Advanced cooking class: Vegan day

Last week, our advanced cooking class was an all vegan challenge. We were given mystery baskets and only allowed to cook under vegan guidelines. My team, also known as team 1, was given daikon, firm tofu, bean thread, shitake mushrooms, dried Chinese shitake's, Vietnamese spring roll wrappers, popcorn shoots, carrots and baby bok choy. This mystery basket made me really happy that I did my externship at Buddakan. Here is what we came up with. 

The dumpling folding process. Filling on the right, raw finished product on the left. We filled the dumplings with seared mushroom, bean thread and firm tofu, plus garlic, scallion and mushroom soy

A take on Liang Pi or "cold skin" noodles from xi'an, China. We made these noodles out of the vietnamese fresh spring roll wrapper. The sauce was made with a chinese shitake broth, sesame oil, chopped cilantro, fresh thai bird chili, mushoom soy, sugar and lemon juice. Its fresh, spicy, umami all in one package. These were quite tasty!

The steamed dumpling over some bok choy, sauteed in shao shing wine, garlic and shallots. 

The final plate. Down at the end is a vinegary slaw made with pickled daikon, carrots and popcorn shoots. All vegan, all delicious. 

Its good to be a CIA student

I was having lunch the other day in Farquarson hall at the CIA. As I peered to the back of the dining hall, I could see the brightly colored confections gleaming at me from afar. I had know idea what the occasion was and I still don't really know. This sort of thing just happens at the CIA. A pastry class will  set up a beautiful display and offer all sorts of treats. Occasionally the garde manger classes will do the same thing, minus baked goods, plus mini empanadas and cold soba noodle salad. I got to photograph  (and eat) some of the things I saw. Just thought I would make the world jealous of CIA life. Enjoy!

Delicious Cake

 I dont know what to call these things, other than delicious and visually appealing. They had macarons on top!!

 Like I said earlier, I'm not really sure what the occasion was, but it must have been important. Even the strawberries dressed up.

Product Review: Chip Peddler Chips

I got in contact with a company called Chip Peddler out of Durango, Colorado. I was intrigued by these chips because they are organic and the guy who sells the potato chips is also growing the potatoes. I have learned a lot about organic food since I started at culinary school. What really interests me about organic food is the flavor difference. In some produce, its obvious. A tomato doesn't taste like a tomato anymore because it is grown with chemical based fertilizer, sprayed with chemical pesticides, picked green and then ripened with ethylene gas so it looks red on your burger. When you try an organic tomato, it tastes better. usually sweeter, more flavorful, better texture. I wanted to see, will organic potato and corn chips taste any different than what Frito Lay is pumping out? Here's what I found.

 Ok, organic chips taste better, fact. These were the best sea salt and vinegar chips I have ever had. The vinegar was pretty subtle, a nice alternative to the mouth puckering mass produced stuff. They were also thicker and crunchier than most other brands. I was a big fan of these.

I don't usually pay attention to this kind of stuff, but how cool is the art on the bag, right?It just made me like this guy's products even more. Usually, I hate Lime flavored tortilla chips. Tostito's with lime is the worst offender for me. That stuff tastes like its made in a chemical plant. These were really nice though. The lime tasted like real lime and the chips tasted like the freshly fried chips on the table at a Mexican restaurant. The bag was empty in about 2 minutes. 

 Sea Salt and Vinegar

 So maybe it's not the perfect potato, but it's a natural potato, defects and all.

 Lime Tortilla chips

Not only were the chips great, but the chip peddler himself was a really nice guy. We talked a little bit through email and he is a cool dude. Check out his life of cycling and making organic chips while giving back to the world. 

www.chippeddler.com

Im back peeps

I haven't posted in a while but I can explain, I swear. I believe this gap in posting is due to a recent lack of blog worthy material in my life as well as some good old fashioned procrastination. Anyway, I have continued to take pictures since my last post and I have some interesting things to share.

In June I will be going to Spain with my school for a food, wine and agriculture trip. We will be doing site visits every day of different food producers and vineyards. In preparation for the trip, we are doing some site visits local to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. This week's visit, Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, NY. Sprout Creek Farm is a small non for profit organization founded by 2 nuns. They have animals ranging from cows to chickens to goats. They are mostly known for being a creamery that produces incredible cheeses, which I had the pleasure of sampling. Here are some photos of my day on the farm.

                                                    Freshly made cheese, unripened

 Cheese being brined in a bath of salty whey. I believe they said it had a salt concentration of 24%

 Some bloomy rind cheeses, the gooey stuff, ripening away. Plus me!

The ripening room, quite a smell!

The basin where fresh milk from the farm is turned into curds and whey.

A baby hamburger, I mean um, cow.

The friendliest kid I've ever met

These sheep don't bathe, it was obvious.

