On Top Chef Season 5, there was an episode where the cheftestants had to cook a "Last Supper" for a celebrity chef. Jaques Pepin wanted his last meal to be squab and peas. Wylie Dufresne said his final meal of choice would be eggs benedict.
My "Last Supper" would definitely be some sort of braised meat. I probably wouldn't want to cook my own last meal (how did I go off on this morbid tangent?) but now that I know how to braise, I can make my "Last Supper," any day. It's really not as hard as I assumed it would be!
Techniques learned:
Brown and White Braising
Reduced Pan Sauces
Deglazing and Reduction
Preparation of Shellfish
Whipping Heavy Cream
Menu:
- Mussels Steamed in White Wine
- Braised Lamb Shanks
- Braised Leeks
- Warm Lentil Salad
- Belgian Endive Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette
- Chocolate Mousse
Lexicon:
braising- semi-submerge in a liquid, covered or uncovered, stove or oven. You usually use primal cuts (tough) meat for braising
shank- between the knee and ankle
brown braise - braising with searing first
white braise- braising without searing first
legume- vegetable where the seed and pod is what you are going after (a lentil is a legume, an a classic accompaniment to braised meat)
mousse- literally "foamy." Creamy dessert typically made from egg and cream.
Top 5 Lessons I Learned Today:
1) How to stud an onion... I had never heard of a studded onion but apparently it's good for infusing flavor into a liquid certain dishes. We used this studded onion to flavor our warm lentil salad. To stud an onion you cut it in half through the root and "pin" a bay leaf to the center of the onion with cloves (much like you would pin a photo to a bulletin board with pushpins)... I think my onion is very handsome...quite the "stud," no?
2) You can braise vegetables...I don't know why this never occured to me... When you braise vegetables you typically use a "white braise."
White braise = don't sear first
Brown braise = sear first
3) A little trick with mussels... I've been making mussels for awhile now, it's one of my favorite dishes so I didn't learn anything too life changing...However when I check my mussels to make sure that they are alive before I steam them, I usually tap them to see if they close up. Richard pinches them. I found I liked this method better... I have officially converted from a mussel tapper to a mussel pincher!
4) Lamb is yummy! I hated lamb before this class (or I thought I did). This was the second lamb dish I ate this week and enjoyed (we made lamb chops on Day 1). I didn't just like the braised lamb....I loved it!
5) "Read your recipe all the way through...then read your recipe all the way through...then read your recipe all the way through again." We very narrowly avoided a disaster with our chocolate mousse today and our clafoutis yesterday. But if we had read the recipes all the way through both times we wouldn't have had a problem.
Day 2 in Photos:
searing lamb shanks
more searing action...
herbs for lentil salad
closeup of the shanks...
braised leeks
The final product: Braised Lamb Shanks, Rosemary Braised Leeks, Warm Lentil Salad, Belgian Endive Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette
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