Recipe: Apple Fritters

Saturday was a weird day for me. I wasn't sure how to feel. It was my last day working at Jezebel Gourmet Bistro because we went out of business. I was happy and a little sad. Mostly happy because that meant I would have a little more free time.

Anyways, when I got to Noonan's, I saw that we had a big box of apples in the cooler so the gears started turning. I wanted to make apple fritters.

Homemade.
My own recipe.

They turned out really well! So I decided to share them with you!

Ingredients

For the apples:

5 apples. Peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup of sugar

¼ stick of butter

1-2 shots of triple sec

For the batter:

3 ½ cups flour

3 cups of milk (may take a little more than 3 cups)

1 ½ teas. baking powder

½ cup sugar

1 orange, zest and ½ juice

You will also need oil for frying at 350 degrees F. 

First I caramelized the apples. I melted the butter in a sauté pan and once that was melted I added the apples and sugar. I mixed them up a bit. Stirring and flipping them every five minutes or so. You want to keep them over about a medium flame. Once they start browning, I added the triple sec. If you like an orangey flavor, add 2 shots. If not, just add one. Be careful when you add it. You don’t want to start a fire. (If you’re nuts, maybe you do. I don’t judge.) When your apples are a nice caramel color, take them off the heat and let them sit while you make your batter.

Start with your flour then whisk in your milk. Add your baking powder and sugar. Once that is all whisked up, it should look a little thicker than pancake batter. I added the zest of one whole orange and then cut it in half and used one half for the juice. I then blended up my apples in the food processor until they were smaller chunks. I added that to the batter and whisked it all together. By this time, you should be able to smell the batter. I then used a small ice cream scooper and dropped some of the batter into the deep fryer. I let them cook until they were golden brown. When they came out, I gave them a good sprinkling of powdered sugar and added a scoop of ice cream to the middle. 

My own critique:

I have made conch fritters in the past so I tried to follow the basics of what I could remember. I know you don't want a runny batter but you don't want it to be so thick that you can shape it or roll it. After they were fried, the inside was moist and not fluffy. It wasn't undercooked, it just wasn't the consistency of say, a doughnut. I read this article that I found online about the consistency of fritters, click here for fritter batter consistency, and I'm not sure if I used too much baking powder, or not enough. 

They tasted a little orangey. I usually don't like orange flavored things but this was a kind of comforting orange flavor. If you don't like orange-tasting things, don't add all of the juice from the orange. 

Also, this makes a pretty big batch so if you're only making some for your family, maybe cut down the ingredients. 

Everyone that tried them, liked them a lot. We weren't very busy Saturday night but one table ordered them and loved them. The other table said that the other people made them look so good, that they wanted to try them too! One of the tables asked what was in them because they couldn't quite put their finger on it. When people ask questions, it usually means that they are food lovers. Or at least that is what I think. 

If you try this recipe, I'd love for you to let me know if you like them or not! If you know how I could fix the batter, I'd like to hear about that too! I'm in it to learn and gain as much as I can from my experiences. Happy eating! 

Try, Try Again.

Okay, let’s try this again. I had a drink at work and I’m not at 100% but hey, YOLO.

So two nights ago, I wrote this fantastic blog. It turned out perfect and it was funny and I was quite pleased with the end result. You want to know what happened to that blog? IT DIDN’T SAVE AND MY INTERNET FROZE. Ain’t that a bitch? So I was furious and an inch away from crying. But I kept it together. I didn’t know if I wanted to rewrite it or if I should just say FUCK IT and write one next week. But because I am so dedicated, I’ve decided to try again. This time I’m writing it in Microsoft Word. Word never lets me down.

Monday was an interesting day. Spent a class with the birds. We took a field trip to a local pheasant farm. I am not too good at paying attention but the birds were pretty. We’re supposed to have a quiz over what we learned on the field trip but I didn’t bring a notebook. I don’t remember any “fun facts” but I’m not too worried about it.

