Asian Cuisine - Southern China

Our menu for Southern China had the following dishes on it:

• Spinach Velvet Soup
• Char Siu
• Char Siu Bau
• Steamed Whole Fish
• Stir fried squid with bean paste
• Buddha's Delight
• Hong Kong Fried Chicken
• Beef Balls

Spinach Velvet Soup is a chicken stock based soup where cooked spinach is hand minced and added to the stock along with whirled in eggs and an amount of cornstarch as a thickener, and garnished with ham. This week our egg whirling didn't work out very well and the soup was the correct texture but Chef said the flavour was a little mild, otherwise a very good soup.

Char Siu is a cantonese bbq pork, where a Char Siu Bau is a bun containing the bbq pork. The char siu itself is pork butt which is marinated and then roasted while being basted with honey and sesame oil. This is then shredded and mixed with a sauce of shallots and dark soy, and wrapped in a dough to form a bun. The dough is light and fluffy, as well as being sweet. Chef said our final product was very good, the dough was the right texture and the pork was very flavourful. He did comment that the dough thickness on the bottom of the bun was thin. Otherwise, this dish turned out very well.

Steamed whole fish is simply that - a whole fish scaled and cleaned, and then steamed whole. Once finished cooking, the fish is seasoned and has ginger and green onion sauce spread over it, which is then coated with hot oil poured over the fish to release the flavours. While our fish was very attractive going into the oven, it didn't fare so well on the way out due to a temperature-adjustment mishap. However, it was mostly the appearance that had been impacted as the Chef said the fish still had good flavour and texture.

Stir fry squid with bean paste is a dish where squid is cleaned and then scored on a bias, then boiled to create a large surface area for the squid to pick up sauce. It is then combined with a bean paste including fermented black bean paste, chilies, peppers, and onions. This is stir fried together and served immediately. Chef had no particular comments on this dish, it was the right flavour and the squid was a good texture, not overdone.

Buddha's Delight is a tofu and vegetable dish combining the flavours of shiitake mushrooms, cloud ears, and tiger lily buds, along with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, carrots, sui choy... the list goes on. Obviously the point of this dish is to be a delightful vegetarian feast, with all of the ingredients combined in a wok to cook, and then served hot. Again there were no particular comments on our presentation of this dish, the flavour was good and it was what Chef was expecting.

Hong Kong Fried Chicken is a marinated chicken which is then battered and deep fried. It is then topped with fried onions and a red sauce. This was a particular sticking point on this dish, as many people mixed the chicken with the sauce completely which ended up softening the batter and changing the texture of the dish. We served it correctly, with the chicken merely topped with the sauce once cooked. Chef did note that while the flavour on the chicken and the sauce were fantastic, the onions were slightly firm and could have used a little more cook time.

Beef balls are a staple of the well-known Cantonese "dim-sum" menu. This is a mixture of ground beef with seasonings including palm sugar, oyster sauce, rice wine, and dried orange peel. The mixture is then rolled into meatballs approximately 2 inches across. These are steamed until done and served immediately. Chef said that the pork fat included in our dish was cut a little too coarsely, and that while the dish was very flavourful it seemed to taste too much of the beef itself and the seasonings weren't coming through enough.

Asian Cuisine - Western China

Our menu for Western China this week was:

• Tea smoked quail
• Sweet and sour cucumbers
  
• Stuffed eggplant
• Kung pao chicken
• Da dan mian
• Ma-puo doufu
• Stir fried long beans
• Fish flavoured pork shreds
• Spicy fried beef shreds

Tea smoked quail is a wonderfully flavoured dish served with the Sweet and sour cucumbers. The quail is smoked in a mixture of rice, mandarin peel, cassia bark, jasmine tea, brown sugar, and star anise. Once done, it is wok fried to complete the cooking process. The cucumbers are julienned and tossed in a dressing of chili, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. Chef commented that our presentation for the salad side was very nice on this dish, while the quail was peculiar as we served 2 on the plate, one halved and the other whole, stacked on each other. While the presentation was slightly off, the flavour was excellent on the quail, as well as on the salad.

Stuffed eggplant is a dish of eggplant sliced almost the whole way through then stuffed with a ground pork mixture containing green onion, ginger, and garlic. Once stuffed, the eggplant is patted with cornstarch and deep fried to give it a crispy outside. Finally, the cooking process is finished by braising the eggplant until it has absorbed the braising liquid, giving it some extra infused flavours. For this dish, Chef was happy with the flavour although he commented that it could have used a little extra time braising or some more braising liquid to get a little more of that flavour in the dish. However, the flavour was generally good and the presentation was nice on this dish.

Kung pao chicken is a spicy chicken dish where the chicken is marinated and then wok fried to cook. Once done, the oil is drained off the pan, chilies are fried in a small remaining amount of oil to activate some of the spice in the oil, and then the chicken is returned to the wok and a sauce is added to coat the chicken. I made this dish extra spicy and Chef was very happy with the flavour and spice on the dish. The presentation was very good as well.

Dan dan mian is a noodle soup dish where the noodles are served on a sauce of soy, rice vinegar, sesame paste, chili and sesame oil. The chicken stock is served in a side bowl to this and is added to the noodle and sauce mixture when ready to eat. Chef was happy with our presentation and our flavour on this dish, with no particular criticisms.

Ma-puo doufu is a tofu and ground pork dish, where the pork is fried in a sauce mixture until nearly done and then the tofu is added. Chef commented that our presentation was nice on this dish and that the flavour was fantastic, exactly what it was supposed to be.

Stir fried long beans is a simple dish of long beans blanched and then stir fried in a garlic, ginger, and rice vinegar sauce. I added some peppers and chili paste to the sauce to bring some heat and extra flavour to the dish which Chef enjoyed. The presentation was simple but worked, and he was overall happy with the dish.

Spicy fried beef shreds is a dish of shredded beef that is marinated and then stir fried. Once brown, the meat is removed and vegetables are cooked with some chilies to give spice, but should not be overcooked to prevent loss of colour and texture. The meat is then combined with the vegetables and they are glazed with sesame oil and served. Chef commented on the good flavour in this dish and was happy with our presentation.

Fish flavoured pork shreds is another dish with a confusing name, as there is absolutely no fish in this dish. However, the combination of ingredients leaves the final product with a slight fish taste. The pork is seasoned in dark soy sauce, then wok fried. Once done, the pork is removed and wood ear mushrooms and water chestnuts are added to the wok to cook briefly, and then green onions, ginger, and garlic. Wine is sizzled in and all ingredients are combined back in the wok along with a sauce mixture which is cooked until thick and then glazed with sesame oil and served. Chef commented again that our flavour was very nice on this dish and that the presentation worked well also.

Asian Cuisine - Eastern China

Our menu this week for Eastern China included:

• Seaweed Soup
• Jellyfish and White Radish Salad
• Pearl Balls
• Emerald Shrimp
• Shanghai Sweet & Sour Spareribs
• Red-Cooked Duck
• Bean Curd in Oyster Sauce
• Yangchow Fried Rice

Seaweed soup is just as it sounds, a soup with nori in it. It also has shredded pork as well as egg whirled in just before service. Chef said that our soup turned out with the correct flavour and consistency, and used our soup as a demonstration for incorporating the egg so the strands were well formed.

The Jellyfish and White Radish Salad is a straightforward salad containing sliced jellyfish and daikon in a peanut oil based dressing. The key to this dish is that the jellyfish is incredibly salty and needs to be soaked at least overnight in fresh water to draw out the salt content. Even at this point, the salad may require extra sugar to compensate for the saltiness. Our salad definitely fell into this category and we added quite a bit more sugar to it. However, at service Chef said our flavour ended up being good although some of our jellyfish was cut into strands that were a little long.

Pearl balls is a steamed dish where a pork meatball is rolled in rice. The steaming of the rice causes the rice to stand on end during cooking giving a prickly appearance to the dish. Chef was very happy with our presentation for this dish as the rice appeared just as it should. Also, our flavour was very good on the dish and it's accompanying sauce.

