Wiener Schnitzels and asparagus

So today while I was out checking the local food market, and I found some really fresh asparagus.  I picked up a bundle and got a wiener schnitzel from the market next door.  I decided to invite my buddy Ryan so we could jam out a bit and learn some new songs, but also so we could chat food.  Just like me, Ryan has experience working in a kitchen.  So it is a really great time to be able to talk the craft.  In such a small room with only an electric element BBQ and limited table space, preparing food here is a dramatic dance performance with twists and turns, much juggling of pans.  But in the end all came out quite well.  Let me tell you quickly how I did it all.

Timing is key when preparing a dish with several steps involved.  First boil the peeled and roughly cut potatoes in salted water, adding a small bit of beef or pork stock.  Heat up the pan for the asparagus, with a small bit of olive oil and a bit of butter.  Wait until the pan is quite hot (though not so hot that it smokes or browns the butter!), and add 1/3 cup of brunoise (diced) shallots and fry briefly. In a cup, mix 1/3 cup of water with beef bouillon (or use actual beef stock).  Add this to the frying pan, put your asparagus in, and cover with a crack open.  The asparagus should only be 15-20% under the liquid.  (Optional: add a little extra butter to the pan now.)  Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, and check the softness of the asparagus with your (clean) finger.
(semi-hard) Boil 2 eggs for 9 minutes. Peel and cool them in water, then mash them in a bowl with a fork. Set aside.
As that's going, the potatoes will be ready to drain.  After drained, you must add 1.5-2 tbsp of butter (depending on amount of potatoes).  Also add some salt, fine-ground white pepper, a dash of nutmeg. Mash together.  If it is too dry add a small amount of the bouillon from the asparagus.  
Heat up a wok or large frying pan with some butter.  Add 1-2 pieces of thick, brunoise (small cubed) bacon.  Also add brunoise (diced) shallots. When the bacon and shallots are fried in the pan, add the mashed potato. Mix well and don't let it burn! Don't fry for too long, just enough to mix it well and season it with extra pepper or salt.
When the asparagus feels right, I then transfer it to a hot dish to wait for the rest.  I clean off the pan and reheat it.  This time with a little bit of butter and a little bit of olive oil. Shallow fry the wiener schnitzel (which you can usually buy prepared and breaded).
Cut a lemon in half, take off the ends, and cut a cross through the middle from the edges.  This will take out many of the seeds. This is for the diner to squeeze over the schnitzel.
As the schnitzel is frying, heat another pan (preferably a small deep frying pan or saucepan).  Add butter (clarified butter if you have it handy!). Melt till bubbling, but not brown.  Add crumbled egg, dash of salt, and a grind of pepper. Put this on top of the asparagus when you prepare the dish.  Before doing so, though, make sure you add some of the juice and the diced shallots onto the asparagus.  

Prepare your dishes on (hot) plates. Garnish potatoes with chopped parsley or chives.  Make it look nice. Clean the edges. Serve with a sweet white wine.  The half lemon is to squeeze over the schnitzel.

Take a picture and post it as a response!  And ENJOY!

Chef Josh

The Missing Writer Returns

Whoa, what a ride.

I guess I can't tell you about everything that has happened since my last post, since I stopped posting nearly 9 months ago.

But I can tell you where I am at right now, and hopefully start posting on Sophistical Subterfuges more regularly now.

Well, there are several areas of my life which have been developing as of late. There are three which are especially prominent: I have been making progress on my thesis, things are coming together with IPSA (International Philosophy Student's Association), of which I am now the President, and I am progressing in the culinary arts as well: last week was my first day as one of the main chefs at the restaurant I work at.

As for the thesis, I changed my topic a little bit and made it much more challenging for myself... yielding great results. Before I was basically explaining Ernst Cassirer's work on myth, essentially summarizing his second volume of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. I did not get any writing accomplished while this was still my topic. Frankly, I wasn't interested or inspired to work on a summary... and rightly so, for what kind of original and substantial paper would my thesis be if it did nothing more than summarize someone else's book?? Instead, I am writing on Cassirer's methodology for the Cultural Sciences. Through an historical account I am situating his work among his contemporaries, primarily in terms of the Neo-Kantians of the Marburg and Southwest Schools, but also in terms of the pramatism of Dilthey and especially the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger. I am now using Cassirer's work on myth as an example of how his methodology differs greatly from the other Neo-Kantians, and in many regards encounters a rapprochement with phenomenology. This, clearly, will require much more work on my behalf, and I am feeling eager to step up to the challenge.

As for IPSA, we held our first general meeting last week. We now have an executive and several coordinators. We are growing, and with this growth comes greater responsibility and commitment for me. I avoided legitimation of the group last year, mainly because I was new to the town/program and had few people to work with. This year, however, we hit the new students hard with an introductory tour after their welcome lecture by the faculty, as well as a great mustache party involving 8 cases of free beer.... kindly donated by an unidentified benefactor. This got people's attention. And now we have about 12 people who have committed themselves to planning events, increasing membership, and publicizing activities. We have drafted a constitution, a mission statement, and a list of events to be planned. My first order of business, however, is to attain funding from LOKO, which is the only EU subsidized international student's organization at K.U.Leuven. This will take some work on my behalf!

Finally, about my passion for cooking and the path this passion has set me on... well, for the last month I have been training in the kitchen of the restaurant I work at, doing mostly mis-en-place (preparation) for the week. This involves chopping a lot of vegetables, preparing sauces and soups, and so on. While I have been doing this, I have also been learning how to make various tapas dishes, desserts (like Sophie Lauren's tiramisu!), and so on. This past Friday was a milestone though... it was my first evening to work as one of the two main chefs in the front kitchen, which is open concept: i.e., the customers can watch you as you cook. Definitely an added element of pressure... it was a busy night, and we served about 40 plates in 3 hours. I kept my cool, went as fast as I could, and it was duly noted... now I will be working in the front more regularly. We come out with a new menu next week, and I will have to memorize the dishes so that I can prepare things without having to be told how. I've bought myself a high quality chef's knife (henckels) and I've grown to love using it! At one point last week while hanging out with friends I suddenly proclaimed, "I feel like cutting some onions." You can imagine the puzzled responses.

Well, that is enough updating for the time being, hopefully this post will be the first of many.

Check out Not Without The Sound of Infinite Splashing to see the progression of my work on Cassirer, the Neo-Kantians, and the cultural sciences.

Coming soon: Article 27, a blog about human rights, international relations, and philosophy concerning such matters.

Thanks for reading!