Culinary School - Q6 Week 5 Latin

Menu: Ceviche de Pescado, Tamales de Espinaca y queso, Pabellon Criollo

Summary: This week we are working on steaming, tamale building, simmering and deep frying.

Food: Ceviche de Pescado – The Ceviche had a good flavor but we should have drained off some of the excess liquid. The presentation was nice and the garnish was perfect. Chef said that the fish was cooked perfectly.

Tamales de Espinaca y queso – None of the class got the tamales fully cooked because the dough took so long to prepare but Chef said we gave it a good effort. I think they were within about 30 minutes of being fully cooked. They tasted pretty good for not being fully cooked.

Pabellon Criollo – This dish had an interesting presentation. It is laid out like the Venezuelan flag on the plate. The rice in the center, the beans on one side and the meat on the other. It is then garnished with the fried plantains. I wanted to cook the beans to redeem myself after the beans I cooked a few weeks ago that were deemed too salty. Chef said they were very nicely cooked and seasoned. The rice was properly cooked as well and was very good. The beef was seasoned very well and was delicious! The plantains were very good. We just need to be careful not to over salt. This can be hard for me because I like salt... I mean, if they made salt lick for humans, I would have one hanging from my rear view mirror so that I was handy!