LCB Notes

Starting 3 days of "cooking pastries": a "pizza" in the Provence style & Cannellonis today

It's pastry - weigh things - accurately/perfectly; don't work with volume measurements
sift the flour - pretty much always
start with dry, make a well, add wet ingredients

Pissaladiére: Pissala is a fish paste from anchovies
killer site about pissaladiere (french)

• for onions of pissal: remove rooty bits (like the stem of a tomato) and slice fine & vertically. the strips must separate. must not brown the onions
• Cook until just done; just before then brown at all (but this is longer than you think); bottom of the pan might be brown though
  
• Chopped capers go into the onions at the end
• and remove the garlic
  

• oil from drained anchoas goes into the tinned olives (which have limitied flavor on their own)
• peeling tomato: de-crown; cross in bottom; 5 secs boiling (max; not longer); then into ice water; should now peel just fine - if this doesn't work - - repeat
• after cutting tomatoes save with a little oil to prevent drying out
• Tomato is not traditional in pissaladiere

• Dough is a regular pizza/bread dough & with egg
• round or square / good hot or cold

Onions not too hot when they go onto the base
Leave a (2cm) border (to puff up); wet the edge with a drop of H2O (brush)
Crimp the edge; e.g. By folding over your finger tip; press down & stick it each time
no border on large square ones
Be neat when dressing the pissal
Finish w/ a drizzle of oil
post dressing let it proof (rise/wait) a little
Post baking finish w/ a drizzle of oil

Cannelloni aux Épinards et Sauce Tomatos: has a filling & 2 sauces
Cannelloni with Spinach & Tomato Sauce

Using a pasta machine.
Semolia is better at absorbing water and gives a more al-dente pasta
This is a pretty dry dough
When saving, if kept too long it will go brown/black

Tomato Sauce:
reduce starting ingredients by 1/3

Pasta: while machining them - if dough is too soft sprinkle w/ flour, fold in 1/2 (1/4) (end 2 end) and roll again
Cannellonis are squares

Cook: drop in 1 by 1 - cook in batches
until just done
then into ice/cold/chilled water
hold in water
to use: drain, place on towels

Filling goes on 1/3
Fold over/roll - use a palet or back of knife

The spinach: was cooked/wilted by plunging briefly into lightly salted boiling water; then chilled/cold.
Cook ham with a little pesto

Mornay Sauce: is Bechemal & add cream and egg yolks

Roux Blanc:

• Melt butter - don't brown it
• Add sifted flour (equal amount by weight)
• cook a bit to avoid "raw flour" taste
• it might get grainy - that's fine

To avoid lumps when using - either

• Cold Roux and Hot stock/liquid
  or
• Hot Roux & Cold stock/liquid

That's roux - simple enough.

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Bechamel:

1. Make roux (e.g. 50 gr btr & 50 flour)
• cook
2. Roux Hot, milk Cold (chef PT does it reverse - ice cools the roux; cooks the milk)
3. whisk in cold milk gradually
4. bring to a boil
5. stir constantly

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Soufflé au Fromage (Cheese Souffle)

• Butter soufflé dishes - really well - by hand
• Flour them - knock out excess
• Fridge the mold

This flour helps the soufflé to "climb" the mold.

Make a "heavy" bechamel. Once think it is not finished; it needs to be boiled (because it's a soufflé). Add finely chopped grated cheese to hot bechemal. + egg yolks salt pepper nutmeg

Beat egg whites

• wipe egg white mixing bowl with vinegar to clean it of all fat.
• use a balloon whisk
• don't be in a hurry
• use a steady pace
• add a dash of salt after to while - it will tighten the whites
• Continue to Stiff Peaks
  

• Fold some egg whites into bechemal batter to prime it
• mix - it's really not fragile at all at this stage
• fold in the rest of the whites delicately
• still not all that fragile
• put into molds to bottom of the flared rim
• "pop" the bottom (potential bubbles)
• run finger around the rim to clean it well - so soufflé will come up straight
• oven 170 for 25-30 mins
• must be cooked in the middle too
• Now it's starting to be fragile
  

Fond Blanche de Volaille (White Chicken Stock)

• Cut wings a 2nd joint (1st from body)
• Remove wish-bone - will be easier to remove breast fillets; neck end; cut along wish-bone to narrow end and rip it out
• if it has feet (only possible if it has feet) remove the cartiladge; slit back of leg below the knee; locate cartiladge and hook it out or use a steel to get under it - rip it out
• cut off feet at "knee"
• take doubled string - 1 meter - and wrap chicken around neck/nose end; cross; back between thigh and breast; cross under and over tail end; roll/flip over and tie off
• this avoids either piercing the chicken or creasing the breast

Blanch it, with the trimmings and some extra chicken bits

• in cold water
• bring to a boil for a minute
• to clean - remove scum
  
• dump, wash in cold water
• refill and return to stove

Always start stocks / blanche with cold water

• add mirepoix (carrots leaks celery white pepper boquet garnis clove)
• Maximum 10% of veggies to weight of chicken (this is a chicken stock not a vegetable stock)

• Boil - not too hard; it just boils away flavor
• The chicken must cook before it begins to provide flavour
• salt: none (or a max of 3gr per liter if you must)
  
• cook 1 hr
• strain (Ta Da!)
• you can rewet/refill the carcass to make a 2nd light stock that could be used, for example, instead of water, when topping up in cooking.

