Culinary School - Q4 Week 3

American Regional
January 24-25, 2011

South

Day one
Menu:
Hoppin John Salad
Sweet Onion Tart with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Scallion-Basil oil
Shrimp Perloo
Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Sandwich Slaw, Potato Salad
Banana Pudding

The Food: Once again, the lesson is pay attention when you are cooking. Our rice for both the Hoppin John salad and the Shrimp Perloo was over cooked. This can happen in just a few minutes. I liked the Onion Tart. The Pulled pork was tender and moist. I am really picky when it comes to coleslaw and potato salad so I was pretty critical of them. For my taste the Sandwich Slaw was a little too sweet. That might have been to cut some of the heat in the pork but I could still taste it and I wasn’t crazy about it. I think that if it was something I had grown up with I would have liked it more, but in my house, we never add sugar to slaw. I didn’t care for the celery in the potato salad either. But again, that’s just my personal preference. I made the pudding and I thought it was really tasty. When I was plating it, I forgot to add the bananas and had to take it apart so I could add the bananas. I was in a hurry and thinking about the plating of everything else and just forgot.

Summary: I thought it was a good night in the kitchen. No one injured themselves; we didn’t burn or otherwise ruin any food. I am really enjoying this class. I like the way Chef Jim leads us. He has a sense of humor about things and that helps make the class more entertaining.

Hoppin John Salad

Sweet Vidalia Onion Tart

Shrimp Perloo

Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich

Banana Pudding

Day Two
The Menu:
Watermelon and Watercress Salad
Fried Green Tomatoes with Blue Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Southern Fried Chicken with Cream Gravy
Pan-Roasted Butternut Squash and Turnips
Peach Cobbler

The Food: I think the menu tonight was my favorite since I started school. Sealing the chicken and buttermilk in the sous vide bag really helped keep the meat moist. The fried green tomatoes turned out crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The sweetness of the red pepper sauce really complemented the flavor of the tomatoes. I liked the slightly Asian taste the sesame seeds gave the watermelon and watercress salad. Next time I would also sous vide the watermelon balls to give them more flavor. We substituted carrots for the butternut squash with the turnips. The flavor was good but next time I would cut them into bigger pieces. We used berries for our cobbler because there weren’t enough peaches. The cobbler was delicious and inspired me to make a pie at home today!

Summary: I didn’t think I would like cooking the south. But I found the food very tasty. I was talking to someone about fried chicken and I told them how we had done it with the buttermilk and pan frying and then finishing it in the over and they tried it and agreed it was the best fried chicken they had ever had.

Watermelon and Watercress Salad

Fried Green Tomatoes with
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Southern Style Fried Chicken



Peach, Strawberry, Raspberry
Cobbler