Consuming Consomme

Could there be a more perfect time of year to make soups than winter? I think not. Sometimes nothing could be better than a hot bowl of your favourite soup on a cold, miserable, winter day to warm you up inside. The beginning of winter is also a perfect time to learn how to make soups. You'll be making them all winter, any chance you get, trust me. It is much quicker( with the exception of beef consomme) and easier then you would ever dare to imagine.

I, like many of you, am a big soup lover. I cannot get enough which is why I always love learning how to make new soups. I've made all the typical ones before such as minestrone, chicken noodle, and butternut squash but I feel i've " made it to the big leagues" so to speak after I perfected the beef consomme. Beef consomme tells the story of people being cold and hungry, and also desperately needing some form of energy to push them through the day. It also tells the story of a poor cow whose meet was ground, mixed with egg whites, vegetables and cooked out in beef broth. Regardless of how you look at it, beef consomme is one tasty, nutritional, soup.

Now I know what you are thinking. CONSOMME, French, fancy, must be complicated, but trust me it is not. It starts with egg whites being whisked in a bowl, approximately 6, about a pound of ground beef, some very small diced carrot, celery, onion, and leek. Mix that all together in a bowl and place the mixture in a stock pot. Cover the beef with beef stock. Turn on to medium heat and let that simmer. The key here is what is known as " forming the raft" seen in the picture below.

Seen here: The ground beef mixture 

sort of congeals together into a solid mass and floats to the top as a raft. 

Because the liquid wants to 

boil over the sides of the raft, It is imperative you make a whole in the middle to release the pressure. What you get underneath is a beautiful crystal clear, full of flavour, consomme. When this is finished you want to strain the soup and get any particulars and impurities out of the soup so it can remain crystal clear. Season with salt, add some diced vegetables to the soup and serve.  

The finished Consomme is the in the large bowl at the top of this picture. (above)

The soup, for the most part and a very beefy flavour, ( but I think that is sort of the point), although not too strong. Seasoned with the right amount of salt it truly is a perfect soup for a cold day. I personally do not like salt period, so I drank it plain and it was still very enjoyable. The main think I like about it is how full of protein and how nutritious it is. I will definitely be making this at home throughout the winter months as I feel I have perfected it and would not change anything that I did the first time when making the soup. It can be eaten cold, hot, and today a lot of chefs are using molecular gastronomy and making it into a gelatinous form. Whatever the form, consomme is definitely here to stay!

Getting myself into a real pickle!

Years and years ago, before the modern day refrigeration that we now cannot live without, people kept their food for long periods of time by using various methods of preserving. These methods include, pickling, fermenting, preserving, and curing just to name a few. These were natural ways to keep your food from spoiling when people did have the ability to freeze or refrigerate their food. These methods are still used today in every part of the world, even here in North America. Although, I feel these things are done here mainly to keep traditions alive and not for practically we almost everyone here has the luxury of owning a freezer or refrigerator. But none the less these practice were once a very important part of our food culture and still are which is why I decided to try my hand at it.

  I decided to make an old pub favourite, pickled eggs. I had always been under the impression that they probably do not taste very good until I was forced to try them once and have liked them ever since. The chosen method of preservation here is of course pickling. I already had some inclination as to how the process worked but did some research just to make sure I was going to do it correctly and safely to not run the risk of something like botulism. I have a friend whose father has been pickling eggs for years and I received some insight from him. I did not even need to go online to find any specific recipe. I wanted to attempt to recreate a century egg look on my eggs but it did not turn out too well. I cracked the shells but did not completely peel them off and soaked them in tea overnight. When it was time to take the shell off, the coloured pattern that should of been left on the egg came off with the shell.

The recipe I used is as follows:
10 white eggs
1 cup of white vinegar
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons of coarse salt
2 tablespoons of pickling spice
3 cloves garlic
1 Hot chili pepper; My first step was to hard boil the eggs, make enough tea to cover the eggs, crack the egg shells without removing them and soak them in the tea over night. The following day I removed the shells from the eggs. I boiled my mason jar and also put the vinegar, water, salt, pickling spice, garlic, and chili pepper in a pot and brought it all to a boil. I put the eggs into the jar and poured the boiling liquids and spices into the jar and quickly put the lid on the jar. Before refrigerating I let the jar cool to room temperature. Once the jar completely cooled down the lid became air tight. I refrigerated the eggs for about 4-5 days before opening the jar and trying one. To be perfectly honest, I would probably never make pickled eggs again. They tasted mainly of vinegar, and although they were good I would rather just eat a pickle. The next time I try to pickle something I will most likely make dill pickles as they are one of my favourite things to eat. Pickling is a fairly simple process and you can pickle just about anything. I hope from reading my blog you become encouraged to go and try pickling for yourself!

hard boiling the eggs  

hard boiled eggs in tea

vinegar, water, and spices 

boiling the jar

Finished product

Passion Fruit? Giradilla? NO! It is a Granadilla? A GRANAWHAT?!

