Thailand, Vietnam, India

Today was a quick lecture on the 3 regions. I really like most of this food. There is a Cilantro-Coconut Chutney that we made that was so good. It's very similar to what they serve at a restaurant near us, Himalayan Bistro. Now I know how to make it! There was a lot of spice and heat in the dishes we made today. It's great to see these ingredients on their own rather than in a dish. You wonder what these things look like and taste like on their own and it gives you a better understanding of how you can use them.

I was bummed when I got the recipes though, I ended up making a bread called Puri and Batsmati Rice. BOOOORING!!! The good part was that they both had resting times and needed very little attention that I was able to move around and help everyone else on their dishes. The Puri was pretty cool. It's literally flour and water that you make a flat disk out of then deep-fry it. It puff ups in the fryer and looks cool. It's very bland, so it's good we had plenty of saucy foods and chutneys! It was a very quick day as we were out at 2pm! I love early days!



Puris

Lamb Samosas with Raita and Cilantro-Coconut Chutney

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Sweet Mango Chutney

Asian Day 1, China

Today we stated a new genre of the culinary world, Asia. However, with every new genre comes an exam from the genre before. Today we started the day taking our Intensive French unit exam. I didn't study too hard for this exam. This exam is easier for most of us as it's not about memorizing what products come from what region, it's about technique and the science behind the food. I took the exam and new I aced it. When everyone finished, chef asked if we minded if she graded them in class and got them back to us while we were still there. Of course no one had an issue with this! I ended up getting a measly 100. Oh well, I guess I'll have to settle for that!! This is the last exam we have before our big final written exam. There are a couple more quizzes in between, but they aren't weighted nearly as heavily.

We got into talking about all points of China and their specialties. It was a very quick lecture and we got right to work. Chef had warned us that with the Asian classes it's the mise that takes about 2 hours, then you cook everything in about 10 minutes, then you eat. They are generally going to be quick days. The dish I was given was the potstickers. I was very happy about this since I love them and they are easy to make. Some of the other students got to use the woks for their dishes. It looked like they had fun. I should be doing a dish like that next week to get the experience of wok cooking. There was some really good dishes and we had almost all of it in one sitting. It was like a Chinese buffet. There was hot and sour soup, seafood shu mai, fried rice, curry chicken fried dumplings, chicken with vegetables, and eggplant puree, duck breast with a scallion pancake and a few more items. It was all very, very good!

Tomorrow we are still in American and doing Creole Cuisine. Way excited for gumbo and jambalaya!!! Also, there is no seminar this week which just makes it even better!


Potstickers

Hot and Sour Soup

Duck Beast with Scallion Pancake


The Buffet!

American Day 2 - The South and Florida, too!

Today's class I could have done without. Everyone seemed to be off today and it make for a very long day. I think we are kind of frustrated that American seems to be cheesy and a waste of our time and money. The dish I got was the crab salad. It was extremely easy and was good because it had a lot of cilantro! After I finished my dish was when things went from bad to worse. One of my classmates had attempted to make a mayonnaise at least 3 times with no success. I ended up making it for him (we think the he was using had some issues, so we used a different oil). Then, I offered to make the biscuits knowing that I didn't give a damn at how they turned out. I threw them in the oven and let them bake. While that was doing on, two other classmates were making a coconut cake with a meringue frosting. They made the meringue frosting too early, so they had to keep it working in the Kitchen Aid for about an hour until they were ready to frost the cake. It had literally turned out like fluff it was so stiff! They ended up butchering the shape of the cake when they tried to frost it. Then, I noticed another student had a baguette toasting under the salamander. Not even 2 seconds after I saw him check on it I scanned the room and saw flames coming from that area. At first I though 'Oh, pretty', then I realized his bread was on fire! This is the point where I remembered I had biscuits in the oven. I ran to them and thankfully they weren't burnt (well, maybe the bottom) but they were as hard as hockey pucks. They ended up going right in the trash. I kindly reminded the teacher that my original dish came out perfect and that the biscuits were just for fun. The inside wasn't bad and I could see where there were layers in the dough, so I was happy enough. We were also making Hush Puppies that day which led to people calling my biscuits Kill-a-Puppies since they were so hard! By this time we were shot. My classmate was using a microplane to remove the burnt top of his bread, we were full of fried, fatty food and just plain tired. It was nice to see the end of the day! At least we can laugh!!

