Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Pass the Sauce

After a great Memorial Day Weekend, we were back at it. The topic this week is Sauces.
The 5 mother sauces, or better known as, Leader sauces. I guess cuz they lead to other and better sauces. The chef used the stock he had made last week to incorporate into the sauces he made. You might notice a small theme here, the Chef is doing all the stock and sauce making. We get to watch and take notes. But, tomorrow, we get to make mayonnaise, by hand, and the always tricky Hollandaise sauce. Don't cook your eggs! Keep them below 156 degrees and you'll be fine.

So what are the 5 leader sauces you're probably asking?
Bechamel or white sauce, Veloute a light brown sauce, Espagnole a brown sauce, Tomato sauce and Hollandaise sauce. From these, the sauce world is your oyster. The first three are made from a roux, that's flour and butter. Ahh but there are three kinds of roux, white, blond and brown.

I'll stop now, it gets a lot more involved from here.

Meanwhile on the food safety side, all the students had to give a report on food born illnesses that have been reported in the press. So two things I learned from these reports;
1. Don't eat institutional food. They don't care if you get sick and die. One less mouth to feed.
2. Stay away, far far away, from the buffet lines. Not really, but it makes you think twice about those "all you can eat sushi buffets".

Oh and always wash your pre-packaged salad mixes. Hemorrhagic colitis is nothing to mess with.




No comments: