condiments

In Garde Manger we had a session on flavored oils and vinegars, many of which were simple to make, such as this chili oil - just chili flakes in olive oil. However, it was very spicy and would be very effective if drizzled over, let's say, dumplings (as opposed to just dumping some chili flakes on dumplings - not as effective).



The thing about flavored oils is that you can't keep them very long, especially if you are immersing fresh ingredients (like garlic) in it. There is the danger of botulism, that gnarly toxin that grows under anaerobic (oxygen-less) conditions. I would say a week tops. Good thing is that you don't need to marinate ingredients for a long time for the flavored to come out in the oil, as long as you mince/puree them and heat the oil a bit.

Flavored vinaigrettes though, you can keep for a long long time because the acidic environment isn't conducive to bacterial growth. Have to make sure what you're marinating doesn't stick out the top like the tarragon in this champagne vinegar though:



Some of my favorites that Chef made was the basil oil (with the basil chopped superfine and blanched/patted dry so it would stay green) and the fig balsamic puree (that over some goat cheese, or a salad... mmm!).

After that we tackled making some of our own condiments. I wanted to try making hoisin and sriracha, two Asian condiments that I tend to take for granted.

This recipe came out a bit like hoisin peanut sauce.



After that I tackled sriracha... except there weren't red fresno chiles or red jalapenos in house, so I substituted thai chilies instead. I roughly followed the fresh (not fermented) recipe here, though I pureed the ingredients before I boiled them.



Here's the puree. When I uncapped the food processor and breathed in I almost died. If you ever puree chilies... be careful.



The sauce that I eventually got was green and watery, but probably the spiciest green watery thing you'll ever find. Julius and I paired these sauces with Vietnamese meatballs. I love the crunchy meatballs found in pho, but unfortunately the recipe I found yielded the soft regular kind of meatball. (Upon Googling now, however, I've found this alternate recipe, which contains potato starch and sounds closer to the real deal.)

To make up for the lackluster sauces and meatballs I plated the meatballs nicely with special dishware, toothpicks and cilantro stalks.



Here are some of my classmates presenting what they made. To see some of the dishes, click on the meatball photo above and then the "<- Newer" button above the photo on Flickr.



My favorite was the strawberry basil jam. Strawberry + basil = a match made in heaven.

pork adobo with garlic fried rice

For my third and last day on tableside I decided to do pork adobo, because I have never cooked anything Filipino and I thought that would be a good entry level dish.

I pretty much followed this recipe, marinating cubed pork shoulder with soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and black peppercorn over two nights.

As I was to discover, this was way too long. When you have a soy-based marinade, anything over a couple of hours is too long because the item gets too salty. After simmering it for an hour with water and vinegar, I added more sugar (which mellows salt and acid) and vinegar until it tasted... still salty, but acceptably so.



I decided to pair the adobo with sinangag, or garlic fried rice. I myself was fortunate to have tried an exquisite example of sinangag one day when Clarisse brought breakfast to school from a place called Tselogs. It was delicious, and I wanted to recreate it (or something like it). I found this recipe, but decided to forgo the egg pancake for the Tselogs sunnyside up egg. When you dig into this dish your fork is used to pierce the egg yolk so it can run all over everything, serving as a natural hollandaise sauce.



Before lunch service I plated up this sample dish so the Filipinos in our class could try it and give me "authentic" feedback. Clarisse suggested that I add some slices of tomato. That was brilliant.

Here was how my cart looked like pre-service:



Much like the tuna poke salad, I had orders rolling in one right after the other and it wasn't until my last order (split between two people because I ran out of pork) that I was able to get a picture.



Proud of my first Filipino food attempt :)

jerk chicken with coconut rice & beans

Tableside Day 2 was jerk chicken with coconut rice & beans and mango salsa (from the tuna poke salad).

I love jerk chicken because of it's smoky spiciness. I thought it was high time that I tried making it. And I also thought it would be popular because it's chicken and rice, things that most everybody will eat.

The recipes I found for the chicken and the rice both involved long lists of ingredients, and I was excited about the complexity of spice.

I even got my hands on some Jamaican rum for the chicken marinade.



In Jamaica the rice is made with pigeon peas, but here we substitute kidney beans.



