11/5 How to become everyone’s best friend

           We learned how to make crepes, a crepe cake, éclairs, puff pastry and cheese puffs today. If that is not a way to someone’s heart, I have no idea how to do it then. Everything was much less difficult that I had always assumed. I had always elevated éclairs in my mind to something that was unattainable but I was way off the mark. They don’t take any terribly hard to find equipment, they are easy to cook and are amazingly delicious!

            I love knowing that I can take these recipes and make them my own now. We made chocolate pastry cream and topped the éclairs with chocolate but I think in the future I would just stick to vanilla bean for my éclairs. It is also nice to know that I could always flavor the puff pastry and make something amazing and delicious all on my own. The same goes for the crepe cake. I could change the applesauce and make a plum, pear or chestnut filling, whatever I would like could be amazing.

11/4 An Effective Plan

      Jacques genius, skill and awesomeness didn’t quite sink in until today. Today we finished preparing food for 28 people who paid $1000 to eat something I (cough I mean Jacques) made. It is likely I will never have the opportunity to eat such an amazing meal or work with such incredible ingredients ever again.

            This was the most hectic of all of our Jacques days but it was still organized and fairly relaxing all because Jacques is such a master at his craft. He purposefully made a menu that could easily be made well ahead of time with dishes that we could all handle at our skill set but still feel that we were contributing to the overall experience. Looking back I think the most strenuous thing I did all day was help polish wine glasses but we were still able to accomplish the amazing meal. 

            Midway through the meal Jacques took a break from prepping and cooking to make us just a casual little snack that was probably one of the best things I have ever tasted. Jacques is diligent about wasting nothing. No scrap of bread, no shavings of pate go wasted. First, he broke down a chicken. He made about 4 cuts with the knife and did the rest by hand. Just with gravity and a few simple tugs he had 6 pieces of chicken ready to go in one piece with no bones. He stuffed it with all the leftovers he hand on hand, wrapped it up and started cooking it for our pre-dinner, dinner. Little did I know that he had taken the crusts from the loaves of brioche bread and made an apple brown betty with the leftovers. It was amazing and simple but highlighted the lack of waste and his skill.

           

 The meal went off without a hitch and it was a true honor to be a part of something on that scale with such a master.

The butter roses that we made on Monday with a little paprika

What was left of the apple brown betty

The table for the event

11/3 Wine at 11

           Apparently when you are 80 and are an accomplished master chef you get to have wine well before lunch. I witnessed this first hand when we had a Q&A with Jacques and John Claude. We all filled into the room equipped with a list of questions on hand to ask Jacques. Those were promptly thrown out the window when he sat down and it was apparent that all he wanted to do was reminisce and tell stories. John Claude would sometimes start in on his own story out of the blue because he could not hear what was going on. There was not much said that I had not already read in his book but the kind openness of his manner and his teasing friendship made the experience worth more than answers from a paper.

            The afternoon was spent prepping for the event for the following night. Everything was a little scattered but organized chaos reigned in the kitchen. I didn’t exactly work on any one specific team but helped out here and there where I was needed. There was a feeling of relaxed, congenial work that permeated the kitchen were we knew we were all getting lots done but nothing was completely accomplished.

Just an amazing little snack that Jacques whipped up for us

11/2 The Man, the Myth, the Legend

            The first thing anyone ever said about this program was Jacques Pepin’s involvement. Tell someone that you were going to take the culinary lab and they would inevitably say something along the lines of, “oh, you get to work with Jacques!” Almost every week someone would drop his name while in class or in association with the gastronomy program. Now, I understand.

            When I chose this class the stars must have aligned and smiled down on me. I knew that the lab would always be part of my Graduate degree but the timing was flexible. It just so happened that this semester could not have been more perfect. Not only was I able to have three almost full days with Jacques, I had the honor and the privilege to work for his 80^th Birthday Gala. This astonishing event took place in the art gallery in 808. 150 food and wine vendors showed up to feed over 600 guests who wanted to celebrate with Jacques.

We arrived early Monday morning to help prepare dishes for the big event. I was chosen to work pastry and busily got started on making 2 oz maple panna cottas. I have probably said it a million times but I LOVE pastry. It is so soothing and was a delight to start the big day in that amazing way. In an hour and a half we (myself and four other students) pumped out 400 panna cottas with relaxed ease. And then we started on the main event.

             After a quick pizza lunch Jacques and his best friend John Claude arrived. Nervous would have been an understatement. I had no idea what to expect. We were drilled several times about how to act, what to do and what not to do. In the end it could not have been more lovely. Jacques and John Claude are delightful, hard of hearing, grandfatherly master chefs that swooped in and wanted nothing more than to create delicious food and enjoy our time together. Jacques started by making butter roses with just a pairing knife and a stick of butter. I kid you not. They are so beautiful. From there we spend a rather scattered afternoon making a few things for an event on Wednesday.

         

   The evening finally rolled around and I was assigned to work with out pastry Chef the first half of the evening and then move to Chris Douglas’ station for the second half. Everyone, and I mean everyone, LOVED the panna cotta and it was fun to show off how much we, as lowly students, were able to accomplish and please. As the evening went on table after table started running out of food (including my second table of the night) but it all seemed fine because everyone was just so happy to be a part of the big event.

Island Creek Oyster Bar's Oyster Boat 

Clear Flour Bakery's table 

Clear Flour's Birthday "cake" for Jacques 

Our maple panna cotta 

10/29 Balanced Flavors and Technique Review

            Before today I could have told you exactly two things about Korean food; they have it and they seem to like BBQ. That is it. I am very proud to announce that I now love it and will promptly find my local Korean establishment and put it on the regular rotation list. Korean food is similar to Japanese food but on flavor steroids. There Japanese food looks for simple subtleties, Korean food goes for full power explosions in your mouth. Japanese food is to French food as Korean food is to Mexican food.

Scallion Pancake

Bibimbap 

            We had a wonderful instructor who let us get a hands on experience to the simple nature of Korean food while also getting all the flavors. We made the very typical bibimbop, which was incredible, a scallion pancake (!!!!!!!!!), a spinach and sesame dish, and crunchy cucumbers with a spicy dipping sauce. Everything blended so well together yet all the parts were distinct and flavorful.

My scallops with butternut squash pure 

Roasted cauliflower and fingerling potatoes with steak with an apple pan sauce 

            

The afternoon was about as far away from Korean food as possible. We had a technique review with Chef Michael Leviton where we tried to recreate a well-cooked steak, scallops, a butternut squash pure and roasting cauliflower. Overall not very eventful.

I am proud of learning about new cultures and new flavors. I really need to broaden my horizons and appreciate the amazing foods in the world

I need to work on perfecting my cooking and simplifying my plating.

Take aways: Chef Leviton made an excellent point in class while talking about perfecting our techniques. He said that we really need to work on nuanced flavors rather than relying on salt and acid to make our food taste good. He noted that it is nearly impossible to pair a good wine with some of these modern foods because they are too bold to go with anything besides a vinegary wine or beer. To keep wine pairing alive, we need to know how to cook to complement the whole meal.