36 hours of no sleep and still going. I'm finally done with one of my papers. 2 more to go. I'm glad though that somehow my efforts have been paying off. I got an A on a late paper I submitted this morning. Yei! I did try to make the deadline but I was way toooo exhausted.
-----Original Message-----
From: Klaus Tenbergen
Sent: Mon 1/30/2006 9:12 PM
To: Maria Jorolan
Subject: Homework assignment
Maria -
Both you and Kristine did a great job with your assignment. So here is what I send to Kristine and the same applies to you!
As you know your assignment was late and was not submitted via the digital drop box as instructed.
However, I'm very impressed with the quality of work submitted and therefore will not apply any penalties.
Great work! I hope you learned a few things and hopefully you'll spend more time in the library, as you hopefully discovered a whole new world of resources.
100/100
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Winter Warmth
This weekend is quite busy. I have tons of work to do for school and I feel like I won't be able to sleep. I get panick attacks just looking at the things I have to do. It's quite overwhelming.
So I decided to take a bit of a break just to get my mind off school work.
I couldn't get anything done yesterday because I was still so stressed out from my Advanced Skills class where we are being trained to work under pressure. There seems to be way too much pressure I feel like breaking down.
When I got home, I did some cleaning, did the laundry, took a bath, got my stuff organized and took a nap.
Later that night, I dolled up for a night out with my Chicago family: Cindy and Kc Corcuera for thier cousin Ritchie's big birthday, his 30th at Transit. I saw some of their friends I've met before and I met some new people too. I think that was good. I'm glad I went. They're good company and it was nice meeting new people too.
When I woke up. I took a bath, I looked at the stuff I had to do. It's overwhelming! I was able to get some of it a little more organized so I should get my papers done faster. But still, I was SOOOO stressed out! Freaking out! Panicking! I wasn't ready to get going yet.
I felt like I needed to go out. Get some fresh air. A company of friends would help too.
My friend and classmate in school called me. She said I need to take some time out to relax. Maybe then I can work better.
She and her husband Derick picked me and took me out to lunch at a small Thai restaurant on Taylor st. We had a good meal of Pad See-ew, Tom Yum and Basil Chicken... My Thai staple at Singha. They brought me home. I got a few more things done.
Charley, a friend from Manila called me. She's in town from Urbana (she's now going to UofI, Champagne taking part of her MA degree). I met her up at the Greyhound station on Harrison and Clinton sts. We walked around. Tried to catch up on each other's life. We sat down for Coffee. Talk some more.
Later we met up with another friend, Vicky whom we both know from Manila. She and her boyfriend Mike treated us to Dinner at Greek Islands on Jackson and Halsted sts. We had great Greek food sampler. We finished it off with Greek coffee. Heavenly!
Good Friends. Good Food. Good Coffee. Good Times. Brings me warmth in the winter.
Just when I thought my weekend will be a stressful disaster, God showers me with great friends, even if I only had a couple of hours for to take a break! I think I had a GREAT weekend after all!
Now I'm ready to write my papers now. Back to work.
So I decided to take a bit of a break just to get my mind off school work.
I couldn't get anything done yesterday because I was still so stressed out from my Advanced Skills class where we are being trained to work under pressure. There seems to be way too much pressure I feel like breaking down.
When I got home, I did some cleaning, did the laundry, took a bath, got my stuff organized and took a nap.
Later that night, I dolled up for a night out with my Chicago family: Cindy and Kc Corcuera for thier cousin Ritchie's big birthday, his 30th at Transit. I saw some of their friends I've met before and I met some new people too. I think that was good. I'm glad I went. They're good company and it was nice meeting new people too.
When I woke up. I took a bath, I looked at the stuff I had to do. It's overwhelming! I was able to get some of it a little more organized so I should get my papers done faster. But still, I was SOOOO stressed out! Freaking out! Panicking! I wasn't ready to get going yet.
I felt like I needed to go out. Get some fresh air. A company of friends would help too.
My friend and classmate in school called me. She said I need to take some time out to relax. Maybe then I can work better.
She and her husband Derick picked me and took me out to lunch at a small Thai restaurant on Taylor st. We had a good meal of Pad See-ew, Tom Yum and Basil Chicken... My Thai staple at Singha. They brought me home. I got a few more things done.
Charley, a friend from Manila called me. She's in town from Urbana (she's now going to UofI, Champagne taking part of her MA degree). I met her up at the Greyhound station on Harrison and Clinton sts. We walked around. Tried to catch up on each other's life. We sat down for Coffee. Talk some more.
