MUSICAL INTERLUDE -- Joe has me hooked...

I should not have free time...

I figured it would be worth a post to explain my recent hiatus from the blog.

Pure and simple, finals week at school (two more A's...third-highest grade in the class on the kitchen practical...5:30am wake up call is OVER AND DONE...one more month to go) and work (I'm pretty sure I want a Jewish wedding at this point) combined into the perfect storm of NofreetimeforMarktoblog-itis.

That and I had a real blah-itis...some nasty stomach bug. Ugh...

But now I'm on break-- a whole 10 days or so free from the shackles of the Le Cordon Bleu, and I'm off work today through Friday. For you scoring at home, that's five-straight days I don't have to put on a chef's uniform of any kind *AND* I can grow a wicked five-day beard.

Facial hair-- I missed you. Let's never fight again...

But just because it's a break doesn't mean I can allow my culinary talents to dull, no sir/ma'am. I will continue to cook when I can over break, hopefully a ton at home (FYI, Maumee People-- Tuesday evening through Friday morning I will be back. Clear your schedules).

A taste of my culinary prowess already on this break:

"Snails on a Log" -- A Mark Shugar original (name patent pending)

I mean I'm really proud of that PB/Celery...uhhh...Tian? I will admit the knife cuts are a little sloppy on the brunoise of celery and banana on the plate, but those "snails" on the "logs" look pretty banging...right? ...RIGHT!?

It's the first day of no school/no work since...Memorial Day? It's a lovely soon-to-be-rainy day in PIT, and Chris and Amy are stopping in for a visit. The apartment is clean...I'm postponing a haircut until I get home and can see my regular heading into a month full of weddings...uhh...

Yeah...that's all I got. Posts will be sporadic until school kicks back in next Tuesday, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't keep an eye out for random food porn or a tale of shenanigans.

SUMMER BREAK! WOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!

Shugar cooking *WITHOUT* sugar. Ow...my head...

Well, the last food cycle came to a close today in Contemporary Cuisine with a sugarless bang (aka a diabetic menu). Considering this is America, where we slurp 64oz sodas because "It's only .25 more to supersize," chances are good you know a diabetic (or six).

I have a few friends that are diabetic, so I sort of approached this menu with the idea in my head that I was catering exclusively to those friends. Again, there's a joy in having the ability and knowledge to stuff your diabetic friend's face with a "sugary" treat without...you know...putting them into a coma or a position they might have their foot amputated.

*cough*

So our typical Chef has been out of town this week in Ottawa, Canada, consulting or doing whatever Chefs well established in their careers get to do (i.e. travel, get money/get paid, talk about food, eat food, etc.). Therefore, our Chef from Breads and Pastries is running the course currently, and he has really encouraged us to 'play with the food' some and put our stamp on the menu items.

The Salmon, "BLT" with Chipotle Mayo is how one girl in the class did just that. Leftover crust pieces of the bread not used making croutons became platforms for some of the salmon we made, mixed with the standard BLT fixings. Mix up a chipotle mayo and serve it "slider" style-- delcious.

What I brought to the table was the Boursin Crostini. I mean I like croutons as much as the next guy, but let's go to the next level here. I will admit the dish is a bit Omni-inspired, but I made it completely different in class than how I make it at work.

And just how do I make it you ask?

Well, I used a cutter to make the bread into discs instead of squares or sticks (boring!), which I then brushed with a garlic-infused olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper on before crisping them up in the oven. Aside I mixed Boursin cheese (the 'ranch dressing of cheeses' if you ask me) and cream cheese in a KitchenAid.

Pipe the cheese mixture onto the crostini, garnish with crushed pink peppercorns and chives-- serve. I promise you it's tasty. You would dip vegetables or bread in the cheese mixture all day if I'd let you...and I would let you (I'm a nice guy like that!).

Anyway, I was inspired by the Tomato Avocado Tian...at least in recreating the disc shape with my crostini. I wanted my crostini to mirror the Tian on the salad plate but provide a different texture profile. I think i accomplished that.

Side note-- mozzarella, guacamole and a seasoned, roasted tomato slice. Serve me those delicious hockey pucks of joy every day of the week, please. Sooo good!

Chef liked my plate...aside from my ever-spreading oil spill on the left side. For about 22 seconds my plate looked bomb...then the oil went all BP on me. Argh! So frustrating. Everyone had the same problem though, the oil just melted all over the plate whereas the Balsamic held shape.