What hollandaise SHOULDN'T look like

Tuesday was a rough day. I went to school, ready too cook my little heart out. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew we’d be focusing on stocks & sauces and plate presentation. This week I worked with someone I had never worked with before. He has experience like me. A little more than me. It’s funny because when I ask him questions, he says, “I don’t know” to me just like I say I don’t know to the others. It’s all the same. We’re all learning. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I’m learning mine. I guess they aren’t really weaknesses, I just don’t know how to make hollandaise sauce (the original way) without a blender.  I also didn’t have a clue what veloute (vel-loo-tay) was. I read about it in the book but I had never heard of it or used it before at a job. When I worked at Josef’s, I had to make basil hollandaise, but with a blender. When I made my hollandaise the other day in class, I broke it. TWICE. I was in a rush, and I forgot a couple steps. It’s all sorts of confusing. I just need more practice.

The veloute is a different story. Veloute is the unknown for me. We take 1 liter of chicken stock and add the roux (Roo) we made. I made a white roux. A white roux doesn’t require cooking. And if it does require cooking time, it isn’t very much.  A roux is a thickening agent for sauces made of clarified butter and flour. Easy.

First you have to bring your stock to a boil. Once boiling, turn it down to a simmer. Then you start adding a little bit of your roux. I added a lot. Too much, actually. The chef came over and said, “WHOA! THAT’S TOO MUCH ROUX!”

I DIDN’T KNOW!

He wasn’t mad but he helped me fix it. Veloute is also a thickening agent. For soups and stuff. You let it simmer for 20 minutes and then it’s done.

Since we were learning about stocks, we made 2 stocks. A white stock and a brown stock. The white stock is made with chicken pieces and the brown stock was made with veal pieces. After we roasted the bones, we had to deglaze the sheet pan. I got to deglaze the pan for the brown stock. We had to mix 1 cup of water and 1 cup of red wine. I went to pour my mix onto the pan and IT CAUGHT ON FIRE. I let out a scream and an “UH OH!” and my partner turned off the burner and put out the fire. He told me to rest the cup on the pan and then pour. Don’t just pour it so it splashes. This is common knowledge that I had seemed to misplace. But in the end, I deglazed it and all was well. The end.

 

Just kidding.

Lastly, we each had to grill a chicken breast, cook a green vegetable (boil, steam, or sauté), and make a starch (risotto, rice pilaf, or mashed potatoes). The chef told me, specifically, that I couldn’t do potatoes. I was a little bummed but I made curry risotto instead. I also chose to sauté some spinach with chipotle powder. (I was feeling a little spicy.) I didn’t think my chicken would cook in time for our tasting at 4, but it did. When the chef started talking about my plate, he said he liked how my chicken was sliced and fanned out. My protein, vegetable, and starch ratio was pretty good too; 50% protein, 25% starch, 25% vegetable. At first I had a little too much risotto but the chef called me out and I fixed it. He liked my plating. He didn't like the sauce around the edge and that's because you only put sauce around the edge for desserts. Otherwise, the sauce will be cold by the time it gets to the table. The fact that the chef liked my plate made me feel a little better about myself, considering I had been only screwing up that day.

I couldn't wait to eat. I was HUNGRY. And it was good!

I know that I don’t know everything but at least I’m starting to recognize the things that I need to work on. I’m pretty sure I’m meant to be a chef. I can just feel it sometimes and honestly, I think people can see it. I don’t know much about life or random things but when it comes to food, I’m not a dummy. I’m only getting better.

#MyLife

Tuesday was a good day. I accidentally did the wrong homework though. While everyone else was studying about fruits and vegetables, I was studying stocks & sauces and plate presentations. No bigs. We did quite a few things in class. We had to separate an orange into pieces (I've done it), roast a red pepper on a burner (I've also done this), steam carrots and green beans--then shock them in ice water (I've done it), and make smashed potatoes (smashed still have the skin on the potatoes), aaaaaaaand make an apple tart.

