It's the time of the season for loving...

What's you name? Who's your daddy?
(The Zombies - Time of the Season)

Lesson 16- Historical and Regional Influences

We prepared two dishes today:

Deep-fried Gambas shrimp, which included learning how to make mayonnaise by hand and turning it into Tartar Sauce:

 My taichi-symbol fried Gambas

And Cheese Soufflé:

My soufflé after Chef Stril tasted it. I swear

it looked perfect just a minute ago.

Similar to the hollandaise sauce that we did, mayonnaise is an sauce made from emulsified egg. One major difference is that mayonnaise doesn’t require heating of the egg, which makes it so much easier to make. You prepare 3 egg yolks, add vinegar and salt, whisk vigorously and slowly incorporate peanut oil into the bowl. FYI, real mayo should be yellow because it includes a significant amount of egg yolks, not white as the American packaged food industry have you believed your whole life.

In terms of the soufflé, we learned how much of a bitch it is to make one. You have to vigorously whisk egg whites until your arm turns to butter, and then whisk a bit more until the egg white peaks into a dreamy froth. Then, even if you follow the recipe to the T your soufflé might not rise properly because there are so many things that could go wrong.

We had Chef Stril today as our practical chef, and I was so happy! Chef Stril has been our demonstration chef many times, and I've liked him a lot. As our practical chef, he is both strict and supportive, which is really what I want in an instructor. I think of him as a Grandpa Bear figure: loving and warm but you know he can devour you if he ever wishes to. When he tasted my Gambas shrimp, his eyes sparkled and said that it was “divine.” Hah thanks.

Sadly I forgot to season my cheese soufflé. I realized my mistake the after I closed the oven door and it was too late. You can't open the oven once you put in the soufflé, and all you can do is wait for the trainwreck to unfold. Right before tasting, Chef Stril looked at me funny and said "I hope you seasoned your soufflé, or it'll taste like prison food." I laughed nervously as he tasted it. "Ugh, I bet this is what prison food taste like in Boston." he commented with a smile. I can't believe I still made such a rookie mistake after a month and a week in the school. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and won't forget again.

Cheese Soufflé
Preheat oven at 200C
Butter and flour ceramic bowl
Create Bechamel Sauce
Add egg yolks and gruyère cheese to turn it into a Mornay Sauce
Whisk Egg white vigorously until it peaks with a silky smooth texture
Fold mornay sauce into egg white.
Pour  mixture into ceramic bowl, pour in more gruyère cheese until the liquid is below the tip.
Season!
Use finger and trace the mixture along the edge of the bowl.
Put in oven for around 15 minutes. Actual time depends on your soufflé. DO NOT OPEN until ready.
Serve immediately.

Quotes from this class:
After demonstrating how to make mayonnaise sauce-
Demo Chef Stril: (In French) Mesdames et mesdomoiselles you will have no reason to screw up your mayonnaise sauce anymore
Female Translator: (In French) And the messieurs too, no?
Demo Chef Stril: (In French) Yes but it always seems to be the ladies who can't make the mayonnaise sauce. I don't know why.
Female Translator: (In English) So now ALL of you will have no reason to screw up your mayonnaise sauce anymore.