Qwerty
-
Posts
509 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Qwerty
-
-
Anytime you can take something that you are otherwise going to throw away or not use, or something that you could get for dirt cheap, you are looking at a winner.
Finding a way to utilize trim from butering...like turning the chain of a tenderloin into tartare, or salmon belly into smoked salmon rilletes, etc.
Things like offal are usually great for making money, especially if you are good at dressing them up. Chicken liver mouse/parfait, headcheese--all that stuff.
-
Just to be clear, I wasn't trying to denigrate the class or anything...it was a great read and just made me think of my time at culinary school and similar classes.
I think there is a lot of value to the things in the class...and I know in one of Ruhlman's books (I want to say Reach) that he talks about how the CIA had talked about "updating" some of the classics and doing away with teaching the mother sauces. The idea, IIRC, was almost universally shot down by chefs both at the school and in the restaurant/hotel world.
I personally think that at some point they are going to have to move away from this type of old school cooking. I mean, we are talking ideals that have been in place for about 100 years (going back to Escoffier) and at some point it's got to give. I mean, I know what a classical demi glace is and I know how to make veloute and bechemel, and Escoffier style tomato sauce, the only time I ever even use any of those is when I make a mac and cheese at home or for family meal or something.
It just seems like someday something has got to change.
FatGuy's analogy to law school was pretty accurate I think, and a good one.
-
Wow. That class is so old school and classically based. Takes me back to my days in culinary school. It's interesting to read your posts (good job BTW) and see how much I think I've grown as a cook by comparing how I feel now about some of that stuff and how I felt back then.
The places I've worked (and work) at completely shy away from roux based anything. We've made veal stock that is so reduced and full of gelatin that no thickening is needed. We didn't even mount the sauces--or at least very rarely. We make a stock that is similar to how Keller would do it (though I would still change a couple of things if it were my kitchen) and it produces sauces that are nappe and so full of intensity that we rarely need more than an ounce to sauce a plate.
I know that you are doing this to expand your knowledge and not for pro. use, but its still cool to read your posts. BTW, I've never done a tourne before (not even really in school). I don't know why they still teach that knife cut--it was essentially invented to occupy the time of the apprentices that those types of kitchens had back in the day. Essentially they had to give them something to do to occupy their time because otherwise they would just be standing around doing nothing. Not too many places do that knife cut anymore--and if I ever run my own kitchen I certainly wouldn't ask my cooks to do that.
About demi-glace. Nobody does sauce espagnole anymore. If anyone says demi to you it is greatly reduced veal stock.
Good stuff man...keep if coming.
-
Project...always cook out tomato paste. Do a self experiment--taste a little bit of tom. paste straight from a can, then cook some and taste it. That should be all the convincing you need.
-
Odds are if you bought it from a grocer it had sufficient wet age on it to tenderize it enough to prevent that kind of toughness. Odds are you just got a select grade of beef and it wasn't a very good one. Sometimes all that makes the difference is the animal itself.
-
Cut up some vegetables like carrots, fennel, onion, celery, etc. If the sardines aren't already filetted you can do that now...then lay them flesh side down in a single layer in a baking dish (like pyrex or something) cover with the vegetables, season with salt and pepper, then cover with sherry vinegar and let sit for about 15 minutes. Pour off the vinegar (but save the veg) and cover with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours. When ready to serve, allow to come up to room temp.
They are really good.
-
dishwasher!?!?
-
I heart wooden spoons.
In the kitchens I work in the use of metal spoons on metal pans (except for plating spoons, but I'm talking like those big serving spoons) in frowned upon. It is believed that scraping metal on metal has an adverse effect on the food, and I think it is true.
So I pretty much use wooden spoons whenever I am cooking and need to stir something.
-
I can tell you from experience that it goes beyond a black and white "will it damage the item" consideration for use of tongs. There is a lot of that however (and I've also seen tongs damage meat and veg a lot). In 2 of the 3 kitchens I've worked tongs have been forbidden.
It has just as much to do with the inelegance of tongs vs. the damage they do. They are considered tools for lazy, sloppy cooks who have no finesse. It seems that a cook who uses spoons, palate knives and meat forks has more touch with the food and less of a "bang it out" mentality.
Now, whether this is technically true or not is debatable. But I'll give you an example of differing opinions.
At one resto I worked at, I was to mix the salads with tongs (first mistake), then use a the tongs to pack the greens (2nd) in a ring mold on a plate, use a plastic squeeze bottle to tamp down the greens (3rd), then remove the mold. Now, the tongs were not the right tool for the job. They damaged the greens (even when I was gentle) and were not good. I hated it. Did not stay at this resto very long, though it got great reviews and is a highly regarded place in it's city.
At another resto, if I used tongs to mix a salad (or do anything else for that matter) I would have been absolutely ripped a new one. Hands are the tool. Greens are delicate, so treat them gently.