Emerald Shrimp is a dish given its name by the colouring of shrimp an emerald green. Chlorophyll is extracted from spinach and is then applied to shrimp to give it the desired colour. Chef was happy with the colour on our shrimp and said our presentation was in general very good. The flavour itself was also fantastic on this dish.

Shanghai sweet and sour spareribs are just as they sound, a sparerib dish with sweet and sour sauce. The spareribs are marinated and then cooked in 2 phases in a wok - first deep fried and then pan fried to give a brown colour to the ribs. A sauce is then added to the wok and thickened down, and the ribs are served like this. Chef commented that we had cooked the ribs well and that they had become tender enough - if cooked too short or too long, the ribs will be too tough. Our sauce also had good flavour, and while the presentation was fine we served a large amount of ribs on a single plate, too much for a single person.

Red-cooked duck is a dish which uses the "red-cooking" method. This is a common eastern Chinese cooking method where a protein is marinated in dark soy-sauce before cooking. When cooked, the soy sauce gives the protein a red tinge, hence the name. For this dish, the duck is marinated in the dark soy and then braised. The recipe for this dish called for a chili to add some spice, and I added extra chilies for more heat - the end result was spice at a level just right, and Chef was happy with the flavour and the spice in this dish. Our presentation was good for this dish as well.

Bean curd in oyster sauce is a simple dish where bean curd is wok fried to give it some texture and then has a sauce added to the wok to flavour the curd. Our dish had good flavour, although Chef commented that the curd could have used more cooking time to give it more texture. Otherwise, the presentation was good and he was happy with the dish.

Yangchow fried rice is a specialty of the eastern Chinese region, receiving it's name from Yangchow city. The dish requires eight ingredients above and beyond the rice itself, which can generally be adjusted to suit the taste of the cook. We cooked the rice this time with shrimp, pork, duck, sausage, peas, green onion, mushroom, and egg - all cut very small to blend in well with the rice. Chef was happy with the presentation and flavour on this dish from us.

Asian Cuisine - Northern China

Our menu for our Northern China session was as follows:

• Hot and Sour Soup
• Jiao Zi
• Vinegar slipped fish chunks
  
• Mo-shu pork
• Mandarin Pancakes
• Lamb on rice sticks
• Stir-fry Bok Choy

The prominent flavour combination for northern Chinese dishes is sour-oily.

Hot and sour soup is often recognized in North America with a red colour - this is a soup which is not prepared in the traditional northern Chinese method. The traditional soup is given spice by adding ground white pepper, which should be felt at the back of the throat when eaten. An important aspect of this soup is the addition of the egg just before service. The soup needs to be an an appropriate temperature so as not to instantly scramble the eggs but instead allow the egg to "whirl" into the soup creating long thin strands. For our soup, the presentation was nice and flavour was good although the mushrooms were slightly underdone and the sour flavour was slightly too subdued. Also, the eggs had not formed the appropriate strands.

Jiao Zi are potstickers or dumplings, filled with a seasoned cabbage and ground pork mixture. These dumplings are served with a vinegar and ginger dipping sauce. Our dumplings were cooked well and presented well, and had a good flavour. Chef commented on the amount of ginger in our dipping sauce saying it was heavy.

Vinegar slipped fish chunks, while perhaps having the least appetizing name on the menu for the day, was one of the most flavourful dishes. This is a dish of marinated fish (the chunks) which is wok fried and then finished ("slipped") in a red rice vinegar sauce. Our fish was cooked well although had broken up during cooking and the pieces were too small for Chef's liking. However, he said our sauce had amazing flavour and was one of the best he had tasted all week.

Mo-shu pork is a shredded pork dish which is served with Mandarin pancakes as a side. The pork is marinated then cooked with bean sprouts, mushrooms, and tiger lillies, and is coated with a sesame-oil and chicken stock based sauce. The mandarin pancakes have their dough prepped and then are rolled into shape in sesame oil in pairs, and then cooked in a pan. The two pancakes cooked together with a layer of oil between allow a crispy and a soft side to be produced on each pancake. For this dish, our flavour and presentation were good, Chef did not have any particular comments regarding it.

Lamb on rice sticks is a marinated lamb dish which is cooked with leek, carrot, and bamboo. The rice sticks are cooked in a hot oil and instantly puff up in size when cooked. Traditional service is to cook the rice sticks and immediately remove them, serving them pure white. I cooked our rice sticks slightly longer to give them a light tan colour, which Chef commented on. I mentioned I had done it intentionally and he pointed out this was not the traditional form of service on this dish. The lamb and sauce were both very good in presentation and Chef was happy with the flavour.

Stir fry bok choy is a quick vegetable dish where bok choy is cooked with garlic and onion and served with a sauce. Chef said our dish had a very nice presentation and the flavour of our sauce was excellent on this dish.

Asian Cuisine - Korean

We made the following dishes for our Korean service:

• Soo Jeung Kwa
• Jahb Chae
• Dak Chochu Jang Doekum
• Dubu Jolim
• Kohng Namool
• Ojingo Pokum
• Bulgogi

Traditional Korean eating is done with all dishes served at once, buffet style, so our service followed this format. All dishes had mise en place done ahead of time and were cooked just before service.

Soo Jeung Kwa is a beverage flavoured with ginger, cinnamon, and persimmons. It has a strong, pleasing flavour and is good for cleansing the palatte. Chef said our flavour was very good, but we had not toasted the pine nuts which garnished the drink.

Ojingo Pokum is a spicy wok-fried vegetable dish. The colours and flavours of onions, peppers, carrots, and mushrooms are combined with squid to create this dish. Chef did not have any particular negative comments regarding this dish and said our flavour was excellent. This was one of my favorite dishes of the day.

Kohng Namool is a bean sprout salad. Ours turned out well although we may have missed removing the bean from some of the sprouts. Again, Chef said the flavour was good on this dish.

Bulgogi is a meat dish where meat is marinated and then cooked on a grill or wok fried and served with a spicy sauce. I worked hard at making our sauce for this dish give an extra kick, and it turned out very tasty. Chef was happy with our presentation on this dish and said the flavour of the meat was very good

Dak gochu jang boekum is a chicken dish in which the chicken is marinated and then boiled with the marinade to create a sauce for the dish. Chef was happy with the flavour on this dish and our presentation was good.

Dubu jolim is a tofu dish where tofu is cooked in a frying pan along with garlic, onion, and red peppers to add flavour. Again, Chef commented positively on our presentation and flavour, without negative feedback.

Jahb chae is a noodle and spinach dish, which also ahs onions, carrots, and mushrooms. Chef said this dish was nice but was perhaps not sweet enough.

Hacmul jungol is a seafood soup containing squid, shrimp, oysters, and clams, alnog with mushrooms, cabbage, and onion. Chef commented that our soup was flavourful but was perhaps overcooked, leading to incorrect textures in the ingredients.

Asian Cuisine - Japanese

This week in Asian cuisine we prepared the following Japanese dishes:

• Asari Clam Soup (Asari no ushio-jiru)
  
• Vegetable Maki Sushi (Futomaki)
  
• Spinach w/ Sesame Dressing (Horenso gomea-ae)
• Chicken, shrimp, mushroom custard (Chawan-mushi)
• Pork Teriyaki (Buta teriyaki)
• Duck and soba noodle soup (Kamonanban Soba)
• Vegetable and Shrimp Tempura
• Sweet bean paste dumplings (Gamo-anko manju)

Asari no ushio-jiru - This is a very light flavoured soup with the stock created during the cooking process of the clams, with sake and shoyu (Japanese light soy sauce). The soup is garnished with daikon or watercress, as well as yuzu citron or lemon zest. The stock should be very clear with no floating sediment. As in all Japanese dishes, the flavour should be balanced, sweet nor sour overpowering the other.

Our soup turned out quite well, the stock was very clear and we had plentiful clams, some shelled and others not for presentation. The soup was served in a more traditional western bowl which did not suit the Chef. The Chef said the flavour was quite good, although the sour was slightly strong and it could have used a little more sweetener to balance that out.

