2.20.2010

A Change of Pace

After focusing on balanced meals and flavorful, low-fat, low-sodium dishes in Nutrition and Sensory Analysis, I am now in a class which is attempting to undo everything I just learned.  I've spent the last 4 class days baking, sauteing, and shallow-frying.  If it isn't cooked in fat, we add some to the finished product.  I walk out of class each night smelling like McDonald's because of all of the Frymax.  We've fried potato cakes, zucchini cakes, fish, chicken, scallops, broccoli, crab cakes, and the list goes on.  Don't get me wrong.  As a Southern girl, it's in my blood to like fried food.  It would just be nice to see a vegetable come out of this class that's not fried or covered in a buttery cream sauce.  If you don't believe me, take a look at what we've been making:

Potato Cakes:


Southern-Style Fried Chicken


Baked cod fillets with buttered bread crumbs and a lemon butter sauce


Twice-baked potatoes before their second bake, complete with
sour cream, white cheddar, and butter

I suppose learning to properly saute does have it's advantages though.  I can now make a fried egg without a spatula.  Egg cookery is a sub-focus of this class, so each of us is learning to make omelettes and fried eggs.  Just try to imagine what the stoves looked like after 18 freshmen culinary students practiced flipping fried eggs and omelettes.  How many of our flipped eggs do you think actually made their way back into the skillets after being tossed into the air?  I wish I had taken a picture of that.

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