Today was a double demo day, and started with Demonstration #017 and Chef Gilles. Everyone was really out of it, since we didn't get out of class until around 11pm. We're thinking that last night was mostly a hazing, and realistically, no one would actually be able to turn that much veg and finish everything. Anyway, back to today.
We were e-mailed the list of dishes that we will be expected to be able to do for our final exam. There are 13 recipes, and we have only done 3 of them so far. Obviously, since there are 12 more lessons left, this is heavily weighted toward the later practicals. Practical #023 is also the mid-term, which is a written exam.
Chef Gilles was the head Chef of a 2 or 3 Star Michellin restaurant before, but I don't think he's a particularly good teacher. Perhaps it's a language barrier thing, but he has some difficulty answering people's questions, which I think is a fairly important thing for an educator to be able to do. Lesson 17 focused on the sauter and frire techniques.
Sauter is using high temperature, in fat, in a pan, with the goal of achieving a brown/golden color. Portion sizes are small, ie. you wouldn't Sauter a leg of lamb. Frire (deep frying) is also high temperature in fat, but the item is (usually) smaller and SUBMERGED. Cooking with both techniques is a concentration technique.
Someone asked about deep frying turkey, and Chef Gilles made a funny face and ignored it.
Terminology:
Paner a L'anglaise - putting an item (ex fish) in floor, eggwash and bread crumbs
Meuniere - the wife of a flour mill workman
historier - carve vegetable
Dent de loup - carving a lemon, with minimum 5 teeth
Manchonner - to show the bones by peeling back the meat around it
Marquer - Flatten (fish) lightly to make a design and also so it doesn't curl.
The dishes performed were Beignets de Gambas (deep fried shrimps / shrimp fritters), Steak au poivre (Saute sirloin steak with pepper), sole meuniere (sole with lemon and parsley butter) and practical 017, Merlan frit Colbert (breaded and fried whiting).
The shrimps were okay, but I prefer tempura shrimp. The Steak au poivre was okay, the sole was tasty, and I didn't like the deep fried fish at all.
Practical #017 was the Merlan Frit Colbert, and the real difficulty was in preparing the fish. You begin by habiller the fish, which means to remove the gills, etc. Since this is a small fish, you cut down the spine on both sides, the with scissors, snip it out, and remove the centre. Then you flatten it out, and paner a L'anglaise and deep fry the sucker. This was served with Beurre Colbert, so I had to do a reduction of the veal stock to a demi-glace, and then incorporate it into butter, but I had a lot of difficulty getting the butter to emulsify, but I finally got it, however, didn't season it enough. Anyway, it turned out well enough. It was fun using a commercial deep fryer, but you have to be very careful... Chef Benoit was the teacher, and he was actually very helpful. A useful technique is to take your scissors apart and use the non-cutting slide to scrap the fish. It worked like a charm.
Lesson #018 was with Chef Benoit as well and dealt with Griller technique. It is a technique that applies to smaller (portion size) pieces. It is NOT what we usually refer to as BBQ which generally involves using a lid.
Are exposed to direct (radiant) heat (gaz, electric or live coals). Food is exposed to high temperature, and quick coagulation of proteins and sucs carmelization (The Maillard reaction). Obviously, this is a concentration cooking method.
Gratins
Complete (all ingredients raw) -> cussion + coloration
Leger (cooked) -> color (cheese only)
rapide (cooked) -> color (bread crumbs, clarified butter)
Leger and rapide are the finishing stages.
There are three ways to cook eggs:
In Shell - a la coque, mollet (soft boiled), cuit dur (hard boiled)
Out of shell (non-mixed) - poche (poached), Frits (fried), sautes, auplat, cocotte
Out of shell (mixed) - brouillies (scrambled), omelettes
The term baveuse refers to omelettes cooked perfectly. (moist, juicy, just a bit runny).
Desosser - to remove bones
Papillotte - a little hat made of parchment paper to dress a bone.
The dishes for this demonstration were by far the best so far. They were Cote de boeuf grillee, beurre marchand de vin (Grilled beef rib with shallot / red wine butter - also tomorrow's practical), Gratin dauphinois (delicious gruyere cheese and creamy potatoes), Oeufs mollets florentine (soft-boiled eggs with Spinach and Mornay sauce), and Rouget grille (Red snapper with anchovie butter). All of these were really tasty, and for the first time, no leftovers from this lab.
A short note about the Cote de Boeuf Grille.. it's accompanied by tomatoes that are baked with garlic and parsley, and also "french fries", and you have to make the "butter" ... so it's not easy at all. I actually want to eat the end result, so that's some motivation.
So overall, French food, when it looks an awful lot like steakhouse or breakfast foods, isn't so bad overall. Still way too much butter though! Maybe this is the way for them to lift our spirits a bit after kicking us down a flight of stairs blindfolded in #016! Everyone seemed happy today. Tired but happy.
Lots more to learn.. Sometimes it's hard to really enjoy this because things are moving so fast, but this is an incredible experience. I'm glad I'm doing this.
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