The Culinarian - Thanksgiving Edition!

Ok, yes in all reality Thanksgiving was a couple weeks back BUT it doesn't mean I still can't write about Thanksgiving back home and all the food goodness that followed. So my friend Maddy decided to come home to experience the Saylor Family Thanksgiving. Maddy did have alot of fun (or at least I hope so) but it was all good times. Way to many jokes (which is never a problem in my eyes) with the whole family, alot of amazing food and thats to the extent of it. After this paragraph I'm just going to bombard this whole post with photos so oogle and oggle at all the delicious food and the captions that follow.

Pre Thanksgiving Snack: Crab Squares - a spread made from crab, cream cheese, your seasoning of choice, shallots and some sharp cheddar cheese. Put on bread (of your choice), browned under the salamander till GBD (Golden Brown & Delicious) and then sprinkled with smoked paprika and enjoy.

THE TURKEY: Marinated in Franks Red Hot Sauce for 24 hours, rubbed down with Cajun spices, injected with Cajun butter and then deep fried. Spicy, moist, and just so flipping good. Been doing it this way for many, many years.

The Fixings: Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes with of course marshmallows and cranberry sauce

Maddy and Her Cranberry Sauce, shes the one who made it this year and it was bangin and so on after Thanksgiving, we ate cranberry relish/sauce with everything, I enjoyed it with some ice cream.

The Stuffing: Italian sausage, cornbread, mirepoix, mushrooms and some giblets. 

Giblet Gravy: Gravy Amazing in your Mouth

Slow Cooked Greenbeans: Simmered till tender with onions, potato, some white wine and of course a ham hock for smoked, pork flavor from our favorite butcher.

Mom Slicing Turkey

My Sister baked up all the Rolls and assisted in prep

My Dad looking formal for the event (only for the classiest of events is the tuxedo tshirt a requirement) taking the turkey off its what you would call it that holds the turkey as it goes into the deep fryer.

Me post Thanksgiving, now you might ask, what did Garrett do during this Thanksgiving meal, well I watched the deep fryer and help do some turkey prep, I had to keep an eye on the oil temp and also miss Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade again but its no big deal, for delicious turkey, its worth it.

Mom made her amazing pumpkin pie!

And my father, Lily my dog and I got into a whipped cream fight

Now breakfast for me when I go home is like one of the greatest things on the face of the planet. I will argue that my dad's biscuits and gravy kicks yours in the butt because its my dad's. One of my favorite meals.

Outside North Market, I'm pretty positive I've written about North Market before, describe it as a scaled down version of Chelsea Market but still awesome!

The one and only Jeni's Ice Cream, yes I ate ice cream at 10:30 in the morning, what else is new.

Schmidt's, some of the best German food you can get. Tucked away in Columbus' German Village, this place is just amazing. See the date, 1886, yes they've been open that long and its stayed in the family going on 5 generations. Amazing kraut, housemade everything....good, simple food.

I had a bhama mama (a spicy kielbasi) with kraut, potato pancakes and apple sauce of course.

Maddy had bratwurst, kraut, warm German potato salad, and applesauce.

Another favorite breakfast, French toast made with baguette, an egg mixture in which the base is heavy cream and screw maple syrup, just sugar ontop of my French toast. An addition, I was spoiled all break long because Maddy had Kona coffee from back home so I had a cup or two every morning.

A four way using the Gold Star Chili Recipe. Now I know Ohio has this rep for being out there but this is good chili and the face we serve it over pasta no one gets. This chili is a brown chili versus a red chili from the south. And unlike being tomato based and spicy from chile's, Cincy style chili gains its color from use of chili powder but sweet spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. The ground beef in it isn't browned either, its cooked in the liquid and thickens through simmering. But theres different classifications of this chili and pasta.

