I don't know if anyone else realized this in my class, but today was a great day for building flavors. I got my duck breast and my bacon on fast because those would take time to render. I then cooked my potatoes in the bacon fat, and then the tenderloin in the duck fat. It wasn't a part of Chef Brown's demo...I just couldn't stand seeing those great fats go to waste, being asian and all. We started with the flank steak, which was marinated in some soy sauce, sesame oil, grated ginger and garlic, minced cilantro, scallions, serrano chili, and black pepper. This took like no time on the grill at all. I wished we could have presented earlier...then, I could have focused solely on my other two dishes. But I guess that's not really the way it works in real life...you wait for good food...food doesn't wait for you. I dressed my cabbage and carrot salad with some sesame oil, salt and pepper and scallions. I also mistakenly plated my sauce which was actually meant for my other two dishes, but Chef Brown said he loved it. I'll take that. He said the steak was cooked perfectly medium rare, and the seasoning was great. There was a great crust on the outside, a tiny amount of gray at the edge, some pinkness and mostly red and warm throughout. My only criticism I had for myself was that I didn't do a prettier job slicing the steak on the bias. Like tourneeing a potato, I started strong, but my cut started getting wanky fast.
Like my knife cuts, here's where my camera started getting wanky. And it got even worse. Stupid cameraphone pissed me off today! I should get a real camera. Anyhow, enough time had passed now for the bacon to render, so I roasted those potatoes in that fat, along with some minced rosemary and thyme. I reserved some of the rosemary I minced and ganished with that as well. I would have used the duck fat from the actual dish, but I didn't have time for that. We had to plate this dish second, and waiting for the whole duck breast to render wouldn't have given me enough time to roast my potatoes in the fat. But either way is delicious, and I'm glad I used the fat. Chef Brown loved the potatoes, and he said my duck had a nice, crispy skin. It was a bit overdone, but the seasoning of everything was delicious. He loved my pan sauce which was a veal stock/red wine reduction with the dried cherries. I also mounted my sauce with butter at the end to thicken, and if we don't stop doing that soon, I'm going to weigh 300 lbs. But it was delicious, although a bit thick. I need to work on consistency in my sauce consistencies.
Here's my camera pissing me off again. I cooked the perfect tenderloin, had the perfect sauce (same as before, without the dried cherries), and Chef Brown loved my potato...which I took a little cheat from America's Test Kitchen. More on that later. The tenderloin, being the last dish to present, I finally could sear in the duck fat, even though bacon would have made more sense since it's actually in the potatoes. I had a great sear, and it was thanks to attending Chef Pastore's pan sauce seminar last night. He seared a filet yesterday as well, and I watched him wait until that pan was smoking hot, and the oil was smoking like it was about to get cancer..and only then did he dropped in his meat. I did the same. Next time, I should remember to pick out the little bits of duck before I use the fat. Those started burning towards the end...good thing it did not take long to get a good crust on that filet. I basted with the duck fat, even though Chef Brown had used butter in the demo. I just had so much duck fat to work with, I thought why not? I love watching those Top Chefs baste their steaks with a spoon...it's just not something I've ever done at home before. I guess it makes me feel like a real chef...even though I'm far from being one. One step closer though. As much as I loved cooking a perfect medium rare filet, the potatoes got my love today. I'd watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen where Bridget tackled twice-baked potatoes, which always have a rubbery skin that can't even support the potatoes in it, and mediocre filling that doesn't even clear the rim. So first I cleaned my potato, dried it, then rubbed it with oil before I put it in the oven. This would crisp up the outside skin. It really did...my lab partner's had regular skin that you would have on a regular baked potato. Then, since I knew we'd only have to plate one half, I scooped one half out completely and the presentation one to about 1/4in thick on the sides. If you scoop all or even most of the potato out, the remaining skin will be too flimsy to support the filling. Then, I took the potato boat I'd made, greased the inside and put it back in the oven to crisp the serving side as well and give it better structure. Also, crispy potatoes are never bad. Then, since I only had to stuff half a potato, I was able to overstuff it. I added the usual...sour cream, butter, chives, cheddar cheese, the bacon I'd rendered, but I built that thing up high! I also made sure to top the potato with just a small amount of cheddar. I think it's more attractive to have a mostly white potato with streaks of yellow than just all yellow, all cheddar, all the time. Although that is a lovely thought. I also garnished with some fresh chives I'd reserved. Thank you, Bridget Lancaster!
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