bagels? They just don't measure up. For Saturday bagels, it's time for a drive past the park to Bagelsmith on Bedford a few steps from the Bedford Avenue L stop.

The folks behind the counter at Bagelsmith can be a little gruff but that's because they're usually dealing with a Saturday morning rush. Why are their fresh bagels so good? The crust is slightly crisp but soft and the inside has a moist easy give to it's chew. It's all about the chew and the tear. Your teeth should only have to pull a little to tear the bite away. You shouldn't have to turn your head in the least to make the break. Their cream cheese is also good. It's a whipped cream cheese that's a little airy like Temptee cream cheese (my favorite).

They also have different flavors of cream cheese but when it comes to my Saturday bagels I don't mess around with Blueberries, olives or veggies. I've had my affairs with sliced onion and tomatoes as well-- no more. I want large slathers of cream cheese spread thick on my bagel havles topped by some thinly slice Nova (lox or smoked salmon).

On most outings I get a half dozen bagels, a pound of cream cheese and a ¼ pound of Nova. This time I ordered a cup of coffee for the drive past McCarren park on the way home and spent a total of $14.98.

A short glass of orange juice to finish off your bagels and you're ready to face whatever the world can throw you on a Saturday (especially if you're so full you just fall asleep watching baseball on the couch.

FULL POST...

YOU HAVE TO BREAK A FEW EGGS...

Tonight we have a knife skills test. We're meant to know the names of the different cuts for potatoes and vegetables and be able to do them, correctly and quickly. I'm not sure how the chef will both individually assess us and have us all do two dishes but that's the plan. Apropos to the knife skills test, our two Garde Manger dishes focus on taillage: Oeuf Poche Sur Macedoine De Legumes en Sauce Hollandaise, a Poached Egg on Macedoine-cut Vegetables under Hollandaise, and the Potage Cultivateur, a Farmer's Vegetable Soup.

EGG UPDATE

We switched teams today within our group of four and my teammate and I began with the Potage Cultivateur.

DISH: Potage Cultivateur, a Farmer's Vegetable Soup

DUE: 8:00 p.m. SERVED: 8:00 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: Paysanne (thin square cuts) carrots and turnips were tossed with leeks and celery (¼'d) which had been emincee (very finely sliced), and added to sweated, julienned bacon. Ten minutes later we added a liter of water, then the chiffonade (thin cut, hairlike) cabbage and cooked 3-4 minutes at which point we added paysanne potatoes and seasoned the soup with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, we cooked peas and diced string beans a l'anglaise and set them aside. We cut the baguette on the bias and waited til directly before serving to grate the gruyere cheese and made sure before serving the soup in the bowls on doily-covered plates that both the bowls and the plates were very hot.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: The cabbage should have been added immediately after the water and the potatoes 3-4 minutes after that. The bread should not be cut on the bias which makes the pieces too long and makes it difficult to place three pieces in the bowl at the same time without overlap. There was some lag-time between plating and when the chef actually tasted our food so the plates and bowls had cooled a little. We knew we'd hear about it and we did. I'm not sure what else we could have done to keep the plates hot beyond scalding the soup when we put it in the bowl. Perhaps we could have done that as this was a clear broth. The end result was that the chef went beyond tasting the soup to finishing the whole bowl!

DISH: Oeuf Poche Sur Macedoine De Legumes en Sauce Hollandaise, a Poached Egg on Macedoine-cut Vegetables under Hollandaise

DUE: 9:45 p.m. SERVED: 9:45 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: The eggs are poached in a large, shallow pot of water with a little vinegar heated just to a point before a boil. The water is swirled around and the eggs dropped into the middle of the gently whirlpool. Haricots verts (greenbeans), turnips, and carrots were all cut macedoine, and cooked a l'anglaise, as were some green peas. Tomatoes were emondee and sliced thinly for garnish. Before service, the macedoine vegetables were packed lighlty into a shallow pastry ring on which the poached egg was placed, napped completely with a hollandaise sauce atop which the sliced tomatoes were laid. I had opted to do the Hollandaise sauce but as the plate-time neared I had two failed hollandaise sauces, a half recipe and a full recipe and I asked my partner to take over the sauce, fearing I would strike out.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: The hollandaise was seasoned well but needed more butter-- it was too frothy. Perhaps it could have used a bit more lemon juice. The green beans needed to be cooked longer, they were too al dente for the chef.

OVERALL: We finished early, my teammate and I worked well together and she totally came through in the clutch with the hollandaise after my two failed attempts. I think the problem was simply that I needed to continue to beat the yolks and the bit of water until they were a sabayon (fully frothed) before adding the clarified butter. I'll have to do battle with it at home. When the chef eats your whole bowl of soup and a few other students line up for a serving, you feel pretty good.

EVALUATION: At 9:15 p.m. the chef began calling us over individually to give us our evaluations.

Score: 89/100

When I asked what specifically I could do to improve, to focus on cooking skills and technique. Pretty vague. 'Practice makes perfect,' I suppose.

KNIFE SKILLS

Potato cuts: Fondante, chateau, vapeur, cocotte and gousse d'ail.
Potato taillage: Cheveux, pailles, allumettes, mignonettes, frites, pont neuf.
Legume taillage: Jullienne and jardiniere (cut short to yield brunoise and macedoine)

The test started at about 10:15 p.m. We were told to take one potato and one carrot, to keep all trimmings and to get as many cocottes from the potatoes and as many julienne from the carrots as possible.

