Day 23 at The Culinary: Back On Campus

Today I came back to school from my weekend at home.

I left campus on Friday night, after Product Knowledge class, and I went home to my mom's house in North Jersey. I spent Saturday in Jersey, and I made a salad dressing that's from a recipe my Product Knowledge teacher gave me. It was a Japanese soy ginger dressing (the bright orange kind from Japanese restaurants), and it was amazing. I made a lot of the dressing, and I planned to take it back with me. I did this because I decided I wanted to get more custom salads from Courtside, and I could use my homemade dressing with it.

On Sunday, I went to my dad's house in New York. I went back to my mom's in Jersey that night. The following morning, at about ten, I packed up the car and was driven back to school. I arrived on campus a little after eleven o'clock, and unpacked all the goodies I brought back with me. I got some clothes hangers, bleach, hershey bars, the dressing, dryer sheets, a turtle neck, thermal underwear, a power strip, a laundry hamper, flip flops and some t-shirts.

By the time I was done unpacking, it was noon and the new class of students was arriving to start moving in! This was quite fun. We got new door decorations, my roommate kindly rearranged the layout of almost our entire room, so as to give us more space, and we were officially no longer the noobs. Because of the block system that the school has, the freshman are really only one of two things. You can either consider them to only be the students who have been on campus for under three weeks, or you can consider them anyone that hasn't gotten their associate's degree yet.

The newest people are only the students who haven't been here for three weeks yet. However, the students that appear to have more seniority are, when interviewed, students that could have been here for only around nine weeks. By the time you get past B-Block, you start and finish new classes very frequently. Therefore, I believe they should either drop the term "freshman", or come up with a new system of terms meaning students from each block. There are a large amount of blocks, by the way.

There are terms that we use to mean where we are in the program. We could be B-blockers, about to go on extern, post-extern, just finished fish, on restaurant row, or a number of other phrases and terms.

I didn't eat anything until sometime around mid-afternoon. I went to Courtside so that I could get a salad. I was all excited to finally try out my dressing. This is what I ended up with:

-- Bbq Chicken Nuggets
-- Salad with Craisins and Japanese Soy Ginger Dressing

This salad was better than the last one, thanks to the incredible dressing I made. I ate the chicken cold, because I didn't want to wait a minute for it to heat up in the microwave. I don't remember anything else about the day, and what's above is all that I ate that day.

Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more

Day 21 and 22 at The Culinary: Off-Campus

Hi. I went home for the weekend. What I ate is irrelevant, because it wasn't eaten "at The Culinary."

Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more

Day 20 at The Culinary: Brazil and India

Today I got to eat a lot of interesting food.

Because students are graduating, it seems like all of the kitchens are on a different schedule. So, getting meals has been an adventure. I woke up late, knowing that Banquet will be closed for a while, and decided to go to lunch on my own schedule.

When I got to K16, there was an enormous line stretched almost to the front doors of the building. I knew right away that I wasn't going to try eating there. I saw some friends at the back of the line, and I asked them what was going on. They said that, because Banquet was closed, everyone who would eat there is now searching for food elsewhere. K16 is quick and easy, so everyone decided to go there.

I decided to press my luck. I went past K16 in search of a kitchen that was open without an insanely long line. I stumbled upon the Americas kitchen which only had one more dish. Guess who got it, suckaaaa!

-- Salad with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette and Queso Fresco
-- White Rice
-- Moqueca do Frutos del Mar with Shrimp, Scallops, Mussels, Clams, Squid, Coconut Milk, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes and Cilantro

Queso Fresco: A Latin American rendition of cottage cheese made from skim milk

Moqueca: A traditional Brazilian seafood stew

Frutos del Mar: Portuguese for "fruits of the sea", referring to an assortment of seafood

I got the last plate from the Americas kitchen, and I was extremely satisfied that it was Brazilian. I find Brazilian to be some of the best food there is. I like to think of it as tropical mix of most Spanish-speaking countries' foods. 

This was definitely one of the better meals I've had here. I do love seafood, and here was a tropical seafood stew that was all mine. The salad was pretty good, but it would've been really plain if it weren't for the queso fresco. It added a nice, fresh saltiness. The rice was good too, but when you think about it, it's hard to go wrong with white rice. 

