Entries Tagged 'Cooking' ↓

I used to be amused by stories of (mostly rich, pampered, white) people who checked into hospitals suffering from exhaustion. But honestly, if I had it like that, that would be a wonderful vacation right about now.

Friday night I completed a long journey that began with an idea more than a decade ago. I finally completed my culinary school externship requirement, all 210 hours of it, when we closed the kitchen at 11:00 pm.

Officially, I did 212 hours, that started on August 17, done 16 hours a week at three nights a week. This in addition to my 9-5 job during the day. The externship came after 11 months of going to school full-time while also working full-time. The job was Monday through Friday, culinary arts all day Saturday and Sunday, culinary management, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights after work. That started in August 2004 and ended in June of this year.

I spent the remainder of June, July and part of August relaxing by just doing my day gig before school reminded me, none too subtly, that if I didn’t start the externship soon, I would be dropped without receiving my diploma. I took the hint and found a location and have been at it ever since, up until Friday night.

I wish I had decided to do this, oh, maybe 20 years ago, when I had more stamina, but all the same, I am surprised at how fast the time flew and proud of myself for getting through it. About 10 years ago, when my acting career was starting to plateau, I asked myself what else would I like to do that would be creative but perhaps more in demand than a show business career. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and began exploring culinary schools way back then, but for various reasons (mostly financial) never acted on it until now.

My day job afforded me the means to make it happen, but I still had a psychological barrier to overcome. Could I work and go to school and not kill myself? Well, the answer is a qualified yes.

I am a mental and physical wreck right now. I crave about a month of uninterrupted sleep. I’ve lost weight largely from only eating one good meal a day. I’ve got achy knees, strained muscles in my back that have enabled my chiropractor to purchase a home through the regular visits, and a perpetually dazed look in my eyes that won’t go away easily.

The past two weeks have been particularly stressful. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and decided nothing was gonna stop me from completing this task, not even illness. And this was my two weeks to get sick. The late fall temperature change left congestion in my chest and a raw throat I haven’t been able to shake. This past Wednesday, I had to conduct a training at work and was talking for the better part of four hours. By Thursday, I had no voice at all. For a guy who used to make a good living doing voiceovers, to not be able to speak can be pretty disturbing. I’ve got a little of it back now however. Just imagine if Kathleen Turner and Harvey Fierstein had a love child, that’s about the way I sound.

And while I’m physically banged up, the rest of my life is in somewhat of a shambles as well. My apartment is a fucking mess. A_fucking_mess! I just haven’t had time. Haven’t paid bills in a while either. I’ve got plenty of money in the bank. I just haven’t had the brain power to sit down and see who is owed what. And for the remaining few people who still consider me a friend, I really owe them phone calls and visits. I’ll need to spend time reconnecting.

I also have to reconnect with my love for cooking. Truth be told, if you ever want to hate cooking, do it professionally. There is a certain assembly line nature to the work that cuts out the creativity for the sake of expediency. The executive chef gets to be creative. Those of us who execute his vision just follow the recipes. I need to get away from it for awhile, then go back in a kitchen and just experiment.

While I won’t miss the long hours, I will miss my co-workers at the restaurant. There are some fine, very hard working men and women working in the kitchen and among the wait staff. Most in the kitchen are immigrants from Latin and Caribbean countries. I was surprised at how easily my high school Spanish came back to me and how useful it was. The world-reknowned New York restaurant scene would cease to exist were it not for immigrant labor, many of whom are undocumented. For relatively low wages, they easily work ten times harder than most native born Americans. I have much love for those guys and will genuinely miss them. Now, if only they had ownership and management that truly supported their efforts and knew how to run a restaurant.

I’ll close now, but to show you how tired I am, it took me all day to write this entry. I had fleeting moments of energy and clear thinking and couldn’t have done it any faster. I’m off to rest.

I sat down and calculated that I spend 40 hours at work and another 25 hours at school, over 7 straight days each week. I sleep an average of 5 1/2 to 6 hours a night. About an hour to an hour and a half a day is spent commuting to and from work or school. That leaves 54 hours a week or 7.7 hours a day for me. And some of that is spent doing stuff like homework, showerin’, shitin’ and shavin’, eating, or vegetating in front of the tv or computer.

I’m almost half way through the cooking program at school. The management program is just a month behind that. It’s amazing how time has flown by. I’ve adjusted mentally to the grind, but physically I’m still challenged. Saturdays and Sundays are spent standing for the better part of 8 1/2 hours, literally whipping through the preparation and cooking of six dishes a day, so much so, I couldn’t even tell you what we’ve made.

