(3OH!3- Don't Trust Me)
Lesson 17- Red Meats - Part 1
Today's menu is roasted sirloin fillet (coeur de contrefilet) with mash potato.
Sorry, this is not focused well.
I blame it on the camera.
The dish itself was pretty straightforward to make. I actually had a lot of fun preparing it. The key to this dish was simple good beef, as we did minimal flavoring. We learned to cook it saignant, "rare" in French. Unlike the Americans, who use a quarter system (Blue, Rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, well done), or the Asians, who use a percentage system (30% done, 70% done, ete) the French has 4 and only 4 levels of doneness: Bleu- Bleu (barely cooked), Saignant- Rare (bloody, sometimes called rosé, pink), A point- Medium (Beef still shows some pinkness, but little if any blood, and Bien-cuit- well done (No red/pink at all).
The dish is generally garnished with mash potatoes, which is cooked by boiling skinned potatoes in salted water. The potatoes should be cooked until super tender (ie not al dente), and then mashed into a paste and cooked with cream and butter.
The dish is generally garnished with mash potatoes, which is cooked by boiling skinned potatoes in salted water. The potatoes should be cooked until super tender (ie not al dente), and then mashed into a paste and cooked with cream and butter.
A review of my dish by the chef: Meat was cooked very well. The sauce tastes great but is a little too concentrated (I shouldn't have reduced it so much). And the mash potato is too moist. I knew my mash potato was too wet when I was cooking it already, and tried to heat it up and reduce the moisture. However, what I should have done is letting the potatoes dry between boiling the potatoes and mashing them up. Oh well. You live and learn.
"Always use odd number when you are plating things. Look, we plate three pieces, never two."
- Demo Chef Bogen, when plating.
No comments:
Post a Comment