In Summary

Today is the first day of Level 2! I was looking through my book to see what is in store for me in the next 6 weeks. Today we will be finishing up braising with another lamb dish and a chicken in red wine sauce. Then we move on to "preparing organ meats"....um, PLEASE let us get family meal on this day for dinner. I cannot be expected to eat that, right? Then a quick lesson on eggs, and then on to desserts, pastas and more! Can't wait to kill my first souffle ;-) We will also be covering nutrition, restaurant management, menu planning, etc.

Level 1 finished off with concentration cooking (grilling, sauteing, roasting) and extraction cooking (poaching, braising, simmering). It's been great to learn the science behind these methods, too, and what is really happening to the meat when you cook it in a certain way.

Anyway, below is a summary of the last 2 weeks of the dishes I made to wrap up level 1.

My filet:



Escalope De Volaille Viennoise (breaded chicken breast with pommes darphin):



Blanquette de Veau (veal stew with rice pilaf):



Poule au Pot (poached chicken - this was served with a horseradish cream sauce):



Braised Lamb Shank with cous cous:





Fricassee de Volaille Printaniere (chicken stew with spring vegetables. This one is basically the classic chicken pot pie, without the pie - yum!):