Cooking Class #8

Our mission:

Make chicken stock

Make tomato concasse (using 3 plum tomatoes)

Make bechamel sauce

Make small & medium dice, julienne, and brunoise cuts (using 2 potatoes)

The chef was back (hurray!). He gave us a pep talk and led us to the kitchens.

First step was to take care of my mise en place (everything in its place). This means basically gathering and prepping all of your ingredients and making sure you have all the tools you'll need. That way, you can just plant yourself at your station/stove and cook without interruption.

I had spent the day in my own kitchen making roux, clarified butter, and, to my later delight, tomato concasse and bechamel sauce. Once I put my stock on to simmer, I attacked the tomatoes. Another pot of water on the burner. Score an 'X' on the bottom of each tomato just to pierce the skin. Place the tomatoes in the boiling water for fifteen seconds and then place them directly in ice water to stop them from cooking. Easily peel off the skin, remove the seeds, and dice.

Done.

Next I made the bechamel sauce since it was fresh in my memory. Make a white roux, scald some milk, sweat some onions in butter. Incorporate the roux into the onions, then slowly add the milk and whisk. Bring to a boil, add a bay leaf and one clove and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Strain and season with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg.

Done.

Then I took my time and slowly diced and julienned the potatoes--I find it tricky to exactly, precisely dice and cut with straight edges. I'm more of a rustic chopper.

Done.

I planned on letting my stock simmer until 10pm (for a solid four-hour cooking time) so I helped out with dishwashing duties. Around 9pm, several students were already straining their stock and asking the chef to taste it. Around 9:30pm, the chef asked us all back into the classroom for a moment. He didn't chastize, but he wanted to tell us that there was no hurry; that practically all of the stocks he'd tasted so far were weak. "Be patient. Let your stock develop some flavor."

I was smirking because my stock was still simmering at this time. Ha!

Stocks are graded by aroma, flavor, color, body, and clarity. Around 10:20, I nervously beckoned the chef to my station. My eyes wide and hopeful, I watched him as he tasted my stock. Other than being a little cloudy, he said that it was perfect.

(p.s.-Out of a possible forty-five points, that one point for stock clarity was the only one that I missed.)