Hello Food Diary and Hungry Bloggers!!
Why dose the chicken coop always have 2 doors?
- because if it had 4 doors it would be a sedan! :)
 |
| Trussed, raw chicken. |
 |
Chicken roasting on a
bed of mirepoix. |
CHICKEN!!! Today was all about chicken! We have moved onto yet another Les Cuissons: Le Rotir (roasting). We only had to cook one dish today...which was nice for me because there wasn't a whole lot of time management needed, and I was more or less familiar with what we were making. As well as cooking, we also learned how truss (tie up) and fabricate (cut up) a whole, raw chicken (so nasty!). I hate raw chicken it grosses me out. (I guess I better get over that asap...I'm pretty sure I will be cutting up many a raw chicken in my studies!) On the menu for today was a roasted Cornish Game Hen with tourned glazed vegetables. We started class of with a lesson on how to truss our chicken. The purpose for trussing is to give a nice shape to your chicken and to hold it together while it cooks. Trussing was a breeze. After the lesson we were on our own. I got together my mise and started my dish. Before I even touched my chicken I made sure to get all my veggies chopped up and ready to prevent any cross contamination. Raw chicken can carry salmonella (not a fun thing to get), so you want to avoid any contact with other foods while dealing with it. I finished all the tournes for my glazed vegetable side dish (carrots, turnips, potatoes, and pearl onions.) and got them on the stove simmering with water and a tiny bit of sugar. Then I clean my chicken, dried it off really well and seasoned the inside and skin with salt and pepper. I trussed it and was ready to start the cooking! I learned a cool trick today. If you saute the skin of your chicken in hot butter (until it lightly browns) before you put it in the oven, you will get a really nice crispy skin in the end! I got my saute on and then placed my cute little hen on a nice big bed of mirepiox and stuck it in the oven (350F). Now time to play the waiting game. While my meal was cooking, chef gave us a demo on how to truss our chickens. After the demo, I checked on my roasting hen and it was done! I set it in some foil and started making the gravy with the yummy fat and suc (suc is those crusty drippings that you get on the bottom of your pan after roasting your chicken...they are a delight!!!) in the pan. I put my pan on the stove, sanjed with a little flour (for thickening purposes), deglazed with chicken stock (making sure to scrape every last bit of suc off the bottom), and let it reduce. Once reduced I salted it, strained it and I was done! I plated my cute little hen, arranged my veggies in an arts fashion, and lightly drizzled my gravy onto my plate. I topped everything with parsley and presented my lovely dish! I was one of the first people to finish today, which made me really happy. Chef sliced open my chicken, "This is cooked perfectly, sauce is good, veggies could use a tiny bit less sugar...great job!" YAY!!! I am back on track...I just need to keep this up! Now it is time for the fabrication... eeek.
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Roasted Chicken with glazed vegetables. |
Not looking forward to this...I took my raw chicken and began to slice away. Chef made it look really easy...it is not. Finding the right place to cut feels like walking through a corn maze...you don't know what to do next. I did my best to remember what she told us and sliced it up. I didn't do to bad...I missed a few things...but I was pretty satisfied. (it was my first time...I cant always be perfect.) I wrapped up my chicken and put it in the fridge for tomorrow. Overall today was a satisfying day! I did well with my time and got good feed back on my cooking...plus I have a whole hen to take home for lunch! :) I am excited to see what tomorrow brings!!
Cluck, cluck, cluck (that's chicken talk for have a great night!)
-Chef Kass In Training!
No comments:
Post a Comment