Saturday, January 23, 2010

Second Weekly Reflection

Weekly Reflection (due each Friday)
Fundamentals of Cookery

Name: Mark Enomoto Date: January 21, 2010

Goals:
My goal for next week is obvious! I need to organize myself better so that I can get through this course efficiently, and ultimately so that I can, one day be the best chef I can be. It’s an essential quality I need if I’m going to be a leader of an organization, as well as a role model for those that I work with and for those that choose to work for me. But, to me, being organized is more than a chef quality. It’s a quality I simply need for life, and to be able to one day perpetuate my life, my skills, and one day be as good a husband and father as I am a chef.
My week three goal is to “set everything in it’s place” – a cook’s most basic organizational tool. I’ve got some chopping to do. I’ll break up my weekly writing assignments into more manageable pieces. I’ve got some portioning to do. I’ll give myself a certain portion of my day to do certain assignments - like 2 hours for my daily. Maybe I can create one “plat du jour”. This could be a workout or training session sometime during the week that I’ve been dying for. And maybe I should set up some “critical control points.” Maybe set up timers so that I know how long I’ve been sitting at the computer – the “danger zone.”

Expectations:
Expectations are high in Fundamentals to Cookery. I am completely appreciative of this – especially after all I’ve learned this past year. I currently work for Phuket Thai Restaurants. It’s a great family run restaurant, the owners are the nicest owners I’ve worked for, and their Thai food has won many awards. But, as much as I’ve enjoyed working there I feel that my expectations are higher. So, as I finish up this spring semester it will be time to move on. I need higher expectations required of me, more social responsibility, and higher quality. This is the only way I can become better.
One of the thing’s I’ve realized while working at Phuket Thai is that I expect more quality and service in a restaurant I’m apart of. One challenge is that because the cooks are native Thai’s and Lao’s, they don’t speak English very well, nor do they don’t understand the standards of this industry.
For, example, instead of drinking from plastic cups or covered drink containers on the line, they drink from beverage glasses that are meant for service. Of course these could get knocked over in the middle of the rush, break, and there would be shard’s of glass on the food line. So, in attempt to calm one of my worries at work, I’ve bought them plastic cups and have tried to explain, “Glass (point, point, point to a glass), not good. If breaks when working, not good.” They casually replied, “Ohh, you so nice,” as if I had bought them gifts. Oh the pain.
And as I’ve learned, then smallest standard should be expected of all employee’s. It’s also very necessary if you want to stay in business.

Reflection of Experiences:

This week has been educational – I’ve done many things I haven’t done before, or are learning the classic method of doing them. It’s great to see how basics skills are so foundational. Although, I really enjoyed attempting to make a chicken stock and veal stock, I wouldn’t have been able to do those unless I learned my knife cuts, how to de-construct a chicken, and how to make a sachet. It’s also interesting that if I make a mistake in any of those initial steps, I could alter my final product. Similarly, if I make my chicken stock or veal stock wrong, then my veloute and demi glace will be wrong as well.

Positive Experiences:

My positive experience for this week was experiencing waking up at 4:30am to get to school by 5:30am. It was good to wake up early, not have to deal with any traffic, and start moving around early. The energy of a kitchen is definetely a great alarm clock with the banging of stainless steel, knives chopping, sound of sizzling, and the smell of fresh coffee and baked goods. There’s no way anyone could sleep through that! Although all of those thing’s weren’t happening that morning in school, I did get my coffee and oatcake early, got bangin’ away on the stainless steel, got some early morning laughter with classmates, and got work done. It was a gratifying morning.
Humbling Moments:

A humbling moment for me this week was during Chef Leake’s demonstration on how to clean our floor sinks. I was humbled by watching OUR chef get down on his knees and scrub mold, goop, and funk off of a floor sink. I don’t think I’ll ever see a chef I work for doing that in the future. And, I wonder if the majority of my class realizes that they could possibly be doing that in a kitchen job they get hired at, or at least something comparably disgusting. If they didn’t get excited about doing that day, they’re definitely not going to be excited about getting paid a measly $8 and hour for it – especially since they have some culinary education. I’ve learned long time ago that if something needs to be cleaned, it doesn’t matter if you’ve made the mess or not, you rush to clean it! So, when Chef said to go clean the rest of the floor sinks, I turned to, I think, the worst one – the communal wash station. So, I got down, just as Chef did, and I scrubbed and bleached. Happily, I scored a prize though – a bloody, used band-aide. Yes!

