Happy Hour....Is it Really that Happy?

It's Wednesday.....and Wednesday means Happy Hour Prep for Thursday and Friday.....

Ok, so we had a party of 12 and a party of 20 to this evening.
The Party of 20 was off the menu.
The Party of 12 was a limited menu from our full dinner menu.

So during this all I had to do some extra prep in order to have enough for the party of 12 but here's the kicker....do the prep to make 6 crudite platters and 6 cheese platters for happy hour....

Normally on Wednesdays this is all I do but I had to do the party as well so things got alittle swamped. I got it all done (Thankfully!) with some help from the other guys who put the platters together and someone from AM made all my fruit platters. But cutting 8 to 10 pounds of different types vegetables and upwards to 6 pounds each of a different cheese....it takes some time and alot of knife work....

But other than happy hour prep....I didn't get to check my beet stalks =[ So I most definitely will tomorrow. I also stumbled upon a huge Asian market off of Highway 24....its like a Walmart for Asian goods! How awesome is that! Some exploring I'll have too do! I really can't complain right now, I'm enjoying each day as it comes and goes. I've been spending more time on my goals for the future, especially this one that involves me going to Europe...lots of research as to where all I want to go....I really want this one to happen. I'll have more on this one later (I should take a picture of my 'office')

Good night all!

-Garrett

"Oh Yeah....You Fan Some Strawberries on the Fruit Platter"

Fruit.....Fruit.....Fruit.....and Some More Fruit

Cantaloupe
Honeydew
Watermelon
Pineapple
Some Grapes
and Fanned Strawberries

Yes, I prepped fruit platters today and that's about it.....good thing I don't like melon or anything or a serious liking for it would be gone.

That was today in a nutshell.

I pickled watermelon rind. Not quite sure how its to turn out but here's what I did:
1 qt Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 qt Water
1 cup Sugar

Brought that mix to a boil and poured over the rind of 1/2 a watermelon.
We'll see how it turns out in about a week, which about this Wednesday the beet stalks should be done so I'll post it up.

But to sum up the day, Pikes Peak was looking beautiful today (like it doesn't always look beautiful) so I was able to snap a few pictures before work.



Thats really all for today, I have Monday and Tuesday off so I'll be blogging with my latest adventure, thoughts and ideas. And to Sav! I MISS YOU TOO!

This is Garrett Saylor Signing Off, Good night all.

-Garrett

Grease, Burnt Knuckles, Alot of Sweat, a Few Cases of Fruit and Alot of Learning

Well, the title is basically my evening in a nutshell.

Grease - Scrubbed the Hoods this evening, tons o' fun!

Brunt Knuckles - That French top can get pretty hot and we didn't have alot towels.....ouch like alot

Alot of Sweat - I was in the weeds tonight, still on a menu I haven't cooked every dish on, some specials that we hadn't done fully and about 80% of the tickets were coming off my station. But with help from the rest of the line and my Executive Sous Chef there to help me, push me and guide me, we pulled out of the weeds, got back on track and kept our cool. The food being sent out looked great and we got tons of complements.....a couple told us there meal was better than one the had at a two Michelin in France. Like that's a flipping complement...and there meal came off MY STATION! So yeah! Rocked it tonight and learned alot on running my station, I did well for day 6 of running m station but its alot of work before I get it down and not to mention in 10 days we switch menus. Crazy, crazy, crazy but once you get in the flow and pace it feels amazing running my station!

A Few Cases of Fruit - Alot of fruit trimmed and cleaned up for a party....and theres only more I need to clean tomorrow.

and Alot of Learning - Of course a day at work wouldn't be complete without learning, thats why I love going to work, the fact I get to learn! I learned how to run my station successfully and things that Zack is helping me with. Also I had a good talk today with Zach, talking about the future because Jake told him that I wanted to spend 6 months in Europe so we talked about that and also some ideas I had for the future and he told me that he'd be more than glad to help me out! So I have a feeling I'm in a great place!

But thats all for now, good night all!

-Garrett

So Tonight.....IM THE SAUCE BOSS

Yes you heard me, Tonight I'm the SAUCE BOSS!

No Jack Daniels though (If you haven't seen Epic Meal Time, open a new tab and search on YouTube Epic Meal Time and LYFAO)

So, I figured it out tonight at work....The Secret Sauce they put on Big Macs. Yes the Big Mac Sauce except, mine was pretty dang good. So this is what I did:

Made 1 cup of Mayo: 1 egg yolk to 1 cup of oil, a little Dijon mustard as emulsifier, tad bit of water and season with salt.
A few spoonfuls of Hunt's Chili Sauce
Mix together and BAM! Secret Sauce for the Big Mac

And that's it, I'm the Sauce Boss.

