CATCHING UP!

Man....I'm really slacking lol BUT I'm HERE!!! SSSOOOO WHERE DO I BEGIN...

Tuesday: Classic Sauces, Binding Elements & Glazes

What an interesting day, like any other. I walked in the classroom and started preparing for the evening. We've become accustomed to not only just setting up our station with a cutting board and sanitation but getting all the ingredients we need for the recipes we plan to cook for the evening. Within seconds I realized the classroom was different....Chef McHottie WAS ABSENT...OH MY LIFE!!! HOW IN THE WORLD DID HE THINK ME AND REST OF THE GIRLS IN THE CLASSROOM WERE GOING TO SURVIVE :-/

Nonetheless back to the lecture. We learned about the 5 mother sauces: sauce velouté, sauce espagnole, sauce hollandaise, sauce béchamel, and sauce tomate (tomato). We also covered making binding elements and the most common is roux (flour & fat), but you can also make a beurre manié (uncooked flour & butter), roasted flour, singer (flour sprinkle on a sautéed or roasted item), vegetable purée, double cream, egg yolks, and liaison (egg yolks & heavy cream). Lastly we learned about glazes, which is just a stock reduced to a syrupy consistency...

So my partner and I made 5 sauces, sauce espagnole, sauce béchamel, chicken veloute, white wine sauce, wine & mushroom sauce aka chateaubriand....let's focus on that sauce, it's commonly served over filet mignon, I've seen it on a menu before but I guess I never paid attention to it. That chateaubriand is a type of sauce...with out the sauce, the dish doesn't deserve the nice fancy name. So, ill proudly state that I made this sauce....and I'm singing it to the world...because in order for the sauce to be created YA GIRL HAD TO FLAMBÉ!!!!! YES I STILL HAVE BOTH MY EYEBROWS!!! LOL

The day ended with me plating my cuts, it was hw given to us from Saturday night: 4 carrot cocotte, 4 potato cocotte, 1 carrot jardiniere and 1 turnip julienne. I hope I'm not loosing you with all these terms but I'm trying to get used to using them....nonetheless, my cuts were okay, still need work but a far cry from the first day, chef says I'm getting there YAY!!!!

My night ended with my daily walk with "my girls" to the train station, I promise they make my night lol. I guess this is when I spice up the blog and say....yours truly came to FCI to cook, and now I've become a secret admirer...uh oh, watch out LOL! Gotta make this thing interesting right?!

So let's continue to Wednesday evening, I volunteered at the "Taste of the Village" event. This is a charity event to help support parks in Greenwich village. The event was at washington square park where several restaurants and winery's who are located in the village, came out with all you can eat food and drinks. Even though I was volunteering (barely), I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE. I met a few alumni who now work at these restaurants, and I constantly received ooooo's and aaahhh's from individuals who came out, they were glad to see FRENCH CULINARY INSTITUTE IN THE BUILDING, I felt pretty good about life lol. Sssooo the food, I had the BEST red velvet cupcake, THE BEST GUYS!!! From this gourmet store called Citarella, let me tell you, it was great, it was so rich & moist, melt in your mouth, and the cream cheese icing was impeccable!! PLEASE GO THERE!!! Also, guys, if you've never had gelato before, you must try it, you will never go back to ice cream, I promise!!! So I had some olive oil gelato, weird right, BUT I HAD TWO SERVINGS, IT WAS SSOOOO GOOD! PLEASE TRY IT (I'm sorry I can't remember the place). Among other things that stood out, I receive a 20% discount at Amber's (sushi spot), le pain quotidien has a GREAT strawberry tart...okay I think that's all...lol I'm getting hungry all over again...

So since I'm trying to catch up...I did have class last night. So we had to change partners....it was hard to part with Rebecca, I was scared who was going to be my partner...some of those guys in the class think we're on top chef or something. Well I'm glad my partner wasn't like that....but that still doesn't mean he's great lol. Well, on to the lecture...emulsified sauces & sabayons.

An emulsified sauce is a sauce that was created by adding an emulsifier to prevent ingredients that don't usually mix, to mix....hope I'm making sense....for example, oil and vinegar don't mix but when an egg (an emulsifier) is added, the oil and vinegar will combine well. Any who, we made several sauces, hollandaise, mayonnaise, and sweet sabayon (which was sssoooo good on some freshly cut strawberries). So unfortunately, while making one of my sauces, it didn't mix well (it broke)....well CHEF MCHOTTIE TO THE RESCUE!!! He started a new sauce for me and gave me a one on one lesson on how to make it...I was all smiles, and he is so cool! Anyhow, it was another exciting day at FCI....that place brings me joy!

Well...I'm currently coming home from school, I was studying with Caroline...and sure enough, while hanging in the student lounge area, Chef McHottie comes strolling by lol....HILARIOUS!!! I LOVE CAROLINE!!!...Nonetheless, after a drink with my girl, I'm headed home, we have our first written exam tomorrow, culinary school can be intense believe it or not!

*smooches and deuces*