Once I disposed of the shells from my mussels and clams, I was left with a glorious pile of seafood and tender vegetables, all in a coconut based soup. All of the seafood was delicious, and the liquid in the bowl was scrumptious. The peppers and tomatoes were very tender, so it all became a soft, warm meal.

After I finished my food, I went to dispose of my plates when I saw my friends from the K16 line entering Farq.. All I had to do was show them my empty plates, and they knew I got lucky. So, they enjoyed their food as I left to go back to my room.

When it came time for dinner, there was a problem. It was still Brazilian at Americas, and I really wanted some Brazilian. There was a long line, and I wasn't exactly towards the front. When they opened up the kitchen, the plates went really fast. Before I knew it, they were out of everything. I was pretty close to the front at that point, and I knew that I, along with everyone else who would now have to find food, would have to go to the nearest open kitchen. Asias was right next door, and it was Indian. I try not to get food from a kitchen when they're doing a country I've already tried, but it was a mess at the time. I knew that I would at least have to get a different menu item than last time, and I did.

 

-- Lamb Shorba

-- Tandoori Chicken (Red), with Naan, Samosa, Yellow Rice, Purise, Bondas, and Mango Chutney

Once again, I cannot really explain what these things mean. However, I can give my thoughts. It contained chicken in a tandoori sauce, naan bread, potato samosa, yellow rice, odd-looking dipping sauces, and mango chutney.

The chicken had great flavor, but a little too much of it. The sauce was overpowering, and hindered me from finishing it all. The naan was tastier this time than the last, and the samosa was a really good addition. I also loved the fact that this plate had mango chutney, chutney being a sweet pile of reduced fruit, because pretty anything with mango is awesome, and this is condensed mango. The rice was average, and the soup was a thousand times better than the last. The lamb inside wasn't rubbery this time, but perfectly cooked, and the broth was fantastic.

After dinner, I had another big tasting in Product Knowledge class. Today's section was on mushrooms, stalks, and shoots. Here's what we tasted:

- King Oyster Mushroom(Trumpet Royale)

- Maiitake Mushroom

- Dried Shiitake Mushroom

- Morel Mushroom

- Chantrelle Mushroom

- Fennel, raw

- Artichoke Hearts

- Rhubarb, with strawberry

- Parsley Root

I took notes during my tasting, and I will explain what I thought about these varieties.

The king oyster mushrooms were bland, but soaked up a lot of butter. Therefore, they tasted like butter. The maiitake mushrooms were, according to my notes, the only mushroom I enjoyed. They just tasted like a salty mushroom. It just went downhill from there.

The dried shiitakes were reconstituted with moisture during cooking. I don't know what they were cooked in or with, but they tasted like a mix between soy sauce, propane, and cigarette water. Then we tried morels, an expensive variety. They were cooked in loads, and I mean loads, of créme fraiche (basically butter). In the end, the morels tasted like spongy butter. The chantrelles tasted like salty worms. They had the texture, shape, and size of worms. 

After those mushrooms, it got better. The fennel was raw, so I knew what to expect. It was delicious and I had tons of it. I don't really care for the flavor of artichoke hearts, but I tried it anyway. It had the flavor I thought it would have, and I refused to eat the rest. The rhubarb with the strawberries were phenomenal. The parsley root was something special for our class. Apparently they aren't commonly found in general, and so when our teacher found them in the storage room, he decided to have us taste them as a treat. I didn't know what to expect at all. Supposedly they're grown for the root, which looks like a cross between a parsnip and a carrot, and you don't use the leaves. They were blanched, and then sauteed in butter with garlic and maybe something else. They were my favorite part of the day's tasting. The parsley root had a pretty neutral flavor, and I like to think of it as a boiled carrot's consistency with the flavor of a potato. It was really good.

It looks like we have eight new additions today: morel, king oyster, maiitake, shiitake, rhubarb, parsley root, chantrelle, and queso fresco. And the list of foods I've never tried before coming to the CIA grows even larger!

Until the next post,

Eat well, then eat more

Day 19 at The Culinary: France, Chocolate and Buffet

Today was a ridiculous day for food.

