The morning
was spent learning more about pastry and the art of scaling a recipe. I had no
idea but it is not a good idea to multiply a recipe more than 3 times or the
leavening wont work out how you want it. You also have to mostly taste test to
make sure that the spices are ok; you can’t just multiply them. We also learned
about gelatin and how superior gelatin strips are over the powder. I had no
idea how much the powder just smells like pork product.
In the
afternoon we worked with Chef Fran Milano from Row 34 and Island Creek Oyster
House to learn how to break down fish. My group, initially, got tasked with the
rainbow trout. A wonderful fish that is small and flavorful but boy does it
have a million pin bones. Ok, a million might be a stretch but there are enough
that I feel justified in complaining. The majority of the day was spent
breaking down the fish then we had a frantic shorter period where we tried to
cook them.
In general
I liked the grilled whole fish the best for flavor then the muscles! He sweated
off shallot and leeks then added generous amounts of butter and white wine.
Amazing.
I am proud of touching the fish. It was touch and go for
awhile but I did it!
I need to work on my knives. Who knew that fish scales were
so hard! My poor knives were not up to snuff even though I sharpened them the
night before.
Take aways
Probably the most important take away was the
way to recognize good fish
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