Master Chef 201: Braising

Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques. It allows you to take a tougher less expensive cuts of meat and create some of the tastiest dishes you'll eat. Braising often takes a few hours to break down the connective tissues (collagen) from the muscle fibers via dry and moist heat cooking methods. All braises follow this typical order. 

1. Sear the meat and vegetables over high heat. 
2. Add liquid and often an acid to further tenderize the meat. 
3. Turn heat down to low and cook until meat is fork tender. 
4. Reduce liquid into sauce or gravy.

Here's one of my all time favorite dishes Beef Bourguignon. This recipe is a quick version adapted from Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook. 

1/2 bottle red wine, such as cabernet sauvignon

1 onions, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp flour

1/2c chicken or beef stock

3 thyme sprigs

6 Italian parsley sprigs

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 1/2 pounds boneless short ribs or chuck (about 1 inch thick)

2 carrots, obliquely cut 1/2 inch cooked* 

1 box button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, cooked*

10-14 white pearl onions, cooked* 

METHOD

• For the beef: Trim excess fat and any silver skin from the short ribs. Cut the meat into pieces approximately 1 1/2 to 2 inches by 1 inch thick.
• Heat a heavy bottomed pot, when the oil is hot, add only as many pieces of meat as will fit comfortably in a single layer; do not crowd the pan or the meat will steam rather than brown. Once the meat has browned on the first side, turn it and continue to brown the meat on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer the meat to the paper towel-lined baking sheet. Brown the remaining meat in batches, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.
• Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the pot, stirring and cooking until the vegetables are translucent.
• Sprinkle 2 tbsp of flour over the vegetables and mix together.
• Add back in the beef, and both the stock and wine. Pour enough wine to barely cover all the meat.
•  Bring the pot up to a simmer and turn the heat down. Braise the beef for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Periodically skimming off any scum that rises to the top. 
• Transfer the meat to an ovenproof pot or container. 
• Strain the braising liquid twice through a fine strainer or a medium strainer lined with a clean and dampened tea towel or cheesecloth, straining it the second time into a saucepan. Discard the vegetables.

While the Beef cooks...

• Peel and cut the carrots into about 1/2 inch pieces. Add a pad a butter of butter to a pan and sauce until nicely cartelized. 
• Trim the mushroom stems flush with the caps. Heat the butter in a large skillet over high heat until it has melted and the foam has subsided. Add the mushrooms, reduce the heat to medium-low, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook gently, tossing often, until the mushrooms are lightly browned and tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
• Final garnish is to add another pad of butter to a pan, and cook the pearl onions. This I would leave alone for a few minutes before shaking the pan so that the onions can get some nice color to them. 

Finally add the carrots, onions, mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Master Chef 102: Blanching

Blanching or par-cooking is a technique where you get a pot of salted boiling water, drop the food in for a few seconds to a minute. Then remove and cool down immediately. 

This works great for those who don't want to eat microwaved food and want to save a few minutes at the end of a long work day to prepare dinner.  The technique works well for incorporating vegetables for omelettes and salads to cutting down on cooking time for stir frys.

You could theoretically do this for protein as well so long as you're able to prepare the chicken later on that same day. You run the risk of more food borne illnesses by heating, cooling and reheating meat. 

Here's an easy recipe for Beef with Broccoli

• 1 pound flat iron steak, cut into 1x1 cube (flank steak, skirt steak or hanger steak may be substituted, but won't be as tender) 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine (Balsamic vinegar or dry sherry work as well)
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 4 scallions, greens and whites sliced. 
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound bite-size broccoli florets, from about 1-1/2 pounds broccoli crowns
• 1/3 cup water

1. Combine the beef with 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of the Chinese rice wine (Balsamic or dry sherry) in a bowl and toss to coat. Let marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature while prepping everything else. 
2. Bring a bot of water to a boil, salt the water. (Note: salted water should taste like the sea, applies to cooking pasta or blanching vegetables)
3. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons of soy sauce with the corn starch and stir with a fork until the corn starch is dissolved. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of wine, oyster sauce, chicken broth, sugar, and sesame oil. Stir and set aside. 
4. Combine the scallion whites, garlic and ginger in a bowl and set aside.
5. By now the water should be boiling, drop the broccoli in to blanch for 1 minute or so. You'll know it's done when the broccoli is bright green and still crunchy. Remove from the pot and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. 
6.  Heat a pan over high heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Add half of the beef, so that it is in a single layer, and cook without moving until the beef is well seared, about 1-1/2 minutes. Continue cooking while stirring until the beef is lightly cooked but still pink in spots, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate. 
7. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the remaining beef and cook without moving until the beef is well seared, about 1-1/2 minutes. Add the scallion whites, garlic and ginger mixture and cook, stirring constantly with the beef, for about 30 seconds.
8. Add in the broccoli and the other half of the beef to the pan along with the sauce and scallions and mix thoroughly, simmer until the sauce is lightly thickened. Transfer to a serving platter and serve with rice. (Note: If the sauce is too runny, remove the beef and continue to reduce) 

