Week 8 - Chicken Fricassee, Flat Iron Steak, Veal Scaloppini, Breaded Pork Cutlets

Objective

The successful preparation of the assigned main dishes along with accompaniments, including appropriate timing ensuring the highest quality dish is served. This week we serve two dishes per day, bringing coordination of two whole plates into the picture.

Sanitation and Safety

There wasn't much new in the way of safety or sanitation topics this week - the usual regarding handling of proteins, especially chicken. These are topics we're rapidly becoming familiar with.

Information

For week 8, we prepare the following four dishes:

• Fricassee of Chicken with broccoli in pecan butter, buttered green beans, and rice pilaf
• Grilled Flat Iron Steak with pommes allumettes, aioli, maitre d'hotel butter, and broiled tomato
• Sautéed veal scaloppini in white wine lemon sauce with risotto milanese and brussels sprouts amandine
• Breaded pork cutlets with pommes nature, glazed carrots, and sautéed spinach

For the chicken fricassee, we will be de-boning the chicken before cooking it. Our order of cooking will be to start the fricassee and follow that up with the rice pilaf while prepping the broccoli and green beans. The vegetables and their sauces are done just before service, once the chicken has neared completion.

The flat iron steak is cooked a la minute, just before service, so we prepare the rest of the accompaniments first so they are ready when the steak is finished. The aioli is prepared and set aside in the fridge; the same is done with the maitre d'hotel butter. The tomato is prepared and put in to cook close to the same time the steak is started.

The veal scaloppini and cutlets are being fabricated from a pork tenderloin. We first trim the tenderloin of excess fat and silverskin. We then make a butterfly cut for the cutlets, and some smaller cuts for the scaloppini. These are then pounded out to appropriate thinness and set aside for cooking. For the scaloppini plate, the risotto and brussels sprouts are started first once the meat is prepared. As they approach the desired doneness, we cook the scaloppini and serve the dish. For brussels sprouts, it is important to pay attention to their size - if they are too large, such that they are more than a mouthful, they should be cut in half after cooking. This is primarily to enhance the service to whomever will be eating them.

It is a similar situation for the pork cutlets, which will cook quickly. Once the meet is fabricated and ready for cooking, we prepare the potatoes for the pommes nature. The glazed carrots are next, and as they approach completion we do the cutlets along with quickly sautéeing spinach.


Practical

The fricassee of chicken is started by de-boning a whole chicken. We cut the thigh away from the carcass then cut around the "ankle" of the drumstick to disconnect the connective tissue. When the meat is free from the bone, we can then work the bone out of the lower portion. The thigh is then cut where the remaining bone is and trimmed away from this bone, which is pulled out, along with any remaining cartilage. For this dish we then cut this piece into two. From the carcass, we then break away the wishbone to allow easy access to trimming the breast. The breast is trimmed away and also cut into two pieces. The process is repeated for the other half of the chicken, giving eight pieces from a single carcass. The chicken is seasoned with salt and white pepper and sautéed in butter without browning; onions are added and cooked until translucent. The pan is deglazed with wine, chicken stock is added along with a sachet and the pan is covered and cooked for 30-45 minutes. Once done, the chicken is removed and held while the sauce is strained, has a thickener such as flour added and brought to a boil. We then add some cream, nutmeg, and any seasoning adjustments. The sauce is returned to the chicken and it is ready for service.

The pecan butter is prepared by heating butter in a pan until it begins to brown. Chopped pecans are added and cooked in the butter to merge the flavours. Broccoli which has been cooked and shocked is then tossed in this mixture and is ready for service.

Buttered green beans and rice pilaf are prepared per our previous methods.

There is not a lot of new preparation involved in the flat iron steak. The steak itself is rubbed with seasoning and cooked on a grill to desired doneness. The pommes allumettes are potatoes chopped to matchstick style and cooked per our regular french fry method - blanched in the deep fryer at 250ºF until tender then set aside until service, at which time they are deep fried at 375ºF until golden brown and served. Maitre d'hotel butter is a blend of whole butter, chopped parsley and lemon juice, wrapped in a tube shape in saran wrap or parchment paper and chilled; this is then sliced off in medallions and used as a sauce for our steak. The broiled tomato is a tomato cut in half, rubbed with sugar and broiled until tender. It is then topped with a seasoned bread mixture and broiled once more before service to give colour to the topping.

