Today’s word was discovered while making a tropical fruit salsa to go with our pan-seared tuna (see below.) The recipe had us combine all the fruity ingredients, cover, chill, and macerate for at least an hour. In this context, maceration refers to the process of marinating fruit. Typically fruit is macerated for about an hour to reach the perfect enhanced flavor. Our salsa (mango, papaya, and pineapple) was macerated in a lime juice. Another common example of this is in French cuisine where strawberries are macerated in balsamic vinaigrette…
About this blog
- Greetings and welcome to the Kitchen Academy Blog! My name is Chef Peleg Top and here you will find the documented story of my cooking school experience. Since I was a small boy I have always loved to be in the kitchen. Being a Chef was something I only dreamed of becoming. So last year, I decided to fulfill a lifelong dream to become a certified chef. I enrolled myself at The Kitchen Academy in Hollywood, California and for the next 30 weeks I spent my time getting trained in the culinary arts by some of the best chefs in town. If you ever wondered what it's really like to be in cooking school, read on. This blog is where you can read about my cooking school experience. Ad don't be shy, drop me a line or leave a comment!
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Week 8, Day 3: Chicken of the Sea
Today was the bookend to our recent foray into the fish world. The final sea creature to join our group was a giant 50-pound tuna! One fish was certainly enough to go around for the entire class. The fish is too big and expensive for it to be any other way. The chefs fabricated it themselves and dispersed pieces to all the students. We made a seared albacore tuna dish with tropical salsa and black rice, which was topped with an onion confit (made from onions that had been cooking in heaps of butter until turning golden brown.) Following this we made a contemporary bouillabaisse with a whole smorgasbord of seafood, an all-star cast reuniting for the season finale. This included clams, mussels, scallops, snapper, shrimps, and lobster claws, all singing together in stewy harmony. I’m not a big fan of bouillabaisse or fish stews in general; the flavor is rejected by my taste buds. In this case I had to go by the chef’s review and apparently the flavor was excellent! That’s pretty much it for today, a relatively light day and easy day. The only point of contention is the fact that the classroom temperature was freezing. We were in Eskimo territory. With all said, I’m so excited to know how to expertly sear tuna! Yet another kitchen mystery that I won’t have to wonder about…
Week 8, Day 2: Kitchen Safari
Walking into class this morning was no regular sight. Chef Bernsen could be seen maneuvering a live lobster into a sort of ritualistic break dance. Before jumping to conclusions I confronted the chef-turned-Beastmaster for some information. It turns out that placing the lobster in this position basically calms it down and makes it go to sleep. Which makes it easier to…kill. Trust me, I was horrified at the prospect. Especially when compared to the endearing image of a sleepy dancing lobster. But alas, reality had to set in and a murder at 7am did occur! After an initial ambivalence and shock I was actually able to go through with it, transitioning this crustacean to its future home as part of a delicate dinner plate!
Fabricating the lobster was quite a slimy endeavor; miniature streams of goop could be seen flowing in all directions. And it’s claws have to be kept in a rubber bag because apparently they are strong enough to snap a finger! The dish we actually ended up presenting was a grilled lobster tail with some butter and lemon. After this very involved lobster experience we worked with another creature that was altogether foreign to me…
We grilled some quail, which is a small little bird that can fit in the palm of your hand. We served it with Israeli Couscous, which I thought was quite funny as I’ve been preparing that food my entire life. Though it was quite interesting to see it cooked in a whole new light. Our chefs prepared it like risotto, with chicken stock and white wine. It was actually quite amazing, a much better improvement to the method I’m accustomed to. After the quail excursion our grand finale was a grilled pizza….
This too was a concept that I’ve never actually heard of. After making the dough it is placed on the grill where elegant grill marks are burned across it’s surface. After this we finished it off with some pesto and mozzarella cheese and set it in the oven for the final round. This was so lovely and delicious! I broke my wheat-free diet rule in it’s honor and had a couple pieces…
Week 8, day 1: Henry the Salmon
Fish, fish, and more fish! This time we had huge 20-pound salmon to deconstruct. Again we were charged with the task of scaling and fabrication, a process that has been proven to result in some manageable shapes. Salmon is a lot oilier than some of the other fish we’ve been using and this helps make it much easier to cut. We were able to get 2 huge fillets out of it. One of them was kept for use in class while the other we got to take home to experiment with. The first salmon-related dish we tackled were salmon cakes…
This is made by pan-frying ground salmon with some select spices and served with a beautiful mustard sauce and green salad on top. After this we cooked up some pan-seared salmon steak. This was served with green peas sautéed in butter and fresh mint and a mashed potato and sunchoke combination (heaven.) Sunchokes are also known as “Jerusalem artichokes.” It is also a root, and I must attest to its brilliant flavor when mixed in with potatoes in this manner. One of the things I really love about this class is getting introduced to so many new vegetables! Things that I would have never even known about let alone crave on a daily basis! These new discoveries are really enriching my palate. And sunchokes in particular are definitely going to go on my favorites list.
