The Next Step

Well graduation is near (more like March 23rd, at the end of the month near) and everyone is in the position of what is the next step, what is the future beyond graduation. I finally figured out that step and it feels nice to know that after I'm done here at the Culinary Institute of America I have found what I feel is the right choice for me.

Over the past three day weekend, I ended up flying down to Houston, Texas and drove out to Washington, Texas (about 45 minutes away from Houston, 25 minutes away from College Station) to meet up with my Executive Sous Chef Zach for whom I worked with over my externship in Colorado Springs. He moved out to the Inn at Dos Brisas while I was on externship and had wanted me to come down and visit to see if it would be the right fit for me, it was just a matter of time before I got down there. It just so happened after the Executive Chef drove me to the airport, I was offered a position at the Inn and accepted.

The Executive Chef, Raj had me research a dish out of Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point. It was called Becasse Pyramide or Woodcock Pyramide. Now, first a woodcock is a type a game bird. Not only that it is considered the "king" of game birds. I have to say, it was soooooo good. The birds themselves only have a certain season and are quite expensive. But for this dish, there is no substitution for this bird, nothing could match up to the flavor. After now giving everyone insight on the bird, now the recipe. Fernand Point was a chef in Lyon, France who was the father of Nouvelle Cuisine (meaning focus on vegetables, use of purees, etc.).  Well, in his book a great deal of recipes don't have measurements because unlike Escoffier where everything was by the books and this was the procedure, Point believed that perfection was achieved through trial and error. It was up to you as the cook to determine what was perfect, what was of highest quality.

So the recipe is comprised of the roasted woodcock with all the organs except the gizzard. After roasting, the organs are reserved and combined with seared foie gras and mustard, chopped and passed through a sieve to create a pate. The woodcock is then broken down into four pieces, shallot is sweated in the leftover foie fat with thyme, deglazed with brandy and the bones are then added to that and a sauce is formed with game stock and red wine reduction. Then you take brioche, toast and spread the pate on top of it. Strain your sauce and arrange your roasted woodcock on the plate.

I had to de-feather the woodcock.

The photo ontop is the unsauced plate and the second one was sauced. The plate is meant to look like the bird itself, so the middle talon on the feet are kept and one of the wings was kept for the plate presentation. This dish is a huge classic, this was something I'd never seen before and I was amazing getting that opportunity to work with a product such as woodcock and see a classic dish come together. Chef Raj and I put the dish together and it took us about 30 minuets from start to finish to do. Then Chef told me, now do that whole dish a la minute, on the pickup in 12 minutes. I was shocked but its been done and was done. This was such an amazing dish and its hard to put words to how good it was.

Other than getting that opportunity to cook that dish on Tuesday, I saw many other things. Sunday I walked into brunch service and got to try two dishes.

Local Yonderway Farm "Scotch Eggs"

Red Ace Spinach, Broken Arrow Ranch Venison Ham, Savory Crumble, Red-Eye Gravy

Traditional Cassoulet Touloussain

Southern French stew of white beans, lamb, duck, sausages, garlic and thyme

Later that night I stayed with Zach to help put out a dinner and I got a snapshot of one course he sent out.

Fresh Asparagus Salad with citrus, black truffle, asparagus puree and poached egg

And this was a leftover slice of truffle I got to enjoy.

Below is a picture of the restaurant at the Inn from afar and the rest is going to be a photobombing of the property.

Now, the rest of the photos are from the property. I forgot to mention that the Inn has about two dozen acres of land and greenhouse space that is USDA Certified Organic in which they source all there produce from and if its not from there, its sourced locally. I got excited taking my tour of the property, I spent two hours eating vegetables and it was amazing. Its seeing produce like that, that gets me excited about work and my career and food! As well all the food is taken care of, its respected, everything on a plate has the same respect and if not, the vegetable is showcased more than the protein. Thats how the food is treated at the Inn and everything is done in a correct manner and has to meet a high quality and standard set by Raj and Zach. Honestly, I'm excited for the next step, I know its going to be alot of hard work but I know I'm going to grow and learn so much where I'm going. I made the right choice and I'm really looking forward to it.

-Garrett