After marinating the chicken I wrapped each piece in foil and baked until the chicken was cooked to temperature (165F). Then as orders came in I would unwrap the packet and sear the chicken on a cast iron pan in front of the customer. Sadly this did not produce the charred effect that I was looking for - grilling would have been much better. I think the chicken is meant to be grilled, because it allows the molasses in the marinade to caramelize (or something) and adds the characteristic smoky flavor.



Also the rice was a bit too hard - I should have used a starchier rice (instead of parboiled Uncle Ben's), that would've soaked up more of the coconut milk. The mango salsa ended up being the best part of the dish.



Not surprisingly, I only sold about half of what I made. Was disappointed, but it just means I'll have to make jerk chicken again.

tuna poke salad

Besides my Advanced Baking and Garde Manger classes, the second half of this third semester has been spent on the service side of the PCR. While the white-tablecloth atmosphere of the dining room has been a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the Latin Quarter and Cafeteria, there is almost zero cooking involved.

I say almost zero because I went through the positions of server, host and manager before I got to the position of tableside - the only cooking position! Strangely enough, most everybody shied away from this position, probably because it meant prepping on your own time and having to cook in front of guests.

I was excited because of the challenge, but also because I missed cooking. So I had this plan where I would cook a different protein each day of the week: tuna, chicken, pork, beef and lamb. Sadly, this plan did not work out because the spring buffet was during this tableside week, along with the faculty flex day. So I nixed the beef (kimchi fried rice) and lamb (vindaloo curry).

The week started out with a tuna tartare salad, similar to one I have eaten at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion restaurant. I remember marveling at the different layers (stacked with the help of a ring mold) and all the flavors of different things I liked to eat blending together (spicy tuna, avocado, etc.).

Upon Google research I found this tuna tartare salad recipe that I liked. So then I sent to tweaking the recipe.

First I cut sushi-grade tuna into cubes, then marinated it in a combination of rice wine vinegar, mirin cooking wine, soy sauce, ginger, sambal chili and sesame oil.



For additional elements I prepared:
mizuna greens (with vinaigrette similar to the tuna marinade)
mashed avocado (with lime juice)
mango cucumber salsa (see recipe here)
toasted sesame seeds (black & white)
wonton chips (wonton wrappers cut in half and deep-fried)
sliced radishes and sprouts for garnish



Everything was fine until I started on the radishes with a mandolin slicer and cut the tip of my middle finger off. Besides bleeding like crazy and getting light-headed, I had to finish prepping everything with one hand.



The order in which I ended up assembling the salad was: greens, tuna, avocado, mango, radishes, sesame seeds and sprouts, then wonton chips around the stack. Chef Ogden informed me that what I thought was tuna tartare was actually tuna poke because of the marinade.



I assumed that the tableside dish wouldn't be popular because of the rawness of the tuna, and because it wasn't a hot dish. I was wrong. Orders came in one right after the other, and me and my awkward latex gloves (terrible for trying to sprinkle sesame seeds but necessary due to the cut finger) wheeled the tableside cart around from table to table until the special sold out.



One of my customers put this picture of me on facebook and lots of people liked it... but oh the awkward gloves!!!

(Side note: my finger has completely healed - the tip is just a little bit flat, haha.)

spring buffet

Besides the annual fundraiser, we also have a semi-annual buffet luncheon in the PCR that draws in the campus/greater SF community. For a mere $17 there were unlimited appetizers, entrees, desserts and coffee/tea.

I was an entree server (citrus fennel mahi mahi or mushroom chicken anyone?) but managed to get a few photographs of the appetizer side of things.

Fruit and cheese plates, pretty standard. Ice sculpture swan? Not as much.



Cold cut platter (here are some buffet platters I assembled last semester when I was in meat lab).



Sushi plates (to see sushi I've made before, read this blog post).



Kale salad (here's a recipe you can try at home).



We had 100+ people come through, and as a server it was very pleasant interacting with the clientele (especially when contrasted with the experience of serving in the cafeteria). Surprisingly enough there was a contingent of German study abroad students, and upon discerning this I was able to practice some of my German and be of some assistance at the same time (in identifying meats and what not). Strange the skills that will prove useful in the most unexpected of places...