Everyone around me started with the carrots but I began with the potatoes. I was able to get seven cocottes. The first few cocottes were pretty perfect but I started to rush toward the end becuase everyone seemed to be finished with their carrots which I then had to rush through. Unfortunately, I was the last one to finish by a few minutes. The chef said I needed work on the julienne but that the yield was good on both and that the potatoes if a little more consistent in size would have been perfect.

Score:
Potatoes: 7/10 for style,7/10 for yield and 7/10 for xx.
Carrots: 7/10 for style, 7/10 for yield and 7/10 for xx.

FULL POST...

SALAD DAYS

Wednesday night was our second evening in Garde Manger. My teammate returned to class and our two dishes were Assiete De Crudités, a Plate of Cut Raw Vegetables, and Salade Niçoise, a Salad of Tomatoes, Anchovies, Black Olives, Green Beans, Green Peppers, Tuna, Potatoes, and Hard-boiled egg. The Assiette is a salad of separately dressed, julienned vegetables with different dressings. Little was going on at work and I was able to attend class early. Because these dishes consist mostly of careful taillage (cutting) and there is little actual cooking there was actually a lot of down time after weighing out our ingredients. We began with the Assiette De Crudités.

DISH: Assiete De Crudités, Plate of Cut Raw Vegetables

DUE: 8:00 p.m. SERVED: 8:00 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: The cabbage and the mushrooms must marinate (separately) in vinegar-- the mushrooms with hache tarragon and oil (to soften and flavors them). Both must be sliced very thinly, especially the cabbage, which should be threadlike. We marinated the carrots in the citronette dressing (lemon juice added to the vinaigrette) and degorged (sprinkled with salt and put in a sieve or colander to drain) the tomatoes. Chopped parsley was sprinkled atop the carrots and chopped chives atop the tomatoes. There is fresh, chopped mint tossed with the cucumbers and the creme fraiche. If cut celery root is to sit for any length of time it should be swiped with lemon juice to prevent browing. It's important not to overplate; only a few small bites of each item and twirled into small mounds, placed neatly on the plate (a towel under the salad on its way from the bowl it's sitting in until the last second will prevent unwanted drips).

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: Good job, mostly. The cabbage was slightly acidic but he liked it that way. The cuts were good. Both the cucumbers and the tomatoes were a little salty.

DISH: Salade Niçoise, a Salad of Tomatoes, Anchovies, Black Olives, Green Beans, Green Peppers, Tuna, Potatoes, and Hard-boiled egg.

DUE: 8:00 p.m. SERVED: 8:00 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: The potatoes are meant to be served warm so they should be timed to be peeled and dressed only right before plating. The eggs should be drizzled with dressing on the plate; the olives, pitted; the green beans cooked a l'anglaise; the green peppers peeled and bouquetiere; and the anchovy twirled around slightly atop the tuna. Remember, plate as if this is a tasting menu, not too full!

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: The eggs should be cut so that the yolks are kept intact, the potatoes needed a little more dressing and seasoning (starches really can't hide a lack of seasoning), the green beans should not be on the outside rim of the plate.

OVERALL: My teammate and I worked well together. The most important things that came out of tonight were remembering to use special towels set aside soley to clean drip marks on plates and tasting everything before service. Things should be lightly salted with the seasoning gradually increased.

Tonight we received our long-awaited wine books. Tastings to begin next week!

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LIFE REALLY IS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL...

I'm enrolled at the French Culinary Institute (FCI) in a 10-month program called Classic Culinary Arts 1. It's a 600 hour program, three nights a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. The school has a restaurant called L'Ecole (French for 'the school') where eventually, higher-level students cook quality, reasonably-priced prix-fixe meals for the public.

The 10 month program is broken down into 4 different levels. Here's how the FCI website describes them:

Level I, Basic Techniques of Cooking
From the very first day of your culinary education, you will be cooking - in chef's uniform - learning, hands on, the fundamental skills and techniques required for great cuisine. You'll be doing knifework; learning to work in a brigade (team) to accomplish complex tasks quickly; studying and preparing various cuts of meat, fowl, seafood and vegetables; making stocks and sauces; understanding seasoning; creating five classic pâtes; three classic appareils; and five classic crèmes. You'll also learn all about food storage, and a level of organization and cleanliness that will be welcomed in any commercial kitchen, anywhere.

Level 2, Intermediate
Now, with the basic skills in place, you'll use them until they are second nature, as you begin cooking for others-the chef's meal. Every day, you'll be cooking from one of the five departments of the kitchen: garde-manger, fish, meat, pastry, or staff meal. Teamwork becomes all-important; you discover how to work with creativity, efficiency and elegance in meeting daily deadlines. Responding to your Chef-Instructor or Chef de Partie. You learn the elements of menu planning and presentation, pairing tastes and colors, raw and cooked foods. Here, too, you start to recognize the details that set the standard and execute them carefully and consistently.

Level 3 & 4, Advanced Restaurant Service
Level 3 is where mastery begins for all students in L'Ecole's kitchen setting, as you rotate through the garde-manger (appetizers, salads, and other cold dishes) , poissonier (fish), saucier (sauces and some meat dishes involving sauce), and patissier (pastry) stations, and also work in entremetier (dishes accompanying the main dish). Speed, accuracy, consistency, and teamwork become paramount.

As your taste and eye become more developed, you will learn to prepare a special daily restaurant menu. With the creation of your new dish, you'll be responsible for preparing a chronology sheet, recipe ingredients, cooking procedures, and plating requirements. Ultimately, at Level IV, you will be working as Chef de Partie, and part of the team assuming responsibility for the daily menu at L'Ecole.

