I have an issue lately with flour. No, I don't have a hard time eating it and I have nothing against it being an ingredient in many delicious foods, but I find myself so perplexed by the varieties. Why so many? How did all of these different types of flours come to be? Whole-wheat, all-purpose, gluten-free, pastry, cake, white whole-wheat, semolina, durum, and the list just keeps going.
Right now I have five different types of flour in my pantry and I'm not even an avid baker. And as much as it hurts, I'll admit that even after my three weeks of pastry and baking with Chef Krieg and friends, I still have not absorbed what type of flour I should use for what or what types can be equally substituted in baking.
So on my journey (which I'm still unsure if I totally want to sign up for) of exploring the endless world of flour, I ran across an article posted on Culinate today that was a good start to breaking it all down: http://www.culinate.com/articles/culinate8/flour_power.
For any of you interested in this chameleon of an ingredient, it may be an interesting read for you. Thanks to the author for the overview. It's a starting point for delving into the subject.
Cheers,
~JF
4.16.2008
4.15.2008
Back to Writing: A tribute to FOODday
Yes, as I constantly say, I just don't get here as much as I'd like to anymore. I'm finding myself spending the majority of my time back in the PR world doing some freelance work for a local agency. It is good, and what I need to be doing right now, but I've begun to feel a bit blue as I realize I'm just not carving out time to write.
So thank goodness for the editor of WCI's Food Writers' Club newsletter. I promised her a recap of my externship at FOODday. I almost bailed on the assignment, but with a little nudging she got me to turn something in. I thank her as I did enjoy looking back on my 13 weeks at the paper's test kitchen and was able to express what I hope are some entertaining words on the adventure.
I've pasted it below. It's sort of my 'day in the life' at FOODday. This is the version I just handed in, unedited, so we'll see what the in-print version will look like.
Happy reading!
Cheers,
~JF
A Day in the Life of an Extern
By Jennifer Fields
As many of my fellow students were gearing up to head off to well-respected dining spots around town to embark on their culinary school externships, I was set to work in a kitchen unlike most kitchens we’re used to. Tucked away on the fourth floor of the northeast corner of The Oregonian building in downtown Portland is a tiny kitchen similar to one you’d find in your own home or apartment. There is no wall full of endless gas stoves, and no 8-foot long, steel tables holding industrial-sized cooking equipment. Instead, this kitchen is designed to most closely resemble the kitchens of the 700,000-plus readers of the paper’s weekly food section, FOODday. The test kitchen at FOODday serves as the place were recipes are tested and retested, and ingredients and instructions are scrutinized and perfected day in and day out for both FOODday and MIX magazine.
So what’s it like in the test kitchen simply following instruction on recipes that come in each day? Anything but ordinary. As I arrive for my shift at 12:30 p.m., my job is to get the kitchen ready for the day’s testing. I turn on the computer, which usually takes 10 minutes to warm up, and then unload the dishwasher putting all the pots and pans and cooking utensils neatly back in their designated spots. I log into the computer and check my email. As usual, nothing of any significance. I’m the extern, why would I have any email? By 1:00pm, Linda, the test kitchen director and my supervisor, arrives with the groceries for the day’s recipes.
“Hello!” she says in her usual, cheery and energetic way. “Ok, go ahead and unload what’s in the bags and I’ll go check in with Katherine [Miller, FOODday Assistant Editor] to see if anything has come up today that we should know about,” she says and scurries off. I unload the bags and try to decipher what items will be washed, sliced, diced, sautéed, etc. in today’s leisurely day of working through cooking instructions.
“Well, it looks like there is a change of plans,” Linda says as she walks back into our tiny space. “Martha [Holmberg, FOODday Editor] is in today and wants to do a photo shoot of some of the recipes we did yesterday for edition.” For edition means for the issue that will come out the very next Tuesday. It is Thursday, which means the photos need to be shot today, placed into the graphics layout, finalized and approved for press on Friday. “I need you to do a quick ingredient list of the items we need and run up to the store to get them. I’ll get working on the other recipes that need to get done today,” she says. Throwing off my apron and putting my coat, scarf, and gloves back on, I grab the list and head one block north and three blocks west to the nearest grocery venue to grab the goods.
