Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - week 15

The energy in the classroom was almost as frenetic as it was on pork night. The class was excited -a request for a gnocchi demonstration was made and Chef agreed to make it for the class.  In addition, Chef lectured and demonstrated how to prepare linguini with clams, lemon pasta, squid ink pasta, ravioli, lasagna. The class was asked to make basic pasta dough and lasagna in the kitchen.

This week's focus is sheeting dough versus stretching dough.



What I learned

• This week's focus is 
• 00 flour makes pasta that is thin and delicate
• Pasta is generally flavored by the sauce added to it
• Pasta is hydroscopic - it can dehydrate the air and your skin
• It's easier to make a dry dough wetter than to make  a wet dough drier
• Squeeze the dough - it should release from your hand without any dough remaining on your hand. If not, add a little more flour
• Squid ink is perishable and needs to kept in the freezer
• Don't rinse pasta, you wash away the residual starch
• The "gnocchi" is though to be a derived from the Italian word "nocca" which means "knuckle" - gnocchi cutters often shape the pillow of dough into a shape reminiscent of knuckles.

Observations

• Chef recommended the Kitchen Aid past attachment or Imperia's past machine to make past at home
• Squid ink does stain and should be washed from hands or clothing as quickly as possible.
• I have a great deal of respect for the volunteer Assistant that support the class - Mary Joyce, Sue, and Michael. They show up before the class and get the classroom set up. They put together the ingredients for the class to cook as well as the ingredients for chef. They serve the dishes Chef prepares in class to the students/ They remain after the class leaves to clean up the classroom kitchen. That's a long evening. Sometimes there's no food for them to eat.
•  A classmate asked about gnudi - a close cousin to gnocchi. I learned about gnudi a few weeks earlier via Chef Erin Clarke at Casa Luc she prepared stinging nettle gnudi for a dinner. 
• A classmate asked if I was aware that there'a picture of me in the L'Academie de Cuisine recreational course catalog. I became aware of the picture a year ago. I was a student in a class and one of the chefs was taking photos.  In that class we made tricolor pasta that evening.

gnudi prepared by Chef Erin Clarke

Self-reflection

• I discovered gnocchi years ago via a former co-worker who was dating a restaurant owner. After several foiled attempts to take the gnocchi home with me ( the restaurant owner would see me "saving" my gnocchi and ask my co-worker  to tell me that the gnocchi would not survive my airplane ride home and that I should I consume all of my dish).  I later asked  for the gnocchi recipe. He readily shared the recipe with me. I soon discovered that the recipe was  in metric measure and fed about 60 people. 
• Marl offered to let borrow his Kitchen pasta attachment. I politely declined. I just don't know if I will have  sufficient time to make the pasta before class concludes. 
• It turns out Marl has several Kitchen Aid attachments. I'm impressed, very impressed. Santa, if you're reading my blog - please send me an attachment or two for Christmas or my birthday. 
• I didn't cook any dishes in the classroom kitchen. I was exhausted. Rather than subject myself or my classmates to an potential accident because of my sleep deprivation I went home and got a good night's rest. 
• I made gnocchi with bolognese sauce over the weekend. The sauce was delicious. I followed a gnocchi recipe I found on the internet. I had noted what I will adjust moving forward. I'll share the recipe.
• I suppose I'm sensitive to the plight of the Assistants because I'm a volunteer Assistant in recreational classes. As much as I enjoy volunteering, it can be physically taxing.  

Tonight: shellfish

Be well,

Technicolor girl

Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - week 13

Pesce, Pescado. Fish. Chef  lectured and demonstrated how to prepare who grilled rockfish, flounder meunier, grilled rockfish with beurre balcn and tilapia en papillote. The class was asked to prepare flounder meunier, grilled rockfish with beurre blanc an tilapia en paillote in the kitchen.

image of round fish

What I learned

• Individually Quality Frozen (IQF) means that the items are individually frozen and then packaged together ( e.g. shrimp, scallops). The items won't appear in a block of ice. 
• Maryland blue crab is on the brink of extinction
• Sea bass, rockfish, striped bass are local terms, not about species of fish
• In culinary terms there are two types of fish, round fish and flat fish
• Round fish have more oily flesh and a are generally found in warmer water  (e.g. salmon, tuna, Chilean seabass) A cross section of round fish looks more like  a "steak"
• Flat fish heave less oily flesh, generally found in colder fresh water, and rest on rocks One side of the fish is flat in comparison to the other side (e.g.sole, hailbut, turbot)
• Flat fish bones are preferred for fumet (fish stock)
• Another name for Chilean seabass is Chilean tooth fish
• Halibut is a larger cousin of flounder. Catching halibut can be dangerous
• When selecting fresh  fish look for:
• clear, bulgy eye
• gills are the best indicator of how long the fish has been out of water. The gills should be pink
• the fish should smell like the sea or nothing all, smell the fish
• Most of the flavor is in the articulated parts
• One sign that fish is coked is the the blood albumin presents itself as foam
• Present fish bones side up, it looks better
• Tilapia ia a bottom feeder. It is the "catfish of Southeast Asia 
• Beurre blanc is a bitter acid reduction
• Beurre noisette is butter cooked until just brown
• Any flat fish cna be used for meunier. Meunier must be served immeditely