Later we met up with another friend, Vicky whom we both know from Manila. She and her boyfriend Mike treated us to Dinner at Greek Islands on Jackson and Halsted sts. We had great Greek food sampler. We finished it off with Greek coffee. Heavenly!
Good Friends. Good Food. Good Coffee. Good Times. Brings me warmth in the winter.
Just when I thought my weekend will be a stressful disaster, God showers me with great friends, even if I only had a couple of hours for to take a break! I think I had a GREAT weekend after all!
Now I'm ready to write my papers now. Back to work.
Merry Cherries
I think I just fell in love with Cherries. I don't normally eat cherries in Manila, especially since the only market form of cherries I was exposed to are the Maraschino Cherries which are way too sweet for my sweet tooth. When I see them used as a garnish on my dessert, I won't even touch it.
Maraschino cherries are specifically made for the purpose of garnishing desserts or cocktail. They are made by macerating cherries in flavored syrup and then heavily dyed, thus the bright red color. The red ones are usually almond in flavor while the bright green ones are mint flavored.
I encountered cherries in other forms just last week and I think I fell in love with them: Griotines and Kirsch! Griotines are simply brandied cherries. They are so good even just to top a small dessert with mascarpone or any creamy mousse. I can actually just pick on them plain. Be careful though, you can actually get drunk with them. The jar I found says it has 15% alcohol. That's enough alcohol to keep it on your shelf for a year. They're easy to make too. Here's a quick recipe:
Brandied Cherries
6# dark, sweet cherries, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, a squeeze of lemon juice and a big splash of some good brandy
Wash and pit the cherries. Combine sugar, water and lemon juice in a large pot and bring it to boil. Reduce heat when it comes up to a boil till it's down to simmer. Add cherries and simmer just until the cherries are done. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in brandy. Pack hot cherries into jars, leaving 1/2" headspace then ladle the syrup over the cherries. Make sure there's enough syrup to cover the cherries. At home, you can steam or process the jars for 10 minutes so it can keep longer. This recipe makes 6 pints.
Kirsch is a Eau de Vie (water of life) of cherries. I found eau de vie's really interesting. I don't know if they're good for drinking, I haven't really tried but they smell really really good. We used a couple of them in class, one was framboise (raspberry) to flavor chocolate ganash and the other one was cherry (kirsch) to make mousse.
Maraschino cherries are specifically made for the purpose of garnishing desserts or cocktail. They are made by macerating cherries in flavored syrup and then heavily dyed, thus the bright red color. The red ones are usually almond in flavor while the bright green ones are mint flavored.
I encountered cherries in other forms just last week and I think I fell in love with them: Griotines and Kirsch! Griotines are simply brandied cherries. They are so good even just to top a small dessert with mascarpone or any creamy mousse. I can actually just pick on them plain. Be careful though, you can actually get drunk with them. The jar I found says it has 15% alcohol. That's enough alcohol to keep it on your shelf for a year. They're easy to make too. Here's a quick recipe:
Brandied Cherries
6# dark, sweet cherries, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, a squeeze of lemon juice and a big splash of some good brandy
Wash and pit the cherries. Combine sugar, water and lemon juice in a large pot and bring it to boil. Reduce heat when it comes up to a boil till it's down to simmer. Add cherries and simmer just until the cherries are done. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in brandy. Pack hot cherries into jars, leaving 1/2" headspace then ladle the syrup over the cherries. Make sure there's enough syrup to cover the cherries. At home, you can steam or process the jars for 10 minutes so it can keep longer. This recipe makes 6 pints.
Kirsch is a Eau de Vie (water of life) of cherries. I found eau de vie's really interesting. I don't know if they're good for drinking, I haven't really tried but they smell really really good. We used a couple of them in class, one was framboise (raspberry) to flavor chocolate ganash and the other one was cherry (kirsch) to make mousse.
The name translates as "water of life," a reminder that the invention of distillation in the 17th century came in pursuit of cures for plagues like cholera. Other, more upbeat uses soon came to the fore, and eau de vie established itself as a distinct class of spirits: clear fruit brandy, rarely touching wood, and usually drunk fairly young. Unlike grape brandy, eau de vie puts the emphasis on freshness, liveliness, and capturing the intense essence of fruit -- rather than on depth, weight, and the complexity that comes from years of interaction between spirit, oxygen and wood.
