Sooooo..... my Basic Cookery mid-term will not be coming back with a 100 on it :( I know for sure that I missed one question and I'm all tore up inside. I mean really, who knows that WHITE peppercorns are picked ripe and GREEN peppercorns are not? Sheesh. Oh well, while I'm sure that my perfect score is not going to happen, I'm positive I still got an A and that's what really matters.
After the test (and the drying of my tears) we talked about menus and menu planning. It's really interesting stuff. I never really thought about all the different kinds of menus there are:
-Standard/Static: rarely change, large variety (Chili's)
-Daily/Market/Seasonal: based on product availability, can change daily (Bleu River Grille)
-Cycle/Institutional: developed for a set period of time, run on 4,6,8 week cycles (Prison)
-Table d'hote: "hosts table", no choices, complete meal (no idea where you can get this)
-Prix Fixe (Prefix): fixed price for a fixed meal with several courses (like a Valentine's Day "dinner for two deal)
-A la Carte: every item priced seperately (Ruth's Chris' Steakhouse)
-Tasting Menus: multiple small courses, sample of all items, paired with wines (fancy upscale joints - The French Laundry charges around $365 for their tasting menu)
Like I said, interesting stuff. We also talked about having to have full, step-by-step recipes for all your menu items. At which point Chef Porter mentioned needing to jot down a quick recipe if, for instance, your fish purveyor called with a special delivery of baby octopus - "or regular octopus or whatever. I like babies. They taste better" Chef Porter said, much to the delight of the class. You would want to jot down how you prepared that in case it was a hit and you wanted to run the special again.
It was off to Uchi after that. Today was pretty much more of the same. Scallop cleaning, kabocha slicing, negi slivering, cipollini quartering, garlic micro-brunoising, and slicing Thai chilis paper thin. This is where it gets interesting because even though I didn't get to really do anything new, I still had a freaking blast! WOO!
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look, sorry man. if you dont know the harvesting secrets of any and all types of peppercorns, you cant be my chef.
ReplyDeleteWhat if I were to tell you that I knew that pink peppercorns are not even peppercorns at all? I'll give you a second to pick up the pieces of your blown mind...... They are the berries of the Baies rose plant. Have I restored your faith in my peppercorn knowledge?
ReplyDeleteI agree about the baby octopus. Delicious!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's like getting a young wife: you don't have
to worry too much about bad decisions they have made.
Hahaha! It's funny because it's true.
ReplyDelete