Best. Day. Ever. (Part 1)

 

Today was, as you might have guessed, the best day ever.  Sorry, I've been kind of slacking on the keeping you updated on what I'm doing in culinary school thing.  Truthfully, I'm usually exhausted at the end of the day, and then I have to do homework, and posting just takes me so long that I haven't been keeping up.  But today was so fantastic that I can't keep it to myself. 

So what did we do today?, you're probably wondering.

Answer: Eggs, Cheese, & Dairy.  Happy days.  I will just have to look back on this and remember today when we get to butchering, which will not be the best day.

So we started out by making sweet souffles (as opposed to savory).  Students chose between a Grand Marnier souffle or chocolate; I chose chocolate (obvi).  

 Before the oven

As a seasoned savory souffle maker, I found the process quite straight forward, but I will have to experiment and adapt the recipe a bit before I post it because its written in "cooking school" quantities--i.e., more than you would ever make at home.  However, both the chocolate souffle and Grand Marnier Souffle were great, particularly the Grand Marnier, as it turned out (I think the chocolate souffle needs more chocolate...or at least that's one chocoholic's opinion!)

 My baby coming out of the oven

Digging in

Next: Eggs.  First we watched Chef John demonstrate about eight different ways to prepare eggs, all beautiful and delicious. 

Chef John shows us how it's done

The most interesting to me were shirred eggs, which were eggs cracked into a ramekin filled with pieces of thinly sliced meat (I think it was ham?), dobbed with (lots of) butter, then baked until the eggs were adequately set.  There was so much going on while he was demonstrating that I don't know exactly how long or what temperature, but if I had to guess I'd say about 8 minutes at 375 or 400?  I will have to get back to you on the details of this.  

Shirred Eggs

He also did an individual leek, goat cheese and pesto frittata, which was awesome, and demonstrated both French and American style omelets, which are actually quite different.

 French omelet with sour cream and caviar (left); American "Denver" omelet (right)

The most interesting thing besides the shirred eggs was a French style dessert omelet, which was just your basic French omelet (I can't do it justice here, you really just need to see someone doing it, but basically you start out in a pan over medium heat, add 2 beaten eggs, then move them around with a spatula almost like you're scrambling the egg, then , when it's mostly set, you leave it alone (except a little bit of jiggling to make sure it isn't sticking or browning), until it's totally set, then you fold one third over, and as you slide it out of the pan you fold the other third over, so the top is nice and smooth.  So once John made a perfect French omelet he filled it with apricot jam before folding it, and sprinkled it with confectioner's sugar, then he took a hot metal skewer (that he had stuck in the gas burner for a minute) and seared three diagonal lines through the sugar.  Beautiful and delicious!  It had never occurred to me to do a sweet omelet, but it was delish :)  

Sweet apricot filled omelet

 The egg dishes multiply faster than bunnies

After John whipped out all these beautiful egg dishes, we set to perfecting our own eggs.  After three takes I produced one decent French omelet, and I also practiced my scrambled eggs (although to be honest, I think I'm already pretty good at those--they are my fave), and then I practiced my over easies, including flipping them with just (several) flick(s) of my wrist.  Here's what I can tell you about flipping eggs using just your wrist: "Don't be afraid!" (in your best Julia Child voice).  And do it over the sink, just in case you miss (but "never apologize!").  My first one I did over too high heat, and it got too crispy and brown, but my second one was quite pretty.  The biggest take away lessons from all of this egg frying/scrambling/omeleting/frittata-ing?  

A sampling of my egg dishes: Over medium, scrambled, and 3 attempts 

at French omelets, getting progressively better from right to left

1. Use the right size pan.  (We were doing all of these individually, in 6 or 7-inch pans, like you would at an upscale restaurant). 

