Week 2 Start Cooking

This is when the fun begins. The menu for the week was quite interesting, we had to make mayonnaise by hand, garlic butter, fillet fish sailor style, chicken schnitzel, pear in red wine and an open sandwich.

It was a lot to do in one morning but I guess we had to start the stress test  somewhere. We were working in pairs, I had a wonderful partner. She was very organized and I think we made a good team. 

Preparing the workflow for the day took a long while but it was worth spending the time doing it because when it comes the actual preparation, all you need to do is refer to the workflow and work accordingly.

The mayonnaise was really quite interesting to make. We were lucky that the egg mixture didn't split. The end result was quite good. I forgot to take a picture of it though. It was great exercise for the arm because you have to continue whisking while drizzling the oil in. Good thing we were working in pairs. One person poured the oil while the other whisk and of course we rotated the whisking process.

The pear in wine was one that took a long time, therefore we made that and let it simmer away while we made the rest. The pear was peeled and cored and submerged in wine and sugar syrup with cinnamon and cloves for more than an hour. I think our pear could have been in the pot for a bit longer to get a nicer colour. 

Fish Fillet Sailor Style. I didn't get to fillet the fish but I did devein the prawns and fry the bacon. It doesn't look very pretty but it was nice to eat. 

The chicken was quite simple to make. The chicken breast was tenderised with a hammer, seasoned with salt & pepper and then coated with flour,egg wash and breadcrumbs before pan fried. Then the garlic butter that we made earlier was cut and placed on the hot chicken before dishing up. 

The butter melted by the time I took this photo.

The open sandwich had mayonnaise spread on the bread and topped with lettuce, tomato, ham, radish and gherkin. I quickly took a photo before packing it to bring home. Some students didn't want their sandwiches and was about to throw it in the bin so I quickly cling wrapped the unwanted sandwiches and then gave it to the homeless people on the street. I think the school should actually have a separate box where the students can put their food there if they don't want it and then have the food given away to the homeless. I can't stand the sight of throwing away perfectly good food. 

Ah..... it was a tiring day but fulfilling nonetheless.