Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - Practical Application

Last week's class was cancelled due to a snowstorm that blanketed the area around the school with approximately  9 inches of snow.  \The  snow began Thursday morning and continued  to fall until nightfall.  People were asked to stay off the roads if at all possible.  Definitely not the evening to be traversing the roads.

Being snowbound offered an perfect opportunity to practice the recipes from class. First on the list was French onion soup.  My Valentines' Day gift , a stock pot, was finally put to use.

Honestly, the pot made a difference. I sliced three onions. They caramelized well in the pot and I was able to deglaze the onions easily with white wine . The defining moment was adding the bouquet garni and the chicken stock and letting the flavors develop and blend. My bouquet garni was a piece of cheesecloth filled with celery, black peppercorns, thyme sprigs, and parsley and tied with twine. I added a bit of lemon juice and salt. The soup was tasty on its own.  When I topped the soup with sliced, toasted French bread and grated Swiss cheese it tasted even better.  The failure of the first French onion soup could now be put to rest!

Still feeling exuberant about the onion soup, I decided to try making risotto again, but this time I would substitute the mushrooms for bacon and garlic. Great concept, but the resulting dish was chocolate colored risotto. What happened? I think the onions cooked too long. It was still edible, but certainly not something I would serve to anyone else.  I'll revisit the recipe another day.

Much of the snow has since melted. The school recently issued a revised schedule. The class has been extended to early June to make up for the canceled class. It was good to apply what I've learned at home, but  I'm ready to return to class. Tonight's topic: poultry

Be well,
Technicolor girl

image created by Ink+ LLC

Developing and Refining One's Sense of Taste - week 5

Grains. Glorious grains. I was looking forward to this evening because I've had my fair share of calamities featuring grains. The most recent incident  was  a Christmas dinner featuring what was supposed to be rice pilaf served with Cornish hens I'd marinated. The rice ended up multicolored (think of the rainbow on the box of Lucky Charms® cereal-  yes, that kind of multicolored). Even my mother (who I have witnessed save rice calamities in the past) could not save this rice. I digress, tonight is about cooking the rice right the first time.

Chef lectured and demonstrated how to prepare lentils (yes, they are a legume, but smaller legume are treated like a grain), soft polenta, curried quinoa salad, couscous with raz al hanout, rice pilaf and  risotto with peas and mushrooms. Bonus: Chef made oatmeal cookies for the class for Valentine's Day.

After the lecture and demo the class was asked to make rice pilaf as well as risotto with peas and mushrooms. 


 
What I learned

• Aspirin added to beans makes them soften quickly
• Converted rice means that it was pearled (some of the bran was removed).
• Milling is one form of pearling
• Minute-rice is pre-cooked rice
• Lentils can absorb twice its volume in liquid
• Polenta can absorb four times its volume in liquid
• Couscous can absorb 1.5 times its volume in liquid
• Quinoa can absorb twice its volume in liquid
• Risotto (Arborio rice) absorbs up to six times its volume in liquid
• Some rice needs to be rinse before hand, some don't. Chef suggested that most Asian and South American grain need to be rinsed first and that most Western rice don't. For example, quinoa should be rinsed first.

image courtesy of the internet

Observations

• While helping prepare tonight's class I got to use a double handle cheese knife in order to cut and grate the parmesan cheese.  Angie showed me how cut blocks of cheese using the knife. I'd love to own one, but it's not practical for me
• One of my classmates stated that the rice pilaf was reminiscent of Rice-a-Roni. While meant as a compliment,  Chef sputtered "Rice-a- Roni" several times before the evening ended.
• I think I surprised Chef and Angie with my quick adaption of using the School's food processor to grate the cheese. The food processor is a larger version of the mini chopper and food processor I have at home. I just needed to know what the protocol was in the School's kitchen.
• A friend asked if I ever call the instructor by his first name. I don't. I do call the sous chef and assistants by their first name. At the start of class several students referred to the instructor by his first name, but more of the students refer to him as Chef. It's all part of the hierarchical structure 

Self reflection

• Marl's a good cooking partner. Tonight he remembered that I hadn't made a parchment cartouche for a pan (professional kitchens often do not have lids - the cartouche covers the ingredients in the pan) . He showed me how to do it and then took the paper apart and handed it to me saying, "now you try it". The cartouche worked out well.
• I cook couscous frequently. Tonight's presentation made me wonder if a couscosier (the cooker used to cook couscous) is a purchase to consider. I would have to justify why I have it in addition to my rice cooker.
• Regarding rinse, I will rinse on a rice by rice basis. I will read the preparation instructions first.
• I have eaten my share of poorly cooked risotto in restaurants. I often avoided ordering it in restaurants because it was frequently gummy or crunchy. After learning how to make risotto correctly in class I wanted to try makinsupeg it at home. I found the majority  ingredients at the nearby supermarket and purchased the oyster mushrooms I used in the dish at a nearby international market. I tried to use the minimal amount of liquid and in the end I had add more stock for the grain to cook fully. I will definitely make risotto again.
• I noted that many of the tips and techniques Chef used  in class my mother uses. She has not attended any culinary classes that I'm aware of. Perhaps the dining gods have granted my mother  supernatural powers regarding rice. After tonight's class perhaps I can awaken those powers in me.

Week 6: potatoes


Be well,

Technicolor girl

image created by Ink+ LLC