July 7, 2008
This post is part of a series called Cooking 101, which introduces the basics of cooking. The series follows the book Culinary Fundamentals. Check out the previous posts here.
Unit 1: Professionalism
The first chapter examines the history of the culinary profession and the current landscape for the professional chef. The New Cook is about learning to cook at home and integrating it into your life, so this chapter is somewhat irrelevant, but I want to cover every chapter, so every chapter it is. I did find interesting, however, the short discussion on the history of the profession, so that’s what I’ll cover here.
Pre-19th Century
The first cookbook for professionals is attributed to Apicius, who lived in the 1st century A.D., but the book may have actually been written sometime in the 3rd century A.D.
One interesting anecdote is about Monsieur Boulanger, a tavern-owner in France in the mid to late 18th century. He served sheep’s feet in white sauce, but was taken to court because that recipe was apparently owned by a different guild. Recipes could be monopolized! Thankfully he won the case and was allowed to continue, and the book notes a movement in France towards choice on menus, as opposed to a set menu for all guests.
Grande Cuisine
The first main movement in the culinary profession is credited to Marie-Antoine Carème in the early 19th century and is called grande cuisine. Careme both simplified and refined cooking for upper class households. He wrote multiple books and “laid important groundwork for the culinary arts as a profession.”
Cuisine Classique
Grande cuisine evolved over the next century and Escoffier codified the new, simplified cuisine classique or haute cuisine in his book Le Guide Culinaire. Escoffier also established the “brigade system” of hierarchy in kitchens, which is still in use today.
Nouvelle Cuisine
The final style, nouvelle cuisine, was developed in the 1970’s. New ingredient combinations, smaller portions, and Japan-influenced, artful presentation were hallmarks of the style, in addition to further simplification.
Present
Modern cooking has branched off in a number of directions. One major theme is globalization, whether bringing ethnic foods to other regions or combining different flavors in “fusion” cooking. Regionalism is also becoming more important, with many looking to local, fresh ingredients and some chefs trying to discover local, ethnic cooking styles. Another movement is in the “molecular gastronomy” direction, using new technology to alter food.
More or less - cooking is incredibly diverse! It’s no longer simply a mastery of traditional french style (although this book may focus on it), and it can appear a daunting undertaking to learn how to cook. But you have to start somewhere.
Next up: Nutrition
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July 5, 2008
We have an extra-large edition of breakfast links today since I missed last weekend.
Recipe of the Week:
Korean BBQ (Kalbi) - Peter at Kalofagas a delicious Korean dish. I have a recipe from my girlfriend’s grandmother which I need to try soon.
Links:
Also, Amanda at Mrs. W’s Kitchen was kind of enough to give me the Arte Y Pico Award. It is an honor. I’m not going to pass it on at this time since I just did a couple weeks ago, but I appreciate the award. Thank you!
Have a great weekend.
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July 3, 2008
Here is an interesting tip on making your vegetables last as long as possible: keep produce in its original packaging. Often, vegetables are sold in bags that preserve their freshness the longest, such as greens being packaged in bags that allow ethylene, a gas that causes ripening, to escape. Other vegetables as you may have noticed, such as carrots or celery, come in bags with small holes. These allow gases to escape while still preventing moisture loss.
Companies want their produce on the shelves as long as possible, so they package in a way that will achieve that. I always used to put everything in air-tight ziploc bags, but no more!
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July 2, 2008
Since I began The New Cook back in March, I’ve been looking for a way to methodologize (yes, I’ll invent new words) both my writing and learning. As I’ve written previously, cookbooks aren’t the best way to learn to cook. I’ve been reviewing various books over the last couple months to try and find one that will teach me to cook methodically. I’ve finally decided to use Culinary Fundamentals by the American Culinary Federation.