2. Make sure the pan is ridiculously non-stick and/or well seasoned

3. Only cook over moderate heat--browning isn't ideal, except for some American-style omelets

4. Clarified butter.  And lots of it.  (See pic of John, above.  That measuring cup of yellow stuff--butter.)  Clarified butter is regular butter without the milk solids.  To make it you can either melt a hunk of butter gently, then let the milk solids (the white part), sink to the bottom, then skim off from the top.  The part you want to use is the very clear and pure yellow part.  It is ideal for eggs because it doesn't brown or smoke, so it's forgiving if you overheat your pan, and all that jazz.  You can make your own by melting like, a pound of butter then letting the white parts sink and skimming off the yellow part (we go through it like water in cooking class, so we're making our own, often).  Alternatively, you can find in ethnic markets and better supermarkets as ghee, aka, Indian clarified butter.

Ooh, and I poached the most beautiful egg ever, and made it into an egg Benedict sandwich, which was fantastic.  If you are like the old me (before I learned how to poach eggs), you probably don't like poaching eggs, because they get all runny and weird in the water.  But, I found out how to do it well, and I have to say, my first egg was even prettier than Chef John's. So, here are the tricks:

Egg Benedict.  I was so excited I bit into it before I took the picture. 

Sorry.  That black thing on top is a truffle.  Seriously fancy here, people.

1. For every quart of poaching water, you add 1/4 cup of white vinegar.  This sounds like a lot, but it's not, and it's crucial, (you won't even taste it--promise).  DON'T put any salt in your water, it will make the whites run.

2. If you're not using the poached eggs right away, have a bowl of iced salted water set up.  When your eggs are doing cooking, transfer them into the cold water, which will stop the cooking and keep then moist.

3. Pre-crack your eggs into a teacup or other small vessel and use it to slip the egg into the water.  This way it will go in as one whole blob, and you'll avoid having too much "spread" of the whites.

4. Use extremely fresh Grade A eggs--these are the firmest--again, less spread.

5.  Use poaching water that is simmering, just on the verge of a boil.  Barely simmering water isn't quite hot enough, and boiling water will disrupt the eggs.

6. Timing--Most people like eggs poached between 2 1/2 and 3 minutes.  If you are poaching multiple eggs in the same pot, add 10 seconds per egg for each one in the pot (ex., if you're poaching 4 "2 1/2" minute eggs, total cooking time should be about 3 minutes, because you add 10 seconds for each additional egg).  Being the yolk-hating weirdo that I am, I prefer my egg poached closer to 5 minutes, but if you follow the first guidelines--vinegar in the water, proper simmering temp, and pre-cracking your eggs--no matter how long you cook them, they should come out well. 

If your whites do end up spreading a lot, it's totally acceptable to trim up the whites to make them look prettier--or not, whatevs.  I won't judge if you like to quantity over looks.  

So, yeah, that's a lot about eggs.  I probably ate at least half a dozen today.  Good thing I don't have a cholesterol problem (yet).  Hopefully a few of these tricks will help you next time you need to cook an egg, and when I get some more specifics on the souffles, you will be the first to know, I promise!

Stay tuned for part 2 of BEST DAY EVER: Wine and Cheese pairing.  Heaven!

First Official Food-Related Post (a.k.a.: Herbed Potato Souffle)

 

I love love LOVE souffles. They are perfect on so many levels. Egg-y cheese-y goodness in a light, airy format. Plus, they are baked, thus I am capable of making them, but they count as a meal. And you will impress people when you whip a beautifully golden puffed souffle out of the oven. Heck, you'll even impress yourself!

I think many people are intimidated by souffles. I say this based on the fact that when I talk about them with my peers, most have never attempted to make one, and are impressed by the fact that I can do it. I don't claim to be a souffle genius, but any souffle proficiency that I do possess I attribute entirely to my mother. She went through a souffle phase at some point (infinitely better than the beet phase and also decidedly better than the roast chicken phase, which lasted long enough to even wear out my love for all things chicken). I must have been in the 8th grade or so when we started having souffle every Sunday night for a number of months, which (appropriately) was dubbed "Sunday Night Souffle." We had a very spartan kitchen whose lone non-essential appliance was a sometimes-functioning Cuisinart. Which is to say, no electric mixer. Which meant that with this incessant souffle mixing, my mother needed someone who was willing to beat egg whites with a sticky old manual egg beater for 15 minutes or so, which is where I came in. (Now that I think about it, I also got stuck grating the cheese, if we didn't have pre-grated in the fridge. And sometimes whisking the roux while she consulted the recipe again and again). So, at age 13 or so I was fully introduced into the world of souffles, although I didn't make a souffle on my own until I was about 22. (Being away at school for 8 years wasn't exactly conducive to souffle making.)

