It had to be done. There’s all of these “Ask the (fill in blank)” threads, so it’s my turn to put mine in.
Have food and/or cooking questions? Want to know what culinary school is like? Go ahead and post your questions.
Have you had any cut that required stiches?
What’s your favorite vegetable dish?
Boy, you could wind up really sorry for starting this one. 
–On sharpening knives–should I do it myself, or should I have it done somewhere? If the former, how should I go about it? If the latter, what sort of place should I take it to? (Kroger does it for free, but as I found back when I still had cheapo knives, you get what you pay for.)
–What are some good ways to dress up broccoli?
–What sort of things do you like to cook? Any particular cuisine?
Dr. J
What degree or certification do you get upon completing your program of study? What’s it called? Is there a “higher” degree you can get, like Master’s of Culinary Arts?
What are the titles of some of the courses you’re taking or have taken?
How do you re-heat hollandaise sauce?
I hope that’s a joke.
I HAVE heard that if it starts to break on you, add an ice cube and whisk vigorously. Of course, my ex-prick (CIA grad) told me that so who knows if it’s true.
- No. Luckily, the only cut I ever recieved was when I was cutting a block of butter and my knife slipped; the tip of the knife poked my left middle fingertip–no more of a cut than if you get your finger poked for a blood test.
Unfortunately, I’ve made up for it in burns.
- For favorite vegetable dishes, I am torn between gratins and ratatouille. I usually work at the school on Saturdays, helping the chefs teach cooking courses to the public, and one of the dishes was a potato & artichoke heart gratin made with Gruyeré–I could have sat in the corner eating that for hours. Ratatouille is best right in the middle of summer, when all my friends like to dump their excess tomatoes and zucchini off on the porch. If you don’t know what the dish is, it is eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and tomato, sauteéd in olive oil until just tender. I’m not a vegetarian, but I was, that would most likely be on my menu several times a week.
Sounds heavenly!!! Please, oh please can I have the recipe?
On the knives–I would most certainly invest in a stone and sharpen them yourself. I personally spent too much on my knives to let someone else ruin them :). Best way to sharpen them is oil your stone with mineral oil, and at a 20° angle, start from the base of the blade, and sweep your knife across the stone. You should only need to do this about 10 times a side. A good knife that is used daily will only need to be sharpened about every 3 to 4 months. For daily use, buy a steel–that 18" long metal rod that you see chef running their knives on before starting a cutting job. Steels do not sharpen the knife, but hone the edge, so you get a cleaner cut. The edge of a knife curls ever so slightly with each use, and running the knife on a steel keeps the edge straight.
Broccoli is one of the harder vegetables to play with, because it turns bitter fast even with the smallest amount of overcooking. I personally love steaming the tops, then tossing in some maitre d’hotel butter (a compound butter that’s very easy to make–soften butter, add minced shallots or garlic, lemon zest, and chopped parsley and chives; mix together, and refrigerate to solidify butter). I do love the stems, as they are more versatile than the tops. I would chop up the stems for use in a non-traditional ratatouille, or throw them in a soup, or shred them for salad, or use in a stir-fry… you get the picture. I think my favorite of that is using the stems for salad–they make a fantastic cole slaw.
What I love to do most is bake, and I’m focusing on being a pastry chef. But, since I can’t live on cake alone, my favorite stuff to cook is mostly Mediterranean in style, particularly French/Spanish and sometimes Italian. I’m quite fond of good, straight-forward peasant food from the region, and I must say I make a killer paella and coq au vin. I especially love things like polenta, pasta, anything with olive oil, rosemary, roasted lamb, and garlic. Lots and lots of garlic.
Theoretically, you shouldn’t be reheating hollandaise sauce, mostly because it was made on the borderline of good sanitation rules in the first place, and I wouldn’t want it sitting around for too long. But, if you made a large amount of it, and don’t want it to go to waste, the best way is to start to warm up the sauce over a double boiler, and get it to sauce consistency. Since it has most likely separated by now, add another egg yolk, and whisk in well. The egg yolk will hold it together, as it contains an emulsifier that makes the sauce work in the first place.
Your ex is right, you can use an ice cube, but a tablespoon of cold water works just as well.