Observations

• Chef is encouraging the class to use whole fish 
• Chef recommended using named Sefood watch to stay current with bans and other issues related to seafood. For example, a recent ban was issues on tilapia from China because it's treated with carbon monoxide to maintain its pink color. 
• The class size has settled. Angie told us that usually by midway through the program the class size often drops for a number of reasons including work commitments and schedule conflicts
• The class at one time had five male students. We now have three. 
• I'm not aware of any of the women of dropping the class. 
• Chef recommended reading Cod : a biography of the fish that changed the world by Mark Kurlansky. 
• Tonight's lecture reminded me that the Maryland Seafood encourages the public to join them on field trips. They will  also send  email updates about the status of seafood in the Maryland waterways if you sign up for the information.  They have a website,  Facebook page and Twitter page: @md_seafood. 
• Chef suggests cooking fish as quick as possible, applying the Benjamin Franklin quote, "Guests, like fish begin to smell after three days"
• Angie explained how flat fish become flat. Shortly after a flat fish is born hormones in the fish cause one side to grow faster than the other.

Self reflection

• I helped with prepare the mis -en-place for the flounder meunier dish that Chef would prepare. One of my tasks was to chop the parsley. I didn't chop it fine enough; it was sent back to the kitchen. Michael showed me how to keep the what I did wrong - I should have run the parsley through at least two additional sounds (passes) of cutting. Michael also showed me to keep the parsley from clumping together.  Good lesson!
• Marl eagerly cleaned and filleted the fish. He told me several times that he didn't mind getting "fishy". He cut and filleted the rockfish and flounder Chef rockfish obtained for the class. 
• I focused on making beurre blanc. Chef gave my beurre blanc a thumbs up on the first try. I was surprised. This sauce is delicate.  
• I adore cod. After tonight's class I will start considering alternatives and hope that the cod is my freezer is really cod.  
• I checked, Cod : a biography of the fish that changed the world. is available at my local public library.
• So why didn't I attempt to cut or fillet the fish? As I drove home from class I thought of my history with fish:

• My earliest recollection of eating fish is consuming fish and getting bones (most likely pin bones) stuck in my throat. 
• Fishing (putting the bait on a hook and removing the fish ) does not appeal to me at all. After one adventure with extended family members I happily stayed at home while they went fishing.
• When I was a child I offered to help a friend of the family clean the fish he caught. When he placed the still beating heart of a fish in my hand I was distraught and he got angry. No more cleaning of fish after that.
• Marl kept his word and brought his Kitchen Aid mixer, food tray, food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments. It was hard to suppress the look of surprise and excitement on my face. Marl mentioned something about looking like a kid at Christmas. Perhaps he's right.
•  I'm going to try making sausage,over the weekend. Marl has requested that whatever I make he and his sons would like to try it. Man, talk about big stakes.  I'll follow Chef's suggestions about making sausage: grind the meat, season, cook a little to see how the blend tastes, adjust the seasoning if necessary and the place in casing. 

Tonight is a schedule change - dough. And we have a special guest lecturer.

Be well,

Technicolor girl

The Cookie Bake

I worked with Carrie when she first told me about her annual cookie bake. Carrie's intent was to have friends, colleagues, associates and their guests visit her home, bake cookies and then select baked goodies  to take home with them.

That was seven years ago. I attend as often as my schedule will allow. In my opinion, these are the factors that make the cookie bake work.

• Recipes, ingredients, mixers and other baking implements are provided. If someone wants to make something that is not on the recipe list they contact Carrie and let her know. Carrie will purchase the ingredients on the person inquiring can do so. One year I made bourbon balls. I purchased the bourbon. Carrie's cooking bake is one of the few places outside of a department store when I've seen a lineup of KitchenAid mixers in assorted colors and models.

• Snacks and beverages are available - there's something for everyone. The daughter of  Carrie's fiancé made an adorable appetizer featuring penguins. It was fun and festive, but also tasty!

 

• It's family friendly. One year Samantha brought her grandson between making cookies many guests played with Samantha's grandson. The cookies are packaged in white takeout containers; sometimes the young school aged children  decorate the containers.

 

• Guests are welcome . One year I took a guest, Myron. I RSVP'd to let Carrie know I was bringing a guest, of course.  Myron told me he was curious about the cookie bake and was certain he would be the only adult male present. Upon arrival Myron  was warmly greeted by the cookie bake crowd. Myron he found a recipe he wanted to try and set to work.  Carrie's fiancé (then boyfriend) struck up a conversation with Myron and soon the two were chatting about current events and sports while mixing ingredients.

•  Carrie's invite has a specific start and end time. It gives her time to prepare her space for the arriving guests. It also establishes a time for activities to wrap up so Carrie can clean up and decompress.  Guests who are so inclined help with clean up tas well. Samantha and I often volunteer for dishwashing duty because without clean baking utensils the event would come to a halt.  Bonus: we're often asked to me taste tester as baked items emerge from the oven.

This year I made chocolate flourless cookies.  The recipe was provided as well as all the ingredients (the recipe is above in the post).  Carrie, her fiancé and I taste tested the finished product. We determined the cookies are good, but the recipe will undergo a few minor tweaks before appearing on the 2015 cookie back recipe list.

Have you attended a cookie bake event? Did you enjoy it? What made the event fun? Have you hosted a cookie bake?  If yes, what other factors make a cookie bake a fun gathering? Share your comments below.


Be well,

Technicolor girl

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