Change.

Feeling a change in the wind...

Show and Tell.

Tell: 

We did emulsion sauces this week at school which meant manual labour. Ok it wasn't that bad but I am going to try and become ambidextrous just because of this lesson. An emulsion is a mixture of two liquids that don't like each other and come together to make one. We made a hot emulsion; hollandaise and a cold emulsion sauce; mayonnaise. Both require you to whisk egg yolks and fat until you get a thick creamy delicious sauce.

For the mayonnaise we whisked a teaspoon of french mustard, a teaspoon of white vinegar with two egg yolks together until pale. We then added about 230mL of olive oil in a fine drizzle while continuously whisking. If you add too much oil at once or over whisk it splits and you end up with gooey oily mess. The way to fix this is add a teaspoonful of boiling water to your mixture and whisk or if its really split start again but whisking an egg yolk in a separate bowl and adding your split mixture to your single egg yolk like you wee doing with the oil. To avoid over mixing your mayonnaise don't whisk it when you have stopped adding your oil and only whisk when adding your oil. Have I confused you yet?

For the hollandaise there was a little more whisking involved. You start by making a reduction of 30mL white wine, 30mL vinegar, 30mL water, 1 tbsp of finely shopped onion and a few peppercorns crushed. Reduce this until the alcohol is cooked away and it has reduced. It should taste bitter when you taste it (nasty!). You then strain your reduction and add your 3 egg yolks to this. Whisk over simmering water until it is so fluffy it can hold its own. This is where you need to make sure NOT to scramble your eggs. Remember that protein sets at 60 degrees so you can not let your eggs get to above 60 degrees. A trick we were taught was that if the bottom of the bowl is too hot for your hand then its too hot for the eggs so take it off the heat for a bit and keep whisking. You are in control of the heat! When the eggs get to the creamy extra fluffy stage you can start adding your clarified butter in a fine drizzle while whisking. We added about 250mL of clarified butter to this mixture and it turned out deliciously rich. 

(Health tip: don't keep homemade hollandaise for more than 20min. Because it has to be kept at blood temperature it is most dangerous temp for bacteria to grow in (the danger zone: 5-60 degrees Celsius). Just keep it in the fridge you say? your sauce will go solid because of the butter in it. Just don't want my readers to attempt this delicious sauce and then think they can keep it for the next day or something like that because its a lot of work for only 20 min)

Whats clarified butter you ask? It's also known as ghee. It is where the milk solids are removed from the butter so you can heat it at a higher temperature without burning it. Here is a link where some chef does it on youtube. I did it slightly different in class and melted the butter using a double boiler and the milk solids sunk to the bottom and I carefully tipped the clear section into a jug without getting the white bit. Everyone does it differently and I couldn't fine a clip with someone doing it my way. Do what ever works for you :)

Show:

This is my deconstructed prawn cocktail with mayonnaise and a derivative of mayonnaise; cocktail sauce.

Toffee flowers that come on top of a croquembouche for a wedding at work. YUM :)

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more show and tell :)

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!

Angry Daddy.

Tafe holidays are over this week which means I'm back to college this Wednesday. I've been working the extra day I'm normally at tafe which means I've had a few more hours around the kitchen trying to find my place in the kitchen world.

The french pastry chef at work loves to come up to me randomly during the day and give me tips and tricks about pastry and cakes or like this friday it was about the bread.... when it has had it's second proving it should feel like a breast. Thats right a boob. As he is telling me in a thick french accent which I find extremely hard to understand he is holding one of his own breasts then to my surprise grabs the dough with both hands like he is grabbing a pair of boobs. At first when he started to explain I didn't really understand what he was talking about but as soon as he grabbed his breast then the dough like a pair of boobs I understood completely. Shocked and not knowing what else to do I laughed nervously and politely nodded. What else could I have done...!?

The head chef has also returned back to the kitchen after his wedding weekend is now over. The whole kitchen knew this when on Saturday he yelled across the kitchen;

"Daddy's back and Daddy's angry!!"   

At first I didn't think I heard right as no one else in the kitchen reacted like I wanted to which was to start giggling uncontrollably... well the rest of the kitchen aren't 22 year old girls either so I held my giggles in and continued on peeling my prawns.

A note when ordering prawns: Dear Readers, next time when you go to a restaurant and order the prawns think about the poor shitkicker in the kitchen who has spent hours and hours de-heading, peeling and de-pooping your lovely cooked prawn on your plate and please, please, please enjoy every mouthful...because the poor shitkicker is probably swearing every time a prawn order comes in knowing that tomorrow they'll be doing more de-heading, peeling and de-pooping.

Thanks for reading! More next week on what I learn at college and yes I'll try keep you up to date with more tips from the french pastry chef.

Blast from the past.

Apologies to my faithful readers for this late and overdue post. I've been working (more poo shoots yes but also a little bit of plating up and salad tossing), sick (sinus infection....been an attractive week for me) and the best excuse of all TAFE holidays!