Of the things that I learned this week, I am best prepared to demonstrate to someone else? (list in bullet form)

• Perfect cuts of onion (small dice, julienne, brunoise)
• Celery cuts (small dice, bias, brunoise)
• Carrot cuts (small dice, oblique, rondelle, bias)
• Sachet d’espice
• Tomato Concasse
• Chop parsley
• Chop garlic (ruff chop, mince, puree)
• Roux’s
• How to clean a floor sink

What feedback did I receive from my instructor and how did I use the information to improve my performance?

The feed back from Chef Leake today that, could quite possibly, leave a lasting impression on me is when he encouragingly said, “Remember, you are CIA quality!” If anyone’s ever felt pressure to step it up, this would be it for me. For me, the last time I felt really good about school was in 1993 when I almost made a 3.0 GPA - I made a 2.9 GPA. My father was happy about that, but humorously my baby brother went hysterical because he was jealous I was getting complements on my pretty good GPA. Unfortunately, I’ve never done any better than that report card. So, when Chef said that I could go onto the CIA, the Harvard of culinary schools, I stood in disbelief. Harvard and my name should never be that close together in a sentence – for Harvard’s sake. And before these first two weeks in Fundamentals, I don’t think I’ve really given it a second thought after finding out the cost of tuition.
But, what did I do next? I turned to my girlfriend Jodi (who’s name is being mentioned for the first time, but, who is in relation, my confidence and the boot which kicked me into culinary school) and mumbled Chef Leakes comment. But, by now I think she’s almost unimpressed, and thinks I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be in life anyway. I think she’s more excited about the possibility of fulfilling her dream of living in New York.
Chef Leakes comment gave me a second wind for the day. Jodi said I should’ve just did my daily on roux, which I explained to her in fifteen minutes on the way home from work. True, a daily reflection on roux would have taken me less time than a veal stock, and would’ve given me more time for my other assignments. Veal stock was important to me today, thus being what I honestly should reflect upon. Besides, if/when I do go to CIA, I should be able comprehend and produce a 20 point fond brun with ease coming from Chef Leake’s Fundamentals to Cookery Course.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Brigade818


Brigade818 is our little team of "newbie's". 818 is the last four digits of our CRN# - not realated to area codes or anything like that. We are the Spring 2010 Fundamentals of Cookery Class. This is just our humble beginnings, but of course, as our fundamentals course, the most important of our career. Here we're led by Chef Frank Leake - CIA graduate, Professor, Chef Educator, Culinary Coach, and author. Keep an eye on us... we're the next generation of culinary leaders!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

First Reflection upon entering my Culinary Fundamentals Course. January 13, 2010



Culinary Philosophy: My philosophy on things of my life have developed from the one thing that I’ve done consistently in my life, and that’s my martial arts. Martial arts have a way of being more than a system of fighting , but also it translates to a way of living ones life. Now, I’m not getting mystical or cosmic here. I’m a pretty practical person – again, another trait I’ve gained out of martial arts. One philosophy that I’ve applied, or am trying to apply to my culinary career here is based on having an applicable understanding of basic concepts. By having an understanding of the basics you create a solid foundation like the structure of a pyramid.
You could use a sauce as an analogy. First, you start off with some quality basic components in which you may create a stock – the foundation. From there you could go in so many directions with that base stock. One direction you could go is to refine it all the way to a few ounces of a delicate sauce which you could ladle over a roast chicken served with roasted potatoes and haricot verts on a beautiful, white porcelain dish. You could just imagine how amazing that could be! But, that sauce didn’t just become amazing overnight. It became amazing through understanding the initial components, sweating over it, patience, skimming it, and cleaning it up – it took a lot of effort. I believe that by creating a solid foundation through hard work, patience, experiences, and passion I could have a great career in the culinary industry, and anything I do – just like that beautiful sauce that was destined for that one person to experience.

