culinary school flashback: week 7
Does anyone else watch the Great British Baking Show?! I LOVE that show!! There was an episode where the contestants had to make something called a “Floating Island,” which is a meringue that you cook in a water bath and serve with an ice cream base sauce. GUYS!!! This was one of those dishes in culinary school that I loathed and could not get right during this week. hahaha I never thought I’d see them outside of culinary school, let alone one a British TV show.
Anyways, I laughted so hard when I saw that episode.
Okay, enough about those Floating Islands … let’s get to this weeks review.
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week seven in review
Another week has wrapped up, and it should come as no surprise when I say that we were, once again, very busy. Not only did we have our usual line up, but we also had our second research papers due yesterday. I brought the White Chocolate Pomegranate Brownies to school for everyone to taste, and judging from empty plates, I believe it was well received .
Let’s take a look at what was on the menu this week:
Monday was Asian Day, where we learned how to make Chicken Coconut Soup, Kung Pao Chicken, Pad Thai and Chocolate Chip Cookies (I realize they are very American, but we made these dishes on Asian Day nonetheless). Chef Somchet showed us how her parents used to prepare these dishes.
LA POTAGE DUBARRAY – Cauliflower soup! While it may not look amazing, it was. If you love cauliflower, this is a great soup for you, especially now that it’s getting cold out.
LE FILET DE SAUMON GRILLE served with LA SAUCE CHARON, broccoli, and LES POMMES RISSOLEES.
We are still focusing on technique (as I so often mention), so the broccoli was just boiled and bland. We have officially mastered the technique of cooking vegetables in boiling, heavily salted water, then immediately transfer them to an ice bath, which stops the cooking process. This allows the vegetable to keep their bright colors.
LES MADELEINES – topped with a lemon glaze
LA SALADE CAESAR – Very simple, yet very delicious.
L’EXCALOPE DE VEAU VIENNOISE, served with LE GRATIN DAUPHINOIS. We breaded the veal, pan-fried it, topped it with a brown butter, parsley, egg white and egg yolk sauce (which I did not particularly like), HEAVEN on a plate!
L’ILE FLOTTANTE AU CARAMEL – Otherwise known as Floating Island, this dessert is a poached swiss meringue, served on a bed of CREME ANGLAISE (a vanilla ice cream base), topped with home-made light brown caramel and nuts. I also attempted to make a caramel dome to top off our desserts, but due to time constraints, I epically failed!
LA SALADE DE FONDS D’ARTICHAUTS A LA GRECQUE – Artichoke salad, served with an onion, coriander vinaigrette. To date, my least favorite dish. I just can’t seem to like artichokes.
LA POULET SAUTE CHASSEUR, served alongside LA POMME DAUPHIN. A simply seasoned chicken (salt & pepper), topped with a mushroom tarragon sauce. We julienned the potatoes (we were allowed to use a mandolin, thank goodness, otherwise I think I would still be cutting potatoes right now. Ha), then sautéed them in very small pans until they were golden brown and crispy.
LE MILLEFEUILLE (Napoleon) – A very traditional French dessert made with puff pastry (are you noticing a million uses for puff pastry, yet?! Love it!), spiked pastry cream (i.e. rum) and almonds.
Pictures from this past week. I tried to pick photos not pictured above. Hope there are no doubles
This week we also spent some time learning how to make meringue. There are three different kinds:
- French – a cold meringue used for mousses, petit fours or biscuits. It is a cold meringue because you do not heat the egg whites up before whisking them with sugar.
- Swiss – a warm meringue used for decorations, pie toppings or Baked Alaska’s. Unlike a French meringue, in a Swiss meringue, the egg whites and sugar are warmed (until the sugar has completely melted into the whites) before whisking. This is the version that we have been focusing on making.
- Italian – a hot meringue used in soufflés and parfaits, mousses and can also be used as a substitute for heavy cream. In an Italian meringue (which we have not yet made, so I am no expert), you melt the sugar by itself before adding it to the whites.
After we made the meringue, we practiced piping, which is a lot harder than Chef made it look. Here are a few of my attempts:
Last but not least, the Phase II Pastry students worked hard all week to prepare a Petit Fours Buffett for the whole school. It is incredible what they were able to make! I could never be a pastry chef because I would not have the patience to make something this tiny look so incredible!
Well, I am off to study. Our second theory and practical exams are on Thursday and there is a lot of information to digest. To date, we have learned a large variety of dishes, in particular sauces!
Many sauces are so similar that there will be one ingredient that is different, which then makes it an entire new sauce. For example, hollandaise (a sauce made from egg yolks, clarified butter, lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper) has a large number of small sauces that are directly derived from a hollandaise. Bernaise sauce, for example is a hollandaise, but as opposed to adding lemon juice we add a tarragon reduction. See my dilemma? So many different dishes to learn.
Have a great weekend!
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What did you guys think? I still dream about those Asian dishes and wish someone would come over and cook them for me.