Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - week 10

As a former instructor I recognized the change in the vibe when I entered the classroom. A collective sense of relief filled the room, week 10 is beef night- we survived Market Basket!

Chef lectured and showed the class how to prepare: beef flank steak with sauce diable , seared top butt steak with sauce au poivre (sauce espagnole, steak tartar, beef bourguignon, bordelaise sauce. The class was tasked with preparing beef bourguignon and bordelaise sauce in the kitchen. 

What I learned

• Cows prefer grass, grains, and alflafa. Grass feed beef is like bison.
• The more a muscle is used, the more flavorful it is
• The less a muscle is used, the less flavorful it is
• Kobe beef cows are treated in a "privileged" way: they're massaged and attended to to ensure the beef is tender and flavorful
• Grades of beef refer to amount of marbling in the meat, not the grade of beef
• Curing and aging are a by product of how to preserve a meat without refrigeration
• "high on the hog" means to eat meat that's easy to cook and eat
• hangar steak is the muscle above the kidney (very tough, but very flavorful))
• The five (5) mother sauces of classic French cuisine

• Hollandaise
• Espagnole (brown sauce)
• Velouté  (stock thickened with a roux)
• Béchamel (milk thickened with a roux)
• Tomato
• T-bone steak is an United States convention. European butchery muscles everything out and meat is cooking according to musculature.

Observations

• The image of cow was helpful.
• "The Meat Buyer's Guide" was passed around the room several times during the lecture, especially when the beef grading system was discussed. the Guide has photos of representative cuts of meat for each grade.
• A classmate shared that the beef bourguignon was like "Dinty Moore stew".  It didn't appear that this was the feedback Chef expected. 
• Many in the class had not consumed steak tartar before and were shy about trying it in class.  Chef told the class that is ephemerally  (lasting for a very short time) safe, very much like caesar salad, and sushi.  Chef ground the beef used in the tartar before class began and kept it refigerated until preparing the dish fore the class. 

Self-Reflection

• The stress I felt the week before is completely gone. 
• Marl showed me a photo he took of me during the Market Basket exercise just after I flambéed the bananas foster.. He reminded me that had to tell me to smile. The Bananas Foster was a failure and the photo was taken as that knowledge was sinking in. 
• The presentation of the steak tartar reminded me of my cousin Antoine's ongoing query about why  cream of tartar, tartar sauce, and steak tartar aren't all pronounced the same. I've shared my opinion with Antoine (historical linguistics- the words appear to be the same in English, but come from different sources. Antoine didn't buy my explanation). I'm going to ask Chef if he knows the answer to the query. 
• I consumed more beef this evening than I have in years. I will make a point of eating lots of vegetables and fruits for the next few days
• The class is asking if we won the Hear The Crunch photo contest. I hope to know the results soon. 

 Next week: pork. One of Chef's favorite topics.

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