Jackie Ourman

Gluten-Free Global Cuisine

ohoadmin — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 18:09:05 +0000

Gluten-Free Global Cuisine ohoadmin Fri, 10/18/2013 - 14:09 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/IMG_7631.jpg.webp?itok=KS-mIr4E Life as a Culinary Student October 18, 2013

By Jackie Ourman

In the third section of the culinary arts program at 91��߹, we delved into plating and presentation as well as cuisines from various regions, including France, Italy, Spain, and Asia. We took a culinary tour of the world right in our kitchen! It was amazing. I learned so much about regional cuisines and the factors that influence them. There were a few key takeaways for me that will forever influence the way I cook and think about food.

The first is this: regional cuisines are varied and driven by the foods readily available seasonally and locally. If you live by the sea, you eat a lot of fish. If you are inland, you don’t. If you have lots of cattle, you eat a lot of beef. Otherwise, you do not. Fruit and vegetable dishes, as well as sides, are based on what is grown in your area. Period. We need to think about this as consumers and chefs.

We often wonder why other cultures are healthier than ours, and I think one of the main reasons is that they eat what is locally and seasonably available. In the US, we are able to get any fruit or vegetable we want, any time of year. There is a price to pay for this convenience, and I believe it is our health.

On a lighter note, I also learned a surprising fact: true Bolognese sauce does not have tomatoes! Who knew? I didn’t but, once I tasted it, I realized it might just be one of the best sauces I have ever had in my life. So amazing! You have to try it. Here is the link. I paired it with my favorite gluten-free spaghetti and it was delicious!

The last thing I learned is there isn’t enough time in a school or even a lifetime to have an opportunity to master the cuisines of Asia. I was blown away by the complexity of the dishes from each region and the incredibly exotic ingredients. I would happily spend another 11 months just learning more about the foods from India, China, Japan and Thailand. I loved every dish and ingredient used and I am so happy I had the opportunity to do so. I even made a gluten-free version of General Tso's Chicken!

A lot of Asian foods use soy sauce as a primary ingredient. Many people don’t realize that most soy sauce contains wheat as a primary ingredient and is therefore unsafe for those on a gluten-free diet for medical reasons. However, tamari is a fantastic substitute and is readily available. I brought my tamari into class each night and was able to use it in many of the dishes we prepared so I was able to taste them throughout our lessons in traditional Asian cooking

Overall, I learned a tremendous amount in this section of culinary school. I wasn’t ready for it to end, but I'm looking forward to moving into the fourth module, which is pastry arts. I'm especially excited after learning that Chef Michelle Tampakis will be our instructor. She is an amazing pastry chef, and coincidentally, also has Celiac disease. She teaches some gluten-free cooking classes at 91��߹ and even has her own gluten-free bakery, Whipped Pastry Boutique. I can't wait to pick her brain and I’m looking forward to sharing what I learned in my next post!

Gluten Free Culinary Student Culinary Education

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(Gluten-Free) Breaded & Fried

ohoadmin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 21:22:19 +0000

(Gluten-Free) Breaded & Fried ohoadmin Wed, 08/07/2013 - 17:22 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Smoking-051.jpg.webp?itok=ixPsnWox Life as a Culinary Student August 7, 2013

By Jackie Ourman

As our culinary arts class continues to meet at 91��߹, we’ve gotten our groove and fallen into a comfortable routine. Mise en place is always first. I love the sound of knives cutting through produce, hitting the boards as we prep. I know there are some people who feel a sense of serenity when they organize and clean. That has never been me—but give me a knife and allow me to chop, dice and slice? Zen...so long as I don’t cut any fingers!

In addition to knife skills, in our first module, we worked on meat fabrication and preparing stocks. These skills are essential for chefs to learn and provided me with a strong base of knowledge and connection to the food I prepare. For our practical exam, we put many of these skills to work by making a cream of broccoli soup (mine was gluten-free, of course) and medium dice two potatoes. Medium dice may just be the bane of my existence, but I made it through, and was feeling ready for Mod 2.

In the second section of the culinary arts program, we focused on different cooking methods including sautéing, pan frying, deep frying and braising. After reviewing all of the recipes we were going to make on our pan frying and deep frying days, I was disappointed to see that I would not be able to taste anything.

There was a ton of flour, breadcrumbs and even beer-batter (double-gluten!) in almost every preparation. Combine that with a lot of people in the kitchen at the same time and you pretty much have a recipe celiac cross-contamination disaster.

But, in fact, it was the exact opposite. I brought in my gluten-free flour blend, breadcrumbs, panko and beer. Chef Ted Siegel, our instructor, allowed me to work with those ingredients and even set up a special fry station for me. How awesome is that? Besides being so accommodating, he is an amazing chef and I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to learn the craft from him.

Hands down, my favorite recipe from that week of classes was the Pan-fried Crab Cakes with Avocado Sauce. Using Aleias gluten-free Italian seasoned breadcrumbs and panko yielded an absolutely delicious crab cake. Chef Ted complimented the end flavor and texture, as did many of my classmates. Here is the recipe. You should definitely try it out!

