Stocks to Stock

We're almost halfway through the semester and for me, this class marks the point where we get into some serious cooking. We started the class by learning to french and truss a chicken. Not terribly difficult, but not the easiest thing either. The first thing you do is remove the wish bone in one piece. (easier said than done as you have to wiggle it out with your fingers) This will allow you to remove the breast with great ease either before or after cooking. We also removed the wings and cleaned the end of the chicken's feet by removing some tendons and pushing back the skin.

Each team started with 2 chickens, one we trussed and one we quartered. Trussing results in a chicken shaped neatly like a football which will ensure even cooking and easy handling. Quartering requires one to locate and pop joints before using a boning knife to cut through cartilage. Not the prettiest process but the results are great and maximizes the use of the chicken.

The first dish we made was poulet roti grandmere which to put simply was roast chicken. This was dinner for the evening. We also made a garniture of potatoes, pearl onions and mushrooms and a simple jus de roti. The dish started by searing each side of the chicken on the stove top and then finishing in the oven on a bed of carrot, onion and chicken bones (left over from the quartered chicken we prepped). While the chicken cooked in the oven we made the garniture - all of which were things we had made in the first two classes. The only trick was remembering how we did it! When the chicken came out of the oven, we set it aside to rest and used the vegetables and chicken bones to make an enriched stock for the jus de roti. Once each element was done we flashed it in the oven and ate for dinner!

The second dish was my favorite. We seared the quartered chicken (skin side down) on the stove and finished in the oven. While the chicken cooked, we made sauce chasseur which is one of the sauces we made on sauce day. It is a pretty simple sauce of mushrooms, shallots, brandy, wine, stock and tomato. We finished the dish on a plate and I took it home for lunch the next day. This is one of the most valuable dishes we have learned as I feel like I can make this over and over again at home.

At the end of class the chef quizzed us on a lot of material we have learned throughout the class. I think we were all pretty impressed to realize how much material we have covered and retained.