Wrapping It All Up

To close out the year, our Culinary class made our trek to Denver with all the money in hand that we raised through out the semester. With a busy agenda and two vans full of excited girls, we set off to explore the real world use of culinary.

To start off the trip, we took a tour of the Cheesecake Factory. This restaurant is a very successful restaurant with a great background story and wonderful food. The manager took us through the back kitchens for a few minutes and explained to us everyday processes that occur in the business. As a class, we were them able to ask questions that we had pick his mind about what it takes to get to that level. After all that, it was dinner time! Several minutes passed as we narrowed down our choices from the extensive menu, and then it was time to enjoy! We had a wonderful time!

After the Cheesecake Factory, we decided to enjoy the Aquarium. There were many varieties of fish from all around the world, and we had an amazing time exploring all of them! I liked the otters the best! :)

Te next day, we were given the opportunity to tour the Culinary Institute! That was exciting because we got to see where someone would go if they wanted to go to school to be a chef! The people there had a lot of insight and advice for young chefs like us, and truly would like to see us succeed in this field if that's what we wanted to go into. It was a very informative visit and I learned so much in such a short amount of time!

Following the tour at the Culinary Institute, we visited one of our alum, Derek Ray, at a restaurant he manages in Cherry Creek! His restaurant is named Earl's Bar and Grill, and is one of three in the U.S.. He took us on an extensive tour of the kitchen, showing us all aspects of it from the prep stations to the freezer. After that, we sat down to eat. It was wonderful! Derek did a fantastic job of showing us what a does behind the scenes and his staff was very friendly.

The last stop on our visit was to a cupcake shop called Happy Cakes! It was a small shop, but we got to see what equipment they use to make their big batches of cupcakes and what their kitchen looks like. The owner told us the story of how Happy Cakes came about, showed us all the different cupcakes they make, and then gave us free mini cupcakes in the end! Most of us ended up buying some more because they were so delicious!

All in all, our trip was a very successful one and I learned so many new things while visiting with all of these people in the culinary field! This semester in class has been a great one! We have learned many skills and recipes that I can use in the future as I prepare to venture out on my own. Easy recipes like Shirred Eggs with Ham is a delicious recipe that I can use during my college days! I have learned to work patiently and in a timely manner with my peers! It has been a great and wonderful experience, and if I could do it all over again I would!

Bakin Up A Storm

As if we didn't already have enough of baking during our catering units, we baked even more this week! Our Culinary class made everything from pie to savory strudels!

We started our week off with a simple pie crust. However, we changed it up a bit. To test the effects of different ingredients on the taste, texture, and appearance of the crust. In the standard recipe, we used shortening. In the variations, we used lard, margarine, butter, and a few others in place of the shortening. Then, we had a taste test to compare the different crusts. Ingredients really do have a large effect on baked products!

Next, we moved on to a whole pie. Our class made homemade apple pies from scratch! A lot of work went into these lovely pies, but they turned out great!

Finally, we ended the week by making two different pastries. One pastry we made was called a mushroom strudel made from phyllo dough. Phyllo dough is a paper thin dough that produces a very flaky pastry. To make this pastry, we folded a cooked mushroom and onion mixture into the dough using a flag fold.

We also made cheese straws which are made by sandwiching pepper jack cheese in a puff pastry, cutting it into 1/2 inch sections, and then twisting those sections into straws.

Everything we made this week were delicious. They all had different tastes and we used many techniques in making them.

Here is a link to a recipe using the same method we used with the phyllo pastry! It's called Buffalo Chicken Phyllo Wraps! They are buffalo chicken rolled up the same way as the mushrooms in our own strudel! I chose this recipe because it uses the same techniques and dough that we used.

Buffalo Chicken Phyllo Wraps
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buffalo-Chicken-Phyllo-Wraps/Detail.aspx

Julia Child in our Kitchens

In Culinary this week, we watched the movie Julie and Julia. If some of you don't know it's a story about a young blogger who challenges herself to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year. At the same time, the movie flashes back to the beginning of Julia Child's cooking career in France.

