Culinary School - Q2 Week 9

Tuesday Class - Concepts and Theories of Culinary Techniques


Still waiting for Chef to grade our sanitation quizs from last week. Tonight we go over slides on roasting and braising.  We will be making Pot Roast, Chicken pot au feu, Swiss Steak and Coq au Vin this week.  After class I went out with some of the "kids".  We went to pasta pomodoro and had a glass (or two) of wine and talked about class. Next week Thursday is "family night".  I have invited two of my besties to come to the school and see what I have been up to.  We won't know what we will be cooking until we arrive in the kitchens next wednesday to do the prep.

Week 9 Vocabulary
Concepts & Theories of Culinary Techniques Vocabulary Assignment Week 9


Blanquette – a white stew that is made without browning the meat first.
Braising – a combination of cooking. First browning the meat then cooking in the oven.
Daube – a classic French stew made with braised cubed beef.
Estouffade – meat cooked slowly in very little liquid.
Fricassee – a stewed dish usually made with chicken but sometimes made with veal, or rabbit.
Navarin – a brown ragout made with root vegetables
Pot Roast – Braising meat in liquid in the oven.
Ragout – the French term for a stew.
Stewing - To cook by boiling slowly or simmering.
Swiss Steak – meat that has been pounded thin to be tender then braised.
Flatfish – a fish such as flounder or sole, with both eyes on one side of the head.
Roundfish – this is a fish with two rounded sides allowing for filets from both sides of the fish.
Net Fishing – fishing using a net rather than a hook and line.
Farm Fishing – fish that are raised in farms. Salmon, trout, sometimes European sea bass.
Line caught fish – fish caught with a hook and line rather than a net.
Langoustines – a miniature lobster.
Blue Crabs – a type of crab from the atlantic ocean.
Cephalopods – squid or octopus
Crustaceans – lobster, shrimp, crabs.
Bivalves – oysters, clams, scallops. It has a hinged shell.
Univalves – a shellfish that only has a one sided shell and a sucker foot like an abalone.
Monkfish – a large headed angler fish from the north atlantic ocean.
Pinbones – the tiny bones in fish (mostly salmon).
Surimi – a Japanese fish puree.
Whole Fish – a fish that comes ungutted.
Drawn Fish – a fish that has been cleaned of its entrails.
Dressed – fish that has been gutted, and had the scales, gills and fins removed.
Butterflied – boneless meat or fish that has been sliced almost completely in half so that it opens and lays flat.
Filleted – a piece of meat or fish that has had the bones removed.
Steak - A slice of meat or fish usually cut thick and across the muscle grain and served broiled or fried.
Wheel – a whole cheese. Like a wheel of parmigiano reggiano. 36 kilos.


WEDNESDAY NIGHT


Recipes for tonight are: Chicken Pot au Feu and Pot Roast, along with Potato Latkes and Glazed Carrots with Pecans.  Wednesday was a hard night for me.  I was completely off my game because of a meeting I had with Chef Jeff. I made a comment to him that I later regretted and it disturbed me all night.  My Potato Pancakes kept turning brown from the air because I couldn’t make them until everything else was ready. I had to throw away the first batch.  Then I cut a chunk of the top of my thumb off. I don’t think I will ever make the Chicken pot au feu.  It looked icky to me.  The “pot roast” was tasty even if it was carved with the grain instead of against it.  I liked the carrots best.  I never realized how much I like carrots until we started cooking them in class.

Pot Roast with Potato Latkes



Chicken Pot au Feu









THURSDAY NIGHT


Recipes for tonight are: Swiss Steak, Coq au Vin, Sugar Snap Peas and Fried Potatoes and Onions.

On Thursday night we made Coq au vin and Swiss steak.  Both were quite tasty.  I enjoyed the Swiss steak.  I haven’t had it in many years.  We were working with our original teams again tonight.  While I felt more myself tonight I still managed to burn my wrist.  The realization that next week is our last week of “learning” before the final has hit and I wish this class was longer than just 11 weeks.  I have learned so much from Chef Lew and I know I could learn so much more from him. But, it’s time to move on.  We will be cooking for our family and friends next week.  We are each allowed to invite two people to come to the school.  I wish we could have more as there are a lot of people I wish I could invite.  I will be taking intro to pastry next quarter which I am looking forward to. My other class will be food and beverage operations, which is not required for my diploma but was the only other night class available for me. I will have to be careful in the coming quarters to be sure I can get my 9 units and stay within my required courses.

Swiss Steak

Coq au Vin

Until next week,
Ciao!