As I wrote the other day I’ve finished reading the Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. This post is going to deal with the rest of what I learned (well some of it anyway) and then I am going to write another post about the various cuts and sizes and yet another about my experiences this past week at Reservation as well as some containing more pictures of my food made with love and for love.
The Professional Chef instructs you on all the things that you need to know whether you want to be an incredible home hobby chef or as the title suggests a professional chef. It has endless recipes which are a great base from which to jump in the kitchen and create your own masterpieces. It teaches you how to buy the right equipment, use the equipment and prepare your mise en place for just about anything.
Of course reading this book has been a massive undertaking. Think of it as reading the kitchens bible and it really did put a fire in my belly to become even more than I already have. So as a final note on The Professional Chef I include the following information for your perusal.
How do you know when you’ve cooked the perfect steak? Or pork tenderloin? Or fish? Of course the obvious answer is to use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. However, if you are really good and have tuned all of your senses you can tell doneness by touch, smell and sight. The following is both the temperature guidelines and the visual signal for doneness.
Fresh Beef, Lamb and Veal
Rare should be 135 degrees Fahrenheit and have a shiny interior.
Medium Rare should be 145 degree Fahrenheit and look deep red to pink.
Medium should be 160 degrees Fahrenheit and look pink to light pink.
Well Done should be 170 degrees Fahrenheit and have no pink
Fresh Pork
Medium should be 160 degree Fahrenheit should appear opaque and have juices that are faintly blushed.
Well Done should be 170 degrees Fahrenheit, when touching it there should be a slight give and the juices will run clear.
Ham
Fresh Ham should be cooked to 160 degree Fahrenheit and should have a slight give while the juices are faintly blushed.
Poultry
Whole birds should be cooked to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and the leg should move easily in the socket while the juices run faintly blushed.
Poultry breasts should be done to 170 degrees Fahrenheit and should appear firm and opaque.
Thighs, legs and wings should be done to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and the meat should release easily from the bone.
Stuffing should be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Seafood
Fish should be cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit and should still be moist and easy to separate.
My next post is going to be on the proper sizes of the various cuts that I’ve learned.
Karen Rivn reminds me constantly that; “Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.” Are you reaching for your personal stars?
Dream inspired! Grow. Be and discover that life is not the abstract you think. It is determined purpose and the daily steps toward your own desires.
A la prochaine
SDM
Showing posts with label The Professional Chef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Professional Chef. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Days off and Paintball Kidnapping (file under great bonding experience)
Hello readers. I hope this finds you well and ready for the clearly upcoming spring. I say clearly as my back (as those of you that know me can attest) is a season changing barometer. I have had a bad back since I was a kid attending RSGC. Something had happened which kicked out some crazy heart palpitations that led to a white out and me falling to the ground. Long story short, when the seasons change, especially from fall to winter and winter to spring I am in an excruciating amount of pain. Today I am in the most pain I have been in all year and this leads me to believe that Spring has definitely Sprung (I’m almost as good a Weirton Willie).
So this week is rather slow and has afforded me the time to catch up with all my blogging, studying and reading. I’ve been rereading the Bible and today have finished Deuteronomy again. I’m not searching for any specific answer but rather looking at the broader issues of personal development as I reread the Bible and specifically how it relates to the way I grew up, the things that I was exposed to and the personal realizations that I have come to as a result. Spiritually well rounded I hope that I can bring the same knowledge to my children without force-feeding them. My own spiritual awakening is grounded in the belief is akin to Einstein’s in that his description of God is anything that he could not explain and I’ve always liked it when he said; “I don’t believe that God plays dice with the universe.” My God, for any of you who care to know, is not the Catholic God, or Lutheran or any other organized religion. I believe that God is everywhere around us, under trees, under stone, in the water, everywhere. I choose to believe that there is something out there that is far greater than I and that this belief keeps me grounded and centered.
I’ve gotten a little further in “The Professional Chef” by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and will post more on this later today. I will also include a detailed breakdown of my thoughts on Nigel Didcock and his food.
Monday was an awesome day. I woke up feeling refreshed after a good sleep and got ready to be kidnapped by the crew I work with. We went out near Hamilton for a paintball adventure that was incredible. I don’t do a lot of things for myself including buying clothes, or entertainment or going to play paintball. In fact the last time I went paintballing I’m pretty sure was before I started university. But it is kind of like riding a bike. You never forget.
The best part for me was that I got to spend forty-five minutes driving with Executive Chef and picking his brain on some of the things that I’ve been thinking about. Our conversation was not limited to the culinary field either, we spoke about love, kids, and life in general, likes, dislikes and my favorite, READING! Executive Chef and I both share a voracious appetite for reading and the genre that we both like best is the same. As if I needed more reasons to like this man. At any rate our conversation was a great one and was the perfect starting point to a day of fun, celebration, discovery and PAIN!
