Lesson 7: Shopping

Guinea Fowl for Lesson 7

As I had expected, the shopping for ingredients wasn't very difficult for Lesson 7. The best part of shopping was being able to spend some time with my nephew who completed the last minute shopping for the fresh vegetables and a few other ingredients.

I was able to find Guinea Hen a the local butcher, but because of cost and the number of people I was cooking for, decided to buy one Guinea Hen and then substitute a whole chicken for the other hen. This substitution was a fraction of the cost, and for the at home cook did an exceptional job.

So I managed to get the Guinea Hen and Chicken, Polish Sausage and Bacon at the butchers during the week, as well as the ingredients for the dessert.  All of the remaining ingredients I either had already or were fresh produce that we shopped for before cooking.

Before going shopping, my nephew and I reread the entire menu and set up a plan, made a list and then managed to shop for the remaining ingredients.

Pretty easy and straightfoward.

Lesson 6: Shopping

2.5 lbs mussels

I have been busy at work lately, and didn't really have much time to shop for this meal. Lucky for me all of the ingredients were very easy to come by.  Really all I needed for this meal were onions, butter, milk, heavy cream, sugar, wine, herbs, flour, mussels, some herbs, and raspberries, not much else. Because most of these ingredients are staples, the cost for this meal was less than $40 for a meal for 6.

To think about that in terms of eating out, my wife and I ate out last night and spent more than that for just the two of use. I don't think I have ever ordered mussels (just mussels) at a restaurant, but my guess is that it would not be the least expensive item on the menu and would cost more than $40 for a party of six. Don't get me wrong, I love eating out, and I know that you aren't just paying for ingredients but also for the prep work, service, and atmosphere as well as everything else that goes into running a restaurant. However, I want to highlight this meal as a pretty economical menu. It also helps me overcome the idea that French food is expensive. Some of the ingredients have been, however this meal is definitely not one of them.

The only thing I wasn't quite sure about were the mussels, however I went down to the pier and ordered the mussels I needed on Monday to be picked up Friday after work. I didn't make it to pick up the mussels until Saturday morning. The fish monger was fileting salmon, making it look so darn easy. He showed me what to look for in mussels, gave me some cooking tips, then let me pick out the mussels that I wanted.

Not much else to say except that shopping was easy and inexpensive for a meal that I am definitely looking forward to.

Lesson 5: Shopping

Trout ready to be cleaned up

It's been awhile, too long to be exact.

I haven't posted in the last two weeks because I haven't cooked a meal since Lesson 4 at the beginning of December. This is a direct result of my over confidence that everything would fall in to place, my lack of focus and problem-solving, my first encounter with difficult to find ingredients, the holidays and holiday travel, and there was a weekend of illness thrown in.

All of these should not be excuses, and I am not letting myself off the hook, but instead hoping this will speed my desire to cook the next few lessons.

Here's what happened during my shopping experience:

1. I went to an expert to get fish and he thought it would be no problem (by went, I mean called).
2. I waited to hear back, without following up...left town, enjoyed the holidays, and then forgot about it for a bit.
3. When I was ready to get moving on cooking I was busy with work and couldn't find time during normal business hours to visit the fish place, so I dragged myself to the grocery store.
4. The grocery store was actually very helpful. They called the wholesaler while I waited and found out that monkfish and whiting were not available (I am assuming the fish guy never got back to me because this was the case, or the fact that my email address may have been incorrectly communicated to him). They suggested two substitutes (lobster tail meat and trout) and ordered the trout to be delivered in 2 days.

I left kicking myself, thinking I should have asked about a substitute a month ago. The substitutes, although more pricey, are readily available and will make for a fine meal. What I learned from this is that I need to be more resourceful with my problem solving, asking for substitute options right away and considering using the fresh ingredients when available rather than sticking only to what the menu directs.

These words of wisdom ring true regarding the artichokes as well. As mentioned in the last post, I thought that creating a summer salad in January may not provide me with the freshest ingredients, however I had already seen artichokes in the store. Unfortunately when I returned there weren't any more. I was able to find them at a much higher price at another grocery store.

