Level 2 Session 2/day 22 of 120

I spoke to my mom last night and she said I needed to clean up my blog and "take out all the cusswords." She also asked if I knew the difference between "a" and "an." Hehe. So, I went back and edited and out of respect for her and in an effort to be professional, I promise to keep it clean.

Day 22 was all about forcemeats, pates, and gallontines. Or, in English: mashed up meats and tasty bits which we then spread over buttery toast, or rolled up in even more meat which we pounded thin.

Thinking there would be no family meal(buffet-style food served to students), my partner and I feasted on our stuffed meat and vegetables. We even had food to spare, which we promptly packed away to take home. I love bringing Omar things we might otherwise never try.

As we were cleaning our stations for break, family meal rolls in. And who could resist mashed potatoes and meat loaf wrapped in bacon? I made myself a plate and ate until I was sure the elastic would rip from my pants. And then Maria decided to share some of her sliced cucumbers drizzled with lemon juice and sprinkled with chili powder. I couldn't have just one.

Then, while we were all stuffed, we realized we had a lot of time to spare before class started again. My partner filled a pot with sugar, melted it down, and I think he mixed in milk, and something else. What resulted was the best, creamiest caramel ever. On Chef Phil's table, there were two unattended Granny Smith apples. We borrowed one and proceeded to dip crunchy apple slices in the delicious caramel. Food coma heaven.

When class finally started again and I thought my gluttony could not reach another level, Chef Phil offered us pieces of Futo-maki. And then we sauteed chicken livers with shallots and pureed them to make a pate, which of course I had to try. I'm surprised I didn't regurgitate from the horrendous amount of food I consumed.
Chicken Livers


Chef Phil introduced us to an ingredient called Activa. Made of transglutaminase, or in food terms, "meat glue," it is a naturally occurring enzyme that binds proteins together. Chef Phil said we could take shrimp and bind it to a piece of lamb, or take any two proteins and "glue" them together! So cool! It's the same ingredient that makes Chik'n McNuggets seem like real chicken and it's also used in imitation crabmeat. And, it's been outlawed in parts of Italy, possibly because of it's one dangerous effect: If you inhale the stuff, it can bind together the silica in your throat. Eek!