Lessons 13 & 14: Veal stock, Pork, Rabbit, and Lamb

So I was a huuge slacker yesterday because I didn't take any pictures and didn't blog after class. What can I say? It was a rainy Monday after a long holiday weekend.  Well, on Monday we were surprised because Chef Allen wasn't there again!  Chef Lorrie took his place for the day and we got to experience yet another different teaching style by a very different chef.  We started out making our veal stock, which took a lot of time because we got a long lecture on stocks and we actually were more hands-on with making the stock.  

We skipped chopping skills and just quartered all of our vegetables for the mirepoix.  We finally started fabricating pork around 3:00.  We cut and trimmed pork chops, which we later grilled.  We also worked with some pork shoulder and separated the muscles and cubed the meat. Chef Lorrie definitely wasn't as concerned with perfection, but she was still very helpful. During her lecture she gave us a lot of information!  We didn't get to fabricating the rabbit until the last 20 minutes of class, which made us feel kind of rushed. Usually the last half hour is reserved for cleaning up and eating whatever we cooked that day. We didn't even have time to eat the pork chops we grilled, but I brought them home for my dad and he loved them!

Today Chef Allen entered the class a little late (leaving us in suspense as we wondered if he was going to be there today).  I must say I was relieved to have him back!  Class went by soo fast today as we had our last meat fabrication lesson on lamb.  First we worked on boning, trimming, and trussing the leg of lamb (picture on the top left).  It was pretty tough but we got through it okay.. I pricked my finger at one point and Chef Allen told me that baby lambs were going to start growing out of my thumb (oh how I missed his sense of humor).  While we were working on the lamb, some of the guys were straining the veal stock we made yesterday (made with browned veal bones, tomato paste, browned mirepoix, and herbs)  Here's a picture of Aaron straining the stock:

Next, we worked on trimming the rack of lamb (picture on the top right).  I never knew how much work went into trimming the bones.  It took a while, but it looked nice and clean when we were all done.  We roasted 4 racks for lunch and also made our usual par boiled, then sauteed potatoes.  The potatoes were extra buttery today (mmm).  

The lamb was delicious and I was even able to snag one to bring home for my dad to try (along with some extra bread!).  He loved it!

Thank goodness meat fabrication is OVER!!!  It was really interesting to learn how to cut different meats, poultry, and fish..... yet it was a messy/not very fun job!  I'm excited to get into sauces and soups!  Before I know it Mod 1 will be over.. only 1 more week!!!

Lesson 12: Saws and Cleavers

Ugh...Today was a very labor-intensive day!  I figured veal fabrication would be much like beef fabrication, which was fairly easy.  No no no, I learned it was not at all like beef.  

First of all, Chef Allen wasn't here today, so we had Chef Chris as our instructor today.  He was just a bit different from Chef Allen in both personality and teaching styles.  Chef Allen is pretty easy-going and has a more flamboyant personality and sense of humor--- Lady Gaga is always his pretend celebrity of choice that we are cooking for.. And we are always making a profit to buy more Prada merchandise.  We have gotten used to Chef Allen's rules and way of running a kitchen over the past couple weeks.  So when Chef Chris came in, it was definitely a huge reality check.  We were timed as we medium-diced our potatoes, got criticized for not bringing our peelers to class (we never peel our potatoes, just square them off), and had our dices checked over before they were added to our pot.  I was definitely a little intimidated by Chef Chris and I could tell the rest of the class was a little stiff and unsure of how comfortable they could act around our new instructor.  Throughout the rest of the class, we carefully followed Chef Chris's instructions and replied "Yes Chef!" to every single thing he said.

Pictured above is the HUGE piece of veal I had to fabricate.  And the picture shows it folded in half because it couldn't even fit on my cutting board!  The only way to cut veal chops and cut away the bone from the tenderloin was to use a saw and cleavers (yes, little ol' me was using a saw and cleaver to cut apart meat...just put that image in your head.  It's funny).  I was sweating bullets as I was trying to cut these pieces of meat perfectly.  I'll just say I had a very hard time.  I was feeling very flustered when I fell behind my other class mates and I was scared every time I had to ask Chef Chris for help.  He wasn't mean at all when I asked for help, but I seriously felt so helpless during this task and I couldn't get anything done by myself.  Even tying up the tenderloin seemed so easy to everyone else, but was an impossible task for me (thanks, Emily for helping me!!!!!)

I was happy to be done for the day.. but even cleaning up the kitchen was different with Chef Chris's rules.  But, we got it done and me, Emily, and Dana had a little photo shoot in the kitchen!

After class a bunch of us went to Limerick's across the street for a much needed beer.  It was a hard day, so we all deserved it.  I can't believe this is just the first time we all went out together.  It was nice to talk and bond after class.  It's always interesting hearing what everybody else has to say about how the class went.  Pretty much everybody agreed that Chef Chris was a little intimidating today, but we also wondered if we would be learning more and be more prepared for our careers with an instructor like Chef Chris.  Well, at least we will have multiple experiences with different chefs during our ICE education!