Futomaki - A dish any sushi-eater should be familiar with, this is a roll made from vegetables briefly cooked in marinade to enhance flavours. The vegetables should maintain their texture and be cooked just until tender. The roll should have the vegetables perfectly centered, with a layer of rice being one grain thick on the toasted nori (seaweed) before rolling.

Our roll turned out very well, with the vegetables centered well and the roll holding together well. Chef commented that our presentation was a little basic but worked, and that there wasn't a lot negative to say about the dish.

Horenso Gomea-ae - This is a dish of cooked spinach tossed in a sesame seed dressing. The key to this dish is to ensure that the spinach does not get over cooked and that it is thoroughly squeezed to remove as much excess water as possible so that the flavour in the dressing is not diluted.

Our presentation and flavour for this dish was very good. However, the spinach was still too wet, thus diluting the flavour of the dressing. Chef commented that the flavour was excellent, but it was simply not strong enough due to the water still on the spinach.

Chawan-mushi - This is a custard dish of chicken, shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms steamed to produce a velvety texture. The key to this dish is appropriate cooking time to ensure the custard has cooked but is not overdone.

Our custard ended up being overcooked, causing the dish to be too firm. Outside of this fact, the flavour was as intended and presentation was fine, although affected by the overcooked custard.

Buta teriyaki - This is a marinated pork dish which is then grilled and basted with the teriyaki marinade to produce a moist and flavourful piece of meat.

Our presentation for this dish was very good, the appearance of our pork skewers being very good on the plate of rice. Chef commented that the flavour also was quite good, although it hadn't quite soaked into the meat enough, requiring more marinating time.

Kamonanban Soba - This is a flavourful duck soup with soba noodles which should have a clear broth and long noodles. The duck is briefly cooked to golden in a pan along with green onions which are then added to the soup.

Chef said that our soup was very flavourful, the taste being good although the stock was cloudy. The duck was cooked well, but the pieces should have been a little smaller than they were cut. Lastly, the noodles had broken and some were short, a bad presentation item in Japanese cuisine.

Tempura - Tempura is a batter used to cover ingredients to be briefly deep fried, producing a crispy coating for the item. Mastering the creation of a tempura batter takes years of training under a Japanese chef to create a batter which is light and produces the appropriate shapes and texture when deep fried. We used shrimp, zucchini, sweet potato, and mushrooms for our tempura.

Our tempura turned out quite well, with appropriate texture and flavour. We had not prepared our shrimp appropriately for the tempura batter - they usually have the tail removed and are straightened to create a long, straight piece of tempura. Outside of this, Chef was very happy with our presentation and flavour of our tempura dish.

Goma-anko manju - This is a dish of azuki beans cooked and then puréed to create a sweet paste (anko) filling for dumpings which are then steamed.

We added dark sesame seeds to our dumpling batter, adding an extra visual element to the presentation which ended up working fairly well. We did have some issues preparing our paste and it didn't turn out exactly as we expected, and during cooking our dough seemed to become a little too sticky.

Dinner with DMD - Belated Valentines Day

Valentines day has come and gone, and this year I didn't have anyone to share it with. My current schooling got me thinking what I would make that special someone had I been given the opportunity. I started planning a menu and I came up with an asian based theme accented with orange that I wanted to follow. As an appetizer, I started with a vegetarian sushi-roll of avacado and orange. For the main course, I made an orange-marinated grilled chicken in teriyaki glaze, with tempura sweet potato, broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini, and the requisite rice side. For desert I planned on an orange sorbet, but I wasn't able to put together tonight as I was lacking some of the tools to accomplish it properly. I'll do this again in the near future and will have everything then.

Anyway, I was very pleased with the end result. The sushi roll was very tasty, I was worried it might be too bland but it turned out very well. Unfortunately my rolling skills aren't up to par yet and I passed on taking a picture of this flavourful yet visually not-quite-so-appealing dish. The main plate however turned out perfectly and I was very happy with it. Here you go:






So that's it, Valentine's has come and gone... maybe somebody is out there reading this thinking "I sure would have enjoyed that" ... maybe not, but I sure enjoyed making it.

Soon on Dining with DMD, "Zoli's b-day dinner that he missed out on!"

Bon appétit,

Mark

Introduction to Baking Week 5 - Baguette, Pecan Pie, Bird's Nest Cookies

Introduction

This week we are preparing the classic French Baguette, along with Pecan Pie, and Bird's Nest cookies. We were also supposed to be doing a Lemon Meringue pie, although due to a meeting happening at the school, time constraints prevented this.

Practical

Chef demonstrated the correct method for rolling out our baguette after our dough had enough time on the bench. He commented that this dough should be benched at room temperature so that the yeast will have enough strength to help "burst" the dough once it goes in the oven. He explained how the size of a baguette is regulated by the government in France, and that the hardest part in preparing it is rolling it out properly.

For the Bird's Nest cookies, Chef demonstrated how we should roll these out as well, along with holding the sides of the cookies in when making the indentation for the "nest."

Observations

While the baguette was the simplest recipe of the day in terms of ingredients, it turned out to be the most complex in preparation, ensuring appropriate quality standards were met along the way.

Our pecan pie turned out quite well, although I felt the texture was slightly too gelatinous, although this may have changed had it sat longer to cool.

Our bird's nest cookies turned out quite well, retaining the appropriate shape and not having any of the jam filling overflow during cooking. The texture and flavour were quite good.

Unfortunately due to the time constraints this week we were unable to get much feedback from the Chef regarding out work, although I was generally happy with the outcome.

World Cuisine - France

Introduction

The French cooking style is considered to be one of the most refined, modern and elegant manners found in cuisines all over the world. Food is part of their culture, and famous French chefs make most exquisite dishes after original French recipes that have made France famous since centuries ago. However, the diversity and changes that characterize this cuisine are what makes it interesting. By the early eighteen century, bread and cereals were the basic ingredients in the daily diet. French fries have been introduced to this country in the XVIII century and gained so much popularity that they have been kept as part of the traditional French cuisine. Only with the beginning of the XIX century food has become a social etiquette and more sophisticated dishes emerged, mainly served in high societies. The improvement of transportation, especially the introduction of train, marked the culinary revolution, since every peasant had access to more elaborated meals, ingredients and condiments. Vegetables that grow on fertile French lands include potatoes, green beans, carrots, turnips, aubergines, courgettes, famous French mushrooms, like champignons, oyster mushrooms, porcinis and truffles. As a tradition kept along the course of history, wineries are spread all over the country, producing most refined French wines, served daily by locals.

From: http://www.cookbookwiki.com/France

Recipes

Soup a l'ognion

Servings: 4-6

6 large onions (about 5 pounds), sliced thin
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 quarts beef broth
twelve 1/2-inch-thick slices of French bread, toasted
3/4 pound coarsely grated Gruyère

Preparation

1. In a large pot cook the onions in the butter over moderate heat, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes, or until they are golden brown and well caramelized.
2. Sprinkle the onions with the flour and cook the mixture, stirring, for 3 minutes.
3. Add the broth slowly, stir the soup constantly until it comes to a boil, and simmer it, covered, for 20 minutes.
4. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
5. Serve soup in warmed bowls. Top with toasted bread to cover surface, cover with cheese and broil to melt and slightly brown cheese.

