International Cuisine (Week 2)

Much to kind of Chef Warner and Mitchell who set us up a platter of cheeses, scones and English tea to start our class on The British Isles and Spain-Portugal.

Chef Warner secretly pondering "When is this food gona be ready! I am Hungry!!!" :P Just kidding she is in deed looking at our production and grading our work.

Jose helping me make the Portuguese Flan.

25 Precious ramekins with amber caramel!!!! MMM!!! ready for FLAN!

Flan in oven

Chelsea glazing the pasty turnovers with egg wash.

Lime Rose by group 5 AMAZING!!!! They decorated their paella with these roses.

Lemon Rose

GROUP 1: Cornish Pasty / Beef Onion and Potato Turnover (England) MMM!!!! they were DELICIOUS!!!

GROUP 2: Yorkshire Pudding (England) by Jose and Mitchell's group

GROUP 2: Cod Cakes (Scotland) by Jose and Mitchell's group

GROUP 3: Shepherd's Pie (England) top left made by Linda, top right by Evelyn and the ribbon price winner with flag and all by Kenny!!!

Inside view

GROUP 4: Boxty / Potato Pancakes (Ireland)

GROUP 5: Paella a la Valenciana (Spain)

GROUP 6: Pollo al Ajillo / Garlic Chiccken(Spain)

We ate food from SPAIN-PORTUGAL and THE BRITISH ISLES!!!! MMM!!!

Cooling the PORTO PUDIM FLAN (Portugal) in the freezer.

PORTO PUDIM FLAN (Portugal) This is a portuguese baked caramel custard.

Garde Manger (Week 2)

We made (group 4) top to bottom.
Cantaloupe Soup, Mayonnaise (not pictured used for remoulade), Remoulade sauce and Caper & Herb vinagrette.

Interesting lab and OH MY G.! Who would of though mayo was SO HARD to make! We made ours 4 times since our evil emulsion kept breaking.... forget Hollandaise in Basic that was piece of cake compared to try and make mayo by hand with a whip over a steamy bain marie!

Group 4!!!!

Ethnic Shopping

This picture comes from:

Saigon Taipei
(817) 460-3428
2206 S Collins St
Arlington, TX

Here you will find mainly ingredients from Vietnam as well as Thailand and Indonesia.
Many Viet and Thai fresh herbs and fruits as well as tons of ethnic canned good.
What to look for: Bamboo utensils like Bamboo Steamer, canned coconut milk for 50¢ !!! Teas, Straws and tapica to make Bubble Tea! Cafe du Monde Coffee (coffee flavored with chicory) and Viet coffee makers!!! The place even has a Vietnamese bakery and deli inside.

Asian Utensils: Bamboo Steamer, Bamboo sushi mats, Cast iron wok, herbs/kitchen shears, vegetable crimper, bamboo mat with rice spoon and Asian whet stone.

THE FIND! of the day.... a Cast iron WOK!!!!! I went CRAZY!!! When I saw it in Hong Kong Market�. It will make an excellent wok and a great frying dish!!!!

Ethnic Produce

BANANA craze! Top green bananas, center yellow plantains, green plantains bottom BABY BANANAS!!!! All of the above are used in different Latin American dishes as is green to produce different like alcapurrias (PR) or Tostones (PR, too).

Now in my fridge: Culantro leafs (recao), Vietnamese Lemongrass stalks, 3 aji chiles (sweet peppers), ginger root and 3 red jalapenos!!! FIRE!!!

Ethnic Pantry

NOW in my pantry: from top (clock-wise) Soy beans (to make home-made soy milk), Goya brand olives for Puerto Rican cooking, Canned Coconut milk for candy making, German Sweet mustard for sandwiches, Ground coconut for macaroon cookies and curries, Sazon Goya seasoning for Puerto Rican rice, Goya Brand Rice for Paella, Gandules (pigeon peas) for Puerto Rican rice and Tapioca pearls for Chinese tapioca pudding MMM!!!!

First use of the Vegetable-crimper to make french fries.

Tostonera

My 2 tostoneras (tostone/plantain makers or mashers) after the initial frying (to render the though plantain soft) it is placed in either one tostonera to shape it either as a cup to use it as hors d'oeuvre stuffed or as a disc to be eaten with rice or as desired.

Close up

TOSTONES, fried plantain fritters made by slightly frying the slice of plantain then it is mashed to give it the round look and fried briefly for a second time.

Puerto Rico's National Dish

VOILA! a very Puerto Rican plate. Arroz con Gandules (rice with pegeon peas), Tostones (plantain fritters), and a little scoop of home-made Sofrito (caribbean base sauce for many dishes it contains mainly tomatoes, bacon, and a herb called "recao" which is like cilantro).

Culantro or Recao

Culantro (Eryngium Foetidum) or "RECAO" as called in the Carribean is a flavorful herb used in caribbean cooking. Puerto Rico uses it extensively in all kinds of stews, soups, beans, asopao, etc. It is a more flavorful substitute for Cilantro for all your culinary creations.

I find it less pungent than cilantro more of a mild pleasant, less fruty notes.

An-nat-to

Home made "Achiote Oil" (annatto oil).
Annatto or achiote is like the Saffron (Spain) or Turmeric (India) of Latin America; it adds a subtle orange-yellow color to any food for example to color masa for Mexican tamales or Puerto Rican rice (Arroz con Gandules).

It is made by heating briefly some oil then adding ground annatto seeds stir to dissolve and blend color and flavor. Then when cold strain and save in a glass container/bottle. Then just use as regular oil for rice, tamales or to add color to fritter dough, etc...

an-nat-to
NOUN:
pl. an-nat-tos
In all senses also called achiote.

1. A tropical American evergreen shrub or small tree (Bixa orellana), having heart-shaped leaves and showy, rose-pink or sometimes white flowers. Also called lipstick tree .
2. The seed of this plant, used as a coloring and sometimes as a flavoring, especially in Latin American cuisine.
3. A yellowish-red dyestuff obtained from the seed aril of this plant, used especially to dye fabric and to color food products such as margarine and cheese.