First thing this morning, Chef Pete gave me instructions to strain the Veal Stock (mind you, the pot stands about 2 feet tall and weighs a ton, so I'm thinking--how am I going to lift this to drain it?!) and then start a Remi-a second stock from the veal bones after you drain the first stock made. I talked to Alan, the guy in my rotation who made the last veal stock. He told me to take a small pot and dip it into the large pot and strain it thru a "china hat" strainer. So I got another big pot to drain the strained veal. Chef Pete walked by and asked me why I was using a pot to put the strained stock in. I said "that's a good question..." He said, "you don't have a good answer do you?" "Nope, no good answer." He laughed and walked away. I got a plastic Campro for the next strain! (Always strain your stocks twice.) Then I got another pot for the used bones so we could start the process all over again! No roasting this time.
Then it was time for our daily lecture. Chef Dale talked about "Classic Cooking"--escoffier or Haute Cuisine and the addage of "what grows together goes together."
Chef Lexie taught us about meringues. The formula for meringue is 2 parts sugar to 1 part egg whites. There are three types of meringue:
1. French meringue--a raw meringue, which is the least stable of all the meringues. It is used in cooked or baked dishes. Whip the room temperature egg whites to soft peaks, then slowly add the sugar while continuing to whip the egg whites. The older the eggs, the better as they are more viscose therefore easier to get good volume.
2. Swiss meringue--a cooked meringue by the time you are done. It has a medium stability. Put the egg whites and sugar in a Kitchenaid bowl, then place in a double boiler and cook until the mixture is 140 degrees (this means the egg whites are technically sanitized) and the sugar is melted in. When the mixture reaches 140 degrees, take the bowl off the double boiler and whip with the Kitchenaid until soft peaks form. you can use this with buttercream or lemon meringue pie.
3. Italian meringue--also cooked and the most stable of the meringues. Take 3/4 of the sugar and with a little water added, heat in a saucepan to 232 degrees (soft ball stage on a candy thermometer). Take the rest of the sugaar and the egg whites and make a French meringue. Slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the whites while you are whipping the egg whites. This type of meringue is good if you need a large volume of meringue.
Applications for French meringue are:
1. Vacherin--a backed meringue basket "filled with yummy goodness." Bake these at 175 degrees in the oven for several hours.
2. Dacqouise--from the southwest of France, it is French meringue with nut flower folded into it, baked into a disc and then layered with buttercream. This is baked at 300 degrees until done.
3. Marjolaine--French meringue plus nut flour. Make into a rectangular shape and bake in thin layers. Make a chocolate ganache. Layer a thin layer of the nut meringue, microthin layer of chocolate, microthin layer of praline buttercream, repeat until you have three layers. Serve at room temperature.
4. Oefs a la Neige--"Eggs in Snow". Take French meringue and shape into a quenelle (football shaped). Poach the quenelle in milk. Take the milk you used to poach the meringue and use it with egg yolks and sugar to make creme anglaise (a vanilla sauce). Serve the cream anglaise OVER the egg whites.
Then Chef Pete talked to us about making sausage. I was right, Boudin Blanc is a white sausage usually made from veal or chicken. We took the chicken breasts we pureed and strained (ugh!), weighed it again, put it into a Kitchenaid bowl and added heavy cream very slowly until it was well incorporated. In the meantime, we put hot casings (yum) into cold water to soak so we could stuff them with the chicken mixture. Once the casings were rehydrated, we loaded the chicken puree into a pastry bag with a long tube of a tip, threaded the hog casings onto the long tube portion (reminded me of the stockinette finger dressings they use in nursing for a dressing) and then slowly filled the casings, tied off the ends and you have sausage! We then poached them in Remi (the second round of veal stock) until they reached 140 degrees in the center. The sausages were then removed, cooled and drizzled with olice oil so they didn't dry out. We will be using them tomorrow as a first course. Guess we'll find out tomorrow how they'll be served!
On Wednesdays from now on, we will be having a "formal" table setting. Meaning, pushing together all the tables in the cafe so we have one big table. Put down LOTS of table cloths, set the table with a charger, the proper silverware, napkin, water glass, and wine glass. Make some type of centerpiece and let Garde Manger serve everyone, just like you would at a fancy restaurant. This is new to me-I have never worked in a restaurant. What a lot of work!
For lunch, Garde Manger made Vichyssoise or cold potato leek soup. This is a classic soup recipe and can also be used as a base for other soups. The formula is 50% liquid to 50% base (which in our case was 50% base divided equally of potatoes and leeks. These were sauted but without color until soft, then mashed with either a food mill or a hand blender. (I must confess, I am SO glad they have a dishwasher, cause we use a LOT of pots, pans, bowls, etc!!)
Hot dish made sauteed black bass with a Sauce Grenobloise (a buttery sauce with capers and lemon and herbs), salad greens and Rice Pilaf and Wild Rice. (Delicious!)
Dessert was Seasonal Fruit Vacherin. Meringue baskets filled with pastry cream and plums with a candied ginger garnish.
Then time to clean then home. The days are almost ten hours long!
Once I got home, I decided to use the pastry dough I had brought home, so made a tart and filled it with custard and then apple pie filling (not enough fresh fruit in the house so you work with what you have!). I also made chocolate chip pecan cookies. Talked to my sister, Janell, then Paula (who has an infected leg), then Jordan, dealt with two guests-one who wanted to settle his bill "now", sorry can't help you there and on who wanted a room-sorry we're full. Carl had gone out to dinner and when he came back, showed me how to check out guests-cool! He says I'll know the B&B business forward and backwards by the time I leave, lol. I told him I appreciate everything he teaches me! And, now blog update then bed. Good night!
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