The only thing me and my partner had trouble with was our apple tart. We didn't use enough butter or sugar, then we just stopped paying attention to it and the chef had to come over and save us. Once we started paying attention to our tart, it actually was the best looking one in the class. It tasted like apple pie. It was pretty good, and somewhat easy if you pay attention. We worked with puff pastry and that was fun. Who in the world doesn't like puff pastry?!

I feel like every class, my teacher tells me something I've made that day is perfect. He tried one of my green beans that we had to sautee and he said it was perfect. Perfect color, perfect texture, etc. It always makes me feel better about my cooking abilities. He also was joking with me about my smashed potatoes. I'm a potato-holic. He asked me if my addiction to potatoes was interfering with my every day life. I laughed. I said I can't give them up just yet because I'm young.



I LOVE SCHOOL. I haven't had one bad day yet, and i'm always happy after I leave. I enjoy everything I learn and i'm making friends. I love what I do because i'm passionate about it. It's rewarding for me when I hear that i'm doing well with some sort of cooking technique.

I also like my jobs. I got a raise at one of my jobs and that's pretty exciting. I know I complain about them like every other person sometimes but I only have a month and a half left at one of them. I just found out that one more person quit in our kitchen so it's down to me and another guy. The other guy I work with works seven days a week, usually all day-every day. I won't be able to have any more Sundays off (which sucks because I hate working Sundays) and I just won't be able to have any more days off. Period. It sucks but the way I need to look at it is i'll be getting more hours which adds up. I have to take it one day at a time. It's just hard because I don't have much free time but it could always be worse.

I was thinking about it today and i'm actually really proud of myself. I'm one of my only friends who is actually working in their career, going to school, and paving the way for my future. I guess i'm trying to lead by example. Because it can be done. It feels good to not have given up when (the lord knows) I've wanted to. I know I am a good worker, a good friend, a good girlfriend, and just a good person, in general. I can't help but feel like I have the potential to do something big. Or to do something that is simply amazing. I work my ass off and I think it's finally starting to pay off, emotionally. Monetarily, not so much. But i'm getting there and staying positive and that is all I can do at the moment. I have everything I want and I can't wait to see what my future has in store.

Not enough butter or sugar

Awwww yeah, there we go!

Finished tart <3

Ohhhhhhh, Duck.

Monday was a good day in the kitchen at school. I didn't want to be there though. I don't usually have bad Mondays and this Monday wasn't bad by any means. I just didn't feel like doing anything. I just wanted to be at home sleeping in my bed. I was talking to my partner from last week and he said that we were going to be de-heading a duck. I FREAKED OUT. I know we'll eventually have to do that kind of stuff but I was not prepared mentally, emotionally, physically. I mean, it would be dead but still.  Turns out he was just joking. Ha ha haaaaa, FUNNY! We did work on duck. Each of us got a duck breast. We had to score the skin on the breast to render the fat. I've tried making duck before but it didn't turn out. If you want to read my failed duck blog, click here! I have eaten duck NUMEROUS times at Josef's and it was amazing. So i've been in love with duck, I just haven't cooked it as well. Until the other day. I actually did alright. We had to cook it slow, skin side down (so the skin would get crispy), on the lowest flame possible for about two hours.

We also had to choose one of three sauces. My partners, or I guess the people I was working next to, chose a cherry sauce. We also could choose and orange sauce or a cranberry sauce. I didn't feel like cooking so I picked the one that seemed the easiest. Plus, I don't like cherries and I have to be in the mood for orange sauce. My cranberry sauce turned out really well. I didn't have any doubts. I'm pretty good at making sauces.

We also had to use the rendered duck fat and sautee spinach in it. I don't remember if I added anything to it but I didn't eat it anyways. We plated our duck and sauce with our spinach. At the end, my skin didn't come out as crispy so I had to turn the heat up and try to crisp my skin up. It didn't get very crispy but I just ate around the fat. My duck tasted really good. I'm not a big fan of fruity sauces but my sauce tasted really good, as well. The chef told me that the color of my sauce was perfect. I was pretty impressed with myself. It was a decent Monday for not really wanting to cook.