There were two highlights of my shopping experience this time. First I felt successful for the first time shopping at Trader Joe's. I have sort of scooted around the point before, but so many people that I know just love the store. I have struggled to find what I needed, but changed my frame of reference this time. Instead of going in expecting to find everything on my list, I made it my first stop and whatever I didn't find I knew I could go somewhere else. This helped alleviate the stress of not finding everything on my list, and made for a much more enjoyable experience. I was even able to do a little comparison shopping and found they had some great things that were more reasonably priced than most other stores, milk and balsamic vinegar were the two that stand out (neither of which I needed for this menu).

The second, and personally more enjoyable, was that I had my mom to join me on the shopping trip for the fish and last few items. She did a fantastic job of pushing the cart, and was a bit surprised by the price of the lobster tail meat. She was also very helpful finding things. I am sure she will enjoy the meal even more, having been there to shop for everything with me.

Shopping done, ready to cook!

Lesson 4: Shopping

My percieved lack of planning, didn't play out as complacently as I had originally thought.  I had scoped out the butcher shop and ordered the lamb more than a week in advance...way more time than was necessary.  I also made lists of where I planned to buy everything and thought again about my plan.

The plan included finding a vegetarian option, as I selected a recipe for Vegetarian Terrine from Easy French Food, thanks Kim.  I also visited the Farmer's Market outside of my work, where I was able to find the chard and some onions.

This is the first time I personally have purchased Swiss Chard and I had a nice large bunch that I sampled raw with a few of my students. Most students that were around at the time didn't know what it was, so an experience with it produced mixed reactions.  The consensus was that the leaves tasted a bit like spinach. Here's what it looked like:

I planned to make the sorbet and terrine on Thursday night, giving each enough time to chill for dinner on Friday.

My shopping ended up pretty simply, picking up everything I needed just a few items at a time per my plan and list.  I am not usually a list kind of person, but the practice of list making is incredibly valuable for shopping for my menus...maybe it would be a good life skill to be practicing outside of the kitchen as well!?!

Although simple, the shopping was not uneventful in a very positive way.  I have to say how great it is to be able to approach experts who are willing to help out in every way possible. I really want to extend a thank you to Mike at the Arroyo Grande Meat Company who took the time to answer all of my questions about the leg of lamb. He brought out the other half of the leg, walked me through how to cut the meat for serving, talked a bit about cooking times and showed me what the fell, the thin parchment-like out skin, looks like. He also pointed out where a fatty gland would be found, and made sure I knew to remove this before serving.

So here is the leg of lamb, fell and excess fat removed.  What an amazing piece of meat!

Lesson 3: Shopping

Shopping for Lesson 1, I mentioned that I went to shop at a store that many people are crazy about...a health food chain store.  I have never felt successful there, maybe finding a few things from time to time, but never finding items that I was specifically looking for.

Oh how things change...I finally found items that I needed, at a good price, all of which were organic items! I haven't yet made a huge push to only buy organic products, instead I try to buy fresh and when possibly from local sources. This would put the farmer's market, and the barn that I shop at, higher on the priority list than the health food chain store...however I was excited to finally feel successful there, realizing what others rave so much about.

So what did I find there?  Pretty much everything that I really needed...PEARL ONIONS (yes they had fresh pearl onions), heavy cream, mushrooms, fresh herbs, and some really great chocolate (this is why I initially went there, knowing that they would have chocolate). I was also able to do some other shopping, including milk at a great price and a few other items. Overall, really successful!

I didn't really need much this time, as I had the veal and many staples that you keep around...I stocked up on butter the last time I was at the store.  

Ready to cook.

Lesson 2: Shopping

So it has been more than a week since my last post, during which time I have been trying to sort out a few of the things needed for Lesson 2:

1. It's always good to read ahead, so knowing that I needed chicken stock for this menu, and having a perfectly good chicken carcass from Lesson 1, I made a pot of chicken stock which is waiting in the freezer for its time to come.  I used half of what I made for a chicken noodle soup...the stock will definitely work!

2. I was struggling in my head about veal; where to find it, feeling some pressure to cook it the first time, knowing it is more expensive than most meat I usually buy.  To some extent veal has been a lot easier than I expected...I found it in the chain grocery store, only problem, it is in one of those packages filled with chemicals so the meat doesn't turn colors...I'm not so into that.  So I found a butcher, one that I had stopped in before, and was able to talk to the owner.  He has owned the place for 20 of the 100 + years it's been open.  He was able to help me select 6 nice pieces of veal for Lesson 2, and while I was there I picked up 4 giant veal shanks for Lesson 3 (they are almost a pound a piece, so I didn't buy 6).  I talked to him about most of the meat being frozen in his shop, and he satisfied me with understanding that a small shop can't continue to stock items fresh as there may be much wasted.  He also helped me understand some things to properly store the meat and how and when to thaw the meat safely when I am ready to cook.

