I have been faithfully feeding this starter twice a day. Our instructions said the starter should be bubbly by day six or seven but nothing has been going on. I split my original starter ten days ago into a second jar and started feeding it pineapple juice instead of water in the hopes of jump starting this now semi-white mass. The second one had more bubbles but still no doubling.
The Spud Review
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
It's a Miracle - Finally (Day 2)!
I have been faithfully feeding this starter twice a day. Our instructions said the starter should be bubbly by day six or seven but nothing has been going on. I split my original starter ten days ago into a second jar and started feeding it pineapple juice instead of water in the hopes of jump starting this now semi-white mass. The second one had more bubbles but still no doubling.
Friday, December 9, 2011
It's Alive - part deux
The Winter Quarter has started at MCC and I'm enrolled in Artisan Breads. We made baguettes in our first class yesterday and also created a sourdough starter. (This starter will be needed in a couple of weeks as our course work moves to using levains.) The starter has been sitting in the kitchen since I brought it home. Today the culture has some small bubbles on top, showing signs of life.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
A new stone
Friday, May 13, 2011
Baking English Muffins
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Orecchiette con Broccoli di Rape and Sausages, recipe from Lidia Bastianich
Monday, December 13, 2010
Beet and Swiss Chard Risotto with Horseradish
Saturday, November 27, 2010
It's Alive
Monday, November 22, 2010
Salty Oatmeal Cookies
Friday, March 5, 2010
Happy in the Kitchen
We are on break now, between quarters. I have accumulated a few new cookbooks along the way since starting school. Curiously enough, I haven't added as many as I would have thought but I really like the collections that are more like a text book, i.e., ones that contain both commentary and photos.
When I started cooking, one of the first cookbooks I used was The Joy of Cooking. My copy is a paperback and it is falling apart. This edition (older than a lot of my classmates) explains some things but, other than a few illustrations, it has no photos. It was my cooking reference for years.
I ended up with two books from our Protein Fabrication class, Lobel's Meat Bible and James Peterson's Fish & Shellfish as part of our reading assignments. Lobel's provides a fair amount of information on a variety of meats but could benefit from some illustrations such as diagrams on primals. The Peterson book is well written and provides a lot of information on cooking techniques which I believe could be another whole level of instruction at school.
All this is leading to some recent acquisitions, one by chance (Momofuku) and the other (Happy in the Kitchen) recommended by my knowledgeable friend, Nichole.
Momofuku is David Chang's New York restaurant group and the book by the same name chronicles the evolution of his noodle bar as well as provides instruction on how to create some of the dishes served at the restaurant. It contains a variety of interesting photos along with the commentary. Curiously enough, we are planning to visit some friends who live near the CIA in upstate New York and they recommended (out of the blue) visiting Momofuku.
Nichole recommended Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen last month and I finally got around to getting a copy of it. It typifies exactly what I like in a "cook book" – some history in its commentary, great photos wrapped around some new techniques. The foreword by Thomas Keller echoes what I have learned in school, "Pastry chefs and savory chefs rely on a completely different set of skills and use their intellects in different ways. Pastry chefs are like mathematicians. Savory chefs, we're like free thinkers. . ." which helps explain why I'm neither so to speak.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Last class for Soups and Sauces
Long story short - I got my ingredients plated and in from of chef in a timely manner. He thought the plate looked good. I used the potatoes with a wedge removed, filled that spot with some broccoli and cut about half of the chicken into some slices. The uncut portion went on top of the potatoes and the slices were placed on that piece of chicken. My sauce then went on the slices. Nothing too fancy but (for me) decently executed.
Overall, this class exposed us to a lot of concepts in a short amount of time - I wish in some respects that the amount of time could have been at least doubled. Chef pointed out that true sauce artists spend their whole careers perfecting their craft - we had ten weeks . . .