Our blog challenge this week was to discuss something that we learned from the real Julia Child. One out of many things Julia taught us was to demand fresh and real food. Julia was a firm believer in the freshest ingredients, never preserved. She thought that the freshest ingredients brought the best taste, and anything made from scratch with love was to be cherished. This is very important in today's world because preserved foods surround us everywhere we go. Our society is all about convenience and food in the least amount of time. Whether you purchase fresh ingredients at the store or grow them yourself for even fresher ingredients, the outcome will be that much better and totally worth it, and, not to mention, healthier!

Here is one of Julia Child's recipes that I thought would be one I would make at home! I would make this because it can be used as a yummy dessert or even a sweet breakfast item!

Julia Child's Cherry Clafouti

Ingredients

1. 1 1/4 cups milk
2. 2/3 cup sugar, divided
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 tablespoon vanilla
5. 1/8 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 cup flour
7. 3 cups cherries, pitted
8. powdered sugar, for garnish  

  Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using a blender, combine the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour, and blend.
3. Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish, and pour a 1/4-inch layer of the blended mixture over the bottom. Set remaining batter aside.
4. Place dish into the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until a film of batter sets in the pan but the mixture is not baked through. Remove from oven (but don’t turn the oven off, yet).
5. Distribute the pitted cherries over the set batter in the pan, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries and sugar.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the clafouti is puffed and brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.
8. Servings: 6-8 for dessert, 4 for breakfast.

Gettin Saucy!

This week(s) in culinary have been focused on our study of sauces! As a class we studied and made three different types of tomato sauces. These variations include a French tomato sauce, an Italian tomato sauce, and a Sugu tomato sauce!

Our first sauce, the French tomato sauce was more complicated. The ingredients included things like bacon, olive oil, carrots, onion, flour, tomatoes, garlic, light stock, sugar, salt, and pepper. After tasting, the French tomato sauce was a sweet and smooth tomato sauce. It was also a little thin, which added to the smoothness.

The Italian tomato sauce was a roasted tomato sauce made of Roma tomatoes, onion, whole garlic, kosher salt, red pepper flakes, sugar, and basil. The Italian version of the tomato sauce is chunkier, and more spicy than the two other versions. It is chunky because of the quartered Roma tomatoes that are roasted in a pan with the other ingredients to make the sauce.

The Sugu tomato sauce contains sun dried tomatoes, garlic, crushed tomatoes in purée, RedHot sauce, kalamata olives, capers, and basil. This tomato sauce is a thick, dark red sauce that has a spicy kick. It is very different from the other two sauces.

Finally, we made a compound butter in class. A compound butter is butter that contains savory ingredients like herbs and spices. I chose to make one with fresh rosemary and garlic in it. As part of our assignment, we were asked to use it at home with some part of our meal. I ended up using my butter on chicken and a baked potato! It was delicious!

Salad and Sushi!

Hey Everyone!
This week in Culinary we made salads! Salads are a delicious and (most of the time) nutritious meal or addition to a meal. In class, my fellow students and I made a Caesar salad dressing (yes even with anchovies), and put it on a Romaine Lettuce and wrapped with a garlic tuile. They were delicious, but some of the garlic tuiles didn't turn out so well :/...

Also in class this week, we channeled our inner Asian chef and made sushi! A guest speaker came in from our own high school staff and showed us how to make Japanese Sushi! She showed us the proper ingredients, techniques, and customs used when preparing sushi. It was a great, and not to mention yummy, experience. Different fillings we had in our sushi included pickled ginger, imitation crab meat, roasted eel, celery, carrots, mushrooms, egg, and avocado. Our entire class had a blast learning a new skill from this incredible woman. Thanks Mrs. Bartlett! (I think I spelled her name right!)  :)

Our teacher asked us to research two salads of our choice and compare them. I chose a salad called "Romance in a Bowl" and a "Fruit Salad with Vanilla Yogurt."

Romance in a Bowl

Ingredients

• 4 cups baby salad greens
   1 carrot, peeled and sliced
• 2 green onions chopped
• 6 strawberries
• 12 fresh raspberries
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup seasoned almond slices
• 1/4 cup dried currants
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup seasoned croutons
• herb vinaigrette
   
   
     
  Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss together the salad greens, carrot, green onions, strawberries, raspberries, garlic, walnuts, almond slices, currants and feta cheese. Divide between two salad bowls. Top each bowl with some croutons and serve with vinaigrette dressing.

