Week 4: Taste Testing Dairy & Gentle Cooking Methods
- Sep 22, 2017
- 4 min read
Day 1: It's our last Demo week and I'm emotional! But very excited because it's then time to take our knowledge to the test and actually get to work in a professional kitchen!
As we entered the kitchen today, Chef instructed that we number a piece of paper from 1-18 and to begin socially taste testing some mysterious dairy products. Some were delightful to taste and some left a rather unpleasant flavor in my mouth. After our social taste testing we were lucky to hear Chef tell us some interesting and very amusing stories about each of the products that we tried. We then watched a 6 something minute video on how cheese wheels are produced- wow! Who knew the process of watching cheese being made could be so interesting? Also how is it possible for only 1 pound of cheese to be worth $20.00? That racks up to be quite an expense if needed in a kitchen.
After our dairy testing and cheese-wheel watching we we're graciously given time to work on our Soup Savvy event with our groups in class. This was greatly appreciated considering my group hadn't even begun planning out what we need to do, need to get and how we're going to accomplish it. Luckily, Chef was walking around and checking in on all of us and gave us some advice that let me to my AHA moment for the week. Chef asked, "who does what when?" and began to mention that is how we're going to succeed in this first event. Begin by making a plan that answers that above question and place your plan into action.
Here's my wonderful friend Jennie & I taste testing the famous half & half dairy product. Yuck!
Here's Chef staring at me as he prepared to tell us about our next class period & a picture of some of my friends discussing how our blogs were coming together!
Day 2: Go with the grains! Walking into class today I was prepared to be served some delicious risotto and somewhat prepared to cook our own dish: rice pilaf. We first began with Chef giving us a demo on how to cook risotto which in itself is a cooking method as well as a supporting name of a dish. The method itself is gentle, subtle and takes time to make perfect. Chef told us the step process of making the dish and kept asking "why" as he prepared it in front of us. This opened up the conversation about always wondering why certain steps were taken when making a dish and got me thinking about the reasoning for each step listed in a recipe.
As Chef prepared the risotto for us he mentioned that it was time for us to learn about the two dishes we'd be assigned to make. Lumberjack Gritz (which are delicious) and Rice Pilaf (which would taste better if it wasn't burnt). As Chef stared into our souls he thought it would be best if we prepared the rice pilaf which we definitely burnt, but it did taste quite good once we we're finished.
While we were waiting on our team dishes, Chef called us over to eat the risotto he made and I had an epiphany when I tried it. And that risotto is the MOST DELICIOUS DISH I'VE EVER HAD. Maybe it was because the rice was covered with all my favorite things like; butter, olive oil, salt, herbs, wine (if I was 21) and chicken stock! Mmm mouth-watering!
My biggest AHA moment of the day was when Chef shared yet another snap-worthy quote, "if you do a lot of little things, it'll push your food from good to great" which really reinforces the idea that finding little things to make a dish great is worth it for any person working in the kitchen to consider.
Here's the Risotto as chef was preparing it, then the finished product & my face of joy/tears of joy because the risotto was so freaking bomb!
Here's the finished Risotto as everyone's mouths were watering!
A Weekly Concept Integrated From Another Class Into This One...
It has almost been a month into the semester and my Spanish class had really been taking off with harder lessons, more difficult material and not to mention a brand new spankin' language! I had a really hard time keeping everything together at first. From all the materials we were studying and the homework assignments we had- I didn't know what to do. Until, I discovered a way for me to understand the material. I began using an application on my phone every day even if it was for a short amount of time that allowed me to study the information we we're given in class. This helped me succeed in my Spanish class and understand what my teacher is teaching each day. I'm able to integrate that learning concept into this class as well. If I were to only look at my book for our quizzes or even just pay attention when I needed to I wouldn't succeed. So, lately I've been looking at the chapters we're being taught in class prior to the demonstration so I actually understand Chef's cooking techniques or reasonings while he's doing it and not feeling lost as he teaches. It's helped a whole lot & I can't wait to see how I feel later on in the semester.
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