Breaking the rules

When I left for Paris this past November my parents drove me to the airport.  As a chronic procrastinator I had had a stressful morning trying to pack everything I wanted for 9 months into only two suitcases.  It was a relief once I was finally sitting down in the car and on my way, and then to my delight my mom pulled out a bottle of champagne.  My parents wanted to have a toast to my new adventure (plus they were obviously devastated that their twenty-two year old daughter was moving out of their house and figured a drink might help with the pain).  But it’s illegal to have an open container in a car. Well, yes, we were aware of that.  I believe you should always know the rules.  If you’re going to break them it should be a conscious decision.  No one wants to find out they broke the law once the handcuffs are already on. 

When it comes to pâtisserie there are many rules.  For instance, if you want to get a nice shiny chocolate that has a little “snap” when you bite into it you need to heat it correctly.  The process is called tempering; you heat it to 45°C, let it cool to 27°C, and heat it again to 31°C so you can work with it.  If you are more than a couple degrees off in temperature your chocolate will not look appetizing.  It is important to learn proper cooking techniques because afterwards you can get creative with textures and flavors.  For the sake of good food I try to follow the rules of pastry to the best of my ability.  During my time at Le Cordon Bleu I have learned a few things that contradict guidelines I had previously been taught.



Me making cupcakes...and yes, I washed my hands first.

I can still remember the first time I was denied raw cookie dough as a child.  Traumatic, obviously.  I was sitting on the kitchen counter ready to dig into a bowl of freshly made chocolate chip dough when I was stopped mid-scoop and told I couldn’t eat that because it may have E. coli in it.  I will admit that over the years I have indulged in my share of cookie dough, but I always did so with feelings of guilt.  Luckily, LCB has cured my conscious.  C’est impossible to make a creamy chocolate mousse without raw eggs.  In general the French are very lax about eating raw things--beef tartar, oysters, and duck served very rare are all common, tasty dishes that I eat every chance I get.  I have no idea how many cases of E. coli have been caused by raw eggs or meat, but I do know that the E. coli bacterium is most commonly found in the lower-intestine of warm-blooded organisms.  So, before you worry about how well done your steak is please, remember the cardinal rule of cooking:  ALWAYS wash your hands first.

I have always been willing to listen to the advice of others, but at the end of the day I prefer to figure things out for myself.  As a result, I have done things such as actually pay money to see a Brendan Fraser movie, had street food in India (which was delicious on the way down), and put highlights in my hair.  When I am in a restaurant and a waiter warns me not to touch the hot plate my fingertips automatically flutter to the edge of my dish to see just how hot it is.  Despite my need to try things on my own I have always heeded the warnings of cooking show hosts and cookbook authors—I never touched boiling sugar.  It resembles molten lava and I had no desire to find out how hot it feels.  So as you can imagine, I was a little nervous the first day I stood above my pot of boiling sugar in the LCB kitchen.  I knew I was expected to touch it to see if it had reached the “softball stage” which happens to be 240°F.  I prepared a bowl of cold water to stick my fingers in before and after they go for a swim in the hot liquid.  Once I finally mustered up the courage to test the sugar I discovered that it doesn’t hurt at all!  It’s actually kind of fun and a slight adrenaline rush.  Cooking can be so dangerous.

Someone once said, “rules were meant to be broken.”  I by no means completely agree with this, but I do know that if I didn’t step over the line every once in awhile I would never have been able to enjoy so many delicious experiences.  Au revoir for now, I’m off to class to make a croquembouche and perhaps break some rules.


Bisou, bisou,


Maggie

P.S.  The following is a link to portraits by an artist named Mark Menjivar who traveled across the U.S. photographing the inside of people’s refrigerators.  It’s just a little “food for thought.”  The exhibit is titled You Are What You Eat.    http://markmenjivar.com/you-are-what-you-eat/statement/

"I've long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we're talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime 'associates,' food, for me, has always been an adventure."

-Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly