Cooking School: Cooking gear and stuff

I know. We all have our gear. Ready to go. But this is the first course. So here we go.

Food for thought: Ingredients

The fresher the better.

After a failed attempt at gardening in soil that's not meant to be gardened in, I had a huge hole in my culinary heart. Most organic produce is expensive, hard to find in variety (can you tell I like variety yet?), and sold under a guise. Through a friend at work I found Full Circle. A home delivery service that brings locally Grown or produced organic goods right to your door. They not only grow their own produce but they reach out to other local farmers for a farm to table program that's just..amaizing.

My first delivery sent me into shock. I'm used to the hefty 5 pound bag of potato that I get for $2 or so. As part of my delivery, I got a little sack of beautiful fingerlings. What...? But after cooking only half the sock, That made a meal easily and then some, I discovered I bought too much previously...and bought poorly. Not only was the sock enough to feed us for a couple of meals, it was local, and supporting our community. My previous Extra Large 5 pound purchase was not only mass produced, but would sometimes go to waste.

It opened my eyes. Quality isn't that hard to find, but recognizing it is harder. Our bigger better culture has taught us to "find the deal". What's it worth?

Cooking School: Class is in session!

Ok, so who wants to play? I wanted to share one of my favorite books - where I go to "school", so to speak. The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine - from the French Culinary Institute.

The book overviews both the 6 and 9 month courses taught at the institute. It's a course book, and schools you on skills like the measurement and terminology of a proper brunoise cut, to preparing lamb shanks, pâté, stock.....it's the next best thing (I could afford) than attending an actual culinary institute. Plus - I can go at my own pace. (it's freaking HUGE by the way. I actually lugged this on the bus for a while. That lasted a week.)


I've been teaching my way through the book, slowly - but have just been "playing" and not learning so much as of late. My hope is that blogging about it will help give me the motivation to stick to my homework. I have created "assignments", and have even graded myself....meaning, yes. Gotta do it again til it's right. So far the toughest part is just getting my measurements and tournage (vegetable shaping) correct. Carrots that should look like smooth long footballs look like .... Well, butchered footballs after I'm done.

I will tag this as "cooking school" for anyone who wants to join in. We will start at the beginning - and hopefully end at the end. Cheers!