SO since I've had a week off the last time I was at college was nearly two weeks ago now and we cooked foods that to me, did not go together well at all. Eggs florentine but instead of a hollandaise sauce over the top which I thought you are meant to have, we made béchamel sauce. This makes me think this is in our practical exam coming up because Chef made us practice it just like the sauce anglaise which she is drilling into us because most of us in class make scrambled eggs. We also did poached pears in (cheap and nasty) red wine. Thats the snob coming out in me but I remember this brand of goon back in the day when I made coke-a-goona (red cask wine mixed with coke) so poaching a pear in it brought back memories of being sweet sixteen again... not the sweetest memories coming to mind.

We also filleted fish then shallow poached it in homemade fish stock. I think I did quite well since I got four fillets out of my fish like we were meant to. The fish stock stunk... fishy. Last week was much more fun I am not going to deny that fact.

I bought cream, eggs and a vanilla pod the other day to practice making anglaise sauce at home for our practical exam which is after the holidays... fingers crossed I won't scramble it and can turn it into vanilla ice cream with our old ice cream maker! (any hints for making ice cream from scratch without a machine please spill!)

I'm back at college in another week and will be working my ever growing hynie off and also trying to try all the desserts at work. So far the Vanilla Panacotta is delicious :) I hope you all have a lovely Easter and the easter bunny visits! I made hot cross buns earlier this month - check them out!

Thanks for reading. Keep watching for more delicious and maybe not so delicious posts! Fingers crossed no more cheap and nasty wine poaching :)

News, Poo's & Choux's.

Exciting News.

I have pictures from college of things coming together from class. We cooked OssoBucco, couscous and Profiteroles filled with Chantilly cream and topped with a delicious sticky chocolate sauce. Unfortunately no pictures of finished products because I was way too hungry by the time we finally got to scoff down our food to even think about photo's... yes I know, thinking with my stomach again.

Also more news... you might have noticed the '(to be)' is missing from the title of my blog. This is because I am officially an apprentice chef and no longer looking for work. Not sure if i'll get in trouble saying where but lets just say that I have to walk across a beach to get to work. Yes sand and salt water. My first week the tide was so high I had to take my shoes and socks off to wade across the water in bare feet. I was not a happy chappy and wanted to give up then and there with my jeans rolled up to my knees calf deep in water. 

Am going to admit that being an apprentice chef is not very fun. Prawns will never be the same to me after cleaning kilos of them and removing hundreds of poop shoots. Seriously no joke, we must order the greediest prawns in at work because I have never seen so much prawn poop in my life. Blurrkkk! But back to the fun stuff... College!

The Ossobucco is a simple Italian stew which tastes rich, robust and full of flavour (wanted to say delicious then but will save that for later on). The couscous had peppers throughout it which made it sweet and buttery. Now for what I thought was the Queen dish for the day and maybe so far; Profiteroles. DEEELICIOUSS!

I've never made profiteroles before and was super excited being the nerd I am and it also helped with my sugar fix for the day. Since working at the restaurant I have had such a sweet tooth and can only ever think about desserts, chocolate and everything else the dentist would disapprove of. My theory is that I am craving everything I am not working closely with and unfortunately that is sweet, divine goodies. Thinking I chose the wrong apprenticeship here.... or would it be the same if I work with chocolate and sugar all day???

Anyway back to what I was saying; to make profiteroles you need to make a choux paste (pronounced shoe- like the shoes you wear on your feet), Chantilly cream and chocolate sauce topping. To make the choux paste you combine butter, water, strong plain flour, eggs and a lot of muscle power. The Chantilly cream is a fancy way of saying sweetened cream- be sure not to make butter which I have done many a times-  most memorable occasion was high school when I cried and a friend had to steal more cream for me from another classroom. And finally the chocolate sauce... is your mouth watering yet or what?!

Choux Paste

100g butter

250mL water

190g strong plain flour

6 eggs (total 350g)

pinch salt
Arm muscle power

1-   Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcius. 

2-   Sift flour and salt together.

3-   Melt the butter and water over the stove until it starts to boil.

4-   Add the sifted flour & salt mixture to the butter, take off the heat and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball.

5-   Make sure the butter & flour mixture has cooled down and then add your eggs one at a time. Apply your muscle power here. After each egg the mixture will look like it has separated but with some force and beating it all comes together.

  Tip:   If you lift your spoon the dough should fold over.

6-   Transfer your mixture to a piping bag and pipe walnut sized balls on a baking tray. If you get little tails on your balls, dip your finger in some water and tap them. This will remove the point and give you the walnut shape.

7-   Bake in the oven until golden.

Once you've let your golden balls cool you can fill them with the Chantilly cream which is 250mL cream, 25g (sifted) icing sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence whipped to piping consistency- Not butter. To fill your balls stick the nosel of the piping bag full of cream in the base and squeeze until the ball is full.

Top filled rolls either by dipping or drizzling this chocolate sauce over them or using melted chocolate.

Chocolate fudge sauce.

300g caster sugar

250mL water

60g cocoa

1-   Combine sugar and sifted cocoa and add water.

2-   Bring to the boil and reduce until thick. Be careful not to take this too far but make sure it won't run off the back of a metal spoon.

3-   Cover profiteroles in sauce and devour.

I thoroughly enjoyed stuffing my face before my exam with these delicious parcels of goodness and hope you do too. 

Thanks for reading! Keep watching and wish me luck for the (predicted) disastrous poaching lesson next week.