Arriving back around 2:30 p.m., I find Linda well into the other recipes. I unload my new purchases and begin prep immediately as Martha wants to shoot no later than 4:00 p.m. “Oh, and Sara (a local freelance writer) will be in today to do a taste testing for canned tomatoes,” Linda mentions as I try to survey the kitchen to figure out where exactly all of this cooking and picture taking and taste testing will take place. As I’m chopping my vegetables for my side dish—something comprised of asparagus, eggplant, and roasted red peppers—Linda peaks over and says, “Now are those one-inch pieces? The recipe calls for one-inch pieces and if they’re off Martha will be the first to point that out.” I look at her expecting a light laugh or something that will resemble that what she just said was meant jokingly, but no, she’s serious. I head over to the drawer located under the computer to reach for the ruler. At this time my mind is hijacked back to Culinary Skills I where my fingers are trembling as I hold my chef’s knife in hopes of finally getting a perfect julienne-sized cut out of my 10th carrot that will make Chef Jackie and Chef Stephanie weep. So we really do use those little rulers tucked in our chef’s coats, even out in the real world; amazing. Back to reality, I grab the ruler and head back to my cutting board. It looks as if my previous eye-balling got me pieces that were slightly over one inch. By the look on Linda’s face I figure I’m good and won’t lose the externship over the fresh-cut stalks. I continue with the eggplant and red peppers, and sauté just as instructed.
By 3:30pm my dish was close to done when Linda asked me to take her two dishes out for “food parade”—the walk from the test kitchen, through the photo department, past graphics, and over to the FOODday section for tasting and judging by the discerning writers and collaborators who develop each week’s issue—while she helped Sara get everything in order for the tomato taste test. “Mmmm, I like it,” Katherine says, “But I wonder if it could use a little more salt.” “Oh wow, it’s delicious, but yes, a bit more salt and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice,” adds Danielle Centoni, food editor. “What’s in it again?” asks Leslie Cole, FOODday staff writer. “Um, I’m not for certain. Linda actually made this dish,” I say with a look as if to communicate, ‘I just can’t recall what’s in every dish!’ “Hm. It’s a bit one-note for me,” says, Martha, possibly the most discerning of them all. “I don’t know, it’s a bit bland, it still needs something.” Mind you, this recipe was provided by one of Portland’s hottest chefs, but that never halts her from making certain the end result that home cooks will receive is flawless, which in the end is the overall bases behind having the test kitchen in the first place.
So back to the kitchen I go with notes of everyone’s feedback in my head. “Katherine liked it, but wants more salt, ditto with Danielle and add a bit of lemon juice. Leslie asked what was in it, but come to think of it I’m not sure whether or not she liked it. And Martha says it’s bland and that it needs something,” I ramble to Linda who is now surrounded by paper bowls full of whole, canned tomatoes. “So do we need to do it over again?” She asks. “Um. I’m not sure,” I say looking thoroughly confused. “Well that’s ok,” she replied. “We’ll just ask when Martha comes back here.”
By 4:00 p.m. we move on to tomato tasting while, simultaneously, Mike Davis, photo editor, is preparing for the shoot of the day. Who knew there could be so many different tastes of canned tomatoes? Some were absolutely horrid and caused a couple of those critiquing to simply spit them out. By my 10th taste, I was certain that I can no longer tell the difference between a high-end canned tomato from Italy and a generic, domestic store brand.
At 4:30 p.m. on the nose, Martha was finished with her portion of the tomato tasting and was ready to move on to the photo shoot. Linda had platted up the dish, which I envied as I had begun to really get into the food styling aspect of the job, but such is life, it was tomato taste test clean-up for me that day. As the photo shoot wrapped around 5:30 p.m. and we began cleaning the kitchen for the day, Martha came back with some prints of the pictures that were taken moments ago and thanked Linda and I for getting all that needed to be done, done. The pictures turned out great and it was fun for me to see food that I cooked stylized and ready for print to be included in the next issue. As we were closing down, Martha looked closely at the items on the plate in the photograph. “Were those one-inch pieces of asparagus or one-and-a-half?” I got out the ruler.
So thank goodness for the editor of WCI's Food Writers' Club newsletter. I promised her a recap of my externship at FOODday. I almost bailed on the assignment, but with a little nudging she got me to turn something in. I thank her as I did enjoy looking back on my 13 weeks at the paper's test kitchen and was able to express what I hope are some entertaining words on the adventure.
I've pasted it below. It's sort of my 'day in the life' at FOODday. This is the version I just handed in, unedited, so we'll see what the in-print version will look like.
Happy reading!
Cheers,
~JF
A Day in the Life of an Extern
By Jennifer Fields
As many of my fellow students were gearing up to head off to well-respected dining spots around town to embark on their culinary school externships, I was set to work in a kitchen unlike most kitchens we’re used to. Tucked away on the fourth floor of the northeast corner of The Oregonian building in downtown Portland is a tiny kitchen similar to one you’d find in your own home or apartment. There is no wall full of endless gas stoves, and no 8-foot long, steel tables holding industrial-sized cooking equipment. Instead, this kitchen is designed to most closely resemble the kitchens of the 700,000-plus readers of the paper’s weekly food section, FOODday. The test kitchen at FOODday serves as the place were recipes are tested and retested, and ingredients and instructions are scrutinized and perfected day in and day out for both FOODday and MIX magazine.
