Hunger-Inducing Photos

I'm in a non-kitchen class this rotation—the first part is Restaurant Cost Control (basically a business course for restauranteurs) and the second half is Wine & Beverage. Hopefully I'll have some interesting material to blog about once we start tasting wines next week, but for now, I won't ramble on about food costs, revenues, and profits. Instead, I thought I'd post some pictures of food from Meat Fab that never made it into my previous posts. 

The simple bowl mussels above of is one of my favorite things I've made in culinary school—or anywhere—so far. Mussels are something I would never have considered making for myself before—I guess I was afraid that I wouldn't cook them correctly and end up making myself and others sick. In reality, they're unbelievably easy to cook, and once you get them steaming in a pan or pot, you know they're safely done once the shell has opened. If it doesn't open at all, throw that mussel away. 

I mimicked the mussel demo that Chef K. had done earlier that morning and sauteed mine in a pan with some shallots, garlic, white wine, tomatoes smoked on the stovetop, and a little parsley. I added sliced mushrooms to my version, because in my opinion most things are better with mushrooms. The major difference between my mussels and Chef's was that at the end of cooking the sauce down (after removing the cooked mussels), he added about half a stick of butter. I decided to omit the butter all together and see how it tasted, and I actually enjoyed the lighter version more. It was really fresh-tasting and allowed the flavors of the shellfish and smoked tomato to shine.

On crustacean day, I decided to honor my Maryland roots and tackle the softshell crabs above. They're blue crabs that are eaten shortly after molting their hard shells, so you can eat the entire thing. I grew up finding these on menus all the time, but many in my class had never seen or tasted them before. A few classmates worked with me to make a few different coatings—we did a cornmeal crust (spiked with a little cayenne pepper), panko bread crumbs, and tempura batter. After dipping the crabs in flour, then egg wash, then crumbs, we fried them in hot oil. My favorite was definitely the cornmeal-crusted version—the coating was really flavorful and it provided the thin, crispy exterior that makes a softshell crab so special. 

On shellfish day, we also had a big bushel of Gulf oysters to work with. After my mussel dish was finished, I helped a classmate make these Oysters Rockefeller. It's a classic preparation in which oysters on the half-shell are topped with a spinach cream sauce and bread crumbs. We made a bechamel sauce and added a whole bunch of chopped spinach and some grated parmesan to it, then let it cool and spooned this over freshly-shucked oysters. We used panko bread crumbs for their awesome crunch and put the oysters in the oven just until the crumbs were brown. I've had this dish many times in New Orleans and thought our attempt was pretty decent.

This is actual Japanese Kobe beef, imported from Japan with a certificate bearing the name of the cow it came from (no joke). A classmate who works at one of Atlanta's top steakhouses brought it in to class for us to try—the chef there gave it to him specifically as a gift for our culinary school class. I certainly did not cook any of this meat myself—it needed to be handled by a true steak expert, since the smallish piece that he was given costs close to $100 in the restaurant. My classmate cooked it perfectly and sliced it thinly so everyone could have a little piece. Please forgive the culinary cliche, but it truly melted in the mouth like butter.

I really never expected to eat foie gras in culinary school. But when a few people in my class expressed to Chef K. that they'd never tasted it before, he made sure to bring some in so that they could experience this luxury menu item. Another of my classmates works at Craft and prepared the slab of foie the same way that they do it at the restaurant. Chef Tom Colicchio, Craft's owner and one of my favorite chefs, is known for keeping things simple and letting great ingredients speak for themselves, and this foie gras dish was very indicative of that style.

I watched and asked questions as my friend worked: he cut apples into a perfect brunoise (1/8 x 1/8 x 1/8 inch dice) and cooked them down with some apple cider and vinegar (I think!), then put them into a Cryovac bag and did some sort of sous-vide thing to them so that the apples absorbed most of the juice. He simply seared the foie gras in a hot saute pan and topped it with the apples. I had one tiny bite, and it was still completely decadent. It was interesting to hear what people had to say after tasting this delicacy for the first time. It's hard to compare the richness and silkiness of foie gras to anything else. 

Looking back, now that I'm sitting in a classroom, I realize just how spoiled we were over the last few weeks!

Applying My Kitchen Skills...

While I was living in D.C. and Zack was here in Atlanta, Valentine's Day fell in the middle of the work week, so both years I celebrated by cooking dinner (and drinking lots of wine) with my awesome roommate, Becky. Looking back on those dinners, I realize just how far I've come thanks to Le Cordon Bleu (ha-I could be on one of their commercials with that line!) Both of my meals for Becky turned out very well, but I used to cook by adhering strictly to whatever recipe I'd printed from epicurious.com, making sure I had every ingredient it called for and measuring each one precisely. 

This year, when Zack and I cooked Valentine's Day dinner together, I didn't follow any recipes, save for a few notes from school that I checked to remind myself of a couple techniques. I wanted to re-create and improvise upon a couple of dishes I'd made in class and wished Zack had been able to taste. I didn't measure anything all night. With the help of my hard-working sous chef, I pulled off my most ambitious meal yet.