Theres  one for the extern manual! And moving on....

Overall today was good, I love learning new things and I did quite the amount of learning.

So we got in a case of baby beets and they were bunched up and had beautiful greens on them. Se we were trying to utilize the whole beet. Save the beet itself, save the greens and we are left with the stalks. What do you do with beet stalks? Well....you pickle them of course! So today I a lesson in pickling, something I didn't do much of in Garde Mange. So I was given this, 2 parts acid to 1 part neutral in addition a sweetener of some sort to balance the acid and spices, herbs, etc. So armed with a ratio, I was let free to let my own creative juices to flow and figure this one out.

So here's what I did with my golden beet stalks:

- 1 quart apple cider vinegar

- 1/2 quart water

- 2 ea granny smith apple and D' anjou Pear

- Tbsp Whole Cloves

- 3 Cinnamon Sticks

- 1 pound brown sugar

I was going more for an apple cider like taste, before I stashed it away in the cooler it was pretty tart. This might have quite the acid flavor...I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow, hopefully it mellows out a tad.

Here's what I did with my red beet stalks:

- 1/2 quart sherry vinegar

- 1/2 quart tarragon vinegar

- 1/2 quart water

- Peel from 3 oranges and the left overs from segmenting them

- 3 Cinnamon Sticks

- Tbsp Juniper Berries

- 1 pound of clove honey

Now this one was on the sweeter side but it had a nice blend of flavors from the two vinegars. I'm interested to see how this one comes out.

If both work well and taste good, they could very well accompany the each other with one being tart and the other being sweet.

Now tomorrow I also have about a 1/2 of a 1/3rd pan full of red beat stalks. I'm going to do some investigating and seeing if its possible to pickle mango....if so I'm going to try it.

But that's all for today. A final thought, France is on my mind, like I really really really really want to go!

-Garrett

Prep, Prep, Prep, More Prep and a Huge Fricken Question

So, work today.....it was quite a long day or at least it felt like it. I think I felt the altitude today.....bogged me down alot today and I was pushing to make it through. I had lots and lots and lots of prep.....it was the happy hour prep for Thursday and Friday. Ugh...fruits, vegetables, cheese....so much of all....thats enough said. All and all, I honestly think today was an off day...I felt it but tomorrow raises a new sun and a new day, so I'll start out fresh with a new mind, new thoughts, ready to go.

Had the pleasure to talk to the one and only Maddy Redo earlier! We were talking about the future! I know on yesterday's post I had said something and about what was on my mind. Now I know you can't think too much into the future about things but I've most definitely had it on my mind lately. I've though about extending that trip to Europe from 6 months to a year.....or spending 6 months in Europe and 6 months between Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Also thinking alot about going back in to butchering, I worked for a butcher before I came to school and had so much fun! Who knows, all I can say is that its going to be one fun year of exploring and figuring it out.

I'm off to bed all so Good Night!

-Garrett

So With a Couple Days Off....Comes a Few Thoughts and Adventures

So, I had the pleasure of having Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off.

Sunday, I spent the day sleeping in and working on that grand old externship manual and scholarships.

Monday or today, I was able to work on yet again more paperwork but I also took the oppertunity to go to the main library for Colorado Springs and browse for a few books where I picked up the Ad Hoc Cookbook, Fodor's Guides to Colorado and France and also the book Don't Try This At Home. That book has great chefs from around the world talk about there greatests disasters. After that I took a nice little drive from downtown Colorado Springs to Garden of the Gods. I was armed with a camera, a back pack with 4 liters of water,mango slices and was ready to hike. I'm not really sure how much I hiked today, I just kinda went and took my sweet time, taking in the fresh are and nature. It was very relaxing just getting to enjoy the outdoors and being somewhere where I could think and just let go. So I have a few photos from today:

It was a lovely day to go hiking. Now to everyone I started writing this blog last night and I stopped because I was really flipping tired so I'm picking it up today. I sorta had my Tuesday off, my Executive Sous Chef Zack asked me if I could come in today and I gladly said I could. He just needed someone to cover any room service orders but I got to knock out half of my prep list so now I'm ahead on my prep for my station this week. But because we've been in the process of cleaning the line, I broke about half of it down and scrubbed, degreased, and reassembled it. No one asked me to do it but I geared up with 2 aprons, three layers of gloves, my goggles and face mask to work with the most potent degreaser I've ever used in my life.

But hopefully the line works better than it did after the work I put into it tonight.

