September 20, 2017

September 20, 2017

Sons of Utah Pioneer Prep Day!

Today we did a lot of things to get ready for the Sons of Utah Pioneers Catering Event.

Bechamel sauce:
I followed the old recipe of boiling the onion and bay leaf in the milk and although it did provide a nice flavor, I really liked the faster way that Chef KJ did. My sauce turned out beautifully and had the perfect consistency. I think the key in this recipe is making sure that you do not burn the milk and that you let the onion and bay sit in the milk long enough. I think this sauce with a little cheese and spices would be a great pasta or pizza sauce.

Tomato Sauce:
This sauce reminded me a lot of tomato soup. It turned out really well and had a really warm and Italian flavor. I loved how we used fresh basil to bring out the sweetness and cut the acidity of the tomato. I think a critical control point of making this sauce would be to make sure that it is not too acidic by sweetening it somehow as well as seasoning it adequately.

Marsala Sauce:
This sauce turned out beautifully! This sauce was prepared for the event with the Sons of Utah Pioneers and was relatively simple. I think this sauce is best prepared when it has had time to reduce and develop flavor. I reduced mine for awhile and as a result kept the sweet Marsala flavor. This may seem like an obvious thing but cutting the mushrooms to be the same size dice makes a big difference and the sauce looks a lot more uniform.

Side Note: My chicken fabricating is getting slowly better and my knife cuts are getting more consistent.

WHAT I LEARNED:
I learned a lot about developing flavor in a sauce. Salt and Pepper really help but it also is important to give the sauce time to reduce and simmer so that the ingredients have time to give it flavor.

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