Oh well, lesson learned-- less oil next time.

Pictures don't do the Tomato Consomme much justice. It's supposed to be strained of tomato pulp a bit better too (the final appearance should be clear, actually-- you should be able to see to the bottom and garnishes with ease). It tasted OK though-- a very intense tomato flavor...and I love tomatoes.

Floating in the Consomme is the Celestine Garnish...which is a fancy way of saying sliced up, herbed crepes. I've never seen a crepe used as a garnish, but it worked. Essentially you have all the herby tastes you would want in that soup in the crepe pieces...so the overall effect is a very crisp tomato soup flavor profile. Different...and different is usually good (or at least interesting).

The whole salmon dish was OK, sure, but I didn't t
hink it broke down any wowie-walls in my ever-budding culinary mind. The piece of fish was a piece of fish (I like the use of cumin with fish). The cous cous with roasted vegetables was tasty...but it's essentially "pasta" with vegetables. I could take it or leave it...

Now the main event of the diabetic menu was the Scone Shortcake, which was a typical scone recipe with the sugar replaced with Splenda. You can replace sugar cup for cup when baking with Splenda, and honestly I have no idea why you would use any other sugar substitute. Equal and others all have terrible aftertastes-- Splenda tastes the most like sugar, by far.

And again, easy to use. One cup sugar = one cup Splenda. I like simple.

The whipped cream was nothing more than heavy cream and Splenda, and the Berry Topping just pureed strawberries, strained and sweetened up some with (gasp!) Splenda. Very fresh, very clean...very simple(!) strawberry shortcake that diabetics can enjoy. Win.

OK, I'm out for now to enjoy some of my day off from work. Check back in when you can to hear how my kitchen practical prep/execution goes down, and remember...when it comes to food blogs...

THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SHUGAR! (*vomits cliches and cheesiness all over laptop*)

RECIPE -- Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Had to throw the blue guy up here to get this post started off right...

The first step to gluten-free baking is gluten-free flour. The world has evolved enough that you can probably find these ingredients sitting in some niche aisle at your local supermarket...at least if your local supermarket doesn't totally suck. If for some reason you can't find this stuff there, spend a few minutes on the Internet and see what turns up.

Here's the flour recipe:

2 C Rice Flour
2/3 C Potato Starch
1/3 C Tapioca Starch
1 tsp Xanthan Gum

Combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly. You don't want pockets of Xanthan gum here and Rice Flour there. Just get it uniform across the board. Obviously this recipe makes a little over 3 cups of product, so if you need more adjust your amounts accordingly.

Now for the cookies:

2 1/4 C Gluten-free flour
1 tsp Gluten-Free Baking Powder
1 tsp Gluten- Free Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl thoroughly and set aside for now.

3/4 C Butter
3/4 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Sugar

Cream these ingredients in a mixer utilizing a paddle attachment.

2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla

Add these to the creamed butter mixture and mix until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter/egg/vanilla mixture. I did this in a mixer, just be careful not to "overmix." You want...well...cookie dough. When it looks like cookie dough, stop. Don't just leave it in a mixer for four hours or something on high.

6 oz Chocolate Chips

Gently fold these in. Do not overmix here either.

Portion the cookies out however you want and throw them in the over (325-350 degrees). Keep an eye on them because they cook up pretty fast (5-10 minutes).

Enjoy!

This post is gluten-free...

Chances are you know someone who is rocking a gluten-free diet. Either gluten causes them mild GI discomfort, or maybe it's even elevated to the point of Celiac Disease.

Either way, as a chef it's important for us to be able to cater to the different dietary needs and restrictions of our patrons. I find joy in cooking foods with these restrictions that actually taste good (i.e. vegetarian meals where you don't miss meat). Gluten-free certainly doesn't have to mean taste-free...it's the year 2010. We humans are smart. We've figured it all out, right?

Well in this case, absolutely. Cookies made without flour? Check. Corn BREAD that's gluten free? Yep. Gluten-free noodles? Done.

But does it taste good?

Let me say that the chocolate chip cookies we had Friday had to be some of the best I have ever had. It's so good, in fact, that I will post the recipe for you gluten-less peeps when I find myself free from work for a day. Even if you can handle gluten, you might want to check it out.

