Oh my, busy busy Friday morning demo - Friday was our theory day because the whole week was a little different what with the tour and so on and we got through so many recipes during the morning session that my head felt as though it has been through the food processor!
We started with caramelised pecan and almond squares which I must tell you are by far the best little biscuits we've learnt to make so far - we had them for tea at 11h00 when we took a short break and the contents of those platters did a vanishing act that would have impressed David Copperfield.
From there, Darina moved on to a whole range of winter dishes which I can imagine will be just the thing once it's officially cold (which I'm told it's still not, everyone here is mad) - roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce, braised short ribs, cassoulet, lamb shanks with garlic, rosemary and haricot beans, pan roasted parsnips, more roast potatoes (done in duck fat, you'd have to buy a new calculator with extra decimal points to work out the calories on those), and then crudités with a whole lot of dips - anchoide (not my best, I just don't get the whole anchoby thing), hummus (always fab), pesto (ditto) and dukkah which was new for me and too good - roasted spices and crushed hazelnuts, so you dip a little pita crisp into olive oil and then into the dukkah so that it sticks and then you eat it and I imagine it all sticks from then on too, most probably onto your bum!
We learnt all about the various cuts of beef so that's another four legged special ticked off the list - personally so far I prefer lamb and in second place, pigs - so many more cuts to know when the animal in question is huge like a cow. Darina spoke to us about the difference between grass-fed and grain-fed beef with grass-fed being by far the preferable option. Luckily, and let's be frank here, Ireland grows grass for the first team, due to the occasional drop of rain that's known to fall in these parts.
We learnt all about the various cuts of beef so that's another four legged special ticked off the list - personally so far I prefer lamb and in second place, pigs - so many more cuts to know when the animal in question is huge like a cow. Darina spoke to us about the difference between grass-fed and grain-fed beef with grass-fed being by far the preferable option. Luckily, and let's be frank here, Ireland grows grass for the first team, due to the occasional drop of rain that's known to fall in these parts.
We were positively drooling by lunchtime - the smells coming from the roast beef and lamb shank were sublime and watching the Yorkshire puds rise in the oven was like magic - neddless to say, lunch was brilliant!
Now I don't know what happened on Friday afternoon - perhaps it was a combination of the hectic morning session where we whipped through so many recipes or the large lunch and the fact that it was the end of the week but the afternoon session was a battle. It was a talk and cookery demo on gluten-free foods and this is a hugely increasing reality for the food business and so obviously one that we all need to know about but WOW, I struggled to stay awake - I would have gnawed on a coffee bean I think if I could have laid my hands on one. Tell you what too I'm so glad I don't have a gluten intolerance - the lecturer was great and honestly she did her best but somehow things just don't taste as good when they're made with rice flour, corn flour, tapioca flour, etc.
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| Gluten-free pastries |
Week 4 over so we're now theorectically 33.3% chefs, OMG!
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