Day 4

Wow it's been a long time since I posted - sorry, people! it's been a busy few weeks.

Way back, we made the following dishes:

Boeuf Bourguignon

-reserve beef cubes and vegetables from marinade separately

-render fat from bacon, reserve bacon

-saute mushrooms, remove

-dry beef cubes, season, then brown until well caramelized, add vegetables and saute

-add flour to beef and vegetables (make a roux) and cook 1-2 min

-add stock, cover with foil and simmer until very tender

-remove beef from pot and reserve; strain braising liquid through a fine chinois and discard vegetables. return liquid and beef to pot and add bacon and mushrooms

-simmer to heat through

-garnish with pearl onions and finely chopped parsley, serving with buttered noodles

Bavette de Boeuf Grillee

-dry and season flank steak with salt and pepper

-brush lightly with vegetable oil

-grill both sides, rotating to create quadrillage

Here's the story of what happened: each table was given one giant flank steak to season and grill. Our table got two, because we had the biggest table. Guys at each table decided to do this task - and then, ha! Every single one of them was raw when Chef cut into them. So they had to put them in the oven. And then - this drove every one else nuts - Army was the only one who shared "his" steak with the class - every other one of them wrapped that huge steak in foil and walked off with it. Chef was not happy. Seriously, selfish? Why do you need an entire flank steak all to yourself?

Sauce Espagnole into Bourdalaise

-heat oil and brown beef trim

-add mirepoix and saute

-add tomato paste and pincer

-add stock, bring to simmer, add 2T of roux and whisk

-add herbs and simmer for 30 minutes

-strain sauce through a fine chinois

In our case we strained this into the wine reduction here:

-heat pan and sweat shallots, then add thyme and peppercorns

-deglaze with red wine, reduce to au sec

-take 4 oz espagnole, stir, reduce to nappe

-turn heat off, monte au beurre, strain, and season

Lessons Learned:

There are three types of roux: white (the most thickening power, less heat, gelatanizes more, cooked 1-3 minutes); blond (cooked 3-5 minutes); brown (cooked 5-10 minutes, less gelatanization power, more caramelization). Always add a hot roux to cold liquid, or a cold roux to a hot liquid. Stock can be reduced three times to create three new sauces: stock takes one day, then you can make brown sauce (which takes a couple hours), then demiglace (another couple hours), then finally boardalaise (about 15 minutes)