Theres the coney: a small hotdog with chili, onion, mustard and grated sharp cheddar cheese

The 3 way: Pasta, chili, cheese

The 4 way: Pasta, chili, cheese, onion

The 5 way: Pasta, chili, cheese, onion, and kidney beans

Always served with oyster crackers and your choice of hot sauce.

I wanted to finish this blog post with a shot of Jeni's Ice Cream, from left to right it was, Bourbon and Pecan, Cumin and Almond Brittle, Almond Cake and Brown Butter Ice Creams.

So thats it for the Thanksgiving Edition of the Culinarian. Enjoy!

-Garrett

A Blog Post!?!

Hello Everyone,

I am indeed writing a blog post and its been way to long I think but then again I've been so caught up with school and sorry but my studies and health have come first before the blog. On the other hand, its time to play catch up and fill everyone in on the life of a student in culinary school.

Where do I start?

Well, I'm currently in Cuisines of the Mediterranean and Europe, I'm about halfway through the class now and I moved out of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals which was last block (about 4 or 5 weeks ago). Its crazy to now think, I graduate in 5 months, yes you heard me FIVE MONTHS!. So I've been planning out several paths into where I'd want to go. But before I start talking about career/life stuff. Let me fill you in on some of the fun things I've been up to lately.

So, sometime in October I took a trip into New York City on a Saturday and had a relaxing time.

Strolling through Central Park

Outside of Sheep's Meadow

The One and Only Gray's Papaya (72nd St and Broadway)

Two Hot Dogs (with Sauerkraut) with a Medium Drink (Papaya Juice) only for $4.44

Also while in the City, I had the chance to go to the Museum of Natural History, I'll post up those photos sometime in another post or something.

A few people I go to school with told me about this bistro called the Northern Spy Food Co., its in East Village, its 511 East 12th Street in between A and B Ave. I highly suggest you go, the food was amazing and a decent price as well. They feature local produce and proteins from local farmers.

Just a snapshot of the interior. This was a small restaurant, only 45 to 50 seats I'd say. Showed up at 5:30 when they opened. By the time I had my entree, they were already packed and lined out the door.

They have a snack menu as they have a bar. This is headcheese (a terrine made from all the meat from a pigs head) with a spicy arugula salad and house made grain mustard. Some of the BEST headcheese I've ever had.

I'm a sucker for fried chicken livers, so that was exactly it with a light arugula salad and house made buttermilk ranch.

This is a before and after shot of the entree. I had a PEI Mussel and Squid White Bean Ragu with toasted country bread to mop up all the juices.

A little snapshot of the dessert menu. I opted out to have dessert and hit up somewhere else to have my after dinner treat. Somewhere I just couldn't pass up on having.

Momofuku Milkbar, David Chang's bakery serving up amazing goods. Such as Crackpie (Butterscotch and Carmel Pie), Compost Cookies (made with chocolate chips, potato chips, oatmeal, pretzels, and more) and Cereal Milk Ice Cream (milk that's been infused with Frosted Flakes and then turned into Ice Cream, how better can that get).

This is just a picture of my marzipan rose I made for Baking, pretty awesome eh?

Now, I was able to find the limited edition Schweddy Balls Ice Cream from Ben & Jerry's and let me say, IT IS DELICIOUS! Based off of the SNL Skit featuring Alec Baldwin as Dave Schweddy from Season's Eatings talking on NPR about how "No one can resist my Schweddy Balls". This is a vanilla and rum ice cream with chocolate rum balls and malted milk balls. Its a really good Ben & Jerry flavor (doesn't beat Jeni's though) but I can say I had Schweddy Balls in my mouth and it new tasted so good.

One night on campus we decided to have a burger night....

Basting hamburgers in bacon grease = Flavor and Winning

My monster creation: Hamburger with a fried egg, bacon, garlic-herb mayo (handmade!), pickled peppers and cheddar cheese......

Yes that is yolk running down my hand and face.....it was such a good burger.