So what’s it like in the test kitchen simply following instruction on recipes that come in each day? Anything but ordinary. As I arrive for my shift at 12:30 p.m., my job is to get the kitchen ready for the day’s testing. I turn on the computer, which usually takes 10 minutes to warm up, and then unload the dishwasher putting all the pots and pans and cooking utensils neatly back in their designated spots. I log into the computer and check my email. As usual, nothing of any significance. I’m the extern, why would I have any email? By 1:00pm, Linda, the test kitchen director and my supervisor, arrives with the groceries for the day’s recipes.
“Hello!” she says in her usual, cheery and energetic way. “Ok, go ahead and unload what’s in the bags and I’ll go check in with Katherine [Miller, FOODday Assistant Editor] to see if anything has come up today that we should know about,” she says and scurries off. I unload the bags and try to decipher what items will be washed, sliced, diced, sautéed, etc. in today’s leisurely day of working through cooking instructions.
“Well, it looks like there is a change of plans,” Linda says as she walks back into our tiny space. “Martha [Holmberg, FOODday Editor] is in today and wants to do a photo shoot of some of the recipes we did yesterday for edition.” For edition means for the issue that will come out the very next Tuesday. It is Thursday, which means the photos need to be shot today, placed into the graphics layout, finalized and approved for press on Friday. “I need you to do a quick ingredient list of the items we need and run up to the store to get them. I’ll get working on the other recipes that need to get done today,” she says. Throwing off my apron and putting my coat, scarf, and gloves back on, I grab the list and head one block north and three blocks west to the nearest grocery venue to grab the goods.
Arriving back around 2:30 p.m., I find Linda well into the other recipes. I unload my new purchases and begin prep immediately as Martha wants to shoot no later than 4:00 p.m. “Oh, and Sara (a local freelance writer) will be in today to do a taste testing for canned tomatoes,” Linda mentions as I try to survey the kitchen to figure out where exactly all of this cooking and picture taking and taste testing will take place. As I’m chopping my vegetables for my side dish—something comprised of asparagus, eggplant, and roasted red peppers—Linda peaks over and says, “Now are those one-inch pieces? The recipe calls for one-inch pieces and if they’re off Martha will be the first to point that out.” I look at her expecting a light laugh or something that will resemble that what she just said was meant jokingly, but no, she’s serious. I head over to the drawer located under the computer to reach for the ruler. At this time my mind is hijacked back to Culinary Skills I where my fingers are trembling as I hold my chef’s knife in hopes of finally getting a perfect julienne-sized cut out of my 10th carrot that will make Chef Jackie and Chef Stephanie weep. So we really do use those little rulers tucked in our chef’s coats, even out in the real world; amazing. Back to reality, I grab the ruler and head back to my cutting board. It looks as if my previous eye-balling got me pieces that were slightly over one inch. By the look on Linda’s face I figure I’m good and won’t lose the externship over the fresh-cut stalks. I continue with the eggplant and red peppers, and sauté just as instructed.
By 3:30pm my dish was close to done when Linda asked me to take her two dishes out for “food parade”—the walk from the test kitchen, through the photo department, past graphics, and over to the FOODday section for tasting and judging by the discerning writers and collaborators who develop each week’s issue—while she helped Sara get everything in order for the tomato taste test. “Mmmm, I like it,” Katherine says, “But I wonder if it could use a little more salt.” “Oh wow, it’s delicious, but yes, a bit more salt and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice,” adds Danielle Centoni, food editor. “What’s in it again?” asks Leslie Cole, FOODday staff writer. “Um, I’m not for certain. Linda actually made this dish,” I say with a look as if to communicate, ‘I just can’t recall what’s in every dish!’ “Hm. It’s a bit one-note for me,” says, Martha, possibly the most discerning of them all. “I don’t know, it’s a bit bland, it still needs something.” Mind you, this recipe was provided by one of Portland’s hottest chefs, but that never halts her from making certain the end result that home cooks will receive is flawless, which in the end is the overall bases behind having the test kitchen in the first place.
So back to the kitchen I go with notes of everyone’s feedback in my head. “Katherine liked it, but wants more salt, ditto with Danielle and add a bit of lemon juice. Leslie asked what was in it, but come to think of it I’m not sure whether or not she liked it. And Martha says it’s bland and that it needs something,” I ramble to Linda who is now surrounded by paper bowls full of whole, canned tomatoes. “So do we need to do it over again?” She asks. “Um. I’m not sure,” I say looking thoroughly confused. “Well that’s ok,” she replied. “We’ll just ask when Martha comes back here.”
