Classical French was finally a hot lab where we got to cook to serve other classes! I had Chef Henkel, which I had for previous classes. He is super nice and willing to help with whatever you ask him! Anyways, there are some things about classical French cuisine that doesn't apply to other cuisines.
First of all, food items are cooked fully. Sauces are used to complement the dish, not overpower it. Garlic is hardly ever used (because it was considered lower class back in the day). Also, salads play a minor role and are actually served after the main course as a digestive aid. As you also probably know, butter is a MAIN ingredient. Even though it adds a lot of fat to a dish...it sure does make everything taste delicious!
This class's menu items were distributed differently than other labs. Since we have a decent amount of kids in our class, each person is responsible for one food item for the whole day. So I'm just going to explain each menu item I prepared.
Filet de Sole Farci Duglere
This is a filet of sole wrapped and poached in fish stock with a sauce made from the stock with cream, tomatoes, and a white roux, and garnished with a tomato slice. (It was served with potato croquettes and asparagus)
Consomme Diablotins
Beef and Chicken Consomme garnished with Diablotins (puff pastry shaped in straws and seasoned with parmesan cheese, cayenne, and paprika)
Consomme is a clear soup that is much more work than you'd think! You mix finely cut carrots, onions, and celery with ground meat, herbs, spices, and egg whites. You mix that into a cold stock and let it heat up, stirring it constantly. Once it reaches 120 degrees, you cannot touch it but raise the heat more so flavor particles rise to the top. Once the soup underneath the particles (the raft) is clear, your soup is done cooking. Then you slowly ladle out the soup so the raft doesn't break and make your soup foggy. Then a little sherry wine or Madeira and salt is added, and it is complete.
Coquille St. Jaques
Scallops and mushrooms are poached in a white wine and fish stock. After the scallops and mushrooms are removed, the liquid is reduced. A roux is then made (butter and flour) and the reduced liquid is added to it. Then a liaison is added to the mixture (egg yolks and cream) to finish the sauce. It is surrounded by mashed potatoes with egg yolks added and piped around the rim of the plate. It is then finished in the oven with swiss cheese on top of it all.
Pate Creusois aux Pommes de Terre
Blanched potatoes layered with herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley) salt and pepper, and plain yogurt baked in a pie crust.
Caneton Bigarade
I seasoned inside the duck breasts with rosemary, thyme, ginger, salt, and pepper. Then I roasted it over a mirepoix (carrots onion and celery) and the giblets of the duck and seasoned the outside with remaining ginger, salt, papper, and grand marnier which is an orange flavored brandy liqueur. After it was cooked to 135ºF I took it out and then made an orange sauce out of the pan scrapings. It included grand marnier, orange juice, orange marmalade, and demi glace which is a reduction sauce made from brown stock and a tomato product. That was then ladled over the sliced duck.
(I didn't get a picture of it but this is what it looked like!)
Pommes de Terre Berrichonne
I cut a whole bunch of red potatoes into little mushroom shapes like they were from Super Mario! It was fun at first, and then my hand started cramping up after making so many! After that, I rendered off some bacon, sautéed onion, and placed the potatoes in the pan with chicken stock covering the potatoes halfway up. I also added a boquet garni in the stock (pepper, thyme, bay leaves, and parsley stems). Then I stuck them in the oven until fork-tender. This method is called braising.
Last but not least, on day 9 I did my practical! Each practical day the Chef would assign random meats to the students and we had to create a pan sauce with the meat. So...let me explain!
I was assigned pork. I seared the small pork cutlets in a pan with a minimal amount of oil. Once they were browned on both sides I took it out, sautéed shallots, and garlic, and then added white wine and beef stock. Once that cooked a little bit I added cloves, apple slices, sugar, butter and salt. I put the meat back in the sauce to heat it up, and then served it with the sauce ladled over the meat and the apples on top as a garnish.
We had to make two vegetables. I used carrots which I blanched first, and red peppers. I sautéed them in butter and added sugar, salt, and tarragon to them.
We needed a starch as well so I made mashed potatoes with cream, milk, butter, and salt. I used a circle mold for nice presentation on the plate and garnished it with chopped parsley.
(As you can see, I utilized butter in all the parts of my dish, which definitely demonstrates classical French cuisine!)
And that concludes this lab! Hope you enjoyed this post! Catch ya later!
