(But let’s be honest, I’m hoping to cook health-supportive food well enough one day that y’all will think it took magic to make it so tasty!)

Week One

I cannot believe that my first week of Culinary Arts training has come and gone! So much preparation and work has gone into our move from Utah to Austin and I am finally doing what we came here to do! It is beyond exciting. It has been intimidating, empowering, stinky (don’t worry, I’ll explain), scary, fun, informative, exhausting, hectic, heart-wrenching, exciting, and motivating.
On a personal note we were put into a non-smoking apartment when we first got here that smelled like a Las Vegas hotel room . It was kinda horrific. We had to stay there for a week and finally they got us into a clean but temporary tiny apartment until they get our new permanent apartment cleaned up and ready for us. Anyway, we are living out of a box for a little bit, but we’ve adjusted.
The night before our first day I was pretty torn up. It was so exciting to start on the new adventure but it also marked the end of staying home with Little Plate for awhile. I’ve been happy and fortunate to be with her full-time since she was born and we are so bonded. I have cherished the time and I know that it’s not as if I won’t be able to spend a lot of time with her, but it did feel like a bit of my heart was ripped out the first two days when I had to hug her goodbye in the morning. On the flip side, Mr. Plate will now get the opportunity to be a full-time at home daddy which is an amazing chance for him and Little Plate to strengthen their bond. I also know that this is what is right for our family right now and that what I learn will be invaluable.
At school this was the week of orientation, policy review, kitchen and classroom tours, faculty and staff introductions, ServSafe certification, and getting to know new my new classmates. When we first tried on our chef coats it really hit that we are going to be professional chefs in six months. I can’t get over how excited I am about all of the things I will be learning.
We are a smaller track made up of all-women. I am so excited to get to know these talented and inspiring ladies better. They have all come with amazing goals and motivation to better the world and empower others to improve their health. We have very diverse backgrounds and come from all over the country. The instructors let us know that there will definitely be friction at times in the kitchen and I hate to think about us fighting (I have kind of a sensitive soul when it comes to conflict) but there is probably a reason everyone knows the cliché –too many cooks in the kitchen. I hope we can all keep things in perspective and remember to remain professional in the heat of the moment or when we burn something ;).

Kitchen Highlights and Challenges for Week 1:

By Thursday we were fully uniformed (Coat, Hat, Apron, Pants, Socks, Shoes, Nametag, CHECK √) and ready to begin.

Knife Skills 101

Oh my goodness, this part of the class has given me a bit of anxiety. In fact, when I told my mom that I was going to Culinary School she paused and said, “you are kind of clumsy you know.”
Haha, yes, I know. But to be fair most of my previous injuries have been flukes or freaky accident type things (like 16 stiches from sitting on a quartz crystal poking out of the ground on a rock outcrop- who does that?). Anyway, I was nervous.
Our Chef Instructor was calm and patient and relaxed things with a bit of light music at the beginning which I was happy for. She started by showing us some common geometric cuts on a potato: Large Dice, Medium Dice, Small Dice, the Julienne, and Batonnet. She was very good at getting precise measurements and perfect right angles. Me, not so much! It was so much harder than it looked. Needless to say, that very evening I bought a bag of potatoes to practice with. I’m hoping I can get better at eyeing the dimensions for each cut and better at chopping a straight vertical line. After the potatoes she taught us some techniques on celery sticks and onions and those were much better I was pretty giddy about the onion technique I have already implemented it at home and it is pretty fun. I will try to put a good Youtube video link up that shows the technique.

What’s your favorite Flavor?

Thursday afternoon and Friday we jumped into some of the principles and techniques of Flavors and Flavorings. We touched on the types of oils, sweeteners, and salts that we’ll be using at the Natural Epicurean and why they are more health-supportive than conventionally used ingredients. It was really fun to taste some of these items. The Monk Fruit Sugar tasted like Cotton Candy sort of. We also discussed the important factors and techniques that affect flavor. In two lectures I’ve already learned about 20 new ingredients and/or ways to use something. Example: Umeboshi Vinegar (made with plums that are fermented and salted and soaked in vinegar-amazing in the pesto we tasted!)
We talked about all of the herbs and spices that we will use regularly as well. Our Chef Instructor demonstrated how we can group different herbs and spices to get very different flavors by making 3 soups for us to try:
French Beet Soup with Basil Pesto (This was my favorite of the day)
Indian Spiced Potato Soup with Ginger
Sopa de Zanahoria
YUM!!! I think an ongoing highlight of this educational venture will be all of the delicious AND healthy recipes we will be tasting!
These are the types of fundamental things that a professional chef learns and practices and that will set someone apart as a professional. I am not exactly sure where this road will take me but I am sure it will be good and I hope it will inspire others around me as well. Until next week!
Ciao
-Ashley

PS- Sorry the blog hasn’t been Prettied Up yet! We are still without internet or a work space and so we posted from a phone but as soon as we get things rolling we’ll make the site more ex-siting. . . Get it? 😉

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Castoreum is the exudate from the castor sacs from the mature European or North American Beaver. Basically this is a yellow secretion that comes from a sac near the ANAL gland of the beaver. It is used as a food additive in processed foods, mainly for artificial vanilla, raspberry and strawberry flavors. Used as a food additive, castoreum is classified by the Food and Drug Administration as “generally recognized as safe” and so food manufacturers don’t always have to include it on the ingredients list. Listing “natural flavoring” is good enough. Although it is mostly used in the perfume industry today, and not as widespread in the food industry do you even want to eat a little bit of beaver bottom? Makes you wonder else are they putting in processed foods?