Pinchers

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Rôtir et Poêler, To Roast or to Pan Roast? That is the question.

Today was a Busy day.  I took a lot of videos and hopefully can get them uploaded on to youtube and on here but eh, it takes so long so it may be a couple of days before i can get it up, d'oh get your mind out of the gutter, but check back if you want to see the vids. 

Today we learned how to Roast and Pan Roast poultry.  First, Chef took the birds and seasoned the Inside.  You know, that hole that has the innards in it sometimes?  Yes, Season in there.  Don't be afraid it won't bite.  Then Truss the bird.  No, not Trust, never trust a bird especially a dodo... Padampam!  I'm a dork, i'm sorry... Trussing a bird, Bridage, is tying it up so that the legs and wings are close to the body... This ensures even cooking of the bird.  The pictures in the book?  Didn't help me one bit.  Chef showed us a few methods and i'll upload that vid for you.  Then you Dry it of all moisture (so it doesn't burn), season and pan sear it.  The only seasoning he used was Salt and Pepper.  After searing the chicken you put it in the oven to roast or Rôtir.  The Poêler is Searing the chicken in a braiser, basting, and covering the pan before you put it in the oven.  Your bird is not going to be as crispy brown because what you're doing is holding in the moisture but your bird is going to be more moist.  He roasted this for oh 15 mins then he added aromatics, carrots, onions, bacon...then roasted it til cooked, turing the bird every once in a while.

Then it was time for our cuts test.  A potato, onion, carrot, and celery and in 30 minutes he wanted us to cut out tourné and brunoise with potato, Dés onion, Macédoine the carrot and Julienne the celery.  I'm confident that i received a good score on my test.  I practiced for HOURS last night lol.  Used up half a bag of potatoes for tourné alone.  He also returned my flex assignment on Favorite Food that was one of my blogs and he gave me Full credit for it... Yay me.

So for the rest of the class he showed us how to cook up the aromatics and make the Glaze for the chicken as well as the Sauce.  If you want to learn how to make good sauces, learn now to make stock.  You can use the Bouillon cubes but the Base pastes are better or you can use Stock in a box sold in stores now but the best is for you to make your own Stock at home.  Stock is also used for the aromatics. 

Then he carved and plated the bird for us and he said that watercress is what the French usually use as a garnish for birds.  Then lucky us got to taste all that yummy goodness and mmmm it was Delicious.

Resting your meats before you cut into it is VERY important.   Why do you Rest meats?  When you first bring it out of the heat the juices are just bouncing around going OMG where should I go?  What shall i do?  So you let it sit for a little while so that all the juices settle back into the meat.  If you cut it too soon then all the moisture bounces right out onto your cutting board and you get to eat dry meat for dinner.   How long should you let it Rest?  Half the time it took you to cook it.  Eh?  If you cook it for 30 minutes then let it Rest for 15 minutes.  Comprendez vous?  Good...

To Roast or to Pan Roast is up to you.  The question is did this help you at least a little bit?

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

No comments: