Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Culinary School #8
Before I start talking about culinary school I just need to vent for a second because I just had myself a little bit of a technology temper tantrum. Seriously there is nothing worse than having technology just be a pain in the ass. And I was trying to send some pics for my next article and I was getting error message after error message. Grrrrr....
Ok thank you I am better now. So last night marked class #8, which means that we are officially 1/3 of the way through culinary school. Yes, we all expected a test and it wasn't nearly as painful as I was expecting. It was a combination of terms, a how to cook section and a preparation knowledge section. All and all it was doable.
However, the hard part was yet to come. The night started with an herb test, in which we had two trays of 17 herbs and we had to name them. We could touch them, smell them and look at them, however it was still a challenge. I was able to get 14 of the 17 correct, but I thought you all might want to try to test your own herb knowledge so here are the trays. The answers will be at the end of the blog.
We also started to gain some helpful herb knowledge about which types of herbs pair best with which types of food. For example, did you know?
Now as many of you know I am slightly obsessed with the cherimoya fruit right now. So I thought you might like to see the inside of a cherimoya. I also have one at home and I think I am going to try and make it into ice cream this weekend. The pulp is very smooth and malleable in consistency, you do not eat the seeds and it is very sweet. The exterior goes from a light green to more of a brown color when it is ripe. Cheers!
Here are the answers to the herb quiz:
1. Bay
2. I forgot to write this one down
3. Sorrel **I missed this one as I didn't know what sorrel was. It is used in soups and sauces **
4. Garlic chives **And I missed this one because I put backyard grass **
5. Marjoram
6. Oregano
7. Sage
8. Mint
9. Basil
10. Marjoram
11. Dill
12. Thyme
13. Chives
14. Cilantro
15. Parsley
16. Rosemary
17. Lemon Grass
Ok thank you I am better now. So last night marked class #8, which means that we are officially 1/3 of the way through culinary school. Yes, we all expected a test and it wasn't nearly as painful as I was expecting. It was a combination of terms, a how to cook section and a preparation knowledge section. All and all it was doable.
However, the hard part was yet to come. The night started with an herb test, in which we had two trays of 17 herbs and we had to name them. We could touch them, smell them and look at them, however it was still a challenge. I was able to get 14 of the 17 correct, but I thought you all might want to try to test your own herb knowledge so here are the trays. The answers will be at the end of the blog.
We also started to gain some helpful herb knowledge about which types of herbs pair best with which types of food. For example, did you know?
- Sage is not normally paired with fish
- Dill does not pair well with steak, but it does pair well with fish
- Marjoram and Rosemary are too potent to be paired with fish
- Thyme, Rosemary and Sage are great paired with meats
- And tarragon goes on everything
Now because I love to share the most disgusting parts of my night, last night we tried cardoon. It is in the artichoke family, which I love. And you take the leaves off of it, peel the stalks and batter and fry them. Seriously until last night I hadn't met anything that I didn't like fried, but this was by far the grossest thing ever. It had the texture of the stringiest plastic celery on the planet. It had a very pungent herb taste that left a disgusting after taste in your mouth. And it was all and all just so very wrong!! And get this I ate rabbit last night and I like the rabbit but hated the vegetable...cardoon...now that is saying something!! So of course what did I do, I made everyone else taste this detestable little morsel. NASTY!!!
We also had a mid-term practical of sorts. We had to pull a slip of paper out of a bowl with a protein on it and come up with an original dish. It had to include some of the vegetables that we purchased at the Farmers Market on Sunday and it had to include a sauce. Dear God!!! I am a recipe girl!! I love reading recipes, following recipes, having a recipe as a security blanket...I think you get the picture...so this challenge pretty much had me in a tizzy. If I could have I would have been drinking the moment the class started.
I pulled pork tenderloin, which I figured was doable. Sure I don't cook a lot of pork, but I figured I could pull something off. So I took the brussel sprouts, shallots, onion and garlic and started by roasting them in olive oil and salt and pepper. I also took some of the purple mini-artichokes and roasted them as well...however they got kind of rubbery and weird and they ended up in the trash instead of the plate. Next I sauteed my pork tenderloin in olive oil, browning on all sides. I tied some rosemary onto the pork and roasted that as well. Finally, I made an apple white wine sauce with a little pomegranate balsamic vinegar, cream and rosemary. It wasn't too bad. Our homework now is to come home and recreate this dish, creating our own recipe and figuring out the cost of serving this dish. I think my dish needs a little color so I think I will do a beet salad on the side next time for additional color, texture and flavor. What do you think?
My class mates created the following dishes:
 |
| Beef Tenderloin with a Red Wine Sauce & Sauteed Vegetables |
 |
| Rabbit with a Red Wine Mushroom Sauce & Potatoes |
 |
| Albacore Tuna w/Peach Sauce & Radish/Potato Slices |
 |
| Whole Trout Pan Fried in Cornmeal w/Hollandaise Sauce & Carrots |
 |
| Shrimp Pasta w/Grilled Vegetables |
Here are the answers to the herb quiz:
1. Bay
2. I forgot to write this one down
3. Sorrel **I missed this one as I didn't know what sorrel was. It is used in soups and sauces **
4. Garlic chives **And I missed this one because I put backyard grass **
5. Marjoram
6. Oregano
7. Sage
8. Mint
9. Basil
10. Marjoram
11. Dill
12. Thyme
13. Chives
14. Cilantro
15. Parsley
16. Rosemary
17. Lemon Grass
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#2 was Peppermint. And oh, by the way, garlic chives are now my favorite herb!!!
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