In all there were eleven of us that entered the field of battle that day. The first thing that occurred to most of us was that in the closed space we were fighting in there are people, right now, at that very moment, who were firing real bullets, in real closed quarters, at real people with real effect. It was not lost on me that Executive Chef was the first to vocalize this.
So the rag tag group of Back of House with a couple Front of House donned our masks, walked through the mesh, removed out barrel cover and were ready to battle. The teams were a free form mix of just joining whichever side you wanted. One of F.O.H, JP, and I were very good as a team and worked together quite well. We were able to develop strategy that served us well though there were a few times that I got my ass kicked.
For those of you who have not played paintball let me just say that the first time you get pinged you never forget it. My first shot was a blindside of my right knuckle (which is nicely bruised right now). I also took a few shots to the face, groin and arm. All of which have serious bruising. But let me say this, I gladly accept the bruises as I do feel that it brought us a little closer together as a team (all of us that is). To me that was the point of going. To further develop my feeling of being on the team and of course the obvious laughter that results in the controlled pain of someone you work with.
The final game was a real shit show. We had decided to do a reset game that meant that when you got shot you returned to the base and wiped off the shot. If you could not wipe off the shot you had to call someone to wipe it off for you. I had taken out a few first shots before I got mine. I returned and wiped off my shot. JP and I were hunkered down to the left of the playing field and had a pretty good scope of view. I was laid out on the floor trying to ding a player that had no idea where I was. Finally, ping. Nailed him and he was out. Then I tried to reposition to the other side to see if I could see anything. Out of nowhere, like a charging banshee, yet quiet as a mouse comes Chef J charging faster than a Cheetah. Tap, tap, tap, tap, and tap. Five shots right to the ass. And man does it still hurt. But it makes me laugh thinking about it now that I could get that sneak attacked with someone watching my back. JP got wasted too.
All in all it was a great experience and I can hardly wait to do it again. At any rate. I will be back with more Chef type stuff in a few hours.
A la prochaine
SDM
So this week is rather slow and has afforded me the time to catch up with all my blogging, studying and reading. I’ve been rereading the Bible and today have finished Deuteronomy again. I’m not searching for any specific answer but rather looking at the broader issues of personal development as I reread the Bible and specifically how it relates to the way I grew up, the things that I was exposed to and the personal realizations that I have come to as a result. Spiritually well rounded I hope that I can bring the same knowledge to my children without force-feeding them. My own spiritual awakening is grounded in the belief is akin to Einstein’s in that his description of God is anything that he could not explain and I’ve always liked it when he said; “I don’t believe that God plays dice with the universe.” My God, for any of you who care to know, is not the Catholic God, or Lutheran or any other organized religion. I believe that God is everywhere around us, under trees, under stone, in the water, everywhere. I choose to believe that there is something out there that is far greater than I and that this belief keeps me grounded and centered.
I’ve gotten a little further in “The Professional Chef” by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and will post more on this later today. I will also include a detailed breakdown of my thoughts on Nigel Didcock and his food.
Monday was an awesome day. I woke up feeling refreshed after a good sleep and got ready to be kidnapped by the crew I work with. We went out near Hamilton for a paintball adventure that was incredible. I don’t do a lot of things for myself including buying clothes, or entertainment or going to play paintball. In fact the last time I went paintballing I’m pretty sure was before I started university. But it is kind of like riding a bike. You never forget.
The best part for me was that I got to spend forty-five minutes driving with Executive Chef and picking his brain on some of the things that I’ve been thinking about. Our conversation was not limited to the culinary field either, we spoke about love, kids, and life in general, likes, dislikes and my favorite, READING! Executive Chef and I both share a voracious appetite for reading and the genre that we both like best is the same. As if I needed more reasons to like this man. At any rate our conversation was a great one and was the perfect starting point to a day of fun, celebration, discovery and PAIN!
In all there were eleven of us that entered the field of battle that day. The first thing that occurred to most of us was that in the closed space we were fighting in there are people, right now, at that very moment, who were firing real bullets, in real closed quarters, at real people with real effect. It was not lost on me that Executive Chef was the first to vocalize this.
So the rag tag group of Back of House with a couple Front of House donned our masks, walked through the mesh, removed out barrel cover and were ready to battle. The teams were a free form mix of just joining whichever side you wanted. One of F.O.H, JP, and I were very good as a team and worked together quite well. We were able to develop strategy that served us well though there were a few times that I got my ass kicked.
