Cheesey

Yes, the next sauce is "cheesey". Not in the Walmart sort of way, but in the yummy, silky, creamy, tangy sort of way.

In the last post we talked about Roux's. Now we are taking that Roux and making a Bechamel that is the basis for the best scallop potatoes you have had.

Once you have made the Roux, set it aside for about 3 or 4 minutes till it cools just a bit. In the meantime, heat about 2 cups of milk for 5 minutes-or until warm. Add the warm milk to the warm roux. mix well.

Add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and white pepper. White pepper has a different taste than black pepper. it is not as hot-but more spicy. a nice flavor. more subtle yet more flavorful. And with white pepper you won't find little black bits in the sauce.

Continue to stir until the mixture thickens-about 8 minutes. The sauce is ready to use as is-or can be embellished. I like to add an onion half or some shallot quarters to the pot while it is sitting around waiting to be used. this will further flavor the sauce. you will remove these before using the sauce so make sure they are big enough that you can scoop them out.

In the picture above, the sauce is complete and the onion is still in the sauce-see it sticking up. It stays there flavoring the sauce until I decide to use it for something. In this case-scallop potatoes. You can also see some sliced potatoes in the pot where I have added the Bechamel. we will learn why in the next post.

To make a lovely cheese sauce, simply add your favorite cheese. I like Gruyere and Jarlsberg, but some other great tasting cheeses with the Bechamel are Manchego or Gorgonzola. let your imagination run wild.

"roux" the day

Roux Roux Roux. You've heard it, you've seen it, you've tried it. But what happened? usually it either tasted like flour, did not thicken properly or you thought you messed it up and you threw it out.

Let's talk about Roux so you don't rue the day you tried to use a Roux.

First a little about the food channel. You see them make what they call a Roux-but frequently it is a Slagg. This is a Roux that is pourable. A true Roux is NOT pourable. This means that what you thought was ruined was probably right. Look at the picture above-see how it looks lumpy and chunky? that's a Roux.

You can continue to cook this Roux-stirring all the while-until it turns brown and then even black. This will give your finished product a distinctly nuttier taste as it gets darker and darker.

I usually use a blond roux. I think it tastes best for my usual use of a roux which is a base for a Bechamel or a Veloute. But some southern cooking (specifically Cajun-New Orleans type) will use a brown or black roux. Most of the taste of the finished product is determined by the darkness of the roux.

Once you have learned how to make a basic roux-you will learn that you can flavor the roux. During in our class, we made one roux the plain way, and then another roux with cilantro, leeks and celery. You put this right in the roux and cook it (there is a picture of this roux as well-it is the first picture).

And what about cooking it? This is a very important step. You need to cook the roux until all the flour taste is cooked out. Raw flour is not a yummy flavor. This is probably the number one problem with most roux's. They were not cooked thoroughly. The flour taste is bland and then overpowers the lovely flavors you should be getting from the butter and milk or stock you have added to the roux

Most people put the milk in as soon as they mix the butter and flour together. Do not do this--it will leave a distinct four aftertaste in your finished sauce. Cook the Roux thoroughly. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Another common mistake is to add the milk to a hot roux. The milk and the roux should be at about the same temperature. so that means heat your milk a bit and let the roux cool a bit before blending them. Hot roux will separate most of the time and your sauce will not be smooth and creamy. So warm milk and warm roux for a consistent result.

Basic recipe for a Roux:

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup flour (maybe a little more)

melt butter, add flour and cook well (at least 3 minutes) stirring the whole time. add more flour if it is not thick enough. Make sure to continue to cook and stir until all flour is cooked.

It should look thick and lumpy like the picture above (third picture down).

Now you are ready for lesson 2.

Mother sauces

When I decided to have the Diva class on sauces I had no idea of people's preconceived notions of what the class would be like. I knew that what I would be teaching would be technically as good as it gets outside of a culinary school.

But when the Diva's (and one Divo) came to the class-I realized they got something completely different from what they were expecting.

I did not teach a class which showed how to make a specific sauce. Instead-I went the "teach a man to fish" route and taught the basics of sauces.

It is my plan to educate so that you can create. The sauce theory is no different.

Here's how it works. There are five mother sauces:

Bechamel

Espangole

Veloute

Hollandaise

Vinaigrette

From these most sauces emanate. We made all but the Espangnole which takes a day to make so limited time did not permit this sauce. Espangnole is the basis for all brown sauces (Bordalaise, any steak sauce, etc).

We did a bourbon Creme Anglaise to show a custard based sweet sauce-which is somewhat like a Bechamel-but without the cheese and flour. But I digress...

The class proceedure:

We started with the Creme Anglaise which was used to top a Panetonne bread pudding I had already made.

Then we moved on to a Bechemal which we embellished with Gruyere and Jarlsberg cheese. Bechamel's are roux based so we first learned how to make a simple roux to which we added milk and cheese. Then we made scrumptious scallop potatoes-for which I will give the "how to" in the next post.

