This just in week nine we cook up some beef stroganoff and frankly when F cooked off his I was like ” Wow on the tangy” I did not like the level of tangy with my beef. So I decided I shall change and that’s how I learned another great lesson.

Now F started off by saying this would be a fast class. He was right we flew right into it with making veal goulash, never had veal goulash and frankly I decided to try some toss my beliefs aside and  I wasn’t missing much and would continue not eating veal. F was playing with fire by showing use using the oils from the meat and pan how to make a fun fireball. My former pyrotechnic disapproved but my six year old self got excited. Now the veal goulash F was blasting his way through clearly had some where to be or maybe he was just that fast and had no idea how to slow down maybe he worked like clock work said the same thing every class never changing unless someone tossed a wrench into the works. I really wanted to ask him how pop tarts work but I’m saving that for the end of class.

Oh yeah the goulash: cook meat, toss in your tossed veggies, let them cook for a little bit toss in your demi glaze and then place in a oven and let cook for 30 minutes.

Now he moved on to the  spaetzle which my brain had a sudden shock of images flooding my mind  of Matty Matheson from supper time ( A great TV show). Now this is where you have a special grader that has a rolling square tube on top where you put dough inside of it and grade the dough over boiling water to fall into a pot and make pasta, awesome. This not only cool but a serious mess. Still once F pulled the little tear drops of salty dough out I couldn’t believe how much it puffed up. It really explains why our ancestors thought of bread as a magical food.

Now the event of the evening what we be making beef stroganoff, now we got cuts of stewing beef and F was talking about cutting against the grain. Which reminded me of my carpenter days and how I always heard ” CUT AGAINST THE GRAIN GOD DAMMIT”. I was happy F said to take it slow because when I was cutting my meat I was like ” Need to sharpen this knife or I’m going to the ER a second time. Cut the meat into little frying strips and then fry them up fast in butter and oil. F said the hardest part would be controlling our heat on high and not stirring our beef all the time and he was right. The second I got my beef in the pan I wanted to swish it around like I use to swish my drunk ass around Banff. This time I held back taking it easy on the meat and drinks I’m 30 gotta get my act together. While my beef was frying I had a chance to help O with scooping her stuff into a container. She just made her sauce without the beef and had to go.

Now back at my pan I only moved by beef twice and placed it in a bowl with paper towel to absorb oil. Once again F hit home leave your oil and fat in the pan don’t waste, cook with it and damn did I ever. Tossing my onions, mushrooms and few gherkins I wanted less tang remember. I dropped my demi glaze in and let it simmer. It was only 8pm! Normally at this point we be at the finally steps at 9pm and I had most of my stuff cleaned. After the right amount of time for my sauce to simmer I pulled it off the stove taking it to my table. Now it’s important that you don’t mix your Dijon sauce, sour cream on the stove top. Reason it will cause your sour cream to curdle, now once your sauce is a nice chocolate cream colour add your cooked beef. You also don’t add it on the burner because it will toughen your meat up.

Now the moment the Mass Effect moment do I add the lemon juice in the end like F said or do I do my own thing. I stared at my pan unsure what to do. I tend to follow instructions my training as a former tech and safety inspector called for it dammit but here I stand on the edge of flavor unsure what to do. I took a spoon full and tried it without lemon and fiddle sticks be damned I liked mine more than F. So I took my lemon home and did not juice.

By the time I got my food home and showed Shoe she said ” Where are the noodles?” I stared up at her with confusion ” Um what noodles?” Her ” This dish is suppose to have noodles its one of my favorites” I looked down at the dish with a well I be damned. You really can change it all up in cooking you can learn the techniques and decided to destroy and recreate the recipe. I choose not to add the lemon for my taste profile and George brown clearly decided to cut budget and said ” Forget these noodles you got a ton of beef!”

I’m learning now with cooking rules are a guide line once I understand I can rearrange them in different orders and make something new.

Now the adventure really begins.

First dish from Tiffin Shoe said I have to make again, so yeah that’s a win! Third time is the charm.

The dish I made was from Northern Indian , Vegetarian section, its origins are Uttar Pradesh and this dish it self is Bhunne Aloo. A dry roasted potato dish with a hint of garlic.

