jimtrue.com : school : CUL104 : Day 02: Sauces & Soups

Posted by Jim True on November 13, 2009 8:56 PM. Last Updated November 13, 2009 8:56 PM

Disclaimer for all material noted here is at the bottom of this web page.

Day 02: Sauces & Soups

Cake Decorating/Icing Methods: Australian, Mexican, Lambeth, Wilton method

• Pots and Pans
• Aluminum - heavy gauge, non-reactive coating (ie calphalon)
• aluminum whisk/stanless steel pan, or vice versa, will not get white sauce as the two metals react with one another
• Best cookware you can buy is copper/copper is toxic
• Bakeshop: Measuring/mixing; makeup of product before baking; baking; final assembly

Sauces

• A sauce is a flavorful liquid either thickened or reduced to the proper consistency
• Sauces add moistness, flavor, richness, visual appeal and interest to the dishes they accompany

Sauce Families

• Liquid + thickening agent = Leading Sauce (mother sauce)
• Leading Sauce (Mother Sauce) + Flavoring = Small Sauce
• Mother Sauces
• béchamel: milk + roux
• Velouté: stock + roux
• Espagnole or Brown sauce: brown stock + brown roux
• Tomato sauce: tomato + stock + (roux optional), classically done with a roux, but most modern versions are made without starch
• Hollandaise: clarified butter + egg yolks

Béchamel

• Owes its name to the Marquis de Bechamel (1630-1703) who was major domo to Louis XIV
• Bechamel + Cream = Cream Sauce
• Bechamel + Cheese = Mornay
• Bechamel + Crayfish = Nantua
• Bechamel + Onion = Soubise

Veloute

• Veloute + cream = Sauce Supreme

Espagnole

• Demi-glace = 1/2 Espagnole + 1/2 Brown Stock, reduced by half
• Demi-glace + red wine + shallots = Bordelaise
• Demi-glace + Madeira = Madeira
• Demi-glace + black truffles = Perigueux
• Demi-glace + mushrooms = Forestiere

Understanding Emulsions

• Emulsions you already know about:mayonnaise, cream, milk, butter, cream rinse or conditioner for hair
• An emulsion is made by the combination of work: breaking one liquid into droplets, and the use of an "emulsifier" to stabilize the system

How Emulsifiers work

• Very fine particles can surround the dispersed phase of the emulsion and discourage them from coalescing into larger droplets: starch, mustard
• Fatty acids have a chemical structure in which one end is fat soluble (or lipophilic) and one end is water solube (hydrophilic): lecithin in egg yolk, soap

Hollandaise

• a classic sauce which uses the fundamental concept of emulsion as a thickening agent
• An emulsion is a uniform mixture of two normally unmixable liquids
• Steps to Make a Hollandaise
1. Make a reduction of white wine vinegar, peppercorns and minced shallots. Cool the reduction
2. Place the cool reduction in a large round-bottomed stainless steel bowl with the egg yolk
3. Whip the yolk mixture with a large, flexible whisk over a hot water bath until it is a lighter in color, almost doubled in volume and hot enough to hold the trace of your whisk as you move it through the bowl.
4. Off the heat, very slowly whisk in the clarified butter until the proper consistency is achieved
5. Taste the sauce and correct the season with lemon juice, salt, and the cayenne pepper
6. Hold the sauce warm, it will break if it either too hot or too cold

Program for next week: Next Thursday Quiz on Stocks and Chapter 1 Professionalism; Friday Night: Quiz on Soups & Sauces

Soups

• Clear Soups: Broth and Bouillon, vegetable soups, consomme
• Cream Soups: based on veloute, bechamel
• Pureed soups (thick soups, not based on creams)
• Bisques (soup make with shellfish)
• Chowders: originally can be anything but must have potatoes
• Special Regional Soups: gumbos, new england etc. bouillabaise, chinese hot and sour soup

Service of Soups

• Portion sizes
• Appetizer: 5-8 ounces
• Main course: 10-12 ounces
• Temperature
• Hot soup in hot bowls
• Cold soup in cold bowls
• Holding for Service
• The best food quality is usually achieved by holding soup cold and re-heating in small batches a la minute

Garnishing Soups

• Garnishes in the soup: part of the preparation itself, precise knife work is important for consistency of cooking and appearance
• Garnishes on top of the soup: fresh herbs, grated cheese, croutons, crumbled bacon, sour cream, whipped cream
• Functional garnish: they are part of what you made; cooked garnish on cooked food, raw garnish on raw foods

Consommé

• The consummate soup of classical cuisine
• "Consommé" literally means finished or completed
• There are many classical variations and garnishes

Making Consomme

1. Begin with a strong, well-flavored, cold stock. I prefer to salt the stock with kosher salt before beginning the clarification process
2. Prepare the clearmeat or raft ingredients
• Lean ground meat
• egg whites
• mirepoix (to include an onion blue if desired for color)
• Acid: tomato prouct/white wine
3. Combine clearmeat and the stock in a tall heavy stockpot
4. Slowly bring the stockpot to a simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent the proteins from accumulating at the bottom and sticking
5. When the raft begins to form (about 115 degrees, heat WAYYY down), cease stirring and reduce the heat slightly to maintain a gentle simmer
6. Cut a "chimney" in the raft and baste the raft occasionally
7. Allow the soup to simmer and filter through the raft for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until perfectly clear
8. Ladle the clear consomme out of the stockpot without disturbing the raft. Strain it through a chinois lined with several layers of rinsed cheesecloth
9. Degrease the consomme
10. Taste and adjust the seasoning

Cream Soup Methods

• Veloute (no cream, just roux) vs. Bechamel (milk & roux)
• Classical vs. modern: differences between chowders and bisques
• What does it mean to sweat a vegetable? No oil in the pan, but veggies, low heat, and lid, let the heat sweat the moisture out of the vegetables

Disclaimer: These are MY notes taken from classroom lectures while I'm in the classroom. While I'm perfectly happy to share my notes with my classmates and I know I take very good notes, you should still make every effort to attend the class and TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES. I will not transcribe everything the instructor says in the classroom, and I will NEVER post pre-exam reviews. My notes will not replace the value of actually attending class and taking your own class notes.I also cannot attest to their accuracy, other than they are what was provided in the lecture; you should not reference my notes as "expert opionion" by any means, and if you notice an error or omission, please do me the favor of e-mailing me with the correction and I will re-post my notes. End of Disclaimer.