Week 3: Turning up the heat

It’s getting real.

Week 3…oh boy. We really kicked it up a notch as we made the jump from vegetables to proteins, with a healthy dose of deep frying in the mix. Cooking proteins and their accompanying sauces involves constant heat — and it gets REALLY hot in the kitchen, especially when we have 12 pots of 350° F oil bubbling around the room! Our instructors forgot to turn on the AC a few mornings last week, and I thought about saying something, but then a little voice in my head reminded me of the expression “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” So I decided not to pipe in. I survived.

Keeping my mouth shut is not easy, though. In fact, I am pretty sure I am becoming “that girl” in my class. This will not come as a surprise to anyone who went to school with me. My teachers from kindergarten through early middle school worked tirelessly to break me of my habit of calling out in class, and I mostly have that under control at this point, but I truly cannot help myself from raising my hand whenever I know the answer or have what I think is a non-stupid question.

It’s a balance — I don’t want to annoy my classmates or my instructors, and at the same time I want to get everything out of this experience that I possibly can, so if that means that when I notice that the chef salted something or switched out some ingredients when our recipe didn’t call for those steps, I am going to ask why! We have learned that with salting in particular, it’s not always about flavor. Often it’s a technical step to draw out moisture when you want an ingredient to break down while cooking, and it can be used for other purposes as well. These are really useful tidbits that aren’t necessarily in our textbook, but are basic foundations of technique, and occasionally the instructors do it so naturally that they don’t talk about why they are doing it. And that is what we are here to learn. So I will ask. And maybe if I am nice and helpful enough to my classmates and instructors, they won’t hate me.

Emotionally, every day is still up and down. I feel like I am drinking from a firehose of clarified butter and vegetable oil. Last week had a few fantastic flops for me which sucked for a minute, but then I could do nothing but laugh. It’s helping me learn that when you mess things up, you must quickly reassess and figure out a way to make it work. So, when I burned half of my julienned potato cake to a blackened crisp, I presented it to my instructors on the non-burned side, and they didn’t notice. Phew!

Behold the glorious progression of my first Pommes Darphin a.k.a. fancy potato latke. My facial expression in the video is worth a watch.

Before

After. Not my best work.

Week 3 play-by-play

The structure of this course is pretty cool — on each day, we cover a family of ingredients as well as a couple new techniques, and we also review previously covered techniques to refine our skills, but with these new ingredients. So on potato day of week 3, for example, we recapped how to boil potatoes, which we had done as an accompaniment to prior recipes, and then we used those boiled potatoes to make a purée. Then we deep fried more potatoes for a new recipe. The next day, we used that same deep frying technique on a new fish recipe, and afterwards we learned how to poach a different type of fish in another recipe. The next day we poached a lobster and learned how to sear scallops. And then the next day we seared a chicken breast…and so on and so forth. It keeps things interesting and challenging, and it’s a great way to measure your progress. You might have really struggled with one technique the first time it came up in class, and then when it comes up again and you get another shot, it usually goes better. Baby steps.

Monday: Salads

First up, salads. As you might imagine, it was not the most exciting day. We made this truly strange salad of uniformly chopped carrots and turnips with peas in a heavy mayonnaise-based dressing, shaped the goopy mass into a precise little round on the plate, and put some tomato sauce (“fondue”) on top. I took a bite and promptly dumped the rest into our compost bin. I guess the point was to practice our emulsified sauce technique from week 2….but it was pretty gross. We did learn a great technique for dressing salads that will help you never end up with a soggy mess — check it out in the “tips and tricks” section at the end of this post!

We also learned the “proper" way to boil an egg, which is to submerge the egg in cold water, bring it to a boil, and then turn it off and let it sit in the water for 10-11 minutes. This keeps the egg from being jostled too much and leaking its white out all over your water in stringy tentacles, and it’s pretty easy to peel. It also prevents the egg from overcooking too much.

Salade Macédoine, made from uniformly chopped boiled vegetables and mayonnaise, with a layer of tomato fondue on top. Not my fave.

Salade Niçoise, for which we perfected the boiled egg by bringing eggs to a boil in cold water and then turning them off to sit for 10 minutes.

