Classic Techniques of cooking (my 4-Saturday class, see February 15, 16, 23, 24 journal entries for more details).
This class provided a really broad and eminently useful understanding of cooking techniques that I've not only applied on a daily basis, but that I now recognize when I watch chefs on cooking shows.
I was watching a cooking show recently. Before creating a soup, the chef suggested you brown some of the veggies to get extra flavor out if you don't have a long time to let them simmer.
Translating to the language of EuroChefs (e.g. French), you'd sauté the initial mirepoix (2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk) and let it get to the point where it's soft and sweating a bit and then add as the basis for your stock to elevate the flavor.
I've already used this when doing Chicken and Dumplings. The recipe just said to throw in some veggies. I quickly realized that this was a basic mirepoix they were asking for and I could spruce up the dish not only by creating a good mirepoix and later adding a bouquet garni (parsley stems, bay leaf and thyme for a basic garni) but by finishing off with minced garlic and parsley at the end for a flavorful chicken soup base.
It's becoming obvious when reviewing recipes handed down by the folks and grandparents that these recipes were guidelines designed for people who already know how to cook. I'm sure that they didn't need to say "sauté the mirepoix" because they already knew that. Later in the Chicken and Dumplings recipe, it says you need to add oil to the dumpling batter, but then below doesn't bother to list when! Obviously, it's assumed you know what you are doing as a chef.
A touch of geography: Mirepoix is also the name of a town in Southern France that we visited last summer, really wonderful. For images of that part of the world, see Fisher's in France, Summer 2003.
Posted by BilFish at March 9, 2004 09:23 AM