Me and my head sous chefs Vy and Vinh
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Decisions decisions decisions
I have been having an internal debate with myself for the last week or so. I love cooking more every day and with the arrival of Jacque Pepin’s Complete Technique and Anthony Bourdain’s Le Halles Cookbook I am over the moon with cooking. I had planned on going to Le Cordon Bleu but a financial aid hiccup has slowed the process down. My government student loans were put on hold because of selective service saying I did not register when I was 18. I have the appropriate paper work and have started the appeal process and should be able to get the loans. The problem is that even with the loans, which is about $8,000 a year, I would still owe the school over $15,000 for the 15 month program. Le Cordon Bleu can finance the $15,000 but they are all loans and I would of course have to pay all that money back. I was all gung ho for this and ready to dive in head first but the financial aid hiccup slowed me down. My dilemma now is am I truly ready to commit myself to a business that is full of long hours on my feet in a hot kitchen at 36 with a wife and two kids? I think I am. I want to try but is it worth over $30,000 to try?
I am a snob and have always really been a snob. I have the ultimate champagne taste on a beer budget and to tell the truth it is not just any beer but the nasty cheep stuff. We are talking Old Milwaukee’s Best generic brand. Le Cordon Bleu looks like an incredible place that is all about food. Heck, the name even sounds fancy. Julia Child went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. (Though reading her book “My Life in France” it was not such a prestigious institution as my recruiter would have liked me to believe) They also had some really cool knives and cooking tools that they had on full display in the lobby that all students got. Still beer budget remember.
But if the goal is to get drunk, cheap beer and champagne both get me to the same place. I took a tour of El Centro Community college last week and it was nothing like Le Cordon Bleu. Le Cordon Bleu only had a culinary program the whole place smelled of stocks, roasted lambs, and baking bread. Everywhere you turned there was a student in chef’s whites or instructor in chef’s whites with the Tuscany Blue embroidery. El Centro is a community college in downtown Dallas full of recently graduated high school students that are studying a wide variety of programs. There was a pocket here or there of students in whites studying but the overwhelming majority was just teenagers looking bored and studying. The advisor took my on a tour of the kitchen and it was a friendly atmosphere. When we got back to her office we looked at my old college transcript and did an unofficial plan. It was going to cost me less than $3000 for the entire program and that is counting a budget of $500 for equipment. I get the same degree as Le Cordon Bleu. Still it has been nagging at me the entire week.
I have been thinking about why I want to go to culinary school. Is it to become an executive chef at a 4 star restaurant? Nope. My goal is to own a small restaurant that serves traditional Vietnamese dishes with great ingredients. Also I get the chance to play with food and try new dishes. Just a small place where I can cook the food I love to eat with a fun foodie atmosphere. I was thinking even Top Chef viewing parties where I can serve the dishes from last weeks episodes. Special international nights where I can cook some classic French, Italian, or Mexican dishes. BBQ specials so that I can talk my friend Chris and his father in parking their amazing smoking trailer at the restaurant and we can sell all their great BBQ. I think I need to go to culinary school to understand food better. Understand how food works. That is my goal. So El Centro College here I come this summer.
Minh
I am a snob and have always really been a snob. I have the ultimate champagne taste on a beer budget and to tell the truth it is not just any beer but the nasty cheep stuff. We are talking Old Milwaukee’s Best generic brand. Le Cordon Bleu looks like an incredible place that is all about food. Heck, the name even sounds fancy. Julia Child went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. (Though reading her book “My Life in France” it was not such a prestigious institution as my recruiter would have liked me to believe) They also had some really cool knives and cooking tools that they had on full display in the lobby that all students got. Still beer budget remember.
