Day eight: Where I learn the true meaning of culinary school
Posted on | May 14, 2009
Yesterday and today were supposed to be our salad days. The plan was, each team was to be assigned a handful of salads to make on the first day, then get a new handful on the second.
Only, yesterday, our salad making was interrupted by the Ansul system, which promptly shut down the kitchen and lead to hours of scrubbing.
So, today, we were told to make the salads we nearly finished yesterday.
I hated this plan. After all, I had practically done everything there was to do for my salad yesterday and I didn’t see any value in doing it all over again.
Turns out, I could not have been more wrong.
Salad deja vu
I wanted a new salad to make. I didn’t want to make the salad I nearly finished yesterday. I wanted a new challenge.
This is what was running through my mind as I was making the salad today. As I was tweaking little things in the salad, like using a different vinegar for the vinaigrette because the one I used yesterday was just too harsh. And like using a Pullman loaf for the croutons because I didn’t like the look of the croutons I made yesterday from the baguette. And even making those croutons in the oven, instead of the sauté pan for more even cooking.
Little tweaks that made the salad better. And taught me quite a lot.
And it dawned on me that this was an amazing learning experience. One that ended up with what I thought was the best salad in the class: Tasty, nicely executed, and prettily plated. (The recipe is below).
If only every day could give us this type of in-depth experience.
Culinary school: The dream
All this got me thinking about culinary school.
See, I like food. I like preparing it, reading about it, eating it. I like experimenting with it.
So, naturally, I thought culinary school would be all about food. I thought we would invest hours and hours constructing and deconstructing dishes striving, forever striving, to make them better and better.
I thought culinary school was all about learning to be a great cook. It is not.
Culinary school: The reality
Culinary school is about learning how to be a restaurant cook. So, instead of carefully examining dishes and gaining great depth, we are rapidly executing recipes, one after another.
Think of culinary school as a stone skipped across a lake. Bounce, it hits salads and you make a salad; bounce, it hits cured meats and you cure, say, some bacon; bounce, it hits costing and you figure out how to cost a recipe, and so on.
And all of this happens at a breakneck speed. Why? Because that’s what restaurant cooks need to survive.
It’s a shame every day can’t be like today. The depth of learning was great.
Culinary school: The real reality!
Okay, enough with the philosophy. Let’s get down to reality, culinary school style. Before the lecture today, Other Guy stood up and announced that he had something to say. We listened. He said it was inappropriate for some students to leave and go to Starbucks while other students were still cleaning. Complaining Girl (why you remember Complaining Girl, don’t you?) said, “Hey, if you’ve got something to say to me then just say it.” Yeah, Other Guy was talking about her and trying to be diplomatic about it. But now the gloves were off and he just lit into her. And, the reality is, Other Guy is right: Complaining Girl does tend to skip out early, leaving the rest of us scrubbing grease while she saunters around the block for her Starbucks special which, when she is done drinking, she turns into her lunch by noisily crunch, crunch, crunching those damn ice cubes with an open mouth vigor.
Culinary school is nothing if not interesting.
Recipe: Warm frisée salad
1 cup bacon, cut into a small dice
2 shallots, julienned
2 heads frisée, roughly chopped
Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons smooth (not grainy) Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mild balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon sugar (more if needed)
Salt to taste
Croutons
Four slices of white bread, crusts removed and cut into medium dice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Poached eggs
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 large pot simmering water
4 eggs
First, put your water on for your poached eggs. Use a big pot and lots of water; they need it. Then preheat your oven to 425 F.
Now, toss the croutons with the oil and the salt and pepper. Taste one. Is it nice? I bet you have to add more salt. No, trust me, add more salt. Taste again. Better? See, I told you so. We tend not to use enough salt. Now spread them on a rack on a cookie sheet and pop them into the oven. They will take 5 – 10 minutes, but keep an eye on them; these things love to burn.
To make your vinaigrette, simply toss all your dressing ingredients into a bowl and whip until mixed. Taste. Is it too tart? Add some sugar (I am always amazed at how much sugar these things need, so don’t be shy about sprinkling more in). And don’t be shy with the salt (my general rule is to add salt until I am just beginning to taste it; and that is always more than I think).
Next up, your poached eggs. these are easy: You simply add these to the water and let them cook until they are tender (the ideal poached eggs have cooked whites, but a runny yolk). This should only take a few minutes.
Here are some tips to make great poached eggs, straight from culinary school. First, crack your eggs, one at a time, into a little bowl, and gently pour each egg into your water (I put the lip of the bowl right into the water to make the transition from bowl to water easy for the egg). Second, use a slotted spoon to remove your egg (if it is not quite done, feel free to put it back in the water to continue cooking) and place it gently on a plate lined with a paper towel. This will absorb the extra water. Third, when you plate your egg (in this case, placing it on top of your salad), tuck the ragged edges of white under your egg. This makes it look pretty.
