Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - week 3

The class syllabus indicated tonight's topic was salad and greens. Chef mistakenly ordered mushrooms, so tonight's topic was mushrooms.

Chef lectured and demonstrated how to prepare mushrooms a la grecque, wild mushroom soup, mache with goat cheese on croutons, mushroom ragout (in puff pastry), grilled Caesar salad with parmesan tuiles, and haricots verts.

Highlights of what I learned:

• Many of the mushrooms in the area come from Pennsylvania. Virginia is another source for mushrooms.
• Horse manure and horse urine are popular medium for growing mushrooms.
• Brush mushrooms clean with a damp cloth, do not wash them
• The stems of shiitake mushroom are good for using in making stock, but not for eating.
• Porcini mushroom powder is an intense way of flavoring anything mushroom. Porcini mushroom power could be used in a rub applied to meat.
• Ragout is literally "to enhance flavor". The ingredients are cooked first, then stock is added.
• Stewing is to cook in liquid to make tender
• Mushroom a la grecque can be served atop a salad, with red peppers, or as a tapas.
• Smaller vegetables in general are more tender. Larger vegetables tend to be more fibrous.

 

My observations:

• The grilled Caesar salad parmesan tuiles reminded me of salad dish I ate at Rose's Luxury restaurant,
• A professional kitchen is a hierarchical organization. The  chef leads the team. There are two options: follow's the chef's orders or get out of the chef's kitchen.  You can certain ask questions to get clarification.
• I grew up in a military household so the previous observation is not foreign to me. I also paid to attend the class because I wanted instruction on how to become a better cook.

This class also generated some self reflection:

• I am frustrated with my knife skills. ""Nails, down. Knuckles forward!" is becoming my mantra. I'll practice more at home.
• Every cook has their quirk. Mine is cleanliness, especially clean hands and keeping a clean work area.
• I'm still looking for a classmate to partner with in the kitchen. Several students in class are moving about, so it isn't just me.

While I enjoyed the mushroom recipes, I opted to prepare potage cultivateur as my homework assignment. Creating the potage would allow me to practice improving my knife skills (the recipe allows for any vegetables on hand to be included), use leeks as instructed in class (cut them and place them to in water to remove dirt), and allow me to try using my Dutch oven to prepare the dish.

The potage was a hit! I felt a bit of redemption after the French onion soup fiasco. The potage is satisfying and full of vegetables.  While the Dutch oven worked, a second stockpot remains on my wish list.

Chef assured us that the topic for week 4 is salad and greens.

Be well,

Technicolor girl

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