I was particularly excited for this blog because it meant I had to try a new fruit that I have never eaten before. Now, as a young and upcoming culinarian, I should be trying new things all the time. But, it's not everyday I come across exotic fruit where I live. This being said I decided to branch out and travel to a new Eastern European grocery that has recently opened shop not far from where I live. The store is called Yummi Market, and is definitely worth going to. The sole reason I decided to go to this particular  place is simply because I had never been, I had heard about it, and I decided this was a great opportunity to check it out for the first time. Upon my entry I walked right into the bakery section of the store and the smell was heavenly to say the least. The bakery was gigantic putting out dozens of varieties of breads, and deserts, majority of them seeming to be of Eastern European culture. After a few minutes of looking around the baked goods I stumbled upon the produce. I quickly scanned the section looking for anything, anything at all that I have not ever seen before. I saw all the usual items, apples, all kinds of veg, oranges etc. etc. etc. and I was starting to lose hope. Alas! like a beacon of light shining through the dark I found the table with the less common, or shall I say exotic, fruit so elegantly placed upon it. At first I must admit I was quite attracted to the dragon fruit, simply because of how "freakin" cool it looks on the outside. But then, just beside the dragon fruit I found this very odd, almost plastic feeling, small, round orange fruit. Pictured here.

What you see here is called a Granadilla, and upon research I discovered it is in the passion fruit family. I picked it up and squeezed it ( as most people do for some reason when buying fruit). It felt like the plastic balls that are used in ball pits that infants play in. It reacted when I squeezed it the same way one of those plastic balls would. In other words, like a child, I took great pleasure out of putting a dent in it. I went over to one of the employees in the section and asked, " What the hell do I do with this? How do I eat it? and is it good?"He laughed, and gave me the run down on the weird orange ball and my decision had been made. I will be trying the Granadilla for the first time in my life. When I arrived home I decided to do a little research on the fruit before cracking it open to eat it. The fruit is native to South America, as many exotic fruits are. It grows in the Andes Mountains 1700-2600 feet above sea level between Bolivia, Venezuela, and Colombia. These countries also happen to be the main producer of the fruit although it is also grown in Africa and Australia. Granadilla is apart of the passiflora family, the same family as a passion fruit. It grows best in the warmer months of summer which is the main season for this fruit. I payed $2.99 for one and was informed I could get it much cheaper when in season and abundance. 

Now that I had read up on the little fruit it was finally time for me to break it open. Here is it what the inside looks like.

When you get through the hard shell like exterior, there is a "styrofoam" like shell on the inside which is filled with very tiny, crunchy black seeds which can be eaten and are said to aid in digestion. Each seed is encased it a weird jelly like substance known as the pulp. The best way to eat it I was told, is to suck out the seeds and the pulp and eat them both together. The seeds themselves have virtually no taste at all but do have a pleasant crunchiness to them. The jelly surrounding them is what provides the most delicious sweet taste I've ever experienced in a fruit.

(another picture of the inside of the Granadilla) The only way I can describe the texture would be to use the word Umami as it was like nothing I ever had and could not figure out exactly what it was I was experiencing. The flavour was utterly delicious and sweet with no tanginess whatsoever making it quite an enjoyable experience. 

I began to think about other possibilities for this wild fruit. The first thing that came to mind was to make a jam out of it, which would consist of boiling the inside pulp of the fruit with sugar and reducing it. As it turns out, this just happens to be one of the most popular ways to prepare this fruit. Here is a simple recipe I found online, http://www.food24.com/Recipes/Granadilla-jam-20091103-2. I am definitely going to try this recipe in the near future and am looking forward to eating more Granadilla fruit. There is an endless variety of fruits out there and as the old saying goes, variety is the spice of life. Living by this mantra I am now much more open and willing to explore different markets and try not only fruits that are new to me, but food in general. The passion in me to strive to learn more and more each day has definitely been ignited. One could say I am apart of the passiflora family. Until next time, Ciao for now. 

