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!

Lesson13 - Pork

In lesson 13, we learned about pork.  The thing I found most interesting was where the phrase 'sweating like a pig' came from.  It is meant to refer to someone sweating heavily, but in actuality, pigs do not have sweat glands on their skin.  But pigs do bathe in mud, and the phrase came about by meaning a person could grow so hot that they would rather bathe in mud than sweat.

Also, eating raw pork can cause trichinosis, which is a parasitic infection involving a roundworm that can form cysts in the muscles of the body.  It is much more rare these days because the hogs are no longer fed table scraps or garbage contaminated with the parasite.  To be sure, pork should be cooked until it is 160 deg. Fahrenheit.

Chef Bruno took us to see some of the charcuterie class's work.  This is one of the loaves covered in aspic that he made:

A side view:

This is the pork that we used to make rack of pork with braised lettuce:

This is the first aid kit that I visited frequently during our class:

I tied our pork with twine:

For the chicken dish we made (chicken breast, Viennese-style), we had to use this huge mallet.  After the chef demoed it, Coba said, 'should we go pound our meat now?', and we all started laughing hysterically.  He then said, 'I knew that was wrong the minute I said it!'.

This was the finished pork with braised lettuce, which is made with carrots, onions, a bouquet garni, bound veal stock, butter, white wine, chervil, potatoes, braised lettuce, bacon, stock, vegetable oil, salt, parsley, watercress, and pepper.  It was really good.

This is the chicken, Viennese style, which is made with chicken breasts, clarified butter, salt, and pepper.  The chicken is breaded in flour, eggs, and bread crumbs and then fried in some oil.  The finished chicken is served over shredded potato cake, hard boiled egg whites and yolks, parsley, and capers.  The topping is a green olive wrapped in an anchovy atop a lemon slice.  The dish was good, but I could definitely do without the anchovy!

This is the room our class is in:

That was it for Lesson 13 - next lesson: lamb!

Lesson 12 - Duck

For this lesson, we were to prepare two dishes: duck with orange sauce and grilled chicken, sauce diable (diable is a sauce made of crushed black peppercorns, shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, water, brown veal, chervil, tarragon, and butter), which is pretty spicy.

The difference between chicken and duck is that duck has a higher fat content, larger skeleton, and lower meat yield.  Ducks are typically not grilled because of the high fat content, which can melt and ignite over open flames.

While we were prepping, Chef Bruno was checking out his facebook page:  ;)

Chef Bruno demoed how to cut the duck which is very much like quartering a chicken:

These are the finished pieces of duck (the breasts are scored to help it cook faster because the breasts are so much bigger than the legs):

Amy & I showing off our duck:

While Amy cut the duck, I prepared our chicken for grilling and then baking (the chicken is cut open and flattened and then the drumsticks are placed into incisions in the skin - this keeps it flat for grilling):

The duck breasts cooked in the oven, so at one point, Sheryl asked Chef Bruno if he wanted to come and check out her breasts.  There was a long pause, and then he said, 'ah... no, thank you'. We laughed for the rest of the class!

This is our finished duck, which has a leg under the thinly slice breast pieces over orange sauce:

We grilled the chicken and then baked it and arranged it with sauce and served with grilled tomato, mushrooms, and bacon.  This is our chicken:

That was it for duck.  Next lesson is pork and yet more chicken.

Lesson 11 - Introduction to Poultry

Well, mastering the filleting of the fish had me feeling invincible, but it turns out that poultry is a lot harder because it is fatty and full of water.  Here in America, we pack our chickens in water, which makes them very hard to cut.  At some markets, you can find drier chickens, which cost more, but are a lot easier to deal with.

As we discussed the different types of chicken, Chef Bruno put up a slide of a bunch of chickens with no room to walk around and said, 'these are free range chickens'.  We laughed, but that is probably the truth.  They have room, but they are so close together that they cannot go anywhere.

We made two types of chicken.  One was Sauteed chicken, hunter style and the other was roasted chicken, grandmother style.  We quartered one chicken and trussed the other.

Things to keep in mind while sautéing are: 1. make sure the pan is very hot before the food is added, otherwise it will stick 2. The food to be sautéed should be dry 3. Do not crowd food in the pan 4. Do not cover the pan and 5. Do not shake the pan immediately after adding the food.

Sauteed chicken hunter style is one whole chicken, quartered, with an enriched brown stock and carrots, onions, mushrooms, shallots, brandy, white wine, tomato fondue, butter (of course!), chervil, tarragon and a bouquet garni.  The sauce is very rich.

This is the sauteed chicken, hunter style:

Roasted chicken grandmother style is made with a roasting chicken, oil, butter, onions, carrots, potatoes, pearl onions, bacon, mushrooms, salt, pepper, parsley, white wine, and veal stock.   

Amy roasted our chicken, which is first browned on all sides and then baked in the oven.

This is the final dish:

Both chicken dishes were very good.

