Maybe I hate chicken???

Can i just say that i hated today.  Not because of the weather.  Not because I had to wake up at 6:21 (plus a 9 min snooze so actually 6:30).  No, I hated today because i had to to work with chicken.  Yes, I know that historically, I should love the yard bird.  And I did, until i had not one but TWO head on, feet on, guts still inside whole birds that i was suppose to cook.

Who knew there were so many steps that led to that nicely packaged boneless skinless chicken breast we buy at grocery store without a second thought of how it came to be.

...Well let me tell ya!

Etirer: First you have to stretch the bird.  they come with the wings and legs tuck in and need a good stretch to access the entire surface area.  

Flamber:  The birds are covered in hot wax and run through brushes to quickly pluck the feathers.  But nothings perfect.  So to get the last lil bits, you hold the bird by the feet and head and swing back and forth...over a ROARING flame.  This should singe any remaining feathers and hairs.  And the freaky lil feet are burned also to easily remove the scales...which i never knew were there.  Lots of lil surprises, these birds.  You still have to scrap and pluck the last burned feathers and remove the burned scales which nowwipe off fairly easy.  

Parer:  Depending on what dish you're preparing, there are various steps.  But essentially, you need to remove anything you don't need, like the feet or the wing tips, and the head and neck.  Certain preparations need a certain look so you may parer the leg or wings at different spots.   

Vider:  Now you can remove the organs.  Basically, stick your fingers in and detach the innards from the membrane.  Hopefully pull everything out in one shot.  I think i left the lungs in mine. oops!  

Decouper:  Only then can you segment the bird into desired cuts.  Again, the cuts differ depending on the dish your preparing.  

Ok, so maybe the way I described it here you can't really appreciate the misery.  But after being in class for 5 hrs NO ONE finished.  We didn't cook anything!  Granted we took like 1.5 hr to set up and made a chicken stock, and cut up some veg.  But we had so many demonstrations.  We have been working on fish for so long that lately there are few things that Chef needs to explain.  Class goes quite smoothly and I  have a pretty decent pace.  But starting on volaille, poultry, means we all needed a lil more explaination of technique because no one knows the french techniques of cutting chicken.  

Like this one here...

Jambonette:  For some reason, some one somewhere at some point thought it would be nice to make chicken parts look like lil hams, jambon.  Confused? yeah me too.  I didn't have time to take pics today so sorry no visual.  But basically you cut and/or remove the bones in the the breast/wing and thigh/drumstick segments.  Then make a slit in the flesh and stick the bone through and shape it so it looks like a whole ham.  Why? who knows....

Like I said, no one finished, so I have to finish my 2nd bird tomorrow and do two recipes.  Joy...

La Tour Eiffel

You know how you have such big plans for your weekend.  You're gonna get up early, make a big breakfast. Head out to run errands or go shopping or do touristy stuff.  But then...you "somehow" sleep until 1130, and then you "somehow" stay cuddled in pjs until 330 (don't judge me).  That is how my day went. But i finally gathered the strength to leave.  After all, today I planned to visit the Eiffel Tower!

I decided to get off at a different metro stop, in order to see the Eiffel Tower from a different perspective.  I took two steps before I was approached by a "deaf" girl asking me to sign some petition and give a donation.  She was so cute, she almost got me.  But then I remembered I'm from Chicago, there is no new scam.  I kept telling her that I didn't have any change and she kept offering to give me change for my bills.  (her hand gestures were easier to understand than French!)

I was surprised there was not a flux of tourist getting off the metro stop with me.  That must have been because everyone was already in line to go up into the tower.  It was like the lines at Great America!  Tours run all day that go up opposite pillars of the tower.  The last ride up is at 11:45pm.  There is great debate about the best time to visit.  Some say day trips are better because you can see further.  Others say night is better because the tower is lit and the city is aglow.  I actually haven't been up yet, but its on the list.  Just waiting for someone to go with me...hint hint..

It was a little weird that there was hardly any grass and the little grass there was, was fenced off.  I'm guessing this is the only way to keep anything alive with the high volume of tourist throughout the year.  But I say weird because the Eiffel Tower is surrounded by a "park".  I guess here that means lots of trees, benches, and gravel.  And there was this...structure.  Half glass, half steel.  I didn't see a sign that described what it was but it said "Peace" over and over in different languages.  Very modern in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

The sun was shinning and I was so excited to be here, but slowly I began to realize how cold it actually was.  So I grabbed a hot chocolate and tried to warm up, but the charm is hard to enjoy while shivering.  I did walk down to the Quai Branly, kinda like a river walk.  But...that didn't last long.  Kind of a short trip, but I don't think the Eiffel Tower is going anywhere. I'll definitely be back!