The boss man of the chicken coop

I had a great time at Sprout Creek Farm. Everyone there is really friendly and the tour was really interesting and interactive. The cheese from this place is on par with french cheese. They have over 20 kinds that they produce from both cows and goats milk. As for the animals, they really made my day. At one point I was cornered by 4 goats who chewed on my pockets and butted their heads at me. I was laughing very hard. Thanks Sprout Creek Farm!

Just messing around: Chicken risotto quesadillas

At first glance it may not look like much. Or at the second or third glance even, I don't know. It really depends on how much you like quesadillas. Anyways, I assure you that this 1:00 am Saturday morning creation in my humble Poughkeepsie kitchen was worth its own weight in gold. A few days ago I went on a trip to my local Latin grocery store, Casa Latina. I picked up some cotija cheese, fresh corn tortillas  and some Mexican candies that all ended up tasting like chili powder and lime. I threw the ingredients in my fridge and waited for the moment when I would think of something fun to do with them. The next night, my friends made some chicken risotto, leaving behind plenty of leftovers. Finally, on the following night, the idea came to me. Chicken Risotto Quesadillas with hot sauce, cotija cheese, fresh corn tortillas, all cooked up in some lard. I chose lard because I'm watching my figure. I got the lard really hot in the pan and then added the quesadillas. This gave them that crispy browned texture on the outside. For some reason, I find the transformation of a raw corn tortilla to fried to be incredible. Limp and mealy one minute, golden and crunchy the next. The pictures under the quesadilla are the cotija cheese, the leftover risotto and some interesting hot sauce that I found in my fridge. It was really vinegary and perfect for the quesadilla. I've had a lot of quesadillas in my twenty years. From your American style flour tortilla with yellow cheese and maybe a microwave, to your northern Mexican pressed masa dough, stuffed with fresh white cheese and deep fried like an empanada. I had never before had one with risotto in it until now. It was, hands down, the best one I have ever had. Cotija cheese is like Mexican feta cheese. it melts really well and is tangy, but at the same time has a very fresh milk flavor. I like using corn tortillas because they are a little closer to authentic Mexican and they have a nice bite to them. The risotto was great for a quesadilla because it was spreadable, already had chicken and vegetables in it and it sort of melded together with the gooey cheese. I added the hot sauce into the mix because this dish was just screaming for some acid to balance some of the more bland flavor components. When all was cooked and done, everyone in the room was eating very happily and quietly, always a good sign.
SOY EL FOODERINO, OLE!

First product review!!: Pork Grinds Hawaii

Thanks to the lovely folks over at Pork Grinds Hawaii, I got to do my first Product review! I want to start out by saying that these are not your run of the mill, gas station pork rinds. As a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, I give this product my very own seal of approval as being a "gourmet pork rind". I was really intrigued by the concept for this product which is, essentially, pork rinds with very interesting flavors. Being an Asian food nerd myself, I requested to try the kim chee flavored, char siu, furikake and then just for fun, sea salt and vinegar. I know sea salt and vinegar is not Asian but it is delicious. A couple of my culinary friends and I had a tasting of this product and the results were unanimous. Everyone's favorite flavor was the char siu. If you aren't familiar with char siu, It is just the Chinese word for roast pork, Chinese style. Think about the flavor of those sticky red spare ribs you got from your local Chinese restaurant growing up. This is a flavor I know most of us can relate to because, 1), everyone loves ribs and 2),  every mediocre Chinese food restaurant in America is sharing the same recipe book, I'm sure of it. I loved this flavor because it actually tastes as though you are eating a crispy spare rib. Second place in the flavor contest was given to the sea salt and vinegar pork rinds. These were just as addicting as any sea salt and vinegar chip and it really worked well with the pork rind flavor. They were light, crispy, vinegary and delicious. I was really excited to try the kim chee flavor because I love the skunky, fermented saltiness that is kim chee. Also, these pork rinds had that fiery red color that kim chee gets. It wasn't skunky smelling like the real stuff, but it did have that taste of Korea. I really enjoyed the flavor of the Korean chili pepper in the kim chee flavor. It was very mild but with more chili flavor than heat. Last but not exactly least was the furkikake. If you have never heard of it before, furikake is also known as the salt and pepper of Japan. Often sprinkled on top of rice, it is a Japanese seasoning that can be made with a number of spices and ingredients. It can include dried seaweed, sesame seeds and sometimes dried shrimp. Even though it was my least favorite of the bunch, I still enjoyed the experience. It had a flavor profile similar to sushi because of the seaweed. Overall, I really liked this product. I cant say enough good things about that char siu flavor especially. It really tasted like it had been roasted in a Chinese roasting oven. Mmmmmm, good stuff.  Thanks again to Pork Grinds Hawaii, Mahalo Y'all

These were only four of the many flavors the company has to offer.
If you are interested in getting some of these gourmet pork rinds for yourself, check out their website at porkgrindshawaii.com

some pics from a recent trip to a Washington, DC fish market