Chicken and Starch

Jennifer Tillou: On my way to becoming a chef.

This week at school was a lot of fun. I'll start by telling you about my Monday classes. On Mondays I have Food Sanitation class and an hour later, is Menu Design. Food Sanitation class is really boring to me. At least until your teacher comes in and tells you that someone shit their pants upstairs and there are  two piles in the hallway. The smell traveled down the stairs and almost got to our room until we shut the door. CLOSE CALL! I haven't laughed that hard at school in a looooooong time. It was just so funny.

Anyways, then I went to Menu Design. Every three weeks in that class, we get to work in the kitchen learning how to fabricate meats. Yesterday was our third week and so we learned how to fabricate a whole chicken. Meaning, we each had a whole chicken and had to separate it into 8 pieces: 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 breasts, and 2 legs. I had a lot of fun doing this. I got done with mine fairly quick. I had to ask the Chef a few questions but otherwise, the others around me were asking me what to do and if they were doing it right. It made me feel good that so many people were asking me how to do it. I helped three people and when they asked the chef if they did it right, he said it looked perfect. That made me SO happy! When it comes to cooking and the kitchen, I soak that information up like a sponge.

Me and my partner had to use the thighs and make a recipe from the book. It was a creamy vegetable sort of sauce. My partner made that and I worked on our vegetable. With every dish we make, Chef gives us a vegetable that we can cook how he tells us but we can put whatever we want in it. Our vegetable this week was Belgian Endive and Spinach, which had to be sautéed. My partner and I wanted to incorporate bacon so I rendered some bacon and put the bacon bits on a paper towel to soak up the grease. The leftover bacon grease that was left in the pan was used to sauté our spinach and julienned endive. I threw in a little salt and basil that I chopped with the chiffonade technique. Chef liked it. And my partner who hates spinach had some and actually really liked it! He ate his spinach!!! That was a proud moment for me.

Today, in Food Science, it was a carb-loading day! 

Potatoes! Potatoes! Potatoes! 

We had to make mashed potatoes (one regular batch and the other half however we wanted), rice pilaf, and risotto. We also had to choose to either make gnocchi or candied sweet potatoes. I don't like gnocchi so I chose to do the sweet potatoes because I LOVE POTATOES! Today we could either work by ourselves or with a partner. I worked by myself but there was another lady at my station too. She was really chill and I enjoyed working with her a lot. She asked me a few questions but it wasn't overwhelming. We had 3 hours to get all of this done. 

Candied Sweet Potatoes

We started our sweet potatoes first, using the books recipe (which I did not like). We both messed up our first batch. The potatoes still tasted good anyways. Then we did our second batch and we both had the best looking sweet potatoes in the class. I then started my rice pilaf which was actually a lot easier than I was expecting. That turned out really well. I started boiling my potatoes for my mashed potatoes. I stuck a fork in one of my potatoes and it fell apart. So I thought they were done. They were actually under-cooked. I had told the whole class before we got in the kitchen that I LOVE POTATOES! The Chef said that he loves a woman that loves to eat (not in a creepy way). He also asked the class if any of us liked lumpy potatoes. Me and another girl raised our hands. He said, DO NOT MAKE LUMPY POTATOES! And that was when I told my class about my love for potatoes. <3 

Blue cheese ones on the left. Regular on the right.

I started making my regular mashed potatoes that turned out really really good! I told him that I accidentally messed up so my mashed potatoes would be lumpy. I gave him a spoon of my potatoes and said, "Now tell me those aren't the best lumpy potatoes you've ever had." He said, "they were some of the best lumpy potatoes he's ever had." And gave me a fist bump! I was beaming. The other mashed potatoes I made were blue cheese and sour cream mashed potatoes and those were really good too! I LOVE MASHED POTATOES! 

I made my risotto last. It turned out a little salty because of the chicken stock. It still had really good flavor though. I haven't made risotto in a while so it was a little tricky today. 