You'll not only prepare foods using all the cooking methods you've learned, you'll learn to adapt these classic techniques to create contemporary dishes. Adaptability, flexibility, and grace under fire will count as much as mastery of cooking. Ultimately, you'll plan and complete a creative project that will allow you to express all your individuality and mastery and set the tone for your career. You'll be amazed at what you can do. Creatively. Efficiently. And well. Upon graduation, you'll be ready to work competently in the finest commercial kitchens.

The disadvantage of the program I've chosen is that I won't get the intensive instruction on bread-making. I'm going to have to do something to compensate for that. I'm also considering taking some wine classes outside of school once I've graduated.

In Level 1 we were in a kitchen on the second floor (left), removed from the restaurant kitchen. Each class-night we would go downstairs to the Level 2 kitchen (where I am currently) to get the dinner prepared by students for students, instructors and dishwashers alike. The Level 2 kitchen is attached to the school's restaurant kitchen but still separate. We can see the Level 3 & 4 kitchen area and we interact with the students in those levels but in a way, it really is like high school all over again. We're still sophomores who haven't passed the midterm which allows us to cook for the restaurant kitchen and some of the upper level students haven't been shy about showing us their general disapproval. Hopefully that will change once we move into the Level 3 kitchens.

FULL POST...

SOUS LA TABLE...

Tabla, 11 Madison Avenue, (212)889-0667, Lunch: M-F, 12pm-2pm, Dinner: M-Sat., 5:30pm-10:30pm, Sun. 5:30pm-10pm. Bread bar: M-Sat., 12pm-11pm, Sun. 5:30pm-10:30pm.

It's not that I've got a thing for Danny Meyer, I swear. An Indian classmate was interested in going and Tabla was in my peripheral dining psyche as an upscale Indian restaurant. I love any Dehli Daba and knew I needed to check out. I dutifully printed out all the reviews I could find to read on the subway on my way after work on a rare Friday without class. Ruth Reichl noted, "The flavors are so powerful, original and unexpected that they evoke intense emotions. Those who do not like Tabla tend to dislike it with a passion."

I was ready for something that would challenge me. At the least I was ready for something revelatory.

The decor is lavish, not Vegas lavish but dark cave, hammered gold plate lavish. Downstairs, the bread-bar (left, outside seating) was full of people, the small tables full but we'd reserved the upstairs dining room where I started with the cocktail menu, a Kachumber Kooler ($12), billed as Tanqueray Ten Gin, green chillies, and cucumber and cilantro. Crisp, cool, with a little bite, it was a promising beginning to the evening. The menu is a three-course prix fixe consisting of an appetizer, a main Course and dessert ($64).

We started with some tasty papadum which was brought to the table with cocktails. A great beginning, salty, crisp papadum which doesn't fill you up until the sides arrive. Our sides, onion rings with chickpea flour batter, cornmeal and aleppo pepper ($9) and cheese kulcha naan stuffed with cheddar cheese and peppers ($9) came fairly quickly, brought by our waitress who was accomodating but too-friendly to the point of becoming a table-topic. The onion rings were a disappointment, greasy and only slightly covered with batter. It was time for another cocktail, the Masala Mary ($12), billed as "Smokey Indian Tomato Juice Blended with Ketel One and Chef’s own Pickled Onions." Not as good as the Kachumber Kooler but it certainly helped the onion rings go down. The cheese kulcha, however, was even more disappointing than the onion rings-- depressing, more like naan stuffed with velveeta. It seemed like the only way to go forward was to go back to what worked, a cocktail, the Kachumber Kooler to accompany the "Crab Cake Papadum, Avocado Salad and Tamarind Chutney," and "Spiced Dal Samosa Salad of Artichokes, Wild Watercress and Lime." Both of these dishes were more rewarding, the crab cake moreso, but crab cake with chutney, this is inventive?

Next up, the "Rawa Crisped Skate 'Grenobloise' Oregon Morels, Baby Spinach, Kokum & Lime," and the "Aged Strip Loin of Beef & Braised Brisket Greenmarket Fingerling Potatoes and Braised Kale." The skate was unimpressive but the beef strip loin was redeeming but in only in a way that properly-prepared steak makes a steak-eater happy, no more. Where was the visionary Indian fusion? A juicy steak and skate with kokum and lime is meant to be great food, Indian, haute cuisine?

Dessert was the "Chocolate Trio: Souffle Cake, Milk Chocolate Cinnamon Tart, Spiced Chocolate Ice Cream," ($12) and "Tahitian Vanilla Bean Kulfi: Blood Oranges, Rosemary-Rosewater Syrup and Pistachio Tuile" ($15). Both desserts were serviceable and there was some salt to the chocolate dessert which gave it the lead but it was not extraordinary and we didn't finish either dessert.

Perhaps it's not fair to Executive Chef Floyd Cardoz and if not, blame the New York Times. The review set my expectations too high. Perhaps my love for Indian food excited me about the potential for haute cuisine, Indian-style to an unreasonable point. Either way, I was truly surprised by how banal the food was. The cheese naan kulcha failed but at least it was trying. I'd rather see some playfulness with raita, versions of palak paneer, butter chicken and aloo gobi. The other surprise? The check. True we drank about 5 cocktails at $12 a pop but still, the total did not match up with what we were served.