I'm EXHAUSTED!!  I must get my sleep so I can get started cooking tomorrow for Thanksgiving!  Uncle Mike and Kim also come tomorrow :)

My mom and I have to cook 2 types of stuffings, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, chocolate pudding pie, sweet potatoes, gravy, shrimp dip, and chop crudite tomorrow!  Busy busy day!

Lesson 11: Beef Fabrication....aka STEAK!

I really feel like we're moving along so fast in module 1!  Every day we're working with a new protein and I'm learning SO much!  We haven't been doing much cooking on our own yet..just simple techniques and recipes, but every day is seriously a new adventure!

After chopping our mirepoix and receiving a lecture from Chef about stocks and beef, we began fabricating our first cuts of beef.  First, we portioned out and trimmed strip steaks (the picture above on the right).  Next, we trimmed some flank steak.  On the left is a picture of Dana and Emily cutting and trimming (and eating) the tenderloin filet's that we had for lunch!  

While this was all going on, chicken and duck stocks were simmering away on the stoves.  The stocks smelled sooooooo good.  The next free weekend I have I definitely want to make a big batch of stock to have in.  I never realized how important it is as a medium to a dish.  And it's soo easy!  There's no real measurement or recipe involved and every stock is different.  Here's a picture of our overflowing pot of duck stock:

Finally it was time to cook!  Our previously par boiled potatoes were sauteed, and Chef showed us how to make wonderful, creamy, buttery mashed potatoes.  I saw how much butter and cream he put in... and I'll just say it was A LOT. By no means was this a healthy potato dish haha!  I was in charge of making the steaks for my table.. I heated oil in a saute pan over high heat and added our 6 oz filet's.  They cooked for 4 minutes on each side and were perfectly medium rare:

Almost time for our Monday lunch of steak and potatoes!  Here's Emily slicing up some warm French bread:

I was a very full girl on my train ride home.  Chef also whipped up French onion soup with some duck stock and sauteed onions, so I brought that home..along with some of the mashed potatoes and leftover bread!

When I got home I was put to work again!  I brined the Thanksgiving turkey.. Our turkey is HUGE--21 pounds! I made a simple brine (Anne Burrel's recipe) with celery, onion, carrots, rosemary, sage, bay leaves, garlic, water, apple cider, salt, and sugar.. it's now all set to absorb some wonderful flavors until I take it out on Wednesday :)

Lesson 10: Poultry Fabrication

Today started out the same as usual, prepping our mirepoix.. We're really improving our chopping skills!   Then it was time to cut apart a chicken.  I wasn't too nervous to do this for a number of reasons:  1. It's dead  2.  There are no funky colored guts pouring out of it  3.  It doesn't smell really bad     .. Also I'm used to working with chicken meat, so not a big deal.  However, I've never cut a chicken into pieces before it has been cooked, so it was interesting to learn the correct way to cut it so that you get the perfect pieces out of it.  Above is a picture of my first chicken (we each cut 2).  We also learned how to truss a chicken, which I paid extra attention to so I can truss the Thanksgiving turkey next week!!  On our second chicken, we learned how to make a "supreme" cut, which is a semi-boneless skinless breast with part of the wing joint still connected.  I always wanted to learn how to get that cut out of a chicken, since I've had it many times in gourmet restaurants.  When we finished cutting up our chicken, we seasoned it with salt, white pepper, and fresh nutmeg and placed it on a baking sheet with some chopped onions.  White wine was added before we placed it in a 375 degree oven to roast.

While the chicken roasted, we got our potatoes cooking (same recipe that we've been making) and we started fabricating our ducks.  When I first put my duck on the cutting board, Chef told us to take out the neck bone, the giblets, and the heart.  I was confused as to how to get it out, then I lifted it upside down and was extremely surprised to see it all fall out on my cutting board!  GROSS... but less work for me.. I thought I would have to dig it out of the duck!  After working with the 2 chickens, it seemed very easy cutting up the duck.  The meat was more tender so it was easier to cut through.  We didn't have a chance to cook the duck today so we were able to bring home the pieces we got out of it.   I'll have to find a good recipe this weekend so I can cook the duck for my family!

At around 4:00 the chicken was done, the potatoes were being plated, and the bread was fresh out of the oven.  The kitchen smelled fabulous!  We finished cleaning up our stations and dug into the delicious food we prepared!  There is so much satisfaction eating a meal in which every step of the process you were a part of, from dicing the potatoes and onions to fabricating and seasoning the chicken.  What a sense of accomplishment!

Lesson 9: Shellfish!

Today was a verrrry interesting day!  The day started out as usual with an hour of chopping tons of veggies for our mirepoix.  Here's a pic of a HUGE onion I had to chop up!

