During class yesterday, I cooked bacon, for almost an hour. Nothing but bacon. And despite the long, hot shower I took last night, and this morning before work, I still smell like bacon. It’s in my hair, my skin. Bacon. I’m wondering if bathing in tomato juice will help…or perhaps that will just make me smell like a BLT.

I can only imagine having to cook bacon for 10 hours, as compared to my one hour. It must take weeks to get that smoky smell out of your body.

Three classes remain until the final exam. I’m ready. So ready. Not only for the class to come to an end, but ready to experience a new chef instructor next semester. I like Chef, I really do. I just don’t like his way of teaching - I don’t get it.

This class seems more like “what does Chef want for dinner?” rather than a class in teaching us the basics, because every week, we cook the chefs dinner, and it never seems to follow the syllubus. I’m sure the basics are in there somewhere, but they’re rarely pointed out and never correspond to anything we’re reading, so we never really know what we’re supposed to be doing — we can never prepare ahead of time for what we’re supposed to be cooking in class. Not being prepared drives me nuts. 

And as often as Chef says, “Just ask me if you’re not sure how to do something,” he acts annoyed and uses a tone that says, “You’re an idiot,” when we ask for help, or if we burn something or make a mistake. I HATE this approach to teaching.

Last night, we focused on cheese making. I was so excited, until Chef said only one group (out of 5) was going to make ricotta, and the rest of us would be tasked with another part of the menu. It’s so easy to make ricotta and fresh mozzarella (from what I’ve seen tableside). How we’re supposed to apply the information he tells us about cheese, without making it, is beyond me. He didn’t even call over the class to watch the other group making it. Nothing. I don’t get it.

So this weekend, I’m going to make a boat load of ricotta cheese, without Chef, and hope I do it right. I’m sure I can do it the right way — it’s not rocket science. But, it would be nice to have that guidance from an experienced Chef.

Three cheers for next semester!

Chef showed us a video in class yesterday that followed the 10-day testing phase of becoming a certified Master Chef through ACF. It was interesting to watch - scary, intense and fascinating. The statistics were astounding; I didn’t write them down, but remember the ratio of executive chefs who have tested and failed was high, and the list of CMCs was male dominated. Chef said he could only think of one female chef that passed, and he wasn’t sure if even that was accurate. 

Watching the video, it was easy to recognized where Top Chef, Next Iron Chef, and the myriad of other competitive cooking shows found their inspiration. The video was still full of drama, but sans the sarcastic Alton Brown commentary.

After class, I took a look at all of the testing guides on the ACF web site to see what I might qualify for, if anything, or might be ready to take. On paper, the guidelines for a certified culinarian (the first certification) seemed reasonable — cut mirepoix, cut up a chicken to show your boning and butchery techniques, make chicken broth, saute a chicken breast. But when a time constraint is put on those tasks, they became frightening to think about. I don’t think I could do all of those things perfectly in 2.5 hours while keeping control over mise and cleaning and organizing. Not yet, anyway.

One of my classes for next semester is called “competition class.” It’s the one class that will force me to practice my knife skills, charcuterie, butchery mise, and organization skills, with consequences if I don’t do well. I hear it’s one of the toughest, most demanding classes, and it’s one of the classes I’m looking forward to most.

I am finally moved into my new apartment in Denver. I left a little over a week ago from Michigan to drive out here to Colorado and into a newly remodeled apartment. Even though I rented a trailer, I still had to pack my entire Rav4 completely full with my belongings. I was finally moving out, and for good. I was actually taking everything (well with the exception of my baby books, a side table, and a dirty rotating fan) and starting a new chapter of my life that means that my old home was no longer home. It is now my Mothers’ home.

There was so much stuff shoved into every little crevice of my car and trailer that the only space for me was this perfect square around the drivers seat. There were lamp shades piled up on the arm rest leaning right next to my head and even a plant squished in between two duffel bags which made it hard for me to see my side mirror.

Road Food
Well, with such little space this leaves little room for any pre-bought road food. One bottle of water and a fresh apple is all that I brought with me and of course they were gone with-in the first 2 hours. As someone who despises fast food or anything like fast food this makes a 1,500 mile journey a little difficult. Pulling into no-wheres-ville, Iowa with only a gas station and McDonald’s made my dining options a little difficult.