Tuesday: Potatoes

Tuesday was potato day. Sounds simple right? Who’s intimidated by a little, unassuming potato? Not you? How about when you have eight different potato recipes to cook in four hours? I think I probably ate four Idaho potatoes over the course of the day. It was a lot to digest, as it were, and some dishes went better than others. But overall it was so fun! Key takeaway: deep frying is awesome and not that scary!

Potatoes are really versatile, which is why they are a great way to experiment with different techniques. Over the course of the day, we puréed, deep fried, pan fried, sautéed, and piped potatoes up the wazoo. We learned that there are two different types of potatoes, starchy and waxy, and that each type is best suited for particular cooking methods. Starchy potatoes like Idaho, Russet and Yukon Gold have a mealy / fluffy texture when cooked, and their higher starch content makes them good for most of the techniques I mentioned above because the starch expands and makes them soft and pillowy to eat, and it also reacts well with heat on the outside to create a crispy external texture. You want a french fry that is crunchy on the outside and creamy with lots of give on the inside — not something that pushes back when you bite into it. On the other hand, when you want the potatoes to hold up on their own and retain their shape / natural texture, waxy potatoes like fingerlings and Red Bliss are the way to go; so in that case you would use them for roasting or boiling, and keep them whole or cut into pieces. You wouldn’t mash them.

Starchy potatoes, like these Idahos, are great when you want to change them into other forms (mashed, fried) - they’re also the classic type to bake whole.

Waxy potatoes, like these Red Bliss, are best to use when you want them to hold their shape, like boiling or roasting.

Within the starchy potato category, we also learned that how you prepare the potato before it goes in the pan / fryer is very important for your end result. When cooked, starch expands and becomes sticky, especially to itself, so if you have a potato dish that you want to hold together like pommes darphin (that large, fancy potato latke from earlier in this post), you don’t want to rinse off the potatoes before cooking, otherwise your removal of that outside layer of starch will cause the potatoes to fall apart in your pan when you try to manipulate them. This is an issue when you’re trying to flip the pancake in the air and catch it in your pan, which is hard enough on its own, let alone if all those strands of potato go flying across your burner! So as soon as you shred / cut the potato, you put it in a dry bowl, salt it to bring out some of the moisture so it will turn nice and brown rather than steam, and use it quickly before it oxidizes (turns pink). Likewise, if you DON’T rinse off the starch before frying items that should stay separate, like french fries or potato chips, they’ll all stick together in the oil and you’ll end up with a sticky, spiky, and soggy mass. So for those dishes, you’ll always want to give them a nice run through water and thoroughly pat them dry before frying them.

Gratin dauphinois, made with thinly sliced potato rounds, heavy cream, and cheese. Heaven.

Pommes duchesse, which is made by piping buttery potato purée enriched with egg yolks through a pastry bag and baking.

The keys to successful deep frying are to have a reliable thermometer in your oil — keeping it to about 350 degrees most of the time, not overcrowding the fryer, making sure your ingredients are fully submerged, salting the potatoes immediately after removing them from the oil, and ensuring everything you put in is nice and dry, otherwise the water will make the oil sputter, and that does not feel nice on your skin. And while our foray into frying was exciting, there was one big downside. I left smelling like a giant walking french fry. I went to get allergy shots after class and even the nurse commented on it. Afternoon showers are becoming a thing these days.

Our deep frying setup

Pommes gaufrettes, aka fancy waffle chips.

You know what this is 🍟

Wednesday and Thursday: Fish

On Wednesday we made our transition to animal proteins, with fish as the theme for two days in a row. We learned how to fillet a whole fish and then cook it in a number of ways, including frying, searing, braising, and baking en papillote (in a parchment paper pouch with aromatics and wine). My first fish fillet, bass, was pretty awful, basically leaving me with shredded mess, but my second (trout) and third (flounder) went much better as I started to get the hang of using our fish knife in the proper way - using the tip more than the full blade, keeping the knife straight, and using a flicking motion rather than sawing - and then executing the cuts in the right order.

My flounder waiting to be filleted. Slightly intimidating.