Chef lectured and demonstrated how to clean and fabricate a variety of shellfish, including clams, shrimp, mussels, oysters, scallops, and LOBSTER.  Most people in the class got a squeamish look when Chef showed us how to stab the lobster, slice down the head and again down the tail.  It was finally time to grab a lobster and try it out for myself.. Here's a picture of my poor lobster on my cooking board:

Chef showed us how to calm down a lobster by petting its back... so I did this for a good 5 minutes before chopping it open.  After mentally preparing myself, I finally did it... and kept frantically asking the people around me if I was doing it right.  I knew that if you didn't do it quick enough, the lobster was suffering so I wanted to make sure I killed it right away!  I didn't want to hurt the poor thing :(     I continued fabricating the lobster by taking out the roe and the liver..while doing so, the legs were still moving!  Naturally, I screamed "ahh its moving!!!!!"..but was reassured by the rest of the group that it was dead and everything was going to be okay! I twisted the claws off and threw the head into the stock pot for our shellfish stock!  After that, i prepared the calamari by taking a squid and basically pulling it apart and de-gutting it to get the nice rings and tiny tentacles at the bottom of the squid.  This was reserved for the seafood chowder.  Next, I peeled and de-veined the shrimp, which was a peice-a-cake... I've done this before, plus they were dead and didn't have any guts :)

We spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and shucking clams and oysters.  After the lobster was cooked, Chef demonstrated how to crack the lobster claws in the correct places to get all of the meat out for our chowder.  After the stock was strained, our huge 3 pots of seafood chowder was made.  All of our vegetables were added to the pan to sweat, then our stock was added, along with all of the seafood we prepared.  While we were waiting for our chowder to cook, we had some oysters and clam on the half shell.  Yes, it was my first time trying this.. I have to admit, I don't know what the big fuss is about this.. just tasted slimy and had no real flavor.  I'm guessing it is an acquired taste that i have yet to acquire ;)  

Finally our chowder was ready to eat!  This is "million dollar chowder" because there is sooo much fresh seafood in it.  The meat of 17 lobsters, shrimp, oysters, clams, mussels, and calamari!  It was one delicious soup!  So flavorful and creamy!  I brought a large container home.. I knew my dad and brother would love it!  My poor brother didn't get any though because my dad ate it!  He enjoyed it a lot and admitted that you can't get soup like that anywhere. I think my dad's exact words were "Take a picture of me eating the soup!!!  I want to be in your blog!!!"  So here ya go, dad! (love you)

Lesson 8: Fish fabrication, fish stock & soup

I knew that there would be days in culinary school that I would not enjoy so much....... today was one of those days.  I felt a little anxious today knowing that I would have to filet a fish and probably take out the fish guts and get a little dirty, but I was also sorta excited to learn what to do with a whole fish.  I rarely cook fish, since I just started liking fish about a year ago... so I knew today would be an interesting experience.

The day started out with a paper cut and  a little cut on my knuckle from sharpening my knife.. plus I had a band-aid on my thumb from a cut I got over the weekend that keeps opening up.  All of the band-aids on my fingers did not make cutting up a fish that much easier.  We spent the first hour and a half of class chopping veggies and herbs for our stock and soup.  Then Chef lectured us about fish and stocks and demonstrated how to fabricate sole.  We each took a whole sole and got ready to cut out 4 filet's, take out the guts, clean out all the blood and reserve the bones and head for the fish stock.  I was doing okay with my gross, slimy fish until it came down to taking the guts out.  Let's just say it was a messy experience.  At one point, me and another girl were over the sink trying to get all the guts out, but they just weren't coming out!!!  I felt so nauseous with the overwhelming smell of fish.. I was not a happy camper. Here's a picture of the whole sole.. My hands were yucky the rest of the time so I couldn't get pictures of the other fish.

The next fish we filleted was the bass.. This one was a little easier because it was already gutted.  Then we filleted a mackerel.  This fish was very soft and buttery.  It's a sushi-grade fish so students were trying it raw with a little lemon juice.  I would have tried it if I didn't feel so sick.  Taking the filet's out of this fish was pretty easy, but taking the skin off was more difficult. Because of its buttery texture, it kept falling apart as I tried to slice off the thin layer of skin.

Finally we cleaned up our stations and learned how the fish stock was made.  Chef let a white mirepoix sweat in a large stock pot, then added chicken stock, white wine, a bouquet de garni, and the fish bones.  We strained the stock and added some of it to the our fish soup.  Our fish soup contained a ton of veggies that we chopped up in the beginning of class and fresh herbs. Here's a picture of the soup simmering (without the fish added).

We added the fish pieces at the very end (a mixture of sole and bass).  It was a delicious soup, but I just loaded up on bread today since I still wasn't feeling too good.  I brought a large container home with me though!  On the train ride home I definitely felt like I smelled like fish! AAAnd of course I was smushed in the middle of a 3 seater during the whole ride home.  I felt bad for the 2 guys sitting next to me.. They were probably wondering where the fishy smell was coming from.. ME :(

I had sauteed swish chard with beans when I came home which made me happy!  And I took a nice long shower so I no longer smell like fish :)

Tomorrow's another interesting day... shellfish!