BY JEREMY C. MALCAMPO
ast week, I was immersed in a refresher-type cooking endeavor which began to reshape my philosophies about French cuisine. The kitchen was no bigger than a five-square-meter-room with basic French-Mediterranean ingredients and spices, under two dynamic young women who were Filipinos by descent. Stock and sauce pans were limited, but were still of good quality, as the base and casings were heavy and thick enough to equally distribute heat in cooking sauces. Wooden spoons, ladles, whisks and good knives were scarce, but the bar boasted of good boissons, pasties and bottles of quality wines in abundance.
The house’s premium pate was the best I’ve tasted in recent years, as the concoction brought forth in the palate a complexity of simple flavors from un-cheated "terrine" cookery of chicken liver with light wine (perhaps even brandy) and spices. Chef Tita, a humble female culinary practitioner, has contributed to the good produce of this kitchen for a 10 good years, where the critics are technically French and Filipino clients of the establishment.
The cold-station’s rilletes were superbly made to please all creatures who know good food and nourishment and, like how chefs say, would even amaze a whole "Bouche du Roi." This Terrine of Pork Rilletes (technically potted pork,) banks on good simmering, and incorporation of flavors, and spices during the process, where in the lard perfectly keeps the flavors all united for a good sandwich.
THE COOKING CLUB
Chef Tita Ponio headed our cooking group with a familiarization and refresher course for those who want to learn basic French cuisine—cuisine and dishes that have been gauged and honored by French people. My group mate, Elizabeth V. Reyes (famous author and designer) praised Chef Tita’s Boeuf Bourguignon--caramelized stew-cut beef rumps which were simmered in 2 quarts of good red wine, cognac, with crystallized shallot bulbs, and mushrooms. Chef Tita’s Supremes de Volaille Fraci avec Sauce Cocombre (Stuffed Chicken Fillet with Crème of Cucumber sauce) was simply amazing, with the flavorful sauce hyped up by Dijon mustard.
In matters of technicalities, everybody in the group asked the chef on the Soup a’l Oignon, or onion soup, because of a rich infusion of cream in the recipe which was quite right. The soup was somewhat white with cream and filled with the brunoise of onions which weren’t really that caramelized in Maillard state, contrary to most French-inspired Philippine restaurants and cafés. At the culinary school, years ago, we were taught the traditional onion soup with beef stock, herbs, topped with a slice of toasted baguette, and gratinated gruyere and mozzarella. But if I would ask my chef-mentor what’s the difference, he would indeed get mad, since it is totally simple to answer: no person can stop someone to create his or her own onion soup recipe—with or without cream. Perhaps the one with cream can be judged as a northern-style French Onion soup, and the brown stock-based veers on the southern style which, in terms of popularity, is always heavily spiced with affinities to Spanish and Italian tastes. This is reason enough why the Southern style bears mozzarella in it; because southern France is nearer to Italy’s fromage sources. Like I always say, though, classical cuisine is complete, it is never absolute.
Pastry Chef Florian Villas shared her carrot cake recipe, which awed everybody in the group. Jessica Miller, an American classmate, who’s also a nutritionist, loved the Carrot Cake in light chiffon base, spiked with cinnamon, textured with walnuts and topped with Crème Anglaise. My group mate was right. Actually it’s one of the best carrot cakes I’ve tasted all over the country, next to where I first learned to bake it. Florian had no complications when it comes to pastries and baking, as she folded the egg whites in the carrot cake’s flour-yolk mixture without technicalities and hesitation using a whisk instead of the flat rubber spatula, and it yielded well after the baking. The cake was well puffed and moist with an even surface and soft crust. I remember my culinary mentor telling me about this type of skill--it’s called no hesitation baking--where everything you do is based on untiring practice, while the rest of the pastry world can’t do a thing without a reliable recipe.
THE TRUE CUISINE
Chef Tita and Florian, weren’t the usual socialite, and lifestyle type of chefs. In fact, these two chefs have humbly cooked for 10 years inside the Alliance kitchen. That, by rationale, can never be beaten by any young culinary graduate with studies based on the culinary fad. "You need to have good culinary basics, and the rest is based on experience," said great Chef Gene Gonzalez. (to be continued)
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