A cooking Hiatus

I have a new assignment with my airline job which has brought me to Dallas/Ft Worth for 6 weeks of training to become qualified on the B-777. Although great news in terms of my airline career, it translates to 6 weeks away from cooking at home, at the restaurant, and the winery. I am trying to adjust to the "lovely" cuisine in Irving, Texas (so I'm not really in Dallas, but nearby, or else the food choices would be better). This is the land of everything LARGE to include waist lines, the number of electronic devices strapped to people's belts, hairdos, food portions, and the amount of batter glooped on to all foods and vegetables. And, why do people from Texas always have to announce that they're from Texas? Get me outtttta here!

The Scraper

The kitchen scraper is a common tool for bakers, but I had never used one until I went to Culinary School. At Le Cordon Bleu, each of us received one as a part of our issued "kit". It quickly became an indispensable part of my kitchen.I now use it for so many kitchen tasks both at home and at the restaurant that I wonder how I got along without one.

Here are some uses for this versatile and inexpensive tool:

-During prep on a cutting board, use the scraper to scoop up chopped herbs, onions, garlic, etc..
-Use to scrape work surface clean after preparing dough
-Use to scrape any work surface clean. Most useful if surface is a dark color that allow small food scarps to visually blend in.
-Use to scrape off dough from rolling pin
-Use to scrape the inner side of a sauce pan or pot above the food surface to prevent burning of residual food that is stuck on the sides of the pan.
-Use the rounded side of the scraper to scrape clean the contents of a bowl.
-Use the straight edge as a measuring device for cutting dough or sheets of pasta
-Use the straight edge to cut dough, pasta, etc...
-Use to remove or scrape off anything that is baked on a cookie sheet instead of using a spatula

I highly recommend trying one in your kitchen. It also make a great little gift. Scrapers come in many sizes and colors and are available at most kitchen stores. The one pictured above is the one that was issued to me at school and can be purchase at the following store for $4.38

Winery cooking demo

Another winery event brought a call form the Chef. This was the big annual event for the winery with a couple of thousand guests expected to enjoy the release of the winery's flagship wine. Included in this festive faire were 5 prominent local Napa Valley Chefs each providing a demo as well as cooking representative food from their respective restaurants for the crowd. I wasn't sure what my duties would be when I arrived. It was great seeing everyone again. The winery chefs are all from other restaurants or just free lancers who come together as a team for events such as this. As it turns out, only 2 of the group was assigned to actually cook. They cooked the family meal for the over 200 employees who were hired for this event. My duties were to assist the 5 restaurant chefs with their demos. I was to serve as their liaison to the winery's kitchen and equipment. The great thing about this assignment was that I met and briefly worked with each of the 5 Chefs! Very cool. Here I am with the Winery Chef waiting to greet the 5 Chefs as they arrive with their crew and equipment. Beyond that, my duties were to generally assist with the event form dealing with people, fielding food questions from the crowd, equipment, assembly/disassembly of some cooking stations, etc...No cooking but a fun event.

A few pics from the event:

Michelin Starred Chef Ken Frank of La Toque

How to properly cook meat in a pan

Chef/Owner Donna Scala and Executive Chef Scott Warnerworking the Bistro Don Giovanni's setup

Caul Fat

I am not so sure I like quiet nights at the restaurants. Sure, it's a break from stress, but the time tends to creep when there is not much going on. This is the slow season in the wine country despite the amazing almost 70 degrees sunny day we were having. I really have no designated duties at the restaurant. I just show up and the cooks either fight to give me stuff to do, or like last night, since everyone was caught up they didn't have too much for me. The Chef told me to begin by chopping the herbs. So I did that.

"What next Chef?" Apologizing, he said that he had some "shit work" for me if I wanted to do it knowing that it wouldn't exactly improve my culinary skills. "Give it to me." Just keep me busy were my thoughts because that clock almost stops when there is nothing to do. So, I bagged about 30 quarts of chicken stock, 22 quarts of veal stock, and vacuum packed some marinated truffles.

Finally, the meat cook gave me something fun to do. He has always taken care of me. This kid had me sautéing scallops with him on the line on the very first day of my internship. Tonight he wanted me to finish preparing the main ingredient for a dish called pavé a la bourguignon. It's a nifty twist on the traditional beef bourguignon. The dish is made in the traditional way, except, once cooked, all of the vegetables and meat are strained out. The braising liquid is then reduced to a demi-glaze. Then the vegetable and meat are added back in. The stew is then placed in a pan with a weight on top to compress it and then cooled in the fridge where it solidifies. It is then cut into blocks. Hence, the name pavé which means square stone tile or paver in French. Next, each block is wrapped in caul fat. Caul fat is the membrane that surrounds the internal organs of an animal. Typically beef or pork caul fat are used. It's an excellent way to hold together

an ingredient such as forced meat, or rolled meats. When ordered, the  caul fat wrapped pavé is placed in a hot saute pan where the fat initially contracts to hold the pavé together and then slowly melts away as it's heated keeping the pavé moist and imparting a light bacon flavor. It's a really tasty dish. My job was to wrap the caul fat around the blocks. Not earth shattering work I do admit, but it allowed me insight into the creative method of preparation for this tasty dish.