Sights in the Mercado Publico

Some photographs of the mercado where I shopped for my most recent private chef gig.  Post to come soon on cooking a vegetarian dinner for my clients.

Maduros Fritters

One of my favorite things to eat here is called maduros.  It is simply ripe plantains deep fried and it is sold at just about every fritanga, or street vendor.  A perfect maduros is deeply caramelized on the outside to the point of chewiness and is soft and hot inside.  It must be straight out of the frier because after a little sitting they harden.  When I came across a bunch of yellow plantains at the grocery store, I figured it was time to do my take on maduros- in the form of fritters.  I first boiled the plantains, mashed them with an addition of chocolate cookies and cashews.  The filling was a bit dense and one note, so I tried to lighten it and add some tartness with yogurt.  I made a beer batter with mesquite and honey to fry the fritters in.  Mesquite has kind of a smokey- chocolatey taste and mixed incredibly well with the beer.  For a sauce, I juiced a pineapple and mixed it with yogurt for some tang and freshness.

I really loved this dish, as it was crispy and all the flavors worked very well.  However, it may not have been the best representation of maduros as it didn't have the best part: the caramelized plantain!  If I was to do this again, I would pan-fry or even roast the plantains to caramelize them before being battered and fried.

Back to the line...

In my last update in the kitchen, I had been moved from the hot line to work with sushi.  It had been a slow learning process, but nonetheless I was happy to be gaining a new set of skills.  After service one night, Albert and Abraham told me that I would be moving back to the hot line.  But this time, I would be in charge.

At first I was upset that my sushi training had been cut short, but looking at the big picture, I now think this was a move for the best.  Being responsible for all the preparation, cooking, inventory and closing of the station will be a better learning experience than continuing in sushi where the majority of my work is centered around preparation.  Its also a definite bonus to not be under the constant scrutiny of not doing things in the exact way/ order as Abraham, but to be judged more on a basis of the final dish.

Perhaps the most valuable part of this shift is the line experience I am receiving.  Although the hot foods are very simple preparations, they still require much of the same skill-set that would be needed to execute a much more complex menu, namely, speed and timing.  Here was my first challenge as head of the station: I received an order for two chicken teriyaki's and a chicken ton katsu to a single table.  These two dishes only have three components:  Chicken (one in the frier, two on the stovetop) rice and vegetables.  However each component has a different cook time.  

Here is a step-by-step outline of what must be done to ensure that all components come out at once: make sure water is on its way to a boil for vegetables- get a pan on the stove heated with vegetable oil- season each piece of chicken- place two pieces of chicken skin side in the hot oil and cover- coat the chicken for the ton katsu in flour, egg wash and panko and place in frier baskets- take out three portions of vegetables (just broccoli and carrot)  grab three plates and teriyaki and ton katsu sauce- turn the chickens skin side up- drop the ton katsu in the frier- place carrots in the water- place broccoli in the water (broccoli cooks quicker than carrot)- scoop rice on each plate- remove chicken from pan to rest on cutting board- take vegetables out and season- plate vegetables- remove tonkatsu from the frier- cut all three chickens and place on appropriate plates- finish the plates with a pinch of sesame seeds over the rice and sauce over the chicken.  

While being creative and having a good palate/ sense of flavor (what I would consider my strengths) are attributes that separate a good chef from a great chef, these are characteristics that only matter in the kitchen once you have flawless organization (one of my weaker points) and some serious chops on the line.  When looking for a cook, most chefs couldn't care less how creative or inspired a candidate is.  It is much more important for the prospective cook to be able to flawlessly crank out one of the chef's dishes consistently twenty-five times over the course of one night.

Day Off Meal

Most chefs like to cook simple food on their days off.  This is because in their restaurants, they get to cook their own food with the full resources of the kitchen.  Being a cook and not a chef, however, I do not get to cook my food in the kitchen.  Therefore, I like to use my time off as well as my private chef gigs as a sort of creative outlet.

My favorite way to cook a meal is to simply go to the grocery store or mercado and see what speaks to me. Once I get a couple ingredients in my basket, I start to conceptualize the rest of the dish around these components.  I got a taxi (for 50 cents!) about two hours after the public market had closed, so I opted for the grocery store.


The first ingredients to catch my attention were beautiful purple potatoes and very long string beans.