Aioli is made per our previous method.

After the scaloppini is prepared as described above, we dredge it in seasoned flour then pat away any excess. We heat clarified butter in a pan and sauté the veal. Once the veal is done and set aside to keep warm, we add chopped shallots to the pan and sauté them. The pan is then deglazed with white wine and lemon juice. A brown veal stock is added and reduced, and a sauce is formed by swirling in butter (monter au beurre). The seasonings in the sauce are adjusted and the scaloppini is served along with the sauce. For the brussels sprouts amandine, we first peel any undesirable leaves away from the sprouts and then cut a cross in the base of them to promote even cooking; they are then boiled to appropriate doneness. We melt butter in a pan and cook garlic and almonds until the nuts are slightly browned. The cooked and drained (and cut if necessary) sprouts are tossed in the sauce and ready for service.

Risotto and spinach sauté are prepared per our previous method.

Once the pork cutlet is prepared per the description above, we coat it in flour, put it through an egg bath, and then dip in bread crumbs until completely coated. The cutlet is then pan-fried until the breading has a golden brown colour. It should be served with a slice of lemon to provide a light acidic flavour.

Pommes nature and glazed carrots are cooked per our previous method.

Personal Observations

This week was a good week for learning and experimenting more with presentation as I felt fairly comfortable with the flavours in all of the dishes. Overall I felt that we did a good job. Our fricassee was done well, and the steak turned out well also. Both pork dishes were very good, and our accompaniments were good across the board.

Chef's Observations

Chef commented that our fricassee of chicken dish had an overpowering lemon flavour. We had garnished the dish with lemon zest and after checking over it again, suspect this flavour had interfered too much with the dish. As well, our broccoli was slightly overdone.

Our flat iron steak dish was very good, the main issue with it was our butter had probably been out of the fridge too long before service, or we waited too long to serve the chef, but rather than getting the butter as a whole piece on the steak it had already melted. Otherwise, presentation and flavour was very good on this dish.

Our presentation for our scaloppini was very good as well, although our lemon sauce was quite strong. We served very little sauce because of it's intensity, and chef commented on the lack of sauce - we countered with the strength of it, and he understood why we hadn't served more. However, this showed that something wasn't quite right, and the sauce perhaps could have been thinned with a stock.

Our pork cutlet dish was very good and chef didn't have much feedback for us apart from the good job we did on it.

Week 7 - Roasted Beef / Chicken

Objective

The successful preparation of an oven roasted chicken, as well as an oven roast of beef. These dishes are combined with the preparation of side dishes, introducing preparation of multiple dishes simultaneously and the timing required to have them finish at appropriate times for fresh service.

Sanitation and Safety

As usual when dealing with meat dishes, separate cutting boards must be used to prevent any cross contamination with vegetables being prepared. While we are preparing Hollandaise, we don't need to worry about holding it in the temperature danger zone for too long as we are simply presenting and discarding any remainder.

We must also ensure that meats are cooked to appropriate temperatures. Chicken must reach 165°F to ensure any bacteria are destroyed. As dark meat takes longest to cook on a chicken, we take the temperature between the leg/thigh and the body, ensuring the thermometer is deep enough to be reading the correct temperature. The roast beef simply needs to be cooked to appropriate doneness, but we must measure at the thickest point to ensure accurate reading of the center of the roast. Lastly, when using our thermometer, we must be sure to wash and sanitize it before placing it back in its pocket container, so that it is clean for the next use.

Information

During week 7 we prepare our first complete dishes, one on each day of class. On the first day we prepare a whole roasted chicken with pan gravy, accompanied by savoyard potatoes, glazed carrots, and broccoli hollandaise. Day 2 was the preparation of a roast beef with jus lie, accompanied by yorkshire pudding, garlic mashed potatoes, glazed beets, and duxelle stuffed tomatoes.

Both pieces of meat require attention before cooking. For the chicken, we will truss it, tying the limbs up and pulling them close to the body of the bird, forming a uniform shape. The primary function of trussing is to ensure even cooking throughout the chicken - on top of this we are also enhancing appearance. The beef requires similar preparation to ensure even cooking, and is tied to hold together and form a uniform shape for cooking.

