Culinary school days 3-4: Making tomato concasse (skinned and seeded tomatoes) for tomato Portuguese; vegetable stock; leek gratin. Focusing on knife skills and memorizing liquid and weight conversions!
Tips: never use tomato skin in sauces because it becomes tough and floats to top; when pan searing steak, baste with its own juices for max flavor; the chef prefers white pepper over black pepper because of its translucency in light sauces and stronger bite (it is ground very fine and lingers on tongue); pink pepper has an even more delicious, smooth flavor due to its oil, but it's expensive; stock is made with bones, which provides gluten and rich flavor, while broth is made with the meat itself; make your own stock (apparently all serious cooks do) and freeze in ice cube trays for easy use in rice in place of water, or to deglaze pan; pouring cold water into stock during cooking process brings impurities to top - skim off to prolong shelf life; keep these impurities (fat!) in mason jar in fridge to grease pan; tomatoes are a fruit, not vegetable!