On Food and Becoming a Chef

Grilled Pizza, 2 attempts

2009-05-30T22:35:00.000+02:00

Today's lunch and dinner was grilled pizza. The first try was freshly made dough, and the second was half the dough leftover which I left refrigerated. I found that it was much easier to manipulate the refrigerated dough, the recently made one was very difficult to keep intact and I ended up having to make it rectangular because any attempt at a circular pizza ended up with tears when I tried picking it up and moving it on to a cutting board to bring it over to the grill. I made a second batch of dough and just put it in the fridge because the pizzas came out so friggin good. You can also freeze the dough and have it available when you need it. Word of caution, the dough GROWS! I had to rewrap the second batch because it was overflowing, I popped it first, but the yeast just keeps on going, and going, and going.

The first pizza I made was with a tomato and basil sauce topped with Fontina cheese. The second which was my favorite was a white pizza with a olive oil, garlic, shallot, and basil base with some thinly sliced manchego (semi-cured) over the top.

Yeasty

Yeastier Grilled?

The Fontina didnt really melt, but the sharpness went really well with the tomato and basil sauce.

The Second Attempt:

The Dough:
3/4 cup water (105-115 degrees Fahrenheit) + 1 tbsp honey
add one pouch active dry yeast (around 7.5-8 grams)
let the yeast do its thing for about 5-10 minutes until it begins to foam
add 1 3/4 cups flour, salt
mix
let it rest for an hour, covered
I kneaded the dough a little bit and then let it rest for another hour and kneaded again
The dough should at least double in size between the first rest and after the first kneading

Topping for White Pizza:
3 garlic cloves
1 shallot
3 grams dry basil
2 tbspns approx. olive oil
Sauteed the garlic and shallot on medium high for about a minute and then lowered the temp to medium low and added the basil and let it cook for about 10 minutes until the shallots appeared to be slightly caramelized.

I highly recommend refrigerating the dough, because it came out much better. I was able to spread out the dough more uniformly, and it was noticeable during the grilling in that it was overall thinner, causing the dough to bubble and create more air pockets (crunchier) seen in the photo. However, both were really good, I don't think I would add quite that much olive oil on the underside of the pizza, seen in the second attempt, but overall I was happy with the results, and some of the best pizza I've had in a long time.

Old Photos

2009-05-29T20:59:00.000+02:00

Here are some old photos from around October to December 2008. Some of the highlights include caramelized tomato tarts and mushroom tarts from Tom Colicchio's "Think Like a Chef," which is a great cookbook. Also mixed in there is a hazelnut chocolate cake I made for someone's birthday, braised pork belly with a soft poached egg, brown stock, and a Parsley and Cream Potato Pie.

Poaching

2009-05-28T21:40:00.000+02:00

Poached Salmon, Poached Eggs, Boiled and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Poached the Salmon in Olive oil spiced with some black pepper, mustard seeds, and 3 garlic cloves. For the eggs, I tried a technique I saw on tv a few days ago, where the chef broke an egg into some plastic wrap, tied it off, and placed into boiling water for a few minutes. Finally I boiled the sweet potatoes in some salted water for about 15-20 minutes and then sliced them topped with a little bit of butter, salt, and pepper and placed under the broiler for another 15 minutes, flipping them halfway through. The salmon was topped with some freshly cut cilantro from the garden and some fleur de sel.

After seeing the segment on tv where the chef had the eggs already wrapped in plastic, I decided to look online to see if there were any other tips or suggestions for how to do it, and I read that its much easier if you spread some olive oil on the plastic and place it over a ramekin so that its easier to tie off when you drop the egg. Also, it was recommended to not drop them into boiling water but rathe bring to a boil and then lower the temp to a slight simmer and then drop the eggs in for 3-4 minutes depending on how well done you like them.

Big News! Food First!

2009-05-24T21:16:00.000+02:00

I've been really busy the past few weeks trying to finalize and figure out what Im doing in the fall regarding Culinary school. Plans have changed, but things are becoming clear and I got some great news this past week. First, I'll write about some of the food cooked this past month.

Croquetas made with Panga:
I came across a recipe for crab croquettes in a new book I recently purchased and currently reading; Izakaya. Izakayas are pubs/casual fare restaurants in Japan and the book gives a great history and describes various of the author's favorite Izakayas in Tokyo. I thought it was pretty strange to find a recipe for croquettes in an authentic Japanese cookbook, but I guess it shows how the world is a small place and it never hurts to learn about other cultures because this recipe was fantastic. I adapted the recipe to make more and use Panga instead of crab. I found the keys to the recipe being a bechamel base, and using Panko crumbs for the breading (fresh/day old baguette -> blender = Panko).

