Back in the Kitchen at school...

We finally have the kitchens inspected, approved and cleaned and stocked for use at school. If you did not already know we got a new culinary facility this year. I am taking a la carte and saucier this semester but we were not able to really get back into the kitchens until Thursday of this past week. We started in Saucier with Basic Stock Making or Stock 101. :) I thought I would show off a bit of our new facility and our first project. :)

Tools of stock making include... a big stock pot, skimmer and knives and cutting boards for cleaning bones... the wooden spoon was for the fat rendering process. You NEVER EVER want to stir your stock.... EVER

Mire poix is an essential part of stock making. You always want to use 2 part onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery. Here is mine. :) Cut into bigger bits so that it won't completely decentigrade during cooking time.

Here are the venison bones I had cleaned and used in my white stock. The difference it white and brown is that brown stock bones are roasted and you use a pince (tomato product - namely tomato paste here) and cook it on the stovetop with your mire poix before adding it to the roasted bones and water. White stock is made with blanched bones and no pince - you just throw everything in together and simmer it with your sachet (parsley, peppercorn, thyme, and bay leaf - all wrapped in cheesecloth and tied)

OMGoodness!!! Is this kitchen not beautiful and shiny???

Here is my stock... you can see the little sachet tucked in there toward the bottom of the picture. :)

So, what do you do with all the stuff you pull off the bones? You put it in a pan and render the fat for other purposes. It stores easily and is used in a ton of other things in the professional kitchen. We really try not to waste one single thing!

Basic syrup...

Syrup is one of the simplest things I have learned in culinary school. There is a basic formula I follow and from there I tweak it to have the flavors I want it to have.

The basic recipe

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice to stabilize

You can also add a bit of corn syryp as a stabilizer, too. It just keeps it from crystalizing so fast.

Now boiling sugar is tricky but it can be done if you remember the most important thing...

DO NOT STIR IT!!! That means that you put the water and sugar in a pot and bring it to a boil without once putting anything in contact with the mixture at any time during this process. Alton Brown gives some great tips on this, too. You can use a pastry brush dipped in water to wipe down the sides of the pot but DO NOT let the brush come into contact with the mixture in the pan. You can also cover the pot so that the sweat will self clean the sides of the pan as it boils.

What I do is the pastry brush method because I want to see when the mixture comes to a boil. At the very point the sugar, lemon and water come to a boil I time it for 2 whole minutes and let it just boil away for that time. Once the two minutes is up then I turn the heat off. At this point I can add the flavoring and a bit of butter if I want (butter is optional but gives a great flavor).

You can add things like lemon flavoring, maple flavoring or vanilla for a basic pancake syrup. Whatever you fancy is pretty much the rule on this.

Now, if you are making a fruit syrup things are a bit different. I have a strawberry fruit syrup recipe here that you can alter for blueberry or other berry syrups. I would personally strain seeds from any and all of these. These are great on pancakes and crepes and such, too.

Image above from FrontierStudents.net

Pie Crust 101...

So, I had this phone call from my friend Kellie this morning saying that she was making the Strawberry Chiffon Pie and she had some questions. At that point I realized I had left some things out that were pretty crucial but that I take for granted. LOL This post is spurred by the fact that I need to tell you more about pie crust making. ;)


Let's start with the recipe...

This recipe was shared by my instructor and is the simplest and most flavorful I have used.

Chef New’s Recipe

1 cup flour (AP flour)

1/3 cup shortening or

( I used 3 Tbsp butter and 3 Tbsp shortening)

2-3 Tbsp ice water

The first thing to remember is to keep all of your ingredients cold. Cold shortening, cold butter, cold water and cold flour make for a better crust.

The second thing to remember is DON'T OVERWORK THE DOUGH. The more you work the dough the tougher the dough because of gluten development.

I use a cutter or a fork to "cut" the fat into the flour. You want chunks of fat and there are two basic consistencies. There is the larger chunks of fat that make for a flakier crust and then the mealy consistency which is more like the texture of bread crumbs with smaller little bits of fat. The mealy crust would be better for a sturdy bottom crust and the flakier crust is better for a top crust or lattice work.

You can use your hands but I tend to have warmer hands and melt the fat with my body temperature faster so I try not to actually put my hands into the flour as I mix. LOL

You want the dough to just stick together as you take a bit in your hands and press it together. Refrigerating the dough helps to allow the flour to absorb more of the moisture and gets it ready to work with and roll out.

The dough is good for about two roll out periods. Once you get to the third time of rolling out the dough it will no longer give you the flaky texture because your fat is too incorporated and won't build the pockets of air as it bakes. So, roll out one time and then take the leftover dough and it is good for one more time of rolling it out or using it for lattice or top crust.

Once the dough is made you can form it into flat discs and wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Remember cold is better at every step.

Once the dough is chilled then you can roll it out and shape it into your pie pan. I ALWAYS refrigerate it again after it is in the pan because there will be some shrinking as the dough settles from being rolled out and stretched.

I also did an eggwash before baking to shine it up a bit.

A milk wash will brown it up faster.

Now, depending on what you are doing with the pie crust you will either bake it ahead (for pies like cream pies or chiffon pies) or bake it with the filling (for apple, custard or other fruit pies).

If you prebake your pie crust you will need to "dock" it which means to simply take a fork and poke little holes all over the bottom to keep it from bubbling up. I tend to dock and then "blind bake" it. Blind baking is when you put parchment paper in the crust and then fill it with rice or beans to hold the crust down so that it won't bubble either. If you are blind baking you will need to remove the rice or beans and continue to cook it to brown it. You want a golden brown crust. You can usually accomplish this in about 20- 30 minutes at 400 degrees or just watch it to see when it has the desired color.

Always cool it before adding fillings if the recipe calls for a prebaked crust.

For a fruit or custard pie you would simply put filling into unbaked pie crust and bake as the instructions for that pie call for.

Also, always cool pies before serving. Room temperature is good or you can refrigerate any of these pies over night. I have even baked pies in advance and frozen them for future use and all you do is thaw and then if you like you can reheat the fruit pies if you want them a bit warmer than room temperature.

You may not have my phone number to call if you have questions but I am always willing to answer them here or in an e-mail.

If I left anything out just let me know
and
Happy Pie Baking!!!