What I’ve been enjoying about this book is how it’s gotten my out and about hunting down ingredients. Today my adventure took me to the lovely Kensington market where I ventured to  House of Spice.

House of Spice doesn’t look like much when you first walk in but walking your see it’s full of everything you will need well if you need spices and some other items. I enjoy the  different packet sizes. I was picking up small packs of cumin seeds, dried mango powder (amchoor), ground coriander  and red chile powder and each pack only cost me $2.50! Also while knocking over a ladder with my bag I found the mustard seeds oil I needed, so I was in hogtown heaven!

Even with the cold wet weather of Toronto my spirit was fired up from finding everything I needed, I went to Film Café Restaurant by Eative to get a freshing cold drink of lychee chai tea ICED! Needed to cool myself down.

I got home and quickly began chop chop chopping my potatoes. Began to heat up my mustard seed oil waited till it got hot. I added the cumin seeds in first like the book told me to, the book made me do it! I waited for the cumin seeds to make a lovely cracking sound. Make sure it’s on a low- med heat I nearly burned mine! Adding the potatoes next followed the other spices mixing it in and slowly letting everything crisp up. Shoes shouted ” Smells good in there babe”

Now I had to cut some garlic up and put it in warm water and sprinkle it on the potatoes. I was unsure if this was after they were cooking or right at the end when they we’re about to finish. So I added it right before I pulled them out of the pan.

Making this wasn’t to hard I felt I had to be more patience and wait for everything to crisp up.

Shoe gave her approval and that’s what really matters when the person you’re cooking for enjoys their meal.

 

While not working at my cheese job I work at a fine international food store.

I was trying out some foods and decided to write about it. Items I had never seen from pickled peppers, chutney, canned fish and so many salts.

Today I was up at my cheese job thinking how all I had was some rice and kimchi for lunch, I wanted a little more.

I decided to head down to my other market job and pick up a can of Bar Harbour naturally smoked wild kippered herring. The package is what caught my eye. Its fun,simple and clean here see for yourself!

See isn’t that fun reminds me fresh breath of cool air and look natural omega-3!

Now I’m not a fish guy but I’m trying I wanna see what hooks my taste buds.

Now when I first opened the tin I was shocked by how much was in there. Three meaty herrings I think for the amount alone it was worth $6.99 Canadian.

I stuck my utensil right in expecting some toughness but none it feel apart like a good plan after a few drinks.

Now once again not a fish guy but when I placed it in my mouth I became a fish guy. The freshness the cold water I understood what the package was trying to tell me. The smokiness almost made it sweet despite having no sugar. It made my bland rice and kimchi pleasant lunch.

Cooking class week eight, I’m back in action everyone my stitches are out. This week we roast a chicken , make onion and sage dressing and zucchini provencal.

Now fun fact before class I always get stressed out this week I was like ” What if I under cook the chicken and kill Shoe and I, what if I start a fire what if I cut myself” Normal thoughts I have in my head that normally causes me not wanting to go to class. Even now as I write this blog I am full of worry but I always say press on and this time the words must press on!

Now once I get into the thick of it I begin to relax, once I’m in the chaos of it all I shine bright like a diamond.

Now today F was showing use a bunch of items we started off with how to get the chicken ready for the oven. He said not to wash fresh chickens because it gets bacteria everywhere. He showed us how to truss a chicken. First toss some pepper and salt up it’s butt before you tie this bird up. Next under it’s butt place your butcher twine then cross it now under the legs cross it again. Over the top and do a half hitch around the wings being on the underside of the chicken now tie it tight. Now toss some salt and pepper and oil your bird! Make sure to tie it first before oiling it up or well it may turn into a runaway chicken! Place in a pot upon a bed of carrots and celery. Now this wasn’t to bad I mean my chicken was missing this little nub on it’s butt I believe it’s some form of tail that makes it easier to tie the chicken down BUT I use to be an expect in all matters of knots and ropes so a flick of the wrist and I had that bird oven ready.

