February 6, 2012


Another great day with Chef Jamie Bissonnette!  Today's lesson was all about how to utilize what is in the kitchen and to avoid waste.  The dishes we made today reflect the concept of using every part of the animal and left over vegetables. In the restaurant world, the end of onions, the stalks of broccoli all add up and can save a restaurant money by using what's ones trash to turn it into a delicious treasure. Jamie not only  taught us culinary techniques but how to interpret recipes and to think out of the box.

 Today we made chicken sausage from the left over chicken meat that we had lying around.  The chicken sausage was paired with sofrito made with broccoli stems, tomatoes and other seasonings. My group was in charge of making Mergez, a lamb and pork fat sausage and another group made beef keilbasa, beef and pork far sausage.  I made a carrot "jam" and a chimichurri like sauce, while Jamie demonstrated how to turn pigs blood into a delicious sausage.

Key Concepts:

-Keep chicken fat - render it down and use it to cook potatoes, or use it to make a confit
-boullion versus stock? - bouillon is made from meat and stock is made from bones
-to make a good sausage you nee cleanliness and a good temperature.  Need cooler air, room temp renders the fat out making it looser
-over-mixed sausage has a spongy texture
-never marinate or season meat before grinding it - salt will cause liquid to release and friction pulls it apart
-to test when you machine is finished grinding, put ice cubes in it and wait to see them come out
-when seasoning, flavors are dulled when cold, so adjust seasoning at the temperature you wish to serve the dish.

making pasta dough. super easy! 1 cup flour, 1 cup semlina flour, 3/4 cups water, salt
if you put salt in dough, don't over salt cooking water.  If no salt in dough, then really salt the water.

grinding sausage meat - remember no seasoning before

before ground

chicken fat rendering

Mergez sauasage

Beef Keilbasa being sliced

Blood sausage with semi sunny-side up egg scrambled

Beef tartare! Yummy - sweet, sour and all that good stuff

Chicken wings with a chimichuri sauce (herbs, garlic, shallot, carrot, olive oil,  fish sauce, salt, sherry vinegar)

Carrot jam - great with meats and cheeses - 3 large carrots, 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, rice wine vinegar, mustard seeds, ginger)

Chicken sausage in a sofrito sauce with Cavateli shaped pasta