Garlic truffles anyone?

[Dirk Skene]

int:int:

First a little info or some of this won’t make since. For my fun job I am the dishwasher at a cooking school. We do not give diplomas. Ordinary folks come in for 1-day classes. I have been there longer than anyone and am a fairly well accomplished homechef so it is not unusual for others come to me when there are problems.

Last night one of the recipes for the class was chocolate truffles Easy enough. The instructor’s assistant comes back to my galley with a very serious look on her face and says “I don’t know want to do.” She said the instructor (an intimidating male, the women are afraid to cross him) had put 2 cloves of garlic along with the split vanilla bean into the hot milk that would steep & be used to melt the chocolate. I went out & looked for myself. It was true! I tried to catch chef’s attention for a private conversation but he is talking a mile a minute. I go back to my galley to think. I look at the recipe. It says says clearly 2 cloves not 2 cloves of garlic.

I told the assistant the only way to correct this is to be obvious about it. If we do that he’ll blow up and that’ll reflect on the entire school. It we let it go, it’s on him.

It keeps bothering me so a little later I called the head instructor at home. He tells me to remake the grenache behind the scenes and sub mine for the one with the infused garlic. “No way, chef. No time. It’s almost done chillin’ & they’re supposed to pipe them out in thirty minutes.” “Then you have no choice but to let it go.,” he says. “You did your job.”

Did I handle it correctly? Should I have done something else.

[davedove]

Well, the head instructor told you to let it go, so I would say you're off the hook.

I'm just wondering how the final product tasted?

[pdcorlis]

Who knows - garlic truffles may become a new instant classic...

[beowulf67]

I was watching a cooking show on BBC America the other day and they had Garlic Fudge at a garlic festival.

The host didn't think very highly of it.

I think you did the right thing by asking the big boss and then going with what he said. It will be a good object lesson that the students will never forget.

[Robin]

Not good >>> trashcan.

But I've been a chef for 15 years, so I'm harsh

[sean_cummings]

Nobody has asked. Did you try one?

[Dirk Skene]

Nobody has asked. Did you try one?

Have you lost your mind Hot peppers like the Aztecs yes Garlic that's just

[Panache]

You never know, garlic (when cooked whole) is actually sweet. You only get the intense "hot" flavor when you cut them up and the little cell walls of the garlic clove are broken , leading to a whole lot of fun chemical changes.

I'm not saying they will be good, but you never know.

The history of the culinary arts is filled with weird little accidents that became classics.

Sounds to me like you did the best you could in the situation.

Cheers

Jamie

[davedove]

The history of the culinary arts is filled with weird little accidents that became classics.

I'm convinced that many of the traditional ethinic recipes were actually the result of some less than wealthy wife looking through her pantry to find something for supper. She didn't have enough of any one ingredient to make a full meal for her family, so she just threw several things together to see what happened. I'm sure that sometimes the family ate it because it was the only food, but often a delightful combination was discovered.

[Robin]

I'm convinced that many of the traditional ethinic recipes were actually the result of some less than wealthy

So true...many famous dishes used to be poor man's food found in the garden or on the shore...snails, frog's legs, mussels etc.



And an example of what went wrong, but became famous...

Tarte Tatin