Work

A lot of stuff has been going on with work and school, I had to be chef for our luncheon a couple of weeks ago and it went of fairly well. I need to learn how to delegate better and be more organized. I don't think the customers knew of the hiccup in the prep line but we got it out.
This past week we had advanced pastry class, all week we worked on different items that led to making a wedding cake. my team mate Heather and I are quite pleased with how it turned out.

We also made lovely poached pears. I brought some prickly pears and made a simple sugar with it as you can see in the picture it really made it stand out.

Chef Sandy was in charge of this week and I think we wore him out.

On Saturday we had a huge catering gig at the Grace with over 500 people, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked but here is a few of us prepping.

The onion gang.

North African cuisine

Today we made:
Harisa
Rash al Hanut
Preserved lemons
Chermoula
Harira
Carrot salad
Tunisiam Couscous
Hummis bill hanad murazzad
Chicken Taqine
Morocan fish stew

Learning to be a self sustaining chef

This is my new AP project, it is a 1200 liter "tote" which used to hold Hawaiian Punch concentrate. As you see here I paused to show that I am cutting the top of it off. The image below you can see where I had to add a support to hold the bottom up since the organization I acquired these tanks from cut a huge hole the full length of one side. probably to empty it quicker. I had to measure it just right so I could fit the fish tank done the narrow cellar stairwell.
I was able to bend the tank enough to get it in the cellar.
I then had to cut the top rung off of the top of the cage to house the main grow bed and then cut another row out so I could fit the metal cage down the stairs.

My metal stand left over from my homebrew store (we used to use this stand hold the barrels of malt extract) and it was almost the right size and I am happy with the construction. Thanks again Nick!

I did have to add a couple more supports as it wasn't wide enough.
I had to buy a pond liner for the grow bed and after sizing and cutting the plumbing screwed right down to the liner and sealed with silicone.

The next few images are of the lid and the plumbing I added.




You can see the plumbing coming up through the pond liner. At this point the lid is screwed tight to the bottom of the grow bed.


I now need to stop posting AP stuff and go back to studying for my test tomorrow. Here is a good site and found it while researching recipes.

time, research, school

I haven't had much time lately to post, we had a huge storm here a couple of weeks ago and I've been spending most of my time cleaning up, thank goodness the insurance has allotted us money to get a huge dumpster. I also have been researching for one part of my capstone project. I only have 6 months left to get it/them ready and I am sure it is going to take that long to complete. Math is still my biggest obstacle and I need to finish it up so I can focus my time on the capstones.

This week we are still in Europe and on Thursday we are going to take our test with a mystery basket. Should be interesting.

Ah Briton

There is something to be said about the food from that area, You will like it if you like your food cooked in some kind of fluid. It seems that most of the foods in the area you are either boiling or poaching. Yesterday we made Scotch eggs, Scones, Crumpets, Fish and Chips, Lemon Curd, Yorkshire pudding, and Chicken Tikka Masala. Of course it was all pretty tasty. I undercooked the eggs but I meant to do that and I am not a huge fan of a lot of sausage so I made it real thin. I will be making them for when family gets together. I can't wait to try it with quail eggs. Scones were right on, Lemon curd was perfect, crumpets were a bit thick due to the batter, Fish and Chips the batter was too salty so we added some sugar to the batter which in turn made it brown too much. Sugar can't change the salt, remember that. lol Chicken Tikka Masala was a little more spicy than I thought it would be but I do like the heat. Oh yeah we also made Shepard's pie. I think it is the first time I had an actual Shepherds pie without adding American flavors to it. It is still good comfort food and I had the left overs for Dinner. Today we are doing Espania, the sofrito is ready and waiting and EM is bringing some of her sofrito so it will be interesting to taste the difference. Today unlike yesterday I will try to remember to take pictures.

13 Cooking methods

1. BAKING-Cook w/dry heat.
2. BOILING-Cook in rapidly bubbling liquid.
3. BRAISING- Food is first browned, and then cooked tightly covered in small amount of liquid for a lengthy time. Combination of steam and simmer.
4. BROILING- Cook food with an overhead heat source.
5. DEEP FRYING- Cook food submerged in hot liquid fat.
6. PAN FRYING- Cook w/moderate amount of oil/fat over med to high heat.
7. GRILLING- Cook with heat source beneath food.
8. POACHING-Cook food gently in flavored liquid @ about 160-180 degrees.
9. ROASTING- Surrounding a food with dry, heated air in a closed environment.
10. SAUTE- Cook food quickly in small amount of oil/fat in pan over direct heat.
11. SIMMER- Cook food gently in liquid @ about 185 degrees.
12. STEAM-Cook food on rack over boiling or simmering liquid in covered pan.
13. STEW-Cook food barely covered in liquid and simmered long time, covered pan.

