Taking it easy in the Big Easy...

Okay so...since Aunt Beth wants to hear about my trip to New Orleans that's what todays post is going to be about! Next blog will be about my catering experience...

So, I went to the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting and food expo this year which was held in New Orleans. It's open to all student members of IFT but I was specifically there to compete in the quiz bowl finals- by the way, my team finished in 4th place in the national competition!- which is basically like food science jeopardy...but way more cut throat. People take their trivia VERY seriously!

But I'm not going to go on and on about my conference because the real exciting part about my trip was the food (obviously). If you have ever been out to eat with me, you know I'm a big fan of photographing whatever it is I ordered before eating it. Yes, I am a food pornographer and I'm not afraid to admit it! I had a long list of things i wanted to go do/see/eat but since I had so much going on with the conference, I only had a chance to do a few things on my list. Not that I'm complaining, because everything I did eat was super yummy.

First stop: Cafe Du Monde. Famous for their coffee and donuts (more specifically, cafe au lait and beignets) this New Orleans landmark is open 24/7 and draws a crowd like I couldn't believe. Coffee and beignets are all this place serves which normally I would complain about but as they say, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it!' Trust me, this place knows what they're doing with the donuts. It was outdoor seating which I wasn't especially fond of given the Louisiana heat and the service wasn't the best but it was all about the experience. I actually loved this place so much, I went back a second time for some more. The servers wore these cute paper hats and were constantly running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

This was my breakfast! Of course, I splurged for the souvenir mug to bring home to my Dad. The special thing about this coffee was that it was "coffee with chicory" which is a root they add to the grounds and oh my gosh, this was the best cup of coffee I've ever had (sorry, McDonald's). Normally, I take mine with lots of cream and sugar but the Cafe Du Monde way was to take your coffee "au lait" which meant with milk and it was perfection. On the first visit, I took my coffee hot but I was smart the second time around and ordered it iced. I'll save the hot coffee for a cold New Orleans day, thanks. The beignets were a little different from what I was expecting. I'm used to getting fried dough at the county fair, which is light and airy but these babies were DENSE. They come served in orders of three and covered in powdered sugar...amazing. I'm fairly sure they must put crack in these, because I couldn't seem to get enough. NOM.

For dinner that night, I was determined to try a po' boy...and any culinary tourist like myself knows the place to get them is Mother's restaurant, often featured on the food network and travel channel. In fact, I was seated right next to the picture of the Man vs Food visit! I almost always see po' boys filled with fried shrimp or oysters but since Mother's is famous for baked ham, their po' boy comes with baked ham and debris, which is basically just the meaty drippings from roast beef. It was also supposed to have two kinds of mustard but I actually hate mustard so I decided to go without... My friend ordered crawfish etoufee (I think I spelled that right...) which was equally delicious and what New Orleanean meal would be complete without some Zapp's chips?! Except they didn't store them in the freezer like Emeril does...I guess I had it in my head that everybody in NOLA eats frozen potato chips but apparently not. I should also add that as huge as this sandwich looks, I ordered the 2/3 size...and I STILL couldn't finish it.

My last stop on my culinary tour of New Orleans was Drago's, famous for their charbroiled oysters! I've just recently begun to eat oysters and believe me, after taking Dr. Jiang's food microbiology class, that is no small feat. I wasn't scared of these oysters though, because they were cooked (not to mention, slathered in butter, garlic, and parmesean cheese). I did get a few pieces of oyster shell in my mouth when I was eating them but other than that, these were probably the best thing I ate in the Big Easy. Since I had just eaten my po' boy, my friend and I decided to share a half dozen oysters but after eating my first one I though to myself, maybe I should've gone for the full twelve...and as if eating all these oysters wasn't bad enough, they give you this big piece of French bread to sop up all the garlicky, buttery, cheesiness when you're through. I went home that night and slept like a baby with a full and very happy stomach.

My trip ended on a very happy note. After finishing up at the quiz bowl on our last night in town, the 21+ crowd went down to Burbon St to ahem, celebrate. I wanted to go to Pat O'Brien's for some drinks, most notably their hurricanes since apparently that's what made them famous. It was a really neat bar that seemed to keep growing and it was so packed with foodies from around the country (everybody from the conference, no doubt) but we managed to find a quiet bar and were served by our wonderful bar tender, Pierre, who kept saying something about brussels sprouts. Let me just say that Pierre makes a VERY strong drink. I was dancing down Burbon street after just one hurricane. I so LOVE this city and I can't wait to go back to eat and drink and love life some more.

Merci beaucoup, New Orleans!

Wearing the Coat!

Okay so let me start off by saying...I'm sorry I'm so bad at including pictures on this blog! My digital camera no longer takes a charge buuttt since I've been getting a few hours of overtime pay each week I plan on buying one soon...

