Yucky Yucca, Perfect Pork

It's true: I'm already missing Costa Rica. How can I not when the weather is at the freezing mark and there's dirty, slushy snow on the ground? Not to mention there's barely enough sunlight to get my daily dose of vitamin D. It's utterly depressing.

I needed a pick-me-up. What's more perfect than a reminder of where you just vacationed? That's why I turned to a coffee-crusted pork loin over pureed yucca. I threw in a bourbon cream sauce just for good measure. For the time it took Ryan and I to scarf down our food (which I have to say wasn't very long), we temporarily forgot about the miserableness outside. We were comforted with the tastiness inside.

Correction: Everything was tasty but the yucca. It was my first time pureeing the starchy vegetable (I'd previously fried it). Costa Ricans have perfected their cooking technique; mine needs work. The flavors were there, but the texture was not. It would have been a perfect adhesive for wallpaper. So I'm reaching out: If anyone has a recipe for yucca that doesn't involve frying, I'd love to hear from you.

Coffee-crusted Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Cream Sauce (adapted from both Epicurious.com and Bfeedme.com)

Rub

3 tablespoons ground espresso or coffee

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 to 1 1/3 pound pork tenderloin (will likely need more than one)

2 tablespoons canola oil

1. Mix first 10 ingredients well; sprinkle on a large plate.

2. Dry tenderloin, then drizzle with canola oil. Make sure the oil lightly (but completely) covers the meat. Roll the tenderloin in the spice mixture to completely coat.

3. Place tenderloin on a baking sheet, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

4. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook for approximately 20 minutes, depending on the size of the tenderloins and desired doneness (I removed the tenderloin at 140 degrees and let it rest for about 10 minutes to let it reach 145).

Sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup yellow onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup bourbon (brandy would also work)

1 cup beef or veal stock

6 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon thyme, chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and saute until translucent, then add garlic and cook for another minute.

2. Remove pan from heat and pour in the bourbon. Place pan back on heat and bring to a boil; reduce by half.

3. Add stock, cream and thyme. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.

Duck and Cover

Days 111-114

T minus one week. That's it.

I don't think reality has yet hit. It still feels like school isn't close to being over and I've got plenty of time to find a job. I better check myself before I wreck myself. (Thank you, Ice Cube, for the advice.)

I've already completed most of the final rotations. This week, I checked off saucier with some good-looking pork chops and duck breasts. I plan on practicing both dishes at home in the coming week so that I can get them down to a science.

Monday marks the last day of pastry, complete with a mock final. For the practice exam, I'm expected to complete a smaller yield of the Level 6 recipes—pear tart tartin with chartreuse ice cream and chocolate orange parfait—both which have multiple components. I'm anticipating a hair-raising experience.

Come Tuesday, I'll enter my final rotation: entremetier. It will be a nice way to wind down a crazy six months, as my team will put our knowledge and creativity to use for the restaurant's amuse-bouches.

Preparing for that final should be amusing...

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.

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.

Beet It

Day 42

I'm loving the amuse bouche thing.

It's a great opportunity to use our creativity—something that we haven't really been able to do much of since we've been focusing so much on techniques. Today, our team roasted beets and sliced them on the mandoline. Next, we spread goat cheese on one side and wrapped it around a roasted asparagus tip. Finally, we drizzled aged balsamic and walnut oil on the plate.

It was beet-iful.

OK, enough of the horrible puns and onto the pork portion of the program. I was assigned saucier today, which means I

preprared the sauteed center-cut pork chop with green peppercorn sauce. The pork chop was perfectly cooked and the sauce was killer. (Whoever has a batch of veal stock at home, I will gladly come over and cook this dish for you. It's that awesome.)

Pommes darphin—shoestring potatoes cooked in clarified butter in a small saute pan then finished in the oven—was the side dish. A bit oversalted, according to the chef's critique. What can I say? I'm a sucker for salt.

None of that tomorrow, though; I'm working the patissier station. Sweet.

Hog Heaven

Day 18

For some reason, I always veer away from pork whenever I'm conjuring up dinner.

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I associate The Other White Meat with a super-dried out chop that has virtually no flavor. Or perhaps it's just the opposite—falling-off-the-bone St. Louis-style ribs—which are delicious but ultra-time consuming.

What about bacon, you ask? It's a no-brainer the fatty slabs of meat are amazing. I cook with bacon frequently (I even put it on ice cream, as you may have seen in my "Getting Corny" post), but I just have trouble aligning its awesomness with the same animal as a pork chop.

When I eat pork, someone else is usually preparing it. A few of my favorites off-hand are Michael Symon's smoked Berkshire pork chop at Lola, a good rack of ribs from anywhere that does it right, carnitas tacos, and my mom's bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin.

Today proved that a little something extra, such as a sauce, can take a familiar (and awfully boring) piece of meat to the next level.

For the first recipe, we made cotes de porc charcutiere (pork chops with sauce charcutiere). The pork was seared and placed in the oven to finish cooking. Then we turned a bland dish upside-down with a sauce made of demi-glace, wine, onions, mustard and cornichons. The second recipe—rosettes de porc au gingembre, sauce aigre-doux (ginger-marinated pork fillet with sweet and sour sauce)—was also a hit. I took an entire portion home so I don't have to cook Wednesday night.

Despite a long day, which included test No. 4, I came home only to study for our Level 1 final on Thursday. It features a comprehensive written exam as well as a practical, where we're judged on knife skills and basic cooking techniques. I'm worried about the cocottes; apparently we have to turn a potato into eight of them in 15 minutes.

Yeah, when pigs fly.