The corn bread improved drastically from Friday to today. There was some tweaking of the recipe --less salt here, a pinch more sugar there-- and it was really quite tasty. I think it would be better with a heavier hand of Cheddar cheese and some minced jalapeno in the mix, but that's me. It was certainly still a moist, tasty version of corn bread that can be enjoyed by all regardless of gluten tolerance.

The Mussels Mariniere was delicious. I love mussels...and it's amazing how simple ingredients like tomato, wine, garlic, green onions and butter can really take them to a whole new level. Give me a spoon and 20 mussels and I will show you a satisfied Mark Shugar.

Homemade gluten-free noodles served as the sauce mopping bed of tastiness for the mussels to rest on. Making the pasta from scratch was a near-identical process to making normal noodles, the trick is just figuring out how to substitute traditional flours.

In this case, we worked with items such as tapioca flour, cornstarch, potato starch, Xanthan gum, rice flour, corn meal and gluten-free baking powder to sub for typical all-purpose flours. It's a few extra steps, sure, and you have to find the right aisle at the supermarket to collect these ingredients, but to give someone who can't eat gluten say...bread? I mean that's a win.

I will post up our recipe for gluten-free flour when I get a chance too.

The beef dish was pretty typical. Rice noodles and gluten-friendly soy sauces were the only major changes to make the dish gluten-free. Aside from that it really didn't incorporate components that relied heavily on gluten. Meat and vegetables work for everyone.

OK, we're on to diabetic food next. Only eight days of class remain before I get a week and a half or so off school. Now if I can only get that time off of work too...hmm...

Check back for recipes! Later on...

PITT EXPERIENCE -- Gay Pride Parade 2010

Work kept me from witnessing the parade and investigating the event as much as I would have liked, but I did get to peek around a bit at Pittsburgh's Gay Pride celebration on Sunday. The pic above is the scene in front of school.

So official!

Umami-- the tale of the orphan taste.

If you already know what Umami is I want you to write in the comments of this blog post that you're a big smarty pants, then give yourself a hefty pat on the back. I for one was absolutely clueless the word existed until arriving at school, and even then it took a couple of months.

The long and the short of it for you who don't feel like clicking the link above is Umami is a basic taste that can be picked up on the tongue. I'm guessing most of you are like me and grew up on the bitter, salty, sweet, sour basics of taste...but apparently the Japanese have recognized Umami (aka savory) since 1908.

Amino acids are the key. They house glutamic acids which, apparently, have unique but consistent flavor profiles. The guy who discovered Umami figured out that foods like meat, cheese, mushrooms and other protein-heavy foods are high in these glutamic acids, and different combinations of these acids can produce a different basic taste sensation on the tongue.

Hence Umami was born, and the poor kids in Mr. Honkers fifth grade Biology class now have to learn a Japanese word that's a bit more difficult to spell than say...sweet, or sour.

So the focus in this cycle of food in Contemporary Cuisine is the Umami flavor profiles. I'm OK with that because meat, mushrooms and cheese happen to be frequent visitors to my stomach.

The pasta dish was refreshing...which I guess is how one would describe a pasta dish that sauce is absent from. It was literally as the title reads-- shrimp, asparagus, prosciutto and pasta.Clean flavors, but I wanted to add some cream and reduce it down for some kind of binding sauce.

As Chef was quick to point out though, the cream would dull some of those flavors in the dish, thus making the whole idea of preparing an Umami meal a fruitless effort.

Touché.

In order for a dish like the Mushroom Parmentier to carry the moniker "Parmentier" it has to involve potatoes in some way. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, and physician in Napoleon's army, was one of the first vocal advocates of eating potatoes instead of just feeding it to animals as their primary food source.

Hey, I like potatoes-- nice job, man. You deserve the right to have dishes named after you.

As you can see, it's a casserole-esque dish. Layer of potato, layer of sauteed and flavorful mushrooms, layer of potato, top with cheese and parsley, bake -- serve. It's delicious.

What makes the ketchup on the "Bomb" Burgers Umami is the addition of traditional Asian ingredients like anchovies and fish sauce. At the end of the day it's a really flavorful (homemade!) ketchup, and it went very well on the fries and the burgers.

The burgers were simply ground chuck, minced garlic, fish sauce, some fresh ground pepper, salt and a little bit of sugar. They were garnished with traditional fixin's such as onion, tomatoes and lettuce (or in this case, micro greens).

Honestly the burger wasn't the star. I've made better burgers (as simple as my version of a bacon burger...topped with caramelized onions...a good piece of provolone che-- OK WOW! I'm making one of those this week. I just talked myself into that. SO GOOD!).

