mmm... ice cream...

This week marked the end of the most boring (although extremely important) part of culinary management... sanitation. You have to memorize all these rules, temperatures and procedures that are vital to keeping your customers (and staff) healthy and alive. Thinking about all the possible points at which contamination might happen is just frightening. It makes me not want to ever own a place of my own. I know there are so many shortcuts that are taken in kitchen, chefs and cooks often don't follow these guidelines... and sometimes it is at the request of the customer - like cooking a steak only until rare. Anyway, we had to take a test that, if I pass, will certify me as a "food handler." Necessary in my line of work...

We are finishing up marketing and starting costing and supervision. Two new topics that I hope will bring us out of the classroom and on a few field trips! I'm seriously jealous of the other management class that started about 1 month ago and has already visited Daniel, Blue Smoke and Shake Shack... owned/operated two of the most successful restauranteurs in NYC - Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer. I've threaten my friends and family that if I don't get to see these places I might flip out. I'm serious about this.

In baking and pastry we are still learning the basics - eggs, sugar and the combination of the two - meringue, confectionery, custards, puddings, creme anglaise, ice cream mix. The other day we made fudge - on a marble slab! We basically made our own sweetened condensed milk then added chocolate and at the right time (and temperature) turned the mixture out onto a marble slab, dotted it with butter pieces and drizzled on vanilla and then when it reached another much lower temp, worked it with a bench scraper until it was thick. This is called recrystallizing the sugar. But you have to do it at the right moment because if not you could end up with dry fudge or fudge with sugar crystal crunch and let's face it, that is just not as good as a beautiful smooth, creamy, chocolatey fudge. I must say, what I ended up with was delish! Luckily, my lovely friend Renee gave me a marble slab as a moving gift. I honestly almost wanted give it back to her because it was one more HEAVY thing for me to move from Boston, but now I'm sure glad I have it! Thanks Renee - if I make some fudge you might get some samples this holiday season!

We made a nice creme brulee and I got to use a torch for the first time. My Chef had a great torch but it kept crapping out on us, so we used the little butane type and although they took longer, I liked the result a little better than the propane tank torch. I was pleasantly surprised by a creamy, deceivingly light, bread pudding that we made with a little rum and a few golden raisins and about 8 eggs, 6 yolks and milk & cream. I had some for breakfast this morning and it was good. Today we made cheesecakes and ice cream mix. My partner, Janine, and I made a sour cream cheesecake and Cocoa-Nut ice cream. We had a little cheesecake batter left that wouldn't fit into the two 8" cake pans, so I put it into a little metal ramekin and baked it up. It was tangy, and airy, and creamy when I got to taste in still warm from the oven. I had an opportunity to taste the mascarpone cheesecake (that was also baked crustless in metal ramekins) and I felt that it was richer and a bit more buttery. I think I actually liked the mascarpone better. Janine and I decided on an ice cream mix of chocolate and coconut. I'm glad she likes those flavors. The mix has to sit at least overnight to cool and continue to set - basically so the milk fat molecules become distributed through out the mixture before the churning begins. We have Monday off because the staff has an in-service day, so we won't churn the mix until Tuesday, but I'm completely looking forward to tasting ice cream (each group made something different - pistachio, cinnamon, praline, etc.) and all the cheesecakes that have been cooled!

We had our mid-module reviews with our Chef today. Because I missed 2 days, it is completely reflected in my grade right now, but I've done really well on both my quizzes and her suggestion for improvement was "keep up the good work" so I'm quite happy about that. We got to see another classes' chocolate showpieces. Today is their last day of class and their graduation party. They display their chocolate showpieces (their class decided on a theme of "travel destinations") and (possibly) their wedding cakes at the party and tempt their friends and family with an amazing array of chocolates they worked on before their showpieces. For our class we are like little kids when we go to see what they are working on in their advanced lessons. We "ooohhh and aaahhh" and say, "I can't believe that in a few months we'll be at that stage!"

In other news, I decided to apply with the special events department at ICE for a server position so I could earn some extra cash during the time when I'm in school. I figured the holiday season might offer some good opportunities to make some quick money so I can afford to take myself out for $100 dinners every few weeks. I'll just have to remember to try to sit at the bar and hope for a good looking male bartender that is heavy on the pours of wine and forgetful when it comes to adding those to my tab! Then it won't be too expensive! Next on my "must eat at" list... Cafe Gray... and Gramercy Tavern... and wd-50... okay, I'll just stop now!