Week 2 – Advanced Term

This week started on the Monday with the beginnings of another Consommé. We are already suspicious of the fact that this terms Consommé will be last terms Soufflé wherein we ended up making 5 different styles and in a repetitive nature. Anyway this weeks Consomme would be Mushroom which would be served with pickled Hon Shimeji and Chervil – something we saw and tasted in a Demo last week, and personally I rather enjoyed. Monday we needed to make the base, being a mushroom broth, and Tuesday would be the clearing after infusing overnight.

We also tackled Gnocchi for the first time using baked potatoes and producing a Summer Vegetable medley that also included braised baby artichokes- the first time I had worked with them. Artichokes are a beautifully constructed vegetable and we were all admiring its qualities as we prepped them for service. 

However this was all Monday afternoon as we were cooking this week in the PM – Monday morning started with Wine, and we had tasting of 6 glasses starting at 10.30am whilst we studied Syrah, Grenache and Riesling. It’s always challenging starting the week in this way and the wines seemed to go straight to my head and I desperately needed some food before our afternoon cook as I was feeling sleepy and a bit woozy! Wines continue to be our “bete noire” and we are all anxious about the exam as there is so much to study, and each wine and grape variety is so similar to the next, sometimes with only very subtle differences. When you combine this with the fact we need to understand all the various world wine regions and comprehend how the appellations work, not only country to country, but within one country it can vary widely region to region – France you are to blame here big time ! Sacre Blu!

Tuesday morning most of our class had signed up for a trip to Billingsgate Fish Market where we had to be at 6am involving a 4am start for the majority of students. I will cover this in a separate post but you can imagine that was a long day for us all. Even so that afternoon we cleared our Broth and I think we all found it a little more difficult than the lemon jelly clearing as it was not so obvious when the crust was ready as it did not come away from the sides of the pan and did not rise like the liquid containing gelatine. Personally I think I took my broth off the heat too early as I thought we needed to do so immediately when it started steaming but I do not think my crust had adequately formed. Result- a good Consommé but not crystal clear, still tasted pretty awesome with the pickled mushrooms and chervil.

Many of our tasks this week involved 2 day preparations, starting on one day and finishing/serving the next. For examples making Madeleines – the mix on one day /baking the next, Creme Brûlée the same.

One thing for the shopping list – don’t tell the wife- is a blow torch as I had not used one before and my Creme brûlée suffered because of it. The taste of the brûlée itself was terrific and I managed to retain a great Vanilla taste but my top had bits of burnt sugar sitting alongside raw uncaramelised sugar. Maybe my topping was too thick also.

Our table of 4 also started curing a Salmon with beetroot and Orange which would not be served until Friday after curing over a 72 hour period.

Wednesday afternoon we utilised our newly gained Fish Market knowledge – HA HA – to assist in shucking Oysters – wow they are pushing the boat out money wise – and also deep fried them with some cod cheeks. Relatively easy and really tasty, with a citrus Mayo that we were allowed to make in the Magi rather than by hand. Our afternoon Demo introduced us to Puff Pastry, and we sampled a beautiful Beef Wellington and a brilliant individual Quail Pasty, think Cornish Pasty refined and utilising quail breasts. Inspired to do this at home !

Thursday and Friday the temperature in London was to hit an unusual high for the time of the year, 25/26 predicted, and we were to be in a Bread Demo all day Thursday with an all day cook making Puff Pastry on the Friday. We all know how temperature can affect the making of bread and pastry so this was to be challenging. Even more so for our teachers making the bread on Thursday whilst we just sat and sweltered watching them. They did produce some wonderfully different styles of bread which we got to taste in the afternoon after a food free morning. Kamut (an ancient grain ) produced some really tasty bread and an introduction to sourdough and the complication of “starters” – replacing traditional commercial yeast- was educational. Beetroot and Pumpkin bread should be banned from society !

Our full day cook on Friday had us working, rolling and folding our Puff Pastry (6 rolls and folds in/out of the fridge, and remember to count accurately) with the Air Con on at full blast to keep both us and our butter and pastry from melting. Somebody suggested I should stay in the fridge for the session and I could roll and fold within it, but thankfully such desperate measures were not needed. We made a Rye Bread that started with boiling lager and that rose and proved like a monster. Our dayalso involved our first attempt at domestic smoking, constructing our little smokers with tin foil and baking trays ( very Blue Peter) , and smoking mackerel Fillets (after we had filleted them ourselves of course) with Tea and Orange. The Mackerel, Rye bread and earlier prepared salmon was to be served Smorgasbord style with pickled Cucumbers and Horseradish Creme Fraiche.
It looked really impressive and I was happy with my food styling of this dish. I even managed to find something I can eat involving beetroot as the Salmon was really beautiful, both in terms of colour and taste, a shock for the Anti – beetroot League !

Our Puff Pastry was eventually to be used to make individual Pithiviers with an Artichoke and Green Olive filling which came out rather well and tasted great. I was happy with my first attempt at Puff especially knowing it is supposedly the most difficult pastry. But 180g of butter – really ! We get to try Puff again next week to make a Tarte Tatin so let’s see how that turns out.

I think all the students enjoyed this week and we are producing much better quality and tastier food than in previous terms – I guess that’s to be expected – but it’s satisfying when it actually happens as it’s you that has produced ut. Feeling more confident after this week – probably that will be completely shattered next week !