Top 5 Tools to Have in Your Knife Kit

Besides the basics that should already be in your knife kit such as a Chef's Knife, Steel, Pearing Knife, etc. Some of us decided what about a few others things that are overlooked and something you should really, honestly have. So here's the Top 5:

1 - Y Peeler
Now, peelers come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes but Y Peelers are pretty efficient, have a great shape for peeling and though you might go through them quite fast, they cost all of two dollars so to have a stash of 4 peelers laying around your apartment, locker, dorm room, kitchen, etc, isn't all that bad of an idea.

2 - Fish Spatula
They are super useful especially for FISH! If there is one thing I've learned its don't manhandle a beautiful thing such as fish. So go out, by yourself a nice fish spat for 18 or so bucks and you'll be set for quite sometime.

3 - Plating Spoons
I'm a fan of spoons, I love cooking with spoons, it just makes alot of sense (I've got to give alot of street credit to the Europeans for coming up with such a fine idea) It makes sense to have at least a good sized regular spoon and a larger one. You can do this by going to GoodWill and buying spoons to buying yourself a nice set of Gray Kunz Spoons from J.B. Prince.

4 - Mini Off-Set Spatula OR 6 inch Palette Knife
Great for flipping small delicate items, spreading, plating, scraping items out of 9th pans (especially the mini off-set spatula) just make sure the handles are wooden so they don't melt on you while on the line.

5 - A Can Opener or The Standard Military Issued P-38 Can Opener
Now something my Dad gave me that made so much sense. On all those competition shows, the one thing no one has is a can opener, so they end up jacking up their knives opening a can. Or those industrial #10 openers just destroy your can instead of opening it or theres only one of those in house and its always lost. So the P-38 can opener fits nicely on a key ring for use.

-Garrett

Day Trip: NYC

Sitting last Saturday night, my friends Jesse, Matt and I were talking about what we would the next day. It was a Sunday, we kinda wanted to get out and we hadn't gone out much because most of our time had been spent sleeping, relaxing, studying for class. Jesse and I were in Back of House St. Andrew's and Matt was in Back of House Caterina. We all needed a break, so we said why don't we go to New York City for the day. Waking up the next morning, the weather was nice, we were feeling good so we hopped in the car and drove an hour and forty five into the big apple. Armed with 30 dollars in my pocket, it was going to be a day of fantastic eating. Ten dollars went towards the much needed Metro card to get around the city with some ease.

Now to our 1st stop - 72nd and Columbia Ave.

For a Tasty Hamburger and some delicious Thin Mint Custard....

Also Faces of Tasty Approval

We went to one of five Shake Shack Locations, we had a 15 minute wait, this was an amazing hamburger that hit the spot. A side note, we spent a great deal of the day discussing food cost and how all the places we ate at were literally making bank off of their restaurants. This also brought up discussions of restaurant types an food we like to cook and so on and so forth.

Look at that crepe....this brings us to our next stop right outside of NYU and Washington Square Park

Crepeaway, a place to pick up a warming crepe (either savory or sweet) and for a great price. It took the edge off the cold weather with a hot crepe filled with nutella.

Look....Steamed and Fried Pork Dumplings with Cool Monster Sauce (A yogurt and wasabi based sauce). Legit those were amazing dough filled bundles of heven.

Our last stop of the day was Dumpling Man in East Village, for 80 cents a dumpling, I highly recommend you go. They make the dumplings right in front of you so you see the process from start to finish.

We spent like 5 or 6 hours in Manhattan and were also able to get in a trip to Chelsea Market, hit up the lower West Side an swing by Morandi's where Matt externed at, walk around Chinatown and Little Italy and check out a restaurant supply store walking in Bowery. Overall it was a great and much needed day off full of food and great times.

-Garrett

Weekend Eatings

So every once in awhile we take the time on campus my group of friends and I to make dinner on the weekend. It is really nice to make a meal and get to enjoy something we all help make. Its that sense of being home an being part of my school family.

