Culinary School Pt.2: Building Flavor & Foundations

November 18, 2012

This is a very overdue post, sorry for the delay! I finally had a Sunday to lounge on my couch and update you all on my culinary school adventures at Escoffier. We just finished midterms last week. For the practical, we had to fabricate a whole chicken, then prepare two plates of seared chicken breast, potato puree and seasonal vegetable with a veloute, as well as a green salad with a vinaigrette dressing. I chose to French my chicken breasts, which is when you leave in the drummette and clean the bone, as well as slice my chicken to plate, which most other students didn’t. I prepared an herbed honey balsamic vinaigrette for my dressing. I got a 98% on my practical and a 99% on my written, not to shabby!

Up to the midterm, we have been continuing learning all the foundations of cooking. From fabricating different types of meats, to sauces, to cooking techniques, to baking. A lot of this was review for me, but I have picked up so much more along the way as well! I have really been focusing on building more flavor than the recipe would normally involve by reducing and deglazing and building a dish layer by layer. I am also working on plating. I figure a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some photos from what we have been doing the last couple of months. I will be sharing our sticky bun and cinnamon roll recipes with you soon- they were the best I have ever had!