Olympics for Food?

I am in my second week of Foundations III and feel extremely fortunate and excited to have my current Chef Instructor, Chef Franz Popperl. He was born in Austria and has been cooking since 1965. Prior to immigrating to the US, he spent time as a chef in Austria, Germany and France. Chef Franz was part of the Culinary Team USA that competed in the World Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany in 1992. Along with incredible credentials, Chef Franz also has a terrific sense of humor. On the first day of class as he was emphasizing how much more important it is to learn and understand techniques than it is to know a recipe. When you understand technique, you don’t need recipes. He also said that we have to get use to cooking without measuring. Chef Franz said we should know what a ½ cup, a whole cup, a “C” cup and a “D” cup feels like in our hand. Yes he does make class entertaining.

While we continue advancing our technique and understanding cooking methods, we are also learning more about fabricating poultry and beef and filleting seafood. I am learning about the primal cuts of beef and pork, the various market forms of seafood, and the differences between round fish and flat fish. Essential things for me to know since proteins are one of your biggest expenses in the food industry.

In my current class, I really enjoy the ability to be more creative. Food presentation is emphasized and Chef Franz encourages innovation. One of our dishes the other day was Turkey Scaloppini served with a Mushroom Sauce, Croquettes Potato and a Green Salad. In my group (which has a total of four people including myself) we decided to make our Croquette into a pyramid to give our plate some interest and height. Chef Franz applauded our ingenuity, but explained the classical forms of Croquettes are corks, spheres and rectangles. Plus Croquettes are breaded before you put them in hot oil to get a beautiful even golden brown, and with the pyramid shape the point on the pyramid was darker than the rest of our Croquette. The rectangle would be a classical Croquette and would have given us the height we were trying to achieve on our plate. It is learning details like this that I greatly appreciate.

I love learning and having the privilege of being taught by a world-class Chef. A lot more to discover on this journey but I am sure Chef Franz will keep it interesting.

Cheers