So last Saturday we went out to lunch at one of our favorite local eateries. Rossi and Sons is an Italian Deli full of so many good things. If your up in the area, go and thats it, just go and grab a sandwich, I normally get a roast pork sandwich but I switched it up last time.

The was the sandwich special of the day, it was porchetta with arugala, roasted peppers, pecorino toscana and I got basil pesto all pressed on a focaccia.

This soda was super it, it was a bitter and sweet lemon soda.

After eating a lunch we took a trip across the river to by far the coolest butcher shop in the world. Fleischer's in Kingston, NY.

Where we proceeded to get a house made guancoile (cured pork jowl) for free...

And this beautiful Tri-Tip Chuck Roast....

Which after two hours of roasting, came out looking like one sexy roast....

And was then eaten with braised cabbage and spatzle. I'll say that was quite a delicious meal enjoyed with great friends. 

Now something that got done two weekends ago was Jesse, Matt and I were really wanting pizza. So we did exactly that, we made pizza an it turned out to be really, really good.

So that is all for this tasty blog post!

-Garrett

The Super Late Holiday Special!

Welcome to The Culinarian's Super Late Holiday Special!

Where I'll talk about all the food made and eaten and all the wine enjoyed while I was home for winter break. I understand that this post is a month late so....on with the post!

First I have a meal I made a couple days after I got back home.

Braised Rabbit and Chicken Spanish Style, Winter Root Vegetables, Pearl Onions with Sauteed Swiss Chard and Pan y Tomato (Bread and Tomato)

Wine: Lan Rioja, Crianza, Bodegas Lan S.A. Fuenmayor, Espana 2006 - Had a nice full body, long finish, balance of acidity and tannins, translucent black cherry color, nose had black and red fruits. This went really well with the braise, would probably go really well with fattier cuts of red meat. Retail price was $14.99.

Now I was lucky enough to be able to come home with some Hudson Valley Grade A Foie Gras. This is what was awesome, retail this Foie Gras cost 85 to 95 dollars a pound. I got the foie through the school for 37 dollars for alittle over a pound and a half. So when I spent my day doing lots of prep I made some delicious accompaniments for my foie gras. I made some onion marmalade, just caramelized onions deglaze with Grand Mariner, also some balsamic and port soaked black mission figs, and orange glazed apricots. Along with that I did some nice toast and a co-worker of my dad's has raised some bees and we had some of his late harvest honey along with the plate.

 Roasted Prime Rib, Brown Butter Roasted Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Pommes Puree and Jus Lie (Which I bridged with the wine we were drinking with the meal)

Wine: Zinfandel, Pezzi King Vineyards, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County 2009
A good wine, very fruit forward, mild tannins but very high acidity which was somewhat of a turnoff of the wine so to speak. It paired well with the prime rib and was great when bridged with the sauce but it just had an unpleasant acidity. I was trying to find the Old Vine Zinfandel from Dry Creek Vineyards that we had in class.
I really enjoyed making Christmas Dinner, I got to spend a nice solid day prepping for this really great meal. I got to make a very nice batch of brown stock to make a beautiful sauce. My friend Jesse likes to comment on how French I am in my cooking and its very much the truth.

Dessert was made by mom, she made cherry cobbler and we got to enjoy it with some Jeni's Ice Cream that my sister got me for Christmas, its was the Bourbon Pecan Ice Cream which really made the cherry cobbler better than just eating it with vanilla ice cream.

The day after Christmas we took a lovely trip down to Cincy and got to get some favorites I don't get often at all. Pictured above is a plate of cheese coneys from the one and only Gold Star Chili. I can't forget the picture just above of the beautiful, most tasty Steak Sandwich from Richard's in Hamilton, Ohio and it would have been better with root beer from Jolly's but they are closed for the season. Other than eating some of my favorites, we also got to make a stop at Jungle Jims where we picked up a bottle of Francis Ford Copplas Director's Cut Chardonnay which is currently unopened in Ohio but will be enjoyed in time.