By 4:00 p.m. we move on to tomato tasting while, simultaneously, Mike Davis, photo editor, is preparing for the shoot of the day. Who knew there could be so many different tastes of canned tomatoes? Some were absolutely horrid and caused a couple of those critiquing to simply spit them out. By my 10th taste, I was certain that I can no longer tell the difference between a high-end canned tomato from Italy and a generic, domestic store brand.
At 4:30 p.m. on the nose, Martha was finished with her portion of the tomato tasting and was ready to move on to the photo shoot. Linda had platted up the dish, which I envied as I had begun to really get into the food styling aspect of the job, but such is life, it was tomato taste test clean-up for me that day. As the photo shoot wrapped around 5:30 p.m. and we began cleaning the kitchen for the day, Martha came back with some prints of the pictures that were taken moments ago and thanked Linda and I for getting all that needed to be done, done. The pictures turned out great and it was fun for me to see food that I cooked stylized and ready for print to be included in the next issue. As we were closing down, Martha looked closely at the items on the plate in the photograph. “Were those one-inch pieces of asparagus or one-and-a-half?” I got out the ruler.
4.01.2008
In Print
Are you still there? It seems like it's been so long since I've signed in and hit "New Post" on the blog screen.
Things have been well. Culinary school is officially done, but I'm still interning a few days a week at the FOODday test kitchen. So of course I had to post today to say that my name is finally in print in the award-winning weekly foodie section of the paper! No, it's not officially an article written by me, but I had an idea for a quick meal that made the cut with the discerning critics in the FOODday deparment and was given the green light to be posted in the paper's Shortcut Cooking section. If you try it, let me know if you liked it!
Such a quick post, but I do have to run. I'll be back soon to share more of what's happening in the adventures of exploring the culinary world in the coming days.
Cheers,
JF
Things have been well. Culinary school is officially done, but I'm still interning a few days a week at the FOODday test kitchen. So of course I had to post today to say that my name is finally in print in the award-winning weekly foodie section of the paper! No, it's not officially an article written by me, but I had an idea for a quick meal that made the cut with the discerning critics in the FOODday deparment and was given the green light to be posted in the paper's Shortcut Cooking section. If you try it, let me know if you liked it!
Such a quick post, but I do have to run. I'll be back soon to share more of what's happening in the adventures of exploring the culinary world in the coming days.
Cheers,
JF
3.11.2008
Into the Fire
Ever since the start of my interest to get into the food world, I've always had a fascination with the lifestyle of chefs and those working the line behind the scenes of the world's greatest dining destinations. And when I say lifestyle I mean the hours they keep, the long days and nights on their feet hovering over flames and opened doors of hot ovens, and ending each shift wiping the sweat from their brows and heading home - or to a neighborhood watering hole - smelling like the evening specials. What is it about this industry and these kitchens that attract so many to want to jump into the fire, get dirty, greasy, and beaten up by the onslaught of never-ending tickets demanding more plates of graceful-looking seared duck and artistically marked filet mignon?
I had heard about it for the past couple of weeks and couldn't wait for it to air. Last night, the Travel Channel showed the episode 'Into the Fire' with Anthony Bourdain. After 28 years in the industry, Bourdain decided to write a book that in his words "I thought no one would read" about what really goes on behind the scenes. The book led to a series on the Travel Channel that he thought "No one would ever watch". His new life of traveling the world and publicizing his kitchen memoir led him out of the kitchen he ran eight years ago in New York City; Les Halles (pronounced la hall). Last night he returned, partially to prove to a few nagging bloggers - and admittedly to himself - that he could go back and handle working it on the line again.
I thought the show was brilliantly done and really took viewers through what happens once a table sits down, orders are taken, and the ticket is placed. They did a beautiful job of basically showing a visual aid of the layout of the kitchen and I was quickly taken back to my quick run at restaurant Bleu a few months back to finalize my training at school. They showed how the line is set up: the grillardin station (grill), saucier (sauces), and garde manger (cold plates and appetizers). Tony has always paid homage to the line cooks, which he often calls out to be mostly Hispanic, whipping out those classical French dishes. He is so respectful and of course followed the kitchen brigade (hierarchy) system with much respect and even responding to the executive chef with a "yes, Chef!". The man who now has Tony's former job of executive chef organizes and runs a kitchen that serves what he said today could run 700 covers a night! One cover is one patrons full meal from appetizer, to salad, entrée, and dessert. Even Tony was shocked at the amount of traffic Les Halles now works through. Back when he was running the restaurant, Les Halles had 80 tables. It now has well over 100.