For those of you who have not played paintball let me just say that the first time you get pinged you never forget it. My first shot was a blindside of my right knuckle (which is nicely bruised right now). I also took a few shots to the face, groin and arm. All of which have serious bruising. But let me say this, I gladly accept the bruises as I do feel that it brought us a little closer together as a team (all of us that is). To me that was the point of going. To further develop my feeling of being on the team and of course the obvious laughter that results in the controlled pain of someone you work with.
The final game was a real shit show. We had decided to do a reset game that meant that when you got shot you returned to the base and wiped off the shot. If you could not wipe off the shot you had to call someone to wipe it off for you. I had taken out a few first shots before I got mine. I returned and wiped off my shot. JP and I were hunkered down to the left of the playing field and had a pretty good scope of view. I was laid out on the floor trying to ding a player that had no idea where I was. Finally, ping. Nailed him and he was out. Then I tried to reposition to the other side to see if I could see anything. Out of nowhere, like a charging banshee, yet quiet as a mouse comes Chef J charging faster than a Cheetah. Tap, tap, tap, tap, and tap. Five shots right to the ass. And man does it still hurt. But it makes me laugh thinking about it now that I could get that sneak attacked with someone watching my back. JP got wasted too.
All in all it was a great experience and I can hardly wait to do it again. At any rate. I will be back with more Chef type stuff in a few hours.
A la prochaine
SDM
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America
I spent a few hours yesterday reading “The Professional Chef” by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). It opened my eyes a bit to the mathematics behind the culinary industry.
Reading through it I started thinking to myself how much I hated math as a child. It wasn’t so much that I hated math as I hated the way that it was taught. The numbers themselves were meaningless to me. I had always said that if they somehow related to money that maybe it would be easier. I understood math. I could do quick calculations. I just, plain and simple, did not like the way I was taught it.
So as I read yesterday about Recipe Conversion Factors (RCF), converting weight to volume, As Purchased Cost (APC), Edible Portion Quantity (EPQ), Yield Percentages, number of servings, Edible Portion Cost (EPC) and total costs.
It is good for me to be exposing myself to this at such an early stage. It gives an appreciation of the business of the industry. At this current time though I’m less interested in the math of it and more interested in the creative aspects. However, a year from now I can see how the financial aspects of the industry will play into what I am thinking, experimenting, trying, doing and becoming.
Nonetheless I felt it important to let you all know that for anyone serious about the kitchen and the restaurant industry in general, the CIA’s “Professional Chef” is a must read.
A la prochaine
SDM
Reading through it I started thinking to myself how much I hated math as a child. It wasn’t so much that I hated math as I hated the way that it was taught. The numbers themselves were meaningless to me. I had always said that if they somehow related to money that maybe it would be easier. I understood math. I could do quick calculations. I just, plain and simple, did not like the way I was taught it.
So as I read yesterday about Recipe Conversion Factors (RCF), converting weight to volume, As Purchased Cost (APC), Edible Portion Quantity (EPQ), Yield Percentages, number of servings, Edible Portion Cost (EPC) and total costs.
It is good for me to be exposing myself to this at such an early stage. It gives an appreciation of the business of the industry. At this current time though I’m less interested in the math of it and more interested in the creative aspects. However, a year from now I can see how the financial aspects of the industry will play into what I am thinking, experimenting, trying, doing and becoming.
Nonetheless I felt it important to let you all know that for anyone serious about the kitchen and the restaurant industry in general, the CIA’s “Professional Chef” is a must read.
A la prochaine
SDM
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Weekly Review (file under WOW moments)
This past week was filled with the ups and downs that you would expect when one jumps head first into his dream. What follows are some of the many things that I learned this week. Not only that but I learned the value of days off. I went to bed last night around 6:30 pm and slept until ten am. I fell asleep with my clothes on.
When making my berry compote I learned that the term to “hull” a berry means to remove the green and the white area as well. It means to remove from the fruit those parts that you deem unusable.
I also learned that the Gotham Street Bar & Grill is amazing and that Alfred Portale is truly gifted. According to Exec Chef this is one of the few cookbooks out there that represents the plate they serve at the restaurant for the home in an exact way. Reading through the various techniques and skills that are required for Portale’s dishes brings a huge smile to my face. The look of each plate (though beautiful) takes more function over form. In that I mean that the food is the real star. After all you cannot eat with your eyes… YET!
Portale also taught me that I should get good at making timing lists. This will make your Mise en Place better and allow you to function with a better grasp of time in the kitchen. Portale also breaks down the various ingredients that you should use, from where and what the best is. Naturally each Chef will have their own interpretation as to what is best, but he is pretty spot on in my opinion.