There were other things on the menu more enticing which I'm curious about: "Tapioca Crusted Soft Shell Crabs Spring Onions, Spring Garlic & Roasted Chillie-Crab Curry;" and from the $79 tasting menus, "Vermont Spring Baby Lamb Asparagus, Fava Beans & Caramelized Onion-Coconut Jus;" the "Passion Fruit-Carrot Cake Kumquat Marmalade, Spiced Caramel Ice Cream & Passion Fruit Caramel;" the "Roasted Langoustine & Lobster Baby Carrots, Turnips & Leeks, Maple-Tamarind Jus;" and the horseradish humuus-- but none so intriguing as to compel my return. I suppose I'd go back to try the bread bar but I'd prepare my wallet for the number of Kachumber Koolers I'd be plying myself with.

We walked up to Herald Square, still hungry and visited a Korean bar and lounge where one of our friends from class worked. We left there full and much much happier.

TOTAL SPENT: TK

20 WORDS AND UNDER: It's probably unfair to read old reviews. The bread bar is my only uncompelling temptation to return.

FULL POST...

GARDE MANGER

We've about reached the midpoint of Level 2. Tonight is the first night of our new teams. We will be repeating the stations we've done so far once through. My team's the first station is Garde Manger. We'll be doing a Potage Julienne D'Arblay, a Potato Leek Soup, and a Consomme Printanier, a Beef Consomme with Garnish of Spring Vegetables.

Last time I did these two dishes there were some hiccups. We strained the blended potato leek soup through the chinois and returned it to the stove to simmer with some cream. But both my partner and I thought each other was watching it. She left the room to saute croutons in clarified butter (because the 6 burners in pastry/garde manger were being used by seven other students) and I was cutting vegetables a julienne, the result? Burnt soup. LESSON? #1 Be paranoid. #2 If the soup burns, even a little, it's toast. Start over. People can taste every mistake, especially chefs, even just mildly caramelizing the shallots in the first 2 minutes of a 2 hour dish.

We started over, in silence, blaming each other. I was frustrated. I felt I was doing most of the mise en place. I also stewed over my teammate called me "Mr. Impulsive," for salting the pre-burnt, insufficiently seasoned soup. I'd watched several times before when things were underseasoned because I didn't take a stand. I childlishly didn't jump-to the second time round. When we served the new soup and the chef asked if we'd tasted it (you should obviously never forget) I responded less than tactfully, "No, the last time I seasoned something I got in trouble."

Drama in the kitchen. There were some heated words between my teammate and I outside. We smoothed things over but things just haven't been the same.

I was looking forward to being on a new team and taking another crack at this dish but my new partner was absent. The other two students arrived early and teamed up. I was on my own. This isn't necessarily a bad experience. You're disadvantaged because you only have two hands but those hands are both yours. If you move fast and think things through, you can work just as well as two people.

MONDAY GARDE MANGER UPDATE

DISH: Potage Julienne D'Arblay, a Potato Leek Soup

DUE: 8:30 p.m. SERVED: 8:00 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: The leeks and onions should be emincer (thinly sliced), sweat in some butter, to which water, potatoes (also emincee) and salt are added til the potatoes are tender. The mixture should be blended for a full minute, strained through a chinois, simmered over heat with some cream added to taste. Served with julienned vegetables cooked a l'anglaise (salted water), croutons and a sprig of chervil for garnish. I watched the other team struggle with their consomme raft anticipating my own difficulties with. I felt happy that I had the "easier" D'Arblay first and worried at the same time that I wouldn't have enough time to finish the consomme. As a result, I took two gambles: 1) finishing the D'Arblay early; 2) trying to make the D'Arblay superbly to get away with #1. In my mind straining the soup twice would accomplish this with a silky texture.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: TIf the dish is due at 8:30 p.m. serve it at 8:30pm. Keep it on the side and reheat it for service. You have to learn to serve the food at the time it is meant to be served. The soup was too thin. The flavoring was good but the soup was too thin. There was no body.

DISH: Consomme Printanier, a Beef Consomme with Garnish of Spring Vegetables.

DUE: 10:00 p.m. SERVED: 10:01 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: Three liters of marmite is reduced to 2L, then cooled. Ground beef is tossed with julienned carrots, leeks, celery, chopped tomatoes and egg whites, then the stock is added and the whole mix is simmered on the stove. While the mix cooks you have to stir it with a wooden spoon for about 15 minutes until the solids form a 'raft' (a solid mass on the top), clarifiying the broth. Five minutes of stirring this unappetizing mass seems like 20. The mix is then strained through cheesecloth and a chinois. Having watched the other teams' consomme not clarify (most likely because we were forced to start with a stock with more fat than the marmite we were supposed to have because the kitchen was all out), I took care that the raft formed. Then before ladling out the consomme I set up a double-chinois with the cheesecloth. I placed a sieve in the pot of consomme, pressing down the raft with the sieve slightly straining the broth once in the pot, ladling it out within the sieve and then through the double-chinois with cheesecloth. After a first straining I used new cheesecloth and did the strain again through the double-chinois.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: More seasoning. You used the same stock, no? I wonder what happened different, it's clear. When I asked isn't that a good thing I got a yes.

OVERALL: Going solo on these two soups and finishing early with the D'Arblay and getting a clear, degreased consomme, it was one of my more successful nights in Level 2.

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BIG RED BOX AND OUR FIRST RECIPE BOOK

I've shown you our chef's whites, standard-issue knife set and the tools I've supplemented them with using my student discounts at Broadway Panhandler and Sur La Table. We were also given a Level One textbook with recipes and a red toolbox with some larger tools.

