It was an egg-y day in the kitchens today. We had Pam who is loads of fun, she brought us coffee at about 10:30 and snagged a scone from one of the other kitchens to have with our coffee, not a bad morning. White yeast bred, frittata with oven roasted tomatoes, basil and goat’s cheese, and a tomato and basil salad were on my order of work today, I blind baked my tart from yesterday, and made an omelette as well. I was quite worried about making the omelette because it is a technique on the exam… It wasn’t worth the stress, seasoning was perfect, technique was great, and it tasted pretty good too!
People asked me quite a bit before I came what I was most excited about learning, and I didn’t really know, but often said bread… The breads up until this point are simple, but have (in my opinion) more technique in a lot of ways, but are really quick to make (no yeast!)… Sour dough and white yeast bread are totally different, and there is a process to making them. All of the breads we have made up until this point are delicious, as I am sure they will continue to be.
Demo today was my kind of food, roast chicken, roast guinea fowl, stuffing, gravy, a few turnip dishes, creamed celery… I am making a traditional roast chicken with stuffing and gravy on Thursday and peasant soup – I read the recipe quickly at the beginning of demo and thought it said pheasant (since there was game on the menu), and couldn’t understand why it didn’t have any pheasant in it – duh!
The beer demo was really interesting tonight, Caroline Hennessy who wrote the book I mentioned yesterday brought in four different beers from her craft brewery that she runs with her partner and a friend, they were all so different, but I enjoyed them all. She chatted about the growth of Irish Craft beers, and the process of starting their own business. I was able to buy six bottles of her beer for ten euro – not bad!
“Stuffing is called stuffing for a reason…” Rachel Allen on why you need to stuff the bird, not cook it on the side.
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- Coffee break!
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- Rachel with a guinea fowl.
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- After the beer demo!
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- My fritatta and salad!