This bottle of Macon - Village is a unoaked Chardonnay that was enjoyed with a nice bowl of my Dad's New England Clam Chowder.

On New Year's Day I went traditional for our meal and made a Pork Roast with pommes puree, sauerkraut with green beans. I'm really drawling a blank on the green vegetable unless I made glazed carrots. Pardon me on that.

Something I do feel bad about is how I think I didn't take photos of the food I made on New Year's Eve. We ended up going to Whole Foods and I created a nice seafood tasting for dinner. We had shrimp cocktail followed by lobster poached in court bullion with garlic butter, pan roasted Coho Salmon with lemon brown butter and pan roasted sea scallops with linguine, spinach and Parmesan Reggiano.

Overall, I was super happy that I spent alot of time cooking at home. It made me happy getting to take it easy and have a break, spending time with my family and letting me get to cook for them.

But that concludes the Culinarian's Super Late Holiday Special!

-Garrett

Let's Play the Catch Up Game

Hello Everyone,

The title does alot to sum it up, I'm going to play the catch up game with my blog. I just finished my three week stint in Back of House in my first restaurant on campus. The first set of restaurants we are in is more geared towards Contemporary Restaurant Cuisine. I ended up working in St. Andrew's for my first round of restaurants and at St. Andrew's the are more geared towards staying local to the Hudson Valley and trying to be sustainable. On top of that all because the school has changed around the AOS program, all the cuisines classes are getting moved to post externship. So the school has had a major loss in meals and the school needed to find a way to provide more meals to the student body. Part of that plan was to open up St. Andrew's to do more student covers. So our average cover count for the past 14 days has been between 120 and 140 covers. Currently St. Andrew's is doing the highest amount of covers than any other restaurant  on campus (most likely with the except of Apple Pie). So last block I spent ten hours in class working my butt off with my group and we pulled it off with success. This current block the PM block opened up and so we had a triple work load to prep our class, the next AM and PM class. It was quite the ride but we did it, pulled it off and Chef was very very pleased with our hard work that we put it.

Now my class and I have moved into AM Front of House at St. Andrew's and honestly its such a huge change. The front is a totally different world than the back, its quite the adjustment but our day one went really smooth and we were able to have worked it all out with a success though we only did 103 covers that day.

As to catching up, I'll include several posts in the next few days about everything that has happened, food thats been cooked, adventures that have been made, topics that have been discussed, concepts that have been though of. So much to catch up on. Which leads me to say that I plan on writing more and hopefully getting to do more photography. I haven't had much time for it and its something I need to plan out some more time for. So I'm off to start on another post!

-Garrett

New York City: 12/11/12

Hello Everyone!

So I took a trip into New York City yesterday (Sunday the 11th) and it was quite a day. I went with a friend of mine and another one of our friends was to go but was feeling under the weather. But we made the best of the day.

We spent a great deal of the day in Lower Manhattan, never really going above 42nd Street (which I am more than fine being happy with avoiding the crazy masses of people in Midtown around Times Square, 5th Ave and 30 Rock).

The objective for the day was to not only eat great food but also get some Christmas Shopping done in some of the finest areas in New York City. Areas like Canal Street in Chinatown and Mulberry Street in Little Italy also the vendors in Union Square, and around in Chelsea, etc. Well I got no shopping done what so ever but I did the "eat great food" part so I was pretty happy and I got to see a city I do love alot of. So my Christmas shopping just got moved to two days before Christmas in which all gifts will be wrapped in newspaper (heads up family!).

But moving on to the reason you want to read this blog for the food!

So the 1st food stop was a bakery in Grand Central Terminal, don't ask me the name because I don't remember, it was early and I was hungry. So I went for what I thought was a good choice for food at 10:something in the morning.