Since new classes come in every three weeks at the CIA, that means that there's a graduation every three weeks. When there's a graduation, there's a Grand Buffet on the last day. The Grand Buffet is a buffet that is quite grand. All of the kitchens prepare foods for this giant feast that occurs in Farq. for lunch and dinner. It's a celebration for the graduating class, and all students are allowed to come. It counts as a swipe, but you can eat at other kitchens instead, if you wanted to. They encourage students to take as much food as they want and can manage. I helped them out. But that was dinner. Let's start with lunch, shall we?

Today, I knew there would be no Banquet because that class was prepping for the buffet, so I knew I didn't have to wake up at 10:00 like usual. So I slept in, and at noon I woke up and got ready for lunch. I did not know what I'd be doing, but I hoped that I would make it for the lunch buffet. I didn't make it; in fact I arrived as it ended, but I walked around to find a kitchen that was open. I first passed K16, but I didn't want to wait on the huge line that was for some reason there. I continued to walk down the hall, and passed the Mediterranean kitchen which had a menu in front of the door and no line at all. I did a double-take, and as I thought, "Could I have actually found an open Med. kitchen?", the class's maitre d' came out of nowhere and asked what he could get me. I was thrilled. I hadn't tried this kitchen before, and didn't even look to see what country it was before I said "SURE!"

It was France today, and the guy said that there were only two dishes left because I came at the end of service. One was the vegetarian dish, and the other was what I chose. Here's my lunch:

-- Seared Scallops with Pommes Au Gratinée, Brussels Sprouts, and Diced Red Pepper in Lemon Beurre Blanc
-- Mussels in Beurre Blanc
-- French Onion Soup with Apples

Pommes: French for "potatoes"

Au Gratinée: French term for any dish that is mixed with breadcrumbs and cheese and then placed in a broiler until brown and crispy

Beurre Blanc: French for "white butter" and referring to the classic French sauce comprised of white wine, vinegar, shallots and butter

Unfortunately, I don't really know too much in terms of details of what I got. I could figure some things out for myself, but it's French food and I'm not too good with it yet. I was in such a hurry to get my food that I didn't get to take a photo of the menu, and there was too much description of the food that I couldn't retain it all. All that I could remember and figure out on my own I have listed above.

This was definitely one of the tastier dishes I've gotten from a kitchen that wasn't K16, and I look forward to going back to Med. kitchen sometime soon. The scallops were perfectly cooked and phenomenal, and I've had lots and lots of badly cooked scallops. They were fork tender on the inside and nicely caramelized on the outside. I've had a fondness for brussels sprouts ever since my dad made them for me pan-browned in butter with garlic, pine nuts and chicken. I hadn't tried them before he made that recipe, so I was not used to the plain, boiled preparation which gives this cabbage its bad rap. Therefore, I was excited to finally have some of these at the CIA, and they were as good as I'd hoped. The sauce was a tad acidic, but otherwise nice. I believe I've had pommes au gratinée four times so far here, but this was this best execution of the dish. The mussels were tasty as well, and the soup was delicious, especially with the addition of the apples.

I ate that meal in the aftermath of the lunch Grand Buffet. When I was done, I went back to my room and got ready for Gastro. This was an exciting class. It was our chocolate tasting today, and I couldn't wait. When I got there, early as usual, I volunteered to help portion out the different kinds of chocolates on the plates for all the students. There was white chocolate, which if you didn't know is arguably not even a chocolate because it's made from cocoa butter and no cacao mass, milk chocolate, and about five others which range in purity from about 44% to 100%. The last one was awful, and tasted exactly like the old cingulair allergy tablets I had to take when I was little because I couldn't swallow pills. All the rest were just good chocolates, but to half the room they tastes extremely bitter.

We've done a few experiments in past classes dealing with bitterness, and we learned how some people are extremely sensitive to bitterness while others rarely taste it. I won't get into it, but I'm one of the latter.

This was a great class because of the fact that we ate chocolate. After class, I went back to my room for a while and relaxed until it was time for the dinner Grand Buffet. I was told that it would start at 5:30, and I was very hungry. It was 5:05 and I didn't want to wait any longer, so I left and figured I'd just sit around and wait for the doors to open. When I got there, people were leaving Farq. with expressions of being full and holding to-go boxes. I was frantic. I knew that the lunch food was taken incredibly fast, and I thought I was being smart by coming as early as I did.