Through this school, we get certification of completion of the Le Cordon Bleu program. Depending on the school, the degree will differ. The ACF (American Culinary Federation) has a way of certifying school, work experience, and competitions into titles, such as Master Chef. Certification by ACF is a good thing to have on a resumé, but not necessary–it just shows that you’re serious about the industry.
The titles of the courses sound pretty boring–but this is a list of what I’ve done so far:
Food History
Sanitation
Intro I: Basic cooking techniques, knife skills, cooking basic things like eggs, vegetables, pasta
Intro II: Cooking techniques for meats, poultry, fish, and shellfish
Baking I: (I’m currently in this now) Breads, Quick breads, pâte à choux, pies, tarts
Baking II: Cakes & cake decoration,plated desserts, sugar work, chocolate
Hot Foods: International foods, more of working on quick techniques and building style
Garde Manger: “Cold Kitchen” Salads, sausage making, pâtés, canapés
Restaurant Rotation: Working 3 months in the school restaurant
Externship: Sent out into the world, to work 3 months in a restaurant/hotel/cruise ship/resort
The whole process is 16 months, Monday through Friday, 3:30 to 10 pm.
(obvious) Please post a few of your favorite recipes.
I do not remember the exact recipe, but this is close:
4 steamed artichokes, leaves & choke trimmed
4 par-boiled potatoes (half-cooked), peeled
2 T Butter
2 T Flour
2 cups milk, room temperature
1 cup grated Gruyeré
1 clove of garlic
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 T Melted Butter
Salt & Pepper to taste
Slice up potatoes and hearts about 1/4" thick.
Melt 2 T butter in saucepan, and add flour to make a white roux (a paste), being careful to not let it brown. Add milk (make sure it’s warm, else it will clump up the roux), and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Reduce to a simmer, and let simmer about 15 minutes. Add Gryueré, and stir until incorporated.
In a small gratin dish, rub the dish down with a smashed clove of garlic. (I like to chop the clove afterwards and add to the sauce) Start a layer of potatoes, covering the bottom of the pan. Pour some of the sauce on top, then add a layer of hearts, and then sauce. Continue potato/sauce/heart/sauce layers until you’re out of stuff. This is the best time to salt & pepper your dish–and don’t skimp too much on the salt–potatoes are rather bland, and do need the salt to bring out flavors.
Put this into a 350° oven for about 20 minutes or so, until the potatoes are getting tender.
Toss bread crumbs into the melted butter, and add parmesan cheese. Sprinkle top of gratin, and let bake another 10 minutes, until the top is golden, or stick under the broiler.
This can be particularly yummy with steak or a nice roasted rack of lamb.
I’m more than happy to post recipes here, Bill.
Considering we’ve got 4th of July right around the corner, here’s a grilling sauce that is great with either chicken or pork (baby back ribs)
Mango & Red Pepper Sauce
2 T olive oil
1 white onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded & diced
3 T Molasses
2 T Worchestershire Sauce
1/3 cup cider or red wine vinegar
1 t Salt
1/4 t Allspice
1 mango, peeled and diced
2 to 3 jalapenos, seeded & diced
Heat olive oil in saute pan, and cook onion and bell pepper until edges are turning brown. Add Molasses, Worchestershire, vinegar, salt and allspice, and let simmer for a few minutes to marry flavors. Pour into blender (carefully!) and add mango and jalapenos. Blend until a sauce consistency. This keeps for about a week, if you keep it in a tupperware bowl.
Thanks, I’ll try that out. How about another favorite or two?
Next question: I’m not much of an expert, but I have figured out that a good sauce can rescue a mediocre dish. Can you post a few favorite sauce recipes?
Also, the previous recipe you posted, how is the sauce applied to the chicken or pork? Should the meat soak in it a while (like a marinade)?
For cutlery – stainless steel or carbon steel blades?
Why?
Who’s your favorite Iron Chef??
Above all, I love Iron Chef Italian–he rises up from the stage with his own string quartet, man. I want to be like him when I grow up.
I am quite fond of Chen Ken’ichi (Chinese). Not only does he put out some amazing dishes, but he’s got a great, fun personality that comes out when he’s cooking, and he just looks like a big yellow satin teddy bear to me.
I’ve always used this sauce as just a brush-on sauce when the meat is on the grill. This could be used as a marinade, there would be no problem in doing that at all (I just haven’t used it that way myself)