What I want to know is who, in their right mind, thought that meat jell-o was a good idea. Ever see anything in aspic? That's what it is, kids, meat floating in meaty jell-o. bleghhgh. I need to go bake something...
Busy couple weeks in Ellie land. Hence why you haven't been seeing any new posts from me. I guess I've been busy with being an international lindy hop champion, attending SONH, and helping to host my exchange here in Albany. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
Also new, school has officially started as of last week. Fully contributing to my busyness recently. I'm starting to realize that while taking five labs may not be a total death sentence, it'll still do a great job of kicking my butt.
Good news is that only one of my four professors is a total ass. Just because you have a masters in gastronomy doesn't mean you rule the world, you know. His class actually inspired the title of this blog post; Garde Manger.
The name Garde Manger comes from one of the stations in a classical brigade French kitchen; the Garde Manger chef works mainly with cold items: salads, sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres and charcuterie. Charcuterie is primarily the making of sausage, pate, terrines, mousseline, etc..
I already have the doom and gloom feeling that me, this chef, and this class are not going to get along. Keep in mind that I'm not really on the squeamish side of the food spectrum, and I'll try most things, but some of this stuff is disgusting. Flipping through my text book and seeing sausage confit (sausage preserved in ridiculous amounts of fat).. makes me kind of ready to run for the hills.
I'm a baker. Not a huge fan of animal fat. My body says it's not a good idea, and I happily oblige.
Speaking of baking, my two baking classes are going well and I think I'll learn a lot from them. Although the unfortunate aspect is that the heat of the 4th floor and something about my chef's voice makes me extremely sleepy. I do care about gluten development. I promise.
This blog post was sponsored by crepes. A nom x4 recipe.