There's a hole on the box and the lid where they meet for a combination or key lock along with the two clasps which keep the toolbox closed. There's a drawer for smaller items that sits at the top of the box on some tabs along the inside.

Below the drawer is the deeper part of the box where you can keep other tools of the trade too big for the top or not flat enough for the knife case. Some of these tools are used more often than others.

At right from left to right, twine, ruler, measuring glass, lemon squeezer, measuring cup, diamond-stone knife sharpener, blind-baking beans, ramekin, pastry-scraper, tac, permanent & dry-erase markers, black & white pepper mills, strainer, scale.

In the image to the right, again from left to right: sauce/soup ladle, balloon whisk, flat straining ladle, plastic pastry-scraper, small whisk, large measuring cup, pepper mill (black pepper, same mill as shown above). I've tried to distinguish my tools from other those belonging to other students with two bands of red tape and sometimes writing my name on them with permanent black marker.

Our Level One book begins with general rules of hygiene, then methods of cooking vegetables and ranges to trussing chickens, cooking lamb, crepes, shellfish and mousses. I can't take you back to January 4th, and our first day of class but you can see how the classes proceeded below through the my abbreviations of what how each chapter breaks down:

Session 1: General Rules of Hygiene
Session 2: Tournage, Potatoes & Artichokes
Session 3: Stocks (fonds) & Emulsified Sauces
Session 4: Liasons, Roux, Glazes
Session 5: Preservation, Beans, Peas, Legumes & Dried Fish
Session 6: Eggs & Omelets
Session 7: Doughs & Batters, Pâte a Choux, Crème Pâtissière
Session 8: Pâte Brisée/Pâte Sucrée, Rolling out Dough & Baking
Session 9: The Potato, Deep Frying, Pommes Purées, Taillage
Session 10: Poultry, Trussing, Quartering, Roasting & Sautéing
Session 11: Methods of Cooking Meat, Beef and Veal
Session 12: Cooking in a Mixte, Lamb and Mutton
Session 13: Poêle Method, Pork, Breaded & Sauteed Meats
Session 14: Pâte Feuilletée, Creams & Custards
Session 15: Pot au Feu, Sauce Raifort, Bande de Tarte aux Fruits
Session 16: Soups, Consommes, Clarification, Purées & Bisques
Session 17: Salads, Cooking Vegetables for Salads & À La Grecque
Session 18: Fish, Preservation, Cuts, Methods of Cooking
Session 19: Fish À La Meunière, Grilled, Stuffed, & Compound Butter
Session 20: Braising, Marinades
Session 21: Crêpes, Pâte a Frire, Brioche
Session 22: Basic Stuffing, Preparation & Cooking Stuffed Vegetables
Session 23: Duck, Sautéing & Braising, Dressing, Roasting & Grilling
Session 24: Organs, Prep, Terrines, Ballottines & Pâtés en Croûte
Session 25: Cooking Shellfish, Crustaceans, Mollusks & Cephalopods
Session 26: Génoise, Sugar Syrups, Buttercream, Crème Anglaise
Session 27: Ices, Ice Creams, Bombes, Soufflés Glacés & Meringues
Session 28: Mousses, Soufflés (Sweet/Savory) Cream & Charlottes
Session 29: Food Control, Purchasing, Receiving, Menus & Prices

FULL POST...

GLOWING LIKE THE METAL...

Before getting ahead of myself any further, let's introduce the tools of the trade. These tools were all provided to us by the school as part of our tuition. Some of the students in my class have already upgraded their knives at some of the local stores, Sur La Table and Broadway Panhandler. But I'm going to wait a little while and learn to use the standard-issue knives and do some comparison shopping before I buy a new knife.

From left to right:

1) Steel, used for sharpening knives
2) Chef's knife, used for cutting whatever, whenever
3) Bone knife, used for cutting meats, etc.
4) Fish boning knife, used for boning and filetting fish
5) Pairing knife, used for peeling fruits and vegetables
6) Melon-ball scooper, used for scooping out melon, apple, cores, etc.
7) Peeler, used for peeling skins off fruits and vegetables
8) Fish spatula, used for lifting, flipping fish filets
9) Meat fork, used for moving, piercing, picking up meat
10) Offset spatula, used for spreading things like tuile, or frosting
11) Serrated knife, used for slicing meat
12) Bread knife, used for cutting breads, cakes, etc.


Again, from left to right:

1) Wooden spoon, for stirring sauces, etc.
2) Microplane, for shredding cheese, rinds, etc.
3) Scissors, for cutting fish fins and whatever needed.
4) Pastry-scraper, for scraping dough, sabler, etc.
5) Pen, always have one!
5) Pastry-brush, for brushing on butter, oil, syrups.
6) Small offset spatula, smaller version of # 10 (above)
7) Trussing needle, for sewing meats
8) Tweezers, for picking out fishbones
9) Thermometer...
10) Teaspoons, tablespoons
11) Fireproof spatula, for getting every last bit!

On the Left:

1) Metal pastry-scraper, for scraping dough, sabler, etc. (bought on own
2) Canneleur, for decorating vegetables
3) Large spoon, for skimming and degreasing

On the Right:

1) Pad, for recipes
2) Pens, hilighters and sharpies

Recipes should be written out as easily followed as possible. The easiest we've been taught is to notate the ingredients and how they are used in the order to be used. This makes for memorizing both ingredients and methodology easier.


