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.