Before I post the next dish, I would like to let everyone know that the vegetable garden has been completed. It has been filled with a LOT of tomato and Pepper plants of all varieties, mixed in with them are some Leeks, Eggplants, Spinach, Cucumber, tons of lettuce, and summer squash. oh and Cilantro and Basil.

Next up was some brown rice, some fresh habas (I think theyre fava beans in english) recently picked (amazing this time of year, dont even need to peel them because they are so tender, thanks to the neighbor for bringing us some) and an omelette with freshly picked spinach from wherelse but the "huerto" (vegetable garden out back).

I was flipping through a cookbook I bought a while back from Iker Erauzkin called Sabores de ayer cocina de hoy (Flavors from the past, today's kitchen) and I came across one of those recipes you just can't wait to cook, roasted pork ribs (costillas de cerdo). They were set in the oven with tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and some salt and pepper at around 130 degrees celsius for about 6 hours. When they were done I separated the meat and veggies & pan juices. I quickly seared the meat and took it out of the pan, replacing them with the veggies and juices. When it reached a simmer I added about a cup of white wine and let it reduce a bit. Passed it through a blender and chinois to create a really smooth and absolutely amazing sauce. The meat, however, was still a bit tough, I'm not too sure why, turned it over every 30 minutes, but maybe I should have covered it longer to prevent more moisture from escaping.

To finish out the food section of this post, some experiments. The first is a Transparency of Manchego Cheese made with olive oil pudding from the Alinea cookbook by Grant Achatz. The pudding was actually fairly straight forward and has a great combination of sweet and salty with a not too overpowering olive oil flavor. Obviously as prepared in the restaurant the dish has many more elements and garnishes, I wanted to get the main gist of it and laid down a layer of the olive oil pudding topped with some pimientos de piquillo, chorizo, and covered with some slivers of Manchego cheese and placed in the oven (broiler setting) for a couple minutes until it melted just enough to melt a bit and take the shape of the elements underneath.

Finally, I wanted to experiment with a dish I had at Gresca, a creative and fantastic restaurant in Barcelona, which I had the opportunity to dine at the beginning of February. One of my favorite dishes was a pillowy souffle of egg whites with a hidden yolk center served over a light and slightly creamy brunoise of vegetables. I wanted to try and recreate the souffle by whipping up some egg whites and placing in a freezer zip-loc bag in a bath of 70 degree Celsius water for 40 minutes. I'm not sure if I need to cook it for that long. but it seemed pretty close to the original.

UPDATES:
I am no longer going to be attending the 11 month program at the Hofmann school in Barcelona, as much as I loved the school and the city, I've spent the last few weeks thinking a lot about what was best for my future. Several weeks ago, I had lunch with my family at the restaurant, Senzone, in Granada which we all really enjoyed and was one of my favorite dining experiences during my time here. The next day I had a conversation with the chef of this restaurant, which has probably had a profound and long lasting effect on the rest of my life, he offered me to do "practicas" (stage, internship) at his restaurant after I told him how much I enjoyed eating there and that I was looking for an opportunity to learn and work in a restaurant. This offer created a chain reaction, because to be able to do my practicas at the restaurant I needed a contract in which the culinary school covers my health insurance for the period I am working. After my conversation I immediately called the Hofmann school in Barcelona and they told me that they do not give out these contracts for any of their academic programs!! All of a sudden I began doubting my plans for moving to Barcelona and attending their program. The culinary school in Sevilla had been recommended by many people to me, but their 3 year program seemed like too much of an investment at 24 years old, especially when there is a legion of great young chefs out there, who have accomplished a lot more by my age, and I felt that I needed to play catch up. However, the seed of doubt had been planted and I needed to seriously consider that maybe this 3 year culinary investment might be worth it, so I went to Sevilla and spoke to the Director of the school who the chef in Granada recommended I speak to, as he is also an alumni of the school. After reviewing everything, and this time waiting a couple weeks before I made up my mind I have decided that this is the best course. 12 out of the 36 months of the culinary program are dedicated to externships, and many more towards working at the restaurant which belongs to the school. It makes a lot of sense, I gain a much stronger foundation and I have access to the school's many connections for attaining an externship in a caliber of restaurant that might take me much longer to work/stage for if I only attended an 11 month program with only 6 hours a week of class. I really think this is the right decision, and I have officially registered for the upcoming program beginning in october! Luckily, the chef I spoke to in Granada maintained in contact with me throughout the process and offered me once more to begin a stage for the summer. I immediately said yes, and I hopefully will be starting next week if all the paperwork is finalized in the next few days!!!!