The preparation of the individual pieces are generally something we are all familiar with, but these two days are our first preparing and presenting a whole plate at once. This means that tasks which take longer must be started earlier and at appropriate times to ensure that all dishes are finishing at the same time, allowing for a hot and fresh presentation. For day one, this means the chicken must be rubbed and placed in the oven first, as it will take the longest to cook. We will then prepare the savoyard potatoes, which will be baked as well. Lastly, we do the carrots and broccoli. When the chicken is done, it can be cut for service while the pan gravy is made. Along with the temperature reading from the thermometer, we can read the degree of doneness by the clarity of the juices running from the chicken, as well as the looseness of the joints.

A similar timeline is followed when preparing the roast beef. The roast is put in first, followed by boiling the potatoes for mashing. Yorkshire batter is prepared and set aside in a cooler to chill for half an hour. The beets and tomatoes are then prepared, and gravy is finished while the roast is resting.

We are asked to make a decision as to what doneness we want the roast beef cooked to, and then ensure that it comes out as such. The temperature ranges are:

• Rare - 125°F
• Medium Rare - 135°F
• Medium - 145°F
• Well Done - 165°F

We also pay attention to the texture and springiness or sponginess of the meat which gives us an indication of doneness. Where juice clarity can be used for chicken, it is not an indicator of doneness for red meat.

An important factor to pay attention to when carving beef is to ensure we cut against the grain of the meat. If we cut with the grain, the meat can come out tougher and may be stringy or fall apart, while cutting against the grain ensures as much tenderness as is possible.

Practical

We start our roast chicken dinner by preparing the chicken. It is rinsed and then trussed. We rub down the chicken with a mixture of paprika, salt, thyme and black pepper, and vegetable oil. The rub covers the entire outside of the chicken as well as the inside cavities. We also place small pieces of seasoned butter underneath the skin on the breasts to add extra moisture and flavour. A bed of mirepoix is prepared in a roasting pan and the chicken is then placed on this, and set in the oven to roast. When finished, the bird is set aside to rest for 10 minutes while pan gravy is prepared by deglazing the pan with chicken stock and then thickening the liquid with a beurre manie. The chicken can be cut into appropriate pieces and is ready for service along with the pan gravy.

Savoyard potatoes are prepared by peeling potatoes and slicing them most of the way through, keeping the potato whole. Clarified butter is heated in a sauce pan and used to sweat onions and bacon. The pan is then deglazed with some chicken stock. The potatoes are placed in the pan and chicken stock is added to cover to the top of the potatoes. The pan is brought to a simmer, and then placed in an oven to finish baking. The dish is ready when the stock has been almost completely absorbed and evaporated. The potatoes can be quickly darkened under a salamander for visual and flavour appeal, and then served.

Glazed carrots and Broccoli hollandaise are prepared per our previous classes.

Before starting on the roast beef, we trim any silverskin as well as excess fat - appropriate amounts of fat are left for flavouring, but not in excess. The roast beef is then prepared by tying and rubbing down with salt, pepper, mustard seed, and a little garlic. Clarified butter is heated in a pan and the roast is seared on all sides. A bed of mirepoix is prepared in a roasting pan and the roast is placed on it and put in the oven to cook to desired doneness. When finished, it is removed and set aside to rest for 10 minutes while the jus lie is prepared by deglazing the pan with wine and brown stock. The liquid is strained, brought to a simmer and a small amount of a slurry is added to thicken it slightly. The jus lie is seasoned and ready to serve along with the sliced roast.

Yorkshire pudding batter is prepared from eggs, milk and flour mixed together and then chilled before use. Once we are ready to cook them, we add oil to the outside placements of a muffin pan and heat the pan in an oven at 475°F. Once the pan is very hot, we remove it from the oven and pour the batter into each prepared spot on the pan. The pan is then placed back in the oven to cook for approximately 20-25 minutes, ensuring we do not open the door or cause other temperature variations which may cause the yorkshire to fall. Once golden brown and firm enough that they will stay standing, they can be removed from the oven and served.

Duxelle stuffed tomatoes are prepared by peeling and seeding tomatoes, which should be halved or have the top cut off in an appropriate manner such that they can be stuffed. A mix of panko, garlic, parsley and olive oil is prepared to top the tomatoes with. We then sauté shallots and garlic in butter until tender. Finely chopped mushrooms are added and sautéed until dry. This mixture is seasoned and cooled. We stuff the tomatoes with the duxelles (mushroom) and top with the panko mixture. This is placed under the salamander to warm and add colour to the panko mixture, and is then ready for service.