But the buns...the buns would take any burger to the next level. I don't know 100 percent what was all on the "Everything Buns," but I will make a mental note tomorrow when I make the burger and stop back in to pass it onto you, the loving masses. So tasty!

Oh, and the fries-- your typical fry cut topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, parsley and some truffle oil when they came out of the fryer.

The interesting side note with the fries is the simple matter of making tasty fries. Those in the know should know that you blanch the potatoes (which have been tossed in corn starch) in a low temperature...say 300-325 degrees...until they turn a light brown. You then line them up on a sheet tray and refrigerate them for a while before returning them to the fryer, this time at a toasty 375 degrees.

As Chef explained today-- when you blanch the potatoes they shrink a little bit. The cornstarch "layer" maintains its original shape, however, supported by small "branches" of starch from the potato. When you fry the fries the second time, that outer, starch/cornstarch layer becomes super crispy, as opposed to soggy and unimpressive.

Think Burger King fries vs. McDonald's fries...if that makes it easier. Burger King obviously coats their fries with some type of starch to achieves that unique crispy outer layer.

You learn something new everyday.

The super new thing for me today came when I was (again!) deveining shrimp. You devein the intestine from the top of the shrimp because no one wants to be chomping on what we colorfully call "the poop vein" in the kitchen. You can usually see the grayish poop vein through the opaque shrimp flesh after the shrimp is peeled.

Well today I saw what I suspected was an ENORMOUS poop vein, easily 4-5 times the size of one I've ever seen. I showed it to Chef and his response was, "Cut that out, set it aside and call me back over... ...you and I are going to eat it."

"Uhh...wait...what?"

Chef cooked the suspected poop vein up in a little bit of water on a spoon over a burner, and it quickly turned pink. That's right-- shrimp eggs...not the intestinal tract. We both ate half and, low and behold, it tasted INTENSELY of shrimp. Think of the most flavorful shrimp you've ever had, this had an even more...well...shrimpy...taste. Delicious.

Shrimp eggs-- cross it of the "Things I Thought I'd Never Eat" list.

Whew. What a book. And now I have to go to work. Hope you enjoyed...

Gushers...full of booze!

Delicious and interesting-- Contemporary Cuisine continues to fascinate me on a daily basis. A lot has to do with what we're making (or how we're making it) and some with Chef's almost encyclopedia-esque knowledge of product he's passing along to us.

Case and point-- Micro Greens. Apparently there's an amazing place to get Micro Greens (and herbs) in Sandusky, Ohio. We're talking 15 minutes or so away from Cedar Point. I forsee a stop sometime during the Toledo to Pittsburgh commute.

So why Micro Greens? Well, they're pretty to look at and the flavor is concentrated. I'd say that's a pair of wins for what you're looking for with your food. I hear they're pricey though...

Anyway-- the food. This is the last of the food we will be rocking using the sous-vide technique. So why not finish with pork...the other white meat (which I honestly prefer a bit pink in the center anymore. Pink pork is A-OK people...trust me).

The Spiced Pork Shoulder was like eating a giant hunk of perfectly cooked rib meat. I mean this dish makes ribs obsolete. They're always frustrating. "Mmm...meat...and bone." Repeat, repeat, repeat. When you're done eating, half of what you ordered is still on the plate-- inedible bone matter.

And yet I still love ribs. OmNomnomnom...

Fava Succotash (Succotash being a fancy word for 'creamed <> really) was alright, but nothing amazing. The Yam Mousseline was amazing. Pickled Apples might sound weird at first, but I would love to attempt an applesauce or even pie from this product. You'd have to cut its acidity with sugar, sure, but it would be an interesting play on this side.

Now Pork Tenderloin...I love it. Screw ham around the holidays, give me the pork. This only had butter, salt and pepper and it was *far, far and away* the best I've ever had. Obviously the sous-vide method of cooking is why-- the pork was PERFECTLY cooked, juicy...SO GOOD!

And the Honey-Thyme Gastrique...yowza. The sweet tang is great with the pork, of course, and I'm sure it would taste good on just about anything. A giant tub of filled with it would probably be hard to not want to bathe in... ...is it weird I just said that?

Not much to talk about with the Cauliflower Silk (*cough* Puree *cough*) or Tourned Carrots. Tourne describes the cut of the carrot --a five-sided football shape-- and it's really, really, really a pain in the ass to do right. Carrots don't help either...they're so irregular they make even the simplest cuts difficult.

