Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hi, everyone. Here's the heads up for typical questions and common problems for the first day of the Korean menu. Read all of the recipes, watch all of the videos, make a bunch of notes, distill them down into a few questions and post them here. PLEASE feel free to try to help each other answer questions and give advice. If it's inaccurate, I'll chime in between 8-9 and let you know.
Please try to consolidate your questions into 1 post. I understand that there will always be times when you need to add something on later, but receiving 4 or 5 separate posts from the same person takes a lot of my time and does not display organization on your parts. Here are some photos that might help you visualize things.

Sous chefs:

Set up on Sation 5 for a "Kim Chi and Panchan Sampler Plate" Similar to the dim sum plate today, but all room-temp items, so they can actually be plated ahead and held on sheet trays if you have the time. The set up should look like this:

From Korean Menu Day 4

and the finished plate should look like this:
From Korean Menu Day 4

Sous chefs will only need to draw a diagram for the salad/kimchi station and the steam table. The steam table set up will be minimal - only the Rice, the Stir Fried Noodles, and the Braised Short Ribs will go there. All other items will be plated from the stations producing them. Steam table looks like this:
From Korean Menu Day 4


Spicy Beef Soup - broth is already made and you can add white beef stock to it if you need to, and beef is already cooked. Make sure we have enough for 2 days - we make the same soup both days this menu, talk to me if you don't have enough broth or meat on Day 4 so we can order more for Day 5.

Rice - Medium Grain rice. The tracking schedule says to make 12 cups, but you should make 16. Teams 4 + 6 will need rice, they will use some of the stuff that you soak.This needs to be soaked for one hour before cooking, other wise, treat it like the Chinese rice. The result will be a lot more sticky than the Chinese rice - so don't freak out when you see it. You still have to fluff it and rest it.

Salads/Kimchi - This will be a 6" round plate like we used for the Dim Sum, with small portions of each item on the plate - a "sampler".

Sous Chefs should make the daikon salad and delegate the spinach salad and soy bean sprout salad to teams 2+4, 1x the recipe for each salad. Team 5 should make the scallion salad - 3x the recipe for that with the expectation that 1/2 will go on the salad/kimchi plate and the other 1/2 will be served with their grilled beef.

The Kimchi is already made and in the cooler. Last class made it for you and you'll make it for the next class. There should be cucumber, radish, and cabbage kimchi in the cooler. The teams assigned to "set" the kimchi will take some out, allow me to show them how to cut/prep it for service/ All salads and Kimchis should be in individual 1/6th pans, together on one sheet tray, ready to plate by 10:30. They can be plated ahead and held at room temperature without suffering in quality.

Station 2 - Half of the short ribs coming from the meat room are for you and the other half for team 5. Let T5 have the most meaty ones. the recipe on this dish works well, all you need from me is a demo on how to cut them - it varies from week to week, depending on the ribs, so ask first thing in the morning. "Set KimChi" just means that you take the kimchi out of the cooler, get a knife, board, gloves, and 1/6th pan and ask me what to do. Do this early.
Miso pickles - the recipe is in the Japanese section, if you don't have time on Day 4, it can be done on Day 5 - BUT IT MUST BE DONE.

Station 3 - Be prepared to make both the trout and the glass noodles. A solid time line, ingredient list, and equipment list will be an important part of your job., you have two different entrees to set up stations and coordinate service for. You take care of ALL MEP for the trout and Glass noodles. Be ready to plate fish from the fry area, cooking the fish ala minute during service. Make sure to watch the video on fish fabrication and to draw a complete and detailed physical diagram of how your fry station will be set up. Show where everything will be in place and label each item. The trout is served on an oval plate, make sure you have them on the fry station. The noodles served from the steam table in a deep noodle bowl, have a separate diagram for how your noodle mise en place will look when you begin to stir fry. What ingredients will you need? tools? Remember that the noodles are Stir Fired - that means dividing MEP into 4 batches for firing for family meal and through-out service.

Station 4 - You will get 6 small Cornish hens. Make your liquid early, make sure it's very flavorful. choose the right sized pan to cook them in - a rondo just big enough to fit the hens. Hens must be poached between 165-180F - no boiling! Get rice to stuff your hens from the sous chefs, they will rinse and soak it, you need to par-cook it. Make the your poaching liquid,par cook the rice, cool and mix with other ingredients, stuff and truss hens, start cooking them by 9:30. While hens are cooking, make poached garlic heads and other garnishes. It works best to poach the hens on top of the regular range and, when they hit 165F internal temp, hold them in a water bath in a wok of hot water. You can set up your plates, utensils, and garnishes next to that wok and plate from there. "Set KimChi" just means that you take the kimchi out of the cooler, get a knife, board, gloves, and 1/6th pan and ask me what to do. Do this early. Pickled ginger recipe is in the Japanese section. Make it on either Day 4 OR Day 5 - but make sure it gets made.

Station 5- You will be sharing the grill with Station 6, space will be tight. You will be grilling thin pieces of marinated beef and plating them ala minute onto 12" round plates with rice, a small ramekin of Korean pepper sauce, scallion salad, and placing 3 pieces of beef onto leaves of cabbage lined with shiso leaves. Make enough Red Pepper Sauce to share with Station 6 - they will need about 8 oz. Since you'll be plating from the grill station, set up a chaffing dish to hold your rice. You can share this chaffing dish with station 6 -1/2 hotel pan for your rice - 1/2 hotel pan for their "mixed grains". I don't have a good photo of your plate yet, draw a diagram of what your station will look like - where everything will be - and a picture of what you imagine the plate will look like so I can help you adjust in the morning. Be as detailed as possible with your drawing - label everything so I can see how you think. "Set KimChi" just means that you take the kimchi out of the cooler, get a knife, board, gloves, and 1/6th pan and ask me what to do. Do this early.