Field Trip to Dallas

Over all the trip to Dallas was educational, The highlights for me were going to different restaurants the first being Chuy's

a Mexican restaurant chain out of Austin for tacos. We had the bar manager answer all our questions for our homework and he was very happy to do so. I have to say I like going to small franchises as they usually have well trained staff and very energetic. You can tell Chuy's is a fun place focused to the younger crowd but it is still family friendly. It is a busy atmosphere and surprisingly clean. Everything is reasonably priced and everyone seemed to the food. Elaine and I ordered and split the fish and shrimp tacos with re-fried beans and rice (I didn't like the rice) and like most Mexican places they supply you with a bowl of chips and what appeared to be fresh made salsa. Ok running out of time so I will have to post more on this later.

lunch

Gourmandise cheese, white Italian bread, Jamon Serrano ham, Ramps, kalamara olives and article hummus.

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This week

A little French, German and Swedish Meatballs. Enjoyed this week as we made some European cuisine. I can't find my notes so I will post pictures.

I will get with my team to remind me.

Bri, who likes to make sure everything is clean.

Hypnotizing lobsters before their final swim.

Almost all my pictures came out as black images. This one came out and it was quite yummy and the wife loved the left overs of the Rouladen, and the Duck Cassoulet. This is all I have time for. I will post more soon.

AP system

First test which was about 2 weeks ago
PH 7.8
High range PH unknown
Nitrites .50
Ammonia .5-1.0
I added filtered city water, approximately 50 gallons last night and I found my fish gasping this morning and there is a fishy smell coming from the tank. (That is why I added more water) Water is very cloudy and the algae could be blooming in the extra water. Reintroduced the air stone just in case it was low O2 in the tank since adding the 50 gallons. The return water is just above the fish water and it isn't being agitated enough. It appears the fish were getting enough O2 without the air stone and the natural cycle. An hour later they are not gasping. I am not sure what is causing the fishy smell but it seems to smell like the Tetra Cichlid fish food so it could be extra on the bottom of the tank and I could be over feeding them. Isn't that what the craw-fish are for? I just ordered some trap-door snails

and they are suppose to eat up what is left over from the craw-fish and fish waste.
Today's test 8 May 2011
PH 7.2
High range PH 7.4
Nitrites.25
Ammonia 3.0-4.0

AP system

First test which was about 2 weeks ago
PH 7.8
High range PH unknown
Nitrites .50
Ammonia .5-1.0
I added filtered city water, approximately 50 gallons last night and I found my fish gasping this morning and there is a fishy smell coming from the tank. (That is why I added more water) Water is very cloudy and the algae could be blooming in the extra water. Reintroduced the air stone just in case it was low O2 in the tank since adding the 50 gallons. The return water is just above the fish water and it isn't being agitated enough. It appears the fish were getting enough O2 without the air stone and the natural cycle. An hour later they are not gasping. I am not sure what is causing the fishy smell but it seems to smell like the Tetra Cichlid fish food so it could be extra on the bottom of the tank and I could be over feeding them. Isn't that what the craw-fish are for? I just ordered some trap-door snails

and they are suppose to eat up what is left over from the craw-fish and fish waste. I am thinking I need someway to clean the bottom of the tank as it looks pretty dirty and I am sure my worms would really enjoy it
Today's test
PH 7.2
High range PH 7.4
Nitrites.25
Ammonia 3.0-4.0

my new spice jars

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This looks good

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/09/29/julia-childs-beef-wellington-with-our-brioche-crust-filet-de-boeuf-en-croute

http://www.oprah.com/food/Lobster-Thermidor

http://familystylefood.com/2009/08/julia-childs-bouillabaisse-recipe/

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/lifestyle/2002/11/10/2002-11-10__a_perfect_winter_warmer__tu.html

Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems

Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems

storm

So I get home from a catering gig around 0330 Sunday, and I finally fall asleep around 4 something. The next thing I remember is my wife yelling at me to help her as the front door flew open. There was a freight train running through the front yard and taking out our trees and front porch. We lost one non-bearing mulberry and half of another, top half of a pecan (lucky it fell the way it did or we would of been trapped in the house) and my favorite peach tree. Peeled the roof off one of my sheds and lots of shingles off the man-shed. I was able to fix the roof of the shed before I got the call my dad was in the ER. The Doc said he wasn't sure what the problem is but he ruled out anything serious so thank goodness for that. But now I have to skip school because I need to get the insurance guy out here and I need to cut down and tear out the dangerous hanging porch and limbs today. Joy I just want to go cook some french food. Oh the AP survived but the water is pretty yellow due to all the pecan tassles and shells that flew in it.

