Week 5 was awesome. We got the results of the 2 exams that we took, and I got a 98% and 95%. We focused on making modern sauces, and a delicious broccoli soup.
We started with practicing our dicing of course, but we also got to make mayonnaise again, to prepare for our practical exam, more to come on that.
Modern Sauces
We played with agar agar, and xanthum gum. Agar agar is a plant based alternative to gelatin, and xanthan gum helps thicken. I made fluid gel with black currant puree, a tomato coulis and basil oil. I think all of these techniques and sauces are going to help me step my plating game up even more.
Chef walked us through making broccoli soup, and it was so tasty. He is like Mr. Miyagi training Daniel-son. Remember Karate Kid, how Mr. Miyagi ran Daniel-son through all of these ridiculous assignments, and then put them all together to create a strong fighter? That is how I felt when we made the broccoli soup. In making the broccoli soup, we had to make the roux, into velouté sauce that required stock that we made. Then we had to blanch and shock broccoli to blend smoothly in the soup, and flavor to taste. It just all comes together.
Chicken Consommé
The final thing that we made was a chicken consommé. For something so elegant, the way to make it was crazy, but I just followed chef “Miyagi”. Consommé is a very clear soup. To make it we had to mix in a food processor, raw ground chicken, egg whites, eggshells, tomato paste, and mirepoix (carrots, onions, celery). You then add this mixture to hot stock, and wait for the mix to rise like a raft on the surface. So you call the gross mixture of raw chicken, egg whites, egg shells etc. a raft. Once it floated to the top, we had to ladle out the clear liquid, consommé.
Pay no attention to the spelling of the consomme on the stove, the label served its purpose.
Week 6 will start with all sorts of tests and trials. We have a written exam, and also a practical (hands on) exam. Half of the class will be taking the written while the other half are in the kitchen. The practical exam includes making the broccoli soup, the mayonnaise, and dice a potato….ALL IN AN HOUR. I’ll let you know how I do next post. Don’t forget to comment if you have questions, or anything from the peanut gallery to add.
Did they say why they had you work with agar agar and xanthum gum instead of gelatin and other common thickeners? Are they considered healthier options?
The reason we were using these was because they are considered modern, so we used them to make a modern sauce. I imagine you can use gelatin but that is animal product