Lobster!!!

Lobster!!! Best day in my culinary career to date! The girlie girl has left the building! If I
could have done a cartwheel in the kitchen that day, I would have. I wanted to kill everyone’s
lobster, which sounds really morbid but I don’t mean it that way.

One of the things that made this week so much fun is that I got to teach Nick something.
He missed the demo for prepping the lobster for the grill and to be boiled so I got to walk him
through that. My level of confidence has risen which was cool to see.

We also seared a scallop this week. I asked numerous times, “What am I looking for in
regards to the perfect seared scallop?” Everyone kept saying “medium rare.” What in the hell
does that mean???! Scallops are white. Medium rare is red. I was silently very frustrated. So I
seared my scallop. I lifted it out of the pan and showed it to Chef Jack. He said it was perfect.
Then I had an AH HA moment. I saw the two lines that signify medium rare. I finally got it!
Victory!

Then there were the crab cakes. A victory, not so much! I have made salmon cakes a
million times so I assumed that this was going to be pretty similar. Apparently, the crab cakes
needed to sit in the cooler before being pan fried. I skipped that step and the crab cakes fell apart.
Chef Andy stopped by my stove as I was taking the crab cakes out of the pan. My heart raced as
he was looking at them. I told him that I have made salmon cakes many times and this has never
happened. Chef Andy explained the difference is that crab is cooked and salmon is raw which
changes how the cakes stick together. I really appreciated that he took the time to explain that for
me.

I was all in this week. Well, I am all in every week but I was game for a new experience.
I ate an oyster on the half shell. It was gritty but I did it. I’d do it again in a similar situation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black bean lentil chili

In 2018, my family moved from Wisconsin to Colorado. It was the most challenging move I have ever made. I had a plan for when we got into town. Surrounded by boxes, I knew we needed a recipe that we could put together with very few things unpacked. Chili, to the rescue! It's a Wisconsin tradition when it gets cold out to heat up the house with the sent of chili.  1 lb. Ground chuck 1 lb. Ground sirloin 2 cans Black beans, drained 1 can Corn kernels 1 can Fire roasted corn 1 can Stewed tomatoes Ground black pepper, to taste 1 Tbsp. Minced garlic 3 Tbsp. Chili pepper  1 tsp Cumin seed 1 tsp Paprika  1 tsp Chipotle 12 oz. Dried lentils, rinsed 6 cups Vegetable broth Brown the ground meat with garlic in a saute pan. Transfer to a crock pot. Cook on high for 30 minutes. Add garlic, spices and the canned vegetables and 3 cups of vegetable broth. Turn to low. Let simmer for 8 hours. When there is 2 hours left of the cooking time, turn back to high. Ad...
Read more

Bourbon Glazed Candied Bacon

Image
Closest thing to heaven! Every holiday ... A Tuesday brunch ... It's becoming a staple in my household. Bacon is awesome to be begin with. This recipe takes it to a whole new level. Candied bacon! The perfect balance of sweet vs. spicy.  Last year was my first attempt at candied bacon. I found two recipes that weren't quite right. Originally, I used 2 tsp of cayenne red pepper. That was way too spicy. This year, I was going to cut it down to 1 tsp, my sister thought that was still way too much so we tried 1/2 tsp which turned out perfect.    1 lbs Applewood smoked bacon 1 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 tsp cayenne red pepper 1/2 Tbsp black pepper  2 oz. Jack Daniels Bourbon Line a sheet pan with foil. Place a wire rack on top of the sheet pan. Lay bacon in single layer on the rack. Be careful not to overlap the bacon for even cooking. Mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Spread the mixture on each piece of bacon evenly. Bake for 35 minutes at 350℉. The first time y...
Read more

Pasta From Scratch

I know we haven’t done this week yet. I’ve been waiting for the pasta week. If I were to ever open a restaurant it would most likely be Italian. I can’t wait to make pasta from scratch. My aunt Diane and I made it once when I was a pre-teen and it turned out horrible! Very gummy … Yuck!!! I really hope we get to make different variations of pasta. Spinach fettuccine is my absolute favorite! I’d love to make a pesto sauce from scratch too. Ravioli sounds good too, with lobster! Andrew said he wants to work with me on the lasagna. I’m game. I like lasagna. I’ll be sure to get a béchamel sauce in there too. Andrew said we will make different shapes of pasta. At home, Liam and I play ‘Restaurant’ all the time. Sometime he is a baker, other times he is a chef-er. He loves that I am in culinary school and we talk all the time about how a restaurant functions and what to do if someone orders food that you don’t have on hand. This is an organic conversation I had with him, fitting...
Read more