Antiquated

I was asked about what knife cuts are antiquated. German, old buddy, this one's for you.

In my humblest opinion, the two antiquated knife cuts are Tourné and the Fluting of mushroom caps. They're not common cuts in the modern kitchen as they're time consuming and difficult to do. However, they result in very elegant presentations.

Tourné: To carve vegetable into a football shape with seven equal sides (heptagon). This is accomplished often by using a specially designed paring knife with a curved blade known as a tourné knife or bird beak parer.

Fluted Mushrooms: Using a pairing knife a spiral design is carved into the caps of the mushrooms.

A lot of people will whine, moan and complain when having to do these cuts. And then there are some mad enough that they want to perfect them. Knowing that having this skill is just another part in the complete repertoire of being a cook.

What I enjoy in performing the cuts is the connection to my knife, the test of dexterity and skill, the focus required and knowing that I'm differentiating myself from thousands of others.

The above photo is my first ever attempt at the touré and my second at fluting mushrooms. I'm quite pleased but I can always be better. That said, I'm sure carrots are on sale somewhere...

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David Chang - Character Approved

A great Chef with a great message.

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Skill

A while back I was explaining knife cuts and techniques to a friend. He stopped me mid sentence and posed the question of, "Why are knife skills so important?" I never gave much thought about the importance of knife skill before he asked me the question. What amused me is that the answer came very naturally and I didn't have to ponder or search for it.

In the practical sense, knife skills are important because it's central to the preparation of food:
- Proper fabrication ensures little waste or produce or meat
- Precise, accurate and even knife cuts promote even and proper cooking
- Clean cuts, nice lines and delicacy give beauty to a finished product

The requirement for good knife skills permeate the cooking process from start to finish. It's an essential skill to learn and posess in order to produce good quality food.

The kitchen knife is also the tool of a cook. Skill in using the knife distinguishes the professional from the home cook, the devoted from the enthusiast. Devotion in learning the techniques and excelling in them is part of the cook identity. Although several knife cuts may be antiquated they connect the cook to a long and treasured history (again, it becomes a skill that sets them apart).

My skill with a knife is the beginning to great food.
My skill with a knife is what sets me apart and makes me different.
My skill with a knife is of fundamental importantance.

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books

I reorganized my bookshelf yesterday night. I love my books.

There's only a few books I regret purchasing. Dishing with Style and Working with Plate were both rather useless and taught me nothing about plate presentation. I also have two editions of On Cooking. I had to purchase the Canadian Edition for school. I should have checked more closely when purchasing the non-Canadian edition.

You can see the books from my past life at the bottom. I don't regret owning those at all.

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Tempting perfection

A follow up to previous post.

Julienne & Brunoise of Carrot

This is what it means to strive for perfection. This is what it means to have good fundamentals as a cook. This is beauty in the kitchen at its simplest and rawest form (no pun intended).

You can either can do it or you can't, there's no possibility of lying. Skills are always honest.

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Salt

One of the most important skills to learn as a cook is how to taste. Taste is the sensory perception of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (some would consider metallic another primary taste); these are the basic primary tastes. Flavour is the combined effect that the primary tastes and other volatile chemical compounds found in food has on sensory system. Everyone tastes something every day of their life but we seldom pay close attention to the taste and flavours being encountered.

The job of a cook is to prepare flavourful foods and to do so requires understanding of taste and flavour. Seasoning foods during the cooking process is the most fundamental technique that will have the most profound impact on the dish's final flavour. Seasoning is a fundamental technique.

The use of salt in cooking is complex even though the application of salt appears to be simple. Under seasoned foods are bland while foods that are over seasoned are unpalatable. Perfectly seasoned food brings flavours forward, awakes the palate and makes us crave for more. It is understanding these effects that salt has on foods that must be understood.

A cook must understand these effects and apply them while cooking in order to win the perfect flavour. Want a simple demonstration on the effects of salt? Eat a slice of tomato and then try one with a pinch of salt. Salt is really wonderful stuff.

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piscis

I had a menu design assignment for one of my classes at school. The assignment was to design a menu with 1 each appetizer, entree and dessert. I decided to go overkill and wrote a full on menu for a fictional restaurant.

The restaurant is named Piscis Seafood Bistro. Piscis is Latin for "A Fish" where the more popular word, Pisces, means a pair of fish. I went for a very casual menu with food that isn't fussy but has great, clean flavour profiles. What I'm really proud of is that I wrote the menu to be balanced on the kitchen so that no station will be slammed with orders. I even wrote a short wine list for the menu that matches with the food.

I'm really happy with this assignment. It allowed me to be creative and really think about food. Even though the restaurant is fictional I feel really close to it. In a weird way its become a part of me.

The beautiful design and layout is thanks to German Shible and the photographs are courtesy of Stacy Weber.

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