I got to start the fire in the wood burning stove this morning! I stacked the wood last night, that lets it dry out a little, then we light it in the morning. Once the fire is lit, you push the logs to the back of the oven to start heating the whole oven. Logs get added at about one hour intervals, stopping at 10am. From there, you let the logs burn into embers then spread the embers over the entire floor of the oven and let them sit a while. Once the oven gets to 730 degrees, you scrape the embers out into a little slot at the front of the oven. Once those are scraped out, you mop the floor of the oven to get all the ash out of it, then let it cool off to 600-630 degrees Fahrenheit before you put your French bread in using a wooden peel. The bread cooks pretty quickly, as you can imagine. The trick is to leave it in for long enough to get a dark caramel color (which gives the best flavor to the crust). Unfortunately, we used all the wood today and so do not have any for a fire in the morning. We'll probably have to use the "easy-bake oven" in Pastry. That oven will bake things just fine, it just won't taste the same as the wood burning oven bread.
Our lecture today was on lamb leg fabrication. We paired up into teams of two and after Chef Pete gave us a fabrication demo, we had to do our own. Lamb leg fabrication is the same as veal leg fabrication only on a smaller scale. this was Colorado lamb and they are larger than New Zealand lamb. You can save a lot of money as a business by fabricating your own meat. There are nine muscles in the lamb leg: top round, bottom round, eye of round, the flaps, knuckle, tenderloin, top sirloin, upper shank and lower shank. I was with Paula and we finished fairly quickly. Once we were done with that, it was back to our own kitchens to finish our work.
I talked to Chef Lexie today about being a better baker. She is going to help me learn to be more efficient and faster in the kitchen. I'm kind of excited about that, as I feel I am already a good baker, even though I know I still have much to learn. Chef Lexie is always willing to help students with extra projects and answer questions.
I did get to make my Sweet Raisin Challah bread today. Corey and I shaped two loaves, one three braid and one four braid loaf. The loaves turned out well (using the easy bake oven)-good crust and tender, flavorful crumb. I also had made panforte yesterday afternoon and left it to cut today for lunch but when I went to cut it, it was still very soft, so back in the oven it went. It baked for quite a while and I think I ended up caramelizing the "schmoo" that holds the panforte together. I only hope when I go back tomorrow, that it still tastes good! I'll let you know!
I also started granola. I have been "bugging" Chef Lexie about making this since I started Pastry but she kept saying it takes a long time. I couldn't imagine why, until I asked her and she said there was lots of cutting and chopping. AND when you make granola at Cook Street, you make a LOT of granola!! So, hopefully I can finish it tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Corey and I are going to make ciabatta. I'm excited about that. No wood burning oven though...
Lunch today was Pasta Carbonara as a first course. GardeMo made homemade pasta. Carbonara Sauce is made with bacon, eggs and cream. Very nicely done! Hot Plate made Roasted Lamb (what a surprise!) with Roman Artichokes and Polenta. The sauce used with the lamb was a Demi-glace. Another yummy meal! For dessert Collin and Shawn made Zuppa Anglaise (the Italian version of an English trifle). Dustin (who apparently learned how to set drinks on fire when he was a bartender) lit the top of the Zuppa Anglaise on fire (it is topped with Swiss Meringue, so the effect is a little like roasted marshmallows!). Hopefully you will be able to see this in the picture I took! Chef Dale was standing by with a fire extinguisher as last time they tried this, Chef Lexie thought she would use all the "booze" she had poured and they couldn't get the fire out! Chef Dale thought he had put it out with a sheet pan, but once he removed the sheet pan, the fire restarted!! Unfortunately, that class did not get any Zuppa Anglaise as the cake layers are soaked with Marsala wine and rum. Lesson learned, lol!
I have an exam tomorrow, so better get studying! I got a 95 on last week's exam. Can't know everything, I guess!
No comments:
Post a Comment