But if the goal is to get drunk, cheap beer and champagne both get me to the same place. I took a tour of El Centro Community college last week and it was nothing like Le Cordon Bleu. Le Cordon Bleu only had a culinary program the whole place smelled of stocks, roasted lambs, and baking bread. Everywhere you turned there was a student in chef’s whites or instructor in chef’s whites with the Tuscany Blue embroidery. El Centro is a community college in downtown Dallas full of recently graduated high school students that are studying a wide variety of programs. There was a pocket here or there of students in whites studying but the overwhelming majority was just teenagers looking bored and studying. The advisor took my on a tour of the kitchen and it was a friendly atmosphere. When we got back to her office we looked at my old college transcript and did an unofficial plan. It was going to cost me less than $3000 for the entire program and that is counting a budget of $500 for equipment. I get the same degree as Le Cordon Bleu. Still it has been nagging at me the entire week.
I have been thinking about why I want to go to culinary school. Is it to become an executive chef at a 4 star restaurant? Nope. My goal is to own a small restaurant that serves traditional Vietnamese dishes with great ingredients. Also I get the chance to play with food and try new dishes. Just a small place where I can cook the food I love to eat with a fun foodie atmosphere. I was thinking even Top Chef viewing parties where I can serve the dishes from last weeks episodes. Special international nights where I can cook some classic French, Italian, or Mexican dishes. BBQ specials so that I can talk my friend Chris and his father in parking their amazing smoking trailer at the restaurant and we can sell all their great BBQ. I think I need to go to culinary school to understand food better. Understand how food works. That is my goal. So El Centro College here I come this summer.
Minh
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Irony
It is ironic that my first blog was about craftsmanship and pride in one’s work. My blog was so full of typos, run on sentences, and just weird structure. I will never be a great writer but that does not mean I cannot proofread my own blog. A good friend pointed out that me should by my, where should be were and there should be their just to name a few of the things I did wrong. I have always enjoyed a good book and could recognize a bad one. That does not translate into becoming a great writer but I should be able to write a blog without embarrassing myself. I was able to go back and edit some of the mistakes out. So if you ever end up in my restaurant and the peanut sauce for your spring rolls are not perfect feel free to send them back.
m
m
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Beginnings
Beginnings
Well my foray into the culinary arts started differently than I had planned. I had enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu Dallas but was unable to start on the February term because of a financial aid hiccup that should be taken care of for the April start. Before the hiccup, I had conceived of a plan to work as an intern for a butcher in Garland, Texas. I had bought some prime sirloin there before and after years of just buying grocery store steak, I was in love. I talked to the owner David Harris, a master butcher, about an internship and at first he looked at me with some suspicion. You won’t like it he said. It takes two years of apprenticeship to become a meat cutter. I said no sir, I am going to be a culinary student and was hoping to see how meat was cut and understand the different cuts.David brightened up and say sure you should know where you food comes from.
So Tuesday morning I got my two kids to school and headed for David’s Meat Market in Garland, Texas not at all sure what to expect. I had done my homework. This was not just some crack in the wall, this was considered one of the best places to buy quality steaks and meat in the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex. The Dallas Morning News often calls David for a quote when they run an article about steaks and steak quality. He is referred to as the Master Butcher David Harris.
The store opens at 10 am but when I got there at 8:15 the lights were on and David and his three employees were already busy cutting up incredible looking steaks. His grandson Devon saw me first and greeted me warmly. He called out to David that Minh was here. “What men?” David asked. “No Minh, the guy that is going to work for free.” David came out and also greeted me warmly. David Harris looks like the perfect neighborhood butcher; he is big affable man with big strong arms and big hands. He waves at me to come on back to the office. He shows me were the aprons are and gets me a camouflaged cap. My favorite one has the letters PETA for People Eat Tasty Animals.