Tartes

I think i'm a little behind in my blogging...oops.  The recipe book is too heavy to bring home and I made these tartes over 10 recipes ago.  Sooo, the details are a lil fuzzy...


Pâtisserie keeps getting better. Chocolate tarte on the same day as lemon tarte.  Soo good!  A lot of the things we do are geared toward reinforcing a recipe or a technique.  So a lot of repetition with slight variation.  Fine with me when it comes to the desserts.  


If I haven't said it, I kinda love my pâtisserie chef, Chef Antoine.  He's VERY french.  We all get a kick out of his Franglish.  When he can't think of a word, he uses hand gestures and sometimes his whole body to play charades with us, until someone shouts out the word he's trying to say.  Or he says a word that sounds like the word he wants to say, and the wrong word makes me giggle.  Example: twinkle when he meant to say sprinkle.  Or twirl when he meant to say swirl. Ha! Trust me, its funny.  


These tartes were pretty easy to make.  Warm cream (or milk, I can't remember) poured over some "special"chocolate (don't know what makes it special) and "special" sugar (don't know why this is special either).  Slowly stirred, not whipped, to avoid bubbles.  Poured into pre-baked tarte shells and chilled.  Hope you followed that.


Lemon filling: lemon juice, sugar, eggs, and milk (or was it cream?)
The lemon tarte should have been easy, but I kinda burned the filling.  These electric cooktops are no joke. I guess because the pot is in constant contact with the heat source they get hot very quickly.  So when I pressed 12, which is the max, and stopped stirring while I chatted it up with my neighbor, it took very little time to scorch the bottom.  Ha! Silly rabbit!

Anyhoo, the results were just fine for me and my partner.  Chef tasted it and said it was burnt, but this is the same man who eats soup that was just boiling, without blowing it first.  Without blowing? Come on, even kids know "Hot."  I'm just saying his taste buds are jacked.  He is always saying "More salt" when all I can taste is salt, and I love salt.  But I still love him.


P.S. My only complaint is that I "had" to eat these all by my lonesome.  It took me a little over a week, but still, I think I'm in trouble.  Send reinforcements!  A certain someone thinks I should happen upon some dry ice and mail some treats home.  Good luck with that.

1st Service

Disclaimer: Its midnight, I don't feel like proof reading. Sorry.

This week has been by far the most exhausting, stressful days of Paris to date.  Wednesday we had our first dinner service followed by lunch service on Thursday.  No, it was not all bad, but I'm sure the physical exhaustion, dehydration, and lack of sleep had a little to do with the cold I'm fighting.

So here's what happened....

Tuesday: Prep

We all went down to the economat to pick up our goods for service.   I was in the fish group, along with Alissa and Claire, responsible for this ugly fish, sole.  One weird thing was that this is a flat fish (other types are flounder and halibut) which means both beady eyes are on one side of its body.

Luckily, I did not have the messy job of scaling....no, instead I had to peel/rip the skin off both the top and the bottom of this guy and a few of his friends.  Random trivia: although it is unattractive, this fish costs about 20 euro; at todays rate that's like $26!  Anyhoo, after the de-skinning (i think that's a word) came the filleting.  I must say, I'm getting pretty good at this, just need to work on my pace.  But its kinda scary when presentation is considered.  These knifes are sharp and unforgiving.  At the disapproval of Chef Antoine, this is as far as the three of us got on our only day of prep. Ha!  I guess we all need to work on speed.

Wednesday: Mise en place and Service

Everyone getting their game face on!

The first seating for dinner was at 7:30 so we needed to be in the kitchen by 2:00.  Due to some scheduling conflict that only the French could cause, another class was just finishing their lunch service we were waiting...for like an 1hr.

So with 1hr less of prep time, we all hit the kitchen already in a hurry.  It was kinda like a black out.  I don't remember all the details of how I got from the beginning to the end, but here is a rough synopsis of our dish:

Mushrooms: sauteed in butter with shallots and garlic

Veggies: thinly sliced with a mandoline, then quickly blanched to maintain color

Sole: First flattened then scored and seasoned

Razor Clams: steamed with sauteed shallots and white wine

Sauces: reduced from the cooking liquids of the clams and the fish stock (made from the bones of the sole) with cream and lime juice.  Half was mixed with finely diced zucchini and carrots.  The other half was "foamed" for platting (which I also hate because the bubbles on last for the current platting...you have to re-foam for every order! and why? just for looks! it tastes just like the other sauce minus the diced veg--which, might I add (since I'm already complaining) take FOREVER to chop that small, brunoise its called.  i felt like i was in purgatory!)