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Master Chef 101: Prep

The french have a term "Mise en place" meaning everything in it's place. When reading any recipe, you need to be sure to dice all the onions, measure out the broth and clean/devein the shrimp. There's a reason why restaurants hire people only for prep work, which is one of the most important positions in the kitchen. 

Cooking begins with prep!

Some of the things I'll cover here are:

• Fabricating a chicken
• Cutting onions (technique can be applied to garlic, shallots, etc)
• Preparing lettuce for salad
• Using a chicken carcass to make chicken stock

Fabricating a Chicken

Why it's important:

• You get more bang for your buck. 
• Learn to not waste a single thing
• Learning how to render down and make your own stock

You can see the 3 points all come down to making your dollar stretch, and who doesn't want to save money while eating better?!

Cutting an Onion

Why it's important:

• Onions, garlic, and shallots are considered aromatics. There are a few more that fall into that category but I'll leave it to just those considering they're all shaped similarly. 

Preparing leafy vegetables

Why it's important:

• Most people buy leafy vegetables only to forget about it in the crisper where it gets dry or in the plastic bag they bought it in and it gets all slimy. 

1. Chop lettuce, spinach (if necessary) or remove stems from greens such as kale and chard.
2. Wash greens.
3. Dry using a salad spinner or using clean towels. 
4. Once dry, store in containers or zip lock bags for easy use. 

Using a chicken carcass to make chicken stock

• Most store bought stock ends up being high in sodium and nowhere near as flavorful as one you make yourself. 
• Up your soup and sauce game by using your own stock. I should mention it's very easy to do, get one more use of that chicken carcass. 

Makes 1.5 to 2 litres white chicken stock:

• 1 chicken, bones and carcasses, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 1 bouquet garni (can include bay leaves, thyme, parsley, and garlic cloves.)
• 2 to 3 litres water (enough to completely cover the bones)
• 1 tbsp cooking wine (optional)

Note: One of the great things about stock is that this is where you can use things like the tops of celery, carrot skin (after it's washed of course of any dirt) and even garlic peel. This is because you're going to skim and filter everything out at the end!

1. Chop the cooked chicken carcass, if uncooked. Heat a large heavy bottom pot with a little oil. Cook off the carcass until it appears cooked. Then deglaze the pan with the wine. Scrap the bottom with a wooden spoon. 
2. Remove chicken, add in the mirepoix (french term for onion, celery, and carrots). Cook until translucent for a few minutes. 
3. Add back in the chicken and add water. Add in the herbs and spices.
4. Turn the heat up until you can start to see the water bubbling. Turn it down on low. Simmer for 6-8 hours. The longer the better really. 
5. Every 15-30 minutes check on it to make sure it's not boiling over and skim off any of the impurities that rise to the top. This helps make a cleaner and clearer stock. 
6. After simmering, pass the liquid through a fine mesh strainer. Cool immediately. 
7. Skim off any extra fat and refrigerate. You can also portion it in smaller containers to freeze. Should hold for about 4-6 months. 

5 Lessons Thomas Keller Can Teach You to Improve Your Fitness

It’s been ten years since I graduated culinary school. In the years that followed my style of cooking has changed a lot. One thing that hasn't is my respect and admiration for Chef Thomas Keller. He is the proprietor for the acclaimed Michelin Star French Laundry and Per Se, along with a casual French bistro Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery and adHoc restaurants.

So you can imagine the excitement I had during a routine trip to northern California to Yountville to enjoy adHoc fried chicken for lunch and saw Chef Keller walking down the street.

adhoc fried chicken and bbq (ribs and pulled pork) Totally worth the drive to yountville

A photo posted by Gary Heshiki Fitness (@garyheshikifitness) on Jul 18, 2014 at 11:11am PDT

We left our home in Los Angeles early one morning and drove straight to Yountville arriving about 90 minutes ahead of our scheduled lunch. Sara and I figured were could get some coffee and a pastry at Bouchon Bakery and walk around. After parking our car, I spotted a man in chef whites walking down the street and I knew it was him.

