Stacking Up

Days 69 and 70

It's time for some fall cleaning.

In Levels 1 through 3, I brought index cards to every class per chef instructions. Each card featured a recipe—ingredients and method—to aid students in making dishes. Those "cheat sheets" are no longer part of our repertoire.

I found half a stack of the index cards at home today (the other half is in my knife kit at school). After debating about whether or not to keep them, I tossed them in the recycle bin. After all, I have the same recipes in my textbooks. Why keep a second set?

The stack of cards reminded me of how much I covered in three short months. I'd like to add up all the dishes sometime.

Family meal Thursday comprised homemade lasagna—even the noodles were from scratch. I spent a good hour making sheets of pasta with the hand-crank machine. Chefs and students alike thought our mission was ambitious, but we did it. And the lasagna was damn

good, too.

Today, we made orange chicken, pepper beef and duck fat-fried rice. I was skeptical about re-creating dishes that I believe are best left to inexpensive takeout joints, but we pulled it off.

Two more days are left in family meal. Let's see if we can produce some more winners.

We Are Family

Days 67 and 68

First two days of working the family meal rotation = success.

It's tough work. The day starts an hour earlier than usual and is nonstop until the school starts lining up for lunch at 11:30 a.m.; the rush lasts for about an hour, our team gets a mini-break, and then the madness continues until 3 p.m. as we prep for the following day.

In total, family meal is cooked for approximately 300 people. Those eating include students,

chef instructors and other staff.

Tuesday, we prepared roast beef, potatoes gratin and roasted Brussels sprouts; today, we served fish and chicken tacos, cabbage slaw, and rice and beans.

In addition to the mains, we also prep a salad bar, condiments and various drinks. So far so good: I'm hearing compliments, so I'll take that as a sign my team is doing well.

All this hard work deserves a reward. What better way to pat a chef-in-training on the back than with a good meal—cooked by someone else, of course. A small group of friends from school hit up DBGB for some of chef Daniel Boulud's house-made sausage. We split foie gras with black mission figs, hazelnuts and brioche; Thai pork sausage with green papaya, basil fried rice and a quail egg; pork sausage served over bacon and lentils; cold-smoked ribeye with cauliflower puree and bone marrow ravioli; and a green apple and honey ice cream sundae. Afterwards, we stopped by Painkiller for some retro tiki bar libations.

Can I get an "Oh yeah?"

Pasta Manana

Day 66

Buffet No. 2, check.

Today, my group knocked out a last-minute pasta buffet. It was pretty awesome, if I might say so myself. In a few hours time, we made fresh cavatelli with an oxtail ragu and chanterelle mushrooms; truffled mac 'n' cheese; orecchiette with broccoli rabe and white anchovies; linguini with rock shrimp; fresh gnocchi with peas and proscuitto; and fresh butternut squash-filled ravioli with a sage cream sauce.

I hope we can bring our "A" game to family meal as well. Tomorrow starts the new rotation with a menu of roast beef, potatoes gratin and roasted Brussels sprouts. What's not to love about this meal?

On the way home from class, I found myself standing in front of Dean & Deluca's ice cream freezer. I picked up a pint of Salty Caramel from Jeni's—the most amazing ice cream maker, located in Columbus, Ohio—to surprise Ryan. At $11, it was the most I've ever spent for that amount of ice cream at a grocery.

Now, that's amore.

Caribbean Cruisin'

Days 64 and 65

We made it.

A week's worth of planning, and my buffet team presented a smorgasbord—as in 30-plus dishes—to the school today. It appeared we won over the crowd with our Caribbean theme, considering the platters were basically empty when all was said and done.

It was rewarding to hear compliments from chefs and fellow students. I think what impressed them most was the fact that we pumped so much food out of such a small kitchen. (I'm pretty sure the buffet kitchen isn't much bigger than my apartment's bedroom.)

