Cook Street 180 June 09 Class

I finally got the time to put together the slide show of the food prepared by the June class.  It was a very enjoyable group and I will keep fond memories of them. Enjoy.

A quick visit to Merida Yucatan

Today Roberto Solis came to our school.  He is a chef from Merida Yucatan and he is here on the behalf of the Mexican embassy to promote his country.  Roberto is a chef who owns the restaurant Nectar in Merida.

Roberto Solis explaining the dishes he was planning to prepare

Two weeks earlier the Mexican embassy sent some representatives to show off some the Mexican wines they are producing.  I must admit what I tasted surprised me.  I did not expect to taste good wines from Mexico.  Monte Xanic Cabernet Sauvignon was top shelf.

The team from the Mexican embassy. Baltazar, Marcella and Pilar

Roberto has spent his summers working at some of the worlds top restaurants.  He spent a summer at the Fat Duck in Bray UK working under Heston Blumenthal.  Another summer he spent working at Noma in Copenhagen which is run by René Redzepi and is equally avant garde.  Then to top it off he spent a summer working at Per Se in NYC.  Pretty impressive résumé for a 27 year old.

Roberto put together 3 dishes with the help of two of my students.  One of the dishes was a gelled cube of tomato with a purée of corn tortilla which was heated and the foam was extruded with a foam canister. The other was a deer tartare with a cilantro emulsion, avocado, radish brunoise and charcoal infused oil.

Deer tartare

It was a long day filled with tons of media diversions.  As a mater of fact our week has been one long line of media diversions.  Wednesday FOX network filmed some footage about career changers (this should air live this coming Monday on FOX report channel 42 on Comcast between 8-9am); a fine arts photographer took shots of us all day on the Wednesday; the following day someone from Colorado Homes & Lifestyles came and took some food shots for their magazine and a photographer for the Mexican embassy came to take shots of Roberto cooking with us.  Finally today a young student from Metro college came to take food shots to build a food photography portfolio.  She will be collaborating with us on a regular basis.

The day Roberto came was also filled with a little unexpected drama as we had a “cook for a day” (prospective student) that cut his thumb pretty bad and had to be taken in for stitches.   He was pretty tenacious and made it back in time for lunch sporting a well bandaged thumb.

The final dish that Roberto put together for us that day was the most impressive. He poached an egg in its shell at precisely 145 degrees in a thermo recirculator that I had to borrow from Douglas Baldwin (who if you have been keeping up on this blog is studying for a math PHD at CU Boulder and is in the process of writing a book).   Basically what Roberto did was to deconstruct a Taco.  The taco shell element was masa rolled into little spheres and deep fried, the black bean came in powder form, the red onion was turned into a foam and the chorizo was turned into a sauce. The precisely cooked egg was cracked and the white was delicately removed from the yolk and placed on the plate.  Eating all the elements together instantly conjured a taco. True deconstruction.

Deconstructed taco

Overall the day was stunning and memorable.  The opportunity to see how other chefs reflect on their traditional foods in exciting.

The largest class I have ever taught

18 (missing one) eager new Cook Street 180 Culinary Students

There has been a lot of activity here at Cook Street in the past few months.  CFD (cook for a day) after CFD and interview after interview.   All this activity has resulted in the largest class I have ever taught.  The downturn of the past year took its toll on every business and if our present enrollment is any indication of a shift in consumer confidence then our newest class is a tangible sign.  There have been a few small adjustments made to accommodate our new group, but it is challenge we welcome.  We have enlisted the help of two of our alumnus as Teacher’s Assistants to help us to better serve this larger group.  It is a pleasure to help these TAs in their personal development and to show them what is involved in teaching. Thank you Sharon Talbert and Patricia Belaire for agreeing to help us.

I look forward to getting to know each of these new students as individuals and to help them reach their dreams.  Of course we are already eating good food and drinking good wine. Here was today’s menu:

Gorgonzola tart with roasted red peppers and parsley puree

Roasted pork loin with red pepper coulis and potato galette

Fig and prune clafoutis

180° Dining Spanish menu featuring Colorado products

My latest 180° class helped pull off a really nice dinner Friday night.  We featured a Spanish menu theme and used as many Colorado grown products as I could coordinate.  Once again the latest Deep Plate entry was due so I took advantage of our tapa dish to feature the cone they sent me.

Charred tomato gazpacho with a serrano ham croquetta

The equivalent dish we presented on our plates looked like this.

Our second course was a seared scallop on top of Olathe corn polenta with leeks fondantes, mussels and chorizo

We also put together a lamb and pork belly dish that looked like this.