It has 37 chapters and I intend to cover each one. There will be at least one post each week, but perhaps more for the longer chapters. What I like about the book is that it really focuses on techniques and basics. Most chapters have a benchmark recipe that will help teach an individual technique. Here is a quick overview of the book:
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Nutrition, Safety and Science
- Unit 2 - Nutrition
- Unit 3 - Sanitation
- Unit 4 - Food Science Basics
Section 3: Culinary Math and Recipes
- Unit 5 - Culinary Math
- Unit 6 - Recipes and Food Cost
Section 4: Tools and Equipment
- Unit 7 - Equipment Identification
- Unit 8 - Basic Knife Skills
Section 5: Ingredients
- Unit 9 - Dairy, Eggs, and Dry Goods
- Unit 10 - Meat and Poultry Identification and Fabrication
- Unit 11 - Fish and Shellfish Identification and Fabrication
- Unit 12 - Fresh Produce: Fruits, Vegetables, and Fresh Herbs
- Unit 13 - Basic Mise en Place
Section 6: Stocks, Soups and Sauces
- Unit 14 - Stocks
- Unit 15 - Sauces
- Unit 16 - Soups
Section 7: Dry Heat Techniques
- Unit 17 - Sauteing
- Unit 18 - Frying
- Unit 19 - Roasting
- Unit 20 - Barbecue
- Unit 21 - Grilling and Broiling
Section 8: Moist Heat Techniques
- Unit 22 - Braising and Stewing
- Unit 23 - Shallow-poaching
- Unit 24 - Poaching and Simmering
Section 9: Completing the Plate
- Unit 25 - Vegetables
- Unit 26 - Starches
Section 10: Pantry
- Unit 27 - Breakfast
- Unit 28 - Salad Dressings and Salads
- Unit 29 - Sandwiches
Section 11: Garde-Manger
- Unit 30 - Hors d’Oeuvre and Appetizers
- Unit 31 - Garde-Manger
Section 12: Baking
Section 13: Advanced Topics
- Unit 33 - Flavor Development
- Unit 34 - Plating and Presentation
Section 14: Cuisines of the World
- Unit 35 - The Cooking of Europe and the Mediterranean
- Unit 36 - Asian Cuisine
- Unit 37 - Cuisines of the Americas
And so we begin…
Posted in Cooking 101 | 5 Comments » |
July 1, 2008
It’s an exciting time here at The New Cook. First, as should be obvious, I have put up a new design for the site. Functionality should be more or less the same, but I wanted a third column. Please, please, please email me if you have any problems viewing or using the site.
Second, an introduction to Cooking 101, a new series, will be posted tomorrow, and a giveaway announcement will come Friday. Huzzah! Free prizes!
Third, today starts the beginning of a Foodbuzz contest. Foodbuzz is measuring bloggers who signed up in May for the largest increase in readership through September and is awarding first, second and third place prizes. So over the next three months, I’ll see if I can really get this blog rolling.
Here are the top posts from June:
Most Commented:
Basic Lo Mein - This is a quick but delicious meal that you can make from whatever ingredients you have on hand. A few people made it and said it turned out good.
Most Viewed:
Broccole Slaw and Apple Salad - This is a surprisingly delicious and refreshing salad. It has the perfect mix of crunch, sweetness and tartness.
My Favorites:
Basic Frittata Recipe - I made a frittata for the first time and it turned out to be the perfect meal for a quick dinner with whatever ingredients are available.
Simple Roast Chicken - Again, a first for me. Roasting chicken was a little gross at first, but certainly worthwhile. Now I just need to learn how to make a stock with the bones!
Annisa in New York City - This is the chronicle of my experience at an upscale restaurant in New York. I don’t know if it was interesting to read about, but it sure was fun eating there.
Stay tuned, exciting happenings are on the horizon…
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June 30, 2008
If you’re a meat eater, it’s impossible not to have noticed that the chicken breast you’re eating looks different from the steak across the table. But why do different meats have different colors when they are all muscle tissue? Why is a chicken leg darker than the breast? How do these differences affect flavor?
There are two basic types of muscle fiber: white and red.
White Muscle Fiber
White muscle fiber is used for quick bursts of energy. For example, a chicken flapping its wings to fly away when you startle it is a use of white muscle fiber. Because a chicken’s wings are used only for short, quick bursts of energy, chicken breasts are almost all white muscle fiber. This fiber uses glycogen for energy, a compound stored in the tissue, and does not require oxygen to operate.
Red Muscle Fiber
Red muscle fiber is used for more constant, longer lasting activity. This energy comes mostly from fat cells and requires oxygen. Two proteins, myoglobin and cytochromes, are the key to metabolizing the fat with oxygen and they give red muscle fiber its dark color.
As you can imagine, grazing cows don’t often make sudden movements, so most of their muscle is red fiber. It is interesting, however, that while chicken breast is almost all white fiber, duck breast is mostly dark because it is used constantly during migration. Mixtures of white and red fibers are frequent, such as in chicken legs which are about half red and half white.
Flavor
When cooked, amino acids, sugars, fatty acids and other compounds react to form different flavors. Meats with mostly red fiber end up having more flavor because the tissue has a wider variety and greater abundance of compounds that break down and react to form flavors. More specifically, the fat in the tissue that is converted into energy and the membranes that contain the cytochromes contribute significantly to this increased flavor. White muscle meat generally has less flavor.
What does this mean for the cook? If you are looking for a meaty flavor, stick with well exercised red meats like beef, lamb, or duck. Or choose parts of the animal that contain are exercised more consistently, like the legs of poultry. If you want a more subtle flavor, go with the white meat of chicken or younger cuts of red meat like veal, which contains less red muscle fiber.
Posted in Food Science | 3 Comments » |
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