Category: culinary school (Page 4 of 5)

Culinary School Update: Welcome To Baking Lab

November 13, 2012 / / 1 Comment

It’s been a while since my last culinary school update.

I’m currently in the midst of baking lab. I have grown to love baking so much that it’s hard to imagine I ever thought I’d hate baking lab. The first day was rough, as is usual with most firsts. We had to acclimate to a new set of kitchen tools, baking pans, and equipment. We got assigned to a new cooler and had to chase down a different family of ingredients. Most terrifying, we had to measure.

Whether or not we were supposed to, we got away with a lot of “eyeballing” in salad lab. I followed the recipes closely, for the most part, but eyeballed many measurements. Most of our recipes are written by the cup, while our kitchen is only stocked with pints, quarts, gallons, and scales. Even though I dreaded careful measuring, I have become quite good at it and find comfort in the fact that correct measuring (usually) insures decent baked goods. I’m still tweaking some recipes at home and hope to post them soon. The rest of this semester’s highlights and low lights are summarized in the bullet points below:

  • Repetition takes the anxiety out of most recipes. I love that culinary school is forcing me to make foods I previously avoided out of fear. 
  • Industrial kitchen appliances: I have a track record of breaking things, so I was initially nervous about using kitchen appliances. In my own kitchen, I a minimalist. I haven’t owned a food processor or electronic mixer until recently. Last weekend, I bought my first wooden spoon. Now, I appreciate the convenience of the giant proofer, mixing bread dough with a hook, and whipping cream with a whisk attachment. And I haven’t even broken anything (yet). I still prefer cooking and baking in small batches at home where I measure by the cup and knead bread dough by hand. 
  • Learning tips and tricks from our teachers. The other week, the teacher walked me through my first pie dough and later, my first scones. Sometimes their methods are by the book and sometimes they lead us on detours that differ from what I’ve read about in books or seen on television. My teachers are graduates from the culinary program, have held many roles in the food industry, and returned to teach. I’m not sure why I’m so surprised when their tricks work, but they always do. In fact, it’s probably kind of insulting. We made scones with softer than ice-cold butter in a giant mixer and they were perfectly light and flaky. We also made pie crust in the most unfussy manner and they also turned out light and flaky. It’s nice to know that the baked goods I avoided out of fear can be made without agony or fuss.
  • Diversity of baked goods: The second year students take turns planning the menu, which results in a dizzying array of baked goods and desserts. We’ve made breads such as clover leaf rolls, braided rolls, garlic naan, cheese-stuffed garlic rolls, onion buns, and hot dog buns. The desserts are even more dizzying. Caramel rolls, snickerdoodle brownies, strawberry shortcake, every type of pie, scones with craisens and white chocolate, red velvet cake, churros, and s’mores cheesecake with a bruleed top, just to name a few. For one stretch, I kept finding myself making putzy desserts of graham cracker crusts and multiple layers of fillings made from cream cheese, jello, or pudding mixes. Never felt so Midwestern.
  • I may have a weakness for fried foods but I hate frying: We all had to take turns using the giant donut fryer. I kept expecting oil to splash in my eyes and so my batch of fried dough more closely resembled squiggles and sad O’s than donuts.  
  • I enjoy measuring with a bakers scale. I had no idea these were so expensive. We won’t be purchasing one for home-use any time soon. 
  • Do-over’s: Everyone’s had to start over at least once and I think many of us made the mistake of getting egg yolk in the egg whites. After my first baking do-over, I only crack one egg at a time into a separate bowl, before adding it to the big pile. 
  • Parchment paper rules: After one particularly challenging morning of trying to scrape caramel brownies out of a pan for portioning, I always use parchment paper. Except for angel food cakes. 
  • There are different types of yeast: After baking a goofy batch of cinnamon rolls and buns that inflated to the size of children’s bowling balls, we figured out that I was using an excessive amount of yeast. For example, there’s active dry yeast, instant yeast, and fresh yeast, which are measured differently. Lesson learned. 

One Year In Fargo & Kahlua S’mores Brownies

October 31, 2012 / / 8 Comments

It’s hard to believe that we’ve lived in Fargo for a year.

On October 6, 2012, Jake and I moved from Bloomington, MN to Fargo, ND, with most of our earthly belongings trailing behind us in a moving truck. We left our tiny one-bedroom apartment in the glass towers next to the airport for our new home three and a half hours west. Besides my college school years spent in Iowa, this was both of our first time living outside of the Twin Cities.

Pre-move, Jake had been offered a promotion within the company while I was finishing my first full-time year of graduate school. I had recently signed-up for the next semester’s classes and been offered my first entry-level job in the field. The offer caught me off guard and his employer needed a quick decision.