Garlic mashed potatoes and glazed beets are prepared per previous classes.

Personal Observations

Having the opportunity and challenge of preparing a full dish was very exciting. It also allowed us to begin learning more about plating complete dishes rather than the single items we had been preparing previous to this. The savoyard potato dish was very interesting to me during our first day of cooking as I hadn't prepared potatoes this way before. The result was very delicious. Our hollandaise seemed a little thinner than usual, although we attributed this to the classes clarified butter having boiled over and not being of top quality. Overall, the first day went very well and the individual dishes came together to plate at the same time.

We were well organized on our second day as well, and expected everything to go well even with the specter of having to make yorkshire pudding properly hanging over us. However, with some guidance from Chef our yorkshires turned out very well, although I may have pulled them out of the oven about a minute too early. The duxelle stuffed tomatoes was a new dish to me, but very flavourful and it turned out well. The rest of the components on the plate were fairly standard fare and worked well - our group even went so far as to add to the mushroom theme by blanching and some sliced mushrooms and quickly sautéing in butter, then adding this to the center of our plate.

Chef's Observations

Chef's biggest comment regarding our chicken plate was our presentation. We had the different dishes spread out a little too much which didn't create the look he wanted, but he quickly corrected this for us and showed us what we needed to be doing the next time. This is somewhere that experience will really be the only guide to get better, and I'm happy to have his instruction.

Our presentation for our roast beef plate was much better, and the biggest flaw this time was that I hadn't sliced the meet against the grain. Unfortunately the cut we had was shaped in such a way that I thought I was cutting against the grain, but actually going with it. Fortunately, the beef was high quality and still very tender, although in most situations this would have been a very bad outcome. Otherwise, the flavour and texture in all of the components on the plate were very good, including our mushroom addition.

Week 6 - Potatoes, Rice and Pasta

Objective

To familiarize ourselves with the proper selection of potatoes for the dishes to be made with them, along with the variety of rices and what they are used for. Also, an introduction to fresh pasta preparation and cookery.

Sanitation and Safety

Potatoes that have been exposed to excess light will develop a green colouring on their skin which is an indication that solanine is developing. This is a toxic substance that can cause illness if consumed in sufficient amounts. However, it is easily removed by peeling. Rice has the potential to be contaminated with endospores of the bacillus cereus bacteria which can result in the bacteria being present once the rice is cooked. Danger can be avoided by following proper cooling and hot holding techniques to prevent the growth of the bacteria.

Information

In week 6 we prepare many potato dishes, along with some rice and pasta dishes. An important factor in preparing potato dishes is the selection of an appropriate type of potato. Potatoes are broken down into two general categories: mealy and waxy. Mealy potatoes (or starchy potatoes) have a high starch content and a thicker skin than waxy. They have a low moisture and sugar content, making them appropriate for baking and deep-fat frying. Varieties of mealy potatoes include russet or Idaho potatoes. Waxy potatoes have the opposite properties of mealy: a low starch, high moisture and high sugar content. This makes them appropriate for boiling and sautéing, as they will not fall apart while boiling as mealy potatoes would. Their high moisture and sugar content makes them inappropriate for deep-fat frying. Varieties of waxy potatoes include red potatoes and new potatoes.

With this information in hand, we prepare the following potato dishes:

• Duchesse Potatoes
• Croquette Potatoes
• Hash Brown Potatoes
• Rösti Potatoes
  
• Pommes Nature
• Pommes Chateau
• Roasted Potatoes
• Potato Gnocchi

Rice is typically selected for an application based on the length of its grain: long-grain, medium-grain, and short-grain. Long grain is typically the most widely used and versatile - it remains firm, fluffy, and separate when properly cooked. Short-grain rice has more starch and becomes tender and sticky when cooked. Sushi and Risotto both use short grain rice because of these properties. With appropriate rice selection, we make:

• Basic Simmered Rice
• Rice Pilaf
• Risotto Milanese

Pasta is prepared from an unleavened dough of liquid mixed with flour, the liquid usually being egg and/or water. Flour can be used from almost any grain, and the dough can be coloured and flavoured with herbs, puréed vegetables, and is then extruded into a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This week we prepare a fresh fettuccine noodle to be used in a Fettuccine a la Carbonara. We also prepare a Spaetzle, a German dumpling made from a dough of eggs and flour.

