Another busy week of learning exam dishes and practicing all of them.
January 16th Day 57 AM: Cooking
calves liver is a bit difficult for some and even many to eat, a few bites are ok but for a main dish it can be quite hard to eat it all. but the sweet potato mash was very delicious, a nice crunch from the shredded cabbage. the egg custard tart was ok but i think dan ta or portuguese egg tarts are much better.
Canard au muscadet
Glazed calves liver on a bed of sweet potato and swiss chard mash
baked egg custard tart
Day 57 PM: Theory
today we learned about sauces. the types of sauces, the leading or base sauces and the differences between them and how to cook them. how to correct sauces if something were to go wrong and the different sauce DERIVATIVES from the leading sauces.
January 17th Day 58 AM: Cooking
another consomme but i think i prefer this one better as there is more complexity of flavor as you get a bit of kick of spice from the green curry paste that we use. however this time mine was a bit cloudy, as we did not have much time to let it rest before serving. the duck was ok but turning vegetables was not fun and very time consuming. will need to practice this a lot.
Pate feuilletee (puff pastry)
Asian consomme
Canard au muscadet
Queen of puddings
Day 58 PM: Demonstration
Bouchees/vol-au-vent aux crevettes
Globi de volaille, sauce echalotes
frutti a la vanille
January 18th Day 59 AM: Cooking
Lots of work to finely chop all those herbs which i felt overpowered the taste of the fish. however it paired nicely with the lemon beurre blanc sauce which was quite sharp in flavor due to the shallots and vinegar. took the tranche home and that was very delicious, i prefer this over tarte aux fruits.
Pate feuilletee (puff pastry)
Herb crusted trout fillets with lemon beurre blanc
Squash and feta gratin
Tranche des fruits
Day 59 PM: Demonstration
Salmon consomme with tiger prawns and vegetable julienne
Crisp sea bass fillets with warm tartare sauce
Fondant potatoes
Bavarois au chocolat
January 19th Day 60 AM: Cooking
what a hectic morning, doesn't look like we did a lot today but it was a lot of work. one of the longest mornings we have had since starting. a lot of vegetable prep and preparing the poussin, stuffing, shaping and cooking it. it all took a lot longer than we had anticipated. but in all it was a very tasty dish, worth the effort.
Salmon consomme with tiger prawns and vegetable julienne
Globi de volaille, sauce echalotes
Pate feuilletee (puff pastry)
day 60 PM: Demonstration
Smoked salmon mousse
Ris de veau, sauce Gribiche
Rump of lamb with parsley crushed potatoes and rosemary
Fromage blanc mousse with red fruits
January 20th Day 61 AM: Cooking
mini vol-au-vents or bouchees were very delicious as we also had a few different kinds of flavors, mushroom, ham, and shrimp. and no knocking up, just cut and match. the salad was a bit strange and a bit retro, as it would have been ok without coating it all with mayo.
Pate feuilletee (puff pastry)
Bouchees aux champignons
Bouchees/vol-au-vent au jambon
Bouchees/vol-au-vent aux crevettes
Salade au fromage Italienne
Fruitti a la vanille
Day 61 PM: Cooking
Fruitti a la vanille
this definitely looks impressive and it survived the 2.5 hour drive home. i actually quite enjoyed this, which is quite surprising as i was getting a quite sick of all the gelatin desserts we have tasted and made in the last few weeks. but the filling has a nice vanilla flavor and the sponge is nice and soft with a hint of raspberry flavor from the jam. i would make this again to impress at a dinner party.
