Basic Cooking (Vers, Private, Lyssoryl)

Fish Stick · May 16, 2008, 04:41 AM

Brightening 4 of Cycle 1 of the Month of Kalendryas, in the season of Winter, Era 1, Era XV PF

It would be a few more brightenings in the kitchen before Lyssoryl's training began. They mostly consisted of her peeling potatoes, and helping with miniscule tasks that didn't involve anything too enduring. On the fourth day that she worked in the kitchen, Sera came up to her and asked, "So, do you feel comfortable enough to start learning some more about actually cooking? Rather than peeling potatoes?"

Lyssoryl · May 16, 2008, 11:58 AM

"So, do you feel comfortable enough to start learning some more about actually cooking? Rather than peeling potatoes?"

Lyssoryl made a face as if considering some deep matter. "The peeling of potatoes is a fine and delicate art, but I believe I have gotten the general gist of the process and without wanting to seem too cocky believe I am ready to plunge into the next step."

She wiped her hands on her apron. "How shall we begin? I am keen to learn."

Fish Stick · May 16, 2008, 11:31 PM

"Very good, i am glad that you are excited about working on this hard. The first thing we shall learn about today are the various types of meat. We'll discuss how to cut the meat, and you'll be able to learn the different parts of the meat, as well as the best ways to cook each kind of meat... First we shall look at beef. Beef has three different qualities of meat, thos being Prime which is the best type of beef, choice, which is juicier and more tender, and select which has less juice and is leaner... Now, can you tell me anything about what you might know about the different cuts of beef?" she asked, and then awaited an answer, while pulling out a large chunk of beef, and a knive so that she could show Lyssoryl the different cuts that could be made with beef...

Lyssoryl · May 17, 2008, 09:21 AM

Lyssoryl frowned.

"I'm afraid that you have begun by catching me out on a weak area. Growing up poor, beef was rarely on the menu for me. I admit to having heard of different cuts of meat, but I can only guess what they refer to. Some are obvious- for example I assume that rump roast comes from the rump of the cow. Others seem mysterious. For example, I've no idea what a "chuck" roast is. As "Chuck" is a male name, I can only guess this is a euphamism for a cut of meat that comes from a bull's private area. I assume that "Jerky" comes from the tail, as this is the bit of a cow that it most often jerks back and forth."

"Of course, this is only guesswork, and I'm anxious to learn the correct state of affairs."

Fish Stick · May 17, 2008, 07:53 PM

Sera smiled as Lyssoryl began to talk about the different cuts of meat. It did make her happy that her student didn't know much about cooking, for it allowed Sera to teach her in a way that she saw fit. "Well, the cuts i'll show you are called chuck, the foreshank or brisket, the rib, the plate, the loin, the flank, the sirloin, and the round. The chuck is a shoulder cut, and is high in flavor, but not very tender. The foreshank, or brisket is usually the best for roasting or boiling. The rib cuts are used for steak and are very tastey. The plate is the best for absorbing flavour, so it is good with sauces. The loin are the best cuts and are also the most expensive. The flank is usually tough, but very cheap. The sirloin is generally the most popular, and is of medium quality. The round are not very tender, but are good with texture and taste..." she said. As she was talking about each of the cuts, she made sure to cut a piece off of the cow she had brought out so as to show Lyssoryl each of the meat cuts. "Any questions so far?" she then asked, to make sure she hadn't lost her new student...

Lyssoryl · May 17, 2008, 10:22 PM

"Any questions so far?"

Lyssoryl was watching with great concentration. "I believe I understand your comments on the various cuts. Could you do that next cut slowly, so I can watch what you're doing with the knife? You make it look quite easy. How is your knife oriented in relation to the grain of the meat?" Lyssoryl took careful note of her technique.

"Do you have any advice for minimizing the toughness of flank steak, if it is all you can get? I suppose my mind is always on economizing, but it seems to me that good ingredients don't require as much coddling as cheap ones, so it's better to know all the tricks just in case you find yourself in a situation where the best isn't available and the Govenor is coming for dinner."

Fish Stick · May 19, 2008, 02:08 AM

Her teacher smiled, and then began to cut more slowly, so that Lyssoryl could watch, and see how she was cutting with the grain. "For the basic cuts, which you'll be learning, and to get the best amount of tenderness out of the meat, you will want to cut with the grain. This will allow it to release more of the juices. For meats to be less tender, and more rough, you want to cut against the grain of the meat." she said, and then listened to the rest of Lyssoryl's querie.

"Ah, well, if the best isn't available, then you can try to cross tastes, and put a different taste into the meat. That's a bit more of an advanced practices, as for now we're just learning the basics. Now, i want you to use this knife, and make each of the cuts as i just demonstrated... Then we'll move on to how to cook each of the cuts," said Sera, smiling, and handing the knife to her with the handle first, so as to have her start to learn the proper ways of handling the various utensils in cooking...

Lyssoryl · May 19, 2008, 09:26 AM

Lyssoryl took the knife carefully, and weighed it absentmindedly in her hand as she studied the meat, thinking about the best places to cut. When she began, although she was a beginner she showed the naturally good dexterity of the Cether. She had never done any butchering on a cow before, but was practiced with poultry, so the movements were not entirely unnatural to her.