I've been thinking about the future and my career ahead of me because well, I graduate from the CIA next March.....EXACTLY ONE YEAR FROM NOW! Its crazy to think about but I've been giving it some thought, like alot. So heres what I'm thinking:

-Work to become TA in the School's Meat Room

-Get an AOS or BOS in Small Buiness Management at a another school thats not CIA (too much $$$)

-Apply to get in with the Greenbriar's Apprenticeship Program

-Go spend 6 months to a 1 year in Europe to basically learn

But I'm feeling beat so I'm going to bed.

-Garrett

Day 6: Quite the Learning Experience

Well, today was a great day (Every day at work I take as great, I learn something new every single day)

But though today was a great day and I learned a lot of new things.....I got to really run my saute station today.....and to be completely honest, I got my ass handed to me. Running a saute station is still very new to me and its going to be work. I don't expect to get it in three days, I know this will quite honestly take time but I feel that its that I'm taking something from it everyday and I know what to improve on, what will make my set up better, what will help me be more successful. It will all come with repetition and more experience. But my Executive Sous Chef told me I did a good job for only working my station 3 days. Like I said it will take some practice and lots of learning, thats what externship is about but I'm loving everyday I go into work and learning.

On the other hand we are doing some test runs for the spring menu which I'm really looking forward to, its looking pretty awesome so far but soon I will have some pics and descriptions as soon as it all gets up and rolling.

There are two things I discovered today that are completely amazing (theres a few more things but I'll stick to these two for now)
Those two things are:
-Rendered Veal Fat
&
-Garlic Confit that is then turned into Garlic Paste and Garlic Oil

Now rendered veal fat is all the fat taken after roasting veal bones for brown stock, reserved and literally you add it to anything (a big tip, roast mushrooms in veal fat.....heaven) and it makes it amazing.....you could use the liquid fat like butter and put it on hot bread (not that I didn't do it today at work)....its so GOOD!

As for garlic confit, peel a few heads of garlic, pour oil over to cover them, throw on a burner LOW AND SLOW! Allow to cook until the garlic is nice and tender. Strain the oil from the garlic. Now you have garlic infused oil which is also amazing on hot bread (not saying I did it at work) and take the garlic and run in a VitaMix or food processor until a paste, pass through a chinoise or tamis and now you have garlic paste that is so delicious, smells so good and gives such an amazing flavor to items. I put the paste in sauteed spinach along with a shallot confit we do at work.....so good!

But these three things I'd stash in my fridge at home to have, it would be so worth it. Ive got an amazing sauce recipe but I'll talk about it later in another post. But its time to go to bed so good night all!

-Garrett

P.s. - The night sky out here is flipping amazing!

Day 5: A GREAT DAY.....and alot of scrubbing and degreaser

Ok, I'm so exetremly tired right now so I'm going to push through on writing this post.

Today....was a GREAT DAY!

We had more covers for service and I was running my saute station pretty dang well for being new. My Executive Sous Chef Zack was still there to help me run through a few things. Part of our service we were cooking dinner for our GM of the club and I believe his guests and a few higher ups and I have a scallop dish served with bucatini pasta, a basil emulsion sauce, confit tomatoes, basil, and parm. CAME OUT PERFECT! Zack said it was beautiful and so did Chef. I'm starting to like this whole idea of cooking with spoons, like it all makes sense and its nice to work with. I need much more practice and I know I need to work on my speed but overtime I will get the hang of it.

I love the fact that I'm learning something new every single day! So I'm officially loving extern and have been since day one. But we are in the process of doing a GI on the line.....lots of scrubbing, lots of degreaser, and I have to do laundry in the morning. Night all!

-Garrett

Day 4: Some Pros, Some Cons, Some Fun, and Working My Butt Off

Well, tonight we are going to play can Garrett type this entry before falling asleep.....and we start....NOW!

So today went really well I think, I learned a whole lot and still have a ways before I'm good. But I know what I need to work on which is always good so I can set a personal goal or two everyday. Today was my real 1st service working my saute station. Even so I worked along side my Executive Sous Chef and he took me through the dishes I served today but I didn't see all of them still so like I said earlier I have alot to learn. But I look at my station as a challenge because:
A) I've never worked a saute station in my life
B) It will most certainly help me with my speed
C) I'm working with a few ingredients I haven't worked much with
D) Learning some new types and forms of preparations for starches, veg, sauces, proteins, etc.
So overall it is alot of fun and I'm really enjoying it. I pulled out my station diagram today to set up for service and when Chef and my Sous Chef were talking, I had a good MEP set up! That made me very happy and I like the set up I put down on my station. My Executive Sous Chef helped me set up my base station of my cockpit as to where the essentials would be placed and I could learn to work like clockwork with smooth actions. I need to go add some large spoons to my spoon collection to work with (If I packed it.....I might have a nice spoon from St. Andy's....shhhhh.....no one needs to know lol) My Executive Sous Chef is going to help me learn to cook with spoons (He works with spoons, offset spats, and tweezers...tongs are for SHOEMAKERS) But he's really cool and I feel is really helping me drive hard to learn this all....and it prob helps that I'm very attentive to learn.