Now back at the table F cracked out some liver and bread while our birds cooked in the oven. The onion and sage dressing I had no idea had liver and bread in it till I read the list. I was confused till F said it was just another word for stuffing because it wasn’t inside something. My mind exploded! Anyway F said to blanch the chicken livers because it removes the blood and it gets ride of that metal taste. Which now makes a lot of sense blood has iron, this is what I do in class when F is talking sit there feel like a secret of life has just bee unlocked for me when it should have been clear!

Now in a pan toss your chopped onions let them sweat a little, toss that liver in but not to long. Now get your day old bread which kinds of bugs me I gotta buy bread and wait a day for it to get old not really that long if you factor into how long the universe has been around but maybe I could open my own company call it day olds! Anyway we mix the onions, liver, sage, into a big bowl. Start putting the eggs in to act as a binder in eggs we shall be untied! Slowly pour your chicken stock in  but not all of it! Mix it all nicely together but make sure not to add all your stock if you add to much it won’t bind and it will pool on the bottom. Once it looks like solid mass place inside a tray has been buttered and fill. Place in the oven and you will know it’s cooked by it’s crispy top and by pressing on the middle if it feels hollow. Which is tough what does hollow feel like, I know what it sounds like but feel I guess when I bake it I shall know.

Last was the zucchini provencal which wasn’t anything special in my mind. Cut some onions, garlic and zucchini put in a pan, toss some herbs and canned tomatoes and cooked off it was good and easy!

Best part of the evening was when I pulled my chicken out stuck my tongs up it’s butt and tipped it over and let the juices fall out and they ran clear! What this means is your chicken is cooked if you tip it over and it’s still bloody then put that part back in it ain’t cooked. You can also cut where the leg meets the thighs and if you can’t see pink your good or check it’s temperature 172 fahrenheit. Check it in the breast but don’t go to deep and hit the bone, the bones are hotter than the meat!

Now that bed of carrots and celery don’t toss that out I don’t like to waste never waste food. We cooked our sauce in the same pan as the chicken was in while in the oven lets make a sauce! Turn up the heat on the stove top let the fat at the bottom of that pan cook off for a second pour your stock in let it heat up and continue to add wine, herbs and ether flour or corn starch to thick it up and now you have a lovely sauce with veggies that had been cooked in chicken fat. Waste nothing use it all something died so you may continue onward you needed use everything. Someone worked hard to grow those veggies waste nothing.

It was a fun class and I had a great time till next week all!

 

 

Sorry about not posting last week I took a nasty fall and landed on something sharp and it cut my leg open. I’m ok had the whole Er ward laughing but this is why there was no class post, cheese post or weekly cooking post. This week though I shall get back into it. As I am all better now.

Thank you and have a lovely day.

Hey sorry I was sick all weekend and couldn’t make my weekly Tiffin dish till today. I decided that when I do recipes from Tiffin I will be jumping from section to section. Meaning I started with appetizers in north Indian and this  week I am cooking from poultry and eggs but still in north Indian. The dish I made is  Kali Mirch Ka Murgh a black pepper chicken dish and I mess it up.

Now how I messed it up well I used a massive  yellow onion instead of a red. What this resulted in was to much in the pan. I also used chicken thighs instead of breast =. The reason for this I had it on had and wanted to use it up. Now how did this mess up the recipes simple I had to use my wok to fit everything in and then use more chicken stock causing it not to reduce enough turning my dish more of a soup. Now Shoe said it was good nothing great but not bad.

Now I chopped everything up the garlic, onion, squeezed my lemons making sure no seeds would get into my mixture dragging it down further into the depths of my shame! I pulled my chicken out cut slits into, so it would broke down and cook easier like the book said. I tossed it into a bowl and rub a mixture of lemon zest, garlic and lots of black pepper. This is another simple recipes not much required but I missed it up anyway.

See I began to cook my garlic till the beauty of it’s smell filled the room added the chopped potatoes to the skillet. Now it said cook the potatoes till they begin to get soft. Now I kept cooking these potatoes what I assumed was soft enough for a fork to puncture. I was right.

This is where it all went wrong I put the onions and green beans into the skillet it was not all going to fit we had reached critical mass failure failure failure so I moved it all to the wok that was Shoe suggestion. I added the chicken now this is where I messed up again! The recipe calls for half cup of chicken stock, I added that and it barely filled the wok so I added the whole 1 liter and now I had a massive soup like mixture because it would not go down! I let it simmer till the chicken broke apart.