Interesting Animations

2009-05-13T01:17:00.000+02:00

Found these videos on youtube and wanted to share (both by Kirsten Lepore), and if you have the connection, watch in HQ, makes a big difference. Enjoy:

Sheep, Sturgeons, and Caviar, oh my!

2009-04-26T00:07:00.000+02:00

While my sister was here, we visited Río Frio, an area about 45 minutes away from Granada where there is a nursery for sturgeon, which has gained and is still gaining world fame for the quality of caviar being produced. Lucky us, at the restaurant where we stopped to have a cup of coffee, they had just received a sturgeon (male) which they use in their rice dishes. I believe it was several years old as they keep the females until they grow to be at least 16 years old at which point they remove the caviar. They can get to be between 80-100 years old from what I was told, and I believe they are able to get about 10-20% of their body weight in caviar. Another cool fact is that the sturgeon don't have any scales. As for the sheep, they just happened to pass by and my niece got excited about seeing them and we took some photos.

Orange Basil Ice Cream

2009-04-25T23:44:00.000+02:00

I finally have an internet connection at home woo hoo!!! very happy about that, and it also means I have more time to update this blog and better keep in touch with people.

I found a Basil Ice Cream recipe on the BBC website a couple months ago and decided I would hold on to it a) in case I bought an ice cream maker and b) I love ice cream. A few weeks ago I ran across Harold McGee's article on how to make ice cream without a machine combining ice and salt in a bucket. Why not? The week I decided to make it, there was going to be a citrus festival in the valle de lecrin, an area close to where I live, where they grow lots of oranges and lemons, and they had a cooking competition. I decided I would enter altering the Basil ice cream recipe and turning it into an orange basil ice cream which, flavor wise seemed to make sense. However I didn't enter the competition because the prize was a ceramic plate, no thanks, and I had family over the day before, which meant I would have to ignore my sister, nephew, and niece to try and win a plate.... uh huh...

The recipe called for making a basil syrup by first boiling water and sugar and then after about 10 minutes adding diced basil, I added the basil, juice from one orange, and the zest/peel of one orange. After about another 5 minutes, I passed it through a china cap. While I was making the syrup I whipped up some cream, which I then added the syrup too and gently folded it in. To that, I added a mixture of condensed milk, vodka, and a little more cream, which I folded in and whipped up again. The reasoning for adding the vodka, is that alcohol is supposed to help prevent cream/water from forming large crystals and gaining an undesirable texture during the freezing process. I poured the mixture into a freezer ziploc bag, and here comes the experiment with ice. McGee says that by adding salt, it lowers the freezing point of the ice therefore making it possible to freeze the mixture in a shorter amount of time. I didn't have great results. I added the ice and salt into a bucket, put the ziploc bag in the middle and after about 4 hours, during which I moved and shaked the bucket and bag, it hadn't frozen. I decided it had gotten cold enough and it was midnight so I popped it into the freezer. The result was really good, the ice cream had a a great flavor, but I think it could definitely have been smoother if done by machine. It kind of came out in the shape of large notebook, and I had to let the ice cream melt a little bit before serving. For the photos, I accompanied the ice cream with some caviar I made combining orange syrup with sodium alginate and releasing into a calcium chloride bath, and a leaf of basil.

5 weeks... Time to catch up

2009-04-12T11:38:00.001+02:00

I'm going to try and do a quick recap of the past 5 weeks, because I had some family in town, was sick for a brief period, and haven't had a lot of access to internet all combining into a lack of attention towards the blog, but I still took photos!

Last month, I decided to start a vegetable garden. I took out an 18 square meter patch of grass and went to town.

Before

And After...

I've had to wait a few weeks to buy plants because the temperatures have still been a bit too low, but in the meantime I added about 800 liters of compost, dirt, and fertilizer. It looks like the weather is improving and I'll be adding some tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce this week. I planted some spinach, eggplant, and squash seeds last week so hopefully those will begin to germinate and do their thing and hopefully we'll see some baby plants next week!

As for food, the highlights have been a braised pork tenderloin with butter sauteed artichokes, moroccan style roasted chicken, and basque style braised chicken thighs which I made the first night my sister was in town.

