Day 9

11 October 2013

Soup practical today. We had to prepare Consomme, French onion, and Dubarry.

Got mise in pace done, started carmelizing the onions, got the cauliflower simmering, and started the raft for the consommé. Got all that going on the stove fairly quickly. I was trying to leave room for the girl next to me so I put the onions on the back burner. I should have stuck with the front burners, the girl next to me is almost 6 feet tall (and SLOW), it would have been fine!! I couldn't really see them very well, and I didn't get enough carmelization on them. I also skipped the brandy, my palate liked it better without it, but once again I didn't season enough with salt. I lost some points for these errors, not enough carmelization and seasoning.
The Dubarry came out good, I got the cauliflower tender so it was very smooth with just a puree, didn't have to out through a chinios. The flavors were good, again too little salt and pepper. lost a point for that. I really liked this soup.
My consommé had great clarification, and great flavor. got full marks for that.
I got an A for the day, and 92 out of 100 points.

 

Written test on soups Monday Morning and then we begin vegetables and starch.

 

Today my daughter, Jamie turns 17! How is that possible!! Feels like she was just born yesterday!

Day 8

10 October 2013

 Today Chef O demo'd shrimp bisque first thing and then we got right into our soups, I started with the chowder which I had mise in place done for yesterday, and then moved onto my dubarry. Dubarry is just cream of cauliflower, I have no idea why its called Dubarry. There was a Madame Dubarry in the late 1790's, she was the last mistress of Louis XV; I suppose its possible that she liked this soup and some chef named it after here, they say Marie Antoinette's last meal was consommé fettuccini, I suppose its possible Madame Dubarry last meal before her own similar demise was cream of cauliflower,  but that is pure conjecture. I can't find any reference to her and cauliflower soup.. I digress..

 

 

Once the cauliflower is tender it is then pureed and a liaison was added to make it creamy and finish it off.

Practical tomorrow. This week flew by!

 

Update 10/12/13

I was correct on the assumption of the name of the soup being after Madame Dubarry.. found the following article during a further search!

 

http://www.radionz.co.nz/collections/recipes/crme-madame-du-barry---cauliflower-soup-with-saut-scampi

 

 

 

Day 7


9 October 2013


My son, Gage, is on the Natick High golf team, and yesterday during practice he got hit in the head with another teammates driver, mid swing. spent a long night in the ER. I was running 5 minutes late this morning..

We started on soups today. First the chef demo'd a fench onion, and a consommé, then we were to those and a clam chowder. Most of us never got to the chowder, we just didn't have the time. I was able to mise in place for it, but put it in the wak in for tomorrow. The French onion came out well, I got good carmelization on the onions. I could have used more salt, I'm not a fan of the soup so I was hard pressed to tell.
The consommé came out great. I enjoyed making the raft, and the whole process. Looking forward to tomorrow. I already love soup week!

Day 6

8 October  2013

We had the practical today. We had prepared for the beurre blanc, béchamel, and the hollandaise.
Last night I read Julia Childs instructions on hollandaise, and watched at least 6 YouTube videos on preparing, so I had a little more confidence going into it.

Of course, the chef threw us a curve ball and we had to present him with a small sauce prepared from each of the sauces.
From the hollandaise- we had to prepare a choron.
From the béchamel- a mornay
And the beurre blanc, we simply had the option of using red win in place of white to make a beurre rouge.

I prepared mise en place, then decided to the béchamel first, eave warm and add the parmesan and gruyere before presentation, I then tackled the hollandaise, the first attempt I had to scrap as my yolk broke at the end.
 The second one, I thought I had to scrap it was much too thick, almost like mayonnaise. I had the girl next to me add 2 oz of water while I whipped and I got it back! Added the tomato paste and parsley to get the choron, and it came out extremely creamy. In fact upon presentation, the chef asked if I added cream. I think it was the extra whipping, of the yolk, before heat, on the water bath, and then at the end when I added water.
The beurre rouge is very simple so while the wine, vinegar, and shallots were reducing I added the cheeses to the béchamel and got that on the presentation plate.
The quick addition of the beurre rouge and I was done.

Don't yet know my grade, Chef O hasn't posted them yet! I will update when I get them.

Day X

 7 October 2013
Quiz and practice for practical
Quiz first thing, I got about 5 wrong when we corrected them on  or own.. just didn't read the questions slowly enough.
Practiced for sauce practical, hollandaise is going to be my Achilles heel.

Day 5 

4 October 2013

Emulsions

Today we worked on emulsion sauces, hollandaise, beurre blanc, and we did a mayonnaise. I had a hard time with the hollandaise, I cant seem to grasp the concept of mixing the eggs over hot water, for how long, when to remove, etc. Made one scrambled egg, started over, made the sauce perfectly, but was just about to show Chef, placed on the hot water pan , and it immediately turned! I did finally get the last one right.
The mayonnaise we finished off with some cornichons, shallots, parsley, and more lemon. I took my home and mixed with a big can of tuna.

                                                       Final Hollandaise

Written quiz, on Monday, then we will have time to practice for our Sauce practical. I'm hoping hollandaise isn't included!
Happy Friday! Great first week, I wish we had more time on sauces.

Day 4-

3 October 2013

I guess I missed a big day yesterday, I was told they watched the chef make Espanole (which he was simmering into a demi glace this morning as we came in); then they worked on Bechemel- from which they made the small sauce- Mornay; and then they made a tomato sauce. Damn car, going to stay after class and work on those 3.
Today from the demi glace we made 2 sauces.
 Robert:

1 oz clarified butter
2 oz chopped onion
4 oz white wine
1 pint demi glace
cook onion in butter without browning, add wine and reduce by 2/3. add demi glace and simmer 5 minutes. strain and add pinch of dry mustard and small squeeze of lemon.

 

 

Chasseur

1 pint demi glace

1 oz clarified butter

3 oz sliced mushrooms

2 oz chopped shallots

4 oz white wine

4 oz sliced tomato (blanched, skinned, seeded)

1 Pint demi glace

1tsp chopped parsley

S&P TT

 

Sautee mushrooms and shallots in butter, add wine and reduce by 3/4, add demi-glace and tomato, Simmer 5 minutes, add parsley, S&P to taste.

 

Both sauces should have a consistency that coats the back of a spoon, nice and smooth (nappe).

For Chaucer to really enhance the flavor the mushrooms should be browned to give off a more intense flavor and to color the sauce.

 

Today we worked alone, as an introvert I naturally loved it. Chef taught us the importance of mise en place*, in setting up. I find its something I have always naturally done, on any project or recipe, look at what I want to accomplish and get everything gathered that's needed so production is smooth. Setting up mise en place put me at ease, and my sauces came out really good. I really enjoyed the Chauccer. Looking forward to using that in accompaniment with a nice roast beef.

 

*French term meaning "everything put in place"

 

He assigned cleaning groups yesterday, my 2 partners were absent, but luckily we had ranges and ovens, so I managed just fine!

 

Great day! Can't wait for tomorrow!