Week 3 and 4; Soups, Creams and Eggs !!!

As I've been blogging my experiences through out this course, week 3 happened, in fact. it happened 2 weeks ago, No I have not been lazy to write, Yes I was very busy doing important paperwork regarding my school status. Anyway, week 3 and 4 happened recently and I decided to make an entry to talk about what I learned and did during those dates. 

During week 3 (Each trimester lasts 11 weeks) I learned how to cook Soups, Consommes and Creams, I must said I loved it, first, because I've never been a fan of soups, and from that day on I'm sure I'll change my mind a bit, I guess when you are a little kid and your mom pleases you by cooking something else cause you hate soup, you cut the possibility of ever trying it, unless of course you go to Culinary School like me. 

So, soups, let's talk a bit about soups, I love the anthropology and history of foods, it makes it really interesting to cook something when you know the process it went through history for you and I eating it today. 

Soup is generally a warm food! yes! and it's made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid.  The word soup comes from French soupe ("soup", "broth"), which comes through Vulgar Latin suppa ("bread soaked in broth"). Evidence of the existence of soup can be found as far back as about 6,000 BC. Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers (which probably came in the form of clay vessels). Animal hides and watertight baskets of bark or reeds were used before this. To boil the water hot rocks were used. This method was also used to cook acorns and other poisonous plants. (Wikipedia Source). 

 During week 3 of Class, we cooked French Onion Soup, Consomme, Split Pea Soup, Mushroom Cream and Chicken pot pie. (This last one will be as since that day my favorite Soup Ever) 

French Onion Soup is an onion and beef stock or broth served with croutons and cheese. Making French onion is very easy, you need to have Veal stock of course, this is the base for this soup. 

First, the sliced onions must be caramelized, this is the most important step, as the brown caramelized onions will color the characteristic brown of it, which is also enhanced by the natural brownish color of the beef stock.

The caramelization process in this case, is the procedure in which the onions are cooked slowly until the melting sugars approach burning temperature, becoming brown. In the final stages of cooking, red wine is often used to enhance the caramelized onion flavor and to deglaze the pan.

To finalize the cooking process of French Onion Soup, we have to brown the bread (Plain Bread can be used) and this is done by putting it into the oven til' is brown and crusty, after this, we put the soup in a heat resistant vessel and place the crouton and later sprinkle cheese on top, Gruyere cheese should be used in this final step. 10 minutes in the oven to melt the cheese and Ta-ran-tan-tan, one of the most delicious soups ever invented will be ready to eat.

You are probably used to eat consomme to fight a cold, at least I am, but is actually a very nice simple soup each one of can make in a litle time and drink during a cold night. Consommé is a type of clear soup made from richly flavored stock or bouillon that has been clarified usually through a fining process. A consommé is made by adding a mixture of ground meats, together with mirepoix tomatoes, and egg whites into either bouillon or stock. Guess what as you might imagine, after you bring this to a simmer, for a considered amount of time, or as of before the raft forms. you drain it and get the liquid. It should be really clear.

Consommés are usually served piping hot because they tend to cool down more quickly than other soups. They are most often served with garnishes, which vary in complexity from a simple splash of sherry to cut vegetables.

I must add my least favorite soup is split pea, first, it is kind of a process to cook and second, I'm just not convinced by the flavor of it yet, peas are very healthy tho, and a big source of protein I must add. The thing about this soup is that it can be made completely vegetarian and that's great news for vegetarians out there, cause most soups are based on animal stock. But if you are a big fan of this soup, then you have to try making it at home, whether you use Vegetable or Animal Stock. Since I'm not that big fan of Split peas, you my dear readers can check any of the thousands recipes available on the Internet (lol). I'm just kidding. But for real, split pea soup is probably your grandmother's favorite and I'm pretty sure she holds a very easy and delicious recipe.

Cream of Mushrooms is my favorite cream ever, it's so delicious and learning how to cook it really made my day. But the true highlight of Soups Week was not only learning how to cook but also learning about the existance of Chicken Pot Pie, I swear I had no idea about the existance of this unbelievable delicious dish. I read that The Chicken pot pie gets its ancestry from the Greeks and Romans, where the Greeks cooked meats in open pastry shells called artrocreas however it was the Romans who added to top crust making the first pot pies. But this dish just never entered nowhere near Venezuelan borders hahaha.
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Week Four was all about eggs, wether you believe or not, there are thousands of recipes for egg cookery, in fact, we depend so much on this particular product, that we probably take for granted the fact that is in most of the things we eat, just to name a few; pasta, cakes, mayonnaise, bread etc etc etc.

Do you think you can live without eating bread, or cakes? I honestly don't think so! and I'm pretty sure most vegans (Vegetarians who don't eat any animal product) probably don't know this.

So let's talk about eggs, during week 4 we mainly focus on this recipes

Fried Eggs 

Poached Eggs 

Eggs Benedict 

Hard and Soft Boiled Eggs 

Scrambled Eggs 

Rolled Omelet 

Crepes

Eggs benedict are one of my favorite breakfast dish, it consists of two halves of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce.

Apart from being a popular ingredient, eggs can also be prepared in sundry ways that make it a stand-alone meal. Whether it's heated, beaten or mixed, an egg's consistency and appearance is a result of denatured proteins. Egg white is made of globular proteins suspended in water. When heated, the globular proteins become agitated and unwind to form a stiff network throughout the surrounding water. Eggs cooked at high temperatures for a longer period of time will develop more bonds and acquire a rubbery texture. But heat isn't the only force that can denature globular proteins, beating also alters their structure with the incorporation of air bubbles. This effect is seen is dishes like meringues or soufflés, where egg whites are beaten to form tight networks around air bubbles which remain after the bubbles pop. The protein in yolks also helps eggs combine with other ingredients. Egg yolks can be mixed to form emulsions because they contain amino acids that repel and attract water. When combined with oil and water, some amino acids will adhere to the water while others will adhere to the oil. Foods like hollandaise sauce and mayonnaise are made from egg yolk emulsions.