Brooklyn Chowhound: November 2008

Here are some tidbits and pieces from my old blog from culinary school:

Culinary History:
Chefs are part of world history. From the earliest civilizations through the present, chefs have been held in high esteem.
- Apicius wrote one the first cookbooks in the fourth century B.C.E., "De re Conquinara.
-Timeline of food: Grande Cuisine, Cusine Classique(Haute Cusine), Nouvelle cusine, and today's new fusions.
- Brigade System: Chef De Cuisine, Sous chef, station chefs(saute chef, fish chef, roast chef, grill chef, fry chef, vegetable chef, roundsman, expediter, communard, commis), garde-manager, and pastry chef.

"Bouquet Garni" - Bouquet of Flowers -
Bay leaf, Parsley stems, thyme, tied or wrapped in a leek leaf.
"Fines herbs"
Parsley, Chervil, Chives, Tarragon or Thyme.

"Concasse" - is a peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato. This is done to remove the seeds which adds not extra flavor. The process starts by putting a X cut on top of the tomato, next you immerse your tomato in boiling water for 10-15 seconds, as the skin tears. Remove and place in a ice bath to stop cooking, next peel off skin, cut horizontally, remove the seeds and pit and dice tomato.

"Beurre Manie" - in french means butter kneaded, which is exactly what it is in culinary terms. It is a paste made from equal parts of butter and flour and used to thicken sauces, soups and stews. By kneading the flour and butter together you form a dough. This process allows the flour to be coated in butter. When the Beurre Manie is whisked into a hot or warm liquid, the butter melts, releasing the flour particles without creating lumps. Be sure that you cook it for 20 mins to prevent it from tasting of raw flour.

UMAMI! The fifth taste! Yes its true! Believe in it! To me Umami is the ultimate taste, it is the feeling you get when you are satisfied after tasting something really really mouth wateringly good and don't have any words to explain it!

5 Mother Sauces :
Bechamel - a white sauce - White Roux + Milk + Seasoning
Veloute - a light stock based sauce - Blonde Roux + Stock
Espagnole - a brown sauce -
Hollindaise and Mayonaise - an emulsified sauce
Tomato - tomato based sauce - Brown Roux + Tomato

Orange Souffles with Grand Marnier -
2 teaspoon unsalted butter, room temp
4 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temp, separated
1 to 2 additional egg whites, room temp
1 1/2 fresh orange juice (4 tablespoon reduced to 2 tablespoon)
2 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Powdered sugar
Souffle dishes, stainless steel bowl or copper bowl

Pre-Heat oven 450F fill baking pan with 3/4 full of boiling water.
Butter souffle dishes and coat with granulated sugar, shaking out excess. Refrigerate
Ribbon the egg yolks and 2 T sugar with a whisk. When ribboned add orange juice, liqueur, zest, lemon juice, and whisk till blended.
Place egg whites, at room temp in a bowl(copper is best), with salt and beat till stiff peaks. Add 1-2 T sugar and beat until stiff peaks return.
Temper some of the whites into the egg yolk sauce, and then fold in the rest gently. Fill into souffle dishes.
Bake in baking pan with 3/4 full of water for 10 mins or until browned.
Remove and sprinkle with powdered sugar and poke a hole and fill with 1 t more Grand Marneir.
Eat fast! before it breaks!