Like Shoe said it was good not bad but not great. I will get it next time what I learned this time is a course follow the recipe!

 

I actually don’t know who the five brothers are but I know of the five brothers cheese made here in Woodstock Ontario. Its a delightful cheese made by a cheese maker who has study all over.

The five brothers is a washed rind cheese when you bite into this cheese it reminds you of a gouda but also a cheddar and a swiss oddly enough.  When you first see this cheese it looks like a big rock made be a prop builder. It cuts just like butter and when you open it up the pasta looks just like butter. Within the prop rock contains a buttery secret. Take a bite of this cheese it’s a mouthful that your happy to choke down. When you smell it your reminded of melt butter that has slightly cooled now getting thick again but not there.

When you bite into this cheese you notice

Salt: Medium that carries

Sour: A little bit of sour on the at front

Bitter: None to be found

Sweet: Medium that dances with the salt

Umami: Big at the end as you choke on it

Now the five brothers has a rocking  brothy meaty secondary flavor, as you chew this cheese you notice it breaks apart like a gouda and turns creamy in your mouth like a cheddar I would say the flavor more reminds me of Swiss cheeses.

When picking a cheese pick the brothers.

It’s that time again cooking class day!

It’s week six and this week we made quiche, now Red is a pastry chef. ( Also side bar I showed Red I was calling her Red and she would like a different name so I decided on Shoe, for now Red is Shoe)

Now lets start again Shoe is a pastry chef and can bang out a quiche without batting a eye. I on the other hand was stressed out so much about making the quiche, baking is science and order and I do love that but I prefer the chaos and art of cooking. I find cooking to be more forgiving of mistakes than baking.

Now we started off with me noticing none of my table mates we’re there, not really important and I could have their bacon if they don’t  show up but I would be sad if they  missed out. Now F began with explaining how to tell if a egg is old. If you shake the egg and you feel something moving around inside it is a old egg. It has to do with the yolk and what holds the yolk has become weaker and now their is air in the egg. Still a good egg!

F begins with showing us how to make the crust. Flour,salt brown sugar, water and butter lots of butter. Dump flour in bowl at salt and sugar next  pick the butter off with your fingers and fling it into the bowl with our flour. Making the butter pea shape and then mix it with the flour like your looking for gold in a river. THERE BE GOLD IN THAT FLOUR but serious everything had to be fast or our dough would become tough because we annoy the gluten. Poor gluten always taken such a harsh remarks.

I went back to my table when two of the three missing table mates showed up. I had to fire off the instructions for them so they wouldn’t fall behind. One of the table mates O as I will call her made their pastry but Nick as I shall call him did not. So now we all had to head back. F began with showing us the next steps. Dust flour on the table and roll out your dough make sure it’s three times the size of your pie tray. I failed at this part when I did it but I think their is wiggly room. I was rushing this class because you had to keep up with your table partner and I had to keep up with O and she’s fast. So I messed some stuff up trying to keep pace, anyway I cut my cartouche wrong remember the paper thing so I did it twice. I had a thought back to an earlier day when a mentor of mine who said ” What’s better do it slow and right the first time or do it fast twice wrong both times” Be slow and move forward with purpose and focus  is important. After getting my cartouche in pie I had to put beans in let me explain. F told us while our quiche is in the oven it can make air bubbles a way to deal with that is to weigh it down. So make your cartouche put it on top of your dough and weigh down the beans. Rather clever and you can reuse the beans after so double awesome.

I was having problems because I forgot to hone my knife this week and noticed it needed sharping so I had a hard time cutting through my bacon. Oh Bacon how you failed me, and some leak and mushrooms toss into a pan and cook. Now I need to scorch my milk which means bring it to a point where some bubbles are forming, I know when it’s done when I lift the pot up and give the milk a life whirl and a puff of steam comes out. I did this three times to make sure I had it right. Now I had to temper my eggs meaning slowly add my warm milk to the eggs so it doesn’t cook the eggs and so it doesn’t take forever for the quiche to make. I slowly poured the milk in with the eggs and it was a lot easier then I thought.