She forced herself to work carefully, asking questions as she went. "How thick shall I cut? How much should I expect this sort of cut to shrink during cooking? When can we speak of wines to match the various parts of the cow?" She listened carefully to the answers, clearly enrapt in the subject. As she produced the cuts, she arranged them in a neat row on a tray on the table.

Fish Stick · May 20, 2008, 04:13 PM

"It all depends on how much you'll be serving. If the menu says half pound sirloin, then you'd cut enough to equal a half of a pound. Or you could cut two quarter pounds of it instead, and that would still equal a half a pound. For the general meats, they usually don't shrink too much unless someone wants them well done, then you might want to cut the pieces a bit bigger. As for wines to match the various parts of the cow, that won't be until much later, it's a bit beyond basic cooking..." she said, and then smiled gently.

"Now, I want you to spend the rest of the day cutting these pieces of meat, and then lay them out on a tray over there," she said, pointing to a tray on a table across from them. "After you've finished that, come see me, and we'll talk about cooking the meat..."

Lyssoryl · May 20, 2008, 04:44 PM

"Now, I want you to spend the rest of the day cutting these pieces of meat, and then lay them out on a tray over there," she said, pointing to a tray on a table across from them. "After you've finished that, come see me, and we'll talk about cooking the meat..."

"Yes maam!" Lyssoryl replied.

There were many holes in Lyssoryls knowledge of the cooking skills. Having grown up poor and on her own, she had no idea how to select the finest of ingredients, or what sort of cookware was best. Her knowledge of spices was sketchy, and matching wine to entree was a skill totally outside her experience. She had a tendency to throw all the ingredients she could find into a pot and call it stew.

But she considered herself to be an artist with the knife. Her fingers were deft even for a Cether, and in lean times she had learned how to get every last bit of flesh from a fish or pigeon. She often would craft exotic birds out of slices of lemon and perch them on the edge of her glass, just for fun.

After testing the edge of her knife to make sure it was sharp, she launched into the side of beef with gusto, humming a cheerful toon.

Fish Stick · May 21, 2008, 12:49 PM

It would take her a few tries to get some of the cuts right, but after working for a good few candlemarks on the task, she managed to get a bit better at the cuts, not professional, but certainly better than she had been earlier. After the candlemarks had passed, Sera came back over to view the progress being made by her student. Looking down at the various cuts on the tray, she could see the progression of her student getting better at the cuts. "Very well done so far," said Sera as she watched her student work upon the cuts. "Are you ready to learn how to cook the meat that you've cut up for now?"

Lyssoryl · May 21, 2008, 10:15 PM

"Very well done so far," said Sera as she watched her student work upon the cuts. "Are you ready to learn how to cook the meat that you've cut up for now?"

Lyssoryl wiped her hands on her apron with exaggerated gestures. "Goodness yes! I've never had an appreciation for how much meat a cow contains, I thought I should never be done. But after all that, it would be a shame not to get it cooked in good order. What sort of cooking will we be doing today?"

Fish Stick · May 22, 2008, 01:56 AM

Sera looked towards her, and then picked up the tray of meat and took it over towards one of the ovens. As she did, she slid the tray into the oven, and then lit the fires above the clay oven to start heating up the oven. "The first technique that i am showing you right now is called broiling. Broiling is done with the heat source over the food. Because beef is dry and hot usually, we tend to broil it... now, have you ever heard of any terms like Very Rare, Rare, Medium-Rare, Medium, Medium Well, and Well Done?" she asked her student...

Lyssoryl · May 22, 2008, 10:51 PM

"The first technique that i am showing you right now is called broiling. Broiling is done with the heat source over the food. Because beef is dry and hot usually, we tend to broil it... now, have you ever heard of any terms like Very Rare, Rare, Medium-Rare, Medium, Medium Well, and Well Done?" she asked her student..."

"I have heard of them, although I've always thought of them as a way for picky customers to complain. I'm sure I could tell a rare piece of meat from one that was well done, but I shan't pretend that the exact boundries of each category are clear in my mind."

"The one that puzzles me the most is "Very rare." I should think there would be a trick to getting it cooked to the point where it didn't have that squidgey raw meat texture but still be basically pink. Is there a special secret to that?"

"But I am quite curious to see how you manage to get the meat under the fire. Do we wrap it in something and bury it in the ashes, or is there a special oven?"

Fish Stick · May 24, 2008, 02:32 AM

"Very Rare is where the meat is blood-red, soft, and very juicy. We tend to broil it at an extremely low temperature but still warm for about ten to fifteen minutes. Rare is cooked at a very low temperature but still warm for about ten to fifteen minutes. Medium-Rare is cooked at a low temperature for about ten minutes. Medium is cooked at a medium temperature for about ten minutes. Medium Well is cooked at a medium temperature for fifteen minutes, and Well Done is cooked at a high temperature for fifteen minutes... These are all approximations though, you really should keep an eye on the food if you want to figure out exact temperatures for every cut... Now, I want you to keep an eye out on each cut, and when you think they've broiled long enough for each degree of completeness. Take them out as they finish, and place them on another tray for me to view after their complete..." said Sera, and then went about her own business to leave Lyssoryl to do the task she had given to her...