After all our light dabbling in the salmon arts we got a little prepping from the chefs for tomorrow’s test. It seems there is a lot more material to study compared to the tests from last semester. I’m not too worried, I think I’m going to do well. We also got our report cards from last week, and I actually looked at it despite my previously announced stalemate. I received a very high “A.” 98/100 for the entire week! My dishes were really good and sanitation was in high form. And that’s about it! Tomorrow we are going to kill lobster! I’m pretty horrified at that prospect so well see how well I handle it…
Word of the Day: Tourne
Tourne is a French word that literally means, “to turn.” In the cooking world it refers to the process of cutting a vegetable (usually a root like carrot, potato, turnip) into a 7 sided football shape. It’s a very classic cut in the French kitchen and is rarely seen in the US other than in very high-end kitchens. The chef gave me a demonstration and elegantly showcased this cut for me…
Week 7, Day 5: Shellfish Express
Today we continued our fishy expedition and started working with shellfish. Red snapper was the creature we were to tame, culinarily speaking. Unlike the halibut, it is much smaller in size and had eyes on both sides of its head. It’s a round fish and much fatter as well. After scaling and fabrication we used the pieces to make two different dishes…
The first was a Latin-tinged ceviche, which is made by marinating pieces of the red snapper in lime juice, chili, and herbs. The acidity of the lime juice cooks the fish in about an hour’s time, infusing it with a citrus essence. Following this we made sautéed snapper with a mélange of baby vegetables and fish consommé. Creating a fish consommé is very similar to it’s chicken counterpart, something I’m gotten pretty good at. After our entertaining introduction to red snapper we got our hands on some scallops…
We seared them with an orange Beurre Blanc sauce, essentially a mixture of butter sauce and orange juice. It had a wonderful flavor and the chef was happy with my presentation. Today was just a really light day! The speed of cooking was surprisingly swift, which hadn’t necessarily been the case lately…
Week 7, Day 4: Fishing for Perfection
Today was all about fish! Walking into class this morning felt like entering a chilled igloo. There were buckets of fish right by the entrance where halibut was being unloaded; its icy emanations filling up the room with cool air. I’ve always eaten halibut but never actually seen what it looks like. There are two different kinds, in round or flat shapes. Ours was the latter, literally a large flat fish with both eyes on one side of its head. Apparently they can grow up to about 5 feet in size, perfect for catering events. So our first job of the day was learning how to fabricate this fish. Scaling, de-boning, and cutting it into nice fillets for presentation. The chefs first gave us their demonstration and I must say that their method was absolutely masterful and artful. And they made it look so easy! I mean, it is somewhat easy, but with all things it requires an insightful understanding along with lots of practice! When cutting a fish up you have to be really careful to not cut into the stomach or the egg sac of a female fish, which is what I had. That action taints the fish and renders it unusable. I think I did a pretty good job. We served the halibut with a couple side dishes…
The first was an aioli garlic sauce that is basically like a garlic mayonnaise. I started working on it but wasn’t quite sure what consistency to go for. I noticed chef Jones was starting to make his so I stood and watched. He walked me through the process, which was brilliant because he added a couple key secrets. One of which was adding a little bit of Tabasco sauce at the end, giving it a little zing and really making the sauce come together beautifully. Another complimentary side dish that we created was potato and artichoke au gratin. This was in essence a repeat from term 1, except now in a whole new fishy context. The last side dish was an absolutely divine serving of fava beans; blanched and pan-fried with a some shallots and garlic. All these careful creations were supporting actors to feature player, a cast-iron cooked piece of halibut, delicious!
As scary as it may have seemed, preparing fish isn’t all that difficult. I think ill go to the market and get some whole fresh fish from now on. It would be cheaper then buying them pre-cut and of course be infinitely more fun to cook. Tomorrow we will be continuing on our fish saga…