Polenta is so hit and miss for me. I really think it is just flavorless filler-- it really never impresses me when it stands alone. But then you melt cheese all over it...

You win, cheese. You always win.

LIQUID PORT SPHERES! I saved the best for last, of course. They're made the same way as the Wasabi Caviar I've raved about in the past couple of posts, only the flavored solution is added to the Calcium Chloride "bath" with a half teaspoon instead of a eye dropper.

The difference that comes with the size is that the liquid is encapsulated inside of the skin that forms when the two liquids come into contact. This means you can either eat them and have them burst open in your mouth (flavor a'hoy!), or you can break them on the plate and rub your food around in it pre-munching time.

Again...pretty much Port-flavored Gushers. Man, food is fun!

OK, that's enough for now. Enjoy your weekends!

Quick pics...

I just wanted to toss a few supplemental pics up real quick-- one to give you a better sense of the Wasabi Caviar, another to what the Miso dish would look like when served to you in a restaurant (the Mushroom Brodo would be added table side by your server). That pic of the Miso looks a lot better than the brown pool pic I produced last post.

The pic of the Seafood Sausage is just my plate presentation on Day 2 for the dish. The chef actually complimented it (albeit just for the spacing), but praise is tough to come by in this class.

Finally, people wanted a better idea what a slice of the Enchilada Lasagna I made looked like. That's the last known picture of the last piece of it before it mysteriously disappeared. Hmm...

OK, new food post on the way...either tonight or tomorrow morning. It involves more super-cool, sciency food cooking so you know you want to check back!

PITT EXPERIENCE -- Zoo & PPG Aquarium

What better way to spend my first day off from both work AND school in the last few weeks --yay, Memorial Day(!)-- than by spending it outside at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The pics are pretty self-explanatory, a zoo is a zoo is a zoo, but here's some side notes...

The PITT Zoo is about a 15-minute drive from where I live...complicated only by large amounts of construction on the quickest route. Parking is free, tickets were only $15, and the zoo is very leafy/pretty despite its hilly layout. I mean you have to take a 3-minute escalator ride from the parking lot up to the main area from the parking lot-- that kind of hilly.

All in all I enjoyed the experience. There was a lot of "The Cleveland Zoo does this..." and "The Toledo Zoo does this..." between Molly and myself, respectively, but every zoo has something unique and interesting to it. That's why I always like to check out the zoo when I'm traveling and in big cities...there's always something fun for everyone that's new and exciting.

My favorite pic is by far is the "hobo" Gorilla. Dude was munching oranges or something out of a cardboard box, but the way he was leaned against the giant rock made it comical. That or the stare at the crowd that easily translated into, "Whatchu' looking at meatbags?"

I found humor in the "Mario Lemieux" marker on the 'Are you as tall as our elephants?' measure near the elephant exhibit. Another Pens fan and myself agreed that their marker has to be Lemieux on skates. He's a large man...but then again so am I. Like most player stats, I think the zoo officials were being pretty generous.

Molly the Camel amused me because Molly had made it known earlier in the day that Molly isn't a common name (I argue this-- I seem to meet Molly's everywhere). Well, sometimes you eat your words because a camel proves you wrong.

Look for that expression in a fortune cookie in the near future.

All I have left to say is it was cool how the PITT Zoo has a few exhibits where there is really nothing between you and the animal. The Kangaroo, Peacock and Hornbill are literally meandering the same paths as you. Very interesting.

Another PITT experience down-- count it!

The science of food...

The crazy-awesomeness continued in Contemporary Cuisine today. Between the dishes, specifically the Wasabi Caviar, I've got a lot to cover here...

Seafood Sausage was a highlight of Catering and Buffet. I actually found it to be the tastiest sausage we made in that class. It should come as no surprise then that the Seafood Sausage we made today scored high on the delicious scale for me again.

A half of a pound of scallops is added to a half pound of lean fish, ground together and seasoned with salt and such. You then add heavy cream, bread crumbs and egg whites to pull it all together ("forcemeat"). On the side you small dice some salmon and slice up some parsley and chives ("garnishes"). You mix the forcemeat and garnishes in a bowl, then put it in a pastry bag.

