Biscuits, biscuits, biscuits

Well it has been a while since I’ve written anything here but I have some updates. I graduated my Associates in culinary arts back in April! I then decided to continue studying and get my Bachelors in culinary science. I’ve completed one semester so far and it is going great. Haven’t gotten into the nitty-gritty yet but I will soon.

On to what this post is named after. Throughout the summer I have been working at my local farmer's market. I have a stand there where I sell biscuits that I bake fresh that morning. It’s a pretty time consuming process because it is just me making them in a small home oven. I have to prep the dough the night before with the help of my sister, so that we can save some time, and bake them the day of. I have to get up at 5, sometimes 4, just to make sure all the batches are cooked in time to get to the market. Now past all those details, I have been very surprised how welcoming the people of my town have been to my little food “business”. Every week I have return customers that say they have to get some or that their families love them. I can’t believe the impact some little biscuits have on all these people around me. It really makes me so happy to hear all of it. I even love when people have ideas for new biscuits. I always try to make a test batch of these ideas to see if they are worth it. Surprisingly, my favorite biscuit that I make is one that was suggested by someone who was walking by. It has been an amazing experience to say the least about this summer.

Now here is where I am in disbelief. These small baked goods I make for fun because people enjoy them are making a defining mark on my career path. I have had some people come and tell me they want more of me and my biscuits and I am in shock. Never during my whole culinary career did I imagine that biscuits of all things would be so defining. I absolutely love it. I love that I can make people happy and believe in me from one bite of my biscuits. It motivates me more to work harder and experiment with what I got. Don't get me wrong, this is happening all at once and is pretty anxiety enducing, stressful, and a little scary, but I will always do my best and work hard through it all. And with the way things are going, I think some interesting things can happen in this coming year, and hopefully I can keep you all updated. Until next time!

Specials

Next week will be my first time working on a station that is just to come up with a new dish everyday. It is a bit intimidating but I think it will be fun. I have had a hard time trying to figure out what to create for specials. My partner has been taking the lead with many of the dishes with just some minor input from myself. I find it hard to create something out of nothing or to create a dish on the spot. However, I chose this to challenge myself and to try to get into the mindset and start to become more creative.

We have a few dishes planned out that I helped bring some components into. One being a tartare that I originally planned to be lamb but will be beef. We will be doing a spiced cured duck egg yolk to microplane over the top. My partner does take lead in most of the dishes which is fine by me because I’m also learning from him. Though I do wish I could come up with more of the dishes. Most of the stuff I’ve brought up has kind of been shot down due to it not being classy or “fine dining” enough for the restaurant. I’m working on tweaking them to fit the category, but it has been pretty hard to change the plating or forms of my ingredients.

We talk a lot about turning things into foams, espumas, and purees but this isn’t really something that I think would work well with what I want to do. I want to be able to make a dish that reflects my heritage to the diners that come in. I want them to enjoy what they are eating and want to explore that kind of food more.

In the end I just want to learn how to turn food that I love into fine dinning for if I ever needed to. I think that these 10 days on this station will help me learn more flavor combinations and plating techniques. I’m excited to see what we do and hope I can figure out my dishes.

Why I do This

From the moment that I knew that I wanted to cook people have asked me why. Just in the past week 3 of my peers have asked me why did I join the school and what do I wanna do after it. To me my answer is simple. I want to make people happy. However, as simple as this may be there is always someone who asks what do I mean or they say that’s not enough of a reason. Honestly, I don’t care what they think. I have my own goal and I work to it everyday.

Let me get into depth about what I mean though. When I say all I want is to make people happy is that I want someone to eat my food and go away with this feeling of warmth and joy. I don’t need them to be jumping up and down and in disbelief. I want them to just be happy. I also want this happiness to inspire them or those around them. I want people to look at what I do and want to be a part of it. This all weirdly comes from my weird “addiction” to YouTube.

I remember in my first semester in NYU I couldn’t stop watching food content creators. People like Binging with Babish (Andrew Rea), Brad Leone, Matty Matheson, and of course Gordon Ramsay. I already knew that I wanted to cook but these people inspired me. They gave me something to strive for. I want to inspire those who are around me through my food, whether it be in person or online. I want to do what these people did for me to others. I was stuck studying something that I was not in love with and they gave me the inspiration to chase my dream and now here I am. If I could say thank you to each of them I would.

I can only hope to get as far as these people did. I know it will take a lot of hard work but I will get it done. I know I am steadfast in my reasoning for why I do this. I know nothing will divert me from this. So that’s why I do this. Not to be the world’s best chef, not to have 3 Michelin Stars, but to inspire those who just need a little push to follow their dreams like I did.

Well that’s it. Until next time!

Where am I?

A lot has happened in the 2 years since I wrote my first and only post. I had my first restaurant job, and a few others as well, that was eye opening. I started culinary school two years ago not knowing what I was going into. I had no confidence in my skills because everyone I met had some sort of experience in a restaurant or food service setting. I did not. I was completely green. A kid who had left engineering school because he wanted to follow a dream that no one else believed in.

So, where am I now? I’m one semester away from graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. It has been a long journey that had its ups and downs, but I can see the finish line. I have found this fire and confidence in me that I have never seen before because for once in my whole life I know I can do this. I’ve also learned that even though I love ramen so much, I don’t want that to be what defines me. I want to learn so much. Currently my eyes are set on butchery. I love learning everything there is about it. Not just about taking an animal apart, but utilizing it to its fullest potential so that non of it goes to waste. I have been lucky enough to meet butchers and chefs that absolutely believe in this idea of full utilization and making sure that the animal did not die to be wasted.

All I know though is that I want to graduate and keep learning. I want to explore and uncover what this industry and world has for me. For once in my life I am excited for what is next and I just can’t wait. I have this urge and fire to keep learning outside of this campus. I want to be the best I can be. Even though it all sounds cliché it’s what I really want. I know for once that all this hard work I’ve put into myself is not going to waste. I can’t wait.

I’ll see you all in a few days. I wanted to keep blogging or whatever this is. I want to document this journey every step of the way now. I want to look back and see what I did and what I said. I figure now is better then never. Until then though!

My Signature

Currently I am trying to work on making a signature dish. In my mind I want it to be a ramen. One that will be a blend of ingredients of my own. I have ask for help from my piers and have gotten some good feedback and plan to start testing the different recipes. I have to learn the basics first because once I master that I can build my ramen up. I'm also looking at how the professionals, who have their own spin on the dish, make it.