Blanquette de Veau

Servings: 8

10 ounces pearl onions
4 1/2 pounds veal shoulder, boned, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
9 cups (or more) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
3 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds celery root (celeriac), peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
4 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
3 medium turnips, peeled, each cut into 6 pieces
8 ounces button mushrooms
6 ounces haricots verts or other green beans, ends trimmed

3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 tablespoon (about) fresh lemon juice

1/2 bunch fresh chives, cut into 2-inch pieces (optional)

Preparation

1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add pearl onions and cook 1 minute. remove onions from pot. Trim ends and peel.
2. Add veal to pot and cook 4 minutes. Drain veal; rinse with cold water.
3. Rinse pot and return veal to pot. Add 8 cups chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
4. Add thyme and bay leaves and simmer until veal is tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes longer.
5. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in another heavy large pot over medium heat. Add pearl onions, celery root, carrots, turnips, mushrooms and 1 cup chicken stock. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender and almost all liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
6. Add haricots verts and cook until just tender, about 2 minutes.
7. Drain veal, reserving 2 cups liquid (if less than 2 cups cooking liquid remains, add enough stock to measure 2 cups). Mix veal into vegetables.
8. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix in 3 tablespoons flour. Cook until butter mixture turns golden brown, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes.
9. Whisk in 2 cups reserved cooking liquid. Cook until thickened, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in whipping cream. Season sauce to taste with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.
10. Pour cream sauce over cooked veal and vegetables. Garnish with fresh chives, if desired, and serve immediately.

Practical

Our full menu for French cuisine was:

• Duck liver pâté
• Soup a l'oignon
• Blanquette de Veau
• Nouilles au beurre
• Poivrons Rôtis, Courgettes farcie
• Orange chocolate mousse

Duck liver pâté (or paste) and soup a l'oignon (onion soup) are self explanatory. Blanquette de Veau is veal served with vegetables in a white sauce. Nouilles au beurre is pasta tossed in butter. Poivrons Rôtis is roasted pepper, similar to the peperonata prepared during Italian week, although the french dish is usually quartered peppers rather than thinly sliced. Courgette farcie is zucchini cored out and stuffed with it's own flesh mixed with other vegetables or perhaps a protein or cheese. The orange chocolate mousse is simply that, a chocolate mousse with orange flavoring.

Observations

The foods cooked this week all had excellent flavour and richness. Unfortunately the duck livers were not available at the start of our class, so the finished product had not chilled enough by the end of class. While still flavourful, the pâté having some warmth left to it meant it had not acquired the proper texture. I got started on the onion soup right away and ensured we caramelized the onions slowly and very well. The end result was an incredibly flavourful soup which I quite enjoyed, and Chef commented on the excellent flavour as well. The blanquette de veau was quite good, although our timing was slightly off on the side dishes, so we ended up serving only the zucchini with the blanquette, which Chef commented was appropriately cooked and flavoured. We then served the noodles and peppers together, which were both cooked well, but Chef mentioned that it would have been nice to have everything plated at once. Lastly, our mousse was very light and flavourful, and there was a good balance between the chocolate and orange flavours, which Chef was happy with. Apart from some timing issues, a good day of cooking.

World Cuisine - Italy

Introduction

When contemplating the history of Italian cuisine, it is important to remember that Italy did not exist as a unified country before 1870; prior to that, it was a diverse collection of kingdoms and principalities. Indeed, as Kyle Phillips notes in the introduction to his translation of The Art of Eating Well, only a small percentage of “Italians” actually spoke Italian prior to the 20th century. This political (and cultural) diversity is mirrored by the wide variety of climatic and topographic regions that the Italian peninsula spans. Because of these conditions, there exist a great variety of dishes in the Italian repertoire.

Similarly, one needs to remember that most recipes in the Italian repertoire have come down to us from generations of poor, hard-working people. While the feasts provided by the Medici, Estes and Lombardi are the stuff of legend, court fare was more closely identified with French and Austrian cuisine and subject to changes in fashion and taste. This has little to do with what we now identify as Italian cooking, which was largely dependent on locally and seasonally available products and which probably evolved very slowly over the centuries.

The Italian cuisine is characterized by some specific unique dishes, like pasta, risotto and pizza, which are served in all parts of the country. However, regional differences may occur in the cooking process of a meal, resulting in variations of the same recipe, or unique specific ones of a single area, like the Napoli pizza, specific to the Neapolitan region. Also, Peperoni Imbottiti is another specific Neapolitan dish, and consists of stuffed bell peppers with Eggplant and bread crumbs. In the Tuscan region, harty soups are a common thing, as well as fish stews. Cacciucco and scottiglia are some of the specific Tuscan stews. Other Tuscan specialties include “alla fiorentina” steak, ribollita, a thick vegetable soup and fagioli all'uccelletto, sautéed beans in garlic and sage with tomatoes. In the Piedmont region you can find a special dish called fonduta, containing melted cheese dip of milk, eggs and white truffles. Also, boiled Veal tongue and fish assortments like Anchovies, eels, Carp, Trout, and snails are available in all region. Lombardy is well known for Milan related dishes, such as spaghetti Milanese and minestrone alla Milanese, and for other specialties such as creamy Gorgonzola and polenta. rice and peas are specific for the Veneto region, where you can also find calf's liver fried with onions, shellfish, eels and dried Cod. In Genoa region pesto is the main ingredient, and in Norcia, the Italian cuisine capital, you can find Pork dishes, black truffles, and hand-made pasta like ‘strozzapreti’. Sicily is rich in fruits and seafood, as well as Sardinia, which is also known for sausages, sweet green olives, and Lamb steaks.

From: http://www.cookbookwiki.com/Italy

Recipes

Minestrone

Servings: 4

1 oz olive oil
2 oz bacon, diced
8 oz onions, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz celery, paysanne
4 oz carrots, paysanne
1.5 quarts chicken stock
4 oz zucchini paysanne
4 oz potatoes paysanne
10 oz tomato concasse
2 oz tomato paste
4 oz chickpeas, cooked
4 oz cannelini, cooked
2 oz parmesan cheese, grated
Thyme, fresh chopped
Salt and white pepper to taste
Optional: cooked pasta (generally small pieces, not long noodles)

Preparation

1. Place oil and bacon into saucepot and sweat, do not brown
2. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots and sweat until onions are translucent.
3. Add chicken stock and bring to simmer over medium high heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
4. Add zucchini, potatoes and tomato concasse, tomato paste and simmer for 10 more minutes until vegetables are tender. Do not overcook.
5. Add cooked chickpeas, cannellini (and pasta if desired), simmer until all ingredients are hot
6. Adjust seasonings, garnish soup with parmesan and chopped thyme just prior to serving.

Involtini di Pollo

Servings: 4

Stuffing
8 oz chicken thigh meat, ground
0.5 oz butter
0.5 oz shallot
1 egg white
Salt and pepper to taste

4 chicken breast pieces
2 oz stuffing
4 pieces fresh sage
4 thinly sliced bacon

Preparation

Stuffing
1. Bone and grind the chicken thigh meat
2. Dice and sauté shallots, cool, set aside.
3. Place meat, shallots, and egg white in robot-coupe and pulse.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Assembly
1. Cut each chicken breast in half and pound lightly, dip inside of breast in flour, shake of excess.
2. Place a small piece of fresh sage on top, add 2 oz of stuffing and roll the breast around stuffing, then wrap with bacon and hold together with toothpick.

Sauce
1. Prepare sauce from roasted chicken leg, bones, scraps, and mirepoix. Reduce to glaze consistency.

Cooking
1. Sauté each side lightly in whole butter and set aside until service.
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste, bake in oven at 350°F until done, serve with sauce.

Practical

Our full menu for our Italian menu was:

• Minestrone
• Gnocchi "Piedmontaise"
• Involtini di Pollo
• Spinach & Peperonata
• Saffron Risotto
• Zabaglione

Minestrone is a typical Italian soup, and while it is common it does not necessarily have a set recipe, normally being made from whatever fresh vegetables are available along with meat scraps. Gnocchi "Piedmontaise" are gnocchi made from potato, egg, and flour. Involtini di Pollo is chicken breast and sage wrapped around a ground or paste chicken filling with bacon wrap. Peperonata is grilled pepper sautéed, in this dish we added spinach as well. Risotto was made as our previous recipes, with the addition of saffron. Zabaglione is a desert of whipped egg whites and cream flavoured with brandy, combined with strawberries tossed in balsamic vinegar.