Salad: baby arugula with olive oil and salt and pepper

Our dish was sauteed mushrooms rolled in two overlapping filet of sole, all wrapped in a spiral of slightly blanched zucchini, and orange and yellow carrots.  Platted with razor clams and mini salad.

Filet de sole aux girolles en spiral de legumes
Couteaux en mariniere

Due to the 1hr lost in the beginning, we only got a 20min dinner of cafeteria leftovers while our chefs each had a sample of each dish.  That's 6 dishes each and an appetizer!  I still have no idea how my plate taste.  But they needed to see what, if anything needed to be tweaked.

Then began service.  Basically, if you've seen "Hell's Kitchen" you can picture what it was like.  Not too many moments of yelling (at least not at me) but kinda hectic with both sides trying to send dishes out at the same time.  So all the cuisine students were split into Anglo A and Anglo B, 13 students in each, at the beginning of the program.  This was our first time in the kitchen together since then.  We had our own menu and Anglo B had their own.  

Each dish had a chef de partie, the chef in charge of that station, that dish.  The aboyeur calls out the orders for all 3 courses for each table and the chef de partie shouts "Oui Chef" to let him know they understood the order.

As waiters took the orders, customers could choose between a dish from Anlgo A or Anglo B for each course.  So if 2 people at a table of 4 ordered sole and the other 2 ordered the fish from Anglo B, all 4 had to be hot and ready at the passe (front table with heating lamps) at the same time.  

The aboyeur comes back again to "claim" the plates he said were ordered.  Which basically means, reheating or last minutes of cooking for some elements.   Timing is key; the aboyeur can either scream at you to hurry with your plates or get angry and send you back when you are too early.  So there was more screaming across the kitchen as each chef de partie tried to coordinate with the chef de partie of the corresponding dish.  

And then we had to do it all again on Thursday.

All in all, it was exciting and nerve racking at the same time.  It will probably only get more stressful, I will probably need to be chef de partie at some point. Yay! 

Kinda shaky, but here's a glimpse...

    

Génoise

Maybe you've never heard of génoise, but we've all heard of sponge cake.  Flour folded into powdered sugar and eggs, super easy.  The only hitch was more whisking.  But the payoff was I didn't have to fight with anyone to like the bowl when I was done. Ha!  The fun thing about sponge cake itself is...well...its spongy.

Though normally soaked in rum or liqueurs, we used crème anglaise, egg yolks and sugar tempered with cream infused with vanilla bean. 

And we made ice cream!  Only half of the crème anglaise was used for platting.  We all combined half of our crème to make a large enough batch of ice cream.

   Platted with a caramelized pear, fresh and pureed raspberry, and this ugly puddle of crème anglaise. 

Pâte à Choux

This light airy dough is used to make yummy eclairs and cream puffs.  Surprisingly, its made on stove top.  Water, salt, sugar and butter are brought to a boil.  Flour is added to the mixture and left on a simmer.  Sounds simple, but you have to stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps and burning/sticking.  So you stir, and stir, and stir, and the soupy stuff never looks like it will thicken, but I turned my head for one second and it was as thick as paste.  Barley heating, you have to cut the dough-increase the exposed surface area-and let it cook until its dry enough not to stick to the sides of the pot.  

Pâte à Choux

Next, I put it into a piping bag to pipe onto the baking sheet in nice even mounds.  Piping this dough is not as easy as piping frosting.  Its kinda oozy which makes it hard to keep neat little circles.  But it was still fun to try to make these tasty bites.

While these baked, I julianned the zest of an orange to be candied with the rest of the group.  And I made whipped cream...by hand.  No modern technology short cuts here!  So more stirring and whisking.  I am far from ambidextrous so I had to whisk for like 5 min with only my right hand!  Feel the burn!

The dough is so light and airy that the eclairs and puffs are pretty hollow.  I cut the tops off some and filled with my not-as-whipped-as-it-could-be whipped cream.  I poked a hole in the bottom of the rest and piped in whipped cream until near explosion.  Yum!

My plating was kind rushed, but still looks appealing right?!
And the little swan was so cute...until I ate it!

Here what the Chef came up with.  Far more inspired than mine.  He definitely has a thing for flair!