The basic stocks are

1. Veal
2. Fish
3. White (e.g. chicken)
   
4. Game
   

Bercy: things are named thus generally when they have

1. shallots
2. white wine

Note: flour sprinkled on the handle (or lid) of a pan means that it is hot. This is a kitchen convention/norm.

Hold plated fish, covered with foil, on top of stove or oven door.

When cooking fish:

• braising: like today; good side on top (usually the filleted side [not the skin side])
• frying: good side down 1st (1st side fried looks better)

Chop shallots last - they oxidize, discolor - going brown/black. So chop just before using (or you can chop/rinse/squeeze out/store them for use later.

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• Filet the fish (stash in the fridge)
  
• make fumet (stock) from the residue (will be used to cook the fillets and to make the sauce)
• sweat the vegs
• add the bones; sweat
• add wine & reduce; once it starts to boil a bit
• add bouquet garnis
  
• add cold water, pepper & salt
• check the recipe for anything you missed
  
• simmer about 20/25/30 minutes (meanwhile do the stuff that follows)
• skim skim skim
  
• Once the bones are cooked there's no point to continue
• too long gets bitter
• strain it; press out the juices (not Keller style)
• cool as quickly as possible
  
  reduced Fumet de Poisson creates Glace de Poisson (fish glaze)
  
  
• Butter the bottom of a sauté pan
• prepare a paper to cover slightly more than the pan area; little hole in the center to let steam escape - butter the paper
  
• sprinkle in finely chopped shallots (fine 'cause they'll be eaten); salt & pepper
  
• fold the filets, if they're large, top to bottom in half; pretty side up (not skin side out)
• place in the pan
• pour in dry white wine - or cava is good (red wine is also possible - but that's not Bercy)
• add fumet/stock to almost cover the filets
• Bring to a boil on top of the stove; to heat everything before putting in the oven
• Put in the oven for 6-8-10 minutes (avoid overcooking as the fillets will become fragile and won't plate well)
  
• Reduce fumet in another pan -reducee really well; to cook spoon and oil consistency (olive); syrupy. Reduce more than I did
  
• Mount with butter the old fashioned way
• dump in a good sized chunk (large amount)
  
• shake pan back and forth to emulsify the butter into the sauce
• add parsley at last minute (or it won't stay green)
• add the juices from the plate to the sauce (stir in)

Plate: Fillets on plate; sauce around fish; sauce over fish

...in doing my notes. I'm headed out for day 4 and day 2's notes are not all typed up. I may be in trouble here.

Merlan Bercy (Whiting/Pescadilla with Salsa Bercy)
Also loads of instruction on-line about dressing & filleting fishies. but these are my notes and will make sense to me:

• Dressing a fish (unnecessary for Merlan Bercy 'cause it's filleted; but the chef showed us anyway)
• assuming it is already "cleaned" (gutted)
  
• Cut all fins off with scissors; and pointy part(s) of tail
• De-scale, with descaling tool, if skins will be on fish for presentation - or use whatever tool comes to hand
  
• Degill: snip center where gills meet and rip out the membranes
  
• with wrong end of a soup spoon scape out messy bits of interior
  
• Wash it
  
• You're done

• Fish presentation styles (some examples)
  
• En Coler: form a ring with tail in mouth
• Colber: Remove spine; leaving head and tail. Open filets like a book
  
  
• Filleting a fish (right handed)
• Fish's head on the left, away diagonally; the spine of the fish away from you
1. Make a diagonal cut behind the gill area, above the fillet; on both sides of the fish - to free the filet at this end
   
2. With your free hand (left) on the fish to steady it and cut along the length of the backbone from head to tail. Start at head end and use the tip to find the spine. The tip of the knife "feels" your way along
   
3. Just below the belly, above the tail; cut crosswise, down to the bone, through the fish and slide toward the tail (detaching the bottom part)
   
4. Hold the fish firmly and steady. Turn back the filet a little and cut along the length of the backbone and ribs to detach the fillet in one piece.
   
5. Curve the knife downwards over the belly bones to maximize your fillet
   
6. Make a curved cut down to the bone behind the head to release the fillet.
7. Turn the fish over so that the tail points away from you diagonally; spine still away from you too
   
8. Second fillet: make a curved cut down to the bone behind the head (you're going tail to head now)
9. repeats steps x to y above just like doing the previous fillet.
   