So, do you go for the fried pre-cooked food or the shelf-stable snacks that have enough preservatives to last until Armageddon? Well, I decided to try my fate at McDonald’s. Thankfully they make it a little easier on the health conscious by offering salads, but beware-just because its green doesn’t mean its good for you. Ask for your salad minus the fried or grilled chicken and only use half of the dressing they give you. Some of these fast food salads can have more calories than a regular hamburger!

I liked to walk inside the gas stop each time I pulled off, some places have fresh fruit and great alternatives like plain nuts or baked crackers. You can even ask if they know of a grocery store that is close enough that you won’t lose time on your trip but will be able to find some healthy meal options.

When you are driving through the great plains though, it seems inevitable that you will have to eat at a fast food joint at least once. When you drive for six hours and the only thing you pass is a Taco Bell…well what other option do you have?

I’ve been reading through comments to the Chef2Chef blogs from the past year – not only to me, but also to the other bloggers here.

We get a lot of support as we make our way through culinary school and figure out our career goals, but also get a lot of flack for not always knowing where we’re headed with school and career.

For me, the biggest criticism has been “why don’t you stop complaining and just get a kitchen job, stupid.” Yes, they used the word “stupid.” And although I could do without the name calling, I like their passion. I get it — they’ve been through all of this already — trying to figure out school, work, career paths – and they’re trying to slap us into reality so we don’t waste time or money. I appreciate that, and I (we) hear you:

• Culinary school is not going to teach us everything we need to know about the industry.
• In order to gain respect and earn a respectable title, we need to pay our dues and get our butts kicked in a working kitchen for a bit of time.
• There are strong, differing opinions on whether culinary school is worth it or not. Some have found it to be a waste of time, while others benefited greatly.
• There are strong, differing opinions about the title of “chef,” when and how it can be used, and what it really means.

I’m definitely still learning, still making my way through this culinary journey, and appreciate everyone’s advice and comments. Thanks for being so candid and up front with the realities of the food industry and sharing your opinions, even when they were sometimes harsh.

I will soon be laid off from my current marketing position. It’s been scary to think about losing the income which contributes to 50% of our household expenses, but it has forced me, along with your comments, to really define what it is I want out of culinary school and the food-related work I’ve been doing on the side for the last several years.

You’ve helped me define what I’m most passionate about, and confirmed I’m on the right career path, which is multi-faceted: food writing/editing, recipe development and testing, and cooking instruction for the home cook.

Some of you may not agree with that, or may think it’s not a valid choice of profession — why I would ever want to waste time focusing on teaching home cooks how to cook? You’ve been heard loud and clear.

I want to show people the importance of cooking from scratch again, get them back into their kitchens, cooking for their friends and families again, and show people how they can begin to cook without recipes — improvisational cooking. I want to be a part of (and I am a part of) the slow food movement that is urging people to stop using prepackaged convenience foods, which contributes to our poor health and obesity crisis. And I want to be a voice for people with food allergies, like myself. I want to do all of this through writing and instruction. And I can’t really do any of it with authority unless I have a culinary degree.

I’m well on my way, and proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish in just three short years: I’ve been freelancing as a food writer for various online and print publications (no, not just on my blog); I’ve done several video and in-person cooking demos in what I’m most experienced to date, which is pastry dough techniques; and I started teaching cooking-101 lessons this year with the help of my culinary mentor who is a certified executive chef. In addition to culinary school, I’m also waiting for my private chef certificate to arrive as we speak. And I’ve been working in professional kitchens at Disney as I’m able to fit it into my schedule so I can truly be a liaison between the professional cooking world and the home cook.

OK, so there, it’s out there. Go easy on me.

It is almost at the end of the fall trimester here at Johnson and Wales, and I can’t believe how fast the past three months have been going! Taking online classes is so different and a bit difficult for me. I just try to keep a positive attitude that the more difficult the class is, the more I will retain in the end. Well, let’s at least hope that’s the way it goes!

The past few weeks in my Human Resources class we have been talking about behavior in the workplace and specifically sexual harassment and how to handle it as a potential boss and manager. Each week we are asked to take part in ‘discussions’ online. These are forum-setting discussions for each specific topic and are there to take the place of in class participation points.

We were asked about how we would handle an employee coming up to us as the manager and filing a complaint about another employee about sexual harassment. Everyone shared various stories or their thoughts on the subject; I can say I was honestly amazed about some of the responses.

The class was split, about half of the students were very much for a zero tolerance policy in the work place and the other half, well, was not. One student in particular thought that if the victim did not want to press charges then he would move the victim to another department, almost like a demotion for being harassed! Another student thought that any verbal comments or other behavior that did not go beyond touching or physically hurting someone was okay, “because that’s just what happens in a kitchen”.