In the fall of 2006 I had been itching to make a souffle, and it just so happened that there was a fancy kitchen supply store that was going out of business on Nantucket. It was liquidating its inventory at 70% off, and as a result I bought a souffle dish in just about every size they offered. (I have a habit of doing this. I now have 5 individual-size ramekins, 2 medium dishes and 1 large one. Oops.) I also bought a hand mixer for $2 at the thrift shop, which has make the whole egg white beating process much much easier! After finally procuring the necessary tools, I have made several successful basic cheese souffles, which remain my favorite, and about which I will post at a later date. Tonight I will write about Herbed Potato Souffle, a variation that I ripped out of Food and Wine at some point, which was tonight's dinner. The starch from the potatoes gives a denser and sturdier texture than a regular souffle, so it's a foolproof starting point. When the recipe was published in the magazine it was suggested as a side dish for a Braised Lamb Shoulder, but to be honest, the thought of eating this along side something as heavy as braised lamb makes me feel a little sick. I would suggest serving this along side a generous portion of a lightly dressed green salad and enjoy it as a vegetarian dinner. The original recipe, found here, is for 6, I adjusted the amounts of things somewhat for a recipe that could serve 3-4 depending on your appetites. (Erik and I split it, which I wouldn't recommend, since I still feel grossly full 3 hours later).



Herbed Potato Souffle (adapted from Food & Wine magazine, October 2006)

* 1 1/4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, plus another small pat for greasing the pan
* 1 pound of baking potatoes (2 small-medium potatoes)
* 1/2 cup milk or half & half
* About 1 1/4 cups Cantal or Gruyere cheese, shredded (I actually used Havarti with dill, but it was a little bit wimpy; when I make this again I will use one of the suggested cheeses)
* 1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
* 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
* 1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley (just realized I forgot this--oops.)
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 3 large eggs, separated
* 2 additional egg whites
* Pinch of cream of tarter (optional--sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't)
* Grated Parmesan cheese--Kraft brand is find, or a few pinches of flour for coating souffle dish

1. Decide if you want to boil or bake your potatoes. I've tried both, but since each instance was so far apart, I don't really know which is better. If you are baking, scrub and prick your potato(es), and bake for about an hour at 400 degrees F. If boiling, peel and quarter your potatoes, cover with cold water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Preheat or reduce-heat(?) your oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and either cheese (my preference!) or flour a 2-quart souffle dish.

3. Back to the potatoes: If you baked your potatoes, slice them open and scoop out the meat into a medium bowl. Eat the potato skins--they are full of good nutrients & stuff. If you boiled your potatoes, drain and return to the saucepan, and dry them out for a minute over high heat, then kill the heat. Add the butter and mash the potatoes. Stir in the milk or half & half. Stir in the grated cheese and herbs, and season with salt & pepper to taste. Stir in the egg yolks and set aside.

4. In a very clean large bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. If you have cream of tarter, add a pinch at this point. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

5. Fold one third of the egg whites into the potato mixture gently. For souffle neophytes, folding in egg whites means, taking a clean rubber spatula and cutting down the middle of the bowl and gently scooping along the bottom of the bowl and folding the potato mixture that you lift up onto the blob of egg whites on top. Keep repeating this motion while rotating the bowl a little each time so that you incorporate all the potato and egg white together and no streaks remain. Gentle is the key word here. You want to maintain as much air in the egg whites as possible for maximum lift. Once you've mixed in a little, add the potato mixture back into the egg white bowl and gently fold everything together until no streaks remain.

5. Gently scrape the mixture into your prepared souffle pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is puffy and browned. Serve immediately and enjoy!