Two weeks letter we said yes to the move, and a month and a half later, we were in North Dakota. We spent our first night in Fargo in a hotel while we waited for our moving van to arrive. For dinner, we ate a dinner of take-away chicken wings and boxed wine on the bedspread.

Jake acclimated to his new job responsibilities. I proceeded with the intention of applying to a graduate program in counseling psychology. My applications were complete but I never submitted them because  it didn’t feel 100% authentic. Instead, I decided to continue to write and blog about food and secured my first corporate job in Human Resources.

I spent part of my first year hating Fargo and homesick. Eventually, the loathing turned into annoyance, and then some of what annoyed me became more endearing. The winds still blow strong and cold, and I can’t always find what I want. The traffic moves a little slower and I still do a double take when I see someone else that looks like me. . .

But now I enjoy the more laid-back pace of life. We don’t have the same variety of restaurants to choose from, but we rely on our favorites of which we are genuinely fond. When I first moved to Fargo, the employees at the Somali Business Center soothed my homesick sadness with Somali tea, homemade sambusas, and sweet biscuits. I’ve found home in wine and the perfect cheese plate at the Green Market. After hard days at work in the fleeting summer, Jake and I basked in the sun on the Hodo rooftop patio. We go on dates at Mango’s Mexican Grill on Main Avenue and connect over frosty mugs of beer, fresh salsa, and molcajetes amidst the dusty urban sprawl.

When we don’t want to leave the house, we rely on delivery from Pizza Nico. When we don’t want to go very far, we order take-out from the ever friendly Fortune House. It reminds me of my family’s favorite Chinese take-out in Rosemount, MN. Imperfect, yet perfect in all of the right ways. Nichole’s Fine Pastry stacks up against my favorite Twin Cities bakeries, while Passage To India has become our new Surabhi. It may even be better. I’ll never forget how Jake proposed in the street next to JL Beers and that we celebrated our engagement over seared tuna and gnocchi at Toscana. In celebration of my first birthday in Fargo, we dined with friends at Mezzaluna where I tried to sneak bites of Jake’s M Burger, the best burger I have eaten to date.

I’m having the time of my life exploring the communities surrounding Fargo-Moorhead and between North Dakota and the Twin Cities. And I explore them the best way I know how. By sitting in bars and diners, enjoying the local food. Jake and I used to go on mall dates at the Mall of America dates. Now, we wander the West Acres mall, often with pretzels and coffee in hand, and we always stop at STABO Scandinavian Imports where we look and rarely buy. Recently, I bought a painted lefse flipping stick (amongst their Scandinavian cooking and baking supplies) and a little, red rosemaled mug from which I sip coffee every morning.

Last summer, we spent a weekend relaxing on the shore of Lake Detroit. Later that summer, we drove a little past Lake Detroit, through Paul Bunyan’s country of coniferous forests for the first time. I attended my first outdoor baseball game and watched the RedHawks play on a Halloween theme night where a giant Hershey kiss poured me wine with my chili dog. We wandered the Downtown Street Fair and ate spicy, wood fired pizza from Fireflour’s food truck. I enjoyed my first taste of knoephla soup at the Home Plate Cafe in Fredonia, spent the night at the Rough Riders Hotel tucked amongst Theodore Roosevelt Park, stood on the top of the the Enchanted Highway’s windy hilltops, and explored Little Missouri National Grasslands at sunrise.

We have met friendly and inspiring people who have made our first move much easier, and we continue to meet more each day. We always miss our family and friends from the Twin Cities and we miss our favorite favorite haunts like Lake Nokomis, The Nook, and Bangkok Thai Deli. This has served to make us realize what we had taken for granted and so we are even more grateful than before.

Starting culinary school really solidified my optimistic Fargo state of mind. I found courage in Fargo to resign from my full-time job role and enroll as a full-time culinary student. Against all odds, I was admitted instead of wait listed and am proud to say I just made my first, flaky pie crust. I realized that I never hated Fargo. I just needed to do something I truly loved.

This is not all to say that everything about Fargo is perfect, but I’m having so much fun that I can’t help but to believe we landed in the right place at the right time which I find exciting and lovely.

Except for the trains. I still hate those trains.

Kahlua S’more’s Brownies
Inspired by the s’mores brownies I made in culinary class at Minnesota State Community & Technical College from the school’s cookbook. Kahlua brownie base adapted from the San Luis Obisbo Tribune.


Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, somewhat packed
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Kahlua

S’mores Topping:
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Miniature marshmallows
Graham crackers, broken into small squares

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Line a 9X9 baking pan with parchment paper. Then grease the pan.
  3. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder and whisk in the salt.
  4. Gently heat the butter and chocolate chips over a double boiler until melted. Set aside to cool. 
  5. In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, eggs, and Kahlua.  
  6. Once the chocolate mixture cools closer to room temperature, combine with the brown sugar, eggs, and Kahlua.
  7. Gently fold in the dry ingredients, half a a time, until just incorporated.  
  8. Pour into the baking dish, evenly.
  9. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick can be cleanly removed from the center of the brownies. 
  10. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and marshmallows. Return to the oven for a few minutes or until the chocolate is melted and the marshmallows are puffy and starting to turn golden brown.
  11. Top with graham cracker squares and bake for another couple of minutes
  12. The brownies are easier to cut if they are cooled completely. Try popping them in the freezer or on a cold doorstep.  For cleaner cuts, run a knife under hot water and wipe off the debris between cuts. These brownies are incredibly rich so cut into small pieces. 

Baking Sage Bread For Class

October 5, 2012 / / 3 Comments

This week in culinary school, I gave a speech on sage.

We were all assigned to give short speeches on different herbs and spices.  Sage isn’t necessarily my favorite spice and I haven’t used it frequently in the past.  I am more familiar with sage as a medicinal herb with which my teacher successfully treated women for hot flashes.  I learned that sage is native to the Mediterranean Sea and was used medicinally long before it’s role as a culinary herb.  Garden sage’s scientific name is Salvia officinalis and Salvia is derived from the Latin word Salvare which means “to heal” or “to save.”

When the teacher informed us that whoever brought in treats containing their assigned herb or spice would get extra credit, class got delicious.  I baked sage bread, while others shared chili dip, braided cardamom bread, thyme biscuits, ginger cookies, citrusy cilantro salsa, and nutmeg-flecked English tea cakes.

I’m new to baking yeast breads and adapted a recipe for Navajo Wild Sage Bread, originally published in the book Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking, republished on the blog Cooking Books.  Instead of baking the bread in a bowl, I created small loaves.  And because I forgot to buy cottage cheese, I added sour cream, instead. I also added chopped walnut toasted in a little oil with salt and sugar.

The bread turned out to be moist.  I may have pulled them out a little too early in effort to race to class, but the bread tasted pleasing anyway.

A little sage goes a long way.

Ingredients:
1 1/4-ounce package active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 Tablespoon of honey or sugar
3 cups unbleached flour (I used mostly unbleached bread flour plus a little whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried sage
Chopped nuts, toasted
3 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon oil

Instructions:Bloom the yeast by combining it with lukewarm water and sugar.  In about 10 minutes, it should be frothy.  Combine dry ingredients in smaller mixing bowl.  In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sour cream until smooth.  Incorporate oil and yeast mixture.  Add the dried sage and nuts. Gradually add the flour mixture until a stiff dough is formed.  I used about 2 1/2 cups of the dry mixture, stopping when the dough became smooth and elastic.

Place dough on a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, flipping to make sure all exposed surfaces are covered with the oil.  Let the dough rise until about doubled, which should take about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Punch down the dough and knead for 1 minute.

Form the dough into desired shape and bake until the top is golden brown and crusty.  My two small loaves took about 35 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a rack. 

*I made my dough the night before and let it rise in the refrigerator, covered.  Before I went to bed, I punched down the dough and re-covered.  The next day, I shaped the dough in the pans and placed on top of the preheating oven, covered, until it rose. Then, I baked the loaves. 

A Culinary School Update and Backyard Apples

September 21, 2012 / / 2 Comments

I’m nearly finished with my first month of community culinary school.

I spend my mornings in salad lab. Those who arrive earlier rather than later get to pick first from the daily production sheet which specifies what is to be made and in what quantities. Second-year students take turns determining the school’s weekly breakfast and lunch menus. Some of our tasks remain the same each day, while recipes for salads and sandwiches vary. During the first two weeks, everyone attended classes, and we were practically fighting over responsibilities. Time has seemed to separate the wheat from the chaff. We’re noticing who attends class regularly and who pulls their own weight, thus developing a mutual respect.

I find it humorous and horrifying that our ServSafe textbook for the sanitation certification course has to specifically instruct that one should not vomit into food.

During the first week of class, I carelessly left my favorite knife in the kitchen and found it had disappeared upon my return. I sounded off a knife-alert that remained unanswered, despite the fact that it had been engraved with my initials.  Yesterday, I was reunited with my Santoku when I found one at an unattended work station. I cleaned the knife with the intention of putting it back where I found it, until I noticed my initials. They were unmistakably carved into the knife and, hence, I reclaimed it as its rightful owner. I still have no idea whose work station it was. And, though, I want to give that individual the benefit of the doubt, I can’t. For no one mentioned a single word about missing a knife. Plus, they let it develop some water stains. Lesson learned. I will never lose sight of my knives.

