School Life

Hard to believe that I just finished my first two weeks of school. It has gone by quickly, but I absolutely love every minute. Each day starts off with us having to line up for Chef Ron to inspect our chef uniform, it must be pressed, our cravat has to be properly tied, we have to have our apron on with 2 side towels, the men must be clean shaven or if you have a facial hair it has to be neatly trimmed, and if we do not meet the standards set by Le Cordon Bleu, you will be sent home. The standards are strict, but they are designed to get us ready to work in a professional environment.

With every class, I never set there thinking I can’t wait for this to end. I am totally focused, trying to absorb everything I can while in class as well with my daily homework assignments. A lot of our training is practicing different knife cuts and getting better with our precision and speed, part of how we are graded. In addition to working on practical skills, we have reading assignments, a book report and a research paper that are part of our Foundations I syllabus. I am reading Michael Pollan’s book the Omnivore’s Dilemma and my research paper will examine grass-fed beef to see if it is more pathogen resistant than grain-fed beef. I will let you know what I find out in a future post.

So what is different about going to college now vs. college after high school? I am pursuing a passion, a love for food, wine and cooking, so there is a definite purpose to each day. Whereas, coming out of high school, I really did not know what I wanted do with my life. Now I am better organized, more efficient with my time, I have better study habits, and I am always looking for ways to maximize my experience. School is about 4 hours a day, 5 days a week and I would be happy if I had school 8 hours a day. I joined two clubs Les Alimenteurs (a catering club) and Les Sauciers Sevants (where we work on classical and contemporary sauces paired with proteins) and I just put in an application to be a Student Ambassador. All of these activities give you opportunities to work with and learn from other Chefs at Le Cordon Bleu, and they look good on your resume.

Friday Chef Ron prepared a Fish Fumet and we learned about the difference between a fumet and a stock. A fumet has more flavor than a stock. We covered vegetable, white and brown stocks. Next week we start on the Mother Sauces, have a Math Exam and we continue to practice for an upcoming Knife Skill Exam on Day 16. A lot of plates in the air, but I would not have it any other way. 

Cheers!

Are Knife Skills Important?

So what is the big deal about using a knife properly and learning how to julienne, chiffonade, emincer, ciseler, etc., etc.? Good knife skills allow you to be more efficient, they allow you to cut precisely so foods cook evenly, and ultimately they help make cooking more enjoyable. In class, we take knife skills one-step further by learning how to make food more visually appealing using classic vegetable cuts -- something I keep practicing and practicing and practicing. While speed is not necessary for the home cook, it is essential if we are going to survive in a professional environment. Speed and precision is part of how we are graded in my current Foundations I Class. The ability to present food more artistically also means, as Chef Ron says, “you get to charge more.”

To help you improve your cooking skills, I partnered with Rouxbe Online Cooking School, the world's first-ever online cooking school. As part of their affiliate program, I am able to give you a free, full-access, no-videos-barred, 14-day pass to their site. All you have to do is go to the Rouxbe Online Cooking School and redeem the 14-day Gift Membership. After the trial, you can join for as little as $29.95 per month; however, there is no obligation. It's awesome! Check it out at

Rouxbe Online Cooking School

This is an example of one of their cooking lessons, Handling a Chef’s Knife.

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

Hope you enjoy!

Cheers!

What is French Cooking?

French cuisine often invokes images of rich foods and heavy sauces. In reality and in practice, it represents a centuries-old tradition of respecting the ingredients in a dish and highlighting their quality and flavor. French cuisine is not only respected for its dishes but the generations of chefs who are responsible for the codification of techniques that are recognized in kitchens everywhere. This is why you can work in a kitchen where no one speaks the same language, but if the chefs have been classically trained, there will be a common nomenclature that everyone understands.

In response to Paul’s question, “is there really more than one way to peel a potato?” Whether it is with a knife or peeler, the only way to peel a potato that I know of is fast. 

I did learn a new way to peel an onion, the French way. Rather than cut the onion in half, which is what I normally do, you start by using a small knife to cut the top off. You then remove the root end by inserting the point of the knife at an angle pointed toward the center of the onion and cut in a circular motion cutting a cone-shape at the root end. Lightly score along the latitude of the onion, then loosen the skin using the point of the knife and pull the skin away. This is the technique required in class.

In future posts, I will include recipes from items we prepare. One recipe that I will be sharing is Jalapeno Glazed Grilled Peaches Over Vanilla Ice Cream. Not something we made, but a recipe of Chef Ron’s. Sounds delicious, I just want to try it first. And like any recipe, let them serve as inspiration, and allow your creativity to make it your own. 

Cheers!

Knife Cuts and Feces

 If I had any thoughts of being skilled with a knife, they went out the window today. We spent time on 2 potato cuts, Allumette (AH loo met), cutting the potato in 3 mm square match sticks and Paille (PIE ya), cutting the potato in 2 mm square match sticks. This was followed by practicing some classic cuts on a turnip, brunoise (BROON wahz) 3mm squares and brunoisette 1 mm squares. As Chef Ron said, practice, practice, practice. At least I have the potato peeling mastered.

More food safety today. Viruses are the leading cause of food-borne illness. People carry viruses in their feces so be sure the person that handled your food the last time you were out to dinner washed their hands. I think I will eat at home tonight.

Cheers!

Getting Ready for School

 Turning the clock back to this weekend, I found myself shopping for school supplies, not for my son Keenan but for myself. No longer was I the one making recommendations but it was Keenan. Dad, “you don’t want this 3-ring binder, these are the dividers you should buy, you want this paper” and on it went. I know they say that at some point our children might be taking care of us, but I was not expecting it to happen this early. Keenan’s advice was great, and each day I am well prepared for taking notes or filing handouts. Thank you Keenan!

Today we found out how to peel a potato. I was thinking is there anyone here that does not know how to do this, until I watched one of my classmates struggle, even after Chef Ron’s demonstration. I guess we all need to start somewhere. We then proceeded to make Potato Pont Neuf, 1 centimeter thick sticks, one of the classic potato cuts. Not remembering any of my 4 years of French, I found a great site to help with all of these French terms: 

http://quizlet.com/5145172/knife-cuts-flash-cards

Time to pull out the knife and start practicing.

Cheers!

The Start of a New Journey

This morning I started my Culinary Arts Program at the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary College - the journey has begun. Chef Ron Costa is the instructor for my current classes, Culinary Foundations I and Food Safety and Sanitation. A former chef at Pebble Beach, Chef Ron has a self-deprecating sense of humor and nothing is sacred to him.

A good part of the class was spent going over everything from having good hygiene, brush your teeth, shave, shower, etc. to the proper way to wear the Le Cordon Bleu uniform. Amazing that you would have to tell adults to brush your teeth before coming to class.

Our first assignment is learning about the History and Evolution of French Cuisine, the kitchen brigade (kitchen organization based on Auguste Escoffier’s hierarchical system for members of the kitchen) and on classic potato cuts. Tomorrow we pull out our knives and practice butchering potatoes.

It is wonderful learning about the history of French Cuisine and I really am looking forward to honing (pun intended) my knife skills.

Not sure how often I will blog, or if anyone will ever read this, but I want to have a diary as I become The Charitable Chef.