Fruit Salad with Vanilla Yogurt

Ingredients 

• 1 package of fresh strawberries
• 1 large peach
• 2 plums
• 2 kiwi fruits
• 1 cup dark sweet cherries, pitted
• 1 cup honeydew melon balls
• 1 cup canteloupe balls 
• 1 cup pineapple
• 1 cup grapes
• 2 containers of vanilla yogurt

Directions

In a large salad bowl, lightly mix together the strawberries, peach, plums, kiwi fruit, cherries, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, pineapple, and grapes until the fruit is well mixed. Serve in bowls with yogurt spooned over the top.

The first salad is a green salad made of lettuce and other garnishes and also has a vinaigrette dressing. The second salad is a bound fruit salad that is composed of a variety of fruits that are bound together by a vanilla yogurt. They are very different, but are both classified as salads. They both sound pretty scrumptious, too! :) 

Tune in next week to see what delicious things we are going to be cooking up! 

Savory Sandwiches!

This week in Culinary 2, we focused on sandwiches. At the beginning of the week we learned about four different types: cold open, cold closed, hot open, and hot closed. Then, our instructor asked us to research and find an example of each type of sandwich for a lab we will be doing.

Wednesday, we were split into groups where we discussed our sandwich choices and chose the top choice for each category. After pricing out the cost of making each sandwich (which had to be under $1.50 per sandwich), we drew out of a hat to see which sandwich our group would make for competition!

My group drew the cold closed sandwich. Our choice for sandwich was a avocado cream cheese garlic spread with red pepper, red onion, lettuce, and cucumbers, all on a bagel. We invited guest judges to come and evaluate all of our sandwiches, along with everyone in the Culinary 2 class. The winner of the competition based on several evaluation questions was our sandwich! Whooo!




While reading about popular breakfasts around the world, I saw many different variations from seafood to noodles to the traditional pastry, eggs, and fruit. There were three, however, that stood out to me as very interesting and something I would eat.

Link to article: http://blog.hostelbookers.com/travel/best-breakfast/

First, the Hawaiian Breakfast consisted of several different types of fruit plus a bagel. This would be a very easy, refreshing, and quick breakfast that I would thoroughly enjoy. The fruits consisted of grapes, apples, oranges, strawberries, and a couple others.

Second, I liked the Canadian Breakfast. The typical Canadian breakfast consists of perogies, sausage, and toast. Perogies are dumpling-type pocket filled with potatoes, fruit, ground meat, etc. I have had perogies and really enjoy them, so I think I would enjoy eating this traditional Canadian breakfast.

Back In the Kitchens!

There is no better feeling than being able to come to class knowing there is a possibility of food being available to eat that day. Any student would agree. This week, our Culinary 2 class was very busy at work making dishes such as our own ricotta cheese, Creme Fraiche, Lemmon Ricotta Biscuits, Chai Tea, Cheese Blintzes, and Shirred Eggs with Ham. Every dish was new to me except for the Chai tea, which I already loved.

When choosing recipes for our Culinary class, our instructor has a theme for all of the labs we do. This week, our theme was Breakfast Foods, which is part of our Breakfast Foods and Sandwiches Unit.

Here is pictures of our Cheese Blintzes topped with Creme Fraiche and Strawberries:

Ingredients:

Making the Crepes:

Before Sauteing:

Adding the Strawberries and Creme Fraiche:

The finished product:

Blintzes, which originally came from Russian and Slavic cuisine, was popularized in the United States by the Jewish Community. Blintzes are served for Jewish Holidays such as Chanukah and Shavuot.

Prior to making Cheese Blintzes, my expectations for the taste and texture was completely different from what they actually tasted and felt like. I expected them to be sweet with a smooth texture on the inside, but actually they were not overly sweet, and the texture was grainy because of the ricotta cheese in the filling. I am a little on the fence about how I feel about this recipe of blintzes. Even though I didn't mind eating them, they would not be something I would make often.

While making the items in class this week, I learned many skills useful for other cooking such as making crepes, homemade ricotta cheese, homemade Chai tea and shirred eggs. Along with those, I learned new recipes I have never tried before, which is always exciting!

We will be starting another week of cooking tomorrow, and I am excited to find out what will be on our plates next!