TGIF!!! It is Friday and I am sure glad it is the weekend! Today was our first day of cooking actual proteins!!(yay!) I have moved on from side dishes up to the head honcho of the meal! Today was also our first day of cooking Les Cuissons (Lay Kwee-Saun). Les Cuissons are the different types of cooking methods. There are seven total and here they are: Le Brasiser (to braise), Le Frire (to fry), LeGriller (to grill), Le Sauter (to saute), Le Rotir (to roast), Le Poeler (to humid roast), and Le Pocher (to poach). We will be practicing each of these before the term is over, but today we are getting our Frier and Braiser on! On the menu is Navarin of Lamb (Lamb stew), and Beginets de Gambas with Curried Mayonnaise (Fried Shrimp). Yummy!!! So here we go...
After the demo from the chefs I got started on my Lamb dish. I took my piece of lamb and sliced it into little 1 inch cubes. Then I threw it in a sauce pot with a little butter to get a nice brown sear on the outside. I didn't want to fully cook it on the stove because it was going straight into the oven to finish. Once ready, I took my lamb and set it aside. I used the fat still in my pot to sweat my aromatics (onions, carrots, garlic). Then I added tomato paste until fully heated and mixed in, and sanjed everything with flour...this will thicken my sauce, making it a more stew like consistency. After sanjeing I added a sliced tomato, some water, my bouquet garni, and my chunks of lamb. I covered the whole pot with tin foil and put it into the oven to braise for about 45 minutes. While my stew was in the oven I prepared my garnish for the top - the garnish consisted of tourned (tourne is a type of fancy knife cut - it has seven sides and looks like a football) carrots, turnips, pearl onions, peas, and green beans. I threw my carrots, turnips and onions into a saute pan, added a chunk of butter, some water, sugar and salt - covered it and let it simmer until tender. I blanched my green beans until tender and set them aside. Once my stew was done I took it out of the oven threw in my peas, checked for flavoring (it needed a bit of salt), then I nicely poured it into a bowl. I topped it with my glazed veggies and some chopped parsley and served it to my chef! "Perfect! Great consistency, color and flavor. Great job." Yay, chef liked it! I was really happy about my results on this one because this dish was one of the 4 dishes on the final. It was a relief to get good comments!
Now onto my shrimp...easy as pie....or so I thought (dun, dun, duuun). I made my breading which consisted of flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and water. Then I de-veined my shrimp, dipped them into the batter and threw them into the fryer. BAD MOVE! The oil in the fryer was wayyyy to hot!! My shrimp almost immediately browned (burned) on the outside and were left raw on the inside. I don't know how anyone else at my station was able to get acceptable shrimp using this oil...maybe they weren't?? I didnt have any time to redo my mistake so I had to turn in what I made. Very upset with my results, I handed chef my plate with a little advisory. "Shrimp are still raw on the inside...do not eat!" :( We talked about what went wrong and she gave me some advice for the next time we fry something..."Check the oil temp before you throw your stuff into it" (you would think I would know that already...and I do...I just didn't put it into practice today). So...very depressed that I didn't get to enjoy my delicious fried shrimp, I started on my dishes. Time for the weekend!I hope you all have a great weekend! Mine will be filled with cooking, studying, cooking and some more cooking...but I will eat like a queen! :)
Talk to ya'll on Monday!
- Chef Kass In Training!
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