Dishes included oxtail stew, whole-roasted suckling pig, quesillo (a version of coconut flan), callaloo, guava-and-mango-glazed short ribs, crab cakes with coconut curry, codfish balls with tamarind sauce, jerk chicken kabobs with red currant sauce, curry-crusted rack of lamb, and many, many more. We also presented our charcuterie dishes as part of the mandatory assignment; the dishes included foie gras, a duck terrine with pistachios and head cheese.

I loved experimenting with food that's "new" to me: I've never cooked oxtail or octopus—or a suckling pig for that matter—and I've never tasted soursop. (It was an amazing fruit, by the way.)

On Monday, I'll have one more day of buffet, and then I'm moving on to family meal. Should be fun. I've heard the chef heading the section is great, so I'm looking forward to working with new talent.

Until then, I'm going to close my eyes and dream of the Caribbean's blue and green water and gently crashing waves...

This Little Piggy...

Days 62 and 63

At this point, it's probably pretty obvious that I love bacon.

So I was pretty psyched that I had the chance to make it this week. Tuesday, we trimmed the pork belly and rubbed it with a maple solution; today, we flipped the meat and gave it a good massage. Tomorrow we smoke it.

Friday we eat it.

Our suckling pig was also delivered, and we rubbed it down with a marinade. We're serving the little guy at our buffet's carving station Friday. I hope we do him justice.

In addition, we also braised oxtails for a stew (awesome), and seared and simmered whole octopus (doubly awesome). Our menu is going to rock. Friday couldn't come fast enough. But before it arrives, we have a lot of prep work remaining for our Caribbean menu.

We need to get it together, mon.

Four Thought

Day 61

Bacon and sausage and foie gras! Oh my!

Today I learned charcuterie will be a big part of Level 4 as I walked into the kitchen and spotted duck livers and a giant veal head. Sorry, my vegetarian friends. This is a time you might need to look away.

We began with a duck terrine by breaking down several birds, grinding its meat, combining it with pistachios, fatback and port-soaked cherries, and then layering it in a ceramic vessel with ham and seared duck breasts. We vacuum-sealed the terrines and popped them in an immersion circulator for low-temperature cooking. It was a lot of work, but I'm confident it will be worth it.

Tomorrow, we're curing pork belly for maple bacon and we'll start making head cheese. Good stuff.

In addition to the lesson in charcuterie, our group—approximately one-third of the class—discussed our ideas for the buffet we'll put out on Friday for the school. Our theme is Caribbean, so we narrowed down related recipes, including suckling pig, lamb curry and oxtail stew. We'll have until Thursday to prep.

It was nice to get back into the learning groove, but it was equally nice to rest my brain this weekend. Ryan and I headed upstate to Rhinebeck, N.Y., located in Dutchess County about two hours north of the city, to pick apples, pumpkins and fall raspberries.

We visited Rhinebeck for the first time last fall and fell in love. It's a quaint town with not much to do besides eat (well, I might add) and visit the surrounding farms and farmer's market. It reminds me of growing up in the Midwest, so there's something comforting about the whole experience.

Rhinebeck is the apple of my eye in New York.

Middle of the Road

Days 59 and 60

I'm still M.I.A. For good reason.

Today was my midterm. Yes, I said that right—MIDTERM. That means I'm exactly halfway through culinary school. It's hard to believe.

For the big test, we had to draw a letter/number combination from a hat, which corresponded to a two-dish combination we had to make in a set amount of time. I drew the Nicoise salad and pork chops; the other possible combo was the grilled salmon and apple tart. (FYI: We didn't know what four dishes the chef would select for the exam.)

Before we prepared the dishes, we were allowed 10 minutes to write down notes about the recipes on a blank sheet of paper. It was to be our only form of reference during the cooking process. I scribbled furiously. Thankfully, a number of years of reporting helped me develop my own shorthand.

I have to say it was a bit overwhelming—OK, it was very overwhelming. I was so concerned about getting the dishes done in time that my execution wasn't top-notch. All in all, I don't feel the midterm was my best work. However, I can at least say that I finished on time and produced two complete dishes. Hopefully, chef realizes that I can do better. I know I can.