Now someone asked F how long our crust should be in the oven and he said ” How ever long it takes you to get your filling ready” To which I said ” Time really is relative” To which I got a few laughs F just paid no mind and push on!

Now time to put all the layers in now we had cheese which F told us to add our cayenne pepper and nutmeg to the cheese so it coats it and spreads evenly. Now we had emmental cheese and being a cheese monger I gave some a try. It was ok the flavor was a little flat. I told Shoe this and she pointed out you gotta save cost some where, which I guess is fair. Anyway I layered everything cheese, filling, cheese, filling, cheese and then egg. O and I pulled out our quiche at the same time and they came out looking great.

Shoe said my quiche was good a little peppery but good.

Till next time!

As promised it is Sunday and I was busy cooking and cleaning some of the day. Today I cooked from Tiffin: 500 authentic recipes celebrating india’s regional cuisine. From this point on I’m just calling it Tiffin. The great part about this book it has categories like Northern, Western, Central, South, Eastern and Northeast. It also breaks it down by appetizers, poultry and eggs, meat and pork I’m not sure why it’s different I hope to find out, fish and seafood, vegetarian, rice and breads, desserts and accompaniments.

The first section is in North Indian with thanda tamatar soup also known as cold tomato soup with origins from the state of Uttar Pradesh.

I enjoyed making this dish it was easy quick and few ingredients. This soup only needs butter, ginger paste (adrak), ginger paste ( lasan), chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, lemon juice, heavy cream and cinnamon oh and cilantro but left that out.

Now I was a little lazy and bought a can of diced tomatoes but I remember from my cooking class my teacher said can tomatoes have more flavor. So I used them but I diced up the garlic and ginger. I learned in my cooking class if I use the side of my knife and drag the items I have just cut I can make a paste.

Heat up a pot melt some butter wait till it was hot tossed in my garlic and ginger. The book says wait till the garlic and ginger become fragrant. I nearly burnt them because I enjoyed smelling the garlic and ginger. Adding the tomatoes with some water into the pot was a good feeling hearing that glob sound as it fell into the pot.

Now once everything has broken down and soften up the book says to pour into a blender but because I have a hand held blender I fired that beauty up. Seriously though get a hand held blender their awesome, I put it into the pot turned it on and I had soup in seconds! It says let it cool a put it in the fridge and when you wanna eat it just add  heavy cream and cinnamon.

I forgot the cinnamon! I preferred it with out the cream I found the cream didn’t add much in the way of flavor it help to cut down on the ginger taste but I personally enjoy ginger.

I think this first recipes was meant to build you up as it’s the first one in the book. It fired me up alright, I can hardly wait for the next one. I already wanna try different was of making this and adding different items to it. I’m looking forward to next week!

 

Normally tonight on Tuesday I write about my cooking class but it got canceled due to a snow storm. I personally didn’t think it was much of a snow storm but I once lived in the land before the frozen gates. Today though I had time to think about a project I have wanted to start but kept putting it off because of fear. Fear I will waste my time and energy and just will fail.

After realizing I have this one life I decided I am going to work toward finishing a cookbook. But what cook book to do. I have piles upon piles of books and many more I wish to own from across the planet, I thought and thought and I final came up with the only choice.I knew it the second I saw it in The New York times, I had to have it, learn from it. After searching for so long I picked the book Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes Celebrating India’s Regional Cuisine.

When it arrived I just held it staring at it’s cover how it had been drawn, I felt like I was about to began a epic journey.Within the first few pages I began to already learn the proper names for spices. Tiffin is a collection of 500 recipes from several chefs focusing on regional cuisine across Indian, and edited by Sonal Ved.

SO I decided to blog about this journey see where it takes me once a week I will cook a recipe from this book and post about it from start to finish. Collecting ingredients, prep, cooking, eating and after math whatever that may mean. on Sunday about my cooking from Tiffin.

I may post more from this book as I get into the groove of it. I shall not fail this time!

Please come on me with this journey I promise laughs and good times and my own insight to my mistakes and victories.

Thank you for you time.