Dry heat

In addition to our classroom times, I learned even more about dry heat methods of cooking in the kitchen. Today we practiced pan-fry, deep-fry, broiling and grilling chicken. We also practiced combination heat methods in making a basic risotto

With Risotto, first you must sauté onions in a hot pan with oil and let cook until the onions are clear. Then add the rice and quickly sauté. Before it browns, one must add 1 cup of chicken stock and let the rice absorb it, and then add another 2 cups once the rice has absorbed it each time. This is a sort of braising method, first sautéing and then adding liquid for it to cook the rest of the way in.

                I also pan-fried chicken tenders. To pan fry, I had to add quite a bit of oil to a pan and let the breaded chicken fry before flipping for a nice brown color. Another dry heat method we executed today was deep frying breaded chicken. It is very similar to pan frying in that the chicken legs were breaded and then placed in hot oil to cook, except for deep frying there is more oil and it does not need to be flipped.

                 Grilling the chicken thighs was a bit easier than broiling since I did not need to stand over and watch it, and it was much more accessible. I made sure there was a good cross of char on the skin and did not overcook it. Grilling the chicken mainly was making sure the poultry did not overcook and burn, but also not taking it off too soon. Chef had a cooler side of the grill which I’d never though of before and is a really good idea to not completely burn the skin off the chicken. I also broiled chicken for the first time. I think in the future, basting the piece would be beneficial to making sure the chicken would not overcook.

                In addition to practicing dry heat methods I also had time to work on knife skills. I still have not got down the tourne completely, but I think next time I will be able to get them thinner. I also need to work on keeping the battonets thicker and my paysannes as well.  I learned that I need to keep better track of time to accomplish everything I need to do. I was taking too long with my knife skills and ended up rushing to cook all my chicken. I didn’t have any time to even start making the risotto. So I definitely need to prioritize my time and multitask while I am performing knife skills. 

Here are the results of my different dry heat methods on chicken and tourned potatoes