CAP: October 2007 Archives
The crabcakes were very good. The aioli was nice and thick, with a little added garlic. I have a knack at emulsifying. The second dish was a roasted red pepper salad. Yet another reason I want an exhaust hood at home. Two members in my group worked on the vinaigrette in the blender while I started on the third dish - Pasta with a tomato sauce.
I've come to the conclusion that I have really good cooking habits. Chef Martin was explaining how you fan the pasta into the water, thus keeping it from sticking together, I've been doing that for over 10 years, it just makes sense. The first night went off without a hitch.
The second night was very enjoyable. this was a similar format to the first night. About an hours worth of lecture/demonstration, then cooking. Chef Martin demonstrated how to butterfly and flatten a pork tenderloin. He also covered how to use a mandolin.
We made the pork first -- everything turned out very well. While the meat cooked in the oven, we started on the poached eggs. I got the poaching liquid ready and did the reduction for the hollandaise sauce. I managed the eggs while two of my team members made the first batch of sauce. The eggs were done about 20 seconds before the sauce *broke*, and about 2 minutes before the pork was done. This put my group into a panic. I started to direct traffic because the group started to fizzle, the failed sauce had knocked off the rhythm.
Five minutes for the meat to rest, two minutes for the vegetables to saute, and a hollandaise sauce needing to be remade. I asked one woman to work on the veggies, while the other two gathered the plates and got some wine for everyone. I cooled the reduction in another bowl, added the egg yolk, and started to whisk. I kept whisking while they sliced and served up the pork and shoestring vegetables. When the sauce was near it's consistency, I pulled it from the heat. I dropped the poached eggs in simmering water of the double boiler to reheat, and had everything plated before the first woman finished her pork. The eggs turned out really well, the two who had not eaten poached eggs said they liked them.
The last thing we made was roasted pineapple with macadamia nuts, drizzled with a caramel sauce, served with vanilla ice cream. No one wanted to make the caramel sauce, so I volunteered (I've done all this before, so I tried to let them take the lead if they hadn't done it). The pineapple cooks in very quickly when broiled. The nuts will burn and give your dish an off flavor. I started the sugar/water/corn syrup on the cook-top while the pineapple was prepared. When the sugar began to color, we added the pineapple to the oven. I pulled the sugar off heat when it had a nice medium brown color and added the heavy cream. Then more whisking! When the pineapple was out of the oven, I plated the desserts for everyone. Pineapple, ice-cream in the center, then I poured the caramel over the desserts. It was quite good.
That sums up the Chef Skills class. My wife will be taking the classes later this week. So that's it for this years installments of the CAP classes. There will be more next year, we both really enjoyed the classes we have completed.
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