All information of the Granadilla can be found here: http://www.naturespride.eu/our-products/product-detail/granadilla/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_ligularis

Flavour Exploration

Fresh Lamb Liver and Other Interesting Things

Well, here I am again writing about yet another food experience I've had in my life. I guess I shall start off this blog by realizing that I always find a way to return to my past life of being a psychopathic Italian butcher( any good chef knows all Italian butchers are a little bit crazy) and I guess that is where this story will begin. 

As a young boy I was always a very picky eater. I stuck to what I knew was good and never explored any other avenues of food. This consisted of pasta, pasta, sandwiches, and pasta, and every once in a while a sausage roll from my British side of the family. Now as any great human being has once done on his path to greatness I broke free from my pasta jail cell and began trying to new things. This mostly took place at my place of work as my mother would never cook or even allow any foreign animal parts in the house, except that one year I scared her with the head of a lamb, but I digress. 

Now it goes without saying that working in a small butcher shop you are bound to see many deceased animals coming through the door, always freshly slaughtered. This one particular time quite recently the slaughterhouse delivery guy walked in with a freshly slaughtered lamb over his shoulder and proceeded to hang it up in our cooler. My boss, being the old school psycho that he is, took out the liver, and the brains of the lamb. He sauteed the liver quickly in a hot cast iron pan and breaded and fried the bits of brain. I can truthfully say the liver was one of the best tasting things I have ever eaten in my life. The brains, because breaded and fried, tasted like anything else that is breaded and fried. But, that liver was undeniably fresh tasting, with a very distinct flavour profile which I now know is called umami. It had a distinct smooth, tender, meatiness to it like nothing I've ever eaten before. 

I ask myself, would I ever eat this food again? The answer is, absolutely, but it would have the be under the same conditions as the first time. It has to be just as fresh and simply sauteed with a little bit of salt and pepper to highlight the distinct flavours of the liver. This experience has definitely changed my perspective on what is good to eat and what is not. So far, it seems that there is a cornucopia of wonderful flavours and things to eat in the world just waiting for me to try them all. 

The moral of the story here kids is to always try new things. It can only benefit you as you go on to become a culinarian. 

Ciao Regazzi! ( Bye Guys in English for you non-italians)

Culinary Biography

Sopressata Made by Me

My Culinary 

Biography:Kitchen Confessions

Welcome to the official culinary blog of Matthew Skinner, Chef Extraordinaire. In this blog we will be covering such topics as my personal culinary philosophy, why I want to be a chef,what I hope to gain from my experience, and also my industry experience. 

Sectioned Beef shows my background of Butchery

 Firstly, Here are a few pictures that describe my culinary philosophy and personality. 

Left to right: My Co-worker Carmine, Me, my boss Domenic Martelli at the butcher shop where I started off and still work.

Pizza I ate at a bakery in New York City.

The first three pictures show a little bit of where and how I got started in industry. I began working ( and still work part time) at a small Italian grocery/butcher shop. Similar to others I began cleaning up and slowly began to learn the trade. I can do many different things in butchery and was taught and mentored my boss Domenic Martelli, A real old school butcher direct from Italy. My favourite thing to do at work is to make various types of sausages and charcuterie. The picture of the pizza I ate in New York City is there to show simply two things. One being that Pizza is my favourite thing to eat, and two that my family is from Queens, New York and is Italian which contributed heavily to my culinary personality.

Now, you may find yourself asking, if he started as a butcher and is still a butcher, what is he doing in culinary school? Well the answer is very simple my fellow chefs. I simply love to work with food of all kinds. I have loved it since I was a child and it has always been a true passion of mine to know how to properly cook and to work my way up through the industry. After trying out other career options for a few years and being unhappy, I decided to chase my passion and here I am.

I decided on George Brown for my first culinary experience simply based on its outstanding reputation and so far it has surpassed my expectations. I know I will gain a lot of knowledge about the industry and about food specifically ( production etc.) I suppose I could say that is the number one thing I hope to gain from this experience is knowledge on the one thing in life I truly love. Enough knowledge so I am able to go out in the world and succeed in the culinary world as I've always dreamt I would. I believe with this gained knowledge and a lot of hard work it is definitely possible.