Yes, A Black and White Cookie. Was it good, was it bad, in all honesty it was a cookie, I was hungry, I saw it it tasted delicious and I could have used a nice glass of milk to was it down but I had water so I'd just have to get over it. Is it the cookie to end all racial inequality, I think yes. Was the middle the best part, yes and is chocolate bobkah still the highest of the bobkah's, oui it is. (If anyone gets my Seinfeld reference).

Moving on we went to Chinatown and Little Italy......yep just walked around, my friend got shopping done and I didn't.

We did make a stop in Soho/Little Italy (pretty close to either neighborhood) to get some rice pudding. Now rice pudding you may say, why such a thing. We had a jar of the school's vanilla rice pudding with passion fruit curd the other day and we were talking about it. I had bought a jar about a few days earlier and I said I didn't like it because the rice tasted way underdone and it felt like it was just lacking flavor. Now the jar we had recently cracked open, the rice was a perfect al dente (they use arborio rice for the rice pudding so much more starch development and the ability to make a creamy pudding as well). Now but here's the thing, when I think of rice pudding I want it to be smooth and yes though I enjoy my arborio rice being cooked for risotto to be al dente, not my rice pudding. So you may have heard of this place, you may have not but the restaurant was called Rice to Riches.

The restaurant is located on 37 Spring Street and I'd most definitely make the effort to go here. Its just really flipping good and the flavors are good and unique. We had the On the Border of Cookies and Cream. I've been here once before last February when I made a trip and had the Man Made Marscapone with Cherries. You'll also get a kick out of all the witty signs that are posted up all over the place.

So I wish to talk about dinner for that evening. I got to choose where the group got to eat that evening. It was a tough choice but I settled on my decision for the day. We ended up going to a bistro in West Village called Recette on 328 West 12th Street. That neighborhood itself is pretty cool because it meshes together with the Meatpacking District and Chelsea. The Executive Chef Jesse Schenker has a very cool concept going on. He focuses in on flavors and simplicity of dishes to elevate those flavors. Also instead of just large entrees, hes using the concept of smaller plates so he can achieve this execution of focused flavors and simple concepts. So it all goes back to simple, good, fresh food. Also the Pastry Chef at Recette Christina Lee has done a fantastic job with seasonal desserts. So on to the food photos!

The dinning room was very simple, white and olive colors. Dark wood tables with simple silverware. I really enjoyed the interior and the feel it gave. It was a relaxing place to sit and enjoy a meal.

My 1st course: Roasted Bone Marrow with Onion Marmalade, Trout Roe on Brioche Toast and Micro Swiss Chard I believe. Now this was full of flavor in such a tiny bite. Whats even better is after wines class today, I wish I had our 1st wine with this course because it would have been a perfect pairing.

My Friend's 1st Course: Now it was awkward to take a photo of because it was in such a small, deep bowl but it was Marinated Hamachi with Uni (Sea Urchin Roe), Sea Beans and Harissa. This dish was really interesting but was was good about it is how all the flavors matched up across the board and it was a well balanced way to start out a meal.

Now we both received the same 2nd Course - Here's the kicker, we didn't order it. I had asked when we sat if I could take pictures because I was a culinary student so the Chef sent us a course. This was a Pan Roasted Diver Scallop with sauteed Cauliflower, Baby Carrot and Sunchoke with a Cavair Beurre Blanc. This dish was simply divine, balanced, well seasoned and what made me love this dish was the beurre blanc and simply how flipping good it was.

My 3rd Course: Crispy Sweetbreads with Lemon Brown Butter, Escarole, Capers and Lemon. This was a simple, straight foreword dish, crisp and moist sweetbreads with a balance of salt and acid. I thought this was a great pairing of flavors.

My Friend's 3rd Course: Berkshire Pork Belly in a Sherry Carmel Glaze, Baby Turnips, Romesco Sauce, Fried Rock Shrimp and Mirco Cilantro. I loved this dish as much as my friend did. The pork belly just fell apart and Sherry Carmel......effing smart! The whole dish was amazing!