Practical

We start potato cookery by preparing Duchesse and Croquette potatoes. They both start with the same base of potatoes boiled in salted water until tender, drained and left on a sheet pan so excess moisture evaporates. The potatoes are pressed through a food mill and have butter and seasonings mixed in, followed by egg yolks. At this point the duchesse potatoes are placed in a piping bag and piped into single portion spirals, brushed with clarified butter, and placed in the oven to bake just until the edges are golden brown. They are then ready for service. The croquette potatoes are rolled out by hand and cut into even length sticks. They are placed in the fridge to chill, then rolled in flour, egg wash, and bread crumbs. Once breaded, they are deep fried until golden brown and served.

Hash brown and rösti potatoes also start from the same base. Potatoes are boiled until nearly done, and then brought out of the water and allowed to dry. They are then grated and prepared for finishing on the stove-top by sautéing. With some clarified butter in the pan, hash browns are cooked until brown, keeping the grated pieces mostly separated. They are seasoned and ready for service. The rösti is cooked similarly in a pan with some clarified butter, but is pressed together in a fairly thin layer, allowing the starchiness of the potatoes to hold the grated strands together. Once appropriately browned on the bottom, the rösti is flipped like a pancake and allowed to brown on the other side as well. Once the colour is appropriate, the rösti is ready for service.

Pommes nature are "natural potatoes" - potatoes are turned, boiled until tender, tossed in butter and parsley, and served. Pommes chateau are prepared by turning potatoes, boiling them until they're almost ready, finishing them by sautéing, and serving. For roasted potatoes, we cut the potatoes to even sizes, place them in a roasting pan with oil and spices, and cook in the oven until done. They should be served right away to keep their temperature.

The gnocchi is prepared by boiling potatoes until done, and then putting them through a food mill. The milled potatoes are mixed with eggs and seasonings, and then flour is added to form a medium-soft dough. The dough is rolled into approximately a 1cm roll, then cooled. It is then cut into short pieces, and pressed with a fork to create a shell shape. The shells are cooked in salted simmering water until they double in size, at which point they are ready for service. We prepare a tomato sauce to serve with the gnocchi.

The basic simmered rice is prepared by measuring an appropriate amount of water to rice, bringing the water to a boil, adding the rice and covering the pot. The heat is lowered and the rice is cooked until done. It should be fluffed with a fork and then served while hot.

Rice pilaf is done by heating butter and olive oil in a sauce pot and sweating an onion and bayleaf in the heated liquid until they are tender. Rice is added and stirred to coat completely, ensuring the rice does not brown. Boiling chicken stock is added and seasoned with salt. The pot is tightly covered and placed in an oven to cook for 18-20 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is fluffy and tender. The bay leaf can be removed, the rice fluffed with a fork and served.

We prepare the risotto by starting with heated butter in a saucepan, which we use to sweat minced onion. The arborio rice is added to the onion and butter and stirred to coat the grains well. Wine is added and the mixture is stirred until the liquid is completely absorbed. Simmering stock is added one ladle at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the moisture completely before adding another ladle. This process takes about 18-20 minutes to incorporate the appropriate amount of stock, after which some butter and grated cheese are mixed in, and the rice is served immediately, to ensure the rice is not overcooked.

Our pasta dough is made by combining eggs, oil and salt in a bowl. The mixture is poured into a flour bowl and slowly the flour is incorporated into the liquid until the dough is dry and will not absorb any more flour. The dough is wrapped and set aside at room temperature to rest for 20-30 minutes. Once rested, the dough is rolled flat and passed through a pasta cutting machine to cut to appropriate size. The pasta is placed in simmering water to cook. We prepare the carbonara sauce by sautéing bacon until done, but not crispy, and then allow the pan to cool slightly. We combine eggs, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese, and add this to the bacon.
The cooked noodles are added as well and the mixture is heated until the eggs thicken the mixture. It is seasoned and ready for immediate service.