Actually, I was smart. I am smart. I give myself credit. Not only did I come early, I asked around and found out when it was supposed to start. I was proactive and superior. The school however decided to start early. So I got there I think around ten or fifteen minutes late, from what I could gauge, and it was just soooo packed with people. It was insane, and there was a huge line for all the food. So, I got in line.

Here are my pictures:

-- Foie Gras
-- Terrine of Ham and Duck
-- Terrine of Chicken and Crayfish
-- Seafood Salad with Calamari in a Horseradish and Wasabi Dressing
-- Roast Lamb stuffed with Pork Sausage with Caponata
-- Fruit Tart
-- Puff Pastry Cookie
-- Challah Bread
-- Poppy Seed Egg Bread
-- Tropical Fruit Mousse and Spongecake 
-- Mango and Passion Fruit Cake with Coconut

Foie Gras: French for "fat liver", and is generally used for goose liver. This delicacy is the enlarged liver of a goose that has been force-fed for around 5 months without allowing exercise, producing a liver that can weigh up to three pounds. It is silky smooth in texture and is very rich

Terrine: The term being interchangeable with "paté", it is a ground force-meat mixture which may include pork, veal, liver, ham, fish, poultry, game, vegetables and more
Caponata: A Sicilian side dish usually comprised of eggplant, onions, tomatoes, pine nuts, anchovies, olives, capers and vinegar, all cooked in olive oil

Safe to say this place was popular. The main section of the room, which is only shown a little in the bottom right of the last picture, had long wooden tables going from the front doors to where it's shown in the photo. They had cuisines from France, the Middle East, and Asias. The area in the back is where they had all of the breads and desserts. I had only a tiny sampling of the desserts, but they all looked exquisite. I heard they had sorbets that were pumpkin flavored, candy apple, raspberry, and others that sounded oddly tasty. They had a thing called tuxedo strawberries which I'd never heard of or seen before. They were chocolate covered strawberries but they decorated them to look like tuxedo suits.

This was my first time having foie gras, although I have had a paté of goose liver. This was buttery soft, as rich as anything, and was pretty salty. I liked it, I must say, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it all. So you know, the foie gras is the one in the picture on the slice of bread. I'd also never had a terrine before. To the left of the foie gras is the terrine with chicken and crayfish, which was relatively bland in flavor. On the right was the terrine of ham and duck, and of course I thought it was incredible. It was duck and ham, what could go wrong. I was almost positive the seafood salad would be intensely strong with bitterness because it was made with horseradish AND wasabi, and although I could taste both, they really made it work so that your mouth didn't burn off. Very impressive.

The roast lamb was very good too, although there were some chewy parts. The best part was the caponata that went with it. The challah was a bit dry, but only because I was late to the feast. The fruit tart I'd had before, and I knew it was going to be as good as it was. The tropical fruit cake had an amazing appearance and that's why I took it, but it was just alright. It had a tart mousse which I wished would have been sweeter. On the other hand, the cake with the coconut was really good, and so was the chocolate decoration on top. Lastly, the bread with the poppy seeds and the cookie were so good, I got more to bring back. Here are my spoils:

I told you the bread was good. Also, I had an extra to-go box and wanted to put it to use, so I looked around the room. Most everything was gone or was being taken back to their respective kitchens, but I found a bowl of spinach salad. I asked the guy if I could just have it before it was disposed of, and he gladly obliged. Now I have a back-up meal (as if I'm worried about going hungry)!

It looks like today we have two new additions: foie gras and terrines. And the list of foods I've never tried before coming to the CIA grows even larger!

So the Grand Buffet was impressive in a lot of ways, but in the end I'm pretty upset I didn't get to be there to try everything they had. My friend who was there from the start said that they had a lot more then. So I was disappointed, but the good news is that I only have to wait three weeks to get one again.

Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more

Day 18 at The Culinary: Chef Whites and India

Today I went to the Asias kitchen and got Indian food. How exotic!