Observations

I was excited for this week's world cuisine class as I love Italian cooking. Our starter minestrone turned out quite well and was very flavourful, a good start to the day. Unfortunately we had some problems cooking our gnocchi, perhaps due to adding too many to the water at once, and they ended up clumping. Once we started again, they turned out fine, although Chef would have preferred slightly less colour from sautéing. Our Involtini di Pollo turned out well, although Chef mentioned it was done well and if it had been cooked much longer it would have easily become overcooked. The spinach and peperonata, along with the saffron risotto both turned out very well. Our zabaglione was also very good, with an appropriate blend of flavours while maintaining a light texture.

North American Regional Cuisine - Cuisine of the South

Introduction

Our first menu for cuisine of the south was:

• Grilled Quail with spicy eggplant relish
• Tomato aspic on bibb letuce salad
• pecan-encrusted catfish with orange-scented sweet potatoes
• Succotash of corn, hominy, and baby lima beans
• Slow cooked greens
• Hush Puppies
• Peanut Brittle

Our second menu was:

• Watermelon and watercress salad with shallot citrus dressing
• 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

Observations

Chef commented on the fact that quail is a very delicate bird and would cook very quickly. We were cognicent of this while working on the dish and cooked the quail just right. Along with the eggplant relish, the dish turned out very well. I've had tomato aspic before and it's not my favorite dish - somehow a dish which constitutes what is essencially gelatanized tomato juice doesn't work well for me. The succotash however was a very nice dish that I thought tasted very good. The hush puppies and peanut brittle also turned out very well.

The watermelon and watercress salad was suprisingly tasty and very refreshing. I will definitely be keeping this recipe in mind for a warm summer day. Our fried green tomatoes tasted fine although they were slightly undercooked so were a little tough. The southern fried chicken came out perfectly and chef was very happy with the dish, as well as with our gravy, saying they were exactly how it should taste. The peach cobbler tasted good but the crust was slightly too thick. The other dishes didn't really have anything of note to them.

Introduction to Baking Week 2 - Carrot & Banana bread, Sweet tart dough

Introduction

This week we are preparing Italian rosemary rolls, carrot bread and banana bread. We will also be preparing a sweet tart dough which will be used in the preparation of lemon bars and streusel kuchen.

Practical

The preparation of the rosemary rolls is similar to previous weeks work. The carrot bread and banana bread use the drop method of cooking into appropriate sized pans - for these we must be sure not to over-mix the dough as it is being prepared.

While preparing the sweet tart dough, chef explains the need to ensure all the butter is blended in well, as large pieces of butter will melt during baking and create imperfections in the cooked pastry. We also learn that we must dock (puncture) the dough before cooking it to allow steam to escape, otherwise the pastry will puff up while cooking and create an uneven finished product.

Observations

After preparing the sweet tart dough, while rolling it out we realized that there were still some pieces of butter which may not have been blended in well enough. This seems to be a fine line between ensuring products are adequately mixed and not over-mixing the final product. Although we had some small pieces of butter present, the dough cooked well and our lemon bars and streusel both turned out well.

One thing the streusel recipe did not call for was a fruit topping; although we used a jam layer between the pastry and the cake filling, the final product seemed a little dry to me. Chef commented that generally a fruit layer would be placed on top of the cake filling, which would have added some moisture to the final taste.

Our Italian rosemary rolls, along with carrot and banana breads both turned out very well.

World Cuisine - Switzerland

Introduction

Switzerland is an Alpine European country that has stated as a compact country for centuries. Being a neutral country during both world wars, Switzerland has been the refuge place for a lot of German, Austrian and Italian writers, such as Thomas Mann, Stefan George and Ignazio Silone The food culture of Switzerland has been influenced by its neighbors, especially Italy and France. Pasta and pizza are very familiar in Switzerland, people serving them in restaurants as well. Over the years a distinctive culture with strong regional differences has developed inside the country. Some parts haven’t been influenced by cultural and food differences found in other countries, and have developed their own eating habits. The Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla) found in Swiss cuisines, with its long white stems, is actually influenced by the Mediterranean cooks for flavoring soups and rice dishes. Swiss chard is a popular vegetable nowadays, even being the most important vegetable in the Nice region, and is has also grown abundantly in the districts around the Rhône valley because of its resistance to cold weather. chocolate, one of the main characteristics of the Swiss cuisine, has been known to this region for centuries. Lindt, Nestle, and Kraft are just some of the main chocolate factories in Switzerland, and of course, the most refined chocolates and its derivates in the world. The Swiss Cuisine is reknown all over the world for its delicious taste. Some of the commonly found cuisines are: Aargau (carrot Cake), Acelgas Guisadas (Braised Swiss chard), Acqua Di Miele Alla Luganese (Honey water), Aelplermagronen (the Alpine Farmer's macaroni with applesauce) Pasta, Almanzo's Favorite Swiss Steak Beef, apricot Flan (Valais), Aris' Swiss cheese and Green Beans, asparagus Swiss, asparagus Swiss Souffle, aubergine/Swiss cheese Casserole, Avocado-Bacon-Swiss cheese Omlet, Baby Swiss Stuffed Portabellas, Blackberry-Filled Sandwich Cookies (Luxembourgli) blueberry Risotto with Boletus (cep), Boneless Leg of Lamb Stuffed with Swiss chard and feta, Boysenberry-Filled Sandwich Cookies (Luxembourgli) etc.

From: http://www.cookbookwiki.com/Switzerland

Recipes

Chopf Salat

Servings: 4

1 head butter lettuce

Dressing

1 oz shallots fine dice
1 oz cider vinegar
2 oz light olive oil
2 oz chicken stock
2 oz heavy cream
1/4 oz prepared mustard
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
Salt, pepper, sugar to taste

Preparation:

1. Core, clean, and wash butter lettuce in a large quantity of water.
2. Drain and place on paper towels and refrigerate to get crisp until needed.
3. Combine all ingredients for dressing in a bowl with a whisk, season to taste.
4. Toss lettuce with dressing just before dressing.

Note: Lettuce will wilt quickly in the dressing, do not toss ahead of serving time.

Eminceed Pork "Zürcher Art"

Servings: 4

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed, sliced 1/8" thick
flour for dusting
oil as needed

2 oz butter
2 oz shallots diced
8 oz mushrooms sliced
1 oz brandy
4 oz dry white wine
6 oz demi-glace
4 oz whipped heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley

Preparation:

1. Trim and cut the pork into 1" x 1" x 1/8" thick slices (emincee)
2. Sesason and dust the sliced meat with flour just before cooking
3. Heat a sauté pan, add a thin layer of oil, heat the oil and sauté the meat int he hot oil until lightly brown. remove the meat and set aside (do not overcook).
4. Heat the pan again, add butter and sweat the shallots and mushrooms.
5. Deglaze the pan with brandy, white wine and reduce.
6. Add the demi-glace along with any juices collected from the meat and reduce the sauce to a creamy consistency.
7. Add the meat, bring to a simmer, season the sauce with a little fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper.
8. Add the whipped heavy cream at the last minute and fold into the sauce but do not boil any more.
9. Sprinkle with chopped parsley when serving.

Practical

Our full menu for our day of Swiss cooking was:

• Flädli Suppe
• Chügeli Pastetli
• Gschnätzlets "Zürcher Art"
• Green Beans
• Broiled Tomato
• Spätzli
• Chopf Salat

The suppe was simply a consommé prepared with chopped crepe. Our preparation order started with the consommé, followed by the crepe batter. We then prepared the proteins for the chügeli and the gschnätzlets, along with the remainder of the vegetable prep work. Last, we prepared the spätzli dough and set it aside to refrigerate before cooking.

Observations

Something which came to me in this third week of World Cuisine is that there are a lot of foods out there which are similar or related to another cultures, yet has a local or regional twist to it. Chef describe the Gschnätzlets as a sort of Swedish stroganoff, and with the dish finished, I could definitely find a resemblance there.