I asked if I could get a photo while stumbling like a dope to get my iPhone out of my pocket. Sara quickly got her phone out and snapped this photo.  Obviously this was the highlight of the trip for me!

If you still haven’t caught on I hold Chef Thomas Keller in very high regard.

Even now as a fitness professional there are lessons I’ve learned from my time in the kitchen and from Chef Thomas Keller that are very applicable to a fitness professional and enthusiast alike.

1. Starting at the Bottom

Chef Keller started out as a dishwasher in his mother’s restaurant. There he was able to learn many skills that would serve him in the future such as:

• Organization: Knowing where and how to stack the dishes in the right way so the team could be efficient putting things where they needed to be.
  • If you're unorganized, you’ll walk into the gym and perform a random 45 minutes while accomplishing very little. Plan ahead and be more productive. 
• Feedback: In 45 seconds you know whether or not the dishes are clean or dirty. If they come out dirty, use that immediate feedback to correct the problem.
  • Pay attention to how things feel and look, you should know immediately whether a particular rep was good or not. Take steps to improve on the following set.
• Repetition: You begin to learn the discipline and habits required to be good at the task you’ve been assigned. 
  • Being good at anything requires you to put in time to practice and get better at it. In one year you’ll be good at deadlifts, imagine how great you’ll be in ten years!

2. Cooks cook to nurture people

"You must take pleasure in serving others. Build a deep desire towards learning your craft. Skills are learned not innate."

Any fitness professional worth their weight in protein powder will make an extra effort to teach the why and how behind the what. They're doing you a disservice if all they do is hand you a sheet with food on it and expect you to follow that blindly. A true pro lives to pass on their knowledge with the endgame being a client who's better than they are. 

3. Attention to detail

"Having an attention to detail is the cornerstone of success. It’s there where you understand what you’re trying to accomplish and how to exceed expectations."

While every armchair quarterback believes they're only a few notches below JJ Watt. I hate to be the barer of bad news: You aren't anywhere near the level of a J.J Watt.

Photo: Men's Health

So training like him is only going to lead to an injury. Blindly following the "workout" printed isn't going to work for two reasons:

1. It's not his actual workout. Do you really think he performs a few supersets and calls it a day?!
2. It hasn't been tailored for your body and goals in mind. 

I can recall past colleagues who would lazily take a workout from a magazine and make their clients perform it. They decided it was an inconvenience to make adjustments for the person, glossing over tiny details that would inevitably lead to that client getting hurt.  

Don't be a shotgun, be a sniper. 

4. Believe in yourself because no one else will until you do.

When Chef Keller started, he mentions that his biggest asset was his ignorance of not knowing what it actually would take to start a restaurant. He focused on the small successes and continued moving forward in the face of having no resources, no money, and no job after leaving a failed restaurant in New York. He could've made that restaurant more casual, but it wasn't his vision. 

You need to believe in your vision so strongly that you're willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. 

He would wake up to make calls to banks or fill out forms for loans. He recalls speaking to over 400 people asking them for money. He would tell person after person what he was looking to do, and as uncomfortable as it was, it only strengthened the belief in his vision. 

Do you have what it really takes to accomplish the goal you’ve set for yourself? Ask before starting any program whether or not the goal you’re setting will be in line with the choices you’re willing to make. The sacrifices that might be asked of you may be too much.

Related: Cost of Getting Lean

5. Funnel your work into one singular goal

Keller states that his initial goals were always about how to make the French laundry a better restaurant. He opened bouchon south of the restaurant so the staff had a place to eat after work because at the time most establishments were closed long after service. 

If you're familiar with the bay area you know that it's filled with great bread bakers. Yet he could not find the exact style and size for the French Laundry. Thus he opened Bouchon Bakery to supply the restaurants there with the bread he wanted. 

Make sure your goals are consistent with the bigger picture. You may want to have an elite powerlifting total, run a sub 30 minute 10k, and have 8% bodyfat; but unless you’re getting paid to only exercise and recover those goals might be a little hard to accomplish.

Decide what it is you want and go after it channeling all your energies towards that one goal. Keep in mind that even after only 2 years, you can change your mind. 2 years is a drop in the bucket compared to 20.

