Happy Hannukah!

Sure, most of the students on campus are gentiles, but it's nice to see the cafeteria celebrating the start of Hanukkah this week by putting latkes and salmon on the menu for not only the Jewish students, but also those of us with a curious palette.  For readers who are unfamiliar with Jewish traditions and teachings (most folks aren't because the stories of this event are not found in the more popular Hebrew Bible, but rather in the Jewish apocryphal books), perhaps I should add a quick Hebrew history lesson with this post, so it will help you to have a better understanding of the important role that fried food plays during the Festival of Lights. 

During the second century BCE, the Jewish people were taking part in a revolt which resulted in them regaining Jerusalem and rededicating the Second Temple.  During this time the only oil found in the temple that had remained sealed by the High Priest, and had not been profaned by the soldiers of Antiochus IV, was a mere one-day supply for the temple's menorah (lamp).  This was a problem for the Jews because it takes eight days to press olive oil.  You can do the math to figure that out.  At any rate, the Levite priests used that oil to light the menorah, and miraculously it remained lit for eight days--a period now named Hanukah.  Because of this historical event, oil, and thus fried food, plays a large part in celebrating Hanukah.  Latkes are one of those fried foods.  They are a potato pancake that is shallow-fried in oil, so they are a perfect food for Hanukah celebrations.

For those of you who have never had latkes before and would like to try making them, I have good news for you:  they are easy to make if you are morally willing to take some shortcuts.  The easiest method is to thaw some frozen shoestring hash browns and wring them out in a tea towel or paper towel until they are relatively dry.  Then add them to some instant pancake mix and add milk until it forms a thick batter.  Place a few tablespoons of oil in a cast iron fry pan or hot skillet and spoon about 1/3 cup of the batter into the oil.  Flip them when they are a crisp and golden brown to ensure even cooking and serve them warm, topped with applesauce or sour cream.

I am pleased to say that the cooks in the cafeteria did not take shortcuts with their potatoes.  The grey color of their latkes, while unattractive, was an indicator that they used freshly-grated potatoes which were not coated in preservatives (unlike their frozen friends) to prevent oxidization.  There were a few non-traditional ingredients in these latkes, however.  For some odd reason the culinary staff chose to prepare these latkes by using a savory herb (I believe it was marjoram, although I am unsure).  While I was a little disappointed that the latkes were not a traditional recipe, and while I am also not a fan of whatever herbs were in these latkes, I must admit that kosher cooks agree that there is nothing wrong with giving the recipe a modern twist.  It would have been nice to have the latkes presented in their traditional round shape, and not in the rectangle cut-outs that the cafeteria used, however I understand that the cafeteria's need for quantity sometimes overrules the need for quality.  This also explains why the latkes were unusually thick and were mushy on the bottom, instead of crispy.  Nevertheless, I am going to overlook those last two drawbacks simply because of the challenges of corporate cooking.  The latkes were served in the cafeteria with the traditional condiments of applesauce and copious amounts of sour cream (perhaps a little too much sour cream), that were appropriate for the dish.  I was happy to see those included with the meal.

It's a Jewish holiday, so what kosher lunch wouldn’t have a little bit of fish?  Fish is a culinary challenge for most kitchen personnel.  On the one hand, it heats quickly and is supposed to be served barely-cooked.  On the other hand, most consumers treat their fish like a heartier protein and prefer it to be firm and slightly over-cooked.  I was curious to see how the staff would handle this dilemma, and I have to say that I am very impressed.  The fish was just a little more than barely-cooked, so it was still tender, yet it was just firm enough to satisfy those of us who prefer their meat to be hearty.  It appeared to have been poached, which is the best, yet most finicky, method for bringing out the flavor of the fish.  It was delicious, and my classmates and I raved about it.  For this, I would like to say a big mazel tov to the kitchen staff.

Before I give my overall impression of the meal, I need to review the vegetables that came with it.  Don't ask me why, but for some reason I was served curried vegetables with my Hanukah meal.  Not only do I know that curry is not a traditional spice in kosher cuisine, but I am also convinced that it is not a pleasant combination with latkes.  It may have tasted fine with the salmon, but it was repulsive with the latkes.  Clearly the chef in charge was not aware of how wrong it was from a religious, cultural, and a culinary perspective, to have this flavor on the same plate as latkes.  I am hoping that none of the Jewish students on campus were as unimpressed as I was by this amalgamation.

In spite of some of the undesirable aspects of this meal, I have to say that I nevertheless would have this again anytime (although I would make sure to ask for vegetables that are not curried), and I would definitely recommend it to other students.  It's wonderful to see the chefs in the cafeteria making an effort to celebrate a cultural holiday that comes with unique foods.  It also makes me hope that matzoh ball soup will be on the menu for Passover.

Ce N'est Pas la Poutine

Ah, poutine!  We Canadians are proud to call this guilty pleasure of fries, squeaky cheese curds, and gravy our own.  Nearly every restaurant in Quebec serves the dish, and it is even served as a special treat to our Canadian troops serving overseas.  Yes, it is without a doubt that we associate poutine with Canada.  There is nothing more wonderful than celebrating our heritage with a dish of hot fries covered in fresh, squeaky, white cheddar cheese curds and plenty of hot gravy.  Unfortunately, the cafeteria at VIU does not serve poutine.  Yes, it's on the menu, but what they will serve you is fries with a small handful of grated mozzarella and yellow cheddar, topped with a tiny amount of gravy.  To make it even worse, the poutine that I was served at the cafeteria had fries that were barely warm, and gravy that was not even hot enough to melt the grated cheese.  It was a very sad day for all Canadians, and I felt a strong desire to warn all the international students to avoid the poutine at VIU and go order some from the New York Fries franchise in Woodgrove Centre, instead.  How could our culinary instructors possibly think that it is acceptable to replace squeaky cheese curds with grated cheese on poutine?  How could they believe that it is acceptable to serve gravy that is almost cold?  Furthermore, how could our instructors not realize that even the Colonel serves nearly three times the same amount of gravy with the same amount of his fries?

In all fairness, the menu-creators at our school may have deliberately chosen to serve a small portion of cheese and gravy on our poutine due to the high amount of fat in this dish.  If that is the case then allow me to point out that low-fat cheddar is even squeakier than regular cheddar, and that fat-free gravy is a flavorful, and common, condiment in most restaurants these days.  Yes, it means that in order to counter-balance the cost of the low-fat cheddar the portion of fries will need to be reduced, but I think that the staff should consider that as a win-win situation, since it would result in even less overall fat content in this dish.

Now I could give a break to the culinary students for this sorry excuse for poutine, since one of my classmates has recently pointed out that I have had more negative food experiences on campus than positive ones, and she has a point, but I will not give a break to the instructors who are teaching our culinary students poor cooking techniques or incorrect recipes, which is the case in point.

It is obvious to me that our instructors need to learn how to correctly prepare poutine so that they can pass along this knowledge to their culinary students.  It is also obvious that they need to change how this dish is served.

For the sake of proper cooking techniques, I am sorry to say that I cannot recommend this dish at the VIU cafeteria.  I am, however, looking forward to the day when the recipe is changed and I can proudly recommend it to our international students.  In the words of Julia Child, "One of the secrets, and pleasures, of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed."  Trust me—this can be fixed.

Chinese Fried Soup?

In keeping with my promise to review some of my lunches brought from home I'd like to start by appraising one of my lunches from last week:  Chinese pork fried rice with egg in cream of mushroom soup.  Yes you read that correctly; the Chinese pork fried rice with egg was actually in the cream of mushroom soup.

As a student, necessity is the mother of all lunch creations, and it doesn't always end well.  I needed to pack a lunch and all I could find was some cream of mushroom soup and leftover homemade Chinese pork fried rice with egg.  I immediately turned into some sort of mad scientist and thought to myself, "What if…?"

I was uncertain about having fried egg with cream of mushroom soup (leave it to my palette to second guess combining an egg with cream of mushroom soup, but not soy sauce or oyster sauce), so I sorted through the pork fried rice and removed all the pieces of egg --or so I thought—before mixing in a half a can of Campbell's condensed Cream of mushroom soup and ¾ cup of milk.  I then packed it all up in a leak-proof container and hoped that my experiment would be successful.

Allow me to state, before I get into the details of this peculiar flavor combination, just how much we students appreciate the microwaves available to us in the common areas of some buildings, and in the cafeterias.  A hot lunch from home goes a long way to the physical and emotional well-being of most students, and while we may not verbally say so, it should be apparent by the mealtime line-ups in front of these appliances that we are grateful for them.

Once I had waited my turn in line and used one of these said microwaves to heat my concoction, I noticed that the soy sauce and oyster sauce had darkened the soup considerably.  Upon stirring the soup I also noticed that I had missed several pieces of egg.  I was going to remove them before taking my first bite, but thought I would be adventuresome and try it anyway.  Was it worth the risk, or would I have to get out my wallet and buy something from the cafeteria, instead?  It was thoroughly worth the risk! This soup was one of the most amazing kitchen experiments that I have ever eaten.  Who would have thought that this irrational combination would be so successful?  We all know that rice, green onions, peas, and pork tasted good with cream of mushroom soup, but the surprise was discovering that caramelizing the rice and tossing in a fried egg, soy sauce, and oyster sauce, would also complement the soup well.  For that matter, I felt that the soy sauce and oyster sauce enhanced the flavors better than a dash of salt would have.  This was probably the weirdest, and yet the best, soup that I have ever eaten.

I could tell by the expressions on the faces of my classmates when I told them what was in my soup that there are a few skeptics out there who are unwilling to believe that these two foods combine well.  Those folks will just have to try it for themselves some day.  As for me, I am looking forward to the next time that we have Chinese pork fried rice with egg at home, as I intend to make some more of this crazy soup.  The only thing that I would do differently would be to keep the fried egg in the creation.  Not only does it taste delicious, but it also makes it fun to disgust my classmates whenever they watch me take a spoonful.

Not So Mucho Nacho

For those of you who don't venture onto the lower half of the campus, or for those of you who don't have a VIU page in your Facebook newsfeed, you are probably not aware that there is a unique food cart on campus that specializes in Mexican sustenance. I was so excited to find out about it that I nearly shouted, "Ola!"  Of course, if there is original food created on campus I feel obliged to taste test it for the sake of this blog, and it turned out that in spite of its appearance, the food truck is not part of a franchise, but rather is a one-of-a-kind mobile restaurant.

A few days ago I wandered down to the Mucho Nacho food cart and ordered some appetizers to share with my friends.  The menu appeared varied and challenged my decision-making skills, but eventually I ordered the onion rings with chipotle aioli, and the jalapeno poppers in won-ton wrappers with sweet raspberry sauce.  I must say my overall impression of the portion sizes was not good.  I paid approximately $11 and was presented with only about eight onion rings and six small jalapeno poppers.  Compared to the portion sizes and prices in the campus cafeteria, I felt as though I had just thrown away many pesos.  But if the food tastes fabulous, then who am I to argue?  Unfortunately, it didn't quite taste fabulous.

I have to admit that the chipotle aioli that came with the onion rings was quite good, although I was unable to discern if it was made from scratch or if it was commercially prepared.  I would rather dip onion rings in this chipotle aioli than in ketchup any day of the week.  The onion rings were tasty, and reminded me of the kind made by that restaurant that is known for having a bear as a frequent customer (although, clearly the bear doesn't need to dig as deeply into his pockets to buy his onion rings). 

The jalapeno poppers in won-ton wrappers with the sweet raspberry sauce were not what I was expecting.  Instead of the traditional jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese and deep fried until crispy, this was a cream cheese ball with the occasional piece of jalapeno mixed in, which was then surrounded by a won-ton wrapper and deep fried.  As for the "sweet raspberry sauce" that was served with it, I am sure that my jaw fell to the pavement in shock when the employee spooned a dollop of No-Name raspberry jam straight from the jar to the paper condiment cup.  I am not sure when the word "jam" became a synonym for "sweet sauce," but that mislabelling was just plain hilarious.  I am sorry to say that the jalapeno poppers were disappointing.  From the fryer to my mouth was less than 4 minutes Perhaps I should have been this fast? and in that short time frame, they had become cold, both on the outside and on the inside, which was very unappealing.  I also felt that there was too much cream cheese and not enough jalapenos in the filling (and this is coming from a foodie who prefers mild food).  I have to give points, however, for the creative and flavorful use of the won-ton wrappers and the raspberry jam (or "sweet raspberry sauce" for those of you who prefer their condiments to have a more poetic description).