Braised and glazed pork belly and roasted lamb shoulder with smoked potato puree

for dessert Chef Lexie and Abby put together a mille hojas of Paonia peaches and a beautiful selection of small pastries.

Paonia peach mille hojas with caramel

Assorted confectiones

All in all it was another successful student run dining event.  Thanks to all the students of the June 09 class for pulling off a nicely executed dinner.

180° Dining, Venetian Menu

On my last night before vacation we had a public dining event at the school.   The theme was Venetian cuisine.  The student’s did a great job on their first public event and the food was of high quality.  I had to leave right after the main course to pick up my wife and our visiting French guest.

Here are some pictures of the dishes we served:

Zuppa dei Doge, before consomme

with the gradual addition of a highly flavorful clarified Brodo

a full portion, notice how quickly the broth takes on the imperial color purple from the beets

Il secundi: Risotto al frutti di mare topped with frico

I had to leave shortly after the plating of this dish, but for dessert we had Sgroppino.  A layer of raspberry coulis topped with lemon sorbet and prosecco.

Platter of cheese brought over from France

We have the daughter of a good friend of ours visiting us from France.  Her mother is my good friend Robert Brunel’s girlfriend and owns a chocolate factory outside of Chateau Neuf du Pape: Chocolaterie Castelain.

She brought all kinds of chocolate and other delectables from Provence.  More importantly she brought us a selection of fine French cheese.

It has been awhile since we have enjoyed unpasteurized French cheese and it is always a special occasion.  It of course makes us yearn to return.  It was all we could do to restrain my son from digging in to the platter before my parents arrived.

Michael Pollan article

This is a long article, but very well written by Michael Pollan who wrote “Omnivore’s Dilemma”   He goes about explaining our current fascination with the food TV network and our reptilian connection to the world of cooking.  The message is clear:  Cook your own food, it’s better for you.

I am happy I get to teach people how to cook, but I can honestly say I rarely practice the depth of cooking I preach when I get home and inspect the contents of my fridge.  What can I cook quickly and get on the table is mostly what I am motivated by.  Our family I’m happy to admit is not a take out or home replacement meal consumer, nor do we visit restaurants out of necessity.  We cook, albeit simple and easy to make food, but we cook and we try hard to avoid prepared foods.

I often loose the taste battle to packaged foods when my son is the judge.  Do you like dad’s homemade Mac and Cheese (made with a cheddar Mornay) better than Kraft’s?  My son replies “it’s almost as good”.  I guess if I had a whole consumer research team and applied my vast culinary knowledge to the challenge I might actually win.  One of the things I have noticed over the years is when we decrease the quality of the base products his satisfaction increases (i.e. if we substitute Barilla macaroni for Albertson’s).

Every parent faces the challenge to satisfy their children’s taste and to provide wholesome food they can feel good about, but we often concede to the path of least resistance.  Kraft wins.

I urge you all not to give up the fight.  Learn to cook. Avoid buying prepared foods. Take back control of the stove.  De-program your children.

Powerpoint Presentation: a Brief History of Haute Cuisine

My student’s had a hard time getting down all the names of the key players in my lecture on a brief history of  Haute Cuisine today, so I decided to post the presentation for all to access.  Trust me it is very hard to narrow down some of the most influential chefs to a one hour presentation.   I would include many others with longer lecture time.

Cook Street March 180° class 2009

Here is a presentation I put together of the most recent graduating class.  I have to admit I have been less diligent in photographing every dish as it came out. Nonetheless, enjoy.

Sad but true. The French are changing their eating habits

An interesting article about the trend in France towards fast and inexpensive lunch alternatives.

Le Sandwich Takes a Bite Out of French Tradition

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 26, 2009

PARIS, June 25 — Ah, France, bastion of the three-hour lunch. First comes the appetizer, followed by the main course, then cheese and dessert, washed down with red wine and, along with an espresso at the finale, maybe a little cognac to enhance digestion back at the office.

Well, yes and no.

While they have not abandoned their love of food, French people increasingly are resorting to a humble sandwich for the noon meal. Some even gulp it down with a soft drink while sitting at their desks. So much so that the consumption of sandwiches in France has grown by more than a quarter over the past six years, to 1.8 billion annually, and climbed by 10 percent last year, according to market researchers.