Rice Pilaf

At the end of class, we all had to go around and tell everyone what we did really good at and what we didn't do so good at. I told them that I didn't like making the sweet potatoes because the recipe was too complicated. I also told them that at Thanksgiving, when my family makes sweet potatoes, we throw a SHITLOAD of butter and brown sugar on them. Chef asked if SHITLOAD was a cooking term and I just told him that he'd learn about it in some of the later chapters. ZING! I also told them that my LUMPY mashed potatoes turned out really well.

    

Risotto

I definitely had a lot of fun this week at school. So far i'm loving the culinary program. I also went to the first Epicurian Club meeting on Monday. They might have the club on Thursdays so I may have to start going on Thursdays but we'll see. I also JUST BOUGHT MY KNIVES! I'm really excited! I've wanted Wusthof knives for a few years now and I finally bought them. 

I have no where to go except up. :)

First Day

Today was our first real day in the kitchen. We were in the kitchen last week but we were learning knife skills. Not cooking. This week, we had to learn the basics. How to clarify butter. Caramelizing onions (which I always mess up on at work). The standard breading procedure. Multi-tasking. Mise en place. Roasted garlic. A marinade. And a recipe we each had to cook on our own. We had to work in teams, which is fine; I just found it difficult. The girls I worked with didn't have much experience in the kitchen. I had the most experience out of all of us. They kept asking me questions but I hated that because I don't want to tell them what to do, then all three of us end up being wrong. I'd rather have myself go down in flames than all three of us. But I guess that's working in a team? But I also wanted to do stuff on my own.

For the clarified butter, you're supposed to melt the butter over a low flame then skim the milk solids off  of the top. I was skimming but I was taking too much of the good butter. So then we had to go back to the already skimmed butter and skim it again and dump the good butter back with the other good butter.  I messed up. I had never made clarified butter before but now I know for next time. I try not to make the same mistake twice. Unless we're talking about caramelized onions.

When I've made caramelized onions before, I always burn them. I found out today that it's because I cook them over a high flame. I learned today that when caramelizing onions, you use clarified butter and a low flame. I was cooking mine and I thought they looked shitty. Then the Chef comes over and holds up my pan and asks whose onions were those. I looked and said they were mine, just waiting for him to say they are too dark or something negative. He said, "These are actually some of the better looking onions I've seen." I said, "Really?!" with a screwed up look on my face. And he took my onions. I don't know if he went around and showed the others or what but that was pretty cool. Made my day.

I found out today that roasted garlic is really tasty. I definitely want to make that on my own and make a few things with it. I'm sure it'd be good rubbed on a steak! OH MAN.

The standard breading procedure was pretty easy for me. I bread things all the time. First pat your meat dry. Then dip it in flour. Then egg. Then panko. Then sautee. Easy.

We had to follow a recipe as well. It had tomato, garlic, onion, wine, lemon juice, and basil in it. Mine turned out pretty good. Mine came together really easy. One of the other girls' was really watery so we had to reduce it down. Turn up the flame and reduce it.

My group learned today that we need to manage our time better. We were supposed to make a baked potato for our plating at the end. We didn't put our potatoes in early enough so when we plated them, they weren't cooked all the way. It's okay because I wasn't really feeling like eating a baked potato today.

Today was a lot of fun. I think next week will go a lot smoother because I know what is asked of us from the Chef and it'll be easier to figure everything out. And if we stay in the same groups, then we all know how we work. It's pretty cool to have people looking to you for advice. I know i'm not going to be great at everything but that's why i'm in school so I can excel and perfect these tasks. Next week we are working with grains and starches. I think we'll be making risotto. I'm actually good at making risotto and it's one of my favorite things to make. I'm ready to go!

