Mmmmm ... pork chops.

Today's production was Sauteed Roquefort-Stuffed Pork Chops with Savory Swiss Chard Bread Pudding and Wild Mushroom Ragout in addition to Sauteed Pork Chops (brined) with Caramelized Sweet Potatoes in Romesco, Braised Italian Kale and a Veal Stock Reduction.

My culinary education continues, and I'm not talking about learning how to be a chef. I thought I was a fairly adventerous eater, but today was the first day I'd had a savory bread pudding or the wonderful and versatile sauce known as "Romesco". I've always been a big fan of Pesto and Romesco is sort of like a fresh tomato variation (with almonds and ancho chilis). Wow.

Of course, I also learned a bit about cooking as well, mostly things not to do. For example, when you put your bread pudding in a water bath, use as small a pan as you can and don't forget to turn on the convection fan to speed things up. My bread pudding may have been one of the first into an oven. It was probably one of the last to come out. Indeed, had I not changed the water bath pan and turned on the fan, that bread pudding might still be cooking as I type this.

Lesson the second: Kale (Cavolo Nero) takes forever (or so it seems) to braise. Seriously. When you think, after it has been blanched and spent 30 minutes in a saute pan, that it just has to be done, it's not. When tender, it is pretty darn tasty, but getting to "tender" takes what seems to be an inordinate amount of time. I would definitely like to ask a food scientist "why?"

Lesson the third: When stuffing a pork chop, don't apply too much pressure with large fingers. Those chops can tear pretty readily. Luckily, the hole in my stuffed chop was small and not too much of the cheese oozed out when cooked.

Lesson the fourth: By taking a station near the back of the kitchen lab, you may be conveniently near the dishwashing station, but you may therefore miss out when samples of fresh ice cream are brought in from PCA-4 to the front of the class.

Everyday is quite the learning experience.