So we had a one week hiatus due to "spring break" while our instructor traveled throughout Japan or maybe I should say ate his way through Japan. He had amazing pictures, stories and descriptions of food. But this week it was back to the grind. We had French baguette homework so on Tuesday I took off work early so I could spend 5 hours making baguettes. Let me start by saying I don't think I have ever done anything for 5 hours so just the fact that I had to be in one place for that period of time was a huge accomplishment in and of itself. When I turned in my baguette I got props for it's shape, however I did get feedback that it was slightly undercooked and that it needed a slightly crispier exterior. Those students that baked their baguettes the day of class definitely got higher ratings....hmmm show offs and over achievers!!!




 Here are a few of the dishes we made. The Asian Style Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs were definitely my favorite and they were easy...they are going to be made again!!!



The Beef Stroganoff was very traditional but we made homemade noodles using a pasta maker that was attached to a Kitchen Aid mixer. That is a tool that I definitely need to add to my kitchen wish list. I have one of those traditional hand crank pasta makers that attach to your counter and wow they are a lot of work!!



Well this class was all about beef. We had a demonstration on how to butcher beef and thankfully I didn't have to tackle that task....yet...because I am pretty sure that every cut of meat I would have touched would have ended up looking like ground beef. And come to find out most steaks are not meant to look like that.

Here is a random fact for the day, did you know that kosher beef has to be from the 14th rib forward?

My favorite kitchen utensil of the night was the potato ricer. I had seen one before, but never used it and I got way too much pleasure putting boiled potatoes into the contraption and pulling the lever to create riced potatoes. However, in my little world the riced potatoes looked like playdough hair. Does anyone remember that little machine that you would put your playdough in and out comes colored hair?

We also learned how to make veal or beef stock. I did not take pictures of this process because there is just nothing asthetic about roasting bones. However, I did learn that you want to start your stock with cold water to allow the flavors of the stock to develop fully and that you should use 1qt water to 1lb bones.  Good to know!

The rest of the evening was spent making our dishes. I conquered my fear of frying as I was in the group that was tasked with making pommes lorette, which is like a mashed potato fried glob that resembles a tater tot. Amazing and super tasty!!


We learned how to make beef wellington:

Beef with pate on a slab of puff pastry

Mushroom tapenade stuff added on top of the pate

Beef Wellington before it was cooked

Beef Wellington after it was cooked