The pork tenderloin was inspired by the fridge, I had a lot of vegetables that needed to be used and I just started cooking. I served the pork on top of some polenta I cooked up with a little bit of garlic, olive oil, s&p. Afterwards I kind of felt like Will Ferrell in Old School after the debate scene,

Frank: What happened? I blacked out
Dean Pritchard: That was interesting. ha ha. Thank you very much. And, uh, your rebuttal? Mr. Carville.
James Carville: Oh... It... We... have no response. That was perfect.

I have been looking for a good spot to buy spices in Granada, and I finally found one a couple weeks ago, where I bought some Ras el Hanout, some Garam Masala, and mustard seeds. I have been wanting to use Ras el Hanout for a while now, and had found an interesting Roasted Chicken with Moroccan spices recipe off of epicurious.com, link to recipe.

I first made a paste with the spices, garlic, oil, and lemon juice, substituting spanish sweet paprika instead of the hungarian paprika. I then cleaned out the chicken, rinsed under some cold water and patted it down with paper towels. I covered the bird with the paste, which was really aromatic and smelled amazing, and stuffed it with the pierced lemons, rosemary, and thyme. I surrounded the chicken with potatoes, carrots, and quartered onions, and let it roast.

Pre-Roasting

ROASTED...

The chicken was really moist, really really moist, but I think the best part for me were the roasted potatoes in the pan juices which tasted phenomenal. There's something about the lemons which gives the chicken a sort of bitter taste that I'm not crazy about, but wasn't too noticeable in this version. Next time I may try to marinate the chicken with the spice blend for at least a few hours before cooking it, to let those flavors dig deeper into the meat.

I found the next chicken recipe on food & wine and it is by Daniel Boulud. It's a "Basque Chicken and Chorizo Sauté." This dish was a big hit with the family, but because the chicken thighs I bought were so huge I had to let it cook for about 45 minutes longer than the recipe called for.

Mise en Place

Browning the Chorizo which was a combination of spicy and one
I had bought earlier in the day made from iberico pork.

I then removed the chorizo and browned the chicken thighs in the same pan. They were so large, I ended up using a pan we keep for making paella.
I took out the chicken and sauteed the vegetables, added the manzanilla (sherry), and spices and then put the meat back into the mix.
It cooked covered for about 25 minutes, and then I added the artichoke hearts, and went for about an hour uncovered.

The final result.
mmm... chorizoey goodness

My nephew was a fan

What's In Season?

2009-03-05T18:27:00.001+01:00

In case your wondering what you should buy at the market this month...

Food In Season

Eat the Seasons

Food Pairing Website

2009-03-05T17:23:00.000+01:00

Found a great website for those of you who curious to find out which flavors go well together. Will follow up with an explanation on how I found the website later this month.

www.foodpairing.be

Blumenthal's Vodka and Beer Battered Fish

2009-02-27T11:06:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the delay in an update, I've been sick for the better part of the past week, and haven't gotten a chance at the office to update until now. Finally, here we go, Heston Blumenthal's recipe for Vodka and Beer Battered Fish. I found the recipe while reading an article by Harold McGee in the New York Times. Recipes like these really capture the essence of Molecular Gastronomy, how can we make something like fried fish better and more consistent by simply studying and finding out the reactions that occur when we combine certain ingredients or the way we cook them. The recipe came from Blumenthal's series of In Search of Perfection (books and tv) when he was playing around with different starches to use in his battered fish recipe.

As McGee writes, explaining why vodka enhances the dish:

"The key to the Fat Duck batter is the alcohol, which does a couple of very useful things. It dissolves some of the gluten proteins in the wheat flour, so no elastic network forms and the crust doesn’t get tough. (You’ll notice when you combine the ingredients that the mix becomes mushy rather than sticky.) Alcohol also reduces the amount of water that the starch granules can absorb, and boils off faster than water, so the batter dries out, crisps and browns quickly, before the delicate fish inside overcooks. The crispness lasts through the meal, and revives well the next day in a hot oven."

Below are some photos with the final results, and it came out amazing. I used Panga which is pretty common in Spain, even though its fished in Vietnam, frozen and then imported. But I haven't really seen it in the states. Next time, I obviously plan on using fresh fish, but considering the fish had been frozen it was really incredible. Really crispy on the outside, and amazingly moist and perfectly cooked in the middle. I had some extra batter left over, so I filleted some chicken breast into really thin slices, powdered them with some salt, pepper, paprika, and a little brown sugar then battered and fried them, and they came out very tasty and moist as well.