Our consommé turned out very well, it was quite clear and very flavourful. Adding crepe as a garnish was an interesting touch, and I enjoyed the end result. Chef commented on the clarity of our consommé and said the dish was quite good, although there was some chopped parsley floating in the bowl - this had been mixed into the crepe batter and was separating in the soup.

Our Chügeli Pastetli (chicken mousseline piped and poached, served with a mushroom and cream sauce in puffed pastry) turned out well. However, instead of portioning the mousseline as it was being piped into the poaching liquid, we cooked long strands of it and portioned it afterward, resulting in harder edges on the cooked product. While this decision had no impact on the flavour of the dish, it didn't present as well visually as it could have.

The Gschnätzlets "Zürcher Art" dish was very good, the sauce having good flavour and texture, and the meat being prepared appropriately without being overcooked. The vegetables turned out well as did our spätzli, although the spätzli was slightly small due to the tool we used to portion it into the cooking liquid. Our Chopf Salat was very good as well, the dressing having a nice flavour and coating the lettuce appropriately without weighing the dish down.

North American Regional Cuisine - Mid-Atlantic States

Introduction

This week our focus was on the cuisine of the Mid-Atlantic states. We cooked two menus of food, which were comprised of the following:

Menu 1

• Beets, Belgian Endive and Feta Salad
• Scallops, Mushrooms and Asperagus
• Shaker style turkey cutlet
• Croquette Potatoes
• Potatoes Parmentier
• Green Beans
• Spaghetti Squash
• Ginger pound cake with warm cranberries

Menu 2

• Navy Bean Soup
• Waldorf Salad
• Sauteed Soft Shell Crabs on Fennel Salad
• Braised Short Ribs
• Buttered Homemade Noodles
• Red Swiss Chard and Spinach Sauté

Observations

For our first menu, due to lucky market conditions we used white asperagus for the scallop and mushroom dish. This added an extra visual flare to the dish although the flavour was the same as green asperagus. The Belgian endive salad was flavourful and quite a refreshing dish. Overall Chef commented that our presentation and taste was good, although we overcooked the pound cake on the first try and had to make it again, resulting in late service.

When discussing the second menu, Chef made the point that while the menu included soft shelled crab, it was not an ingredient that would be locally available and thus likely never served in our area. As a comparison, we made the dish with frozen soft shelled crab, and then prepared some fresh live dungeoness crab as well. The texture and flavour of the fresh crab was obviously quite superior and there was very little comparison to be made between the two. For our homemade noodles we used whole wheat flour instead of white flour for a twist, and while the noodles turned out well, they were slightly chewy. This could be a result of over mixing, or simply a difference caused by the whole wheat flour. Again, our presentation and flavours were good for the second menu.

Introduction to Baking Week 2 - Pie, Cinnamon Rolls, Foccacia

Introduction

This week we are preparing three dishes - pie dough which will be used to make an apple pie, sweet dough and caramel glaze to make cinnamon rolls, and foccacia dough.

Practical

During the preparation of our doughs, we are reminded not to overwork our doughs while preparing them, as this will cause the doughs to become tough. We start by preparing the foccacia dough as it will go in the proofer to rise. We then prepare the pie dough and leave it to rest while we simultaneously prepare our caramel glaze and sweet dough.

Observations

After the preparation of our foccacia dough, Chef commented that it looked like we had added too much water. However, after allowing to rise and baking, our foccacia was quite good. Where others' dough hadn't risen evenly or completely, ours had and baked well.

Our pie dough was light and fluffy once baked, although our apple mix was slightly tart once the pie was baked. Chef didn't have any particular comments regarding our pie.

Our cinnamon rolls with caramel glaze were very good as well. Chef commented on the good flavour of the rolls, especially warm out of the oven.

World Cuisine - Russia

Introduction

Each country’s national culture is also reflected in their cuisine and the Russian cuisine follows this path. The culinary aspects of Russia are also respected ambassadors of many Russian traditions and life styles. Many dishes which were appreciated in antiquity are still popular today, while new dishes are being invented by Russian chefs on a regular basis. Many traditional Russian dishes became known all over the world from the times of Peter the Great when hundreds of European cooks traveled back and forth to Russia cooking for the tsar’s banquets. Several new spices were adopted by the Russians - many of which had French origin - as the French cooks were among the most famous of those times. Some Russians stick with the original recipes for some of their traditional dishes, such as Pelmeni or meat dishes, while others prefer to bring new life to old recipes and add new ingredients and exotic spices which were unknown to Russians hundreds of years ago. Agriculture has always been used extensively in Russia and Wheat, Rye, Oats and millet were the main ingredients for any meal for centuries. Bread was and still is one of the food elements that are never absent from a Russian table. Bread is used with soup and the main course, although sometimes it may be left aside if the dish contains potatoes or pasta. Baking is also present since times immemorial and all grain based food products used in the past are still present today in one form or another. Meat is yet another essential element in the Russian cuisine. Hunting was extremely popular in Russia and it provided a large proportion of the meat that Russians consumed. Wild animal meat was gradually replaced by farmed animal meat although some of the most appreciated Russian dishes are prepared with boar or moose meat. Fish is also popular with a large variety of dishes and there are hundreds of fish species that are used in delicious and often extremely sumptuous dishes. The huge Russian forests also provided people with different types of berries and nuts which also find their way in today’s Russian dishes.

From: http://www.cookbookwiki.com/Russia

Recipes

Borscht

Servings: 4-6

1/2 oz butter
1 oz bacon, diced
4 oz onions, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 oz celery, diced
2 oz carrots, diced
4 oz green cabbage, chiffonade
12 oz beets, diced
1 oz tomato paste
3 cups chicken stock

2 oz potatoes diced
6 oz tomato concasse
2 oz sour cream
Fresh lemon juice
Fresh dill, chopped
Salt and white pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Place the butter and bacon into a sauce pot and sweat, do not brown
2. Add the onions, garlic and sweat until translucent
3. Add the celery, carrots, cabbage, beets and sweat.
4. Add the tomato paste, chicken stock and bring to simmer over medium high heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
5. Add the potatoes, tomato concasse and simmer for 10 more minutes or until all the vegetables are tender - do not overcook.
6. Adjust seasonings with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
7. Garnish soup with sour cream and fresh chopped dill just prior to serving.

Pojarskie

Servings: 4

4 oz bread, crust removed
2 oz whole milk
1 chicken, whole
2 oz butter, softened
Salt and pepper to taste
2 oz butter
2 oz oil

Preparation:

1. Cut the crust off the bread and soak in the milk, set aside.
2. Bone the chicken, ending up with approximately 1lb boneless/skinless chicken meat.
3. Grind the chicken through a medium die, add the bread mixture, butter and seasoning, then grind through fine die.
4. Divide the chicken meat into 4oz patties and shape to look like a pork chop, place on saran wrap, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Apply standard breading procedure, set aside until needed.
6. Pan-fry the pojarskie in the butter and oil mixture until golden brown on the outside and cooked in the center.

Salmon Kulebyaka

Servings: 4

Brioche Dough:

1 1/2 oz milk
1/4 oz sugar
1/4 oz yeast

3 oz bread flour
1 whole egg
1/4 oz salt

2 eggs whole
10 oz bread flour
3 oz butter, melted

Rice Filling

1 oz butter
1 oz onion, diced
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1 oz butter
8 oz mushrooms, diced
1 oz lemon juice

2 oz butter
3 oz onion, fine dice
1 egg, hardboiled, chopped
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper to taste

12 oz salmon fillet

Preparation:

Brioche dough:

1. Combine the milk and sugar, heat to 110°F then add the dry yeast and rehydrate for 10 minutes.
2. Combine first flour, egg, and salt in a bowl, then add the milk and yeast mixture, blend with wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Slowly add second flour, egg, and melted butter.
4. Knead the mixture by hand until the dough is smooth, slightly shiny and warm.
5. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and proof for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
6. Punch down the dough, knead slightly and retard.