Put another way, eau de vie is the anti-vodka. The point of vodka distillation is to remove all those annoying flavors; the point of eau de vie is to preserve as much of the original fruit as possible. Vodka is the perfect vehicle for mixed drinks, since it disappears entirely into its surroundings; there is no such thing as an eau de vie cocktail. (www.sallys-place.com)
Kirsch makes really good mousse. Here's another simple recipe:
Kirsch Mousse
You will need: 9 sheets of gelatine (or 9 teaspoons of powdered unflavored gelatine, add water as per box instructions), 100 ml of Kirsch, 1L of heavy cream, 1Kg of pastry cream (recipe to follow)
Soften or melt gelatin. Bring the Kirsch to simmer over low heat. Remove Kirsch from heat and add gelatin and stir until it's completely dissolved. Stir the gelatin mixture into the heavy cream, then whip the cream to soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream and chill until ready. This recipe makes 2 quarts. (On Cooking by Labensky and Hause)
Pastry Cream
To make pastry cream, you will need: 120g of cake flour, 360g of granulated sugar, 1L of milk, 12 egg yolks, 1 vanilla bean split (or 1t of vanila paste), 60g of unsalted butter
Sift dry ingredients together. Whisk 225ml of whole milk into egg yolks then add the dry ingredients till completely smooth. Heat milk with vanilla bean. As the milk comes up to a boil, temper the egg-flour mixture with a third of the scalded milk until completely incorporated. Pour the egg-flour mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Stir constantly until the custard thickens. It may get lumpy but it will smoothen out as it comes up to a boil. Allow it the pastry cream to boil for about 1 minute. Stir constantly. Fold in the butter until melted. Cover and chill. Remove the vanilla bean just before using.
We made a swiss roulade in class with griotines. We used kirsch mousse instead of ice cream.
Sponge Roll
To make the sponge roll, you will need 12 oz of egg yolks and 8 oz of sugar, 12 oz of cake flour, 1# 2 oz of egg whites, a pinch of salt and another 6 oz of sugar.
Whip the yolks and the sugar together just until ribbon stage. Tripple sift salt and flour. In a separate mixing bowl, whip egg whites and sugar. Get a big bolw and pour in the yolk-egg mixture, fold in a quarter of white-sugar mixture (meringue), then half of the salt-flour mixture, fold until everything is incorporated. Then add another quarter of the meringue, then the other half of the salt-flour mixture and incorporate. And lastly, add the last half of the meringue. Do not over work the mixture to keep your volume. Pour the mixture in a parchment lined sheet pan and bake till done at 375 degrees. When the cake is done, let cool for a few minutes, unpan the mixture and sprinkle with sugar. Store it rolled on parchment if it's not going to be used immediately.
We lined the sponge roll with chocolate glaze (melted chocolate, butter and corn syrup). The chocolate glaze keeps the sponge from absorbing all the moisture from the mousse. Then we placed a thick layer of Kirsch Mousse. If it's too thick, just reconstitute it with a little bit of cream until you get the consistency you want. Then we threw in some griotines (drain them on a paper towel to get some of the juices out). Then we rolled it into a log.
This will make a nice Yule Log too. Just cut a portion of it to make a stem and pipe out some butter cream. It'll make a good dessert for Christmas!
Merry Christmas! Merry Cherries!
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
A Bite of History
I have pastry class this term. I thought it will be such a drag because we won't be cooking in the hot kitchen. The class start at 5am which means I have to be awake by at least 4am to make it on time. Surprisingly, I'm really enjoying it. The class was moved to 530 and I still get to class half an hour before to do my mise-en-place.
I know you can't believe it and I can't believe it myself either. I'm so not a morning person. But I guess it's one thing to have to wake up really early and feel like not wanting to get up because I have to drag myself to another day's work... and it's something to wake up looking forward to something new I'll learn to create. Strangely, that's how I feel everyday. I've only been doing pastry for about 3 weeks now and I've learned so much so far. It's unfortunate that with my accelerated program, we only get to do things once so I just take advantage of other opportunities by volunteering to assist the chef in bread and pastry production for the Cafe. this way, I get to do make some pastries, at least twice.
This week, I learned how to make some cakes from scratch. It's such a novelty to me because it's so convinient to make semi-homemade cakes out of a box and with just a little personal touch, they can pass for someone's personal formula (so I'm not exactly givingi that up).
Fruit Charlotte is one of the cakes we made.
It's basically lined with lady fingers, filled with fruit mousee and topped with fresh fruits. It would have been nice making this in the summer time though where the fruits are tastier and juicier and a little more inexpensive. I don't really like those slices of peaches there. For one thing, the peaches during winter are hard as rock and pretty much tasteless. But they did the job of covering the big spot in the middle when I ran out of berries to complete my topping.