I personally think that this is completely unacceptable and it shocks me that today people my own age would believe such things. Just because the food service industry has a history of being sexist and having a high tolerance of harassment does not mean that this is still acceptable today. No one should ever have to feel uncomfortable in their work place, regardless of the reason.

As a woman in the food service industry that has worked with others that thought that making sexual comments or other innapropirate behavior was acceptable, I have always stood up for myself and others. I would not and will not allow any type of harassment to occur or be accepted in my business or any other place that I work, and I encourage you to take the same stance.

Finally. Eleven weeks into the semester. We did something I’ve never done before in my life. We scaled and filleted a whole fish. I was on cloud nine, ten and eleven.

The menu:
Potato and Leek Soup (pureed soup, thickening method)
Salmon en Papillote with vegetables julienne and couscous (parchment technique, filleting, knife skills)

Some students had to leave - they were thoroughly disgusted, gagging. But the fish guts didn’t seem to bother me. I was more interested in how this beautiful thing was about to be deconstructed. 

Chef went over signs of freshness (and decomposition) — more nuggets of knowledge I had been craving for weeks. And showed us how to scale, fillet, skin, and portion the fish — salmon in this case.

Sigh. I wish every class could be this exciting and full of great information.

And three seems to be the magic number. We’ve experienced the group without Cool Girl, and we’ve experienced the group without Know-it-All Girl. It didn’t matter who was absent; our group functioned better with three rather than four in each case. We had more room, and less opinions.

Next week we focus on stocks and sauces. I’m hoping we go deeper into the mother sauces and small sauces — we’ve only briefly touched on a few.

Only five weeks left to the semester. I’m torn about what to focus on for spring term. I’m only able to take one or two classes each semester…I’m thinking about Classical Cuisine, along with the competition class, where Chef will kick my butt into honing my cooking skills.

I was in the grocery store earlier this week, buying the usual things, and also on the lookout for fall recipe inspiration; I wanted to take some Halloween/fall photos of gourmet caramel apples, and experiment with my new candy thermometer a little bit. Next to the apples I found the most beautiful petite pears - no larger than my thumb. I pictured them drenched in thick caramel with bits of chopped candied pumpkin seeds and dusted with spice. I bagged about six of them, along with a few McIntosh apples.

Checkout Girl: I heard these pears are sweeter than the big ones. Is that true?
Me: I’m not sure. I’m buying just to take photos of them.
Checkout Girl: OK, I have to ask. What do you do that you need to take photos of food?

I hesitated. Paused. I wasn’t sure how to answer. I wasn’t sure how to explain my career change from design and marketing to food, and I wasn’t sure I felt confident enough to say it out loud.

“Oh, I’m a food writer,” I casually said while unloading the cart.

“Ha,” I thought to myself. “I’m a food writer. Cool.”

After the groceries were put away, I sat at the kitchen table and thought for a minute or two. I’m a food writer, and yeah, that’s neat. But I’m an unemployed food writer. I’m writing, but I’m not really being paid for my writing, which sort of makes me unemployed. And my paying job will end very soon with a layoff.

Needless to say, I was excited to be offered a phone interview with the directing editor of a major publishing company in Alabama, y’all, looking for a food editor. Our interview was today, and we had a great conversation — I told my food stories, we laughed, I talked about my journey, my experience, my passion.

And then came the big question: So, you’re looking to relocate to Alabama? Er, um, no. “Is telecommunting an option?” The answer was unfortuantely, “No.” They needed someone in house to manage a team, test recipes, etc. My dream job. Sigh.

I asked her to keep me in mind for any freelance work, and will follow up later today with a thank you and a few additional writing samples we discussed during the interview.

It was wonderful speaking with her, but I’m wondering now — will we, should we move for the sake of work? My dream job doesn’t seem to be anywhere near Orlando.

At the end of the last block of classes, after we had finished Basic and Classical Cakes, my group of baking and pastry students took our 2nd Term Practical Exam, of which we had been terrified for many months. This is the test that evaluates the baking and pastry students’ competence at the basics: pate a choux, pastry cream, tempering chocolate, sponge cake, Italian buttercream, working with fondant, puff pastry–in short, what we should know how to do before the CIA trusts us not to embarass ourselves during our externships out in the industry. More importantly, this test evaluates our speed and accuracy under pressure. By the time you reach the 2nd term practical, you know how to do all of the above. The real question is can you do it with a clock ticking? Can you do it even when something goes wrong? Can you do it when your externship is riding on it?

