Terrible Mother Hen.

Two weeks in and after having multiple babies I'm going to hire a babysitter. I can't hack it anymore!

Yes babies.

We were told in class that making stock is like looking after a baby. You have to constantly watch it (so it doesn't start boiling) and care for it (keep skimming the impurities off the top). I had to share my baby with the teacher this week and after having it drilled into us now for two weeks that our stocks are our babies I still wasn't prepared when he yelled out in a thick Irish accent..

"OUR BABY IS CRYING!"

I just stood there looking at him dumbstruck thinking 'huh?' until I saw our stock bubbling away out of control. oops!

I've had 2 Brown beef baby, 1 white chicken baby, 1 white fish baby and a brown chicken baby. Been a busy mother hen over the past two weeks and ready to hand them all off to daycare.

Brown beef baby in the back and my White fish baby in the front.

If your keen to make a brown beef baby then here is the process;

• Brown your beef bones and pat off any excess fat.
• Place in a pot with COLD water covering all the bones.
• Bring to the boil and reduce immediately to a simmer- like you have the shakes after a night out.
• Deglaze the pan you used to cook the bones in and add liquid to stock pot.
• Cook for 4-6 hours continuously skimming the top taking off the impurities.
• In the last hour of cooking add your browned mirepoix and bouquet garni. 

Hint: If you boil your stock it will become cloudy (a no no!), if you use hot water to start you cook the impurities in rather then letting them come to the top (also a no no!) and if you add your mirepoix too early the vegetables will soak all the flavour up and your left with a water baby.

I am hanging out for the soups and sauces part of this topic but as we keep getting reminded in class; you need a good stock to make a good sauce. So... keep an eye on your baby readers because a good sauce can make a dish an a bad sauce can ruin it!

Enjoy making babies and thanks for reading again!

Fairytale Kitchen.

Over the past few weeks I've been Cinderella, apprentice pastry chef, nervous wreck and dish-pig. Which was my favourite you ask? The second of course!

At work with Winter closing in, the sea side dining scene is coming to an all time low. Summer usually brings in over 200 people for lunch alone and today we had 10 which means lucky me gets to play Cinderella in the kitchen; getting on my hands and knees or standing on benches scrubbing the walls. There is only one difference... I have no ball to go to, no fairy godmother and no shiny glass slippers.

The slow in customers does have its perks though. I was the resident apprentice pastry chef over the weekend & loved it! Frenchie showed me how to make lemon caramel, chocolate ganache, vanilla panna-cotta and how to make bread. I got to plate up desserts all day and finished work smelling like chocolate and sugar... not prawns. I felt inspired :)

Being a nervous wreck was last week because I had my practical exam for TAFE. We had to cook:
- Pasta with Duxelles in a Cream sauce
- Pan Fried Chicken breast with a tomato reduction sauce along side buttered beans, glazed carrots and chateau potatoes.
- Apple compote with orange segment garnish
- Anglaise Sauce

I was a huge nerd and practiced the 2 nights before :) Good news though. I didn't scramble my Anglaise sauce...

Cooking my custard with my ice bowl and spoon ready.

AND...

Practising my tiny wine barrel potatoes :)

because I practiced my (hated) turned potatoes I had the hang of it. Yes, I stood in my kitchen for what felt like hours and wasted about half of each potato turning them. Was worth it though as they turned out pretty damn good ;)

*Here's an interesting fact about Chateau potatoes that I found out the other week; the reason the potatoes are turned and have 7 sides for chateau potatoes is because the 7 sides represent the 7 wine regions in France and the potato looks like a tiny wine barrel. It all makes sense now... I still don't like doing them and am very happy I don't have to do them at work.


Dish-pig = blurrr! That was me today. As I mentioned before its slow at the moment at work and will only get slower due to the cold weather. This means they don't roster on a kitchen hand and me being the shit kicker was demoted to dish-pig. Ok I exaggerate a little... it wasn't all day but it felt like I had the worst pots and pans to wash up compared to everyone else.

New Subject at TAFE tomorrow... soups, stocks and sauces.

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more frequent (I promise) updates!