My Dessert: Fall Pumpkin Cake with Sous Vide Apples, Brown Butter Froth, Thyme Ice Cream and Toasted Pepita Granola. Now this dessert made me very happy, it was a good dessert to show a transition from Fall into Winter. I loved the overall flavor profile and the Brown Butter Froth was so good and all the textures made the dessert itself playful while you were eating.

My Friend's Dessert: This was a super cool play on Smores - Graham Cracker Ice Cream, Toasted Marshmallow, "Hot" Chocolate Ganache. The ice cream was interesting and was made this dish pop to me is that the ganache had hints of cheyenne pepper to make it "hot" and made the dish just that more playful to the mouth and the concept.

Would I go back to Recette, yes I would most certainly go back. I would hope I could go back with some more money, but across the board I got three courses for 40 bucks and I was a very happy and pleased diner at this restaurant. So I suggest if you get the chance, go and experience the food. Being in wines at the moment I looked over the wine list they handed us and it was cool to see how they put together the wine list. From the regions I knew, it was cool because there is so much focus on flavor a great majority of the wines are simple and not as complex as to overwhelm a diner so they don't go into super flavor overboard and the palate just gets confused.

Thats it for now. I'll probably be blogging about wines so far on Wednesday when I have my study day and can write again. Bur I'm off to read some more on France for tomorrow. Night All!

-Garrett

School! Good Food! Career! SO MUCH!

Well, I'm done with Banquets, I finished up last Friday to be exact. I'm taking the time today so I'm not just head deep in my Wines book all morning to write and catch up. Oh and yes, I start Wines Studies today and I spent a great deal of the weekend review what I read over Thanksgiving break, doing my highlighting and sticky noting and printing of power points and notes. SO MUCH INFORMATION! But I am looking forward to the class. I don't really know much about wine and the process and history of wine interests me alot so I think it will be a very fun but challenging class (lets just hope I don't lose my mind or my brain explodes or something). But soon I'll be able to make awesome wine pairings and what not it will be cool...hopefully.

Things here at school are pretty good, I passed my costing practical (woo!), made it through serving graduation with 30 other students (for serving 200 people, 30 people is alot). I've just been crazy busy working, studying, doing all that college stuff. But I do have a restaurant review for you all!

Me, my friend Morgan, Jesse and Martin all took a trip up to Red Hook (past Rhinebeck by 3 or 4 miles) to go eat at an Italian restaurant suggested by one of my Chef's called Mercato's. Let me say, this was a great meal and we were all very, very pleased!

They gave us grilled bread with garlic oil and it was so perfect.

Morgan got the penne with a spicy, creamy tomato sauce and smoked pancetta.

Jesse got the farro pizzichi with butternut squash, mushrooms, mozzarella bufala and just a simple butter sauce with fresh herbs.

Martin got the special for the evening which was bucatini with sardines, Marsala soaked raisins, pine nuts, braised fennel, roasted garlic in a simple tomato sauce.

I got ricotta ravioli just in a simple, fresh tomato sauce with Parmesan Reggiano.

Morgan got mint chip gelato for dessert.

I got panna cotta with cherry balsamic vinegar and black mission figs.

Jesse got affogato which is gelato and espresso.

Overall the meal was amazing and I would go back there again and suggest if you get the chance go. It's very decently priced we all got pasta and a dessert and spent about 20 or so on ourselves. So I'd highly recommend it.

Like I said everything has been good for the most part around here. I've spent alot of time figuring out this next step of my career considering I graduate in 4 months! I want to follow through with getting my BS in Hospitality Management so I'm working on college applications to NYU and Boston University to maybe starting next fall and I might be going out over New Years to visit my Sous Chef from extern to check out the Inn at Dos Brisas so we will see! But I've got to go get ready for class so I'll be writing some reviews for Wines class very soon!

-Garrett