It was an exciting day to be a culinary student. Today was the day we got our chef uniforms (chef whites), and all of the special clothing that we will need for the next four years. We got clothes for kitchen classes and service classes. Here are my photos:

-- 5 pairs of chef jackets with my name and BPS (Bachelor of Professional Studies) embroidered on it
-- 3 pairs of checked chef pants
-- 2 pairs of black formal pants
-- 1 clip-on tie
-- 3 white collared shirts with CIA embroidery
-- 5 toques (chef hats)
-- 5 white aprons
-- 1 neckerchief
-- 1 vest
-- 3 green side towels

This was a lot of fun for me. I tried on one of everything to make sure they all fit. It seemed like everyone that I spoke with had something in their bag that didn't fit right. Everything fit perfectly for me, so I win.

Then there was lunch at Banquet. It was the day before the school's Grand Buffet, so Banquet class couldn't devote all of its effort into serving us in the usual manner. Therefore, they designed it a little differently.

-- Warm Apple and Pear Cider
-- Pasta Puttanesca
-- Sea Bass on Garlic Smashed Potatoes with an Herbed Horseradish Sauce and Broccoli Rabe
-- White Chocolate Mousse with Toasted Coconut and Diced Mango

Puttanesca: Generally served with pasta, this sauce is a spicy mélange of tomatoes, onions, capers, black olives, anchovies, oregano and garlic

Broccoli Rabe: A cabbage family vegetable that has long green stems and small broccoli-like bulbs, bitter flavor

The cider was very good, just like most cider the world has to offer, and the rim of the glass was coated with a cinnamon sugar mixture. The pasta was served family style, which I didn't like. I liked the pasta just fine, but not the service. We got that big bowl of pasta, and everyone served themselves a nice heaping portion. By the time it got to the last two people, myself included, there was barely any left. So, I had a nibble and hoped the main course would be extra good and bountiful.

The fish was definitely tasty, but I didn't care for the horseradish sauce on the top, so I scraped it off. The smashed potatoes were also very good, and so was the broccoli rabe. The problem was that the cream sauce on the plate wasn't very good, and it migrated onto everything on the plate. This gave everything a bad flavor, and I had to eat around it.

The mousse, however, was a revelation. It wasn't too rich, and wasn't too bland. It was light and fluffy, and the mango was a nice addition. I'm not a fan of textured coconut; I usually just like the flavor. However, the shaved pieces were small enough not to bother me, and I thought it was altogether an amazing dessert. I just wish the whole meal had been that good.

After lunch, I had dinner! I went to Asias again, and it was India that day. I was excited to try an Indian CIA dinner. Here's the meal:

 

-- Lamb Shorba
-- Cucumber and Onion Salad
-- Mango Lhassi
-- Platter of Naan, Rice, and Others
-- Pork Vindaloo with Fried Onions

I can't find any definitions in my handy Food Lover's Companion book for these Indian terms, so I guess the book doesn't like Indian food. The shorba is the soup, the naan is the flat bread, vindaloo is a heavily spiced sauce from central and southwestern India, and lhassi is a drink that resembles a yogurt smoothie.

The soup was decent, but the lamb pieces in it had the consistency of rubber. The salad was extremely good on its own, but even better when used to cool off my mouth from the heat of some of the other things. I didn't like the lhassi because it tasted like yogurt, and I don't like the taste of sour milk. I'm weird like that. The naan wasn't too flavorful, but acted as a nice scooper for the various mysterious and colorful substances on the platter. The red one didn't have much flavor at all, the yellowish one tasted like a purée of spinach and egg, the green one tasted like a purée of herbs (also like a pesto), and the brownish one tasted like a spicy and nutty chutney. I liked the chutney one best. The rice was very good, even though it lacked flavor, and the brown ball on the far side tasted like a potato.

I didn't taste the stuff in the ramekin, although I should have. The pork with the onions was definitely the best part of the meal, as it should have been, because it was the main dish. It was spicy, sweet, and reminded me of chili with an Indian kick. The pork in it was fork-tender, and the onions tasted so good in their fried form. I wish I had a giant bowl of that pork, but I had to deal with my portion.

Overall, the meal was enormous and a success.