Whine

Er... I mean Wine, we are also studying wine from France, Yesterday we cooked foods of the NW region of France and then studied the wines as well. I didn't study as much as I would of liked due to the math homework but I got to read a bit this morning. Thanks Elaine. (gotta love dropbox)

I usually like to credit the images but I'm not sure where this one came from.

French Cooking

Just some interesting stuff about French foods and their regions. We are going to be studying this for the next round of school.

plating

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In the presence of a master

In the presence of a master

what I learned today

Make sure that the sides (parchment paper)are flat on the pan before baking, interesting mistake tho. Also when doing a sponge cake make sure you don't grease the side of the pan, it will never rise if you do.

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Wine and Food Summit

It will be hard to beat this catering gig.

Today's headlines

Apr 19, 2011 ... Skynet Becomes Aware

Fruit carving, and the Food and Wine show.

Butchering

Yeah, we got the chance to butcher a couple of feral hogs, it was a good refresher for me. Em and I had a chance to dress one out a few days before.

I finished with an 89 on my validation. Again I was worried that I would even pass. This week is buffet, Pantry chef and today is fruit carving. I am looking forward to shooting our creations.

chefpics.blogspot.com

New link I forgot to post
http://chefpic.blogspot.com/

I am changing the location of my blog.

What I have planted

Testing out different plants that will grow well here.

Strawberries
Artichokes
Watermelon Radish
Mantanghong Radish
Saint Pierre Tomato
Basil
Celery
Asparagus
Blue Cabbage
Fractal Broccoli
Leeks
Yellow onions
Yellow carrots
Purple carrots
Pinto beans

Fractal Broccoli is the only one I've had issues with but they were pretty weak when I transplanted them.

I have the 15 gallon tank and bed going inside with some plants added. I hope I don't kill them as the bell siphon isn't draining properly. I think it is a lack of drag for the siphon to start.

Aquqponic wow!

Ten days ago I put my AP system together, eight days ago I put in some 2 year old root stock of asparagus and today the wife and I just snacked on a stalk.  I am so impressed with this setup and I don't even have any fish in it yet.  Once I have it established with fish I can add more grow-beds.  I wish I looked into this setup sooner.  The left over nightcrawlers took to the bed quickly and I hope the potato peels will do no harm to the system before the worms get to them. 

I think my duck weed is doing well, at least it looks like it is. This is the fish food I will be growing in a separate area or in my test system.  once I get my worm beds going I will greatly reduce my costs for fish food.  As for my test system MGM is digging it.

That is the test grow bed I have on there now, I have the new one almost ready to replace it. can you guess what I plan on planting in it? That's right the  rest of my asparagus root stock.  I can see I may have an issue with the cats thinking the grow bed as a litter box.  I may have to put a cover on it.

Aquaponic update

 Updates on my system.  After about a week I have a strawberry ready to eat.  There were a few small white berries when I bought the plant and I am surprised how fast the plant grew and how fast the berry ripened and w/o fish in the tank.  I was impatient and added some craw-fish and gold fish the second day of cycling and. they lasted about two days.  So now I am just waiting for two weeks for the PH to level out and then I will be adding some fish.  Right now I am growing duck weed in the large system as it makes good fish food. I hope it grows well because I don't want to buy a lot of fish food.

Artichoke

The system I should of started with.

 16 crappie and they all seem to be doing well. There were only suppose to be 12 but the guy at the bait shop was too lazy to get the others out I guess.  I feed them some duck week and they loved it.

Temporary GB I will be adding a stainless steel grow bed that fits on top soon.

I made this setup to see if the smaller bell siphon would work. I am currently using a tall shot glass as the siphon and it seems to be working as long as I get the pump to pump fast enough.  Some minor tweaking needs done.