Hello fabulous food Diary and Hungry Bloggers!
 |
This is what the consommé looks
like as it is forming it raft. |
 |
| My Mise en place! |
 |
| sauté 'n a bunch 'o Onions :) |
 |
| Consommé Brunoise |
It is soup day!!! Today we made a Consommé Brunoise, New England Clam Chowder, and French Onion soup. Can you say soup Heaven???? :) As delicious as today was...it was also very stressful. To start the day off we watched Chefs demo our soups..which took longer than usual...so we had less time to complete them on our own. Making 3 soups in an hour is a challenge, so time management (which is not my strongest point) was very important today. Before I started cooking I got everything in order, organized my station and planned my steps out. First I cut up my onions for the French onion soup, and threw them in the pan to saute. Then I threw everything together for my consommé. A consommé is a soup made of clarified stock...we simmer it for a long period of time with a bunch of ingredients to add flavor and bring all the impurities to the top. When it is done it should be clear and clean looking. So I got my veggies, ground chicken and egg whites whipped together then added chicken stock and set my consommé on the stove to simmer. I stirred it constantly until my raft formed (the raft appears at the top of the sauce pot when the egg whites begin to cook - it holds all the impurities inside it - leaving a clean delicious broth underneath. In a chefs world its like hidden treasure :)) Once my raft had formed I was able to let it simmer on its own for a while which gave me time to put my other soups together. I started my clam chowder. I rendered the fat from my salt pork, and sweat-ed my onions in it. Then I added flour, clam juice, water, potatoes, salt and clams - and let it all simmer until potatoes were tender. I took my sauted onions for my French onion soup and added some Sherry and wine, then reduced it. Once reduced, I added veal stock, water and salt - and let simmer. My final two soups were on there way to being done...but the questions was...will they be done in time?? I had about 10 mins left...lets hope things go my way! About seven minutes in my French onion soup was ready. I poured it in a bowl and placed my baguette and Parmesan cheese on top then broiled it to melt the cheese. I got another bowl warmed it up and put my clam chowder in it...both my soups were done just in the nick of time! Chef said I needed to "cook out my wine a little bit more in my French onion soup, and my clam chowder was very nice." With only 20 minutes left in class all of us frantically cleaned trying to get done in time!
 |
| My Clam Chowder and French Onion Soup! |
Today was a pretty good day!! Lets see what day 2 of soups has to offer! Talk to y'all tomorrow!
- Chef Kass In Training
No comments:
Post a Comment