So last night I got to "wear the coat." I thought was a funny expression given that it was SO hot standing on the hot side of the line that I would have much rather been "wearing the bathing suit" while making everyone's dinner...but that's just me. We were really slow for a Thursday night so I asked Chef if I could learn the hot side of the line, to which he responded with a sinister chuckle...color me nervous! It also didn't help that we had a table come in for a late lunch so I had like...20 minutes to set up the line for dinner. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

I found working the hot side difficult. Chad, I know you are reading this and I have to say I have a whole new level of respect for anyone who could do that for a living. My first ticket had two fish entrees on it, grilled mahi mahi with orzo pasta that was tossed in a broken olive vinaigrette (basically a tapenade with too much olive oil), seared local squash, cold pepper salad (basically a panzanella but had sliced banana peppers in place of the bread) and the broken olive vinaigrette as garnish. The whole idea of this dish was to use local ingredients..."farm to table" as some would say. The mahi was actually caught wild here in Myrtle Beach and delivered to the restaurant that morning and the squash, banana peppers and tomatoes were all locally grown as well.

I learned the first thing to do was to start cooking the proteins, because they usually take the longest. Chef taught me that when you have fish on the grill, you know it's ready to be flipped when you can lift it with your spatula and it doesn't stick at all. Once you start the protein, you move onto the item that takes the next longest to cook...the squash, which we just did on the flat-top griddle for some color. The orzo was already cooked so that really just involved reheating it in a skillet and dressing it in the vinaigrette until it was heated through. I've been practicing my technique with the frying pan...you know how chefs can look all cook because they can toss things in frying pans without using any utensils? Yeah, well I'm getting there.

Once all of my ingredients were cooked I was ready to plate. I was feeling pretty confident about all this until three more tickets fired through and then I had to start on those. What was most difficult about working the hot side for me was to think so far ahead so that when the servers told me their tables were ready for the meals, I already had a head start on the dish. Now I know what the other line cooks mean when they're always talking about prioritizing and not knowing which things to start with and which things they can hold off until the end. That's the great part of being an intern though, I don't have as much responsibility on my shoulders so my mistakes are more forgivable. One of them told me the trick to being efficient on the line is to work as diligently as possible while cooking the food, but taking the extra minute or two to plate the dish. We all know, WE EAT WITH OUR EYES! To put it lightly, by the end of the night I was REALLY missing my cold side and getting to assemble salads and soups. I'm not sure the hot side was right for me, maybe with more time and more practice, but I'm looking forward to impressing my friends with my new fish-grilling skills!

Do you guys want me to blog about IFT and my culinary experience in New Orleans? I know it really has nothing to do with my internship...but I do plan on eating lots of cool Cajun cuisine while I'm there...

Bon appetit!
JoAnna

The Mise en Place...

Okay everybody, I'm sorry it's been soo long since my last post! With graduations and weddings and visitors all happening every weekend, this is the first chance I've gotten to sit down and blog...plus, this time I have pictures!

So, first I wanted to show you guys real, living proof that I met the Lee Brothers! Note my super-cool, super-official Croissants chef coat! They were really nice. I was surprised that they were going around to the guests and talking with them and signing whatever books and magazines they asked. I've met a few celebrities now and none of them seemed this down to Earth. When Chef introduced me, he told them that I helped out with the prep work for their brunch that morning as well as the event last night (the one with Paula Deen!) and they said it was a HUGE HELP to them to do all those little things before hand. Many of you already know, but "mise en place" means "things in place" and one of my first lessons of working in the restaurant was how important your mise en place is.

...Which brings me to my next story. I have already mentioned that I've been working the line for the last month. An hour before the dinner service starts, I'm responsible for setting up my end of the line: getting my salad dressings stocked, slicing tomatoes and cucumbers, and organizing my lettuce,,.things of the sort. I like to organize things according to what they'll be used for. For example, I put the ranch dressing and cucumbers together for the Bibb salad we make. I keep the sauerkraut next to the thousand island dressing for our reubens. I find though, that my biggest time saver is washing and sorting my lettuces. We do four different salads, each with a different lettuce. Our bibb salad involves laying a piece of lettuce in between two slices of cucumber, all of which have been dressed in ranch. Bibb is usually pretty gritty, so I like to separate the leaves, wash them, and put them in something like a hotel pan. It makes my life so much easier. In the beginning, I was always washing heads of lettuce in between tickets. Mise en place is awesome!

All of these things I try to get done within the hour before service (which always seems to conveniently fly by.)  Chef will come by to do a line chef to make sure I've got everything I need. I always joke and say, "yes Chef, I have all my mises en places!" But apparently I think it's a lot funnier than he does...because I die laughing each time.

Next blog will be about ice cream! I'm going to try and write it before I leave for New Orleans this weekend...IFT OR BUST! Go Clemson Quiz Bowl team!!