We sliced up some of the cakes and it's pretty good. It's so refreshing. The fruit mousse which is made with meringue and fruit puree is very light, the lady fingers gives it a little crusty texture and the fesh fruits gives it some bite. The ribbon looked good on it. It's very traditional.
This cake has so much history to it. Quoting from my chef instructor's notes (Chef Klaus Tenbergen): "The original Charlotte (which appeared at the end of the 18th century, perhaps in honor of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III of England) is inspired by English desserts. It is made from a thick fruit purée flavored with lemon and cinnamon, poured into a round mould with a slightly flared rim, lined with slices of buttered bread. The dish is baked in the oven, then turned out of the mould and served warm with a cold custard cream. Carême invented charlotte russe. This is a chilled uncooked dish consisting of vanilla Bavarian cream (or chocolate mousse, coffee mousse, a bombe mixture or Chantilly cream) poured into a charlotte mould lined with sponge fingers (ladyfingers). The latter can be soaked in liqueur or coffee beforehand. The preparation is allowed to cool and then turned out of the mould. Carême names his creation charlotte à la parisienne, but this name was changed during the Second Empire, when Russian dishes become very fashionable”. Larousse Gastronomique. Today, anything surrounded by Lady Fingers is called Charlotte."
Speaking of History, another cake we learned how to make is the Sacher Cake or traditionally called, Sachertorte. This is another one filled with a lot of History. Quoting from www.whatscookingamerica.com, "Sacher Torte is a famous Viennese cake, probably the most famous chocolate cake of all-time. It consists of chocolate sponge cake cut into three layers, between which apricot jam are thickly spread between the layers and on the top and sides of the cake. The whole cake is then iced with a velvet-like chocolate and served with a side dish of whipped cream. It was created in 1832 by Chef Franz Sacher for Prince Clemens Lothar Wensel Metternich (1773-1859) of Austria. The prince enjoyed trying new dishes and ordered the chef to create a new cake. Orders were sent to the kitchens where it was instant pandemonium. The head chef was sick and the team of cooks in the kitchen had no idea what to prepare. Franz Sacher, a 16-year old apprentice cook, rolled up his sleeves and created this famous chocolate cake with the ingredients that were available. The Sacher Torte and other recipes made him prosperous, and he operated several cafes and restaurants."
It's interesting to know the history behind something I like to eat and make. It's something I can talk about when making it for other people.
Things like these make getting up early and being in the kitchen creating something special for other people to enjoy... all worth it.
History and Everybody's Cafe: Learning about little things like history behind food brings tingles up my spine. It reminds me about our very own Everybody's Cafe and how it has become a part of the lives of so many people who dined in it throu the last 50 years. It's actually something people has talk about. Perhaps it's high time I research the details and document it. That'll be something good to share.
I know you can't believe it and I can't believe it myself either. I'm so not a morning person. But I guess it's one thing to have to wake up really early and feel like not wanting to get up because I have to drag myself to another day's work... and it's something to wake up looking forward to something new I'll learn to create. Strangely, that's how I feel everyday. I've only been doing pastry for about 3 weeks now and I've learned so much so far. It's unfortunate that with my accelerated program, we only get to do things once so I just take advantage of other opportunities by volunteering to assist the chef in bread and pastry production for the Cafe. this way, I get to do make some pastries, at least twice.
This week, I learned how to make some cakes from scratch. It's such a novelty to me because it's so convinient to make semi-homemade cakes out of a box and with just a little personal touch, they can pass for someone's personal formula (so I'm not exactly givingi that up).
Fruit Charlotte is one of the cakes we made.
It's basically lined with lady fingers, filled with fruit mousee and topped with fresh fruits. It would have been nice making this in the summer time though where the fruits are tastier and juicier and a little more inexpensive. I don't really like those slices of peaches there. For one thing, the peaches during winter are hard as rock and pretty much tasteless. But they did the job of covering the big spot in the middle when I ran out of berries to complete my topping. We sliced up some of the cakes and it's pretty good. It's so refreshing. The fruit mousse which is made with meringue and fruit puree is very light, the lady fingers gives it a little crusty texture and the fesh fruits gives it some bite. The ribbon looked good on it. It's very traditional.
