Culinary IQ

Starting next week I will be doing weekday posts on various foods and other items related to cooking. Please check back on a daily basis for valuable information. My first topic will be eggs. Which came first?

Doing time at the Times!

I have started an exciting new stage of my culinary education, my externship! I am pleased to be doing mine at the Los Angeles Times test kitchen. Yes I am following in the footsteps of Marian Manners and Prudence Penny. I think it is safe to say that anyone reading this post will be too young to remember either one. Both were pseudonyms for the various food instructors and writers and later editors in the early days of Los Angeles Times. Yes, some of them were even males. I am currently working with 4 other interns from various culinary schools. We test the various recipes and kitchen tools that will be featured in the paper's food section including cookbook reviews, Culinary SOS and recipes that will be demonstrated on KTLA/5's Eatbeat. 
The most recent recipe I made was for a vegetable soup from the Coral Tree Cafe so it could be photographed for a possible Culinary SOS article. Look for the recipe in an upcoming issue!

 I am sure my experience at the times will be invaluable and rewarding.

In a Pickle

What About Marzipan?

After I ranted about fondant yesterday I have found a delicious option, marzipan. It may not be as versatile as fondant but it definitely makes a beautiful cake. One could also argue that it is a local food as we have almond orchards within 250 miles of Los Angeles! For those of you who say marzipan is too sweet I say - dessert is supposed to be sweet, eat less!

What the F#*@ant!

Yes I just dropped the "F" bomb, Fondant! Which is more important, beauty or taste? After recent years of watching fondants becoming the preferred medium for finishing specialty cakes, I finally got to use it myself. Back to my earlier question, I think taste is more important. I am troubled by the wast involved in what I presume is millions of pounds of fondant that are being sold only to be ripped off a piece of cake before eating and ultimately thrown away. Couldn't the ingredients in fondant be made into something more appetizing and used to help feed some of the hungry in this world? What do you think?

Getting Caught Up!

It has been a pretty busy few weeks so I have not been on here as often as I would like. I am baking everyday making multiple items and then along came Thanksgiving. Still having a great time. I have posted new photos in the Le Cordon Bleu album on www.hanoverroad.com of some of the items I have made in class. Keep and eye out here and on my website for the recipes (formerly secret) for some of my all-time favorite goodies! The following are items that have been made in class so far, chocolate chip cookies, Linzer window cookies, Brysselkex Cookies (checkerboard design), French almond macaroons, lemon madeleines, Strassburger cookies, biscotti, buttermilk biscuits, flaky pie dough, mealy pie dough, streusel topping, blueberry pie filling, apple pie filling, blueberry sour cream muffins, chocolate chip muffins, Pâte à Choux-éclairs, peach cobbler, apple crisp, Crème Brûlée, pastry cream, Crème Caramel, cheesecake and Pâte Sucrée. So as you can see it has kept me very busy! In addition to this I made the turkey and stuffing, yams, cranberry compote, mac and cheese and pecan pie with bourbon and chocolate for Thanksgiving. Today I had a written test, 2 practicals and had to present 6 items for grade so I am tired and going to get off of here.

One Down!

Today was the end of my first session! But what a week, a mayonnaise practical on Monday followed by a final in Safety and Sanitation. Tuesday was a knife practical followed by my Servsafe certification exam and today was my final in Culinary Foundations. I am pleased to have done well in both of my classes. I get a couple of days off this week and then back to school next Monday! I will have intro to Patisserie and Baking from 10:00AM to 1:35PM MTWTF and applied math 1:45PM to 3:35PM MTWTF. But for now a relaxing 4 days off!