The spaetzle dough is prepared from eggs, water, salt, nutmeg, and flour, mixed together in a bowl. The consistency of the dough can be adjusted by adding more flour if necessary. The dough is then passed through a large-holed colander or "dumpling grater" over simmering water so that the dough falls into the water in small dumpling pieces. The dumplings are cooked until they float to the surface, about 2-3 minutes, then removed and refreshed. After refreshing, they are drained well as they should not be left to soak. They are then sautéed in butter and finished with chopped parsley, and ready for service.

Personal Observations

I was looking forward to everything on this weeks menu as an avid potato, grain, and pasta fan. None of the dishes disappointed me. The piping of the duchesse potatoes wasn't an easy procedure and will take some more practice to do as smoothly as Chef demonstrated. The hash browns were straight forward, but keeping the rösti in form while flipping it presented problems at first. After a few attempts this was sorted out - again, practice will help the whole thing move smoother in the future. The pommes nature and pommes chateau were both fairly straight forward, although the pommes chateau came out of the water a little too early and were slightly undercooked when presented.

The rice pilaf was a fairly easy dish that turned out very tasty. The risotto was very good as well. There isn't much to be said about simmered rice, I've made this many times - although I think I will follow my own method for preparation next time rather than adding rice to boiling water and blindly covering to simmer for an arbitrary amount of time.

The spaetzle was a new dish completely to me. Our preparation of it was slightly impacted by our being ahead of schedule and working on it before Chef had demonstrated it.

The fresh pasta was fairly simple, and the carbonara sauce very tasty. This was as close as we've gotten thus far to preparing a whole dish, and it turned out very well.

Chef's Observations

For the most part our potato dishes turned out very well. Chef said the duchess and croquette potatoes were good, as well as the hash browns and rösti. The pommes nature were very good as well, but the pommes chateau were slightly undercooked. The roasted potatoes were fine.

Our tomato sauce and gnocchi were used as an example for some of the other in class as to how the dish should appear - the sauce had a very good flavour, and the gnocchi was well formed and cooked.

Our simmered rice was slightly undercooked and as a result, a touch grainy, said Chef. Our pilaf and risotto were both very good. Our spaetzle was good, even though we hadn't waited for the demonstration. Chef said it could have used a little more colour from sautéing though.

The fresh pasta in carbonara sauce was also very good, with very good flavours and appearance, although the pasta was slightly chewy, perhaps from overworking during preparation or not having been put through the pasta cutter on a thin enough setting.

Week 5 - Breakfast / Egg Cookery

Objective

To understand the preparation and serving of breakfast dishes. This includes the preparation of a variety of egg dishes, and eggs themselves done many different ways.

Sanitation and Safety

None of the foods prepared this week are generally reason for concern. Batters are prepared from relatively benign ingredients, and the results are not considered potentially hazardous foods. Eggs do have the potential for having come into contact with salmonella previously, but this concern is resolved by safe handling of food including proper hand washing, and the appropriate cooking temperatures being observed when preparing dishes.

Information

In week five we prepare some batter based breakfast dishes, pancakes and crepes. We also prepare a Quiche Lorraine, along with a Fritatta. Along with these, many egg dishes are prepared, which are French Toast, a French Omelet, and Shirred Eggs with ham. Eggs themselves are prepared as:

• Poached
• Scrambled
• Over Easy
• Over Medium
• Over Hard
• Soft Boiled
• Hard Boiled

Key to egg cookery is to ensure that eggs are cooked an appropriate amount of time. Obviously, under-done eggs are not appealing, so they need to be cooked well enough. However, eggs cannot be overdone or they will quickly take on a rubbery texture and lose their fresh and light appearance. When cooking an egg in a pan, it is important to not let the egg pick up too much colour. An omelet should remain light, perhaps with a slight darkening. Scrambled eggs should not have any colour and be moist and fluffy.

Practical

Our practical time this week is cut in half by our mid-terms. However, as breakfast dishes are generally not large time consumers, we are able to move through quite a few dishes in one afternoon class.

We start with pancakes and crepes. We start by preparing our crepe batter as it is best when it has had time to sit for approximately an hour. We mix together eggs, egg yolks, water, milk, sugar, salt, flour, and melted butter, ensuring that an even consistency is found without over-whipping the batter. We cover it and place it aside in the fridge to sit for an hour. Once it has sat, we heat a small crepe pan and pour the batter in so it just coats the pan. The crepe cooks quickly, and once set and light brown it is flipped over to cook a few seconds longer. It is removed from the pan and ready for service.