3 of 6 veal scallops--Lesson 2

3. The Carmel Custard calls for a 4-cup charlotte pan, which I don't have nor a realistic substitute.  I searched several places...a restaurant supply store, kitchen supply outlet store, and a few local chains, before settling on the Internet.  My pan will arrive this week, in time to cook for the weekend.

Some great things about this recipe at this time of year are that it is apple season and there are a bunch of fresh apples from the orchards real close to my house!  Also the warm soup makes for a great starter on evenings which are beginning to cool off now.

One of my delays in cooking Lesson 2 is that I have been waiting for the weekends to cook when I can devote a few hours to preping and when a meal for 6 has time and people to enjoy it with.  This weekend should be the time for Lesson 2, as I have already arranged for a few friends to come enjoy the food and some nice wine.

Lesson 1: Shopping

I have been thinking about the first lesson for quite some time now.  In doing so, I think I have read the recipe 10 times, and the introduction to the book 4-5 times as well.  I made a list, rather 2 lists.  The first being things that I knew I could get easily, which meant I had the items already, knew where to find them, or have used them in my cooking regularly.  The second list contained all of the things I needed to research, including where to find pickling cucumbers, fresh spring peas, pearl onions, as well as Chervil.  I was pretty dead on with these things needing some research and investigation, as you will see later.

I set off after work to pick up everything on my commute home from work.  I first stopped at a local fresh market, the kind of local market where everyone seems to know each other, expecting to find a free-range chicken.  I was disappointed that the only birds they had were the exact same that I could get elsewhere for cheaper.  I probably won’t go back, but I picked up a few things on my list that I needed, and looked for the Chervil and the pearl onions.

Next I went to my local farmer’s barn.  My wife and I frequent this place because they have great local produce and are very close to our house.  A farmer’s market, which we have lots of, may have better prices, however convenience and quality are both high at this place.  I was able to get everything for the fruit salad, including pluots as an addition because they are fresh and awfully tasty this time of year, the cucumbers and a head of lettuce.  No pearl onions and no Chervil.

I then hit up the wholesale store for the chicken, knowing it was the exact chicken that I was going to get at the other markets, but at a much better price.  I want to be able to find better options for buying meat such as chicken, and hope throughout the lessons I will be forced to find the best local butcher.  The last time I roasted a chicken, it was out of the Les Halles Cookbook, I stopped at a local butcher who sold me a frozen chicken.  This not only takes preplanning, but also, I am not the biggest fan of frozen meat (maybe this is not something to worry about it, but I prefer the fresh stuff).  I also live in a town with a university which has a big agricultural program.  I have been to their meat production lab.  They have frozen chicken as well, all of which I know are local and are a very reasonably priced.  They are only open about 8 hours a week and don’t always have a wide selection of meat.  I have a lot to learn in to find the best places to shop for food in my area. 

At the warehouse store I had seen pearl onions here before, but no luck this time.  I thought for sure I could find my elusive Chervil and pearl onions at the health food chain store, or next door at a discount grocery.  With one stop I hoped for luck at one store or the other.

I know lots of people love the health food chain store that I went to, but I don’t ever feel like I can get what I want from this place.  Today was no different.  So off I went to the discount grocery. 

Of all of the places that I went, this place had the friendliest staff.   A produce guy was stocking the onions when I went in, and I asked about pearl onions.  He searched and went to look in the back and didn’t find any, it was the closest I was able to get to pearl onions.  My substitute was some white onions, I not quite sure how it will work out, but sometimes I can’t find what I need.  The other thing that I could only find at the discount grocery was fresh thyme.

I couldn’t find the Chervil either, however I knew that I had another option in parsley.  Le Cordon Bleu AT HOME suggests this as a substitute.  My parents are members of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) weekly vegetable box.  The great thing about this is that my parents can never seem to eat all of the veggies, so I can enjoy fresh local produce to eat, enjoy and be adventurous with on a weekly basis without having to pay for it.  This week my parents were out of town and I was able to use all of their veggies including a bunch of parsley.  I also made Chile Rellenos and a great tomato salad out of a few of the other items in this week’s box.

Shopping for Lesson 1 done and ready to cook!