Chef Pro III: Week 4: Classic Recipes

Chef Waier delivered a fascinating lecture on classic recipes including some history of haute cuisine, epicurian, Escoffier, Nouvelle cuisine, and fusion. We studied this in CP I so it was more of a review. The class tonight was intended to test our skills in actually preparing the classic dishes. Our recipe packet consisted of:
Pork Piccata
Chicken Kiev
Veal Cordon Bleu
Carpaccio
Gratin Dauphinoise
Duck a l’Orange
Quiche Lorraine
Beef Consomme
Risotto Milanese
Mulligatawny Soup
Bananas Foster

I was assigned to prepare consomme and Bananas Foster with homemade vanilla ice cream, presented table side. I have never made either dish before and read all about how hard it is to make good consomme in Michael Ruhlman’s book. I managed to make the consomme right and it was clear enough to read a dime at the bottom of the bowl. I prepared a cart with all the ingredients for the Bananas Foster and wheeled it out to the dining room where I made it for the Chefs Waier and Ray. I read up on the history of Bananas Foster because my instructions were to talk throughout the presentation. The flambe was dramatic and overall the dish was very good as well as the homemade French vanilla ice cream. I was pleased that it went so well and am looking forward to making some at home–although I think I will add a slice of golden butter cake.
The other dishes were very well prepared by my classmates. I sampled beef carpaccio for the first time and really liked it.