The day it dumped snow in New York (oh wait, last weekend...more like last Saturday). We did a road trip to Fleisher's, a fantastic butcher shop in Kingston, New York (just across the river!) to obtain some raw meat for cooking purposes. The only serve local meats which means the quality is unbelievable! It reminded me of the good old days working back at the butcher back home. Which raised a question, should I be a butcher? (Probably not but I plan on carrying on the tradition of butchery at its finest, maybe when I retire I'll open a shop).

Now, Grimaldi's Pizza is originally located in Brooklyn under the Brooklyn Bridge but they have a sister pizzeria in New Paltz, New York (right across the river too!) where that is some fantastic NY Style Pizza.

Just to end the blog with a photo I took while on campus. I'm hoping things will balance out soon and I can write more. But before I leave to talk about some future/life stuff!

So I've been trying to figure out what might happen in the next few months. Theres a career fair coming up this week and I plan on going for sure. Blue Hill will be there and I really want to talk to them about trying to go and stage for alittle while. Other than that I should/might be going down to Houston to go out and stage with my sous chef from Colorado at the inn over my winter break (more like over New Year's). I've also be considering staying up here at the school and becoming a TA (teaching assistant) at one of the restaurants and going to the community college to knock out my general education classes so I can pursue my BS in Hospitality Management either at NYU or Boston University. I've got some thinking to do and plus some studying to also do for my current class but I will be writing soon! (Hopefully!)

-Garrett



Update, Update, Update!

Hey Everyone!

If my current L-Block Academics couldn't get any busier! Project over project over project.

I decided to take some time on this gloomy September day in Hyde Park to write up a blog post.

So, fall in the Hudson Valley is right around the corner which means:
A) My favorite time of year
B) Some amazing produce in my opinion (APPLES! and much more!)
C) Some prime time to go mushroom foraging
     *Round Two of the Year for Morels (Maybe I'll Get Lucky!)
D) When the trees change its absolutely beautiful

So, I'm stoked for the change in season and the fall activities that occur.

But, I'll talk alittle bit about school at the current moment. So its about two weeks and I'm done with academics and then I move into my rounds of cooking classes and 1st up is Baking Fundamentals for Culinary Arts. I am indeed excited because though I find baking bread to be very stress relieving, I'd like to learn more about that side of things and baking is a interest of mine. Beyond that I want to talk about a current project I'm working on for my Menus Development class. We had to present a a restaurant concept, put it down on paper and write out a fact sheet (researching demographics of an area we knew well, I choose the Short North Arts District of Columbus, Ohio) and present it in a fashion as we would going to investors or a bank. Then we had to create a functioning menu for the restaurant. I though this project was very cool because it gave me a chance to really explore into the restaurant I would like to open down the road in my career. So I went with a simple bar/bistro concept. Focusing more on seasonality of products and menus, also being able to use a very local forward approach to ingredients. Also bundled in was the idea of doing inhouse smoking, curing of meats, making pickled items and doing canning/preserving. The type of food was very simple French and American cuisine. I'm real excited about this project, it got me thinking and starting to explore more concepts and ideas of mine for the future.

Another awesome project I'm doing at the moment is for my Intro to Management Class. We had to go to a restaurant and observe the staff and management. We choose a very, very, very, good restaurant called the Artist's Palate in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York. They stick to very simple food with a focus on seasonality. If your ever up here it is so worth it to go eat there. You'll spend about 40 to 50 dollars maybe on just yourself (if you get all three courses) but it is so worth it. These are photos I took of every one's food during the meal.

This was an Amuse Bouche presented by the Chef. The purpose of an Amuse is to wow your customers essentially at the beginning of the a meal or to amuse the mouth so to speak. Our amuse was smoked, grilled Pacific Salmon with chive creme friache, lightly oiled tomatoes and cucumbers on a toast round.



They presented also a basket of grilled bread with sundried, tomato pesto.