Flounder post-fillet, cut into goujonettes (thin, rolled strips), battered à l’anglaise in flour, egg yolk and breadcrumbs, then deep fried and placed in a waffle chip basket (that I also made!). Served with a red pepper coulis and remoulade — mayo with capers, anchovies and herbs.

I really do enjoy the sense of tangible progress that you see from day to day, and even within a day. Part of why the first time trying something new is so hard is that we have one demonstration with a lot of components, with at least 5 steps, and then we are sent off to do the whole thing ourselves. I am a little spatially challenged, so I typically need to see things a few times before I can execute them on my own. So I really do fly by the seat of my pants after these demonstrations. I do my absolute best to focus on every little step, but I sometimes I get disoriented when I get back to my cutting board. It helps to work with partners who are more visual, and that’s where our teamwork really counts, but most of us end up screwing up a step or two. It’s all part of the process, and that’s how you learn.

Snafus during our fish foray included: setting my trout fillet on fire in my pan when my hot oil caught a lick of flame (I put it out quickly); accidentally curdling crème fraîche for a cream sauce because I whisked it too hard, and making lemony whipped cream instead (it worked); and filleting my bass to shreds as described above, but we were baking it with lots of veggies on top so it wasn’t visible. As you can see, these issues were solvable or at least not disastrous, the dishes turned out pretty well, and I learned from the experience.

I managed to salvage my seared trout with brown butter and caper sauce after it went up in flames when I forgot to turn off the burner before placing the fish in the ripping hot oil. My instructor’s feedback when I presented? “More butter.”

My slightly shredded fillet of bass en papillote, the fish itself conveniently out of view, resting on a bed of gently stewed mushrooms and tomato fondue and topped with julienned vegetables.

Friday: Shellfish

Finally on Friday we had a shellfish bonanza. We poached lobster and cooked a complex lobster sauce involving flambéing browned lobster shells with brandy; steamed mussels in white wine; sautéed scallops until crisp and golden brown; broiled escargot with garlic butter; and shucked oysters and clams — all over the course of 4.5 hours. I didn’t even have time to eat my lobster, which was sad. Also on the sauce front, we made a parsley coulis (a puréed sauce) for the scallops, which I somehow managed to get on the back of my jacket. Remember when I said I often end up messier than my classmates by end of day? Case in point.

My lovely partner Alex and I presenting our scallops with parsley coulis. Little did I know I had some of that beautiful bright green sauce smeared on my back! Ignorance is bliss.

Closeup of our scallops. If you want a protein to brown, put it in a ripping hot pan, let it sizzle, turn the heat down to medium, and leave it alone!

The most memorable part of shellfish day was killing the lobster by cutting straight through its head and then separating its still-moving parts for poaching, which I had to steel myself to do and then got it over with quickly. It was uncomfortable, but the reality of cooking animal proteins is that it always involves death, and as cooks we need to understand that full process. Second most memorable was when I put my lobster shells in my sauté pan and started moving them around to brown them, which I apparently wasn’t supposed to do. So, Chef made me do three laps around my station. Now, I will certainly never forget to leave things alone for a few minutes when letting them brown in a pan. Check out the tips and tricks section below for more advice on proper searing technique as well as a few pointers to make an easy poached lobster!

Lobsters for the class

My partner’s and my victims

Post poach

Using the bodies for sauce

The finished product: poached lobster claws and tail with Sauce Americaine, which is basically a lobster bisque with no cream.

Also Friday: My first volunteer session with the James Beard Foundation

If that wasn’t enough, after being at school from 9-3 on Friday, my classmate Melissa and I took a volunteer shift at the James Beard House from 4-11, assisting a chef in a special tasting menu for 75 people. The James Beard Foundation supports and recognizes outstanding chefs from around the country, giving out awards and providing opportunities to host spotlight dinners in NYC. In town that night were Michael Showers and his team from High West Distillery in Park City, Utah, whose bourbon I have at home and love. They had put together a fantastic southern / western inspired menu, and we helped them prep, cook, and plate all six courses, as well as four different passed hors d’oeuvres. Coincidentally, one of my jobs was deep frying mac and cheese balls and rabbit tenderloins, a skill I had learned just three days before! I guess it isn’t rocket science, but I was thrilled to do it in a “real” setting and not screw it up. The prep for the first hour and a half was calm, but by the time service began we were running on adrenaline and the time flew by. I didn’t get a chance to take many pictures, but you’ll see below the volume of plates with the dessert course I snapped at the end of the night. We ended the evening hovering over the excess food, making sumptuous sandwiches out of perfectly rare bavette steak and leftover caraway parker house rolls and popping tallow-roasted new potatoes in our mouths like candy. That and the glass of Yippee Ki Yay I enjoyed at the end of the night were a welcome way to close this exhilarating and exhausting week.