This is the chicken which were powdered lightly with rice flour
(fish went through same process as well)
Fryin' Fish
Fish Fried
Fish and Chips

Draft Declaration

2009-02-23T12:00:00.001+01:00

Draft Declaration

Posted using ShareThis

Dabbling with Texturas

2009-02-17T12:40:00.001+01:00

On my recent visit to Barcelona I stopped into Solé Graells, a culinary-focused shop that sells just about anything related to cooking. They also happen to produce and distribute the Ferran and Albert Adria line of Texturas which are some chemicals they use in their kitchen for spherification, gels, foams, caviar, thickening, stabilizing, etc. I bought the basics for spherification (sodium alginate and calcium chloride), sodium citrate to control the ph level, and some xanthan gum for thickening. My first experience with spherification was with the earl grey tea ravioli which is supposed to have a little cube of lemon juice in the middle, which didn't really work out too well. The taste seemed a little watered down for me and the amounts seemed a little off when I was making the ravioli, I ended up having to add more sodium alginate than the recipe called for. The caviar worked a little better, but still a little bland. I heated up some whole milk and added some miel de caña (sugar cane honey) which ended up being pretty tasty combined with the caviar. I'll let the photos do the talking for now and this weekend I'll try experimenting a bit more and have something more worthwhile of detailing.

Tea Ravioli (above)
Tea Caviar
Tea Caviar with Milk and Honey
Tea Caviar hanging out with some Deformed Ravioli Outcasts

My first dabble had some limited success but the lemon cubes kept melting before the ravioli solidified, making a mess. I'm guessing I need to freeze them at a lower temp. and it took me a while to get a hang of making the actual "raviolis."

Pork stuffed Pork, Tenderloin stuffed with Pancetta

2009-02-16T18:43:00.000+01:00

This was inspired by what was in the fridge and had to be used before it went bad. Luckily, it was really delicious, and the fattiness of the pancetta balanced out the lean meat of the tenderloin.3 cloves garlic
2 carrots
3 ripe tomatoes
3 small cebolletas
1 Green Pepper
750 g Pancetta
2 Pork Tenderloins
1 guindilla pepper
4 sprigs of thyme
Cognac
1 tbsp honey mixed with 1/4 cup hot water
s + p

I started off by slicing the garlic and dicing the cebolletas and the rest of the veggies. Put a few tbspns of olive oil in a saute pan and added the garlic once heated, for about a minute then the onion. Let that go until the onions had sweated for a few minutes and then added the carrots and pepper.
While I let that cook for a few minutes, I had cleaned the tenderloins trimming any additional fat, and silverskin. Then I butterflied the tenderloins in half and salted the interior with salt and pepper and then added the 2-3 strips of pancetta.
Closed the tenderloin and then with some butcher's string tied it up (a technique I'm still trying to get better at, particularly distributing and tying it correctly so it looks uniform). I then seared in a separate pan both tenderloins, and added the tomatoes to the vegetables.
After the pork had seared off, I cubed up a couple strips of extra pancetta and cooked them for a couple minutes and then deglazed the pan with 1/4 cup of cognac, and added that to the pan with the veggies and pork.
Finally, I heated up a quarter cup of water and melted a tablespoon of honey (milflores) into it and added it to the veggies. I tied up 4-5 sprigs of thyme with some string, and added that along with a guindilla pepper into the pan. I let everything cook, covered, in the pan for about 30 minutes on low heat, flipping the tenderloins half way through. After 30 minutes the pork tenderloins were about 168 degrees celsius when I removed them and let them rest while I reduced the veggies and juices into a sauce.

Next up... Heston Blumenthal's, In search of Perfection, Vodka and Beer battered fish recipe