This got me thinking about fall ingredients (at least in Chicago) and I grabbed butternut squash.  I decided to grab some hearty steaks to stand up to the vegetables.  At this point I remembered one of my favorite dishes from Sage Grille (where I staged during my Senior year of High School) : Venison with a sweet potato pure and juniper sauce.  This became my inspiration for the meal.  I wanted that tart flavor of juniper with the sweet squash.  Since there are no juniper berries in Nicaragua, I attempted to emulate this taste through a sauce of balsamic vinegar, dried cherries and chicken stock (future post to come on the importance of making stock). 

Once home, I tasted the mysterious purple potatoes (raw).  Tasted like a cross between potato and jicama!  After pan roasting them, the potatoes lost much of their vibrant purple color which had initially attracted me.  However, they tasted great and their sweetness really came out when cooked.

I Marinated the steaks with canola oil, onion, balsamic, lime, parsley, garlic and ancho chiles.  Sauteed the squash with cinnamon and blended with yogurt.  The puree was very tasty and had a velvety texture.  The fault of this dish was the steak being slightly chewy.  Next time I cook beef here, I will make a point of tenderizing it first.  However, I totally captured the flavors that I can still distinctly recall from the Venison dish at Sage- a victory in my book.

Visuals of me in my apartment and Sushi Q

Getting up for work

 My apartment

Slicing pepino (cucumber) in the mandoline

 Albert and Me

Miscommunication in the Kitchen

Being an American with very limited Spanish in a Nicaraguan kitchen, there is bound to be a certain level of miscommunication.  However, I have become increasingly frustrated with what I have grouped into two basic types of miscommunication.  The first, is the obvious language barrier.  Sometimes, Albert will ask me to do something in rapid Spanish, and I'll just stare at him with a blank face and say no comprendo.  This normally leads to a minute of Spanglish between the two of us until I have somewhat of an understanding of what he wants me to do.  Other times, I will think I know what he wants, and once I do it, I will get an earful of "por que?" (why) or "no quieres apprendar" (you don't want to learn).  Many times this can be as minute of a mistake as grabbing the wrong cutting board.
The second type of miscommunication is essentially personal preference.  Both Avraham and Albert are very adamant about doing things in a very particular order and specific way.  However, I often find they teach me to do things not necessarily because its better but because its the way they do it.  So often Albert will ask me to do something- I will do it the way Avraham has taught me- and Albert says I am doing it wrong.  One similar instance is when I was cutting the string off a beef negamaki after cooking it.  I placed the knife under the string and pulled up.  "No, no no, cortar aqui"(cut here) he says- and demonstrates by by cutting the string downward on the side of the meat.  As I proceed to cut the string the way he showed me, chef Q walks in.  "Adam, you're butchering the beef!"  Cut it like this- he cuts it the exact way I was cutting it before being corrected by Avraham.

Update: Where I am Now in the Kitchen

So, when I started at Sushi Q, I was working the cooked food station.  Every day I would prep tempura batter and egg wash for tempura frying.  In addition, depending on what we were low on, I would boil and shock quail eggs then wrap them in bacon, chop cabbage and lettuce for salad, cook rice, devain shrimp for rolls or break down chicken for teriyaki.  I enjoyed these tasks, but typically only two or three of them were needed per day which left a lot of down-time after prep and before service.  I also wasn't crazy about seeing so much of the frier, since the majority of cooked food orders are the fried components of rolls.
However, one day out of the blue, Albert told me I would start my training for sushi.  The first day, I literally did nothing but watch him work.  Since then, first and foremost, I have prepared countless amounts of wasabi- ginger plates.  In addition, when it gets busy, I will often plate and sauce the sushi. The majority of my work, however, occurs during prep.  I arrive before albert to clean and set up the station.  This starts by taking the fish out of the refrigerator, making sure it is fresh and putting it in the sushi display fridge.  Next, I cut cucumber into long, thin strips for sushi rolls, peel and slice avocado, prepare spicy tuna, red snapper and guacamole for our spicy tuna napoleon special and wash (3x) and cook sushi rice.  Once in a blue moon, Albert will teach me something like how to make a sushi roll- which will go to customers- or nigiri- which we eat.  It's certainly a gradual process, but it's progress nonetheless.