Skills, Fish Fish and More Fish

Wednesday we learned about moist cooking methods, in particular poaching- shallow and deep. Class began with a demo on how to check a for fish freshness and fillet a salmon. We removed the bones and had some small bits left which we used later to make a mousilline. The fillets were then portioned out and held for later.

Next each student created his own Cod en Papillote, cod poached in parchment paper. We prepared our mise en place by julienning red and green bell peppers and red onions, thinly slicing yellow squash, zucchini and mushrooms, chiffinading some herbs, mincing garlic, slicing lemons and slicing pats of herb butter. We each then cut a heart into our folded parchment paper and wrote our names on them. We had another short demonstration on how to prepare and portion the cod. I was tasked with pulling out some large bones with a pair of pliers, a task of which I tired quickly. I successfully Huck Finned the task to a classmate to finish.

Then it was a mad dash to fill our papers. I started mine with a pat of herb butter, piled on some peppers and squash and topped the pile with mushrooms. I seasoned this. Then I placed a portion of seasoned cod on top. To top off my tower I added a lemon slice, some basil and another pat of herb butter. I rolled up the sides of my paper to seal it up, cheated with a staple at each end, and coated the top of paper in olive oil. Amazingly, we added no liquid to our packages.

Into the oven everyone's went. In five minutes Chef checked them. Not done. In another two minutes he checked them. Done. I don't know how he knew it was done. It looked exactly the same as it had the first time he checked, puffed up with lightly browned paper. Chef pulled them out of the oven and they instantly started deflating. I don't know how any server could get such a dish to a table before it looked like a rain soaked piece of newspaper over a fish fillet.

We all ripped open our packages and put them on paper plates. I was ready for tasting, with a fork already in my chef coat pocket. Bwoop! Mine was peppery, but otherwise tasty. I tasted the one beside mine. Too peppery. I tried another that included Old Bay seasoning. It needed salt and was somewhat bland. I went around tasting them all. They were either really good or really bland. There seemed to be little in between. I did note those who tried to get fancy with the spices ended up with bland versions.

Overall I thought this could be a great kid's activity because it was easy, showy and it could be a healthy dish if made with olive oil which some students did. I have to make the dish for my practical so I'll be sure to impress my husband with this showy dish.

Next we made Flounder Mousilline. To prepare the pan we well buttered the bottom, added some chopped shallots, parsley stems, pepper, salt and a bay leaf. One group mixed together our salmon pieces, some egg whites and cream to create the mousilline. This was spread over the flounder fillets and rolled up, swirl facing up in the pan. (For the practical, we'll have julienne strips sticking out the swirl and will poach the roll on its side seam side down.) Fish fumet was added and the pan covered. Into the oven it went for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once cooked through, the fish was removed to a warming plate, covered and held for service while we made the sauce.

To make the sauce we reduced the poaching liquid and then added fish velouté sauce. Velouté is a white sauce made with white stock and/or wine and roux, a butter and flour thickener. Once thickened, the sauce is strained and garnish is added, herbs usually. The sauce was plated and our mousilline swirls plated on top. Yeah time for tasting!!! Dalliscious! BWOOP!

Our last fish dish of the day was deep poached salmon. There were two batches of this. One pot held salted water, the other stock. Several pieces of salmon were added to each pot and simmered for a few minutes. These were removed. They looked like washed out pieces of salmon one might find in the frozen section of Kroger's sale bin. Chef cut them open. Each piece was finished medium to medium rare. Nice. We then tasted them. I thought the stock poached version would be the better selection. Wrong. The salted water version was much better, but overall neither was very exciting. "Now try it with sauce." Out came hollandaise sauce. Surprisingly it enhanced the salmon greatly, not just because the hollandaise tasted yummy, but also it made the salmon taste more like salmon.

Overall is was a Dalliscious day!