TASTING SPOON: The chefs have what they call, their "sexy spoon," which they use for tasting and and other spoon "emergencies." One chef even has such a spoon engraved, "Chef XXNamehereXX's Sexy Spoon," (there are rumors about this chef...) with the date. You should always have spoons around for tasting (as you're not supposed to be dipping your fingers in pots). Of course, you can use any old spoon. In Level 1 we were encouraged to taste each others' dishes to get an idea of how the same dishes, based on standard recipes, can come out differently when cooked by different people. I wasn't shy about doing this and one of my teammates suggested that with all the tasting I was doing, I should get a golden tasting spoon.

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WD-50

WD-50 has been open for three years and if you're into food and New York you've probably been there. If you haven't been you've still probably heard of it as the place that does funky things with food (if you haven't heard of it, it's WD-50, not to be confused with WD-40). I'd read fairly positive reviews and heard interesting things about the restaurant (namely that there was a dish with beef tongue and fried mayonnaise) and its chef, Wylie Dufresne, who like Bobby Flay, is an alum of the French Culinary Institute. Pickled beef tongue isn't normally the first thing I'd order when seeing it on the menu and certainly not something I would usually make a specific visit to a restaurant to try.

Walking around the neighborhood where the restaurant is made me realize how much exploring I still have to do in Manhattan-- there are a lot of little places to explore. WD-50 (which combines the chef's name, Wulie Dufresne with it's address, 50 Clinton Street) is not exactly one of those "litle places." The outside of the restaurant seems minimalist but inside it goes a fair way back. The decor is crisp and clean with lots of wood and exposed ceiling beams and there's an open kitchen in the back out of which I was surprised to see Chef Dufresne looking out frequently into the dining room. Perhaps was a VIP in the room who I didn't recognize or he was just intent on gleaning his customers' reactions to the food-- either way it was interesting to see a chef paying so much attention to his clientale.

Beyond reading the reviews I'd done little research as to the current menu. The cocktail menu gave me my first inkling of what was to come. I ordered what I remember being called a cidanero ($11) a sweet and smoky drink with a little kick which I believe was from habanero. It was a delicious drink, the kind of thing that made me remember a once-upon-a-time wish to work my way through the bartender's bible and learn how to make various cocktails, only in this case as a precursor to exploring possible variations.

We ordered and were quickly brought a small container filled with our bread alternative. It was a light smear of some kind of crisp, paper-thin bread. Almost as if we were being served the very outermost layer of a bread crust. Another intriguing pre-cursor, tasty, playful and yet not very filling-- clever. Then our appetizers, three of them, pickled beef tongue, fried mayonnaise, onion streusel ($15), the corned duck, rye crisp, purple mustard, horseradish cream ($14) and the hangar tartare, pickled Asian pear, amaro, bernaise ice cream ($15). The tongue (right, courtesy wd-50.com) was very thinly sliced with a smear of something sweet on the side, and piles of micro-brunoise, finely chopped vegetable to the point of almost being a dust along with the fried mayonnaise, fried crisp on the outside and smooth inside. I'd expected to enjoy the fried mayonnaise but the tongue pleasantly surprised me as well.

The duck (right, courtesy wd-50.com) was barely three bites (more on three-bite theory later) and while tasty it was gone before I'd really found anything that special about it. The hangar tartare with bernaise ice cream that followed however was a delight-- especially creamy.

For dinner, the turbot, salsify, smoked bulgur, coffee-saffron ($30) and the chicken, green olive, green apple, sake soubise ($28). The chicken was juicy and enjoyable but largely forgettable. The fish was the clear winner of the two dishes, moist, tender and flaky complemented by the earthiness of the bulgur.

To finish we ordered the manchego cheesecake, foamed pineapple, thyme ($11) and kumquat confit, carob ice cream, soy caramel ($11). The candied kumquat made me think about revisiting my disappointed efforts at playing with the fruit (I'd done a too-bitter sorbet). The manchego cheesecake was gamey and pleasantly offset with the pineapple foam (how do you make pineapple foam anyway?).

It was time to sit back and consider the meal. For one, though my wallet was protesting the thought, I was still hungry and wishing I'd orderd the nine-course tasting menu. While $105 wasn't unreasonble in comparison to other tasting menus considering the playfullness of the food I've indulged quite a few times recently so perhaps another entree or appetizer would have helped. It's not something I've expereience frequently, leaving a restaurant a bit hungry but mostly satisified. In this case what would usually be a major drawback still allowed for an enjoyable experience.

And that's what it was, an experience. I've heard that WD-50 is about "cerebral cuisine," and that each bite is more about thinking than tasting. Sure, the room left in my stomach allowed more space for my brain to stretch out and focus on two specific thoughts. One, there's a fine line between inventiveness and pretentiousness, doing adventurous things with food because they can be done and because they need to be done. WD-50 will self-satisfy the people visiting from Pittsburgh who have money to burn and need to ask the waiter questions to which they already have the answers but, two, what Chef Dufresne does in his restaurant, what we were all told not to do as kids, playing with food and having fun doing it will draw all types of people interested in the exploration he's embarking upon. That's inspiring to me-- it makes me want to continue learning basic culinary technique and to explore the possiblities science brings to food that has been thoughtfully varied and combined.

