What we learned in culinary school this week: Week 18

We wrapped up baking with Cookies and Candy on Monday, but guess what? Out sick again. My classmates didn't seem particularly taken with the stuff they made, but I think I'm more into the baking aspect of cooking than a lot of them. I actually took a candy making class at the school a while back (and made marshmallows and caramel), so I don't feel like I missed a lot, plus we'll cover this a lot more when I'm in the Full-Time Baking and Pastry Program.

Starting Tuesday, we embarked on ethnic food studies, starting with Asian food. Tuesday was Chinese, Wednesday was Japanese and Korean, and Thursday was Southeast Asian. I love Asian food, so this was a treat.

Friday we did Gastropub. We prepped a variety of dishes, then were supposed to get beer from Smog City Brewery in Torrance. Unfortunately I started to feel sick to my stomach while cooking, so I left early and missed the beer. Really sick of being sick. I went for the longest time without missing a single day, was really hoping to keep that streak for the whole program.

We went over various types of soy sauces, tofu, noodles and rice, plus a truckload of other uniquely Asian ingredients. In China (other than the north) rice is the focal point of meals. Small portions of meat and vegetables are added. BTW, always rinse your rice before cooking it.

We were advised not to spend big bucks on a wok. Just not necessary. They're about $15 at Asian markets.

Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same thing. Sake is an alcoholic rice wine. Like cooking with wine, use the good sake for drinking and the lesser quality sake for cooking.

In Asian society, they often don't differentiate between breakfast, lunch and dinner the way we do in the west. A classmate who had visited Vietnam said she had Pho (beef noodles) for breakfast every day.

Let's look at some food!

Beef Chow Fun. I'd never had it before and it
was absolutely delicious. I've been missing out.

Bok Choy with Mushrooms.

Fried rice.

Fried rice, up close and personal.

Potstickers.

Galbi Beef Short Ribs.

Miso Soup.

Stir Fried Cellophane Noodles.

Rolling sushi.

Sushi.

Yellowtail Teriyaki.

Thai Coconut Vegetable Soup.

I LOVE Pad Thai!

Yellow Curry Chicken.

Coconut Ice Cream.

Is it possible for food to be too delicious?

Via io9: How "Hyperpalatable" Foods Could Turn You Into A Food Addict.

Given that we naturally respond favorably to salty, fatty and sweet tastes, the idea makes sense. This is also the first time I've heard the term "hyperpalatable", but I think I'll be using it in the future.

Six weeks

I looked at the calendar and realized I have only six weeks left in culinary school. I knew it would go fast, but it was so easy to ignore while time was flying by. My classmates and I are going to be a reluctant group of graduates.

What we learned in culinary school this week: Week 17 (Part 2)

Cakes!!!

There are two main types of cakes: Butter, which uses a chemical leavening agent (baking soda or baking powder) and sponge, which is leavened with eggs. We also went over different types of flour, which I won't bore you with, as well as frostings and vanilla and vanilla extracts. Did you know the vanilla bean is the second most expensive bean in the world? Only saffron is pricier. To make vanilla extract, the beans are soaked in alcohol for about a month. The highest quality vanilla extract is 35% alcohol or less. Bourbon, Madagascar and Tahitian are the best.

When making cakes from scratch, your eggs should always be room temperature. If you can't wait, put them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes and this will bring them to room temp.

Never fill a cake pan more than 3/4 of the way. Also, if your cake domes, it means your oven is too hot. However, you can just cut the top off to even it out.

Cake recipes can usually also be used for cupcakes as well, but test it to make sure.

And yes, the toothpick test works!

Enough of that. Pictures!

Buttercream cake:

Carrot Cake:

Chocolate Cake:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake:

Frosting demo:

Getting it this smooth is a lot harder than it looks.

Cakes!

What we learned in culinary school this week: Week 17 (Part 1)

First week in a while with no Friday lunch. Wish we could do it all the way through the program, but we've still got a lot to cover and need all the time we can get. And we got to make all sorts of good stuff this week!