The school was having an event with Jacques Torres, so we were able to go see him and take a picture with him.  Jacques Torres is known as Mr Chocolate - his website is mrchocolate.com.  This was a sugar sculpture centerpiece made for his visit:

This is us with Chef Bruno:

And all of us with Jacques Torres:

I had the unfortunate luck to have cut both of my thumbs that night, so I was wearing blue bandages and bandage covers.  When I shook Jacques Torres's hand, he noticed and asked me what happened.  I said that I had cut my thumb.  Chef Bruno said 'luckily she only has two thumbs because she cut both of them' and everyone had a good laugh.  ;)

Next lesson: Duck.

Lesson 10 - Potatoes

Lesson 10 was potatoes.  6 different kinds of potatoes, in fact.

There are 2 types of potatoes.  There are starchy potatoes, which are the denser, and often fried, baked and mashed.  The other type of potato is a waxy potato.  Waxy potatoes are typically used for gratins, soups, salads, stews, and potato cakes.

Idaho, Yukon gold and Russet potatoes are examples of starchy types.  Red Bliss, Red Pontiac, and Yellow Finnish are examples of waxy potatoes.

Potatoes should be stored in the dark, between 45 and 50 degrees.  If potatoes have been kept in a warm, light environment for too long, they could turn green.  When they are green, they contain high levels of solanine, which is toxic.

Of course, one of the dishes we made was french fries (technically pommel pont-neuf, which are thick cut fries).  A few points about deep frying: you can reuse oil, but it needs to be strained and filtered after each use and stored in a covered container.  If the oil is foaming or smells bad, don't use it.  Don't mix fresh oil with used oil.  Be sure oil is completely hot before adding the food.  Add food in small batches.  Do not salt food before frying - do so soon after removing from the oil.  Finally, rinse and dry potatoes thoroughly to remove excess starch.

Random info: French fries were actually created in Belgium.

We also made potatoes gratin, which is made with milk, cream, nutmeg, Idaho potatoes, garlic and gruyere.  These are sooooooo good!

Chef Bruno made us this wonderful steak in wine sauce to go with our potatoes:

We made pureed potatoes:

We also made Pommes Duchesse, which is nutmeg, egg yolk, butter, and potatoes mixed and put through a food mill and then piped and baked.

This is the chef's:

This was mine:

This is Amy's:

We also made Pommes Anna, which are sliced potatoes layered in a skillet and drizzled with clarified butter.  The potatoes are then cooked on the stove and then baked in the oven.  We were pressed for time and mine didn't turn out so well, so there is no photo.

The final type of potatoes we made were Pommes sautés a cru, which is really good.  They are potatoes sliced and sautéed in oil, then in butter and seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley.  

After class, we walked around and I took some pictures of the pastry class projects:

That is all for lesson 10!

Lesson 9 - More Fish!

For Lesson 9, we made 2 more fish dishes and the Chef demoed mousseline.

I didn't really discuss anything we learned in the prior post, so I'll go into some detail here.

First item: how to choose fresh fish. The way to make sure a fish is fresh is to make sure the eyes are not sunken, it should smell like the ocean or river (yes, a fish should not smell fishy, so why is it called a fish?), and it should have a shiny, brilliant appearance.  Our book also says to make sure the fish has a firm, intact stomach and a tightly closed anal cavity. Yum!

Second item: classification.  I mentioned round fish and flat fish.  Flat fish are bottom feeders, meaning they live at the bottom of the ocean.  Examples of flat fish are flounder, sole, halibut, fluke & turbot.  Round fish live in oceans, lakes and rivers.  Some round fish are sea bass, monkfish, salmon & tuna.

Third item: random facts.  Most fish are 70 percent water and 10 to 20 percent protein.  Examples of fatty fishes are salmon and herring.  Some leaner fishes are bass and barramundi.  I wish we had made salmon, because I don't care for it and everything we have made so far has been really good.

When I was pulling the innards out of the fish during lesson 8, I do have to admit to being a little nauseous, but by lesson 9, I was not freaked out at all.

In this lesson, we made bread crumb coated sole with 2 sauces.  We deep fried the fish, and it turned out much like fish sticks, but fresher and better tasting.  The 2 sauces were a red bell pepper sauce and a remoulade (which is much better than tartar sauce).

The other fish dish we made was sautéed trout, grenoble style.  I was not looking forward to this one because the fish is cooked with the skin on.  However, it turned out to be really good!  The fish is fried in a sauté pan with clarified butter and capers and topped with croutons.

The chef demoed mousseline, which I thought would be just like that fish paste from lesson 5 (brandade), but was actually much better.  It is basically fish and cream that has been blended using a food processor.  The mixture is then shaped with a spoon into quenelles (dumplings) and boiled.  Here is a picture (large shapes are moussline and smaller shapes are potatoes):

That was it for the fish.  Next lesson: Potatoes!