Now the interesting part. You pipe the meat mixture onto a flat piece of Saran wrap. We then laid halved pieces of shrimp about an eighth of an inch apart on top of the piped mixture. You roll up the Saran wrap into a sausage shape, tie it off, then it's off to the "hot tub" with it. The protein sets, you remove the wrap...and eat, eat, eat. It's sooo good.

What makes the Seafood Sausage a Persillade is the combo of herbs, seasonings and bread crumbs sprinkled on top when it was finished. Maybe you've have pork in the style of Persillade...that's popular.

I thought the Creamed Leek and Fennel was tasty (most people aren't huge fans of either...I'm an emerging fan of both). The Israeli Cous Cous tasted like pasta salad...but how it was presented with the Carrot Ribbon wrapped around it is pretty cool...to me at least. Fried Leek is Fried Leek. More for show than anything.

The Miso-Mushroom Brodo is a very earthy broth and great liquid for the Glass Noodles to swim around in. You pretty much simmer a wide variety of Asian ingredients in water for 15-20 minutes to allow the broth to take flavor. Season it up with some Soy Sauce and Miso Paste and you're golden.

Sous Vide Salmon is, of course, perfectly cooked. When you've eaten all of these products cooked in traditional fashions (poached, grilled, sauteed, etc), it's kind of mind-blowing to eat it in what is considered to be its "perfect texture." No matter to me though-- I love salmon in any form.

So let's talk Wasabi Caviar...

First two separate liquids are prepared. One is simply a small amount of Calcium Chloride (yep, road salt) dissolved in water. The other is your flavored liquid-- in this case Wasabi. We mixed Wasabi Powder in water, then added Alginate to it. You pulse this mixture with an immersion blender and then cook it to a simmer on the stove. Allow that to cool and it's action time.

The chef has this crazy device called a Vaccu-Pette. You place your flavored liquid in the pan, then place the "lid" of pipettes into the pan. Pull up the plunger to absorb up some liquid, then take it over to your Calcium Chloride/water mixture. Push the plunger back out and little drops of your flavored liquid fall out.

When the Calcium Chloride reacts with the Alginate...a "skin" is created, pretty much instantly, encapsulating the flavored liquid of your choice in a cool little sphere. What you're left with it little spheres that kind of feel like cooked pasta in your hands...but when you bite into them-- BOOM! Wasabi!

IT. IS. AWESOME!

I talked with Chef aside a bit later in the kitchen about the process. He brought up that he thinks this could be huge for Mixology in the future if people really play with the science here. The example he cited to me was of how he and another Chef spent a weekend making Coke spheres and then trying to suspend them in rum.

Picture that-- a rum and Coke that is essentially Coke spheres floating in the alcohol that will burst and provide the desired flavor. How crazy is that?

The Science nerd inside me is pretty pumped about this stuff, in case you can't tell. If you find this as interesting as I do, Chef pointed me in the direction of this Web site. Check it out!

OK, done with this post-- check back soon for the PITT Zoo post...

Beef in a Bag...

As if Contemporary Cuisine hasn't been interesting enough, the last couple of days have been dedicated to sous-vide cooking. I will let the link speak in detail for me about the process, but we're essentially vacuum-compressing food in bags and cooking it submerged in water at very regulated temperatures.

IT IS AWESOME!

We're one of the few Cordon Bleu schools that have access to the equipment to do this cooking technique (the setup we're using costs upwards of $6000). And the things you can do with this equipment...well...you could cook a piece of beef perfectly but have it look like it's completely raw. I know that seems far from applicable in a usual restaurant...but hopefully you get the idea of what is possible with this technology. You can play with your food...so to speak.

Anyway...we threw all kinds of vacuum-sealed bags of vegetables into perfectly-regulated, 185-degree water to cook (mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, celery, fennel, etc).

What's awesome is you just throw whatever flavors you want in those vegetables right in the bag. You want butter? Toss in butter! You want to herb-infuse those tomatoes? Put basil in that bag! Want to pickle something, but you only have 20 minutes? A little of your favorite vinegar in the bag, toss it in the "hot tub," and you're golden.

HOW COOL IS THAT!? (**flails arms in excitement**)

And that's just vegetables! Let's talk meat...

Chef put an entire Brisket in a bag and cooked it at a constant 131 degrees for almost 24 hours. We then took that brisket, cubed it and seared it off to give it the appearance we wanted on the plate. You could cut that brisket with a PLASTIC SPOON! I mean, just ridiculous!