Monday: Custards. Custards involve dairy and eggs. They can be sweet or savory (today we did sweet). Refined sugar in baking adds moisture, but in custards it just adds sweetness, so you can add any sweetener, because it doesn't affect the texture. Always serve creme brulee in its dish - it won't hold its shape if you try to remove it from the dish. Custards are always served cold, so you can make them the day ahead.

For cheesecakes: If you want it light and fluffy, whip the cream cheese a lot, then add the eggs and whip on high. For a more dense cheesecake, don't whip it as much. The graham cracker or cookie crust should have the consistency of wet sand when mixed. You can even make a cheesecake without a crust - just line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

We made flan, bread pudding, butterscotch pudding, creme caramel custard and got to wield the torches to caramelize the tops of our creme brulees.

Cheesecake cracked? No problem...

...just add beautiful fresh fruit!

For the water bath - use a towel on the pan...

...then fill the dish, put it in the oven and pour water
in. That way you don't slop water all over the place
carrying it to the oven, or God forbid into the dish.

Sugar coating for the brulee.

TORCHED!!!

The next couple of days, we worked on puff pastry. It's a lot of work and time consuming. 

Puff pastry is a combination of dough and butter that is repeatedly turned and rolled out, creating layers of butter that will cause them to puff up during baking. 

The schedule.

Croissants:

Croissants with Chocolate:

Pains Aux Raisins:

Thursday and Friday we did cakes with the school's kickass Baking and Pastry Chef. Going to do that one in a separate post.

What we learned in culinary school this week: Week 16

Sick again, so I missed Yeast Breads and Enriched Breads, but as Chef pointed out, since I've enrolled in the upcoming full-time Baking and Pastry Program, I'll cover that later.

We did flaky dough (pie crusts) and sweet tart dough on Thursday. Here's what we learned about that:

Baking is much more of an exact science when it comes to the ingredients, especially measurements. In professional and commercial baking recipes, measurements are given in grams.

In pie crusts, all-purpose flour is used about 95% of the time. AP is soft enough to create tender, flaky crusts, but hard enough to hold its shape and texture. Most flours, with the exception of whole wheat, can be stored indefinitely. Store flour in a glass or plastic container with a secure lid.

The fat added is usually butter, but doesn't have to be. Crisco or rendered lard can be used. We were told that Whole Foods carries a higher quality version of Crisco. Duck fat also works great. Butter will produce a more buttery, melt in your mouth crust, while lard produces a more crunchy, crispy crust.

The dryer your dough is, the flakier the crust will be. However, it's also harder to roll out.

For fruit pies: Cooking fruit generates a lot of juice. You need to thicken it with flour (for starchy fruits like apples and pears), tapioca or cornstarch (both for watery fruits, like berries and stonefruit). However, your fruit doesn't have to be pre-cooked.

Blind baking is partially pre-baking your pie crust before filling it, adding the top crust (if using) and finishing it back in the oven.

Sweet tart dough is easier to make and hard to ruin. In other words, idiot proof. I should make more tarts.

Chef made a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie while
demoing pie crust.

Edges crimped!

Ready for the oven.

Coconut Cream Pie (YUM).

Big pies, little pies...

And a galette to grow on!

Tart crust.

Lemon Tart.

Lunch #7

Still haven't completely shaken the cold, but got through lunch. Didn't get many pictures, though.

Today we put our pie crust skills to work for Friday lunch.

Menu

Salad of Field Greens, Strawberries and Goat Cheese

Chicken Pot Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My station - I made the sauce.

The assembly line.

Sadly, this was our class's last lunch service. Chef wants to use the rest of our time (we graduate June 20) to cover as much material as possible. We still have more baking and pastry to cover, then we start on various ethnic cuisines. We also have wine tasting, jams and fermentation coming up. We do have our second Family & Friends Pop-Up at the end of the month, which should be great. I will miss the Friday lunches though.