Day7: Emulsified Sauces and Sabayon

I feel the butter pumping through my veins!! I got into the kitchen this morning at around 8:15 and right away chef karen decided to make me and another student sous chefs for the day which meant that we were responsible for making the veal stock today. So I needed to first strain out yesterday’s batch which had cooked through the night, and bring it down to about 70 degrees with an iced bath which we had set up in the sink. Next I through the veal bones into the oven with a light coating of oil and roasted them @450 degrees until nicely browned. By that time the other sous chef made it into class and took over prepping the veggies, which needed to go into the oven for a quick roast as well.

Now the emulsions, first Mayonnaise which was easy enough except for the insane amount of whisking. Egg yolks, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and a hefty amount of vegetable oil. Next came the Hollandaise; egg yolks, water, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and a ton of butter with more whisking.

Chef showed us a really cool trick which made the whisking much easier. You take a wet towel and ring it tight and make it into a loop on your counter top. Then place your mixing bowl firmly on top of it and it won’t slide around on you.

Thank god for the fire drill cause a few spoonfuls of butter + an empty stomach weren’t really working for me. The rest of the day was spent making Bearnaisse, Beurre Blanc, and Sabayon.
The Beurre Blanc was my favorite, I would love to try out on one of the fish dishes at Niko’s. Tangy and Buttery, maybe with one of the Grilled Fishes?

Tomorrow is our first test and I gotta finish studying the last two chapters.
Tomorrow’s lesson: “Soups and Consommes”

Day6: Sauces

Today was a good example of why it’s important to learn how to make a good stock. All of these sauces are just variations of (binding agent) + (herbs/aromatics/spices/wine/spirits) + (Stock, white/brown). Every sauce is derived from a group of “Mother Sauces”; Bechamel, Espagnol, Tomato, Hollandaise and Veloute, forming the acronym—BETH V. (for studying purposes)

We touched on three of these Mother Sauces today, first with the Espagnol. Butter and Bacon Lardons went in the pan first and stirred until the Lardons browned up a bit. Then the mirepoix which was carrots and onions equal parts, also stirred in and lightly browned, followed by the garlic which I stirred in. Once I smelled the garlic start to release it’s flavor I added the tomatoes, the tarragon and the Singer. The singer is a process in which flour is sprinkled on top of a sauteed or roasted item, and mixes in with the items residual fat forming a binding element for the sauce. Once that’s all stirred in I allow it to cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the raw taste of flour, then I add the veal stock that we made on Friday. We let that cook for about 30 minutes and then moved onto the Bechamel.

I am a little familiar with this one since I’ve been watching my mother make it basically all my life. I whipped it together in about 5 minutes. Butter and flour in the pan first with a dash of nutmeg and mixed together and cooked for a couple minutes. Next, a little bit at a time the milk. One hand pouring the milk and the other hand whisking followed by a couple dashes of salt. The Bechamel has to first come up to a boil, cooked for two or three minutes then done. All of these sauces, (well at our school anyway) are supposed to be what the French call nappant. This term refers to the thickness of the sauce. Coat the back of your spoon and wipe your finger across the sauce, I’ll attach a reference photo if I can find one online.

(there, that was easy and it kinda looks like the veloute too!)

Anyway, my favorites from today had to be the chicken veloute which is defined as a white ROUX (50:50 weight butter:flour) combined with a white stock. Come to find out that this is the sauce used to make chicken pot pies, no wonder I liked it. My other favorite of the day was the sauce vin blanc (white wine sauce). This one would go great with fish or chicken and consists of white wine, shallots, heavy cream and lemon juice.

Homework time now before bed…”Emulsified Sauces and Sabayons” i.e. Mayonnaise and Hollandaise!