Moreover, the change has often come at the expense of neighborhood cafes, where lunch still means a hot dish like grandma used to make and sitting around the table for an hour of conversation with friends or colleagues. The number of bars and cafes in France has fallen from 200,000 half a century ago to 38,600, according to industry associations. More than 2,000 went out of business last year alone as an indoor smoking ban took effect and the world economic crisis bit into budgets.

The shifting lunchtime habits, which are more pronounced in large cities such as Paris, are part of a social tug of war in France between the imperatives of a modern industrial economy and a long-cherished tradition of fine food produced and prepared by artisans devoted to their crafts. The increasingly common sight of a young French office worker walking down the street munching on a sandwich suggests tradition is more and more on the losing side as the years go by.

“If they were home, or near home, maybe they would have a real meal,” explained Jean Rossi, a market researcher at the Gira Food Service consulting company who has investigated the sandwich phenomenon. “But their offices are one hour or more from their homes, and with their limited buying power, the sandwich is an obvious solution.”

For instance, McDonald’s has enjoyed rising business in France for the past five years, taking full advantage of the evolution. Income at its more than 1,100 French outlets rose by 11 percent in 2008 despite the economic crisis, the company reported.

Most French people still prefer to eat a full lunch when they can, following age-old custom in the country and its Latin neighbors, such as Spain and Italy, industry officials said. As a result, sandwich consumption per capita is still lower than in other countries. Britons, for instance, eat several times as many as Frenchmen.

“The function of a meal in France is not just to take on energy, and it never will be,” cautioned Nawfal Trabelsi, vice president for marketing and communications at McDonald’s in France.

But the change, Rossi and others pointed out, is that French people increasingly are willing to forgo their tradition of a sit-down lunch if they face time constraints or are low on funds. The younger they are, the more easily they make the decision, he added.

Yannis Athenes, a 24-year-old computer engineer, is one of the people Rossi was talking about. Athenes handed over about $5 one recent day for a grilled salmon sandwich prepared at a little stand outside the Benjamin Cafe on Rivoli Street, in a busy shopping district just north of the Seine. Athenes said he sits down for a full lunch whenever he can but frequently resorts to sandwiches because of a lack of time.

“The truth is,” he said, holding up his sandwich, “I’m going to eat this while driving. I have appointments set up that I have to get to, and I just don’t have the time to sit down for a real meal.”

Xavier Mazzoni, who operates the stand, said he left his job in a traditional restaurant a little over two years ago to open the sandwich stand, renting the space from the cafe owner. As clients lined up to be served, Mazzoni, 42, said he has to get up at 5 a.m. to make the sandwiches — tuna, chicken, ham, cheese, salmon — but is rewarded with enough business to bring in a good living and finance a planned beach vacation this summer for his two children.

A waiter circulating among the traditional cafe tables only a few feet away acknowledged that Mazzoni’s sandwich stand drains away food business from the Benjamin, which advertises in gold letters painted on the wall that it offers “traditional cuisine.”

“But we have to live with it,” he said.

As he set down a cola for one 20-something woman with swept-back hair, she pulled a sandwich out of her bag and bit into it. Unmoved, the waiter shuffled off to tend to other customers.

The problem is, Mazzoni said, that about five other stands have opened up in the neighborhood since his arrival to try to take advantage of the sandwich boom. Across France, the number of shops and stands selling sandwiches has risen to more than 32,000, doing about $13 billion in business, industry research shows.

But the surge in the new sales pattern may slump a little in 2009; since the beginning of this year, Mazzoni noted, the economic crisis has produced a dip even in sandwich consumption, with some of his previously steady customers reverting to bringing a lunch pail to the office.

Part of the most recent sandwich boom, particularly last year’s steep rise, can be attributed to the crisis, which has carved into food budgets even in a country where many businesses subsidize employee lunches. A sandwich and soft drink in Paris run between $4 and $6, while a sit-down lunch easily hits $18 to $20 even in a simple cafe.

But the increase in sandwich consumption also reflects a long-term generational change in the way French people, particularly the urban young, view their noontime meal. Although older people cling to the idea that a full meal is a necessary part of the day, those under 40 think nothing of grabbing a sandwich if it will save money or time. For an up-and-coming French businessman, lunch may not be for wimps, but it has become expendable.

First-class business travelers on the three-hour train between Paris and Brussels in the 1980s, for instance, used to enjoy long lunches served by waiters in crisp white tunics who, for a price, proposed four courses and poured good wine into crystal glasses. The same trip now takes a little over an hour; travelers have the choice in a bar car between club sandwiches or “wraps” that they can carry back to their seats with plastic cups for airline-style mini-bottles of wine or cans of beer.