Rice Filling:

1. With the first set of ingredients, prepare a rice pilaf.
2. Melt butter and sauté the mushrooms over high heat, finish with fresh lemon juice.
3. Heat a sauté pan and butter, sauté the onions until translucent and place into a bowl.
4. Combine the cooked mushrooms, rice pilaf, hard boiled egg, raw egg yolk and seasoning.

To assemble:

1. Roll out the dough to 1/8" thick and spread a 1/2" layer of rice mixture in the center of the dough, the size of the salmon fillet.
2. Place the salmon fillet on top of the rice and add another 1/2" layer of rice on top of the salmon.
3. Egg wash the edges of the pastry and fold the brioche over the top to cover the rice and salmon.
4. Place the seam at the bottom and eggwash the top and make marks with a fork.
5. Proof for approximately 20 minutes before baking.
6. Bake at 375°F until dough is golden brown on the outside and salmon fillet is cooked in the center, to about 145°F.

Glazed Carrots

Servings: 4

1 lb carrots, tournéed
2 oz butter, whole
1/2 oz water
1 oz brown sugar, granulated
Salt and white pepper to taste
Parsley, chopped

Preparation:

1. Parboil the prepared carrots until tender.
2. Heat a sautépan, add the butter, water, and brown sugar, bring to a simmer and add the carrots.
3. Heat the carrots tossing them until they are glazed.
4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Garnish with chopped parsley when serving.

Glazed Turnips

Servings: 4

1 lb Turnips, tournéed
2 oz butter
1/2 oz water
1 oz maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of cinnamon
Parsley, chopped

Preparation:

1. Parboil the prepared turnips until tender.
2. Heat a sautépan, add the butter, water and maple syrup, bring to a simmer and add the turnips.
3. Heat the turnips tossing them until they are glazed.
4. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste and add a pinch of cinnamon.
5. Garnish with chopped parsley when serving.

Glazed Beets

Servings: 4

1 lb beets, whole
1 oz butter
1/2 lemon juice, fresh squeezed
2 oz maple syrup
Salt and white pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Boil the beets in salt water, whole in their skin until tender.
2. Drain, cool and peel the beets, cut into wedges.
3. Heat a sautépan, add the butter, lemon juice and maple syrup, bring to a simmer and add the beets.
4. Heat the beets tossing them until they are glazed.
5. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Practical

Our plating for the day was to serve the Borscht first, the Pojarskie as an appetizer style dish second, and finish with the Salmon Kulebyaka served with the vegetable side dishes.

We started by preparing the Borscht and getting it cooking. Once the soup was going, we deboned and prepared the chicken and got it shaped and in the fridge to cool. We also prepared the rice filling for the kulebyaka at this time.

At this point we prepared the brioche dough for the kulebyaka and set it aside to rest. We then prepared our vegetables to be served with the kulebyaka, and blanched those that we could.

At this point we were able to serve our Borscht. We were able to follow this shortly with breading the pojarskie, cooking it and serving it as well. We then finished preparation on the Kulebyaka, laying down the rice layer and placing the salmon on top, then another rice layer and wrapping the whole thing with the brioche dough. This was put into the oven to cook as we finished the vegetables with their glazing and seasoning. Once the kulebyaka was cooked, the whole dish was served.

Observations

Due to the beet content, Borscht has a very interesting red colour. It is also very flavourful, and the vegetable content makes for a very healthy yet filling dish. Chef commented on the appropriate consistency of our dish - borscht is a thin soup with vegetables, so the liquid should not be thick or stewy.

The pojarskie was an interesting dish. The first thing I thought of was that shaping a chicken based dish like a pork cutlet was peculiar, however after cooking and tasting the dish, either it actually does taste like pork, or your mind fools you into thinking it tastes like pork. For this dish Chef commented on the appropriate colouring of the breading after cooking, and appropriate seasoning to the dish.

Our kulebyaka came out very well. It was quite flavourful with the salmon cooked quite well. We were getting close to over-doing the salmon, as it had started to lose some moisture, but it was still very good. Chef commented on our rice being an appropriate consistency and sticking together well, not falling apart or out of the pastry when it was cut into. Overall, a very good dish. The vegetable accompaniments were fairly standard for us and there wasn't much to comment on regarding them.

North American Regional Cuisine - New England

Introduction

While our focus in North American Regional Cuisine is going to be on specific regions and their culinary ingredients and dishes, Chef will also be relating the work to ingredients local to the Vancouver area. While understanding the regional cuisines will give us a broader picture of the variety in culinary, the reality is that we work in a specific market with an abundance of certain ingredients. These fresh ingredients bought locally are generally preferred when preparing dishes due to enhanced visual appeal, flavour, and texture of fresh product over those which have been frozen and transported over great distances.

Practical

We started our first day in North American Regional Cuisine with a review of knife skills, emphasizing proper cutting technique and safety. We then began our work on New England cuisine by preparing a clam chowder. During preparation, the cream in ours broke due to the temperature getting too high and Chef demonstrated a method of saving the key ingredients by discarding the liquid, briefly rinsing the solid ingredients to remove any remaining curdles, and starting again with prepared clam nectar instead of using our own nectar from steaming clams. Our end result was quite flavourful although not holding quite enough depth to the clam flavour as we would have liked. We then prepared a New England boiled dinner, a piece of meat boiled with vegetables, sliced, and served. This dish is designed to take an inexpensive, likely tough, piece of meat and tenderize it; the end result, however, is a meat that is very low in flavour. This dish is accompanied by fresh creamed horseradish sauces to make up for lack of flavour in the meat itself. We then prepared a peach and blueberry cobbler, which was fairly standard fare. Our group mixed up a fresh blueberry frozen cream as a garnish for this dish which worked out quite well. We prepared baked beans, which were flavourful but the liquid had not reduced to a thick enough consistency by the time we needed to serve them. Along with the baked beans we prepared a Boston brown bread, a bread which is very similar in texture to a bran muffin. We served this with an apple-cinnamon butter which was very tasty. Lastly, we served red snapper with steamed clams which ended up being a very tasty dish, although we served a little too much liquid with the dish.

Blog Notes

Our Chef for this class is not huge on written assignments and has asked that we keep these journals short and to the point, so there will not be as much information here as I usually post. If anyone has any questions, feel free to let me know and I'll be happy to expand on anything for you.

Introduction to Baking Week 1 - Cookies, Muffins, Rolls

Introduction

Our first week in Intro to Baking started with a quick overview of the class and some of the methods and procedures we would be using. Some of the terms we reviewed were:

Leavener - an ingredient or process that produces or incorporates gases in a baked product in order to increase volume, provide structure and give texture.
Sugars - The most common sugar being sucrose, refined from sugar cane, there are a variety of sugars used in the bakeshop including demerara, sanding sugar, regular granulated, cubed sugar, brown sugar, superfine or castor sugar, and icing or confectioner's sugar. There are also liquid sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, and molasses.
Simple Syrup - a combination of sugar and water.
Mixing methods - while there are a variety of mixing methods used, we focused on the straight dough method, a mixing method for yeast breads in which all ingredients are simply combined and mixed, and the creaming method where softened fat and sugar are vigorously combined to incorporate air.
Punching down - folding down dough after fermentation in order to expel excessive gas pockets and even out the dough's temperature.

Recipes

Blueberry Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

8 oz all-purpose flour
4 oz sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
8 fl oz milk
4 fl oz unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz blueberries, or other frozen berries
1 tbsp lemon zest

Preparation:

1. Sift the dry ingredients together.
2. Stir together the liquid ingredients, including the melted butter.
3. Stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Do not overmix. The batter should be lumpy.
4. Gently fold in the blueberries and lemon zest.
5. Portion into greased or paper-lined muffin cups and bake at 350°F until light brown and set in the centre, approximately 18 minutes.
6. Cool the muffins in the pan for several minutes before removing.