I met the rest of the crew besides Devon there is Carmela and Chad. Carmela is friendly Mexican with a welcoming smile. He was wrapping up New York Strips to put in the display case. The store is closed on Sunday and Monday so they were getting the store displays ready for the day. I started simply, hoping not to get in the way and screw anything up. I was going to wrap the steaks that had been beautifully cut in plastic wrap. I am afraid David’s plastic wrap cost might go up a little this week. Watching the others, they made it look smooth, wrapping a steak tightly and quickly. I managed to tangle up the plastic wrap put the wrong side of the steak on display but was quickly and nicely set right by Carmela. So before long I was getting the simple task done right. David showed me how to showcase the side of the steak that had less fat on it and arrange them all facing the same way on the rack. I joked I looked for the fat when buying a steak he laughed and said most people look for the leaner parts. Later in the day I started to learn the different cuts of beef. What made a porterhouse different from a T-bone. They both come from the same side but the porterhouse with a telltale almost vein like were the first 2 or 3 cuts from the side and the rest are the T-bone. I learned how to trim tenderloin and why some places charged less for tenderloin by not trimming the uneatable parts out adding almost 50% to the weight. It was a lot to take in and I still of course don’t understand a lot of things but I am really looking forward to coming back Friday morning to help them get ready for the weekend rush.
What I did learn was pride. Pride one took in one’s work and what over thirty years of a craft can show. David and Pat, his wife who can break down a side of beef like a pro, are what we are losing as stores like David’s Meat Market are being replaced by huge superstores all over this country. The store is so well kept, everything in place and super clean. When I worked there Carmela was in almost a constant state of cleaning and no waste made it to the floor. During our first break Pat brought donuts and sternly yet kindly told me to only eat the back room because it was not allowed where the meat was prepped. Chad the other member of the team, a young country boy was cleaning utensils, cutting and trimming steaks with the precision of a surgeon. Devon, who I pray carries on the tradition, watched the business with an eye for detail. He greeted customers by name asking how much ground sirloin they wanted or chili or the best damn jalapeño burger patty you ever tasted. Almost nothing went to waste, some of the trimmings went into a bin for sausage meat, a bin for stew meat, some fat was stored for making chili, and all of it was refrigerated as soon as enough was there. We talked about the best way to make a steak. (Inch and a quarter thick steaks, a cast iron skillet super hot, sear on each side for 2 minutes and into a preheated oven at 500 degrees for another 4 minutes let it rest for 5 more minutes and you get 4 star steakhouse quality medium rare steak.) How David probably did not want to sell his steaks to anyone who liked their steak well done or even medium. How he came up with his own dry rub recipe. How Pat cooked a Thanksgiving like feast last Tuesday for a visiting granddaughter that turned into a family dinner for 12. Their patty machine and sausage machine were almost artifact like but looked brand new. Uncle Bill another proud craftsman came by to chat. He is a machinist for over 40 years who helped David make new molds for his patty machine.
It is not just about nostalgia or a long lost America. It is about quality and good tasting ingredients. The reason I buy from David is his steaks taste better, his craftsmanship guarantees that. They would never sell you a bad steak, EVER. Superstores are killing America’s palate. Bland is ok as long as it is fast. But it does not have to be that way. David’s Meat Market is a testament to that. I am proud to watch them work and hopefully learn a thing or two as I start my culinary journey.
M
Well my foray into the culinary arts started differently than I had planned. I had enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu Dallas but was unable to start on the February term because of a financial aid hiccup that should be taken care of for the April start. Before the hiccup, I had conceived of a plan to work as an intern for a butcher in Garland, Texas. I had bought some prime sirloin there before and after years of just buying grocery store steak, I was in love. I talked to the owner David Harris, a master butcher, about an internship and at first he looked at me with some suspicion. You won’t like it he said. It takes two years of apprenticeship to become a meat cutter. I said no sir, I am going to be a culinary student and was hoping to see how meat was cut and understand the different cuts.David brightened up and say sure you should know where you food comes from.
So Tuesday morning I got my two kids to school and headed for David’s Meat Market in Garland, Texas not at all sure what to expect. I had done my homework. This was not just some crack in the wall, this was considered one of the best places to buy quality steaks and meat in the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex. The Dallas Morning News often calls David for a quote when they run an article about steaks and steak quality. He is referred to as the Master Butcher David Harris.
