Culinary School Pt. 3: Global Cuisines
The days have been ticking by quickly, only six weeks until final exams! The past couple of months have been really exciting. We have been spending time learning about each country’s cuisine and historical background. This was the area of the program that I was most excited to learn; which makes sense considering my love of traveling. This was as close to being in each place as I could get… for now!
Roasted Garlic (A How-To)
Hello everyone! Welcome back, can you believe it is 2013?! This is the first year that I have decided NOT to make a resolution. My mom was talking about New Years Resolutions and it made me realize how often (for the most part) our own resolutions fade away each year. Last year my New Years resolution was to quit consuming so much processed sugar; I forgot about that one in a matter of months. I still try to consume as few GMOs as possible, but it is hard to not consume sugar when you are a culinary student who is also working during the day most of the time. So this year my “resolution”, if you want to call it that, is that this year is the first year of the rest of my life and it is going to be the most epic year yet. I graduate culinary school and will travel the world and discover where I belong, as well as start my career in the field of my dreams, as a chef!
{Basque Stage} Braised Lamb Shank, Goat Cheese Beet Ravioli & Confit Root Vegetables
As some of you may know, I am applying to the Basque Stage Sammic Rising Stars Scholarship. If I win, I get to do a 3-month stage at Xarma restaurant in San Sebastian, Spain! If you follow my blog, you probably already know about my addiction to food and experiencing new cultures, and how excited I get when I can combine the two! As part of my application, I had to create a dish to share. I wanted my dish to represent who I am, as well as my style of cooking.
Puree Crecy (Puree of Carrot Soup)
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (or just a great weekend for everyone in other countries)! If you follow me on Twitter you probably saw some of my photos from my family trip to NYC for the holiday. What an exhausting “vacation” it was. If there is anything the Morris family knows how to do is eat their way through any city. We are the type of family that plans the entire trip about where we are going to eat next; rough life for a foodie like me right?! I can thank my Mom for that! I was able to try bone marrow for the first time at Il Vagabondo, which I was very excited about. I ordered the veal shank, which came with a tiny marrow fork right in the top of the shank. I spread it on bread and it was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I also spent the entire afternoon on Friday going door-to-door of my top 8 dream externship restaurants to talk to chefs and submit my resume and cover letters. As of right now I have three “trails” set up, which is like a working interview for an externship. They are at Eleven Madison Park, The Modern and Bouley. Although, my true dream externship would be to win the Basque Stage and spend 3-6 months in the Basque countryside!
Culinary School Pt.2: Building Flavor & Foundations
This is a very overdue post, sorry for the delay! I finally had a Sunday to lounge on my couch and update you all on my culinary school adventures at Escoffier. We just finished midterms last week. For the practical, we had to fabricate a whole chicken, then prepare two plates of seared chicken breast, potato puree and seasonal vegetable with a veloute, as well as a green salad with a vinaigrette dressing. I chose to French my chicken breasts, which is when you leave in the drummette and clean the bone, as well as slice my chicken to plate, which most other students didn’t. I prepared an herbed honey balsamic vinaigrette for my dressing. I got a 98% on my practical and a 99% on my written, not to shabby!
Crispy Baked Chicken w/ Herb Buffalo Sauce
How to Fabricate a Whole Chicken {Step-by-Step Guide}
Today I have another how-to to share with you all. It is something that used to seem so intimidating to me, but now seems so simple. Not only is it rewarding to be able to break down your own chicken, it is much cheaper than buying pre-cut chicken! I was able to buy whole chickens for less than $5 each at King Soopers! If you want free-range chickens it will be a little more expensive, but still nowhere close to the price of pre-cut pieces. I have also grown to enjoy switching up my typical routine of boneless, skinless breasts. There is so much more to a chicken than that!
Roasted Red Bell Peppers (A How-To)
Most of the time I look for exciting and unique recipes to share with you all, but sometimes I realize that it is important to bring it back to the basics. I forget to share my tricks of the trade with my readers, which has made me add a new component to Savour the Senses. I am going to begin doing how-to posts occasionally for simple techniques that not everybody may know about.
Sage French Onion Soup
It is funny being in culinary school at night because I never cook for myself at home! I am looking forward to my weekends so that I can use up all the meat and fish in my freezer! This weekend was too hectic for that though; I was a chef assistant for a 170 person PLATED DINNER wedding! I am loving getting all the experience! Luckily I have a lot of soup made and in my freezer as well, for those busy days. With the cold weather coming, is a great time for soup!
Culinary School Pt. 1: Sensory Awareness, Competition Team & the Basics
I am almost through with my third week of culinary school. It has been flying by! The first week was just serve safe. The second week we learned all about the history of French cuisine and the classic kitchen brigade systems. We also got to test our ability to identify flavors; this was really fun! Chef set up a bunch of stations with a ton of random things and we had to taste them and judge the flavors in them. I actually liked the shrimp paste and fish sauce quite a bit, my classmates thought I was looney…
