The Real World.

I am in the real world. The world where theories taught at school aren’t pertinent to any further extent. The world of unexplained shortcuts, magic powder, and MSG has dwelt amongst my hands. And I am not fond of it. Although I have welcomed it but in my heart distinguishes the real deal, what my mentors educated me with is at rest in my memory box fresh and uncontaminated.

I’ve come up to grasp that you will always have to learn it the hard way. Back when I was at school, shortcuts were a major no-no. Everything had its own preparations and the end result is always almost great. These times I miss school. I miss my favourite Chef Uli, who is Swiss and looks like my late Lolo Paquito. Chef Uli had his own way of preparing a dish and it was always smooth. He would deliver every single step with his hand mounting up and down flashing his gigantic vintage rings, which I really admire. I love huge vintage rings and I have been collecting it for some time now.

Say, hollandaise sauce for instance, the classical recipe would require you to make a reduction of white wine, white wine vinegar, onions, parsley stems, bay leaf, whole black peppercorns and a little water. You must carefully reduce it into half. Meanwhile, you must set up on a clean bowl egg yolks and on a separate bowl prepare clarified butter. Clarified Butter is butter that has been heated on top of water bath in a low heat so as to separate the buttermilk from the butter solids. The buttermilk will settle on the bottom and it really doesn’t have any use at all. I more often than not discard it. Then strain the reduction and let it cool down a bit. Once it has completely cooled down, gently pour it into the bowl with egg yolks and slowly combine it together with a wire whisk. Using both hands, lightly pour clarified butter unto the reduction and whisk it in one circular motion. Do this until you achieve a creamy consistency. Season it with salt, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. This sauce is good up until 4 hours.

The real world. They have clarified butter but the problem is that they let it boil before adding it into the egg yolks. There was no reduction, just eggs and butter. Imagine how this would taste, it’s like eating oil. Yuck! Here comes the clincher, they seasoned it with white wine, lemon juice and CHICKEN POWDER. Goodness gracious! The Hollandaise was murdered more than two times. But I have to keep mum since in school we were taught not to interfere with our workplace’ method and recipes. We had the basic knowledge etched in our minds yet we can’t even do it just because it wouldn’t be right for them.

I’m sad. Frustrated at its site. But what can I do? Nothing. Keep my silence because at the back of my mind I know I can make a much better Hollandaise Sauce.

Here’s another one. The French Onion Story. The way I was taught on how to make a right one is to smother thinly sliced onions in butter until it becomes translucent and then golden brown. And then you drop a thyme twig and mix it in. Deglaze with white wine and let the wine evaporate so as to reduce the acidity of the wine. Then you pour chicken or vegetable stock. Let it cook through then season with salt and pepper. That’s it. When you serve it, cut a piece of rye bread or any hard bread and place gruyere cheese on top of it. Place the bread on top of the soup carefully and gratinate it in a salamander until the cheese starts to melt and eventually turns into golden brown. That’s it!

The real world. The first step is the same. Smothering the onions in butter, but just before it gets golden brown, lots of KIKKOMAN soy sauce was added. I asked why??? with a strong impact. And the cook said, for colour. My goodness! And then he added sugar and maybe a tablespoon of white wine. And then let it simmer for awhile. The cook seasoned it with tons of CHICKEN POWDER. Murder again.

So, eventually I made an agreement to myself that the real world is the world of magic. And that I carry all the treasures of the hidden magic that they will never ever find.

And so I will end this blog with Chef Uli’s favourite line, “it’s the same old story...”

My graduation. Oh, how I miss going to school...