The store opens at 10 am but when I got there at 8:15 the lights were on and David and his three employees were already busy cutting up incredible looking steaks. His grandson Devon saw me first and greeted me warmly. He called out to David that Minh was here. “What men?” David asked. “No Minh, the guy that is going to work for free.” David came out and also greeted me warmly. David Harris looks like the perfect neighborhood butcher; he is big affable man with big strong arms and big hands. He waves at me to come on back to the office. He shows me were the aprons are and gets me a camouflaged cap. My favorite one has the letters PETA for People Eat Tasty Animals.
I met the rest of the crew besides Devon there is Carmela and Chad. Carmela is friendly Mexican with a welcoming smile. He was wrapping up New York Strips to put in the display case. The store is closed on Sunday and Monday so they were getting the store displays ready for the day. I started simply, hoping not to get in the way and screw anything up. I was going to wrap the steaks that had been beautifully cut in plastic wrap. I am afraid David’s plastic wrap cost might go up a little this week. Watching the others, they made it look smooth, wrapping a steak tightly and quickly. I managed to tangle up the plastic wrap put the wrong side of the steak on display but was quickly and nicely set right by Carmela. So before long I was getting the simple task done right. David showed me how to showcase the side of the steak that had less fat on it and arrange them all facing the same way on the rack. I joked I looked for the fat when buying a steak he laughed and said most people look for the leaner parts. Later in the day I started to learn the different cuts of beef. What made a porterhouse different from a T-bone. They both come from the same side but the porterhouse with a telltale almost vein like were the first 2 or 3 cuts from the side and the rest are the T-bone. I learned how to trim tenderloin and why some places charged less for tenderloin by not trimming the uneatable parts out adding almost 50% to the weight. It was a lot to take in and I still of course don’t understand a lot of things but I am really looking forward to coming back Friday morning to help them get ready for the weekend rush.
What I did learn was pride. Pride one took in one’s work and what over thirty years of a craft can show. David and Pat, his wife who can break down a side of beef like a pro, are what we are losing as stores like David’s Meat Market are being replaced by huge superstores all over this country. The store is so well kept, everything in place and super clean. When I worked there Carmela was in almost a constant state of cleaning and no waste made it to the floor. During our first break Pat brought donuts and sternly yet kindly told me to only eat the back room because it was not allowed where the meat was prepped. Chad the other member of the team, a young country boy was cleaning utensils, cutting and trimming steaks with the precision of a surgeon. Devon, who I pray carries on the tradition, watched the business with an eye for detail. He greeted customers by name asking how much ground sirloin they wanted or chili or the best damn jalapeño burger patty you ever tasted. Almost nothing went to waste, some of the trimmings went into a bin for sausage meat, a bin for stew meat, some fat was stored for making chili, and all of it was refrigerated as soon as enough was there. We talked about the best way to make a steak. (Inch and a quarter thick steaks, a cast iron skillet super hot, sear on each side for 2 minutes and into a preheated oven at 500 degrees for another 4 minutes let it rest for 5 more minutes and you get 4 star steakhouse quality medium rare steak.) How David probably did not want to sell his steaks to anyone who liked their steak well done or even medium. How he came up with his own dry rub recipe. How Pat cooked a Thanksgiving like feast last Tuesday for a visiting granddaughter that turned into a family dinner for 12. Their patty machine and sausage machine were almost artifact like but looked brand new. Uncle Bill another proud craftsman came by to chat. He is a machinist for over 40 years who helped David make new molds for his patty machine.
It is not just about nostalgia or a long lost America. It is about quality and good tasting ingredients. The reason I buy from David is his steaks taste better, his craftsmanship guarantees that. They would never sell you a bad steak, EVER. Superstores are killing America’s palate. Bland is ok as long as it is fast. But it does not have to be that way. David’s Meat Market is a testament to that. I am proud to watch them work and hopefully learn a thing or two as I start my culinary journey.
M
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)