TOTAL SPENT: $165.81 (including 4 alcoholic beverages)

20 WORDS OR LESS: You won't leave with a full stomach but there's fun to be had with food and an explored palate.

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CHEF'S WHITES

On January 4th, the first day of classes we were given three things:

- A large red tool box filled with various kitchen tools
- An unwieldy, hard-box knife case containing knives
- A black duffle bag with two chef uniforms

We were required to buy our kitchen clogs on our own.

I've tried my best to use bleach and Oxy to keep my uniforms clean and four months
have months school I've been fairly successful at keeping my chef whites, white, but here they are before I get any farther along.

DOUBLE-BREASTED JACKET W/ KNOTTED-CLOTH BUTTONS
The jacket is double-breasted to be easily "reversed to hide stains that may accumulate throughout the day." The double layer of cotton is meant to "insulate our bodies against the intense heat of the stove or an accidental splattering of hot liquid." The buttons are made of knotted cloth to "withstand the frequent washings and abuse buttons often take from contact with pots, pans and other heavy equipment."

There's a left-chest pocket and two long, narrow pockets on the side of the left arm that is useful for a cooking thermometer, a spoon, a pen and a black marker. There have been some attempts to splash-up the jackets and there are a few of places out there that do different cottons and designs, some more expensive than others but I haven't seen anything that crazy yet. Personally, I like the whites but I'm surprised that I haven't come across more outlandish uniforms.

CHEF'S BLACK AND WHITE CHECKERED PANTS
They're loose and comfortable and that's imperative when you're bending down to pull plates out of the oven or participating in what really ends up being the ballet of the heavy-metal ballet of the kitchen. In the end though, you do feel like you're wearing pyjamas. They're checkered to help hide spills and stains. All things considered, I'd rather wear a pair of jeans.


CHEF'S NECKERCHIEF
Meant at first to absorb sweat in the hot kitchen, they still serve that purpose these days but they're mostly used for decoration. It's tied in a similar way as a necktie. First the neckerchief is laid out in a full triangle, the shortest end is folded over to meet the long end of the triangle, it's then folded over on itself in 1 1/2 inch increments.

CHEF'S APRON
Tied around the front and knotted, it's the first line of defense be it hot oil, water, barbeque sauce or chocolate. While perhaps it's not supposed to be one, in a bind it's a handtowel for grabbing hot handles, dirty hands are wiped on it, and as a result, it gets increasingly tough to keep clean. And, our apron-strings are useful for tucking handtowels aplenty into them.

STUDENT'S CHEF HAT
Putting on the student hat is a daily ritual. After changing out of the clothes from our other lives and into our whites we're allowed in the kitchen. The first thing we do next is grab a thin, flat hat. We adjust them around our heads, staple them using the stapler chained at the storeroom and then we're allowed to start preparing food. If you forget to get your hat on once it's likely that the tone of voice your chef uses to remind you on will prevent you from forgetting again. Hats used outside out kitchens vary!

CHEF'S HANDTOWELS
We're told to keep one tucked under our apron-strings on our right and our left. We're told to keep one in hand as often as we can when wandering around touching hot pots and pans on the stove. We're told that at the end of the night the towel should still be largely clean, that it's to be used for grabbing hot handles. We're supposed to use other towels to clean our work-station surfaces. We're told these handtowels are our best friends. I keep three towels on my apron-strings but unfortunately, no matter how many times we're told these things, we still tend to get burnt. Someday...

KITCHEN CLOGS
We're told our shoes must be black and not canvas in case a knife should fall straight down. The clogs slide on and off easily and they're very comfortable, but I'd prefer a pair of laced shoes if I have to wear low-cut shoes. Of course, I'd prefer to wear...

MY FAVORITE KITCHEN CLOGS
There's no way around it, they're just more comfortable. I had a pair when I was a kid which I kept long after I outgrew them. At a truckstop in Nebraska, I found a pair of brown Durangos and I've been buying them ever since. Beyond the comfort factor, if there is anywhere I'd show some personality in the clothes I wear in the kitchen, it's here.

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A VOCE

A Voce, 41 Madison Avenue (bn 25th & 26th Streets), Manhattan, 212 545-8555

I haven't spent much time dining in this neck of the woods and initially couldn't find A Voce. There's no sexy logo or flashy sign and especially on a night late in winter (I went in March) the dark front of the restaurant does little to proclaim it's whereabouts. What A Voce lacks in prominence outside is more than made up with the food served inside.

The decor, wood-floors, greens, leather topped tables, padded chairs and wood-sculptures made me feel as though I had time-traveled into an avant-garde Japanese bar-restaurant in the 1970's. It was at once cozy and comfortable but occasionally jarring in its dissonance from the hearthy warmth of the food that followed.

Sitting in the back of the restaurant we had an angle to see into the new, sparkling kitchen once in a while when the doors opened where we spotted chefs in their whites preparing the food. We started with two appetizers, the grilled octopus peperonata, lemon, chorizo ($17) which was practically tasty but faint in comparison with the duck meatball antipasto dried cherry mostarda ($13). If "A Voce," means word of mouth, this appetizer has gotten it's fair share of it. Moist and deliciously tasty, they're where meatballs have always aspired to be, out of a jumbled mess of clumpy spaghetti and on center-stage in a sauce worthy of bread-mopping. It's the kind of dish you order and the waiter comes back and apologizes for how bad the food is because she sees the dish is spotless.

Speaking of the waiter, he was friendly and did his best to persuade us to subsitute my all-meat entree plan with some fish or chicken. It was no use, and on came the lamb shank tortellini with escarole, lemon, piave cheese ($21), the braised veal soffritto with creamy polenta, grenolata, and orange ($26) and the country-style Tuscan tripe borlotti, tomato, grilled ciabatta ($19). The trip and the veal soffrito both stood on their own but the tender veal soffrito was the delight of the three.