Soft Rolls

Yield: 24 rolls, 50g each

385g water
23g fresh yeast
670g bread flour
13g salt
64g sugar
32g milk solids (powdered milk)
32g shortening
32g butter

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients together, allow proofing until dough has doubled in size. Punch down.
2. Divide dough into 50g units and round.
3. Roll to desired length. Twist into shapes as desired.
4. Brush rolls with water and finish with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or corn meal.
5. Place on sheet pan.
6. Proof once more.
7. Bake at 400°F until done.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

360 grams pastry flour
2 grams baking soda
2 grams baking powder

238 grams butter
238 grams sugar

50 grams eggs (1 large egg)
150 grams peanut butter, smooth
6 grams salt

Peanut pieces, Granulated Sugar

Preparation:

1. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, set aside.
2. Cream the butter, add sugar and continue creaming.
3. Gradually add eggs followed by peanut butter and salt.
4. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix to make a firm dough.
5. Divide dough into 2 logs and cut each log into 12 pieces.
6. Roll each cookie into a ball and place on pan. Press down. Using a fork, place criss-cross markings on surface of each cookie.
7. Lightly brush with water and sprinkle with granulated sugar and press peanut pieces into cookies.
8. Bake at 350°F until golden brown, approximately 12 minutes.

Observations

Our first day of baking went relatively well, with some delicious yet fairly simple formulas (bakeshop talk for recipe) being followed.

Our muffins turned out very well. They had a good colour to them after baking and were light in the middle. Some of the class had issues with over-mixing their dough which caused the muffins to be very flat and run across the bake pan rather than rising. This demonstrated that over-mixing can drastically effect your final product, and when following a muffin-method recipe mixing should only be done just so that the ingredients are together, not trying to smooth out the batter altogether.

The peanut butter cookies also turned out well, as was the case for most of the class. The biggest issue here was baking time, ensuring that the cookies were removed from the oven early enough that carry-over baking would not over cook the cookies. This is something that will mostly come with experience observing baking as cookies will always be soft in the oven so firmness cannot be used as a doneness indicator.

Our soft roll formula was where we encountered the most difficulty. Our dough did not rise very much while proofing, perhaps due to a mis-calculation of yeast required. Although we corrected the yeast before proofing the dough, it took quite a long time to proof. Once punched down and rolled out, we were unable to roll it into uniform shapes, so some of the final rolls were slightly misshapen. While the finished rolls were light and tasted fine, we were behind on time so we hadn't glazed them which gave them a dull luster rather than an attractive sheen produced by glazing. Chef noted the size inconsistencies and glazing while reviewing our finished product.

Overall, a mostly successful first day in the bake shop.

World Cuisine - Scandinavia

Introduction

Scandinavia is the geographical region encompassing the Scandinavian peninsula in Northern Europe. It includes the countries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Scandinavian cuisine is generally based on simple cooking styles, often very mild and not spicy. While most of Europe emphasizes lunch as the main meal of the day, dinner is emphasized more in Scandinavia, with a quick cold lunch being served and dinner being served by 6pm. A similar custom to the traditional English tea is also observed where bread, biscuits, cookies, pastry and coffee are served around 2-3pm. Norwegian cuisine often consists mainly of a meat dish, with vast wild areas providing an abundance of fish and game - smoked salmon being one of the most famous food products related to Norway. Danish cuisine normally consists of high levels of meat and less vegetables, due to the climate not providing plentiful time for agriculture. Thus, many dishes rely on seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as including many preserved meats. Lack of vegetation due to long winters causes a similar situation in Sweden, where root vegetables such as rutabaga and potatoes are used along side abundant fish, particularly Herring, to create many traditional Swedish dishes.

Recipes

Cucumber Salad

Servings: 4

2 Cucumbers
2 oz Sour Cream
1/2 oz Cider Vinegar
1/2 oz Vegetable Oil
Pinch of granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon chopped dill
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Peel, cut in half lengthwise and seed the cucumbers, slice crosswise very fine, sprinkle with salt and let them stand for 30 minutes (this is known as "purging" which is done with high moisture vegetables such as cucumber or eggplant to prevent dishes from becoming over-moist)
2. Drain the cucumbers and squeeze/pat dry.
3. Combine sour cream, vinegar, oil, sugar, and dill.
4. Add cucumbers and mix thoroughly, season to taste.

Frikadellen - (Meat Patties)

Servings: 4

3 oz Onions, fine dice
1 oz Butter
1 1/2 oz Pork butt, ground on medium die
2 Eggs
1/2 oz parsley chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Breadcrumbs as needed

Frying mixture:

4 oz butter
4 oz oil

Preparation:

1. Sweat the onions in butter until translucent; cool and add to the meat
2. Add eggs, parsley and seasoning to the meat and mix thoroughly, add breadcrumbs if mixture is too moist
3. Season and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Scoop meat into 2 oz patties and dip in bread crumbs to coat the outside.
5. Pan-fry the patties in butter and oil mixture until golden brown on the outside and cooked thoroughly.

Creamed Potatoes

Servings: 4

1 1/2 lbs Red Bliss potatoes
Heavy cream as needed
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Peel, wash and cut the potatoes into 1/2" cubes
2. Place potato into a sauté pan, add heavy cream until almost at the top of the potato.
3. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then place in oven and cook at 350°F until potatoes are tender and cream has almost been absorbed. Season to taste and serve.

Green Beans

Servings: 4

1 lb Green Beans, trimmed
1 oz butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. String and parboil green beans in boiling salt water for approximately 6-8 minutes, stopping when desired tenderness is achieved.
2. Shock beans in ice water, drain and chill until needed.
3. Heat a sauté pan, add butter, let it get light brown then toss beans until coated and re-heated. Season to taste and serve.

Sautéed Mushrooms

Servings: 4

2 oz Butter
1 oz Onion, diced
1 lb Mushrooms, quartered
Salt and White Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Sweat the onions in butter until translucent.
2. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper, sautéing until cooked and the moisture has evaporated.

Practical

We started the day by preparing the cucumber for purging as this would take some time to sit, as well as wanting to serve the salad first. Once the cucumbers were prepared, we mixed the dressing and left it to chill.

Next we prepared the meat mixture for the frikadellen as this also needed to chill briefly. The meat was ground then mixed with seasoning, covered and placed in the refrigerator to cool.

We then worked on preparing our mise-en-place for the remaining vegetable dishes so they could be quickly finished when the frikadellen was being cooked. We prepped the beans as called for, and removed the stems and quartered the mushrooms.

Once we were satisfied with the amount of liquid purged from the cucumber it was dried and mixed with the dressing, then served. We then pan-fried our frikadellen while sautéing the beans and mushrooms, and plated these three items and served them.

Observations

While we have prepared the mushrooms and beans many times before, we usually sliced the mushrooms rather than quartering, so that was a slight change. I personally prefer quartering as I find the mushrooms hold their shape better and provide a more substantial flavour when eaten individually quartered rather than sliced. The cucumber salad was very good, the dill flavour going well with the crispness of the cucumbers. Chef noted that we need to be careful with the amount of salt used for purging as it can be very easy to make the dish excessively salty this way. While ours was still fine, we probably used just a little too much salt.

The frikadellen was very good, although quite difficult to cook well. As with all breaded items, if cooked at too high a temperature, the bread crumbs will quickly go beyond golden brown to dark or even black. This means that a combination of appropriate size and shape along with low pan-frying temperature must be used to achieve appropriate results. Our first attempt did not finish cooking before the bread crumbs were too dark, and while our second attempt remedied this after flattening out the patties slightly, Chef noted our colour was still slightly dark. The best patties in class were a very nice brown and well cooked through, obviously done at a more appropriate temperature than ours were.

Back on the blog train

Well, it's a new year and school has started again so I'm getting back to blogging about what I'm doing. This semester will bring many more entries as I'm three cooking classes which each require a journal - North American Cuisine, World Cuisine, and Introduction to Baking.

That being said, the format will change slightly as our focus shifts away from basic techniques to understanding the variety of culinary which exists in the world. New things will be production timelines as well as full recipes being included, while safety (although still the most important part of commercial food production) will not be explicitly reviewed unless something specific is noted that week.

That's about it for now, here comes the first entry!