Round about 1:00 each day, everybody hits the wall, where fatigue just overwhelms you. But it’s shortlived because there is still four more hours of cooking. Sunday is a real bitch because of the exhaustion from Saturday. Then the wall comes at 11:30 or 12:00. And I am soooo not a morning person. When that alarm clock goes off at 6:30, my body still aches while my mind realizes I’m starting my seventh consecutive work day of a week that never really ends. It just melds into the next.

Monday morning brings some relief because at the office I don’t have to work as hard. But I also don’t get home until after 9:00 pm because that’s one of my three management class nights. There’s often reading due night to night.

If I had it to do over again, I would have done this twenty years ago when I had more stamina. But I wasn’t really focused enough to do it then. I am now and fully accept the fact I have to endure this in order to get to where I want to be later.

The saving grace is I’ve got lots of time off from my paying gig that I have to take. Vacation is Decemer 16 to January 2, but I’ve still got some classes in between so it’s not a total time off. I’m just gonna sleep late and do a lot of nothing.

P.S. Did I mention I’m maintaining an “A” and got 100 on a quiz Sunday? If I’d worked this hard from kindergarten through college, I might have made something of myself!

Today was the end of Module 1.

Back on August 28, we started the first of 21 lessons, two-a-day each weekend, that made up the module, the first of five through next April.

Mod 1 ended with an exam, a written and a practical. We spent much of Saturday reviewing what would be on the written part and preparing for the required cooking in the practical. A lot of talk about soups, and grand sauces and their derivatives, aromatics and garnishes, stocks and proper ingredients for making them, temperatures, thickeners and a lot of French terms. Nothing too terribly hard, it’s just keeping it all straight in your head. That while trying not to get nervous thinking about the practical.

For that, we each had 90 minutes to make about a quart and a half of cream of broccoli soup, and a small amount of mayonnaise. And I’m not talking Campbell’s or Hellman’s. Everything made from scratch. Working individually, the 15 of us started at 5 minute intervals and had set times when we were to present our finished work to the instructor. Present late, and it’s points off.

Work smart, work efficiently, clean as you go, no talking or helping each other, budget your time wisely. It’s amazing how quickly an hour and a half flies by, when you’ve got to gather all mis en place, get you equipment, jockey for burner space on your assigned stove, start your chicken stock, make your roux, cool it, whip the lemon juice, egg yolks and oil into a mayonnaise and refrigerate it, add the roux to the stock to make your velouté, simmer that, measure, clean and chop your onions, leeks, celery and broccoli, sweat them, season and skim the velouté, combine the vegetables, simmer that, remove the solids and pureé them, add them back, simmer some more, strain the whole thing, add cream, warm a bowl, put it on a plate, ladle it in, clean up your work area, and make sure you did it all following proper sanitary procedures.

Miraculously I did it, on time. Cut some corners to do it though. Would have liked my vegetables sweated a little more and all of it simmered longer, but I got a 90 on the soup, and a 90 on the mayo, so I’m happy. Damned if I didn’t get an 86 on the written though. I’m bummed, because I knew that stuff. But I did get an “A” on my class paper handed in last week. I did it on the late Patrick Clark, one of the first recognizable American chefs and still one of the best known Black chefs to ever work in the industry. Our instructor had an opportunity to work with him and so I may have scored some points in that regard. He said he appreciated reading it.

Next weekend starts a new module with a new instructor, where we focus on grilling; meats, fish and vegetables. Sometime in November, there’ll be another exam and practical.

Monday, Columbus Day, is a holiday from work and school. I’m gonna sleep in.

It has been wicked cold here in the northeast this week, and staying indoors is the best way to get through it. Another great idea is to make a big pot of soup. It will keep you warm, provide a nourishing meal in one dish, and leftovers can be put away and eaten another day with ease.

Here are some of my favorite soup recipes that are fairly simple to make, thanks to Cooking Light magazine.

Chicken Noodle Soup

8 cups water
4 (6-ounce) skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
3/4 cup chopped parsnip
1 tablespoon chicken-flavored bouillon granules
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (15.75-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
5 cups cooked egg noodles (about 8 ounces uncooked)

Combine the water and chicken in a Dutch oven, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan with a slotted spoon, reserving liquid. Remove chicken from bones; shred with 2 forks to measure 2 1/2 cups meat. Discard bones.
Add chicken, onion, and next 7 ingredients (onion through broth) to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in noodles; cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 3/4 cups)

African Chicken-Peanut Soup

Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled sweet potato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about 8 ounces)
1 cup bottled salsa
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 (15-ounce) cans Healthy Choice Chicken With Rice Soup or any less-sodium chicken-and-rice soup, undiluted
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Place a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add sweet potato, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and next 5 ingredients (chicken through beans); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes. Add peanut butter, stirring with a whisk; cook 2 minutes.

