#50 - Plated desserts, fish, lamb and a looming mystery

This week has gone by in a flash.  One minute it was too early on a Monday morning and the next moment the week is ending with the Mystery Basket looming over us.

Starting at the middle

Leaning Towers of Ricotta...

Because you already know the beginning.  We did our identical plated desserts - was it only yesterday?  According to my camera, yes, it was.  We had another class to practice tuiles and chocolate (worth quite a points in the final exam as they count towards technique, presentation, balance, taste and, possibly, texture).  This was then used to decorate our ricotta bavarois (kind of like a mousse, but a mousse is not necessarily a bavarois - analgous to how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square in geometry - fancy schmancy technical terms you know, so that we sound really cool when we talk shop).




Plated desserts

Leaning Towers of Ricotta with
2-tone chocolate latticework

I was of two minds about a piped chocolate decoration which I eventually left off because I thought it was too heavy (above).  Chef NH made a suggestion that I trim them (hence the 2-toned chocolate lattice triangles - right) but that was after he marked the ones I presented.  I admit it looks a bit more impressive but whether or not I can work quickly enough to pull it off on exam day remains to be seen.  It will require some practice sessions to get the timing/texture and piping down so that I can get it all done in 5 minutes - especially if it's a warm day like yesterday so that it takes so much longer to do chocolate and there's much less time to get the tuiles done.  The raspberry coulis is a bit of a disaster but all in all it was a good learning and experimental day.

Cuisine - Who knew Mustard is salty?

Then it was on to Cuisine and today.  2 practicals sandwiching a demo - all I can say is, it might be 14C outside, but it's still pretty tropical inside.  The first class was a seabass confit this morning.  It seemed under control until I had to add mustard to the sauce - after which, the sauce tasted terrible.  Why?  Because it was too salty.  Hands up everyone who knew mustard is inherently salty...

I apologized to Chef JB about the sauce before he took a taste.  Sad - the dish started out so well (good fish, good lentils...) and then the sauce, which made him make a face.  He told me how to fix it (basically start over and do things to it - like bringing back a split Hollandaise).  Too late for this dish, but possibly useful in the future.  (Not a bad day, according to Chef JB.)  In the meantime, no, I haven't tasted the dish.  We confited (is that how I say it in English?) in duck fat.  There was double cream in the sauce (which I tasted and didn't like - very mustard-y).  I liked the lentils (had to check the cooking point and the seasoning) which were quite easy to make.

Hit and miss lamb

Then this afternoon:  lamb a couple of different ways and split pea puree.  The pea puree doesn't sound very appetising, but I found it surprisingly yummy - especially the bacon-y goodness which came through after I added quite a bit of salt to the dish.  The things that tasted so salty to me were ok for seasoning.  It might have tasted ok but the cooking was a bit unfortunate for this one.

Comments:  The fondant potato could have used a little more cooking (but Chef, my potato fell apart!)

• The petit fillet of the lamb is blue - so that's not good and needs work.  (Yup.)
• The fillet is cooked med/med-well.  A bit unevenly cooked as well.  (Yup...)
• The confit lamb needed more time.  (If only class were longer, Chef.)
• The pea puree was good.  (Yes Chef - because you made the puree for us.  I just added more salt.)
• The presentation is...ok.  (Yes Chef - I'll work on the whole making it pretty.)
• The sauce is good - tastes like red wine sauce.  (Hmmm, good to know you didn't see me almost burn it away and have to revive it so many times.)

Looming Mystery

Tomorrow is our mystery basket.  We each get a basket of supplies and have our usual class time in which to come up with something.  Everything goes except that some things don't go together (i.e. pasta and pastry), it has to taste good and it has to be pretty.  Oh, and whatever technique we use has to be done properly.

Surreal life

Wish us luck - this is probably the most like a TV cooking show scenario (except for the countdown during exams).  Odd - as much as it sucks to mess up a dish, this is still the most fun I've had on a daily basis in quite a while. I'm living in my own little fantasy world of personal interactive cooking show (we get to taste! Almost every day!) and we get to learn - plus we get pictures and we get to take the food home. I can't imagine when school will ever be so much fun again, seeing as how I can't seem to stay away from classrooms. For the moment, my life is a little bit of a combination of Bridget Jones (from Diary days, not the sequels) + Iron Chef/Master Chef/Top Chef [insert name of your preferred cooking show here] + Ally McBeal / Legally Blonde [although the Ally McBeal / Legally Blonde references are not mine).  Must admit I had to check my hair color a couple of times after I spent an entire week thinking it was a day later than it actually was and again today when I couldn't find my camera which was in my bag because it wasn't in the right place.  (Everything might have its time and to everything a season, but when they have their time and place, it gets very confusing when they switch around.  What's wrong with organized chaos?  I never lose things more often than after I tidy up.)

So until next time - would you be able to make a dish (or a meal) based on a list of ingredients?  Happy thinking / planning / dreaming!