Regional Cuisine: Burgundy (I luv dem shrimpos)

Was tempted to skip school today and just enjoy the weather on a bike, but figured if the quiz is tomorrow, it would be too much drama to skip the review day. I guess others had the same idea, because no one was absent today. Low and behold, Chef K was absent today and Chef Mi filled in.

Chef Mi is a stout older fellow who works high up in administration who had a lot of quiet nervous energy -- I suspect he used to be a chef instructor years ago, but has been riding a desk for at least a decade. Nice enough, but he seemed tentative in interacting with the students.

There was no lecture, Chef Mi reviewed the recipes and off we went. On the menu: Beef Bourguignon (Braised Beef with Red Wine Sauce), Gratin de Queues d'Ecrevisses (Gratin of Shrimp), Cervelle de Canut (Brains-of-the-Silk Weaver) (!!!), and Salade Lyonnaise (Salad of Braised Lion....I keed, I keed! Endangered wild cat food still TK).

Both the Salad and the "brains" (farmer's cheese with herbs) could be done later and whenever, so Speedy and Chef Jr. took the beef while Dirty Dave and I went after the gratin. As Dora the Explorer needed to do something, I punted and said that the beef needed more hands. I just didn't want to deal.

The shrimp gratin was a big, sprawling dish. We started with making shrimp stock, which consisted of simmering fish stock, shrimp heads and shells, mirepoix, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, parsley, tomato paste and bayleaf for about 45 minutes, then straining. With this stock, we made Shrimp Veloute, which is simply mixing in roux (cooked butter and flour) to thicken the stock.

The shrimps were big and fully intact, and pulling off their big heads resulted in a gush of blood and green 'taco' all over the cutting boards -- kinda cool, kinda gross like the lobsters. Butterflying them and removing the poop-vein was revelatory -- the shrimp I've de-veined at home were smaller and less obvious.

As DD removed the shrimp from the pan, butter, I made Hollandaise sauce: Whisk egg yolk and a bit of water over a hot water bath until the consistency of whipped cream; then whisk in clarified butter; then saute minced shiitake mushrooms until soft. Add tomato concasse (minced tomatoes, minus the skins and seeds), then deglaze with Mard de Bourgogne, a sweet-smelling brandy of the Burgundy region. Throw in heavy cream and reduce. Add shrimp veloute plus minced parsley. Toss shrimp back in to rewarm. The whole mess was put into a gratin dis, then topped with 'Glacage Royale' -- hollandaise, shrimp veloute, and freshly-made whipped cream folded together in about equal portions. Throw in beneath the salamander (broiler) for a few seconds, then serve.

During the course of the day, Dora showed off her lack of comprehension of what was going on around her and her lack of respect for the food she was making. When making croutons, she was ripping the bread rather than cutting into squares, when making poached eggs she added a full pint of vinegar to the water when a tablespoon was the appropriate amount, as she made vinaigrette she rubbed her nose with her fingers and then stuck them in the stuff to taste. Suffice to say, I did not eat anything she worked on -- the Salade Lyonaise and the Beef (I did sample other groups, though).

As DD & I were in the shrimp, I quickly made the Brains-of-the-Silk Weaver -- farmer's cheese is one of B's favorite foods, and I didn't want to risk Dora getting her hands in it. The 'brains' is basically just an herb-infused big-curd cheese. We started with a bunch of farmer's cheese in a bowl, then thoroughly mixed in small amounts of all the following, all finely minced: chives, parsley, tarragon, shallots, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Once that was mixed through, I hit it with a little heavy cream to make it smoother and more spreadable. I don't like this kind of cheese, but I have to admit, it was pretty tasty and fresh tasting.

Tomorrow, we enter Italy.

ADDENDA:
The scale said 224 this morning, a two pound increase from the previous two weeks. Stupid scale.

Before returning to school for a knife demo, I made a big green salad then decided to go the whole way and make dressing, too. Through hazelnut oil, apple cider vinegar, a squeeze of a whole lime, salt and a couple small cloves of finely minced garlic. Taaaasty!

My mom always considered shrimp to be a treat, and took some sort of pleasure in referring to them as 'shrimpoes'. We'd have those tiny breaded frozen ones out of the box, and they were good enough. I wish I could go to her apartment and blow her mind with the shimpoes we made today.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, nuts, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 10:30am, shrimp souffle with about 5 big honking shraaamps, one small bite of beef bourginon, 1 croute with "brains", a few small bites of chocolate cake-stuff, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pastry class sent up 5 plates of fancy desserts, but for the first time ever, they were strictly mediocre. They all centered around a little chocolate bundt cake that were all dry, not very sweet and not very chocolatey.

PM SNACK: 12:30, Gus extra dry ginger ale, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In honor of the HVS. Tasted really good, with a nice gingery linger.

DUNCH: 4pm, large green salad with hazelnut vinaigrette, roasted broccoli with onion, mushroom, panko and cheddar, 2 servings of chocolate gelato, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
The gelato was so good and appealing, I had to have it a 2nd time -- usually industrial food will trick out their product with all sorts of chemicals and refined junk to evoke that reaction, while my 5-ingredient gelato did it on it's own! (Coco powder, whole milk, cornstarch, pinch o' salt, dash o' vanilla) Technically ice milk, not ice cream.

SNINNER: 8pm, falafel sandwich, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Didn't intend to eat this much, but was a huge cheap portion -- the demographics of this joint must of been poor hungry NYU students.

EVENING WATERING: 11:45pm, quart of water