Getting Stronger Every Day

This will be a short blog and probably the last mid-week blog.  The comments have tapered off to zero, so I'm guessing that you don't need as much detail.

We get 15-20 recipes demonstrated for us in each afternoon session.  Of those, my partner and I are assigned five or six or maybe seven, if they are shorter ones.  So, I'm cooking less than 20% of all the demonstrated dishes.  But you don't have to cook all the recipes to learn all the techniques.  Each of us has a checklist with about 85 techniques on it.  The first column is "First Attempt," the second is "Improving," and the third is "Good at it."  After 2-1/2 weeks, I've got less that thirty "First Attempt," a few "Improving," and two "Good at it."  So, when I say the I'm behind on my breads, I mean that I don't have the types of breads we've covered checked off for even "First Attempt."  Yes, they consider breads so basic to cooking that each of the bread types is a "technique."

Monday's cooking went well.  I did a roast leg of lamb with coriander seeds and garlic, gravy, and mint sauce and all of this was delicious.  By the way, mint sauce here is nothing like the mint jelly I'm used to seeing in the U.S.  It is mostly finely chopped mint in a loose liquid; but boy does it taste great with the lamb.  I attempted glazed carrots also, but I burnt some of them -- not good.  Today (Tuesday), I did a great mangoes in lime syrup, cabbage soup, and boiled romanesco (a vegetable like cauliflower, but light green in color).  I also made garlic butter to go with my partner's shepherd's pie.  I still had a little extra time, so I baked a loaf of brown soda bread.  I don't know how the bread turned out, because it was still hot when we were finished, but everything else tasted great.  My instructor helped me with presentation (you never garnish something sweet with parsley -- dummy me!).  All in all, a tiring but good morning.

This afternoon the demos were done by Rachel Allen, the daughter-in-law of Darina.  She is something of celebrity on British TV, i.e., she does cooking shows.  She wasn't here for the first two weeks of the school because she was cooking on a beach at some exotic resort, but she will be one of the leaders for the remainder of the program.  I think I can guess who Darina's successor will be.  In any case, she was very good -- clear in her descriptions, dynamic in her presentation, and very open to answering questions.  B.t.w., her cookbooks are sold in Borders in Albuquerque.