This week, I attended my first food show.  As students, we were assigned to attend the Food Services of America Food Show. Nothing could prepare me for the abundance of food samples. Whole slices of pizza. Silver platters of fried shrimp of all sizes. Fried chicken strips.  Chicken nuggets, chicken poppers, and tempura chicken bites. Whole breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, macaroni and cheeses.  And then there were the desserts. I passed on pre-made cookies, slices of pie, and cakes. The food show managers were gracious to allow students to attend, though the vendors paid us little mind. They were more interested in peddling their wares to potential customers. I indulged in a peach slushy and found solace in the beer/wine garden.

On a final culinary school note, our two instructors are like super people. They arrive at school well before we show up at 6:45 a.m. They supervise at least six kitchen lab groups, simultaneously. After clean-up, they roll right into lectures and somehow manage to be interesting and engaging. They act like they love their job and genuinely care about the well-being of their students. On days when kitchen mishaps abound, they proceed with kindness and a sense of humor.  They demonstrate patience to seemingly no end, though they are sticklers about personal hygiene and not bashful about asking students to re-do sloppy plate presentations or dishes that just don’t taste quite right.

Last week, one of the culinary instructors shared bucketfuls of apples from his backyard. I took as many as I could carry and daydreamed about creating fall apple desserts when I was supposed to be paying attention in class. One of the cookbooks I salvaged from my late mother’s collection revolves around apples. I’ve been waiting to explore this spiral-bound church cookbook since I brought it home this past summer. Although the book contains recipes of popular, apple-centric recipes like pies and cakes, it also contains the less familiar such as apple custards, puddings, candies, and the following, apple cream.


We’ve been enjoying this baked apple cream dessert.  The bottom layer tastes like a warmly spiced, caramel apple-pie filling.


The top layer becomes fluffy like cake and tastes a little bit like custard.  I suppose you could serve it with ice cream or whipped cream, but we were satisfied scraping it directly from pan to bowl.

Baked Apple Cream
Adapted from Kathy Johnson’s recipe in the Apple Cook Book published by Keene United Methodist Church, Keene, OH, 1979


Ingredients: 
6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 good pinch of salt
1 pinch of ground cloves
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Mix the apple slices with the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Place into the bottom of a greased pan. The original recipe calls for a 9X9X2 pan. I used a small, rectangular glass dish.
  3. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in one egg until the mixture has lightness.
  4. Sift the flour and baking powder into the wet mixture. Add the salt. Fold gently until just combined.
  5. Spread the batter as evenly as possible over the apple mixture. Bake for about 1/2 hour or until the top begins to turn golden brown.
  6. Mix the cream with vanilla extract. Pour evenly over the top of the baked apple dish.
  7. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.

My 1st Few Days In Culinary School

August 29, 2012 / / 0 Comments
I’ve completed my first few days of community culinary school.  Our instructors have mercifully eased us into the semester with introductions, kitchen orientations, and pre-tests.
Of my classmates, I seem to be one of the only individuals in my age range, which I suppose isn’t that much different from my job.

I’m struck by the blunt honesty with which young people directly out of high school speak.  This quality (usually) becomes more subtle with age, and it strikes me as refreshing.

I’ve never found myself pondering my age, so frequently.

As a result, I find myself having maternal conversations with my high-school self during class.  Most of them are reassuring.

I’m terrified of the school’s death trap parking lot.  My car’s almost been T-boned, sideswiped, or backed-into at least four times, now.  I think there was a fight yesterday.  And by fight, I mean a furious student on a motorbike shouting expletives.

Today’s pre-test revealed that I know nothing about increments of measurement and how they relate to one another.  The same applies to knowing the proper names of kitchen utensils and vesicles.

I broke into a cold sweat as I tried to demonstrate that I could dismantle and reassemble a large slicer in front of my classmates.

Tomorrow, I pick up my first knife set.  They’re no Wusthofs and I don’t care.  Any knives will be vastly superior to the chipped Rachel Ray Santoku knife I’ve been using since college.

We’ve been reminded many times that as culinary students, we must not forget that we’re always on display.  The kitchen “lab” is surrounded by windows, meaning the school can observe us as we prepare foods before and during meal service.  This can basically been interpreted as, “Please don’t throw noodles.”

Waking up in the mornings to learn about food feels surreal.  Even during the worst days in culinary school this semester, I know I’ll be happier slinging salads or disinfecting industrial deli slicers than doing what I have, full-time, for the past nine months.

What we truly love will never go away.  Our interests and passions won’t diminish with time or fade gently into the night.  My interest in all things food hasn’t and won’t.

Unfortunately, I have the sinking feeling that this enduring passion for food will not make me any better at kitchen math without a calculator.

Fractions or ratios, anyone?

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