My Blog

MON 28 JAN

Lesson 3: Eggs Gratin, Veal Shank, Chocolate Mousse By Marcelo Calbucci

 

    This has been the easiest lesson so far. The prepping was very fast because the only thing to chop was 1 onion. I had to clean and prep the mushrooms and a few other things, but it didn't take long. Again, desert was a challenge.

 

    This weekend recipes were:

• Gratin of Hard-Boiled Eggs (Ouefs à la Tripe)
• Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms (Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise)
• Chocolate Mousse with Hazelnuts and Whisky (Mousse au Chocolat aux Noisettes et au Whisky

 

    The Gratin of hard-boiled eggs sounded like a very simple dish. I have one of those egg cutters that will do the hard part for me (by the way, the strings broke on the last egg so I need to buy another one). It used one of the "mother sauces" called Béchamel (flour, butter, milk). One of the things the French cuisine and I have in common is the belief in sauces, but I always have difficulty creating amazing sauces.

 

    The veal shank was not that hard to find. I actually got the butcher to cut to exact specifications which was great. I never had veal shank before, and it looks like is not the highest quality meat of a veal there is. Lots of connecting tissue, that probably why doing in stew is the way to prepare it.

 

    How hard can it be to melt a pound of chocolate? For me it seems to be pretty darn hard. I can never get the chocolate to melt at the perfect point. This time, I think it was too cold, and when I added the egg yolks it become very rigid and hard to mix. Another mistake I've made was that I forgot to remove the Hazelnuts skin, but that was barely noticeable. Finally, I had to cut down on the Whiskey from 6 table spoons to just 1 because of two pregnant on the dinner.

 

Results

 

    Pretty amazing how an egg, flour, onion, butter and milk dish can turn out. The eggs were just delicious. It was just perfect.

 

    The veal turn out to be pretty amazing was well. It was voted the best dish. I love bone marrow so for me was an extra bonus to have that as well. The pearl onions end up over-cooked just a tad, becoming too soft. Most people felt it had not enough salt, and to be honest I forgot to do the last tasting on the sauce to check for that.

 

    Finally, the desert was not a disaster (yay!). A few people felt was too sweet and a few felt it was not. That's how it supposed to be (you can please all). It didn't end up with a mousse-like consistent, becoming a bit harder than you would expect, but I believe is a bit related to the fact that I forgot to remove from the refrigerator until the last minute. I should have taken it out 1-hour before serving.

 

 

Technical data:

 

Guests: Eduardo, Katie, Flavia, Carlos (and Camila)

Total cost: $57

Item hard to find: none

Utensils bought: 1 teaspoon/tablespoon measurer ($4); a new 14-piece pan/pot set ($159) - I needed a new sauté pan so why not buy everything new?

Appliances bought: none

Best Dish: Veal, followed by a close second by the Eggs.

Worst Dish: Mousse -- it simply didn't feel like a mousse.

Accompanying wines: Umberto Cesari, Sangioveses di Romagna, Riserva, 2004 (Italy); Château Latour-Laguens, Bordeaux, 2006 (France).