[xutopia]

That's funny you say that. I am a computer programmer and I also do a once a year pop up restaurant. I cook on the level of some very good chefs without the formal training so I'm more wasteful and slower but create great dishes just the same.

I started thinking of design patterns in cooking when I took a class on stocks, soups and sauces. In traditional French cooking you see the bones, shells and carcass of any animal you cook used to make a base liquid that can then be transformed (refined) further.

Take a chicken for example. I'll debone it and use the bones, feet, head and excess skin to make stock with it. I'll either grill it before dipping it in water to extract the flavour or do a "white" stock by dipping in water without browning. To this I'll add aromatic veggies and spices. Once you understand how to extracts taste from the carcass you can expand on that and concentrate the flavour by reducing it and then you have a liquid with many good properties. You can then apply the same technique to any mammal, bird, fish or seafood you can think of.

Perhaps my favorite "cooking pattern" is the demi-glace. This takes the (usually veal) stock, concentrates flavours further with tomatoes, mushrooms and a standard mirepoix but adds a roux to thicken it. You can then use any tasty liquid you can find to mix with it and you have an instant high quality sauce. I've made demi-glace that I've used for mushroom sauce, bordelaise (red wine), tarragon poultry sauce, porto and cherry sauce, etc...

The reality is that a lot of the idea of patterns have been codified by the late Auguste Escoffier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Escoffier. His influence is huge in the cooking world. Kitchens and cooking just wouldn't be the same without him.

[appplemac]

Sincerely saying, I have never made a demi-glace, although I should have. Will try after studying the process, thanks for sharing!

For me, Escoffier’s book is probably comparable to Bjarne Stroustrup’s “The C++ Programming Language”, at least by complexity of the material, so I am somewhat afraid of using it. As far as I know, “Le Guide Culinaire” is used as a source of recipes for the Master Chef exam, for example.

Maybe I should try approaching it again with some patience. Cheers!