Regional Menu: Provence

In an effort to broaden our scope of French cuisine, we periodically focus on an important French region and make dishes common in that area.  Last Friday was our first menu and our first time cooking for and serving each other.  The class was broken into small groups, each responsible for a portion of the meal.  It was surprisingly calm and stress free.  Everyone did a great job and we had a tasty meal to share with each other.  

Anchoïade

For the starter, the first group prepared select veggies with an anchovy "dip" and hard boiled quail eggs.  Anchovies have a bad reputation, people (myself included) turn their nose up just at the name.  But in this form the anchovies present mostly as a salty taste.  The dip was made like a mayonnaise, with anchovy puree, crushed garlic, and olive oil.  The quail eggs were soaked in some vinegar mixture after they were de-shelled, giving this yellow color.

I don't remember the details,
but this group also made this black olive bread

Petits Farcis A La Provencale

For this dish, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes were hollowed then stuffed with lamb, pork, parmesan cheese, garlic, shallots, and mushrooms and baked in the oven giving a crunch to the top layer of stuffing.  Then plated with a chicken stock reduction and a roasted red pepper puree. The tomato was my favorite.  And every thing tasted great with red pepper puree.

 Filets de Rougets A La Crème d'Olive

 et Marjolaine, Fine Ratatouille

The group in charge of the fish course prepared broiled red mullet served on a bed of ratatouille, finely chopped bell peppers, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes, plated with reduced fish stock, and a black olive sauce.  Very tasty, and not a single scale (which, after scaling 2 foot salmon, I will never take this for granted again).  

Daube A La Provencale

This group had the best dish! I'll give one you guess why...

This is beef stew, but not like the kind I used to make in my crock pot, I wish it was that easy.  The day before, I some how got the job of cutting the beef into small pieces.  This must have been the biggest cow ever because the shoulder was massive!  I almost threw out my shoulder trying to cut it into smaller portions; it was so tough and had huge tendons running through it.  The pieces were then put in a marinade with garlic, onions, carrots, white wine, and olive oil. 

The next day we removed the beef and I seared it as the marinade simmered.  

The floating thing is called a bouquet aromatic:
chervil, thyme, and bay, tied in the green part of a leek

P.S. No matter what you "Chef" tells you, go with your gut.  We baked these explosive devices, I mean potatoes, without poking them first, because our "Chef" said we didn't need to.  So later when I poked one to check if it was done, it erupted like a volcano, spewing burning hot potato on me and the windows 5 feet away.  Later he said we should have pierced them first...seriously dude?  

One of my group partners had the wonderful task of dough making, but not to be eaten with the meal.  This one was for decorative purpose only (boo).   But another ring was used to seal the inner rim of the dutch oven to allowed the keep the moisture in the stew during the 2.5 hour cooking time.  

I also had the pleasure of using this amputation machine.  Ok, I only have a cut on my thumb but it hurt (sad face).  Making these potato chips were a labor of love.  In case you don't already know, over heating oil happens quicker than you think, but it takes FOREVER to cool.  More time than I had so these were slightly over-dark, but still so tasty.

When the stew was done, the meat was separated from everything else (again), which proved quite difficult.  It was definitely quite tender, thus frustrating difficult to separate.  The remainder was strained and the juice was poured back over the meat with black olives.  (essentially we removed the carrots, and onions don't ask me why we had to go through all of that).

Final product, plated with tomato confit (baked tomato slices), green pepper, fennel bulb, peril onions, potato puree, and the chips.

Notice the clean plates!

Sorbet Framboise avec Nougat Glace et Tuiles

My happily fed classmates!
As you can see, we are all camera happy

Last group worked in a chilled room next to the kitchen to prepare the desserts.  I don't remember much of the recipe, so this is a rough stetch.  The nougat base was meringue folded into whipped cream with dried fruit and nuts folded in next and then chilled.  The tuiles is just carameled sugar poured over chopped almonds.  Then poured onto into ovals on a silpat sheet to bake.  The ovals were then curved around a rolling pin while they cooled to get the curved shape.  The sorbet was made by boiling mineral water, mixing in glucose, a stabilizer, and sugar.  This mixture was chilled before adding raspberry puree.  And finally put in the sorbet machine.  Like any dessert, precision is key.  Specific temperatures were needed for nearly each step of these desserts.  But the final product was so yummy!

It was great to work with people I had not worked with yet, and to see how well the class as a whole can come together for a collaboration like this.   But this is only the beginning; a baby step towards working in our restaurant!  Oh, right, thats next week!