Thursday, July 21, 2005

International Cuisine ~ Suisse

Week three, exploring the culinary history of Switzerland. My general impression is that it is a very middle of the road country ~ Centrally located in Europe, their cuisine is influenced by so many different countries and cultures. We had three dishes today and an interesting group setup. Soren, perhaps remembering my meltdown or Rachel's long chat with him, decided to put the two of us together, with one other guy. Guy picked consomme ~ first course. Also known as Fladli Suppe, apparently, this dish was a rich beef consomme garnished with a chiffonade of crepe. If anybody knows consomme, they know that it should be crystal clear. And you need about 8oz/serving. Well, despite the fact that I gave the nameless boy a very clear recipe, he decided to do things his way, and neglected to strain through a cheesecloth. I even asked him if he had forgotten. As he was ladling, I noticed there wasn't enough broth ~ I asked if he had followed the recipe exactly ~ no. As he went to ladle into my bowl, I snapped. I am sorry, there was no way I would dare serve a cloudy, unstrained consomme and i refused to allow him to serve me. I grabbed a cheesecloth and a sieve, strained and served. My bowl was clear, the other two nasty, cloudy and flecked with stuff. I think i hurt boy's feelings. But you know what, I don't care.

The next course, mostly Rachel, was Raclette with green beans, poached egg and Bundner Fleisch. All good stuff if you ask me.

Final Course ~ Zurcher Art (Pork Tenderloin with a mushroom cream sauce). Very rich, very very tender, served with potato rosti, baby carrots and cauliflower quenelles. My course.

After school, I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, came home to drink wine and discuss Jane Austen with Katie and sit~up and wait for Emily to stop in on her way to Korea. Crawled to bed very late....

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