In response, or just continuing the conversation that the Bride began, let me mull over my reactions so far to this whole Cordon Bleu thing.
Lessons learned: At every dinner, Brother asks me, What did you learn this meal? Why did they have you make this dish? What's significant about this dish? I do my best to answer, but often I don't know. Last meal, for instance, I inferred that the method of cooking the onion soup was the same as the onion tart, except for one I added liquid and the other I plopped it in a pastry shell and added custard. See other lessons for the custard.
But generally, I am sort of learning. I fault the cookbook for not explaining things more -- I still am not confident at all about Crème Anglaise, what might go wrong, how to make it right. I was very burnt (so to speak) with the Mouclade, not realizing until later that the mussels just weren't cooked -- because the book didn't mention at all about what a "cooked mussel" should look or act like. If there were a teacher-chef looking over my shoulder, I am sure I would have failed several lessons, but at least she or he could explain what went wrong, where.
Flavor: While some things have been truly delicious (the Truite aux Amandes, the roast chicken, the fish cassoulet and actually, the sauce for the mussels), the majority of the dishes I've found to run towards the bland and tasteless. I apparently don't like veal (not liking any of the veal dishes so far); many of the starters are a waste of time for me, just filling me up; about half the desserts have been tasteless. Perhaps this is a matter of flavor-preference (in a pinch, I choose Chinese, Indian or Mediterranean food over, well, over all other ethnic cuisines), or more likely it is due to not cooking them right in the first place (see above, and below).
Fat: Maybe this is where things are going wrong. I just cannot bring myself to use as much butter and oil as called for. Most of the time, it's okay (things sauté and don't stick to the pan) but maybe the flavor I'm not detecting in so many of the dishes is due to under seasoning them with fat.
Effort: What a lot of effort! I am a frequent-bowl user as it is, pre-measuring ingredients even for chocolate-chip cookies or beef stews. But this is almost absurd! If we were in a class where someone else did the dishes, or we had a killer dishwasher, it would be okay, but every meal has an hour or more of dishes attached to it. And frankly, I'm not sure the flavors are worth the work (for instance, the guinea hen dish, which was fine, would have been just as fine cooked all in one dish I believe).
Complexity: Related to effort, I find most of the menus almost too complex for me. I have started making the starter or the dessert on another day, and that is more doable, although it means I have to cook a complex meal more often than just Sunday.
Conclusion: All the gripes aside, I am enjoying the exercise and the discipline. The kids are learning about France and French food (in bits and pieces, and of course they don't eat any of it). I've got a couple of new dishes in my repertoire, both based on fish, which I like the sound of.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
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3 comments:
Have you given any thought to what to do about the veal in next week's menu? It says that it's a way of cooking an inexpensive cut of meat, but it won't be inexpensive here and, more importantly, I'm not finding veal to be that flavorful.
I'm debating whether to use pork or chicken instead.
Amused that the children are learning about French food, but won't eat it.
Good dessert coming up, next week. Maybe they'll eat some of that.
I've been thinking of suggesting we skip this coming week, actually (except maybe the dessert). I've been looking and can find nothing resembling dandelions or chicory in our markets -- I'll bet there will be stuff later in Spring.
As to the meat, if we do it, I was thinking plain old beef -- making it into a beef stew, in effect. Which would be tasty.
I think the dessert this week sounds tasty, but the children won't touch it. Boy-Child will not eat any fruit that has been Touched With A Knife (except oranges, to remove the peel) and Girl-Child restricts herself to bananas and strawberries.
Q: Do I cook two (or rather, three, because they are Jack Sprat and his sister) meals?
A: Well, yes and no. They prefer highly processed foods, (i.e., frozen chicken nuggets and frozen burritos, respectively) and with much quiet shirt-wrenching we have capitulated. (Boy-child, already a skinny kid, was losing weight, refusing to eat what we served.) So their "meals" are very easy to make -- microwave some nuggets, add carrots and applesauce, and a slice of cheese, and they are set. I would be bored to tears, but they rarely complain. We have been forcing them to taste one new thing on the table at every meal, but that has led to such histrionics (running to the bathroom to spit it out -- and that was a piece of hamburger in a plain casserole!) that we don't even push that.
The one reliable success in the Cordon Bleu is that they both really enjoyed the chicken from making chicken stock -- i.e., what I call, Poulet à l'Anglaise (although there's a bouquet garni saving it from being plain boiled chicken).
Creme Anglaise: the recipe calls for 4 egg yolks, 2 cups milk, 1/3 cup sugar (and vanilla). I tried a similar recipe with 5 egg yolks and that didn't work any better. The Bride recommended cornstarch as a last ditch thickener, and I've done that the last two times, but I think I'm going back to none, next time. I think the trick is something to do with when the egg yolks actually cook, and thicken, but I haven't cottoned on to it yet.
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