Quick and Easy Cassoulet

2009-02-11T16:14:00.000+01:00

I've been reading Jacque Pepin's Complete Techniques book, which is a combination of two of his previous works from the 70s and I was sitting at the office and I decided to browse online at some of his recipes on Food & Wine's website. Found a recipe for a cassoulet from his short cuts cookbook which caught my attention with the current frigid weather, something hot, filling, and with plenty of cerdo. I printed out the recipe and headed out to the butcher in town. I wasn't able to find the sausages called for in the recipe so I went with a combination of 6 chicken sausages and some delicious pork sausage, and of course pancetta. Bought 2 bottles of alubias at the supermarket, and some cebolletas, and I was set. This is more of an adaptation of the recipe than a direct recreation, due to the fact that the ingredients called for were hard to get a hold of like kielbasa (good luck finding that type of sausage in a market of a small town outside Granada). So I started by pouring the oil and a little water in a pan and adding the sausages once heated. While that was cooking I sliced and diced some onion, garlic, and the cebolleta I bought. I had bought some zucchini the other day and thought I could put it to some good use in this dish, so that got diced as well. Added the veggies and let that all cook for about 5 minutes and then added the "alubias" with their juice which I wasn't too sure about, as I don't like to add liquids from bottles or cans but I went with the recipe's direction. Added some squirts of tabasco, I like things spicy so I went with about 10-15 "dashes." I saw that it was thickening up a bit, so I added about 1/2 cup of some carrot stock I had left over. Let it reduce a little. Preheated the oven to 220 degrees celsius, and found a clay dish. I had baked some potatoes for lunch and had some leftover. I cut them in half and placed them on the bottom of the dish. Took out the sausages from the pan, and cut them up into more bite-size portions. Poured the beans, diced pancetta, and veggies into the potato-lined dish and then topped with sausages and some knife-diced baquette crumbs and placed it into the oven. The "cassoulet" was very good, but I would love to attempt an authentic and very very traditional version to see what its supposed to taste and look like, canned beans turn a little mushy after very little cooking. However, I did like that it didn't taste greasy, which I have noticed a lot in the "pocheros" and "ollas" served in Andalucia and why I hated the "callos" served at Tapaç 24 (I went to Bar Pinotxo at Mercado Boqueria earlier in the day where my friend, Rodrigo from Por mis Fogones, ordered the callos and they were delicious). While I was in Barcelona, I had decided that I was going to try either Inopia or Tapaç 24, it started raining and Tapaç was closer. I had the patatas bravas and the cap i trips (callos) and I found that sticky unappetizing taste of greasy fat in the callos at T. The patatas bravas were really overwhelmed by an aioli that tasted like sunflower oil, and thats about it. It's bad when I have better aioli in Granada than a well reviewed and popular tapas bar in Barcelona. I don't understand how making your mouth covered in a greasy broth can be appetizing, I feel like I have motor oil stuck to the roof of my mouth, so I think the chicken sausages helped cut down on that, but again I would really like to experiment with a traditional recipe and compare.

First Post and New Beginnings

2009-02-04T19:39:00.000+01:00

A year ago this time I was in the second semester of my second to last year before graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, and I hadn't been happy for a while studying economics and international relations but I had decided to continue because I thought I had to, that it was the right thing to do with my life. I was 23 and it was about time I grew up and joined the real world, even if I wasn't passionate about it. What I was passionate about was cooking and food, but it had always been a secondary priority because I had a beaten path set. A couple months went by, and I was clearly unhappy with what I was studying and the more job titles I saw trying to find work for the summer made it worst. This was clearly not what I wanted to do. In april, I took a trip that changed the way I thought and felt about my life. I went to San Francisco for spring break, and I decided I would really like to go to sonoma or napa valley for a day and ended up going to Sonoma. The combination of the respect for the agriculture, and passion for the food and wine turned a switch inside of me and everything seemed to make sense. I wanted to become a chef. However, that summer I gave the benefit of the doubt to family pressure and that little voice inside my head that said find an internship/job related to my studies and make sure you dont like it. I did, and I hated it. That semester was my last, and I moved to Spain to start a new chapter.

This blog is dedicated to writing about the steps I'm taking towards fulfilling my goal. Also, I'll be trying to cook 1 or 2 recipes from books I have or from something interesting while browsing the net or may come across in my life every week and uploading the steps and results. Also I would like to add intermittent posts about news I see geared towards food related topics, and highlighting several organizations I find interesting, for example SlowFood or the MadridFusion convention in Madrid which takes place every January.

My influences have a wide range in terms of the type of cooking I like, but at the moment they seem towards experimental cooking: Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Grant Achatz, Juan Roca. At the same time I'm trying to have some balance and recognize that to be able to experiment with cooking I need to learn the fundamentals before I begin jumping ahead. So while I would love to cook from Blumenthal's and Achatz's books I've been cooking and learning from some more classic and tradition-centered resources and chefs such as Jacque Pepin, Thomas Keller (more The French Laundry and Bouchon than Per Se), Tom Colicchio, C.I.A. textbook, 1080 recetas, Culinary Artistry and Becoming a Chef by Dornenburg & Page. Obviously I've been influenced by Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking which I think is a great reference for explaining the whys and hows of cooking and sparked the interest I have in reading about Blumenthal, Achatz, Hervé This, Adria, Roca, etc.

Hope you enjoy the blog!