Wow. Now that's a top notch restaurant right there.
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Wow. Now that's a top notch restaurant right there.
wish the font was black. I can barely read it, the black blends with the dark blue bg.
Highlight it and it's readable.
This is the kind of things I aim to make every day. :)
Although, I don't have a lot of those ingredients in my stewing hole.
As good as that sounds, I find it odd to see Duck twice on the same menu as that is usually a menu no-no but I'm sure it was amazing. It sounded great. I'd love to learn from Chefs like this because they are like me, constantly trying new things to regular great ingredients that people like (instead of using sea grass and rabbit tongue)
Recently I made a seared pork tenderloin stuffed with goats cheese and a grape reduction (basically, over low heat reduce grapes with sugar until the grapes open and become raisin like). I served it with a merlot wine sauce and an apple chutney/relish. People ordered it like crazy and one of the head chefs told me I'm a crazy person because I think of things that seem simple but nobody does (like reducing grapes for fun - although I'm sure somebody does this, just he never heard of it)
I also just made banana creme brulee, I've been trying to get the perfect creme brulee recipe by modifying how many egg yolks I use (which sets the custard) to get the perfect texture... so to say the least, the servers and hotel staff have been eating creme brulee like it's as common as an apple.
Cooking is fun. I just wish it didn't pay shit money.
Yeah, the duck in my girlfriend's first course was serving to compliment the pear, which on my receipt is referred to as "pear salad". In my course, it was on equal footing on the plate with the foie gras. The placement of them both was pretty equally balanced (the duck breast being sliced and fanned on one side while the foie gras being stacked against the vegetables on the other side of the plate).
Lately I have been having some fun with Bananas in my own kitchen. A week or two ago, I coated a few in cinnamon sugar and threw them on the grill after all the meat and veggies were already taken off. It formed a great glaze, and bananas are simply awesome when they are warm. I served it over ice cream.
I also attempted bananas foster for my first time, but I had trouble getting the ignition as thorough as expected. I would have to guess that it was my stove, as it is electric: I took it off the heat to light, but by the time I got a match to it, I think it was already mixed with the cinnamon sugar liquid. I also love creme brulee; if you don't mind sharing the recipe, I would love to take it from you.
That pork tenderloin with goat cheese and grape sounds simply delicious. as I get a bit older I'm starting to develop a much greater appreciation for fruit in savory dishes. I am also expanding my cheese experience; I try to get something new every time I go to the bakery/cheese/expensive food places around here. There's a place in town called "The Wine and Cheese Gallery" that I would really like to check out.
What would you recommend for a trainer in sauces? It is one area that I really need to improve upon. I'm pretty comfortable with my sawmill gravy, which I hear is close to the traditional bachamel sauce.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tones
Basically, (and you won't hear this from line cooks because they hate the mother sauces) but if you master making a veloute, and a bechamel sauce, you can make an infinite amount of sauces (that will make you fatter, but hey)
For bechamel, you make a roux in a pot of equal parts flour and butter, then you gradually add hot milk until it is the consistancy of a sauce (you must constantly stir while adding the milk, over high heat - which makes the sauce thicken) Then from there, the bechamel itself tastes pretty good, but adding your favourite cheese to this (grated) and a bit of salt and pepper will make the best cheese sauce in the world.
A veloute sauce, is the same thing except you don't use milk, you use stock (chicken, beef, veg etc). With this sauce, you can make a million sauces. Once it's at the right consistancy, add roasted red peppers, some lime and a tad of honey, puree with a hand blender and season with salt and pepper.
Or add a selection of mixed mushrooms (already have been sauteed with maybe some garlic and shallots) and stir that in, add a touch of cream, season and bingo you got a great mushroom sauce for chicken or even steak.
There are 2 other mother sauces, but these two are so essential that I've completely mastered these two and barely make the other 2.
As for creme brulee, well it's a bit complicated. I'll try to make a recipe that's easy to follow sometime soon.
That veloute sauce sounds delicious. And it's nice that I have everything for it, too... except for the stick blender. The roux is a lot like regular sawmill gravy, except the gravy uses the grease and fond from sausage or bacon.
Why do line cooks hate the mother sauces? Just a bit boring after the thousandth time?
This afternoon I made some coconut curry. I'm not very well-versed with Asian food, but I think this came out pretty well. I basically boiled some chunks of cheap sirloin in coconut milk mixed with a can of pre-made curry paste. I added a chopped green pepper, a chopped onion, and two shredded carrots, let it reduce a little, and put it over a bed of rice. Next time I think I'll dilute the coconut milk with water (or just add a few of the frozen chicken stock cubes I have from last time I made some). Coconut milk is so rich... 15 grams of saturated fat in 2 fl oz... that's insane.
...because a lot of line cooks, can't cook. lol
No but really, it takes a good while to stand there stirring constantly and that's not what some people enjoy doing. Just remember with veloute the base is a roux, gradually adding chicken stock to form a creamy sauce. That sauce itself tastes good but modifying it(like adding roasted red peppers to make it a red pepper sauce) from there is where you get tons and tons of great sauces. Pretty much it's endless...
Oh for your curry, a lot of curry recipes call for a spoon of tomato paste... which will dilute the coconut taste, but also help thicken your sauce
The roux is a lot like regular sawmill gravy, except the gravy uses the grease and fond from sausage or bacon.
Well roux is just equal parts melted butter, stirred with flour to make a paste. Adding chicken stock makes a veloute sauce. (which is actually almost the same as 'chicken gravy' (that white stuff))Sorry if I wasn't clear about that.
Adding anything to the base veloute sauce (roux + chicken stock) would make it a completely different sauce. Say red pepper sauce or mushroom sauce, or anything!
Had a kind of shitty day at work today. Since I work at a grocery store, my solution was to cook a nice, easy dinner. Here was the menu: Roasted redskin potatoes, biscuits, and steak.
The potatoes took a while to cook, but their prep was really easy: Smash 6 cloves of garlic, roughly chop a tablespoon of fresh rosemary, add these to 1/4 cup olive oil (which I ran out of the other day... veggie oil it was :cry:), and toss with halved potatoes. Add salt/pepper to taste. For biscuits, I was lazy, so I just bought some frozen Mary B's buttermilk biscuits.
The steak, however, was pretty decent. It was a decent cut of tenderloin (I had our meat cutter on duty cut it 1 3/4-2" thick), without much thick fat. No, it wasn't Kobe beef, but it was on sale for 9.99/lb. I also get a 10% discount on the weekend, so my 12 oz filet was just over $5. Not bad by any means IMO.
I could do a lot more explaining, but I'll just show you the picture. The flash brightened it up a bit; the meat was definitely more red than the pinkish hue that the images suggests:
Click for full size
Vegetables are for bulgarians.