I was very excited to go into class as the focus is on Chinese cuisine. Chinese dishes is my ultimate favorite and I can eat Chinese food every single day happily!
We do have a new instructor in this session coz our teacher Kat is out of town. The lecture provided by Chef Rupert is okay, he quickly walked us through the different provinces in China and which dishes were popular there. He also gave a quick run-through of the dishes we are preparing for the day.
The demo dish is the Peking Duck with Mandarin Pancakes. The Peking duck is one of the Chinese dishes that I really love. I eat this dish sparingly as it’s quite expensive but every time I indulge, I enjoy it immensely. Chef Rupert shared how to prep, cook & cut the duck as well as prep the pancakes to use it with. The cut on the duck is a bit thick for my taste but I saw how my classmates really loved the dish (they were especially raving about the sauce).
For our assignments for the day, there are 5 dishes:
- Hofan Noodles with Beef in Black Bean Sauce
- Char Shu Pork
- Siu Mai Dumplings with Pork and Shrimp
- Szechuan Chicken
- White Salad
I’m tasked to do the Hofan Noodles with Beef in Black Bean Sauce and the White Salad. Considering how quick the noodles can be cooked, I volunteered to do the white salad.
So for the Hofan Noodles with Beef in Black Bean Sauce, I was kinda expecting that we will be doing our own noodles. But then, there were commercially dry noodles in our ingredients station, so we went the easy route. Considering we only needed a short time to cook the dishes, I waited a bit before I started. When time is getting nearer, I cooked the noodles and left it at the station again while I wait for the teacher chef to finish his demo dish before I complete my Beef Hofan. Taste-wise, it was okay in my book but not spectacular. The teacher said that the noodles had dry out before I cooked it with the sauce, veggies & beef. I do agree as I was waiting it out. I intend to cook Beef Hofan again at home using my pasta maker so the pasta is made fresh and get it perfected 😊
For the White Salad, I had quite a challenge as the gelatin didn’t set. I had to re-fire the lychee sauce-gelatin mixture in the pan and added 1 more tablespoonful of gelatin. Then I cooled it down then straight to the chiller, that worked great! I cut the lychees in half and added the cream-powdered sugar mixture and the gulaman together then topped it off with almond flakes and a cherry. I loved this one. It would be perfect served chilled. I got good reviews on this one.
Our group is getting better with our assignments. The way the dishes looked is so different than what it was during our 2nd session. Critique has been better as well. This is Team 1’s lovingly prepared Chinese dishes 🇨🇳
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