Allow yourself that flexibility but don’t program hop only after a few months. Give yourself adequate time to asses whether or not what you’re doing is working or not. When making any decision think critically as to whether or not it is helping you achieve the larger goal you've set yourself. Big goals are accomplished by completing a bunch of little ones. 

What You Need to Know About Popular Home Workout Programs

“So I was doing (insert home training program or app) and now my knee/back/shoulder hurts”

Every so often I have a well meaning client consultation to help treat injuries accrued from poorly planned exercise programs targeted to women via “12 weeks or less bikini body” and guys through high intensity 3 month “muscle confusion” programs.

It's vital to appreciate that no exercise or training system is without its flaws. It's only because of these flaws or perceived flaws about lifting weights that these dangerous and inefficient programs are able to flourish in the first place.

Here are 4 reasons why bouncing around in front of your TV or smartphone isn’t the best place to start your new exercise regimen.

Beginners need to master body weight movements first.

When someone is inexperienced, they need to stick to bodyweight movements before increasing the intensity and/or adding weight. Where these programs fail individuals is in their exercise progressions. The belief that because you’re a beginner, you should perform high rep sets is problematic. This is the opposite approach I would take.

If you’re new to exercise, then it’s probably your first exposure to a lot of these movements. The likelihood that your form will be acceptable on rep 20 after only learning it a few minutes before starting is going to be low. This also applies to trainers who deem it necessary to throw 135lbs on the bar for a back squat on day 1!

Controlled Tempo first before ramping up intensity

From a principle-based point of view, these injuries are no surprise to me. After all, if you don't have weights, the only way to make your customers "feel the burn" is to perform high reps at a fast pace, with minimal rest between repeats. That particular combination of variables increases fatigue while simultaneously decreasing movement control, which decreases net safety.

Many programs are too quick to progress you with little said about proper jumping and landing mechanics. When an individual lacks proper motor control, they’re unable to absorb the forces placed on their joints through multiple squat jumps and jumping lunges. This is exponentially worse if the individual is overweight or obese.

One size doesn’t fit all

If only it were that easy to create a training program that helps people become stronger, leaner, faster, and less prone to injury – those type of results require the expertise of an exercise professional, not a multi-level marketing convert masquerading as a fitness trainer.

A proper assessment is the key to creating a well balanced program. Neuromuscular Therapist Johnny Tea of JT Athletics works closely with individuals to un-do much of the soft tissue damage from home based or mobile fitness app programs. He mentions “when a program lacks a thorough assessment, it will lead compensation patterns with the end result often being an injury.”

Related: How to Select the Best Strength/Personal Trainer to Meet Your Goals

Isn’t doing something better than doing nothing?

No, I don't think anything's better than nothing, and here's why.

As seen by the infomercial before and after testimonial it works for some individuals. But for every one person who succeeds, there are dozens who give up long before they can really make a positive change to their bodies. Many give up because there's no accountability when you don't need to leave the house. If you quit, no one will know!

Now imagine that you're really out of shape and you haven't seen your toes or other important appendages in years, and they're understandably anxious about starting a new exercise program. Many of these individuals already lack confidence to even step foot in a commercial gym. Some believing that they need to work up to joining in the first place or feeling the need to "get in shape" before hiring a personal trainer. Injuries aside, the damage done on ones psyche is huge and not worth the risk to me. 

So What To Do?

Can someone with no prior experience get in shape simply by downloading an e-book or following along with a DVD program? Yes of course, but I would be weary of most of the “popular” options out there.  If the choice came down to two options:

• Save money upfront by buying a program and doing it at home but with the likelihood of an injury and bills to see doctors and therapists down the road.
• Spend a little bit more money upfront to get a solid program or hire a qualified trainer to teach you how to properly execute movements and think for yourself in the gym.

I would go with the latter.

Here are a few I trust and would recommend to anyone I know looking for a progressive program to do on their own.

For the Ladies:

1.     Lean and Lovely by Neghar Fonooni 

2.     Strong Curves by Bret Contreras

3.     The Modern Woman’s Guide to Strength Training by Molly Galbraith 

For Men

1.     High Performance Handbook by Eric Cressey 

2.     High Tensile Strength by Dean Somerset 

3.     Bulletproof Athlete by Mike Robertson 

Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t take an opportunity to plug myself! If you’re in the Los Angeles area, I would be glad to work with you barring availability. Fill out a form and I’ll contact you soon.