Lesson 15 - Beef & Veal

I have to admit that I was really tired of cutting meat by now...  Now we were on to beef and veal.  What would we have to do this time?  Cut up a whole cow?  Or worse yet, a calf?!?!?  Yuck.

In this lesson, we learned about dry cooking techniques (grilling and broiling) and moist cooking techniques (boiling, poaching, and simmering). For the steak, we used the grilling method and for the veal we used the submersion poaching method.  There are two types of poaching: one is submersion poaching, which is completely covering the food with liquid, the second is shallow poaching, which is covering the food halfway with the cooking liquid.

The recipes we made in this lesson were grilled sirloin steak with pommes frites and veal blanquette with rice pilaf.  Oh yes, no chicken to cut!

And it turns out, no whole cow or calf. We had a large block of steak that the chef carved for us and we had to trim. Here is the meat:

We grilled the steak, double fried the fries (if they are thick cut, you first fry them at a 300-320 degrees until tender, then at 350-375 degrees until golden brown and crispy. Drain on a paper towel and add salt immediately, so that the salt will stick). The steak was served with béarnaise sauce. The result was fantastic - steak, french fries, béarnaise sauce:

As for the veal, we trimmed the meat into cubes then poached it and rinsed the meat and the pot. We pealed the usual vegetables (carrots, leeks, celery, onions), added a clove, thyme sprig, peppercorn, and garlic and put them in a cheesecloth bundle.  We then covered the veal in stock, added salt and brought to a boil, skimmed, added the cheesecloth vegetables and returned to a simmer.  The mixture had to be simmered without bringing to a boil, loosely covered for about an hour.  To check to see when veal is done, pinch one of the pieces between your fingers and the veal should crush easily; not spring back.

The sauce is the reserved poaching liquid run through a chinois. Then we made a roux, added the poaching liquid and simmered until the sauce thickened.

Here is the veal (the garniture is pearl onions and carrots (cooked in water, sugar and butter, covered in parchment paper), quartered mushrooms (tossed in lemon juice and butter and cooked covered in parchment paper), and we served all over rice pilaf:

That is it for the veal and beef.

Side note: at one point, classmate Sheryl said to the chef, proudly, 'I am a woman, if you haven't figured it out', to which Chef Bruno said, 'yeah, I did realize that'. Then I said, 'yeah, you realized it when she asked you to check her breasts (see duck lesson)!'  Too funny!

The pastry class surprised us with a beautiful chocolate dessert:

Next lesson is the incredible, inedible and edible, egg.

Lesson 14 - Lamb

I wasn't particularly excited about cooking lamb.  The only time I have ever had it, it was in a sausage and it made me sick.  Yes, barfing sick.

The recipes we made were lamb stew with seasonal vegetable and chicken fricassee with seasonal vegetables.

Chef Bruno suggested that maybe the reason I didn't enjoy the lamb sausages is that maybe it wasn't lamb, maybe it was mutton.  What is the difference, you ask?  Lamb is the meat of sheep less than 1 year old.  Mutton is sheep more than 1 year old.  Mutton is less tender than lamb and much more gamey.

We learned the difference between stewing and braising.  Stewing is made with more liquid and uses smaller pieces of meat.  Braising typically uses less liquid and a larger piece of meat. Either method can be prepared in the oven or on the stovetop or both.

Tips for choosing lamb: look for good marbling and a firm texture.  The lamb should be pink and the fat should be pale or white.

This was our lamb:

I admit, this next picture is especially unappetizing:

For the lamb stew, we cut the lamb into small cubes and browned them in oil.  The lamb was then removed from the heat and we then added chopped carrots and onions the the pan and cooked until lightly colored.  Then the garlic was added and cooked for one minute.  After that, the meat was added back, as well as tomato paste and flour, and stirred.  We then added water to cover and boiled.  After boiling, the pan is put in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees.  The vegetables for the garniture were carrots, pearl onions, turnips, green beans, peas, and potatoes, all cooked separately (except the carrots and turnips, which can be prepared together).  The result was unexpectedly good (not gamey at all and I thought it was beautiful)!

For the chicken fricassee, we cut a whole chicken into quarters, seasoned both sides, and seared, skin side down, in butter. The chicken was then removed from the pan.  We then added onions to the pan and sweated them until translucent.  Flour was added to the mixture and stirred.  Chicken stock was then added and the mixture ws brought to a simmer before returning the chicken to the pan and simmering again, covered, for 20 minutes.  The garniture was prepared exactly the same as it was for the lamb (except no potatoes).  Chef Bruno made a wonderful rice pilaf to serve with the chicken.  We strained the sauce and cream was added to make it a thick, chicken flavored white sauce.  Very tasty:

Next lesson: Beef & Veal!