Chasing Dreams

I am Jennifer Tillou. A 23 year old aspiring chef from the Midwest. I have been in school for culinary for the past year now. Two weeks ago I finally started my culinary classes. I want to use this blog to write about what I am learning in school and what I go through on a day-to-day to weekly basis. I want to write about work, school, what's on my mind, and share recipes and other food endeavors outside of work and school. I have been in the food service since I was 16. I started out at Subway and worked there for 5 years. I finally decided that I want to be a chef and I started to pursue my dreams.

One day, in September 2010, Josef hired me as an apprentice chef. I had no experience whatsoever but he gave me a shot. Ever since then I have been working my way up. I started my culinary career plating desserts, prepping, and getting food ready for catering events. Nine months later I quit because I butted heads with one of my co-workers. I had been butting heads with people since I was 16 and I knew I could find somewhere where I could just enjoy work and enjoy the people that I work with. I then found a new job. The chef that hired me had also went to the school that I am currently going to. I had no experience on the line but he also gave me a shot. I have been a line cook ever since. I was thinking about it the other day and I've decided that I don't know if I could handle being an executive chef. I wouldn't mind being a sous-chef though. I have three semesters left until I am a chef. I want to try to get into one of the good restaurants around Rockford (which has been my dream for two years now) or to move to Milwaukee and work in a bigger kitchen.

Lately, I can't help but feel lucky. I have been given opportunities that some may have never gotten. I have the best support system I could ever ask for. In May, I decided to shave my head for St. Baldrick's Day. Not ONE person has told me that I look bad with short hair. Not ONE person tried to talk me out of it. I was supported with words of encouragement and monetary donations that went towards kids battling cancer. I view myself as a selfish person but this was one of the most selfless things I have ever done. Being bald isn't that bad.

I have also started a new relationship with someone. Although the world doesn't seem to support it, my friends and family members have been there to support me and my decision. I wasn't sure how my family would feel but they have been awesome. Especially my dad, who I thought would be against it the most. She means a lot to me and I'm really happy with where we are at.

I am currently working two jobs. I busted my ass all summer and successfully worked both jobs without calling in sick. I view this as a great accomplishment. I set a goal for myself to work two jobs all summer and I met my goal. Still broke but that's another rant, entirely.

This is why I wanted to start this blog:

The other night I was called in early to work. No big deal. I come to find out that we have two reservations of 6. One at 6:30 p.m., the other at 7 p.m. In between that time, there is a party of what was 25 that turned into 14. A burger buffet. I would be working with someone who usually washes dishes so I had to tell him what to do. (This was very nerve-racking for me because a month or two ago, I was put in this same position and it was very hard for me to keep my cool. I had a lot on my mind so I got swamped with tickets, food was going out cold, and I was getting killed in the kitchen.) I started to lose my cool. Then I got a text that changed my whole attitude. I recharged and got back into a positive mind-set. I was ready!

Along with our reservations, we started getting busy around 6 p.m. I've been doubting myself a lot lately, especially when it comes to my talents in the kitchen. One of my strengths in the kitchen is the fact that I can keep my cool when shit hits the fan. I put out good looking/tasting food and keep my head. I had a bad couple of weeks a while ago so I thought I fell off. I thought I wasn't cut out to be in the kitchen. Until the other night. We got super busy. Tickets just kept coming in. I was telling the other guy what to do. I didn't freak out. Every food item went out perfectly and without any complaints. I was running around that kitchen. None of my food was over-cooked or under-cooked. The servers told me they had no complaints from customers.
I WAS BACK! 
We close at 9 p.m. and so we were busy from about 6 to 8:15 p.m. We cleaned the kitchen. A couple high-fives and we were good to go!

I love working in the kitchen. I have such a passion for food. I think that people can see it and that's how I get so lucky. I get told very often how good of a person I am. It's hard for me to believe it but I'm starting to see it, as well. I have been holding myself back and now it's my time to shine. I want to do big things in my career and I plan on it. I have the drive and determination as well as an amazing support system. I feel like I can do anything as long as I keep working hard and don't lose my passion. I'm really looking forward to writing this blog and sharing my love of cooking with the world. I hope you're ready.