Class #3 - Finally we get to cook!

Last night was my 3rd night of class and we finally got to cook & use our knives!  I was so nervous in class today as we had our first exam and would be in the kitchen for the first time.  The exam turned out to be easier than I expected and I think I did really well as it was only word associations.  Phew!  Then we watched a video on types of cuts.  The main cut we would do in our lab today was Julienne, which is 1/8 x 1/8 x 2 inches.  Did you know each type of cut has a precise measure?   I didn't until this class.

So to our kitchen lab we went with our partners and our assignment: use dark chicken meat to cook a dish any way we'd like with julienne cut carrots and celery and add a starch to our plates.  Our Chef Instructor (CI) rattled off a bunch of dishes we could prepare.  I do not know many recipes by heart - okay, I don't really know any by heart.  I am a glued-to-my-recipe-kinda girl.  But luckily my partner knew a chicken recipe she liked with oyster & soy sauce. We decided to go for it.  Hunting down everything in this new kitchen was the hardest part.  After getting all our ingredients and pots & pans we were ready to start cooking.  We each julienned our carrots and celery.  Then we diced up some garlic and onions.  We each deboned our chicken pieces which is much easier when you have a sharp filet knife (highly recommended).  My partner started the chicken and I started the rice.  We settled for jasmine rice since we couldn't find minute rice.  It is starchier and produced much more than we anticipated.  We thought our rice was going to be a do-over but we salvaged it when we fried it up with an egg and some green onions.  I sauteed the veggies and we ended with a great looking dish.  Our final product ended up being on the salty side and this was confirmed by our CI as he tasted our final product.  Have him critique our dish was just like being on one of the Food Network Challenge shows as we awaited his verdict. 

Before we cooked, our CI gave us a demo of deboning a whole chicken: Wings first, then legs, then back, then breast.  I so have to try this at home and knowing that buying whole chickens is much cheaper than buying parts - I will likely be doing this often to save money and do my homework.

It was so awesome to cook a full meal and then I got to be the MOD (Manager on Duty) and got to delegate the assignments for clean up.  That was fun.  I like being in charge.  Overall, I just enjoyed the whole class. I'm hoping next time I can see more dishes others make and maybe sample a few.  I love to see what others come up with.  And next time I have to bring home leftovers for my husband!  I discovered the take out boxes after I devoured my salty but yummy Oriental Oyster Chicken.  

So next class we'll be learning the 5 mother sauces and get new partners.  I can't wait! In the meantime I'll be doing homework to practice - something with chicken or at the least julienned.  :)