Week 8 Review

Broiled Sea Bass, Hollandaise Sauce, Glazed Carrots, and Risotto

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Outcomes

The outcome of our cooking was here and there. We created a great piece sea bass, risotto, and glazed carrots. We nearly cooked this dishes to perfection but what fell apart was the hollandaise sauce; total disaster. All around I think we did a very good job.

Sea Bass

Texture

The texture of the sea bass was wonderful. It was moist and flaky which is what you seek for when cooking fish. In some bites the fish was almost too moist but that ain't a problem at all.

Taste

The taste of the fish was wonderful and extremely prominent in the dish. I added garlic and lemon to the fish which contributed so much taste. In every bite you received that tang from the lemon that was combated by the garlic.

Flavor

I can't complain one bit about the flavor of the dish. Every ingredient we added combined together to create a wonderful flavor. The butter, garlic, lemon, fish, and rosemary combined in a flavortown USA.

Appearance

Hollandaise Sauce

The sauce was a complete disaster. It looked like a four year old made it. The sauce broke terribly and looked awful so I didn't even attempt to eat it or put it on the fish because I knew I would ruin it.

Appearance

Glazed Carrots

Texture

The carrots were soft but not too soft which I believe is what you want when making this dish. This texture of the carrots combined amazingly with the stickiness from the glaze. Overall, great texture.

Taste

The sweetness from the glaze is what really popped when eating this dish. It stood very prominent but it didn't take away from the carrots. The carrots made that typical taste, they were sweet, earthy, and delicious.

Flavor

The combination of the glaze and carrots worked amazingly. This dish was very sweet but wasn't to sweet. I found myself eating the carrots at the end, and kind of established it as desert.

Appearance

Risotto

Texture

The texture of the risotto was great, the rice wasn't too soft but also wasn't too hard and every bite was moist. I couldn't have asked for a better consistency or texture for my risotto.

Taste

The taste of the union and cheese stuck out most the me. The unions added that greta sweet taste and the parmesan cheese added a wonderful bitter and savory taste.

Flavor

The overall flavor of this dish was terrific and was my favorite. The wholesome taste of the rice, sweetness from the union, and bitterness of the rice, create an absolutely delicious dish.

Appearance

Why did certain techniques work or not work?

Our technique with the risotto worked flawlessly and the best. Out rice never stuck to the bottom of the pot and the rice wasn't over cooked or under cooked. The other technique that worked great was preparing the fish for cooking. This was solemnly due to my immense knowledge of how to properly clean fish. Now what didn't work was my hollandaise sauce. This was a complete disaster and probably one of my biggest failures of the year. The sauce broke and looked absolutely terrible.

What could/would you do to improve the outcomes?

The best way I could improve my dish would be to create a great hollandaise sauce. My hollandaise sauce broke like crazy and I ended up throwing it away. I believe it broke because I let my pot get too hot. So in the future I will monitor the temperature of my pot closer so can prevent this disaster from happening again.

Learning Objectives Achieved

I achieved preparation of the fish perfectly and this was my most successful learning objective. This I can give credit to my prior knowledge of cleaning fish. I have been cleaning fish my whole life so this was right in my alley. I keep some fish on the half shell while others I skinned. I other learning objective I achieved was broiling the fish. I have as well done this in the past. The fish came out flaky and moist which is excaulty what I wanted.

Other Skills Learned

The biggest skill I learned was how to break a sauce; I destroyed our hollandaise sauce. I learned how to break one but now I know how not to do break one since all I have to do is the opposite of what I did. Hopefully in the future I will have much better success than I did.

Apply What I've Learned

I can apply my new found knowledge of how not to break a sauce in future labs and when I cook for myself or others. Not every failure is a true failure and this is very true with my hollandaise sauce. I'm hoping in the future I will more adapted to making a great sauce that doesn't break.

What Needs Practice

Obviously my hollandaise sauce needs all the help it can get. It will take time to create a perfect hollandaise sauce but the next I embark on this journey I'm hoping it won't break on me.

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Citations

Labensky, S. R., Martel, P. A., & Hause, A. M. (673). On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals, 6/e. Retrieved from https://platform.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/395669/sp/17708113/mi/59020164?cfi=%2F4%2F2%5BP7001015078000000000000000009CB0%5D%2F30%5BP7001015078000000000000000009DDC%5D%2F12%5BP7001015078000000000000000009E7A%5D%2F12%5BP7001015078000000000000000009E90%5D%2F8

Bytes, A., Author:, & Bytes, B. (2021, September 09). The Best Easy Hollandaise Sauce recipe. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-hollandaise-sauce/

Christensen, E. (2019, May 03). Food science: Why did my sauce break? Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.thekitchn.com/food-science-why-did-my-sauce-46045

How to avoid sauce separating. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.livestrong.com/article/547467-how-to-avoid-sauce-separating/