You could see in his face that he was actually getting quite nervous for the double shift he was about to embark on. There were times when he missed plates on tickets because, as he learned, his eyesight isn't what it used to be. He literally couldn't read the tickets! He was constantly hammered on by the executive chef to move quicker, or to brown the cheese on the French Onion Soup longer. There was even a time when a few of his dishes were sent back to the kitchen from customers!
It was truly an adventure and highly entertaining. I obviously don't know Tony Bourdain personally, but from reading his work and thoughts on him, I know he didn't just do this for himself. In fact I think the bigger reason, if anything, was to show respect to those in the back of the kitchen who are putting in the long hours for virtually no pay day in and day out, without the big celebrity chef name, without the big network TV show, but with the true talent that keeps them rockin' the line and whipping out fantastic cuisine everyday.
As most Travel Channel shows do, this one will air again. If you're a fan, I'd highly recommend checking it out.
Cheers,
~JF
2.12.2008
The Perfect Pic
One of the fun things about exploring a new world is learning from the pros. A couple of weeks ago we were in the test kitchen gathering items for what would be the day's photoshoot. I was delicately frosting the luscious chocolate ganache cupcakes and Linda was preparing the crowd-pleasing seared scallops that would go along side an elegant pile of mixed greens dressed in a meyer lemon vinaigrette when Mike Davis, photo editor, and John Givot, photo intern, walked into the kitchen. Mike wasn't technically participating in the shoot for the day, but he wanted to get John in on the action. The day's photographer would be none other than Martha Holmberg, editor of FOODday and Mix magazine. At times she escapes from her desk saturated with topic ideas, articles to review and edit, new products to test that will either pass or fail, and a general list of to-do's for both publications to spend time on another one of her many skills; food photography.
As the scallops were perfectly seared and I was slathering my fourth cupcake with ganache, Martha walked in ready to get moving with the shoot. Linda plated up the scallops with their golden brown edges and carefully piled a small bunch of mixed green leaves next to them. The two walk over to the far side of the photo studio and I quickly followed. Martha appeared to be getting frustrated with the outcome of her shots as she would 'click,' 'click,' 'click,' and then check her camera on what she had captured. There was just something she wanted - an angle, a lighting aspect, a focal point - that wasn't coming through as she expected. Just like clockwork, Mike and John walked back in. With an apple in one hand and lanyard-laced glasses, Mike gently stepped in, carefully positioned a white styrofoam square next to the plate and calmly began talking Martha through the shot. Over the past year, one thing that has caught my eye about the food world is the photography itself. Photography is something I've never understood, nor do I think I really have the patience for it, and because of that I respect it so much. How do photographers get that perfect shot? How do they know what the right lighting is, what the correct angle should be, and what focal point they want? We were all sort of mesmerized to hear his thought process outloud of what he's thinking in his mind when he's shooting. As the veteran photo editor was coaching the veteran magazine editor, John the intern decided to snap some shots of the scene.
photo by John Givot
As we moved on from the scallops, the delectable cupcakes were next. We first began by testing out some shots of me holding the cupcake; sort of an offering if you will. Again, the shots just weren't coming across as Martha had hoped (she assured me my cupcake holding skills were perfectly intact and that I wouldn't be fired). We then moved on to sitting the cupcake on the table. Mike had to depart by this time, but John hung around. He wasn't shy about trying his hand at teaching Martha a few tricks of the camera. It was one of those moments where the student had an opportunity to show his skills in the profession he hoped to grow in, and it was fun to watch. Martha was all ears and open to hearing his thoughts on tweaking the lighting this way or angling the cupcake that way.
A friend once told me that if you're really passionate about something, you're never truly an expert at it because you continue to have the drive to learn more about it. I think that day in the studio was a perfect example. After years of food magazine editing and being involved in food photography, Martha was still open to suggestions about getting that perfect picture. On the flip side, I saw Martha's willingness to listen to the intern as a way for him to grow and teach what he knew thus far in his education to someone who many would consider to be an expert in this field. And in the end it made an exciting learning experience for all of us.
If you are somewhat of an expert in what you do, make sure you nuture those around you who are trying to learn a little bit more. Yes, sometimes you're too busy and just want to get the task at hand done, but if the opportunity presents itself, teach. The outcome is you will have given a little extra spark to someone that may take them a bit further in their life's accomplishments, and at the same time, you'll reinforce the knowledge, expertise, and most importantly, passion you have within you.
Cheers,
~JF
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