On the recommendation of Head Chef I also bought (pricey but necessary. I had to think about feeding myself versus the book and decided that the book would lead to more food so I bought the book) it is called “The Professional Chef” by the Culinary Institute of America. It is amazing and a must read for anyone that wants to work in a professional kitchen. I’ve spent most of the past two days (when not catching up on sleep or writing an essay) studying this book and I’m glad I bought it.
I also learned a bit about the front of house operations (keep in mind that I am immersing myself in the whole gamut of restaurant operations as the end goal is to have at least two myself).
Maitre d’Hotel is the dining room manager. They are in charge of training, overseeing wine selection, working with the chef to determine what goes on the menu and organizes the seatings on the floor.
You then have the Chef de Vin, Sommelier or Wine Steward. Their responsibility is wine service including purchasing, wine list and assisting guests with their wine selections.
Chef de Salle or Head Waiter. Naturally responsible for all the waiters.
Chef d’Etage (Captain) deals with the guests once seated. Explains the menu and answers any questions as well as taking orders.
Chef de Rang (Front Waiter) ensures proper settings for each course.
Demi, Chef de Rang or Commis De Rang is responsible for running, bussing, etc!
As I have started my journey I have discovered much about myself. The Professional Chef has a line in it that states; “ Deciding where to begin your journey s just as important as the process of learning.” I made a great decision, I am living my dream and am happier than I’ve ever been in my life.
I hope that all of you can dream big, can live your dreams,, and can know true joy. So tonight as you ready to go to bed, ask yourself; What do I want from MY life? Where do I want to be? How do I get there? The universe will answer all questions you have if only you have the balls to ask them. I did and now answers unfurl each day majestically before me, lighting my path and guiding my soul.
Be inspired. Live. Laugh. Love and Be YOU!
Woodrow Wilson once said; “We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true. “
Look for sunshine to guide your way…
A la prochaine
SDM
When making my berry compote I learned that the term to “hull” a berry means to remove the green and the white area as well. It means to remove from the fruit those parts that you deem unusable.
I also learned that the Gotham Street Bar & Grill is amazing and that Alfred Portale is truly gifted. According to Exec Chef this is one of the few cookbooks out there that represents the plate they serve at the restaurant for the home in an exact way. Reading through the various techniques and skills that are required for Portale’s dishes brings a huge smile to my face. The look of each plate (though beautiful) takes more function over form. In that I mean that the food is the real star. After all you cannot eat with your eyes… YET!
Portale also taught me that I should get good at making timing lists. This will make your Mise en Place better and allow you to function with a better grasp of time in the kitchen. Portale also breaks down the various ingredients that you should use, from where and what the best is. Naturally each Chef will have their own interpretation as to what is best, but he is pretty spot on in my opinion.
On the recommendation of Head Chef I also bought (pricey but necessary. I had to think about feeding myself versus the book and decided that the book would lead to more food so I bought the book) it is called “The Professional Chef” by the Culinary Institute of America. It is amazing and a must read for anyone that wants to work in a professional kitchen. I’ve spent most of the past two days (when not catching up on sleep or writing an essay) studying this book and I’m glad I bought it.
I also learned a bit about the front of house operations (keep in mind that I am immersing myself in the whole gamut of restaurant operations as the end goal is to have at least two myself).
Maitre d’Hotel is the dining room manager. They are in charge of training, overseeing wine selection, working with the chef to determine what goes on the menu and organizes the seatings on the floor.
You then have the Chef de Vin, Sommelier or Wine Steward. Their responsibility is wine service including purchasing, wine list and assisting guests with their wine selections.
Chef de Salle or Head Waiter. Naturally responsible for all the waiters.
Chef d’Etage (Captain) deals with the guests once seated. Explains the menu and answers any questions as well as taking orders.
Chef de Rang (Front Waiter) ensures proper settings for each course.
Demi, Chef de Rang or Commis De Rang is responsible for running, bussing, etc!
As I have started my journey I have discovered much about myself. The Professional Chef has a line in it that states; “ Deciding where to begin your journey s just as important as the process of learning.” I made a great decision, I am living my dream and am happier than I’ve ever been in my life.
I hope that all of you can dream big, can live your dreams,, and can know true joy. So tonight as you ready to go to bed, ask yourself; What do I want from MY life? Where do I want to be? How do I get there? The universe will answer all questions you have if only you have the balls to ask them. I did and now answers unfurl each day majestically before me, lighting my path and guiding my soul.
Be inspired. Live. Laugh. Love and Be YOU!
Woodrow Wilson once said; “We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true. “
Look for sunshine to guide your way…
A la prochaine
SDM
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