We had 2 days, with 3 hours of production time for each day. On Day 1 my plan was to make my puff, bake my sponge cakes, make pate a choux and bake my eclairs, cook my pastry cream, make Italian buttercream, and make tempered chocolate decor pieces for my finished cake. Yes, all of that in 3 hours. If you are a full-fledged pastry chef reading this, that might not sound like such a big deal. But for us, it was a very big deal indeed. And I made it through everything!

Sort of. Not really.

Yes, I got through everything, but my pastry cream and my tempered chocolate did not work. I’d made pastry cream probably 8 or 9 times and tempered chocolate probably 4 or 5–and this, of course, was the first time either of them had been a problem for me. Because this was The Practical, and that’s just how life goes.

When my pastry cream looked separated, and my chocolate refused to do anything I wanted it to, I took a deep breath and moved on to the next thing, deciding I would worry about it later. Later meant Day 2.

On Day 2, I baked like lightning–faster than I’ve ever baked before, and faster than I knew I could bake. I drew up a brand new timeline that looked totally impossible to me. In those three hours I would have to remake my pastry cream, redo my chocolate, fill and glaze eclairs, bake a puff pastry apple strip (a kind of rectangular tart), and assemble and decorate a cake. I still don’t remember how I did it except that I never looked at the clock. I didn’t have time to worry about time! I just moved as fast as I possibly could and didn’t waste a thought on how I was doing or whether I would finish. I didn’t even care whether I would finish because I didn’t think I would. I cared about getting as far as I could. If I was going to fail, I was going to fail trying.

But I didn’t fail. I finished. Out of the 14 people in my group, 5 of us passed, and I was fortunate enough to be one of them. Yes, only 5 out of 14–the grading criteria for these products are that high. I do feel that I earned my grade because I prepared myself as well as I possibly could for this exam. At the same time, preparation isn’t everything (although the CIA’s motto claims the contrary). When the unexpected happens, as it inevitably does, I have learned how to take my mind off what’s wrong and focus all my energy on how to recover from it–and I think that might be the most important thing the CIA has taught me yet.

I can’t even remember what we made in class last week - it was that uneventful. And this week, we made appetizers. Strike that. We didn’t make, but rather, rushed through appetizers. What a mess.

What I do remember is that I did not learn anything new between last week and this week, except how to turn on the gas grill, which disappoints me.

Chef tasked our team to make these awful snail appetizers with goat cheese in puff pastry, with little direction or help. We waited…and waited…and waited for him to come to our station and provide the recipe he promised. “Chef,” we called out several times. “We’re ready for you - what’s the next step; you said dice…what size? How much cheese? Where does the snail go? How big do you want the circle of puff pastry? Do you want the herbs rough chopped or finely chopped?

Yeah, we could have made it up as we went along or tried to figure it out. But, we’ve gotten in trouble with Chef when we’ve tried to do that in the past. And at my age, I have no patience for being called a kitchen idiot, when I could have done perfectly fine with a recipe and some direction.

Cool Girl has mellowed out a bit since her temper tantrum in class a couple of weeks ago, which has been a nice change of pace. And the other girl in our group - I don’t even know what to call her, her personality is so complex, and not in a good way - she stream rolled over many of us this week as a peanut sauce know-it-all (who didn’t really know it all). This week I’ll call her Steamroller.

The group next to us asked me how they could thin out and rescue their peanut sauce, which can only be described as having the appearance of seized chocolate. I suggested chicken broth or stock, which would thin it out, without diluting the flavor like water might. And then the Steamroller came on through without a warning: “Add corn syrup - it will thin it out and make it sweet. I do it all the time!”

I crinkled my nose and mouth in such a way that said, “You’re crazy,” to Steam roller, and “Don’t do it,” to the group next to us. I repeated the chicken broth suggestion, and if I had been standing on the same side of the prep table as Steamroller, I would have been knocked clear out of the way as she muscled her way closer to the group and took over the conversation.

I shrugged my shoulders as the other group looked at me with confused faces, and continued chopping herbs.

Later Chef came by and told them to use coconut milk - corn syrup was not the answer unless they wanted to make peanut butter balls.

So, this is the drama I experience every week. Sometimes it’s entertaining. Other times it’s downright frustrating. This week though, I didn’t seem to care - I had no reaction either way to what was going on around me.

