Day 6, 7 and 8 of CCT

Well sorry for the tardiness of my blog but since this term is very laid back I haven’t had much to post. That combined with a 4 day weekend – YEAH BABY!!

We’ve done several things, but most are done and then put into the refrigerator for days until it’s ready to have something else done to it.

For example on day 6 we started our gravlax. This is a salt cured, unsmoked, side of salmon. Yeah it’s still in the refrigerator and that was done back before the long weekend. We also rinsed all the ducks for smoking, made some oven dried tomatoes and presented our Pate and Pork Terrine.

Note – The tomatoes…well let’s say that you took a tomato and threw it into a fire pit till it was black and ash…that’s what we ended up having. I don’t know why they were done the way they were done. The oven was set at 250, I would have had it at 225 and I wouldn’t have had the fan on, or if so, I would have reduced the heat to 200.

Note – I don’t care how pretty it looks presented on a wood board Pate is still nasty.

So you can see how much the pace of this session (CCT) differs from the last one (PCA-II).

On day 7 we got kinda busy. We made salads and a lot of them.

Mizuna Salad with Prosciutto, Citrus and Sherry Vinaigrette
Radicchio and Endive Salad with Goat Cheese, Pear and Champagne Vinaigrette
Composed Cobb Salad with Roquefort Dressing
Warm Duck Confit Salad with Frisee, Apples, and Pomegranate Molasses

Interesting how ‘salad’ day just happened to be on the day before Thanksgiving. I said this before in another post, I am really enjoying duck. Ok so I should also say that our teams duck confit was more like duck jerky. We were to warm the duck in duck fat, add the pomegranate vinaigrette and let it caramelize a bit. Well ours caramelized within seconds. Of course we weren’t watching it assuming it was going to take several minutes. As for flavor no one could touch us!! Of course even though no one could touch us you could at least chew theirs within a reasonable time frame.

My favorite of the night was the Radicchio salad. This was just so refreshing with the cheese and pears.

On the Eighth day of Cooking Class our Chef did bring to us….8 separate dishes, 7 freaky salads, 6 odd prep courses, FIVE Forcedmeat snacks!!, 4 smoked meats, 3 edible sausages, 2 grinding methods and 1 whole hog fabrication!!

Ok sorry the 12 days of Christmas was playing and I decided to get in the mood. Where was I? Oh yes day 8. After tonight I can officially say I know how to make a sandwich. (shrugs) So on the menu for this evening was a Caesar Salad in which we made the dressing and croutons. We also served –

Reuben Sandwich with Braised Sauerkraut, Russian Dressing, and Coleslaw.
Croque Monsieur with Frisee, Radish and Cornichon Salad
Italian Submarine with Mediterranean Oven-Dried Tomato/Potato Salad (yes these are the same oven dried tomatoes)

I love corned beef so the Reuben I was looking forward to. That was until they insisted we use the traditional bread, being Rye. *gag*

Croque Monsiuer is basically a ham sandwich. The bread is toasted, the ham and cheese is layered on and put back into the oven to melt. Once out it is then topped with other piece of bread and then Mornay sauce is smeared over the top and chives sprinkled for garnish. I was very hesitant about this one, but not one to allow anything we make to go un-tasted (and yes I did taste the pate) I took a bite. Not bad, the Mornay sauce does add something. However the ham was very sweet and ham (in my opinion) should never be sweet. I don’t even put glaze on my ham when I bake them. (Jean from C@H is going to slap me silly I’m sure over this comment hahaha) I think I’d make these again but instead of ham I’d use beef or turkey.

Italian Sub…what can I say it’s a sub. Pile on some meat, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and it’s dinner, or lunch, or whatever meal you’re making.

I had this question once before so I’ll specify here – Cornichons are those little sweet pickles.

Tomorrow we begin all the prep work for our appetizer presentation on Thursday to the rest of the school. We will be prepping the following –

Gravlax and Herbed Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches
Warm Gruyere and Roasted Ham Profiteroles
Savory Bacon, Onion and Saint Agur Tartlets
Snapper Ceviche in Cucumber Cups
Vol-au-vents with Smoked Duck Mousse

Will be a busy night with all the prep but I know our group, we’ll have it knocked out in no time at all.

Until Tomorrow!...