There was a price to pay though for our ordering, one of the entrees would have to act as a meat-dessert, we were just too full to press forward and would have to mean another visit. The funny thing about "A Voce," is just that, the word of mouth itself. The food is so tasty and yet there's quite a bit of hating on it out here in the ether, not critics so much as forum posts responding to positive review and I'm not quite sure why they're not celebrating is more. Not that Chef Carmellini needs me to defend him, his food speaks for itself, and I haven't been to the Batali representatives of Italian haute-cuisine yet so I can't speak to them but as someone with Italian heritage studying food who is interested in playing with the cuisine on a level higher than the American standards it set a bar for something to aspire to.

TOTAL SPENT: $144 including two glasses of wine ($118.13 without tip)

20 WORDS OR LESS: Don't be confused by the decor just order the duck meatballs and get ready to smile.

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FISH FRIDAY

At school, in Level 2 (Intermediate), Fridays have become the last of three nights for each group at their current stations. It's our last night of Poissonier (fish station) and we'll be doing two dishes:

Aile De Raie À La Grenobloise, a Sauteed Skate Wing in Brown Butter, with Capers, Lemon and Croutons. With this dish we lightly flour filleted Skate in butter, garnished with capers, diced lemon, parsely (cooked in beurre noisette) and croutons.

Éscalope De Saumon Grillée, Sauce Au Vin Blanc et Aux Herbes, a Grilled thinly-sliced Salmon in White Wine Sauce. Here, we do a reduced shallot and wine glaze with stock and cream til napped (a finger across the back of a dipped spoon leaves a briefly clear space), sautée some garlic and spinach with nutmeg and grill the salmon.

FISH FRIDAY UPDATE

DISH: The Éscalope De Saumon Grillée, Sauce Au Vin Blanc et Aux Herbes, a Grilled thinly-sliced Salmon in White Wine Sauce, was the first dish we prepared tonight. We'd done a grénobloise in Level 1 but were even more unfamiliar with the Salmon so we opted to do it first.

DUE: 8:15 p.m. SERVED: 8:20 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: One difficult thing about the dish is the grilling. The grill must be pre-heated and brushed with vegetable oil to prevent sticking. If you've cut the fish right to start, you've got beautiful pieces-- you want them just as beautiful on the plate. The fish is very thin so be careful placing it on the grill and making the criss-cross grillmarks (quadrillage). The fish should be lifted using the sharp-pointed fork-tongs and fish spatula. I grilled the fish on both sides and was repeatedly frustrated when pieces stuck to the grill. Two things, 1) the fish does NOT need to be grilled on both sides, just the presentation side! 2) make sure the quadrillage is even and not dark (black marks mean burnt fish!). Without grilling both sides it probably won't be cooked through so it can be finished in a preheated oven for a few minutes.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: The spinach should be plated first and the salmon should lean up on it a bit. Be careful timing the spinach. The leaves should be trimmed of stems and always washed well (spinach is notorious for being sandy so the more washes the better). The spinach should be added to the sauteed garlic only until the leaves wilt then removed to a bowl covered with a plate until needed for service (when it can be reheated and drained).

The salmon should be brushed with a bit of melted butter (lustrer) to give it sheen. The sauce should be a cream color. Some sauce on the sides of the pot caramelized while reducing and we scraped it out before straining it because we worried about running out. We picked up some caramelization, slightly browning it. Chopped parsley should be added to the sauce directly before plating, not cooked in it or the chorophyll in the parsley will turn it green. The sauce should nap the plate around the fish but not actually dress (cover) it (after doing a lovely quadrillage the goal is to show it off, not hide it).

DISH: The Aile De Raie À La Grenobloise, a Sauteed Skate Wing in Brown Butter, with Capers, Lemon and Croutons, was the second dish we prepared.

DUE: 10:00 p.m. SERVED: 10:01 p.m.

COOKING NOTES: The capers should be gently squeezed and drained of its briny water; too much will overpower the dish's other flavors. Mind, Skate is like a Manta Ray so there are sharp edes poking out while you fillet the wing. Only the presentation side (the prettier side, i.e., no discoloration, filleting mishaps) of the skate should be floured before cooking in clarified butter. The pommes vapeur (turned potato) should be cut about 6.5 cm long, cooked a l'anglaise (started in cold, heavily salted water and boiled til tender), then gently tossed in parsley cut haché.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: Skate isn't the kind of fish that tastes good undercooked so make sure when the presentation-side is golden-browned, the other side is cooked through. Plate the skate so that the thicker side is away from the customer and place the lemon slice and pommes vapeur behind it. You want to have some pieces of the lemon supreme showing so don't jostle too much or overcook. The beurre noisette can be drained if you don't want the brown bits (butter solids) but they don't have to be. Don't smother the dish in the beurre noisette!

OVERALL: The dishes were generally approved of by the chef, we finished pretty much on time even though the chef did a lemon tartlet demo to start class, and it felt as though with the past two classes we finally began to hit our stride as a team. Of course, this is also the last night that our current groups of four (since early March) will be together. New groups on Monday, Garde Manger (cold buffet dishes station, well, mostly cold) for me. Orders due for the following station, Poissonier (again!). This follows the pattern of being jostled into a new situation in school, be it new dishes, new people or new kitchen areas as soon as you've begun to feel comfortable!

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