Hot Potato

Day 11

What would a French culinary education be without a french fry lesson?

For the first time, I used a deep fryer and a mandoline—two kitchen items I've stayed away from for fear of hurting myself. (I can be a mess in the kitchen. Luckily, I've never needed stitches, but Ryan is constantly picking up onion pieces from the floor in front of the cutting board.)

Well, I got over my fear of the mandoline as I practiced slicing frites, gaufrettes and long cylinders. I'll definitely be investing in one of those. As for the deep fryer, it still freaks me out. I'm pretty sure I won't be experimenting on my tiny, four-burner stove in my 500-square-foot apartment. It just seems like a bad idea. I'll save french fry making for a bigger kitchen someday...

In addition to fries, we also made a gratin dauphinois (potato gratin), pommes anna, pommes puree (mashed potatoes) and pommes duchesse. For the latter, we piped the mixture out of pastry bags with a star tip. That's one technique I'll be practicing at home—I can't bear to have the chef tell me a second time that my piping looks like "something else," a.k.a a dog turd. No one wants their food to resemble poop.

The chefs said they could easily spend another eight hours just talking about potatoes, but it was time to go. We were starched—and parched.

Several classmates decided to quench their thirst at a bar down the street from the school. I threw back a couple dirty Grey Goose martinis and then headed home to meet Ryan. He surprised me with reservations at Minetta Tavern, a restaurant in the West Village that's been on the top of my must-eat list for awhile. We split the roasted bone marrow with shallot confit as an appetizer (awesome), Ryan opted for the New York strip, and I ordered the famous Black Label burger (amazing). Made with freshly ground prime dry-aged beef and topped with caramelized onions, it was worth every one of the $26.

Afterwards, we met back up with culinary school friends. It was nice to finally introduce Ryan to some of my classmates. We reconvened at Bookmarks at the Library Hotel—one of my favorite midtown bars where a fellow student works. The evening ended with probably one too many Old Fashioned cocktails.

I think I deserved it this week.