I think I’ve hit my mid-semester slump. And I think it’s because I’m kind of bored. Like with my baking class last semester, I’m desperate for those secret nuggets of cooking knowledge — the tips and tricks of the trade. And I’m not getting them. I know how to make stock, I know how to make appetizers and bake chickens and pan sear, roast, fry, bake.

I need to practice my knife skills and sauces and plating techniques (ironically, I have a degree in art and have the hardest time making a pretty plate). Hopefully we’ll get to some of that soon.

How do you all stay motivated in class? What have you done to get through the mid-semester slump?

I can’t believe that it’s almost Halloween.  Just today the neighbors set up about 8 carved pumpkins on the front door step.  The Halloween costume stores are littered about town and Target’s Halloween area is slowly become sparse.  I love Halloween, passing out candy to the kids and dressing up and going to a fun party with my friends.  But, there is another part of Halloween and after that I love and that is the taste of fresh pumpkins.

I see magazines like Gourmet and Food and Wine and see recipes of unique and sometimes strange things to do with pumpkin, but personally I love just a traditional amazing pumpkin pie.  Some don’t know just how easy it is to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, but believe me just a few minutes of added time makes a huge difference.

Squishing the Squash
First select a pumpkin, a small sweet or pie pumpkin is best, but just about any pumpkin will work but will have different tastes.  If you can’t get your hands on a pie pumpkin or have an unknown type of pumpkin growing out of your compost bin the the backyard (go look, its still on the vine in my backyard!), simply give it a taste after you cook it and add a small amount of sugar accordingly.

The first part is to cook and soften the squash.  Simply cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and cover with a few tables spoons of water.  Cook on high in the microwave for about 15 minutes or cook in the oven at 350-375 until fork tender.  Let cool outside of the container and out of any water or juices.  Peel out from the skin and mash up.  Next, mix in a blender or food processor to smooth.  If you do not have a mixer or blender you can use a mixer or potato masher for a good few minutes, it will not be a smooth but it will help.  Now, you are ready to use your pumpkin like you would the preservative-ridden puree in the can.

Warm Up
The next step in making the perfect pie is to make yourself a great cup of coffee.  In a large mug add cream, sugar, and a tablespoon or so of your pumpkin puree.  Add the hot coffee and whisk up until combined and presto! you have a cheap and delicious cup of pumpkin ‘latte’ that is infinitely better than one from Starbucks.  Drink while making your pie, repeat when your mug is empty.  If your cooking late at night try adding a little bit of coffee liqueur for a delicious night cap.

Next, prepare your crust.  Personally I recommend a scratch-made crust but a Pillsbury premade dough will do.  Roll it out to an even 1/4 in and place in a glass pie dish, cut off any excess and then push the edges down a bit.  Crimp them how you like but I like to make mine a bit different which will be explained later.  The extra dough should not be balled up or kneaded, simply cover with plastic and put it to the side.

Spicy Time
First, preheat the oven to 375F.  Next gather a large mixing bowl and a whisk, don’t forget your pumpkin puree.  Add 2 cups pumpkin and 2/3 cups of brown sugar to your bowl and mix thoroughly.  Next, slowly add 2 eggs, one at a time making sure the mix is smooth.  Next, add 1 Tablespoons cinnamon, and a teaspoon of each nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.  Personally, I love a nice, sort of spicy pie so I double the cinnamon and keep the others the same.  Finally mix 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 1/4 cups of half and half, then add to the pumpkin mix.  Make sure the mixture is smooth and even then carefully pour into the pie shell.

A Pretty Pie
Now here comes your time to be an artist and wow your friends and family with this easy trick.  Anyone can make a wavy crimped edge, so try a cut-out edge.  I like to use a leaf-shapped punch that is typically used for fondant and gum paste.  Roll the crust to a 1/4″ thickness, and simply cut out the shape. Any shape of cutter, punch, or even free hand with a knife will work. You can use any shape to fit the type of pie or the occasion, but try to stick to a shape that is no larger than a 50 cent piece.  Too large of a shape will sink into the pie because it is so thin.  Paint on a little milk to the bottom crust and artfully lay on your cut-outs.  Brush the tops with milk again and sprinkle on sugar or even better rock sugar.

Place in the oven and bake until the filling is set but not dry and the crust is golden brown.  Allow to partially cool slowly at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator.  Finally, enjoy with a dollop of homemade whipped cream (heavy cream, sugar, and a little vanilla) and don’t forget another cup of that great pumpkin coffee.