Finally, let’s make the salad. First, render bacon in a sauté pan at medium – low heat. Once it is just starting to crisp, remove it and place it on a plate covered with a paper towel (this will absorb the excess grease). If there is a lot of grease in your pan, feel free to remove most of it, leaving only a tablespoon or so.
Toss your shallots into your pan and cook them until they are tender. Remove them, too, to a fresh plate lined with a paper towel.
Add your frisée, tossing it with the remaining fat, then removing it just after it has started to wilt. Place it in a large mixing bowl.
Add your shallots and most of your bacon and all your vinaigrette (it should not have separated – mustard is a great emulsifier – but if it has, give it a whisk first to recombine). Toss. Place on the center of your plate, aiming for height as opposed to breadth (you are trying to create a plateau here). Sprinkle a few piece of bacon around your salad. Ditto with your croutons. Top with your poached egg.
Enjoy!
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7 Responses to “Day eight: Where I learn the true meaning of culinary school”
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May 14th, 2009 @ 7:46 am
Hush Puppies
1 cup self rising cornmeal
1/2 cup self rising flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 finely chopped small onion
1 cup milk
Mix all the ingredients together. Using a small portion scoop (ice cream scoop), carefully drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown.
*I sometimes will add a bit of jalapeno or corn kernels to this recipe to jazz it up. It’s a very simple, plain recipe, but it is a good one that is quick and easy.
May 14th, 2009 @ 8:52 am
I like your comments about salt. You’ve mentioned before how necessary it is and how we think we use too much. But the plain truth is that food just isn’t the same without it. I just bought a new box of salt and realized that I have used two boxes in about 20 months. (New relationship/home.) My boyfriend is horrified by how much I go through. But, we do eat a lot of pasta and rice and it NEEDS salt! Found your blog last week, love it; I look forward to each new installment.
May 14th, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
I so hear you on the lack of depth in culinary school. I asked Chef during class on Monday when we’d be able to start improvising with the recipes. He replied, “Never. You will never have a chance to improvise in this class or at this level.”
It’s a shame, because that is the part I love – it’s the part where I learn the most about food.
I wish we had a cooking improv class.
May 14th, 2009 @ 5:46 pm
I got a job a few months ago in a restaurant kitchen. I’d never worked back of the house – always floor/bar, but I talked my way in because I cater occasionally and because – duh- I know food. I was beyond excited. Never cooked pro before but given a shot. Yay!
Restaurant kitchen was the worst place ever for me. I had no clue – recipe or instinct? Argh!!
Follow recipes if you are to cook in someone else’s kitchen. Follow your own ideal if you are to cook in your own – be it in your home, catering on the side, or owning brasserie pour l’instant in your neighborhood…
May 16th, 2009 @ 9:54 am
I’ve seen a lot of salads lately with the poached eggs. Very popular. Somewhere along the line when learning to make salads when I was younger… probably home ec or maybe Julia Childs… or my mom (who majored in home ec… and became a dietician). Lettuce should be torn not chopped because chopping browns the edges… and they should be bite size pieces easily handled with a fork. Your dressing sounds great. Oh… and you may not get to improvise in class. Don’t let that stop you…improvise on your own. My mom and I try recipes as is first then change it up to fit our own tastes. took cooking guy a while to get used to my commentary when wed make something or he cooked something for me and I’d say that would be great with some lemon thyme or balsamic vinegar would be a nice addition. Take notes on what you like and would like to change if you made the recipe again. This should also help you with your aspirations of food critic writing. I think that’s the creative aspect of personal coking and creating your own signature dishes. Going to a restaurant you want to know if you order a certain dish it will be prepared the same way each time. Go for your creative side. They have the time to teach you the basics… the foundation. Like occupational therapy school… we spent like maybe a day on work/industrial rehab. when I ended up in that setting after school (planned on pediatrics) I spent a year of in depth on the job training on site in assembly line doing work transition…. researching the best evaluations… etc. Sounds like culinary school is the same… highlight and construct a representative dish and move to the next. You want to know more in depth it is an advanced class or personal research. Good luck!
May 26th, 2009 @ 9:24 am
I really enjoy reading your take on and experience of culinary school. I think it’s something I’d like to do and seeing your view of it I think will make me a little more prepared for what to expect if that ever becomes a reality for me.
December 5th, 2009 @ 11:51 pm
What an interesting and info packed site. Thanks for this, I really appreciate what you have done here. Keep it up, and I will be back for more. Bill Kilner