This cake has so much history to it. Quoting from my chef instructor's notes (Chef Klaus Tenbergen): "The original Charlotte (which appeared at the end of the 18th century, perhaps in honor of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III of England) is inspired by English desserts. It is made from a thick fruit purée flavored with lemon and cinnamon, poured into a round mould with a slightly flared rim, lined with slices of buttered bread. The dish is baked in the oven, then turned out of the mould and served warm with a cold custard cream. Carême invented charlotte russe. This is a chilled uncooked dish consisting of vanilla Bavarian cream (or chocolate mousse, coffee mousse, a bombe mixture or Chantilly cream) poured into a charlotte mould lined with sponge fingers (ladyfingers). The latter can be soaked in liqueur or coffee beforehand. The preparation is allowed to cool and then turned out of the mould. Carême names his creation charlotte à la parisienne, but this name was changed during the Second Empire, when Russian dishes become very fashionable”. Larousse Gastronomique. Today, anything surrounded by Lady Fingers is called Charlotte."
Speaking of History, another cake we learned how to make is the Sacher Cake or traditionally called, Sachertorte. This is another one filled with a lot of History. Quoting from www.whatscookingamerica.com, "Sacher Torte is a famous Viennese cake, probably the most famous chocolate cake of all-time. It consists of chocolate sponge cake cut into three layers, between which apricot jam are thickly spread between the layers and on the top and sides of the cake. The whole cake is then iced with a velvet-like chocolate and served with a side dish of whipped cream. It was created in 1832 by Chef Franz Sacher for Prince Clemens Lothar Wensel Metternich (1773-1859) of Austria. The prince enjoyed trying new dishes and ordered the chef to create a new cake. Orders were sent to the kitchens where it was instant pandemonium. The head chef was sick and the team of cooks in the kitchen had no idea what to prepare. Franz Sacher, a 16-year old apprentice cook, rolled up his sleeves and created this famous chocolate cake with the ingredients that were available. The Sacher Torte and other recipes made him prosperous, and he operated several cafes and restaurants." It's interesting to know the history behind something I like to eat and make. It's something I can talk about when making it for other people.
Things like these make getting up early and being in the kitchen creating something special for other people to enjoy... all worth it.
History and Everybody's Cafe: Learning about little things like history behind food brings tingles up my spine. It reminds me about our very own Everybody's Cafe and how it has become a part of the lives of so many people who dined in it throu the last 50 years. It's actually something people has talk about. Perhaps it's high time I research the details and document it. That'll be something good to share.
Shifting Gears
I should have started blogging a long time ago but it seems like there's never enough time to blog. I realized though just as I was reading other people's blog how much I'm missing not being able to express and share my journey through my new life in culinary school.
I guess it's never too late. Perhaps I can write on earlier experiences later as I develop my blog.
For now, my blog will be some sort of a daily (if i can keep up with 'daily' that is) journal to share my journey through my life's transition from corporate to culinary.
The pictures I'm sharing here are pictures from my first 'plated' dish. During the last few terms, I've been formally learning a lot of things: knife skills, methods, and the essential S's (Soups, Stocks and Sauces). Most of our food production in class is 'institutuional.' I guess it's too early for me to create the finer things. I got a chance to take a couple of electives this term so I took one that we probably won't take up in class but will certainly educate me on one of the regions in the world that I'd like to explore someday: North Africa, thus my elective: Cuisine of North Africa (Moroccan basically)
The dish is an appetizer created by our chef instructor, Chef Ami Sananes. He calls it, A Trio of Fish Gazpacho which ended up becoming just a trio because unfortunately, we didn't have the ingredients we needed to complete the recipe. It still turned out pretty though. I like the effect of Basil Oil (which was made by blancing basil leaves, pureeing it with oil and straining it to extract the infusion, this method also applies to other herbs like parseley etc.)
The Trio ended up being composed of Shrimp Garbanzo, Tuna Gazpacho (which looks more like Tuna Tartar because we didn't cut the Tuna right, but it still looked good didn't it?) and Sauteed Lobster and Bay Scallop with supposedly Yellow Tomato Sauce (which turned out to be moss green because we didn't have yellow tomatoes, we ended up using red instead, blended with pureed cilantro and japeño).I really like this plate because it looks good and it tastes good too. The flavors aren't exactly blended together but rather layered on top of each other than when one takes a bite, the flavors disperse harmoniously that the diner can actually taste each layer (I'm not exaggerating!)
I've only shifted in the food industry, at least formally, very recently. I've always had this 'what-if' in my head about being a Chef... I'm glad I decided to deal with THAT big what if! It's not easy. It's physically challenging. It's mentally stressful. It requires a lot of discipline, passion and intensity. But I'm loving every bit of it.
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