Station 6 - You will be plating from your station. the recipes are all pretty detailed and the videos are accurate, except, when making the pancakes, you will use a flat griddle set over the left side of the grill instead of the cast iron pan shown in the video. Since you'll be plating from your station, set up a chaffing dish to hold your "mixed grains". The rice you need for this will come from the sous chefs, they are soaking enough for everyone. . You can share this chaffing dish with station 5 -1/2 hotel pan for your grains - 1/2 hotel pan for their rice.

Recipe Change for Station 6 - Kim Chi Pancakes - I want to try this, measure everything out but keep separate and we can mix together:

250 grams All Purpose Flour
250 grams Rice flour
500 grams kimchi juice (drained from kimchi)
Water as needed to adjust.

the amount of kimchi, the method and set up will be the same. Let me know when you're ready to mix and have a hot griddle ready so we can test it out. The earlier, the better.

9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Chef, Team 3

    I noticed we are holding the glass noodles in a noodle bowl, not sure what that exactly is?

    Thanks,

    Pat & Jon

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  3. Team 4, stewed hens- For the stuffing, is the rice boiled or steamed to parcook? If steamed, how much water should we use? Are we to hold poaching liquid to serve with the hens, or is the liquid strained and the aromatics reserved for garnish? Is the ginger for pickling to be sliced with a mandolin?
    -Lyndsi and Garrett

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  4. Sorry to post again but is the trussing just standard with string or is there a special way you want me to go about it?

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  5. Chef, station 2 for the braised short ribs, I am not really sure what diagram you are asking for. Our dish is a simple plate up tomorrow consisting of ribs, rice, and the egg garnish. Does the diagram seem too simple or is this just me? Also on the recipe for the Braised Short Ribs, it says to Blanch the ribs, is this a type and we are suppose to seer them like I have always done?
    Thank you,
    Cori Mattstedt Station - 2

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  6. Dear Chef - station - 5
    ---Can we double the marinade and sauce recipes tomorrow so on monday we can focus on the kimchi? Or will it not be able to last over the weekend. And for marinading the beef, do we set the timeline so the beef marinates exactly one hour, or can it marinate for longer?
    --- In the tracking schedule, it says the sous chefs are responsible for all the salads. Andrey and I have the recipes ready, but do we make the scallion salad or do the sous chefs?
    --- And one random question, In the scallion salad, why do you boil the sake and cool before use?

    Thanks - Station 6

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  7. Team 4, stewed hens- For the stuffing, is the rice boiled or steamed to parcook?

    The sous chefs will rinse all of the rice, you should take some fro them and steam it in a small pan.

    If steamed, how much water should we use?
    Same method as we've used except the rice is soaked for 1 hour before steaming. that makes it important for the sous to get it rinsed eary.

    Are we to hold poaching liquid to serve with the hens, or is the liquid strained and the aromatics reserved for garnish?

    Don't strain, serve with aromatics right from the pot. The poached garlic is the only aromatic cooked seperaately.

    Is the ginger for pickling to be sliced with a mandolin?

    Yes

    Truss with string

    Cori - for your dish, station diagram is not needed because it's all done ahead and plated from the steam table. All other stations have some active cooking and/or serving from their station. As far as blanching is concerned, you'll find that many Asian dishes don't sear the meat before braising - the umami flavor we get from searing they get from the soy sauce.Blanch the ribs like you'd blanch bones for a stock (like we did in class today.

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  8. above you said we as sous chefs have to make the kimchi for the next block. when are we supposed to make this tomorrow? or the next day. also would the medium grain steamed rice be the same as the long grain when it comes to the water portion sizes and cooking times. should we have a floor plan for where each team is going to be setting up on the Wok line. did the sous chefs from today make a 2x recipe for the spicy beef soup broth or are we going to have to make it again tomorrow for the following day.

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  9. Vince- Can we double the marinade and sauce recipes tomorrow so on monday we can focus on the kimchi?

    The point of repetition is to learn and, if you make a mistake, have a chance to learn from it and fix it on the second try, why would you want to take that away from yourself? Please do it fresh on both days.

    And for marinading the beef, do we set the timeline so the beef marinates exactly one hour, or can it marinate for longer?

    An hour or two won't hurt, a day or two will.

    In the tracking schedule, it says the sous chefs are responsible for all the salads. Andrey and I have the recipes ready, but do we make the scallion salad or do the sous chefs?

    Please read all of the above information on the blog post.

    --- And one random question, In the scallion salad, why do you boil the sake and cool before use?

    To cook off the harsh alcohol

    Andrew- I'm sorry if you got the impression that the sous make all of the kimchi...I meant to say that "as a class, the previous group made the kimchi for your group and YOUR GROUP will make the kimchi for the next group.Kimchi should be made on Day 5.

    Medium grained rice is soaked for 1 hour before cooking, then treated the same as long grained rice

    Sous chefs do not have to make an entire floor plan. Please read the entire blog post.

    There SHOULD be enough beef and Broth for both days, BUT often we come up short. Check what you have and check it with me early.

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