Of Terrines and picking beans

So Friday was day three in my friend Tim’s kitchen at the Yacht Club. When I came in he gave me a project that took most of the day. He wanted a terrine made, a classic Cold Food preparation of layered ingredients inside a mold that is then either poached, pressed and chilled or just pressed and chilled. I was making a cold vegetable one to be used as an appetizer, so Tim said “It needs to be about an inch, to an inch and a half, just big enough for a crostini.” There is no terrine mold made that is that small, so I had to fashion one out of a cardboard box, and duct tape. Whoever said cooking is all about the food?? Sometimes innovation matters more than cooking skills.

The box came out nicely and Tim proclaimed it fitting. Then I gathered my ingredients and had to turn the cooler upside down looking for leeks. Even Tim came in to look and found none, so out I went into the 98-degree day in my full chef whites (long black pants, socks and shoes!!) to the store for leeks. It took me well over an hour after my return to stop sweating profusely, and the kitchen was actually cooler that day than earlier in the week. The green leek leaves are blanched, then used to line the terrine mold inside plastic wrap, where the ingredients are then added in layers. This terrine had a cheese mix of goat and cream cheese with sauteed leeks, asparagus spears and roasted whole shiitake mushroom caps placed in alternate layers in the mold. After filling, the leek leaves are folded upon itself, the plastic covers it and another piece of cardboard was laid across the top and then pound blocks of butter were placed on top of that to weigh and compress it down. It then sits and chills until it’s use. It is cut thin, placed on crostini and served as an appetizer. I won’t get to see how it looks unless Tim brings a camera, then actually remembers to take a picture and send it to me. We’ll see if that happens.

The rest of the day I spent immersed in a 25# box of fresh green beans, snapping off the stem ends again and again and again……..until I could have screamed. It takes all sorts of tasks to make a professional kitchen work and someone’s gotta do it. But for ten bucks an hour and helping a friend, I would have polished floors. I would love to be able to spend a summer working for Tim, it was really fun and I think I would really love it more if I was comfortable, knew where everything was and how it all worked instead of being just a fill-in who had to ask a dozen questions to get anything done. We’ll see where I am at next spring when he opens up again.