Either way, I'm halfway there. I'm livin' on a prayer.

Tapas & Vino

Days 57 and 58

My initials should be M.I.A. and not M.A.K.

I'm so consumed with everything food lately it seems as though I haven't had time to breathe. But that was the point of all this, right?

Tuesday I spent a good 12 hours at the school. It's not like I haven't worked shifts that long (or longer) before, but when you're on your feet all day, it can suck the life out of you. I know—I sound old.

After class, in which I spent the day making striped bass in parchment paper (papillotes), I helped one of my former instructors with his recreational tapas class. The four-hour session involved small plates from Spain, where the chef was born. We made gazpacho, tortilla espanola (a Spanish potato omelet), gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp), and more. It was a good class, but I was exhausted by the time it came to an end.

Today, my partner and I were in charge of the farmer's-style soup and pot au feu; both came out well. Immediately after class ended, I headed to the school's theater to attend a French wine tasting. The selections—all from Chateauneuf-du-Pape—were excellent. It was a nice overview of a region about which I have little knowledge.

I made a long day even longer by meeting up with some friends for drinks, followed by a trip to The Meatball Shop.

Hope I don't drop the ball tomorrow—only one more day to go before the midterm.

Lemon Zest

Day 56

My lemon tart wasn't at all a lemon.

I think I finally have it down. The last few times I've made the citrus pastry, it's turned out fairly well. There's been one hang-up, though: the crust.

For the dessert, the ratio of custard to crust should be about 2:1—according to my chef, at least. I've had more of a 1:1 ratio, as I've been worried that rolling the crust too thin will cause it to melt. I have this mental picture of neon yellow goo seeping from the tart pan and ending up all over the oven.

I went for it this time, though, wanting to get it down before the midterm Friday. I'm glad I did, too: The pastry was pretty close to perfect.

Looks like I don't need anymore lemon aid.

Shaken, Not Stirred

Day 55

Relief.

That's what I felt when class ended today. It's been some time since I've had a full weekend off, and I'm going to embrace every minute of it.

The school week ended on a good yet hellish note. Today was the third and final mock midterm, and each person had to make boeuf bourguignon and the damn poached egg dish. My hollandaise was a little loose in regards to the latter, but I did it. I hope to never again see eggs served over a l'anglaise beans, carrots, turnips and peas.

I headed to the local bar with a few classmates and ordered a much-needed dirty martini. Thank you, Grey Goose, for putting my nerves at ease.

Straight up now tell me why can't this weekend last forever—or at least a couple extra days?

Sweet Deal

Day 54

One of the coolest things about culinary school, in my opinion, is the caliber of people that are brought in to conduct demos. Whether you're into baking, molecular gastronomy, sustainability or mixology, there's somebody for everyone.

Even though I'm in the classic culinary arts program, I find most demos entertaining. I love learning new techniques and familiarizing myself with a category about which I know nothing.

Today, I was fortunate to watch Mr. Chocolate himself—Chef Jacques Torres—in action. He showed the audience how he makes sweets other than his famous chocolates, such as shortbread cookies, apple tarts and beignets.

Chef Torres is a riot. He's entertaining (he repeatedly sang a riff from Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" as he was working), but he's also a master at pastry. He doesn't come across as pompous like other prominent chefs I've met, even though he was the youngest to acquire the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Pastry Chef of France), was a James Beard Pastry Chef of the Year, and had his own show on Food Network. It's always nice to see that genuine people still exist despite overwhelming success.

There's nothing worse than when somebody sweet turns sour.

Oeuf!... I Did it Again

Day 53

Consomme was consuming my life before; now it's poached eggs.

I think I have the clear soup down. It no longer intimidates me like it did a few weeks ago. What is scary is poached eggs over cooked vegetables with hollandaise. Individually, all the components for the dish aren't too bad. Something changes, though, when they're all put together.