After dinner, I went to Product Knowledge. PK had another big tasting today, and I was very anxious to learn some more new produce. Today's section was cooking greens. Here's what we tried:

- Kale
- Broccoli Rabe

It turns out we didn't try much. However, what we did try was quite good. I'd never had kale before, and I thought it was pretty good. Broccoli rabe is naturally bitter, but it was cooked for us with garlic and salt, and the salt got rid of most of the bitterness.

It looks like we have one new addition today: kale. And the list of foods I've never tried before coming to the CIA grows even larger!

After Product Knowledge class, I went back to my room and realized that I was really hungry. I thought about it, and decided that I should go to Courtside to get some food. Here's what I got:

-- Custom Salad with Julienne Carrots, Mozzarella Balls, Roasted Peanuts, Craisins, and Grilled Chicken
-- Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

This is what I call a late-night snack. It was pretty awesome too, except for the grilled chicken, which was very dry. I'm a big fan of dried cranberries in salads, so I made sure that I got them this time.

Well, it was a very long day filled to the brim with food, and I enjoyed it.

Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more

Day 17 at The Culinary: Mexican

Today I ate some Mexican food.

It was a pretty average day at school, but I tried a new chapter of the Americas class. It was Mexico, and I was definitely in the mood to get jiggy with my arroz con frijoles. You don't have to know what I'm talking about.

Mexican food was for dinner, but lunch precedes dinner. So, let's talk about lunch. I went to Banquet, as usual, and here is what I got:

-- Sea Breeze

-- Seafood Salad with Shrimp, Squid, Octopus, Red Onions and Bell Peppers

-- Saltimbocca with Roasted Beets, Yellow Rice, and Braised Cabbage

-- Warm Chocolate Cake

Saltimbocca: Translated to "jump mouth", refers to the Italian dish of finely sliced veal that is sprinkled with sage and a thin slice of prosciutto

The sea breeze was good, but a little too tart from the lime juice. I do enjoy anything with fresh mint leaves, so I was a little happy. The seafood salad was perfect. It was extremely similar to a ceviche, and it was served cold. All of the seafood was tender and cooked through. The saltimbocca was also very good, but they added a little too much sage, making it incredibly herbal. The braised cabbage was probably my favorite part of the dish, because it was very soft and buttery. The chocolate cake was also yummy, and overall it was a very nice lunch.

After classes, I went to dinner. Like I said, it was Mexico today at the Americas kitchen, and here is what I got:

-- Cactus Salad with Hearts of Palm

-- Pozole Verde with Pumpkin Seeds, Chicken, Pork, Tortilla Strips, Avocado, and Potatoes

-- Chicken in Mole Poblano with White Rice, Black Beans, and Corn Tortillas

-- Hazelnut Cake

Pozole: A thick, hearty soup mainly consisting of pork meat and broth, onion, garlic, chiles, and cilantro

Mole: A sauce that is a Mexican specialty consisting of onion, garlic, chiles, ground seeds, and some Mexican chocolate

Poblano: A dark green chile with a rich flavor

Hearts of Palm: The edible inner portion of the stem of the cabbage palm tree

This dinner was mostly phenomenal. The salad was the worst part. I was looking forward to having some form of cactus in the salad that would be noticeable to both the palate and the eye, but instead it looked like it was just a bunch of hearts of palm. I don't really care for hearts of palm. They taste, to me, a lot like artichoke hearts, and I don't really care for them either. I know that a lot of people love artichoke hearts, and I don't hate them or anything, but I just prefer not to ingest them.

Do you remember in an earlier post when I had a soup from the Americas kitchen, and I said that it was incredible, but the second best soup I've had at the CIA? Well, I was referring to this one. This soup is the winner. There was so much flavor in that soup, and it contained so many diverse ingredients. The potato was incredibly soft, the avocado gave a smooth fatness, the pumpkin seeds gave a crunch, and the meats made it savory. The whole thing was just magnificent. Thank you, Americas kitchen. 

The main dish was very good too. The chicken was pretty dry, given it was as thick a breast as it was. The mole sauce was very nice and the rice was a nice stopper on the heat. The black beans were tasty, and the corn tortilla was an authentic touch. I didn't really eat the cake. I tried a bite, and although it was good, I was too full. I still decided I should document it, though.

Until the next post,

Eat well, then eat more