Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - week 12

I wasn't sure what to expect after the high energy of beef and pork nights.  Chef lectured and demonstrated how to prepare roasted leg of lamb with brown sauce , veal blanquette with glazed pearl onions and sauteed mushrooms, merguez with harissa mayo, moussaka, veal scallopini, and two mother sauces: Béchamel and Mornay. The class was asked to make moussaka and veal blanquette.


What I learned

• A leg of lamb may taste "off" or "gamey" because of a couple of glands in the leg. Remove them and the gamey taste diminishes
• Lamb shank is best braised for 5 to 6 hours. Add veal stock and mirepoix for a rich flavored sauce
• When cutting lamb remove as much connective tissue as possible, Also remove silver skin then remove excess far on the outside.
• Cumin and lamb go well together. Consider toasting cumin seed and grinding. 
• Veal blanquette is a white stew. It works equally well with chicken or pork (any white meat)
• Start veal blanquette cold so that blood and fat will rise up and can be skimmed off before adding aromatics (seasoning)
• Classically, blanquette is thickened with egg yolks and cream
  
  
  
• It s highly dangerous to heat a nonstick pan without oil in it. The chemical that bonds the teflon to the pan breaks down under high heat. The leeching chemical is lethal for songbirds. 
• Oxtail or short ribs are alternatives to beef bones
• Sausage  should be approximately 30% pork fat and 1/3 oz salt per pound of meat mixture.
• Pulled pork is cooked until it confits on the bne
• Béchamel sauce is roux with milk
• A Béchamel sauce with cheese (gruyere cheese traditionally) is Mornay sauce
• You can make roux in advance and store in the fridge
• Add hot liquid to cold roux; add cold liquid to hot roux.
• Remove silver skin from veal 
• In a breading station that seasoning is the in eggs. 
• Meguez can be served a number of ways, including: patties, in sausage casing (use lamb casing), or to stuff meats or vegetables

Observations

• One of my classmates does not eat veal for ethical reasons. She told the class early on that she would not attend class on veal night. She is a very thoughtful classmate - her presence was missed. 
• Chef stated that sheep (mutton) was not used much in the United States because it's not very palatable.  Most often haggis comes to mind.  I see haggis occasionally in specialty markets.
• Chef has a specific coffee grinder that he uses to grind seeds and nuts,
• A member of the class asked Chef is he turned the moussaka  upside down onto the plate (before presenting to eat) like a sand castle. Chef replied, "turn your ocean upside down". In other words, place the plate on top of the moussaka and then invert.

Self reflection

• Marl took the lead on making the veal blanquette. I assisted and assembled the moussaka 
• Marl remembered that I tested positive as a super taster and frequently asked me to taste each dish we prepared. Marl's taste buds are reliable as well - I asked him to taste the dishes too. He made the veal blanquette and it tasted just as good as the veal blanquette chef made. 
• I recall reading about official tasters in royal homes and similar settings. These individuals had the distinction of tasting the food first. Great if the food was without problem, horrible if the dish was poisoned or the food was rotten. 
• The veal blanquette in class tastes like another dish, but I don't recall what it is. 
• While I sometimes cook lamb, tonight was my first time cooking veal in decades. It was nice to to try it in class. I will most likely prepare chicken or turkey blanquette at home. When I shop in the markets veal is one of the most expensive meats.
• "Turn your ocean upside down" reminded me of baking - same rule applies - at least on the foundation layer. I suppose we'll learn more on  pastry night. 
• I've discovered that I'm fairly comfortable cutting up meat. For Easter I cut up a duck. I confited the legs and wings, the magret (breast) was  pan fried, and I used the bones to make a delicious duck stock using a recipe Michael (one of the class assistants) shared with me.  I tried the stock with sliced green onions and dumplings. It was tasty and flavorful.
• I was introduced to merguez while travelling abroad and enjoy it. Tonight's class has inspired me to try making merguez at home. 
• Marl heard my questions about sausage making and merguez. He graciously offered to let me borrow his KitchenAid mixer food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments. Wow! 

Next week: fish


Be well,
Technicolor girl

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