It's funny, because this seems to be the one dish with which the majority of the class has issues. For many, it's the hollandaise. I don't want to jinx myself, but I find the sauce enjoyable to make (besides the fact that I apparently over-salted it last week). I've never really had problems with it breaking like the others.

Today, the vegetables were my obstacle of all things. They were a runny mess and weren't seasoned properly. Hopefully it's an easy fix for Friday when we have to make the dish AGAIN.

Hit me baby, one more time.

Sugar High

Day 52

Who knew a classic culinary arts program would involve so much pastry?

When I signed up for the course, I knew we would at least cover it. In Level 2, there were two intense weeks. In this level, our rotations require that we make a dessert at least once—if not twice—a week.

So here's the thing: I like dessert when I can make it on my own

time. And most often, I prepare pastries that don't involve making a crust. I guess if anything, all this practice will make me more prone to bake tarts and pies without cheating by buying a pre-made shell.

Today I made the apple tart, which, like the chicken grandmother-style, seems like I've made it 40 times. It turned out OK—personally, I think it could have been a bit more caramelized on the top. I also made cream puffs with pate a choux dough and filled them with creme chantilly, and I was happy with the results.

Of course this won't be the last time I make pastries in culinary school; next week I'm bound to have at least one to tackle. It's also probable I'll have to make a pastry dish for the practical (lemon tart was the hint).

I need some sweet relief.

Having a Boeuf

Day 51

Red meat has entered the building. Thank the Lord.

I'm tired of chicken. I'm sick of fish. I could live without pork chops for awhile. My body is craving a big chunk of beef.

So I was beyond thrilled to learn boeuf bourguignon was in the lineup this week. I was even happier that I started as saucier Monday, so I'd be one of the first to cook the dish. If I might say so myself, my partner and I made a kick-ass version. Seriously, it was awesome. We cooked it for two hours in the oven until the meat was super-tender and the red wine sauce thickened to the perfect consistency. I will be making boeuf bourguignon at home in the near future.

In addition, we also made chicken grandmother-style for what seems like the 40th time. I'm beginning to wonder if the school has stock in a poultry farm somewhere.

Cooking so much chicken has definitely made me feel a lot more confident about getting it right, though. I never used to brown the chicken in a saute pan before I threw it in the oven. It makes such a huge difference in the color, and the sauce that can be made from the sucs (the little brown bits in the saute pan) is delicious.

I might have chicken fatigue, but there is one form of poultry I'm craving: turkey. It's not any turkey, though—it's my mom's deep-fried Thanksgiving bird with all the accoutrements.

Turkey Day couldn't come any faster.

Experience of a Lifetime

Day 50 (and the weekend)

I can officially say that I sliced Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's bacon.

On Saturday and Sunday, I volunteered for the New York Culinary Experience and was able to assist some amazing chefs. The two-day event, hosted by my school and New York Magazine, featured big names like Todd English, Marcus Samuelsson, David Bouley, Alain Ducasse and Jacques Torres. Guests paid $1,600 for four hands-on sessions with the chefs.

I was able to assist Morimoto, who has the most unbelievable knife skills I've ever seen. He made an elaborate sushi platter on crushed ice, and his sous chef demoed takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (a savory Japanese pancake). I also helped out chef Missy Robbins (executive chef of A Voce at Columbus Circle who was named one of Food & Wine magazine's best new chef this year) and chef Anita Lo (owner of Annisa, appearing on "Top Chef Masters").

There was one more chef that I helped, but she will remain anonymous simply because I cannot bear to give her credit. She is a horrible person. I, as well as a number of the volunteers, have decided to never eat at her restaurant because she was so horrible. And if I volunteer again for the event, I will make sure to avoid assisting her like the plague.

Overall, it was an incredible experience. Most of the chefs were talented beyond words. I'm so glad that I was able to be a part of it.

Friday during class was our second mock midterm; I made the fish dish (a fillet of dorade poached in lobster stock) and the lemon tart. I was relatively happy with the outcome, considering I felt like hell. There's a bug going around our school, and I was sick all weekend. A day off would be nice.

Too bad Monday starts now.