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Star Provisions, a gourmet market attached to what is considered the best restaurant in Atlanta (same owners). We'd discussed the menu earlier and were planning to splurge on our proteins here: top-grade tuna (for a tuna tartare appetizer) and rack of lamb (for our main course). 

We got everything else at Whole Foods, which was a complete mob scene on Valentine's Day (has it always been like this, or is everyone just staying in to cook thanks to the economy?) Then it was home to start prepping. Having some sort of timeline is a must for executing a big meal like this with several different components. 

I started with the risotto, because it's a time-intensive process and I knew I could just finish it first, move on to everything else and then reheat it, with little more chicken stock stirred in, right before serving. We had a bunch of red and yellow peppers in the fridge already, so I decided to incorporate these into the risotto. I diced the peppers and sauteed them with some garlic separately, then stirred this flavorful mixture into the finished risotto with some grated parmesan cheese.

While I worked on the risotto, Zack chopped rosemary and thyme for the lamb (not his favorite job). Then, after cutting our beautiful 8-bone rack of lamb into two half-racks, he seasoned them thoroughly with salt, pepper, and the herbs he'd just chopped:

Sous chef Zack seasoning the lamb (he's very meticulous)

Then the racks were ready for me to sear in a hot pan. Once browned on all sides, they went onto the roasting pan to rest. During the 40 minutes or so that it took for the lamb to rest and roast in the oven, Zack put together the asparagus. I gave him free reign over this one because he said he kept getting the bad jobs! He halved some fresh tomatoes and put them in the pan with the asparagus spears, topping it all with garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil, then sprinkled the tomatoes with some of the extra chopped herbs--a really nice touch! A little grated parmesan went on top of it all during the last few minutes of cooking in the oven.

Searing the lamb

I made a red wine sauce in the pan the lamb had been seared in. This is something I would have never known how to do pre-culinary school, but all it takes is a couple of chopped shallots, red wine (we used pinot noir and drank the rest of it with dinner), and veal stock (we bought veal glace--a concentrated veal stock--at Star Provisions). I sweated the shallots, then let this all reduce until it produced an extremely flavorful sauce thick enough to coat the back of a spoon--this is the sign that your sauce is ready, called nape in French. 

Once again, the hardest part about cooking lamb for me is taking it out of the oven at just the right time to achieve medium-rare meat. I temped it and took it out a few degrees under 130, then let it rest for 20 minutes. During this time, I put together the tuna tartare from start to finish. The kicker for this dish was the little ramekins that I bought to mold it in, like I had done with the salmon tartare in class. For this version, I decided to add a layer of avocado--both for its creamy flavor that compliments tuna so well and for a beautiful color contrast. 

I diced the tuna carefully and mixed it with minced shallots, thinly sliced scallions, a minced jalapeno pepper, lime juice, a touch of olive oil, and a few drops of hot sauce. I pressed this mixture into the ramekins and topped it with a layer of chopped, seasoned avocado. I was going for all-out restaurant presentation here, so I sliced cucumbers paper thin and arranged them around the plate. We also had sesame crackers on the table for scooping up the tartare.

Plated tuna tartare

The first course was delicious and I enjoyed it thoroughly...but I was still waiting for the moment of truth: slicing the lamb. I worried that it would be a little too rare, and in that case I'd just put the sliced chops in the oven for a minute. No big deal. But when I sliced the chops, once again they were a rosy medium-rare. I think I've got rack of lamb down now, officially. I sliced each rack in half and plated them with some risotto, asparagus, and sauce. Our appetizer may have been dainty (Zack went back to the extra tuna mixture in the fridge for seconds), but this was a huge plate of food! 

Roasted Rack of Lamb with Pinot Noir Sauce, Red-and-Yellow-Pepper Risotto, Parmesan Asparagus: restaurant-worthy description, no?

We could taste how high-quality the lamb from Star Provisions was--but we also patted ourselves on the back for seasoning (Zack) and cooking (me) it so perfectly. Team effort! The risotto was infused with roasted pepper and garlic and was super-creamy, even though I didn't use any cream or even butter. The roasted asparagus and tomatoes were garlicky and full of flavor. After all this, I was so glad we didn't mess with baking anything for dessert. The long-stemmed strawberries that we bought at Whole Foods, along with everyone else in Atlanta, were perfect. 

Rack of Lamb, Take 2

Remember the practical exam in Skills 2, when my mystery basket contained rack of lamb and it intimidated me half to death? Although I did avoid disaster and present an edible plate in the end, I've been eager to cook lamb again—without overcooking it or being scared this time. I got the chance today in Meat Fab...it was Lamb Day! 

