Christine | February 25, 2010
Just as old Polish ladies masterfully make pierogis, old Mexican ladies expertly turn out their corn tortillas and old Austrian women produce stunning strudels, old Italian ladies have perfected hand-made pasta. But they get there the same way you get to Carnegie Hall, with years and years of practice. But culinary students, according to our chef, [...]
Christine | February 23, 2010
I have a half gallon of béchamel sitting in my fridge and I’ll take any and all suggestions on what I should do with it.
I’m in possession of this much white thickening agent because my inquiring mind just wanted to know if using different types of milk mixed with the same white roux would yield [...]
Christine | February 19, 2010
My first classically prepared broth was disappointingly bland.
Imitating the steps we took in kitchen class yesterday, I set to simmer a pot of chicken legs quarters with just enough cold water to cover, slipped in a mire poix of appropriate size and ratio of onions to celery and carrots, and tied a standard sachet de [...]
Christine | February 17, 2010
Wrapped up Culinary Foundations I on Monday with a top to bottom kitchen scrub and now I’m running with a faster, more mature crowd in my soups and sauces class. Our new chef is a deep well of information about the scientific art of being a saucier. All told, we’ll spend 28 days with broth, [...]
Christine | February 11, 2010
The only time I got out of my pajamas yesterday was to take a shower and change into a clean pair. So it’s only fitting that I had breakfast food for dinner. But it was a very interesting twist on breakfast food: Poached eggs on top of bacon studded sweet and white potato hash.
The charm [...]
Christine | February 10, 2010
I am afraid there are not many formal cooking lessons going on this week. There is too much snow clogging the streets of downtown Pittsburgh for my culinary school to be open for the usual business.
Monday’s classes were mercifully cancelled before I made the trek down the PA Turnpike so that I got some bonus [...]
Christine | February 3, 2010
I now know why all my previous attempts at falafel failed.
My oil was simply too hot. If it’s over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, the oil will mercilessly pull the ground chickpea patties apart little by little until there is only a floating mass of fried bits but no falafel. I had at least a half dozen [...]
Christine | February 1, 2010
Every night I am away from my kids I call them at 6 PM sharp to chat about our respective days and to give Andy a whine-free window to get dinner on the table. During tonight’s call, I was explaining to eight-year-old Eliza that I managed to pull down a perfect score on an exam [...]