Crab Salad

Ribs

Nouvelle Cuisine Day 2

This day went a million times better than last weeks class. Originally, this was the last class of the whole program so the go all out. There's foie gras, caviar and champagne! We had a quick lecture on caviar followed by a review for our unit exam next week. The recipe I did was Pomegranate-Marinated Leg of Lamb. I love pomegranates and lamb, so I knew I would have fun with this dish. It was a very quick process and again, it wasn't so much about the taste with these dishes in Nouvelle Cuisine, it's about the presentation. I knew I had to pick myself back up from last week and I feel like I really hit it out of the park with this one. I have also found that I am really good at cooking meat. I feel really comfortable and confident doing so. Chef Jan said I got an A++ for the way I cooked the meat. The sauce was made with stock form the lamb bones and a reduction of the pomegranate marinade. It started out very sweet so we really had to cut it by adding quite a lot of heavy cream, but it came out great and everyone loved it!






Pomegranate Leg of Lamb with Spinach and Potato-Vegetable Basket

Foie Gras!!


Caviar and Blinis!!

American Day 1 - New England

Today before we started our first American class, we had to take our Provincial French unit exam. I studied my but off for this exam. I made her grade it in class because I needed to know how I did. I got a 95.5 (should have been a 96, but whatever). I really needed this grade since I bombed the Italian unit exam. Next week will be the Intensive French unit exam, so I will be head-deep in a notebook all week.

In American we mostly talked about the colonial period (it helped that I had just gone to Plimoth Plantation the Saturday before, I love it there!). It was a pretty simple day. My dish was Red Flannel Hash. It's essentially the same as corned-beef hash with the addition of beets to make it red. It's really good! There were lots of veggies in it too, like brussel sprouts and and parsnips. To go with it, we thinly sliced a huge beet and deep fried them to make beet chips. It was accompanied by a Horseradish Sauce that was to die for!



My Classmate's Dishes:

Straw Potato Leek Cake with Finnan Haddie Cream




Lobster Pie

Nouvelle Cuisine Day 1

Today we move from Intensive French to Nouvelle French cuisine. Nouvelle Cuisine is a movement where some guys were upset with the food not being presented at it's best. They were over the processes of covering the food with heavy sauces, huge portions and not the freshest of ingredients. The plating style is very refined. The sauces is always on the bottom and food begins to be elevated on the plate. My dish was Pork Medallions with Cassis. This class was HORRIBLE. The beige pork was to go on top of 2 purees, celeriac and turnip/potato (both white). It also had a chestnut puree...beige again. My frustrations should be clear by now. NO COLOR! The teacher didn't like anything we were putting on the plate. There was no hope for this dish from the beginning. At least she liked the way I cooked the pork. I pretty much wanted the day to end! There is only one more Nouvelle Cuisine class, so hopefully I can end that section on a good note.

Pork Medallions with Cassis

My Classmate's Dishes:


Cheese Tartines (I made the tomato flower thingy!)


Scallops with Tangerine and Green Peppercorn Sauce

It's been a while....

Sorry it's been so long...November has been a busy month for me. There's no way I can remember what happened during class for the past weeks, but I will at least show you the dishes I made. So far, I've had 2 quizzes. One in our Provincial French class and another in our Intensive French class. I got an 80 on the Provincial French quiz. Since this is all about the regions of France and what products/dishes they are known for it's all about memorization. On the Intensive French quiz I got a 92. This was easier for me because it was more about technique and the science of ingredients. Below are the dishes I created in the past few weeks and the names.


Oeufs en Meurette (Eggs in a Red Wine Sauce)




Flourless Chocolate Cake (left) with Peppered Strawberries

Bouillabaisse with Rouille

Chaussons de Fondue Jurassienne (Crepes with Gruyere)

Veau de Lorraine (Veal)


Kulibyaka

Stuffed Cornish Games Hens

Savarin

Vegetable Terrine with Tomato Vinaigrette

Salad of Duck Breast with Endive, Watercress, Candied Papaya and Chili-Spiced Pecans