We had our quiz today. Only one quiz left before our three hour final! Chef Lexie told us today that there is a BIG product ID on next week's test-50 things! Crazy!
Today Corey and I made ciabatta and french bread. My panforte did get salvaged and we served it for breakfast. It was gone by the end of breakfast! Several people told me it tastes like Christmas. I have to agree with them!
The lecture today was on Variety Meats: innards, guts, internal muscles, viscera, etc. These are called Offals (not awful, lol). The problem with eating organs, according to Chef Pete, is that our brain says "NO"! The other thing that bothers us is the texture. Tongue and heart are muscles and they tend to be tough, or at least not as soft as the otherwise like liver, kidney, etc. The best organ meats are from veal and lamb because they are younger and milder in flavor. Usually they need a long slow cooking, like braising or stewing, or hot and fast (this applies to liver mostly). Sweet breads, or the thymus glands are highly prized because they are young, mild in flavor and have a nice texture. The thymus glands disappear in animals after one year, the body absorbs them. The four steps for making veal sweetbreads are to 1. purge in water, 2. poach in water with a splash of vinegar, 3. press between two sheet trays, weighed to get a uniform thickness and 4. peel just the thick outer membrane.
Lunch today was-guess?? Sweetbreads! We had them in a puff pastry for a first course along with a nice white sauce with corn and mushrooms. They actually tasted really good. My friend Ric, loves eating sweetbreads, he would have loved today's meal! Our main course was Duck Breast with Pureed Potatoes and Watercress with a nice pan sauce. Dessert did not flame today! It was Quatre Quart or pound cake topped with orange segments and candied orange jest. Very pretty!
When I came home from school today, I baked banana bread (there were two VERY brown bananas sitting on top of the cooling rack, I thought maybe that was a hint to use them, lol) and made Om Ali, a Moroccan form of bread pudding made with a variety of nuts, chopped apricots, raisins and phyllo dough. Then you pour sweetened cream over all that and bake it. We had it at school one day for breakfast and I liked the way it tasted.
I will be working on my project this weekend. It is due at 8:45am Monday.
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