Yield: 11 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Lentil-Vegetable Soup

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/3 cups finely diced onion
1/3 cup finely diced celery
1/3 cup finely diced carrot
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups water
1 cup dried French dark green or other lentils
6 cups chopped spinach
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shaved fresh Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion, celery, carrot, and bay leaves; saute for 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, salt, and minced garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add 6 cups water and lentils; bring mixture to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer mixture for 25 minutes. Stir in the chopped spinach, parsley, vinegar, mustard, and pepper; cook 15 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Ladle soup into bowls; top with cheese.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup soup and 2 tablespoons cheese)

Cream of Asparagus Soup

For a vegetarian version, use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth. Garnish with thin asparagus spears for a graceful presentation.

3 cups (1/2-inch) sliced asparagus (about 1 pound)
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, divided
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups 1% low-fat milk
Dash of ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Combine asparagus, broth, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, bay leaf, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Place asparagus mixture in a blender; process until smooth.
Place flour in pan. Gradually add the milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add puréed asparagus and ground nutmeg; stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in 1/4 teaspoon thyme, butter, salt, and lemon rind.

Cream of Carrot Soup: Substitute 2 cups baby carrots for asparagus. Omit bay leaf. Yield 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup).

How to Make Soup Stock

Whether you are making soup from scratch or flavoring a favorite recipe, chicken stock is the “secret” ingredient that makes average dishes great.
You’ll need these ingredients to make about 6 cups of stock and 4 cups of cooked chicken.

1 (3-1/2-pound) chicken (broiler-fryer)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
10 parsley sprigs
6 garlic cloves, sliced
3 bay leaves
2 carrots, cut into 2-inch-thick pieces
1 medium onion, unpeeled and quartered
8 cups water

Combine all ingredients except the water in a large Dutch oven or stockpot — one that will accommodate at least 4 quarts.

Add water and bring to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. You’re at the right temperature when bubbles barely break the surface. This will keep the chicken tender; boiling will toughen it.

After about 45 minutes, carefully lift the chicken out of the stock by inserting a long metal spoon into the cavity and gently lifting. (At this point, the chicken is done, but the stock isn’t yet.) Let the chicken cool; then remove the meat from the bones. Discard the skin. Return the bones to the stock to cook for another hour. This develops and enhances the flavor of the stock.

Strain the stock through a sieve into a large bowl; discard the solids.

After the stock has chilled for 8 hours, remove the fat with a spoon.

Storing Chicken Stock: Cool up to 4 quarts of stock in the stockpot in refrigerator. For a larger batch, place pot in a bowl of ice water 30 minutes, stirring occasionally; then place the stockpot in the refrigerator. Stock will keep in the refrigerator up to a week and in the freezer up to 3 months.

Freezing Stock: Chicken stock will keep up to three months in the freezer. Just pour the stock into glass jars or plastic containers, filling them three-fourths full to allow for the liquid to expand as it freezes. Old pasta-sauce jars work well, but you can also freeze smaller amounts in ice-cube trays.

What would the holiday season be without a cup of egg nog? Now we can all run out and buy a carton at the corner store, but it sure won’t taste as good as homemade.

Here are three simple recipes for whipping up a batch of your own, with or without alcohol.

Egg Nog (contains alcohol)

6 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 cup brandy
1/4 cup rum
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups whipping cream
Garnishes: whipped cream, grated fresh nutmeg

Stir together egg and sugar in a large saucepan; gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 18 to 20 minutes or until mixture thickens and coats a metal spoon. Remove from heat; stir in brandy, rum, and vanilla. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Beat whipping cream at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form; fold into chilled egg mixture. Garnish, if desired.

Simple Egg Nog (alcohol-free)

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cans evaporated milk
3 cans water
2 tablespoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Separate 4 eggs; beat whites until light & fluffy and set aside.

Stir yolks, sugar, salt, beat well and add evaporated milk and water, vanilla, nutmeg, then fold in egg whites and chill.

Classic Cooked Christmas Egg-Nog (alcohol-free)

6 Eggs
1/4 c Sugar
1/4 ts Salt, optional
1 qt Milk, divided
1 ts Vanilla
Garnishes or stir-ins

In large saucepan, beat together eggs, sugar and salt, if desired. Stir in 2 cups of the milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon and reaches 160 degrees F.

Remove from heat. Stir in remaining 2 cups milk and vanilla. Cover and regfigerate until thoroughly chilled, several hours or overnight.

Just before serving, pour into bowl or pitcher. Garnish or add stir-ins, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes 1 1/2 quarts or 12 (1/2 cup) servings.

Garnishes and Stir-Ins (Choose 1 or several):
Chocolate curls
Cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon
Extracts of flavorings
Fruit juice or nectar
Ground nutmeg
Maraschino cherries
Orange slices
Peppermint sticks or candy canes
Sherbet or ice cream
Whipping cream, whipped

Alcohol additions:
Flavored brandy or liqueur
Plain brandy, run or whiskey