Poultry Practical

Phase 3, Week 2, Day 10

Practical menu for today:

Plate 1

Turkey Scaloppine w/ a Mushroom sauce

Potato Croquettes

Mixed Green salad w/ vinaigrette dressing

Plate 2

Poeler Duck Brest with Bigarade sauce a Gastrique

Gratin Dauphinoise

Sauted tourne of Cucumber

I still have not mastered the element of heat or sauce making. Two MAJOR things I need to accomplish and be able to do well before I leave school. Most of my sauces either break, where the oil separates from the main liquid, or I over reduce. Concerning heat, I have no control. My stuff is either not brown enough or burnt. WTF! It's not that hard, but for some reason I can't get it. URGH!!!!

In general, most of my dishes are typically "good with nice flavor", but I'm not really sure what that means. Is that like "Yeah, it's good, I'm not going to send it back," type thing or does it mean "it's good, I'd come back to eat here again."

I'm also trying to work on my plating and presentation, but chefs have such different opinions on what looks good. There are modern styles and classic styles. I don't know which is the right way to go. It boils down to two basic camps: 

•  all garnish should be functional and edible, but not always required if dish is done properly
• garnish is a requirement and should reflect herbs in the dish (ie; NFG , Non Functional Garnish)

The garnish debate is annoying to me because Chef Tim and Chef Bruce are exact opposites on this concept. I don't think our grade is reflective of the garnish, but I wish we could get some more ideas of NFG besides putting a bush of rosemary on my dishes. I tried a lemon spiral on my salad today and both of them scoffed at it. I mean what's the difference between a bush and a peal? I got props for using a bit of salad to top my duck. I guess I'll need to do some research to see if I can come up with a compromise.

Results:

Turkey- Could have used a bit more color

Sauce- Broke (having major issues here!)

Croquetts- Good seasoning, a tad too much pepper

Salad- Very nice vinaigrette, less on the plate with more height. Didn't like my attempt at garnish...

Duck- Good flavor, but should be served medium. A bit over done.

Gastrique- Very good flavor, over reduced

Dauphinois- Very good, nice color and texture

Cucumber- Good

Again; good over all. No grade yet.

Salad with a twist

Turkey Scaloppine

Poeler Duck with Gastrique

Finals Week-Phase 2

Phase 2, Week 6, Day 26

Thank God!!!! I never thought this phase would end. Although I haven't said much about our instructors lately, they have a constant impact on our class. I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt and have even found myself finding positive attributes about each of them. But as soon as I do that, they piss me off. It's amazing. I definitely haven't had as hard of a time as others have had, I've just tried to brush it aside and move on. I've also tried to wait a few days before I blog about my classes so I don't spew forth as much venom. This technique has worked successfully, although several of my classmates have enjoyed my ranting and ravings about Adolf and Ava. They've even encouraged me to vent more through the blog. But I just didn't think that was wise. It IS the internet after all.

Last day before testing we did a cooking technique called Le Poeler. Apparently it doesn't have a literal translation.  Stupid French. Basically, the meat is seasoned, seared, roasted, and basted. To accomplish this technique we used a duck leg and thigh. Oddly enough, I had duck for lunch at Nonna's- go figure....

We also made a sauce using an edible mire poix or matingon.

I was not really "feeling" it today and was extremely tired. I just kind of went through the motions. I already missed Rhys, Halloween was super fun with him, and I think I'm getting sick....

Result: Could have seared the presentation side a bit more and the matigon could have been cooked longer. But very good flavor on all preparations.

To top it off, I found out this afternoon I have a test tomorrow in my class (thanks for the heads up Jeremy). The night class decided to take their test on Thursday. So, no class review for me. GREAT! I guess I'm studying when I get home at 10:30 pm tonight....

Ducked Out!!!!!