Pancake batter is made by mixing bread flour and pastry flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, beaten eggs, and melted butter together. This batter comes out slightly lumpy but should remain this way - if over-whipped it will start to lose it's lightness and the pancakes will not turn out as well as they could. The batter is ladled into a warm pan coated lightly with vegetable oil, cooked until bubbles appear on the top and flipped. Once the bottom is browned the pancake is ready for service.

Our Quiche Lorraine is prepared by first lining a pan with prepared shell pastry and cooking it until it starts to fluff, to ensure that it will have an even doneness after cooking with the rest of the quiche ingredients. Once done, we prepare diced onion and bacon by sautéeing it and then allowing it to cool. Once cool, this is placed into the pastry along with some cheese. We prepare some egg whites beaten to a peak and fold this into a a mixture of flour, milk, cream, egg yolks. This is poured over the ingredients in the pastry, and then placed in the oven to bake for approximately 25 minutes. It is then ready for service.

The Frittata is started by sautéing mushrooms in butter until tender, and then adding chopped jalapeno pepper. We add some diced roasted pepper, green onions, and cilantro and sauté until hot. Some beaten eggs are added and this mixture is cooked evenly by lifting the eggs periodically to allow uncooked egg to flow beneath. Once they have begun to set, cheese is sprinkled over the eggs, and the dish is placed in a salamander to finish cooking. It is then ready for service.

The omelet is a similar procedure to the frittata, but we fold the egg when it begins to set instead of allowing it to set flat. Meats and vegetables are cooked or blanched before starting the omelet. Eggs are whisked together and seasoned, then poured into a pan and stirred until they begin to set. The cooked egg is pulled from the edge of the pan to the center allowing raw egg to run underneath and cook. After the egg begins to firm up, the filling and garnish is added, and the omelet is folded as desired. It can be turned over and cooked if additional time is required. The omelet should not have excessive colour, and the insides should be very soft when finished.

French toast is made by whisking together eggs, cream, salt, and some cinnamon to taste. This is placed in a shallow pan and thick bread slices are soaked in the mixture. They are cooked in a heated pan until well and evenly browned on each side, and then ready for service.

Shirred eggs are prepared by lining a small dish with thinly sliced baked ham. An egg is broken and poured into the dish without breaking the yolk. This is seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in an oven to bake until it begins to set. We then add cream and grated cheese and return to the oven to finish cooking. The dish is ready when the egg is cooked and the cheese has melted, and should be served immediately.

Poached eggs are prepared directly in lightly boiling water. Vinegar is added to the water which will help the eggs keep their shape when they are added. The eggs are cooked until the desired doneness is reached.

Scrambled eggs are prepared by whisking together eggs and milk and seasoning to taste. The egg is poured into a heated pan and stirred continually while it cooks. The eggs are done when they have set and are still moist and fluffy. They should not be overcooked to avoid colour or firmer texture.

Personal Observations

We ate a lot of eggs this day in the kitchen, but they were all prepared differently and I wasn't bored of the taste at the end of the day. Shirred eggs was a new experience for me and a very tasty dish, and simple to prepare. Ours was slightly undercooked so I will definitely keep cooking time in mind next time I prepare this dish.

The crepes were slightly intimidating, and are very fragile. However, once I was used to how they behaved it became relatively easy to cook them and they were very tasty.

Our french toast was excellent, although I often prepare this dish for myself already so I knew what to expect. Our pancakes were very good as well.

It was nice to learn how simple it is to prepare a quiche or a frittata, both wonderfully flavourful dishes and easily modified to whatever ingredients are on hand. I will be preparing these more often myself now that I know what is required.

Chef's Observations

For the most part Chef's observations were positive this week. Cooking eggs to the appropriate doneness is the primary issue that came up with our dishes.

Our quiche and frittata came out very well, as did our pancakes. Chef said our crepes could have used a little more colour, but otherwise were presented well, and had a good texture and flavour.

As I expected, our french toast was spot on. Chef said our poached eggs and shirred eggs were both slightly undercooked, but otherwise done very well. There weren't many other criticisms of our work on breakfast dishes.

Blog Notes

Mid-terms are over and I think I did a pretty kick-ass job on most of them. I guess I'll have to wait and find out!