Someone had gotten a arugula salad, with local red bartlett pears, in house made duck breast prosciutto, light oil and cider vinaigrette and ricotta salada 

This was a soy-citrus marinaded, grilled swordfish with sticky rice, ginger scallion butter and stir fried snap peas

This was grilled salmon with Maryland Jumbo Lump Blue Crab with pommes puree, asparagus and  smoked tomato hollandaise

Grilled Hertiage Breed Porkchop with pommes puree, sauteed vegetables and a chimi churri sauce

This photo is in two parts because the plate was so big. This is moules (Prince Edward Island Blue Mussels) Sauteed with garlic, tomato, bell peppers, and white wine with frites (french fries) and a saffron mayo

The interior of The Artist's Palate

This was the dessert sampler, Peach Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream, Molten Chocolate Cake and Creme Brulee

This was the sorbet sampler: Strawberry, Peach, and Golden Beet with Ginger, served with a almond biscotti

This was a cranberry and peach bread pudding made with brioche bread and vanilla creme anglaise



Our meal was fantastic and if your ever in the area of Poughkeepise/Hyde Park it is so worth it once again.

The last piece I want to add to this blog post is the other day on Eater (a very awesome food blog) Dan Barber and other great chefs from around the world were at the Mistura Grastronimic Festival in Lima, Peru and helped draft up a letter to young chef's and I think it is a great piece. Here's the link:

http://eater.com/archives/2011/09/12/dan-barber.php#more

But thats it for now!

-Garrett

Back in Business

Well....Hello Everyone!

I'm back and hopefully staying to write for awhile, I've missed it alot and things have been crazy busy lately but let me fill you in on the little details from the past almost to months.

Extern ended: July 15th
Left Colorado: July 19th

Arrived in Ohio: July 20th

Left Ohio for New York: August 20th
Moved into the dorms at the CIA: August 21st

Started Classes for a new year at The Culinary Institute of America: August 23rd

Crazy, crazy, crazy stuff. But that leaves you questioning....what did you do between leaving Colorado and moving back into school. That I will tell you.

I honestly spent alot of time relaxing, enjoying my family, just getting to enjoy somewhat of a break before school started back up. Though about three weeks in I was ready to be back at school and in a routine. I did do alot of projects, worked at the butcher market I worked at last summer before I left for school and made some pocket change. Got to do alittle photography and eat some great food around the local Columbus area.

Jeni's Newest Location in German Village and my sister holding up a waffle cone scooped up with the Buckeye State (chocolate and peanut butter, after a signature candy based off of Buckeyes)

Now, the 1st photo on the left was a project I did, I was making sweet pickle chips (or bread and butter pickles). To the center is one of the last meals I made at home, Pan seared scallops, roasted fingerling potatoes, and a salad of arugula, roasted red peppers, strawberries, balsamic, olive oil and buttermilk blue cheese. The last photo to the right is something I had at Jeni's one day, it was a float they had made up. It was a scoop of their vanilla ice cream with passion fruit yogurt and dry vanilla soda. Let me say, it was very, very tasty, I could have had like three of those it was so good.

Now that I've been back at school I've been busy with my classes. Currently I'm taking what is called L Block and is 6 weeks of academics. So I'm taking:

Intro to Management

Nutrition

Menu Development

Costing or as our professor thinks we should call it, Money

Restaurant Law

Its been busy the past few weeks and I've just started! But yesterday I did a catering gig for a local catering company/restaurant for a wedding. Last Saturday I went out mushroom foraging (more like mushroom picture taking to identify), survived when hurricane Irene passed through the week before. It's been all fun lately, like honestly it has!

Pictures of some mushrooms me and my friend Amanda found on our trip to forage! Now the one to the right I'm still trying to identify but to the left, I've got a feeling its a chicken mushroom but I could be wrong.

Well, that's it for this post. I'll update more and have some more school related stuff (like photos of our campus!) Theres also many more adventures to come!

-Garrett