Week 3, Day 13
Today we began cooking! We actually got near a stove! Yee Haw! We started out with two very basic sauces, Hollandaise and mayonnaise (a sauce to some, a condiment or dressing to others). The point of these two sauces is the emulsification of the egg. Emulsification is the mixing of two homogenous liquids; egg and fat. In this case, oil for the mayo and butter for the hollandaise. If you don't whisk the mixture enough the egg and fat will not emulsify and you'll have a runny mess. If you whisk it too much the mixture will "break" and the egg and fat will separate, never to be joined again. In order to reach this critical point of emulsification you must whisk with purpose. Not too hard, not too slow, not too fast... it has to be just right for it to work. The best way, I learned, is by using the wrist, not the arm, and making "S" shaped stroked as opposed to the circular motion I was taught when I was little by my father. I will see if this technique stands true when we get to baking and pasterie. At the end of the day both of my sauces turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. However, it's kind of gross to taste that much mayo at 8:00 in the morning.
 |
| Mayo |
 |
| Hollindaise |
 |
| Whisking Furriously |
Dear Allison,
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon your blog several days ago and I have been reading your culinary school experience every day. I really enjoy it. Please keep it up. Keep your spirit up. I am a bit older than you and think of going to culinary school but was very much discouraged by the cost and cannot really take the plunge. I admire your courage and wish you the best. By reading your blog makes me feel like I am going to one , too.
ughhh, I hate MAYO- and at 8am... YUCK!
ReplyDelete