Week Three: Braised Lamb & ANOTHER Buffet!!

Happy belated Thanksgiving EVERYONE!!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and got to fill your tummies till you got a food comma/food baby!! I know I did! Well earlier last week we went over the usual Serve Safe info about keeping our kitchens clean, etc., and on Wednesday we learned another technique, braising. As you can see from the picture above, the braising came out perfectly, the meat came out perfectly tender and deliciously hearty. According to Wikipedia, "braising is a combination cooking method using both moist and dry heat; typically the food is first seared at a high temperature and then finished in a covered pot with a variable amount of liquid, resulting in a particular flavor". This method can be used a number of ways, but usually it makes pieces of meat completely tender, juicy, and delicious! Since Chef Luke left early on break, Chef DJ came in to instruct us as we went through the ever exciting world of BRAISED LAMB, sorry Lamb Chop, we may have eaten your distant cousin...oops.

Here, Ernesto is placing the floured and seasoned pieces of lamb into the dutch oven to give them a good sear. We used a mixture of butter and oil as our base fat and went from there...

After searing the meat, we removed all of the meat from the pot and set it aside. We then deglazed the pot to get all those good flavor bits off the bottom, a good wine does the trick quite nicely and all those bits came up easily. They are also used to help enhance the flavor of the beef stock. We set the meat back in the stock and placed it in the oven to cook. In the mean time...

We glazed carrots, pearl onions, and turnips using a cartouche, or paper lid that is used to slow down the release of moisture while cooking. We added water and a little bit of sugar to the pans of veggies so they cooked perfectly and had a slight glossy look from the sugar.

In addition to getting to eat all that delicious lamb we were also asked to rate ANOTHER buffet!! YAY!! Breakfast buffet!! We all rushed to "help" the other class and try some Eggs Benedict, chocolate covered figs, a create your own crepe line, and some sweet cinnamon rolls!! Safe to say I was full even before the holidays started!!

Here I am with my classmates enjoying all the yummy breakfast food!! And yes, I did add A LOT more food to my plate! I love culinary school!! I hope everyone's week is going well and HAPPY BAKING!!:)