   ¡Ta Da! first part is done
   
   
10. De-skin the filet: place, skin side down at edge of cutting board; cutting board at edge of the bench (to have room for your knife and knuckles
11. Just inside if the end of the tail; knife very horizontal; cut exactly between the skin and the meat for a cm or so
12. hold tail end of skin firmly; knife flat
    
13. 13 use sawing motion back and forth moving from tail to head (under the meat)
14. saw back and forth with the skin-hand too
15. Feel the knife
    
16. ¡Voila!
    
    
17. wash/rinse/soak filets in water for a couple of minutes
    
    
18. carcass part of fish is for stock
1. Degorge the fish to clean and remove blood
   
• remove the eyes (use veggie peeler).
• chop/break spine in 3-4 places
• if skinis descaled it can be used in stock; but whiting skin is not generally used in stock anyway - does add anything
  
• put in pot of cold H20
• change water from time to time (replace with more cold)
• 2-3 times; nutil water is not pink

Fond de Veau (Veal Stock)
All about veal stock has been written up a hundred times already. But these are my notes:

• Veal bones; joints are particularly good
• Stock cooks for hours so the mirepoix can be large; keep it 3cm
  
• Outer celery branches are good for fond; use the inner (tender) ones for celery that people actually will eat.
• Use old, mushier tomatos for stock
  
• Tomato prep (they are added later)
  
• Remove crown
• 1/2 on eaquator
• squeeze out seeds (&gel)
• then 1/4 the halves
  
• Bouquet garnis; stock is strained so it can actually be put in loose for stocks
  
• Studded onion = whole onion with cloves stuck in it (makes fishing out the cloves easy)

• Roast bones in hot oven; stirring/turning when browned some (optionally add little oil)
  
• When bones are browned pour off fat (discard)
• Add hard veggies (not tomato); cook 10 more minutes
• Pour off fat again
• Dump into stock pot
• Deglaze bone pan with H2O; pour over bones & vegs
  
• Cover bones with cold water; cold water sucks the juice out of the bones
• Add tomato & bouquet garnis; do not salt; mix well
  
• bring to a boil
• reduce to a simmer; boil softly to
1. avoid losing flavor in too vigorously boiling water
2. avoid emulisfying the fat into the mixture (allow it to drift to the top so you can skim/scum it off)
   
• skim scum regularly
• cook 3-4 hours
• strain
• reduce
• you can slightly thicken with potato starch

Use to make demi-glace; glace de viande

1. Fonds = stock; concentrated; cooked for quite a while
2. Fumets = a light stock; cooked briefly; typical for fish
   

Preview of content

• Fond de Veau Brun (Brown Veal Stock)
• Fumet de Poisson (Fish Stock)
• Sauce Bercy (White Wine Sauce)

Recipe: Merlan Bercy (whiting, pescadilla)

Rustic Vegetable Soup

Be systematic
Peel (& wash) all veggies first
then
Chop / cut all veggies (except potatoes)


Peeling: carrots: thick end to thin end; peeler slightly angled
green beans; snap off top & tail manually. Do Not line up a bunch and cut end off w/ knife (amateur)
Peel nabo w/ knife, not peeler, dues to thick skin
Peel celery (that will be eaten) convex side out to remove fibers

Wash vegs in large bowl - add a drop of vinagre (anti-bugs)
Rinse
Lift out into other bowl (leaving sand behind)
Rinse in 2nd bowl

Leeks: 1/4 top green part and rinse out sand


Mirepoix: is a concept, not a size
a large dice; to cook faster; to add flavor
Onions: in 1/2 lengthwise; then 1/4s or 1/6s
No need to peel celery (will not be eaten directly)
Jullienne: thin strips (1mm x 4-5cm)
Leeks: cut in 1/2 lengthwise, remove center bit (to allow flattening), flatten - then cut
Brunoise: 3mm cubes
1) square up real well
2) 3cm slabs
3) 3cm sticks
4) 3cm cubes
Paysanne: triangles (or sticks); thinly sliced (3mm) (or more v. thinly in our case)
Ciselés: chopped
Émincés: cut very fine (e.g. onion, shallot)
Hachée: chopped up; chop over and over (normal fashion)

Paysane: carrot:
square up
cut slabs 1cm ! cm not mm
cut longways into long triangles (of 1 cm)
slice into paysanne

Bacon: poitrine de porc: cut off rind - always away from you
cut slabs the long way (horizontal layers of meat/fat/meat/fat)
then crossways once (into slices, not little cubes)
cut all te way down to the board

Shallots: after émincés (mincing) the shallots to preserve (for 1 or 2 days); rinse; wring 'dry' in a towel - prevents blackening (which shallots will do quite readily)