Day 14

Now I am starting to understand why chef's really like to drink. I can't articulate it very well other than it involves heat and chaos. Which somehow is quenched by alcohol. So we made two plates today. First was Herb Crusted Lamb "Loin" with Sauce Marchand de Vin. This is a fake out lamb loin because we actually just cut the meat off of racks of lamb and cleaned it up. The sauce is a wine merchants sauce or just red wine sauce. Sauce is a red wine reduction which then you add demi glace to and NOT CREAM. Don't add cream because that is what I did wrong. I confused our first sauce with our sauce in the next plate and added cream to it. And started all the way over with my reduction. Nice. I felt like a douche bag for like a long time. You then dice and saute potatoes and make up a crust for your lamb. The crust is softened butter, herbs, salt and pepper, an egg yolk, and panko breadcrumbs. *Please note that in the future I cannot be bothered to say panko breadcrumbs and will only be saying panko. You test this mixture on a plate with a blowtorch to check its ability to hold together. I had never used a blowtorch before today and now I understand something new about why people like to torch things. I cannot explain it, you just need to try it. Not on anything weird, okay? Don't be creepy. So then you sear the lamb, crust it, and bake it for a few minutes to cook it up. I gave it a rest and carved and plated and then popped the whole thing back in the oven to reheat sauce with potatoes and meat and here you go. I actually did not finish late considering I had to start my sauce over. Chef was pleased by that.
That the aerial view. And lucky you, here's the diner view. Yes, that is a very large sprig of thyme. Why? Because as I was plating the lamb the top piece of the loin decided to jump in the sauce. So I tried to hide it. I think it looked way better in person. It was good tasting and chef ate half of it for lunch.

After lunch we made plate no. 2: Sauteed Pork Medallions with Green Peppercorn Sauce.
This was in some ways easier than the lamb. Its easier to judge doneness on these medallions and you don't have to sear off your fingertips by trying to give it a crust bath halfway through cooking. The downside is that you don't get to use a blow torch. So we made our peppercorn sauce using port wine instead of red or white wine. The sauce was not to be strained (so that you can enjoy the peppercorns, dar!) so I made sure to cut my shallots evenly and as small as I could have patience for. Once the reduction was at a syrup we added demi and cream (finally) and simmered and thickened. Then I began the onion confit (that sat under the pork). You just saute onion very thinly sliced and then deglaze with port. You probably wouldn't assume that you have to flambe the port but that is what we were all of a sudden supposed to be able to do. I cannot even fit my thumb into a corona so me and the port bottle were not working out. After 2 tries I still could not get a flambe. I was completely impotent. It was embarrassing and awkward. I tried to make myself feel better by dwelling on the fact that at least I did not have premature eflambulation. It helped a little. Luckily you could not tell the difference by tasting my onions. Then I sauteed tourneed apples in clarified butter and the pork in olive oil. Plating was easy and satisfying. I ended up finishing first (I am so that kind of student) and chef did a taste and check of all the components
I was given a grade of 19 out of 20. Chef said my sauce was perfect in taste but a tad too thick. All of my other parts must have been fine. It looks real fancy like with the mirror plating and all.

So I have a feeling this flambe ghost will be back to haunt me in the next few classes. Damn, I need a bigger thumb.

I heard that tomorrow we will be deboning a leg of lamb (YES! complete with arm pump) and making a stew.