Day 13: Brain Freeze

We started today's class with a test on chapters three and four. One hundred questions on tools and equipment and cooking methods. I've been working on completing my country project in preparation for my presentation on tomorrow and have put many hours in researching. I did a review of the information last night and hoped that it would be enough. I actually did better than I had anticipated even though I had a bit of a brain freeze on a few questions. My mind had actually gone blank for stuff that I'd reviewed the night before.

After break we started the country presentations. We covered Poland, Italy and India. All did a great job showcasing their countries and their food through history. We were even treated to a taste from each country made by each presenter. Poland with cheese and potato, meat and desert perogies and a hunter stew. Italy with prosciutto and cheese on bread and red wine. India with pakoras, samosas, and desert. I was full of knowledge and food by the end.

Closing off the day we continued on with a chapter on potatoes. There are so many ways to prepare potatoes. Take mash potatoes for example. You can make them with milk, cream or even sour cream. You can add pureed green peas or roasted garlic. You can make Duchesse, Dauphine, Lorette potatoes. So many variations and I've only mentioned a handful.

There are waxy potatoes and starchy potatoes. Waxy potatoes are high in moisture content, sugar content and low in starch content. They are usually small and round in shape, however some may be large and elongated. Their flesh is white, yellow or even blue or purple and have a white, red, yellow or blue skin. These potatoes hold their shape well when cooked and are best used for boiling whole, salads, soups, hash browns, and any preparation where the potato must hold it's shape.

Starchy (or mature) potatoes have a high starch content, low moisture and sugar. They are light, dry and mealy when cooked. Russets and all-purpose potatoes fall in this category. Russets are long, regularly shaped potatoes with slightly rough skin. They are an ideal choice for the traditional baked potato and french frying because of their high starch content, golden colour and good texture.

All-purpose potatoes are irregularly shaped and not as dry and starchy as russets. They are not suitable for baking because of their irregular shape. They are especially useful for pureeing or mashing, or any preparation where the shape of the whole potato isn't important.

There are a few things you should know about potatoes. When checking for quality look for: firm and smooth, not soft or shriveled; dry skin; shallow eyes; no sprouts (these potatoes are high in sugar); no green colour (the green areas contain a substance called solanine and if bought should be cut before cooking.) When storing potatoes, do not store in the refrigerator. Temperatures below 45 F convert potato starch to sugar. Starch can be restored by storing the refrigerated potatoes at 50 F for two weeks. This allows for the sugar to change back to starch. New potatoes do not keep well. Purchase one weeks supply at a time.

Potatoes also come in five market forms: fresh, unprocessed; peeled and treated to prevent browning; canned whole, cooked; french fries, blanched in deep fat and frozen; other frozen, prepared products; and dehydrated.

I continue to work on my project for tomorrow's presentation.