A quick pre-service selfie with my adorable classmate Melissa at the James Beard House

Plating dessert - everything has to be uniform and ready to go out at the same time

Close up of the dessert, a spruce posset, which tastes like a cross between a pudding and a mousse

And now what you’ve been waiting for…

Tips and tricks!

Sautéing and searing proteins

• When you’re sautéing or searing something with the goal of developing a golden brown crust, pre-heat your pan until it’s ripping hot and put a LOT of oil in it. Then, when the oil starts to shimmer, take your pan off the flame, put your ingredient in, and let it sizzle for a second. Then, put it back on the high heat, and LEAVE IT ALONE. If you move it, it won’t brown nearly as well. As long as you've put enough fat in the pan, it won’t stick. And the reason you turn off the heat right before putting your ingredient in the pan is that the oil might sputter and catch fire on the open flame. I learned that one the hard way with my trout. Monitor your food to make sure it isn’t burning, flip it once a nice crust has developed, and then turn down the heat to medium to let it cook through if needed.

• Make sure that you place the “presentation side” down first in the pan — the side that you’re planning on serving face up to your diners. The pan has the most heat right before you put something in it, so the first side will have the best sear.

• Use vegetable oil or clarified butter rather than olive oil when you want to sear something because olive oil has a low smoke point - meaning if you use vegetable oil, your food won’t taste smoky (in a bad way) from cooking it on high heat.

Salads

• Always make sure your salad ingredients are completely dry before dressing so that your dressing doesn’t slide off or get diluted

• To avoid overdressing your salad and making it soggy, spoon some of the dressing around the sides of a bowl and then gently toss your lettuce / ingredients in that bowl with your hands or a spoon until the dressing is evenly dispersed. Don’t pour the dressing directly on top. This way it’s easier to control the amount you put in, and it will prevent you from having some leaves that are drenched while others are naked. You can always add more dressing, but you can’t take it away if you accidentally dump in too much.

• If you want to flavor your salad dressing with garlic, onions or shallots, marinate them for 10 minutes in your acid of choice (e.g., vinegar or citrus juice) to infuse their flavor while mellowing out their sharpness.

Potatoes

• When boiling potatoes, start them in cold water, submerged with about 1 inch of overhead. Bring them to a boil, then immediately reduce them a simmer and cook until tender. You don’t want them to start in hot water because the outside will overcook before the inside has had its chance, leaving you with a hard core. And we simmer rather than boil to preserve the nice smooth texture on the outside of the potato. Moreover, if you are using starchy potatoes (Idaho, Russet, Yukon Gold), don’t salt the water — the potatoes will develop a rough texture on the outside and fall apart. But if you’re using waxy potatoes like fingerlings or red bliss, you can salt the water to flavor them and they will be fine.

• See the potato section above for my tips on how to treat starchy vs. waxy potatoes when pan- or deep-frying them

• Put way more butter than you think you should in potato purée 🙂

Fish

• If you’re serving a fish fillet with skin, the skin side should always be the presentation side, so make it nice and crispy. One way to do this is to dredge just the skin side in a little bit of flour before searing it in hot fat. Yum.

• Never put your fish fillets on ice or in water. It will kill the texture and flavor of that delicate meat! If you want to keep your fillets cold, you can put them in a bowl that is sitting on top of a bowl of ice, or wrap them in plastic first.

Lobster

• When poaching lobster, break it down before you put it into the water, separating the heads and tails. Take the tails out a few minutes before the heads (we did 5 and 8 minutes, respectively). Poaching water should be barely simmering — 180° F max. And for some extra flavor, add some white wine and herbs to the poaching water as it’s heating up.