Chicken or Beef. Scratch that there wasn’t an option involved today because Jack and I made both dishes and then some. We were at the saucier station and made both the Poulet Roti Grand Mere and the Beef Bourguignon with some homemade spaghetti. Jack and I pretty much divided the tasks and did an outstanding job once again together. Jack and I made fabulous food or as Jack likes to say “we cooked bomb food!”.
First, we decided to divide and conquer. Since I needed more practice with the trussing, cooking, and taking apart the chicken, Jack let me spearhead that department while he dried the beef, browned the beef, and then created a sort of stew to braise the beef in for an hour and a half in the oven. Basically, we both worked on separate dishes, yet still helped each other out with both. While he was doing the beef, Chef came over to my station to help me master trussing a chicken and seasoning it. I filled the chicken cavity with garlic, thyme, parsley, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Then I trussed the chicken and seared the outside to give it a nice brown color. Then into the oven it went till it reached an internal temperature of 145 degrees. While in the oven, I rubbed whole butter all over it! I then let it cool down while I worked on my jus. The jus is the liquid that you plate the chicken with. In a sense it is a sauce, but it is not as thick as a sauce. My jus turned out really flavorful, but could have used a little bit more of a reduction. The garniture for the chicken is the same for the beef, so Jack and I pretty much cooked all those early on, so that when it was go time we were ready to plate and present. The garniture includes bacon, mushrooms, pearl onions, and the chicken dish requires cocottes. Once again Jack and I split the cocottes in half to do.
After we presented our chicken, chef told us we NAILED the DISH! Our flavor profiles were “spot on”. We were so happy! I even made myself some homemade mint/tarragon infused lemonade- that is until Jack told me the show is not over and I need to cut my break in half. Looks like I’m rubbing off on Jack and he’s rubbing off on me (trading character positions)! We still had to finish making our beef Bourguignon. My favorite type of beef is like a short rib or tenderloin that just melts in your mouth after it has been simmering away or braising. I just can’t get enough of it. GET IN MAHH BELLY! Along with the beef, which we cooked in the marinade sauce- red wine, brandy, veal stock etc., we had to roll and make our own fresh pasta. No joke I felt like I was a big fat Italian working in Roma at a pasta factory creating pastas for Di’Giorno. I was having so much fun with the pasta machine and adding flour like a professional. I definitely got a kick out of it.
(As if you couldn’t tell!)
Our beef turned out beautifully and our pasta was buttery and deliciously perfect, as well! Could have been hotter though. Tomorrow, I am off into the world of pastry where we will be making profiteroles and an apple tart!
Much love,
E (or as Lili likes to call me Julia Child with a hippie twist- I’ll take it!)