Soups and more soups.Moving right along, we went from broths and cream soups to chowder, bisques and pureed soups. I had to really get my "mise en place" together to get all my soups done on time today. The temperature in the kitchen was turned up a notch, and with our final just a day away you could feel the stress barometer rising. We began with our lobster bisque. I had never made one before, so I was quite surprised with the use of the lobster shells. After caramelizing the mirepoix and shells, I added the garlic, tomato, and little brandy. Then: flambé. Thank goodness the oven sprinklers were not activated! There were some major flames going on! I added some wine - reduced, added lobster veloute, and then let it simmer before I strained and finished.
On to my chowder. I cooked my potatoes for the chowder and the vichyssoise separately then began the clam chowder. (Chef always cooks his potatoes separately for this, in clam juice, so the finished chowder had perfectly cooked potatoes.) I rendered my fat, cooked up my onions and celery, made a roux then added my stock and sachet. While it was safely simmering, I then riced my potatoes for the vichyssoise, cooked them with some some crème and a little saffron "tea" (pictured at left), and cayenne. I then strained that and put it away to chill so I could finish it off the next day. Back to the chowder. I scalded some milk and cream (yes, I'm gaining weight) and added it to my base along with the clams and potatoes. I adjusted the seasonings. A little Tabasco and Worcestershire (Chef Parker Sauce) and it was done! Whew! My review was good.
My written final for Essential Skills 101 is tomorrow. My practical knife skills test is tomorrow. I'm tired.
Goodnight.
2 comments:
Lobster bisque eh? If I knew what you were talking about in any of this talk of soup , my comment would be a little more intelligent. But thats all I got.
That saffron tea looks great! How much saffron do you need to make it?
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