If you are un comedor de rapido, if you are muy rico, and if you are someone who doesn't mind condiments that are no uniquo, then these food items are definitely for you.  Unfortunately, like most students, I am none of these things so can't officially recommend these items.  I can say, however, that I am looking forward to trying some of the other food items from this cart as soon as I can save up enough pesos.

Ham and Cheese Croiss-ain't

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to sample the ham and cheese croissant, as made by our bakery students at VIU.  I was so excited to try it, mostly because I knew that the VIU bakery program owned an industrial sheeter.  This meant that the croissants would be correctly made with flaky layers of tender pastry in each bite. I was mistaken.

I am fairly certain that what the cafeteria labelled as a croissant is actually a dinner roll that is shaped like a croissant.  A good croissant is easily pulled apart, with the layers quite visible.  This is caused by layers of butter pressed into layers of dough by a sheeter. This process of folding the butter-layerd dough into more layers and run through the sheeter again is repeated multiple times to create the perfect croissant, as demonstrated in this video. Making Croissants with a Sheeter. Sadly, I had to use some strength to pull this dough apart.  A good croissant also has a dough with a neutral flavor, whereas the dough that I bit into was quite sweet, like a Hawaiian dinner roll.  As for the ham and cheese, I was expecting something mild, not the stronger flavor of cheddar mixed with Swiss (and while I have never cared for the flavor of Swiss cheese, I won't allow that to influence this review), and I found that the ham was appropriately portioned.  I must admit that the cheese was waxy, but that would have been easily prevented by warming the croissant in the microwave prior to eating.

Am I being too harsh on the bakery students for not making croissants correctly?  After all, they are only students and are doing the best they can with with the equipment available to them on campus, and industrial sheeters are hard to come by.  No, I do not think that I am being too harsh.  The used industrial sheeter sitting in the lower cafeteria with a sign on it saying to not remove it because it is going to a good home indicates to me that VIU recently became the proud possessors of a brand new sheeter.  Why the students are not using their new sheeter to learn the correct method of making croissants, I do not know. However they should be learning this method, and they should be learning how to use a sheeter.

In spite of this disappointment, I would recommend a (warmed) ham and cheese crescent-shaped bun as a flavorful alternative to a sandwich.  Just don’t think of it as a croissant.

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup for the Student's Soul

On Tuesday the cafeteria served up some broccoli and cheese soup.   Now I know that most students would avoid broccoli as much as former U.S. President H.W. Bush, but not me.  Throw some cheddar into the equation and I am one happy foodie, so it comes as no surprise that I was excited to try the broccoli-cheddar soup on Tuesday.

I heard a rumor that the self-serve soups presented at the cafeteria are frozen concoctions that are shipped in from a supplier.  Personally I don't understand why our school does this when we have a small army of chefs-in-training who should be practicing their skills with making "mother sauces," and soup bases recurrently.  Not to mention that our culinary students need to practice their knife skills (perhaps they could even team up with the music students like this chef).  Nevertheless if a soup is served in the cafeteria at VIU it's only fair to evaluate it.

Cruciferous vegetables are notorious for emitting an unpleasant odor when overcooked, so I was quite happy to note that this soup only bore the pleasant aroma of broccoli and cheddar.  The tiny florets in the soup were cooked to perfection and the pieces of stems in the soup were correctly stripped of their fibrous exterior, leaving only the soft interior (a little too soft for my personal preference, but I would rather have a broccoli stem be too soft than too firm).  I was mostly impressed by the cheese that was in the soup.  I honestly expected it to be made of glow-in-the-dark processed cheese, but the color and flavor of this soup indicated that it only had a small amount of the questionable product in it, if any.  I did not feel the need to add salt, pepper, or condiments of any kind to enhance the flavor.  It was perfect.

Alas, I do have two complaints about the broccoli and cheddar soup:  It is not made by our culinary students, and it is not served frequently enough. Considering that those are my only two complaints, I'd say that this is an excellent chicken broccoli-cheddar soup for the student's soul.