I indentify with the second philosophy.
So I dunno. The only thing I like them for is taking meat off the grill. But since at the two resto's who forbade tongs didn't have grills, it wasn't a problem.
-
Its gotta be hard for some people to exercise control over people who you view (and view you) as peers. I mean, she's not REALLY empowered to tell people what to do in this situation. Jamie or Jeff could very well tell her to f-off and what could she really do?
It's different when you are in an actual position of power (like an actual owner of a restaurant) vs. a faux position of power in which the consequences that would exist in the real world don't in this one.
People call Stephan arrogant and an a-hole because he does exactly what people think Radica should have done for this challenge which is strong arm and boss everyone around.
It's probably not an easy task and for someone without a strong personality it might be near impossible.
I just hate things like this because I think the show should be more about cooking skills and ability, not so much waiting tables and hostessing. I think that Radica was definitely a notch or two above Leah and Carla, and yet those two get to stay and she goes.
Bugs me.
-
Chicken parmagiana. Seems so easy. Chicken cutlets, tomato sauce, cheese. But it never comes out nearly as good as the take out italian/pizza place.
I can say that, besides the obvious advantage of time (multiple cooks working for 10+ hours a day to feed people) and expertise, the use of high quality stock, the use of fat (specifically butter), and proper seasoning are the main reasons that restaurant food tastes so much better (at great restaurants that is) than home cooked food. This is a generalization of course but fitting I think for most cases.
Clarified butter works great for chix parm...or at least 1/2 clarified and 1/2 oil. If properly fried it won't even absorb as much as you'd think. I wouldn't use whole butter as the extended time in the pan might cause it to burn and not be good. Plus whole butter has some water in it which might counter the crispy crust you would be going for. Season your bread crumbs (fresh bread crumbs, or at least panko, make a world of difference).
-
I dunno...but I would think you would follow a similar method as for lobster where you take it out of the shell and then cook it with some butter and seasonings.
I don't know what temp you should use but start with the lobster temps and see how it goes.
Let us know what happens.
-
One thing I always have on my station at work is several squeeze bottles of vinegar to adjust flavor on the fly.
In high end kitchens acid is very much talked about and considered when cooking.
My personal favorite is sherry vinegar, but banyuls is right up there. Things like verjus are great sometimes as well.
Sometimes it just takes a few drops to "brighten" the flavors of the dish. It can be something that you don't taste but if it wasn't there the dish wouldn't be as good, and sometimes you want to taste it strongly (like in a vinaigrette for example).
I would say along with the use of butter and stock, the use of acid is one reason big reason why restaurant food tastes so much better than home cooked food (as a general rule).
-
You might have overcrowded the roasting pan with vegetables, and their recipes were probably written with commercial convection ovens in mind as well.
There is no reason it should have taken that long however.
-
The idea is that mushrooms contribute glutamate to the broth resulting in an extra "meaty" quality to the liquid. Mushrooms contain natural MSG and I guess that is the idea.
-
I liked Ariane's digs at Hosea (he's a wimp!) and Leah in her exit interview. That schmoopy twosome is growing more saccharine by the episode, and I think Leah especially is the worst culprit of the "playing to stay unnoticed and alive" strategy.
But I can't believe, with such beautiful meats, these were the dishes presented. How could you, with such fresh, delicious pork, get rid of all the fat?
To be fair, its easy to armchair quarterback. And they were told that they would be cooking for the chefs and their families, so you might have to take non-chefs and children part of the equation.
I don't think for the guy it was a fat issue with the pork, it was more of a silverskin issue...which I can very much see the reverse of the situation in that context. As in, the judges saying to him "Why did you choose to leave the inedible silverskin on when you could just easily trim it off?"
"I was trying to keep some of the beautiful fat on the meat."
"Thats no excuse--you can always add fat later but serving silverskin is a huge no no."
--or something like that. I suppose he guessed wrong in this case.
Like I said, it's easy to sit and watch TV, but I bet it's a lot harder than it looks.
You've got to remove the silverskin from a pork tenderloin. I think the mistake was choosing to serve the least flavorful cut of the entire pig when they had an entire pig to select from.
That was my point, and Jeff's (is that his name?) as well, is the judges were complaining that he cut off all the fat, but under the fat is the silverskin, which should go. So he either leaves on silverskin with the fat, or trims both off. It seems he made the wrong choice, but I was saying how is he to know since he could potentially be admonished for either decision.
BTW, I think it was a pork loin not a tenderloin. But the point is the same. They did manage to work the belly into a dish as well though.
I just think his excuse of wanting to take the silverskin off is a valid one, and he did wrap it in caul fat to replace the fat he took off, so at least he understood what he was doing.
-
I use very high heat and deglaze as I go along. Turn the heat all the way up and stir often, and when you have a nice fond start on the bottom of the pan, deglaze with a bit of water and scrape and stir. This redistributes the sugars that were stuck on the bottom of the pan and gives you a nice even color. You may have to deglaze several times but it works.
Thats one method of doing it. Another is to just simply use very very low heat and wait for an hour or two (or more).
-
-
Rancid to me implies that it would be inedible. If something were slightly or just beginning to spoil I would call it "off."
If something is truly rancid odds are 99% of people would know due to smell and taste.
I don't think room temp. butter is a problem. If left out for weeks maybe but I've always understood that butter was fairly stable at room temp.
-
We use the term chop but rarely are we chopping vegetables like one would chop a bone in half with a cleaver. The chop motion commonly involves a elliptical motion of vertical and horizontal components so you are in a sense slicing with a downward motion. My knives can push cut very well but they are more effective with a slicing motion. So that makes me a slicer.
Isn't that what we are talking about? Slicing is the elliptical and chopping is the straight downward?
I disagree--I call what you said was a chop a slice...maybe thats where the confusion starts eh?
-
I liked Ariane's digs at Hosea (he's a wimp!) and Leah in her exit interview. That schmoopy twosome is growing more saccharine by the episode, and I think Leah especially is the worst culprit of the "playing to stay unnoticed and alive" strategy.
But I can't believe, with such beautiful meats, these were the dishes presented. How could you, with such fresh, delicious pork, get rid of all the fat?
To be fair, its easy to armchair quarterback. And they were told that they would be cooking for the chefs and their families, so you might have to take non-chefs and children part of the equation.
I don't think for the guy it was a fat issue with the pork, it was more of a silverskin issue...which I can very much see the reverse of the situation in that context. As in, the judges saying to him "Why did you choose to leave the inedible silverskin on when you could just easily trim it off?"
"I was trying to keep some of the beautiful fat on the meat."
"Thats no excuse--you can always add fat later but serving silverskin is a huge no no."
--or something like that. I suppose he guessed wrong in this case.
Like I said, it's easy to sit and watch TV, but I bet it's a lot harder than it looks.
-
It's more efficient, more accurate and cleaner.
I don't know that I buy any of that... could you explain? I can't see how it is any of those things. After all, it requires more motion. To me, that seems less efficient and less accurate. And cleaner? I just don't follow... I know that the microserrations that remain on a very sharp blade act like a small-scale serrated knife when you draw the blade across your food, but I come back to slicing vegetables for mirepoix (probably my most common slicing task): I don't see how slicing is going to buy you anything versus chopping (I'm sure I have a slight forward motion as I chop, but nothing like when I am actually slicing). Keep your knife sharp, that's the real key, as far as I can tell.
I'll explain based on my experiences. Just to clarify, I didn't mean "cleaner" in a sense of sanitation, I meant it in terms to less damage to the item being cut, smoother slices, etc.
To me, for example, I know I'm going to get more even slices and probably less waste it I julienne an onion. The chopping motion may be a bit faster, but I'll bet that a lot of the slices are different thicknesses. I also feel that, when slicing, you do less damage to the cells and the item will cook more evenly and retain more of its original structure than it you chop it up.
Being a professional as well, I feel that slicing is somehow less work and my arm/hand won't get fatigued since I am doing less work by taking advantage of the knife's blade. Less force and pressure required. If you have a nice sharp knife (and I do) maybe not a huge difference, but imagine over 10-12 hours.
The picture of "wedging" through an item is an accurate one. If you were to take a ribeye steak and chop it or "push" the blade into the meat for slices, think how that would look compared to a nice slice with a long thin blade. That is essentially what you are doing to the onions, etc. when you chop.
Now, if I was, say, filling a 5gal bucket with miorepoix for stock, I would probably "chop" the onions in half, carrots in half, etc. Because it doesn't matter for that product. But if I am julieening onions for carmelization or garnish, or slicing chives (or any herb), or whatever, I'm gonna be slicing.
And again, I'm not suggesting that I draw the full length of the knife through an onion for every slice or anything (like I would a protein) but there is a difference.
-
Slicing all the way. It's more efficient, more accurate and cleaner. Doing a chopping motion you are more likely to bruise, smash/squash and do damage to the thing that you are cutting, especially delicate things like herbs.
-
Nice find. I don't understand why they wont just group them all together so I can watch it instead of making me watch it in 2 minute snippets, but whatever.
Low food cost menu items
in Restaurant Life
Posted
Cabbage is great. Holds up well to a cook/reheat, and can be cooked an infinite number of ways to adapt to any dish.
I love a classic red wine cabbage--red wine, RW vinegar, touch of sugar, salt, onion, and finish with some grated green apple. Really good stuff--great with pork and duck especially.