Week #4

This week, for Basic Cookery, we made two different stocks--white and brown. Really basic stuff. (I think I have made gallons and gallons of stock in my life at home.)

Even though some of the items that we are preparing in Basic are...well...basic, I do still end up learning something new. Sometimes the material covered seems a little too elementary. But again, I really do come out of each class with some new tips/techniques that I did not know previously.

As for garde manger...we had an excellent day of preparing cold soups. Our team made
1)Borscht and 2) Chilled Champagne Melon Soup.







I have never had Borscht before, but I was pleased with how tasty it was. Borscht is basically a beet soup. Even before adding the Riesling, sugar, or other seasonings, the juices obtained from simmering beets with vinegar were unexpectedly sweet. (I am not talking Mountain Dew sweet...more like an unsweetened sweet potato). But after adding the wine, and seasonings, the soup really came to life.

Now for the class favorite: Chilled Champagne Melon soup. OMG! It was sooooo good. Just imagine an ice cold soup made from melon juices, dashes of citrus, and sugar. Then spike it with various forms of alcohol. and VOILA!Champagne Melon Soup!

I will be posting pics of these two soups shortly. If you look at the melon soup, you will see melon balls ganishing the soup. However, the ball in the center of the soup is actually a scoop or ball of lime flavored slush (granite'). Combined with the soup, it was all perfect!