Goals: By being in the culinary program for just one semester my view of the culinary industry has gotten so much broader. Initially, I came here with the desire to be a chef of my own restaurant just as many aspiring culinary students, but it’s relieving to know that if that’s not the life for me, I still have many options and still be involved with this industry. I’m aware that sometimes in life, plans change, new roads open up, but I no longer fear that (too much)knowing that ultimately I’m in God’s hands.
However, I still would like to have my own restaurant one day. I would like to own a sit-down, neighborhood, family style restaurant, managed by family, serving rustic foods with local produce.
I see having my own restaurant as, not only having my own business, but also a venue to express many others things. There’s the creative side of me that would of course, love having the freedom to create dishes, but there’s also having the freedom to express art and décor with the ambiance of my own restaurant. Then there’s the social aspect of teaching, training and maintaining a food and restaurant philosophy. And lastly, a very important role I would want to participate in as well, is to take part in the community, whether it be feeding the homeless or supporting local farmers.
Having my own restaurant is a goal, but I’m not going to limit my self that one goal. But, if I’m fulfilling one or all those goals of creative freedom, teaching a restaurant philosophy that I believe in, and supporting our community I’ll be content with my career choice.

Culinary Expectations:
I think we’ve all heard the comment, “What are you going to learn in culinary school that you can’t learn on the job?” And, I’ve been in the industry long enough to see that there is a lot that you can learn on the job, if not more. However, when I came to school last semester, I soon realized that I’m not only here to learn how to do that job, but the correct way to do that job. And just as Chef Leake mentioned the difference between a culinary education from the CIA and KCC – the cumulative chef experience there are greater then it is here, so the wealth of knowledge and resources are greater as well. So, in similarity, I believe there’s more to learn than just cooking in culinary school that you may not get on the job. Not only that, but I feel like I’m around more like-minded individuals in school than there are in the actual industry. Students either have the passion or are searching for that passion, where sometimes in the industry everyone’s just doing it for the paycheck or they’re bitter and burnt out. Besides, it’s a breath of fresh air being around students that are untainted by the years of drugs, alcohol and self-abuse that you may see in the industry.
I’m realistic about the contrast between school and work, but I know my experiences and knowledge gained in school will someday be of even more worth than that fourteen hour shift at $9 an hour.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Ready for first day of school!


What role does food play in my life?
Being raised by a single mother, my brother and I were naturally “momma’s boys.” She raised us on simple foods. We weren’t well off, so we didn’t have many choices, but never-the-less food was memorable and to this day I still enjoy food we had growing up like oatmeal, natto and rice, chasuke with tuna and shoyu omelet, and hibachi grilled eggplant with shoyu mayo. As I got older I frequently helped my mom in the kitchen whether it was cutting the vegetables for the salad, or washing the dishes. Throughout my entire life dinner was never separate from family time – we’ve always sat and ate at the table together. Thinking back on those hard times I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have a mother who was silently tough, but also physically and emotionally loving.
Moving forward through the years, my very first paying job would determine my job path and inevitably my career path as well. In 1994, the year after graduating from University Laboratory High School, I took a job at Subway in McCully Shopping Center. This is where I first learned about things such as mise en place, taking inventory, and how to “break down” and clean. I also got a quick lesson on how to mop an entire shop after I flooded the whole prep room and service line one night during closing because I forgot about the mop bucket I left filling in the sink.
Ever since then I’ve worked in restaurants - mostly front of the house as a server. However, ever since I was young I used to watch cooking shows, and I was always interested in cooking (my mother and I would always watch Jeff Smith, The Frugal Chef on PBS). In 2001 my friend’s sous chef, Bruce Nacion at Kincaid’s, mentioned that he needed help during the holidays, so I asked if he’d consider me for the job. I worked the pantry station for 3 month’s which in that time I received an Employee of the Month recognition (a plaque which still has my name on it to this day at the restaurant), and was soon moved to the sauté station. During that time I was still waiting tables. And being young, I opted for the quick money job rather than the long, hot nights of low pay. So, after about a year working at Kincaid’s I left to strictly wait tables again.
Now 33 years old, through trials and errors, I’ve finally figured out my passions in life. So now I’m now back in college to pursue a culinary degree. Now older (I’ll use that as my excuse), I have a willingness to learn and pursue that passion that I’ve kept repressed because of the fear of hard work. I’ve changed my perspective of a career that I once looked at as too little pay for too much work. And now the Confucius saying, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” no longer seems unreachable to me.