Chef K. started off with a demo, instructing us how to properly French the racks of lamb. It's really very easy—simpler, I think, than a lot of the other fabrication we've done. Even breaking down chickens is a bit more complicated. He showed us how to get the bones perfectly clean without having to scrape them, which was great because I can't stand that scraping sound of a knife against bone...gives me the creeps. 

After I mimicked his demo to French my half-rack of lamb (4 chops), I cooked it following the same procedure I'd learned in Skills 2. I seasoned the lamb with salt, pepper, and rosemary, then seared it on each side in a hot saute pan. While letting it rest, I started to put together a sauce. I found some dried apricots and figs and wanted to incorporate those, so I soaked them in wine and then cooked them down with more wine and some lamb stock that we had made. I also added a touch of balsamic vinegar. There are no recipes in Meat Fab, and I've loved the opportunity to just play around with flavors and get creative. This sauce turned out delicious—the wine and stock really balanced out the sweetness of the fruit.

Apricot-fig sauce

Then it was time for the tough part: cooking the lamb to a perfect medium-rare in the oven. Using the ovens at school is always problematic, since we're always opening and closing them to check on different things and letting heat escape. We have thermometers to temp meats in our knife kits, but I just don't trust them sometimes. Chefs are simply able to tell when meat is done by looking at it or touching it—I'm not quite there yet. 

Chef L., our assistant chef in this class, (the same Chef L. from Skills 1, if you actually remember all of these letters!) told me to take the lamb out once it reached 135 degrees and let it rest for medium-rare. I checked it after about 20 minutes and the thermometer still came out cool when I inserted it into the rack. After seven more minutes or so, I checked it again and although it wasn't quite at 135, I decided to let it rest instead of running the risk of overcooking. If the lamb was a little too rare when I sliced it, I figured I could always put the sliced chops back in the oven for a minute or two. When it's overcooked and no longer rosy pink, you can't go back.

The lamb resting

I let the meat rest about five minutes—if you cut it immediately, blood will run all over the plate, and that's not so appetizing (not to mention all of the flavor and moisture that is lost). I was thrilled when I sliced into it and saw rosy pink meat! No need to put anything back into the oven, it was ready to go. One of my restaurant vet classmates helped me plate it beautifully with some of my sauce:

Finished plate!

Chef K. also broke down a whole lamb shank today, and many of my classmates used some of that meat to make braises and stews. My favorite taste of the day was a brothy, Mediterranean-flavored lamb stew made with swiss chard and romaine lettuce—surprisingly, lettuce tastes amazing after simmering like this. It softens kind of like collard greens and picks up all of the meaty flavor of the broth. My classmate who made it is Greek and she grew up eating this dish. I was obsessed and can't wait to try my hand at her recipe. 

Greek lamb stew simmering

As proud as I was of my perfectly-cooked rack of lamb, this was the most delicious dish of the day. Thanks, Nicki!

Tasty Tartare

We spent the first six days of Meat Fab cooking, well, meat in all guises--chicken, beef, pork, game birds like pheasant and cornish hen, rabbit, even alligator (kinda chewy and easy to overcook). Today we moved on to fish, and I couldn't have been happier. We each filleted a whole, head-on striped bass and a whole trout. Chef K. worked on two huge salmon for his demo, one wild-caught and one farm-raised. We cryovacked all of the bass and trout for other classes and spent our production time cooking all of that salmon. 

This class is very laissez-faire...after we fabricate whatever protein we're working with, the chefs basically let us cook it however we want to. We also head into the walk-in cooler and make sides with whatever vegetables and starches we have on hand. Our class works really well together and it's been a lot of fun. Today, everyone kind of did their own thing with the salmon because there was so much of it. Instead of grilling or sauteing a few portions, I decided to take the end pieces--left over after Chef cut the filets into 7 ounce portions--and make a tartare. 

I love raw fish and although I've never made tartare before, I've ordered it enough to have a general idea of what to do and it seemed easy enough. I was also inspired by my friend Becky, who scanned the pictures in my last post before reading it thoroughly and thought that I'd created the beautiful tuna tartare that was actually the handiwork of Laurent Tourondel (the extremely famous chef from BLT Steak)! I knew my tartare wouldn't be as beautiful as that one, but I wanted to see if I could pull one off that at least tasted good.

I looked for some citrus to complement the fish, remembering the delicious tartare with orange segments that Chef M. had made for us in Skills 1. There were no oranges to be found in the cooler, but I did come across a perfectly ripe mango. Mango and salmon...sounded good to me. I diced the mango and minced a couple of shallots and a bunch of parsley. Then, I chopped up the raw salmon into small pieces and tossed it with everything else in a bowl. It looked colorful and appetizing, but needed a kick of some sort, so I added lemon juice to give it some acid and seasoned with salt. So simple!

Look how awesome it looked after I went all fancy and molded it with a ramekin. Chef K. said it looked sexy. Foodies use sex analogies to describe dishes all the time, but still! This totally made my day. I even got a few raw fish-phobes in my class to try it and like it.

My first attempt at tartare