Another plus-- there's no juice lost in this cooking process. Anything that seeps out of the meat in the cooking process is poured right out of the bag into whatever sauce you're making. You think you've had a good brown sauce...then you have one with all the flavors from a sous-vide bag. Yowza.

The Herbed (thyme and rosemary) Sirloin was one of the better steaks I've ever had...at least until I had some of the coffee-encrusted variant (that involved cheese and cocoa...tasty I promise) a classmate got to make today. Man that was good.

Again-- you can cut this steak with a PLASTIC SPOON! If you've had a steak like that...you let me know where ASAP. Just amazing plates of food.

Tomorrow we start using seafood with this technique so be sure to check back. I've got the PITT Zoo post to do sometime here too...

(Long) Weekend Update...

Another "weekend" comes to a close, and even though it was of the long/holiday variety it sure didn't feel like one. Amazing how working 24-of-72 hours in a weekend can cut it short.

The job continues to be awesome. I'm learning a lot and quite quickly. I'm being trusted to complete increasingly complex tasks on my own and spending less time harassing the woman training me with the "where is this?" or "how do I do this?" kind of questions.

I snapped this pic on my walk home Saturday night:

Pittsburgh can be a pretty city...when it's not cloudy and raining. But good luck with that.

I wanted to give people a better idea of the area surrounding work so I snapped this pic while on my break Sunday. This is the park across the street from the hotel (aka where I sit and unwind during breaks...if I get one). I know I've heard the church in the photo was in a movie (I want to say 'Ghostbusters'), but I'm not 100 percent on that.

The theme of the weekend at work was again Kosher, Kosher, Kosher. This time there were two events, a mid-sized one on Saturday and then a wedding on Sunday night. Both were new and exciting in different ways.

Saturday Kosher events pose an interesting problem in the kitchen because Jewish people are not allowed to eat food prepared on Saturdays (or more specifically, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday). That's their Sabbath (Shabbat), in case you didn't know. Because of that, it meant a hellacious amount of prep and cooking Friday night by us to prepare for the event the next day.

The wedding was extensive Sunday and was a lot of work-- reception finger foods, salads, entrees, desserts, etc. And dinner wasn't until 9:30pm...makes for a long day. Considering how much Kosher I've done in the past two weeks, I half feel Jewish at this point.

Interesting side note-- when I was sitting at the park on a break with the woman training me on Saturday she filled me in a bit on what puts the grand in this grand hotel I'm working at:

When the G20 was going on this past year Obama stayed there, and yes, our kitchen made him food (an egg white omelet for him, just a halved grapefruit for the First Lady). The representatives from Russia, England and India also stayed. ... Apparently a couple of movies have filmed scenes in the hotel (most notably 'Silence of the Lambs' -- which I need to see now). ... The Steelers stay at the hotel the night before every home game. They actually enter the building via the same doors as me! This explains the numerous Steelers decals on the walls and two elevators. And yes...we cook for them (and no, Browns fans, I don't accept bribes)...

This really made me sit back and think a bit the next day when I was sitting in the park alone and snapped that pic above. Here I am working at a four-star hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. When I look up all I see is buildings, most belonging to some of the most powerful companies in the country. I can watch people enter and exit the 'T' (subway) and the constant and bustle around me.

Not to be all sappy...but how the hell did this happen? This was far from my dream when I was little. Hell, it wasn't my dream five years ago. I wish I could thank a few people who really turned me onto the idea of big city living-- it's just awesome.

I love being in the middle of it all. I really like that I'm putting my time in now for this job. I see good things at the hotel, and in this city, in my future. I've never felt so at home...well...away from home. It's a feeling you don't prepare for...it just happens.

Whew...OK, that was a bit much for a blog post. Let's take a peek at this:

That's Enchilada Lasagna. I know, I know-- another "lasagna." Deal with it! I sure know I can, because it's delicious. Check out Alton Brown's recipe for your own 'omNomnom' moment.

AND SPEAKING OF OmNom...that's the new name for the blog mascot! The person behind the winning name you ask? The man...the myth...the legend...Tim Baker. You voted, he wins! Tim will get something for submitting the winning entry eventually. For now just bask in the glory, good sir. Also, thanks to all who entered! I liked the response and will do more of these in the future.

I will be back with posts about the latest food in kitchens, a trip to the PITT Zoo (I did have *some* fun this weekend, I promise) and hopefully a story about me winning this contest. Feel free to check back regularly for all of that!