My one goal in taking this class.

One thing that has always gotten the best of my confidence, whether it was in my learning abilities, or being successful in other careers, was not having the basic knowledge and skills to develop to something better. I believe however, I’ve achieved this in another passion of mine which is a martial art I’ve been training in for sixteen years. I’ve learned the fundamentals, I’ve done the repetition and hard work, and I’ve taught it for years, which gives me a better understanding and validates the significant importance of the fundamentals.
I look at the skill of cooking in the same manner. Just as in my martial art, I believe I have the passion and innate ability to conceptualize (and in this case, food), but I don’t have the fundamental skills to better my ability as a cook. Getting a professional education to learn these fundamentals is my goal in Culinary 120. I believe everything we learn here will benefit my career and skill development for the rest of my life – everything from knife skills, sauces, stocks, and other prepping and cooking methods.

What will I bring to the culinary world?
I had a change of heart in the way I looked at our culinary industry beginning in January of 2009. I no longer saw it as a dead end job of being a server, and hustling for tips. I began reading one book after another, and this started to change my view point and fuel this passion I had. The first book was “The Soul of a Chef” by Michael Ruhlman, followed by “Heat” by Bill Buffort, then “The Devil In The Kitchen” by Marco St. Pierre White, then “Setting The Table” by Danny Meyer. I couldn’t stop. By reading I saw that there was so much exciting things to learn, places to see, and impact you can have on people and the world in this industry.
When my perspective opened up to all these many things I knew there was no reason why I couldn’t learn about authentic pasta, bread baking, and different flavors and share it with people. And with all my years of experience in the front of the house, there are things that I’ve learned about hospitality that I personally place importance on which I could share as well. And lastly, I believe that if I were to end up in a management position or become a business owner of a restaurant one day, I could have an impact on our industry, our earth, and people of less fortune.
In a nutshell, I hope to bring creative flavors based on classic methods, professional employment, as well as hospitable service. However, aside from food and service, I feel that it’s necessary to support my community and support our industries environmental work practices.

Intro


Hello bloggers and visitors of my blog! My name is Mark Enomoto of Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm currently a culinary student of Kapiolani Community College, and this is my blog on my culinary journey.
This here is just the beginning, so I hope you love food (as I do!) because ahead of me lies the long road traveled. ...or you could possibly be bored, a supportive friend or family, or maybe my parents checking up on what I'm doing with my life...


I chose the title of my blog, "Visible Taste of Impression," as a "play on things" just as I, along with other cooks and food lovers, create food as a play on... uh... vichyssoise (for example). I'll get to that play on vichyssoise thing a little later.

Dictionary.com defines the word (and my name) for "Mark" as follows:

mark [mahrk]–noun

1. a visible impression or trace on something...

So, cleverly (or not so cleverly) I've just replaced trace with taste since this is my culinary blog, and it's always about the taste, but, for me, food leaves and impression as well, whether it be on my tongue, mind, or my heart.
So, welcome to my blog, and as we say here in Hawaii, "Aloha and a hui hou!" :)