I'll be back in a sec. going to get some Blue Bell Ice Cream and a piece of brownie Mary made the other day.

It ended up being somewhat of a later night, we broke down the line now that there is going to be three of us running it now we can do a tip top job of cleaning. Its going to be alot of fun I think because we are going to have an actual line when the busy season rolls around in about a month. But overall I can't complain about work, I'm really enjoying it and I'm learning something new everyday and I love every aspect of it.

Here's something I don't think anyone else has a problem with at there externship. See, things take much longer to do here in the lovely state of Colorado (and don't get me wrong, this is a lovely state but theres one part thats a pain in the @**) Elevation and altitude makes a huge difference in cooking up here, like if anything I've picked up its rearranging certain tasks after knowing it takes longer to do. To boil a pot of water takes forever! and to cook pasta and any sort of veg....takes FOREVER! Like today I was par cooking some pasta for service and I put it in the hot, boiling, salted water (proper conditions for pasta or the 1:1:1 ratio, 1 gallon of water to 1# of pasta and 1oz of salt) and normally dried pasta takes like 10 to 12 mins....well I had like an OH CRAP MOMENT....MY PASTA! And its still wasn't done, so go to show, stuff like that here, takes longer.

But, I'm off to bed so good night all and Happy Late St. Patty's Day!

-Garrett

*Just realized, my blogs are posting in Eastern Time

Day 3 of Works, Thoughts, Observations, and Maybe a Question or Two

Good Evening To Everyone.....or Good Morning To Everyone, just depends what time zone your in.

But I'm finally settled in from getting back from a nice, long day at work. I'll rub it in for everyone out on the East Coast (though its finally getting warmer out there) It was in the 70's today with a lovely breeze and this evening, instead of it feeling like someone dropped the AC to -5, it must have been in the 50's so I was able to drive back with the comfort of my windows down.

Today marked what would be day 4 work at The Garden of the Gods Club.....so ultimately I need to fill you in on the past three days of work....which I'll prob do tomorrow morning whilst writing the week 1 assignment for the externship manual. So back to today, well like I mentioned earlier, it was a nice, long day at work. I worked my butt off and at the end of the day walked away and drove home with a sense of accomplishment and knowing what I need to work on tomorrow to improve. LOTS of prep work today, like LOTS and LOTS of prep work.....alot of knife skills today. My chef's knife......she worked alot today.....batonnets, juliennes, etc. I did alot today.....like I spend every morning before work, we'll sit down at the stone and make a nice, fine, sharp, beautiful edge before we head off. But through doing lots of work, it helps me personally get better and understand how to work efficiently and fast but maintaining high quality. Also spent some work cutting alot of croutons for salad....If anyone hasn't had the pleasure of getting to experience the CIA Bread Knife, it cuts amazing through bread.....and it does a good job of shaving off skin FYI...I just don't want to know what getting cut with it would be like. But work today was good, tomorrow I'm going to put my station diagram to the test and we'll see if it works for my saute station.

A few observations from today, I was noticing while driving back home, it was quite peaceful, driving through Colorado Springs was very relaxed. Not only that you could actually see the night sky. My dad had made mentioned that out west, cities are spread out because theres actual space to do so so there is no real light pollution here, just the street lights so it was nice for a change...I guess that topped off my evening and made today great.

I also want to pose a question for everyone....I was watching Julia Child today on PBS before I was to head off to work and it got me to thinking, Chefs or Cooks that have influenced me through there thoughts, philosophy, style that I look up too. So, what Chef or Chefs or Cooks have influenced you? I kinda have a list so here we go:

-Chef LeRoux (For everyone from CIA)
-Fernand Point
-David Chang
-Julia Child
-Anthony Bourdain
-Escoffier

I can't wait to hear every ones answers!

- Garrett

Hello All!

Hello Everyone!

I want to welcome all to my blog called The Culinarian. My name is Garrett Saylor and I'm currently a student at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY on my 18-Week Extern out in Colorado Springs, Colorado at The Garden of the Gods Club. This will be a blog all about my culinary adventures here out in Colorado and of course photos. Also a place to disscuss food, concepts, news, and etc. I'm open to hear what every one has to say and think about everything going on in our foodie world. So hopefully this will be a fun little project that will contiune on way into the future and who knows....

-Garrett