Having made a standard roux for the bechamel, a roux with celery and leeks and cilantro showed how you can vary a roux. Instead of using milk for a Bechamel, we used chicken stock to make a Veloute. The Veloute sauced a lovely piece of thick pan roasted cod.

Next was an onion vinaigrette which we used to top an avocado and roasted beet salad.

And lastly we made the Hollandaise which finished some pan seared asparagus.

Then we ate. Yum.

She's BAAAAACK

Ok Ok-I've been gone for a while. So sorry to all my Diva followers.

But Hong Kong really knocked the stuffin' out of me. Just couldn't get into a good sleep routine and then there was so much work to do so 20 hour work days perpetuated for the whole week.

And of course it would have been wise to simply relax all weekend-but no, I had two diva classes on-- of all things-- SAUCES! who does that to themselves?? Me who else. Insanity runs in my family. What can I say. I was in the shallow end of the Gene pool.

We will have many postings now I hope. Although skiing was unbelievable this weekend so all of my spare time will go into ensuring that I can leave Friday afternoon to get on that mountain!

In the meantime-hope you enjoy the following post on the diva sauce class.

congee-gation

Another day of food oddities. The picture is my breakfast from today. That porridge looking stuff is something called Congee. I wouldn't recommend it. I suspect it is an acquired taste-sort of like vegemite is in England. Unless you grew up on the stuff its tough to stomach. but I tried it.

SO the funny looking green stuff on the big plate is salted egg and it was quite yummy. There was a gelatin paste mixed in with it. Not sure why its green-but it is egg all right.

Then there was the little tiny bit of spinach on the little square plate. Wasn't sure why they gave such a small portion till I tasted it. This stuff is salty! as a matter of fact-I never realized just how salty Asian food is. Very very salty-almost everything.

More Pork dumplings (superior to the shrimp dumplings of yesterday), and another couple peeled lychee fruit rounded out the first sitting.

I then went back and got two pouched eggs, a little ham, some toasted bread and butter and made myself a very yummy egg sandwich. that was the Amercian part of the meal. Can't get too carried away with this food venture. the stomach needs some recognizable food.

I also had a lovely couple of ounces of fresh smoothy they make there. Raspberry and banana. very good.

Tried a little of the Indian dal. It is basically yellow lentils. I've had better. it was a little gummy and too salty.

that's it for today.

Still full from breakfast 5 hours later....which is a good thing because I have lots of work to do to keep me busy and I wouldn't want to need to go get more food!

The boat was passing by with a freighter in tow-seemed to be a juxtaposition of old and new china-one colorful one utilitarian. So I took the picture.

Super Funny

I'm in Hong Kong for two weeks and thought it would be fun to post some foodie type things.

SO I took a picture of my breakfast and settled in to post. Brought up the blog and guess what? It was in Chinese!!

Good thing I kind of know where things are on the page and was able to figure out sign tab and all the sign in information. How funny is that?

so on to breakfast. They had peeled lychee's. I love lychee's. I only ate two as even though they are a fruit they are pretty rich.

I also had two pork and two shrimp Dim Sum dumplings-Yummy! And yes, i had soy sauce with ginger and hot chili sauce with them at 7:00am.

The breakfast was somewhat Americanized I am sure since i am staying at the Sheraton. the picture of the city is from my room (which I have not ventured from yet-more on shopping later). It is always hazy here from the smog--but today and tomorrow are supposed to be cloudy as well.

I am quite the oddity here because I am dressed in summer clothes and dying of heat. It is winter here and everyone has coats on! Just so you don't think I'm the fruitcake-it is 70 degrees and the humidity is 85% today. yet they all have their coats on. hysterical.

Ok-more food facts from china later.

enjoy!'

jb

Asian Flair

This is Fred the attack cat-guarding my house while I am gone. Don't even THINK about coming near the house-he is-as you can see--vicious. Actually, he may be stuffed, we aren't sure but he doesn't move enough to dispel the theory so it might be true.


I'm headed to Hong Kong Wednesday so I will post from there on some of the foods I experience. I promise pictures. Maybe even some recipes!


It takes a day to get there and they are a day ahead so I will land during our night Thursday-so probably no posts till Saturday when I finally emerge from my two day ordeal and 13 hour time difference.

Haven't been cooking much these days because I haven't been home. I counted-eleven days since December 14th. Anyone want to sublet a house? :). just kidding.

My friends have started a new game "where in the world is Judy". I say "catch me if you can". My cat looks at me like an intruding stranger and I forgot the combination on the house lock (of course I also forgot where the ! key was on my computer the other day so this may have more to do with old age than anything else!)

So sorry the posting has been so slow-just in a travel cycle that hopefully will slow down when I get back from HK.

We will have lots of recipes to post after the diva classes on Feb 20th and 21st.

In the meantime-happy cooking and eating!!

(I refuse to say Bon appetite after I read the magazine that claimed that name)