Culinary Student Gluten Free Culinary Education

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Life as a Gluten-Free Culinary Student: Roux the Day

ohoadmin — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 19:56:47 +0000

Life as a Gluten-Free Culinary Student: Roux the Day ohoadmin Tue, 07/23/2013 - 15:56 July 23, 2013

By Jackie Ourman

The first module in the Culinary Arts program at 91��߹ takes you through all of the basics of vegetable, herb and cheese identification, fabricating meats and seafood, and making stocks. We then moved on to learn the five “mother sauces”; béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato sauce. These five are the basis of all classical sauces and each serves as the head of it’s own family of secondary sauces, which are used in many contemporary cuisines.

Considering a major ingredient in most of these sauces is a “roux” (a thickening agent made from equal parts fat and wheat flour), this gluten-free culinary student found herself in a bit of a pickle! I could have brought in my own flours to work with, but initially, I wanted to learn how the sauces were supposed to look, feel and function. To achieve this, I decided to work with regular flour, sacrificing one of the most important senses for a cook: taste.

There was not a single thing I could taste before presenting my final product to our Chef Instructor to decide how well I executed the recipe. Can you imagine? We are trained to taste everything, to determine how it is seasoned and when it is ready. I was presenting sauces for judgment and approval without any sense of their flavor. I had to rely on my general sense of seasoning proportions and ask my fellow students to give me their opinions.

For one out of the four sauces I made, another student said I should add more salt. Other than that, I actually didn't adjust any of them—yet, Chef Sam approved of all of them. Yes! I did it! Although, I still have no idea how they tasted and am not exactly sure how I did relative to my own palette. Isn't that crazy?

Since then, I’ve experimented a bit. I’ve learned some gluten-free flour blends don’t work well for roux, while others, initially, seem like they do not thicken enough, but then thicken a lot more after sitting for a bit.

Through trial and error I’ve been able to make some great sauces using gluten-free roux or thickening slurries (made of equal parts of cornstarch or arrowroot and liquid). I even made this delicious gluten-free macaroni and cheese using béchamel as the base and turning it into a mornay sauce.

My fellow classmates were a tremendous help in terms of understanding how my sauces tasted and compared with the traditional recipes. Through my gluten-free experiments, they have since learned of allergy-friendly substitutions they can use for their future customers. With the prevalence of celiac disease and gluten intolerance on the rise, it's this kind of collaborative learning that helps us all move forward and become stronger chefs.

Jackie Ourman is a current 91��߹ Culinary Arts student, food lover and mom of three managing celiac disease and multiple food allergies. For more of her delicious gluten-free and allergy-friendly recipes, visit her blog, Celiac and Allergy Friendly Epicurean (C.A.F.E). You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Gluten Free Culinary Arts Culinary Student Culinary Education

Life As a (Gluten-Free) Culinary Student

ohoadmin — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:02:53 +0000

Life As a (Gluten-Free) Culinary Student ohoadmin Wed, 05/15/2013 - 18:02 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/webvilla-293-unsplash.jpg.webp?itok=DOnzE6Eu May 15, 2013

By Jackie Ourman

I have always loved food. Loved to cook. Loved to talk about food, think about food, read about food. You get the gist. Food + Me = Love! But recently, my relationship with food was challenged. My love turned to fear. One of my children was diagnosed with life-threatening food allergies to peanuts, most tree nuts and sesame, while another child was diagnosed with celiac disease, along with the same allergies. Shortly thereafter, I was diagnosed with celiac disease (my mom was too!). Looks like we’ve been living with these issues for years and had no idea!

When you have celiac disease, you can’t eat anything that contains gluten, which is primarily found in wheat, barley and rye. Where life-threatening allergies are concerned, the only options are to refrain from eating those foods, educate, advocate and carry epinephrine. Shortly after my son’s diagnosis, I became a member of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network and utilized many of their incredible resources to wrap my arms around all of it.

After educating my children and myself as much as possible, advocating for them in our community and witnessing the immediate health benefits of a gluten-free diet for my son (energy, growth, happiness), the fear lessened a little bit. I started to get more creative in the kitchen. Instead of focusing on what we couldn’t eat, I focused on what we could. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the impact these issues would have on my children throughout their lives, I felt empowered and responsible to show them they could live full, happy lives and love food despite their dietary restrictions.

We are a family of 5 and my husband and third son (yes, 3 boys!) do not have allergies or celiac disease. I try to keep things varied, healthy and delicious for all. My goal for the food I prepare is that it doesn’t ever taste like it’s missing anything.

Jackie shares gluten free recipes, often based on what she learns at 91��߹, on her personal blog - like these GF Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

What started as a quest to help my own family became a mission to raise awareness about these issues and help others as well. I enrolled at 91��߹ to learn as much as I could about food, recipes and the realities of working in busy restaurant kitchens. I graduated from the Culinary Management program in August 2012 and am currently enrolled in the Culinary Arts program. I absolutely love it!

Celiac and Allergy Friendly Epicurean is a blog I created to chronicle my journey. I share recipes I use at home, adapt recipes I learn in culinary school, highlight experiences dining out with celiac and food allergies and share resources I have found helpful in and out of the kitchen. I’m excited to have the opportunity to share some of this information with you on the 91��߹ Blog and hope you will enjoy my perspective on the Culinary Arts program as a student who is gluten-free and allergy-aware.

Jackie was also recently nominated for "Top 25 Foodie Moms" on Circle of Moms. You can vote for her every day through June 4th.

Culinary Arts Culinary Education Gluten Free