fandomhigh | Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques

Current Mood: saucy
Current Location: Danger Shop

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cooking

Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, 1st Period

They were back in the Danger Shop again today, and Hannibal nodded at the students and waved them over to his counter at the front.

"Now that you've learned a bit about employing different types of cookware, you should be able to start with a few sauces. In classic Western cuisine, there are five sauces which are referred to as 'mother sauces'; this is because each of them can be used as a base for many other sauces, so once you learn each of them, you've mastered a good deal more than just one sauce."

He had five dishes in front of him, and indicated them in turn; there were enough little spoons to go around.

"The first is Béchamel. It's the simplest; you don't need to prepare anything ahead of time. You only need milk, flour, and butter to start. The butter and flour cooked together make a roux, which thickens the milk. Then herbs and spices are added; salt and pepper, often clove or perhaps onion. Many creamy or cheesy sauces start with Béchamel.
bechamel

"Next is Velouté. Also fairly simple; instead of milk, you use some a stock, which is generally prepared ahead of time. It can be poultry, veal, fish, or any other meat which makes a light stock. Then you thicken that with the same sort of roux. Mushroom sauce and many seafood sauces are made from this.
veloute

"Espagnole is a brown sauce. A little more complex. It begins the same as the velouté, but with a darker stock, such as beef. Tomato puree and vegetables are also added. Again, some mushroom sauces use this, and also some wine-based sauces. It's often cooked together with stock to make a demi-glace which is used in other sauces.
espagnole

"The fourth is Hollandaise. It has only two basic ingredients - clarified butter and egg yolks. Herbs and lemon are often added. It is a permanent emulsion; the butter and eggs would not normally mix, like oil and vinegar. But when combined correctly, the sauce will not separate. There are a number of other sauces that use this as a base, but it's not uncommon to see it used on its own, either, particularly on vegetables.
hollandaise

"The last of these is tomato sauce. Which is not, generally speaking, what you'll find on a pizza," he noted wryly. Vegetables are sautéed, traditionally in pork fat, then added to tomatoes, stock, and perhaps some further bones or meat, and it's cooked in the oven. Traditionally it's also thickened with a roux, although the tomatoes are often enough of a thickening agent.
tomato

"Today we'll be working through as many of these as you're able. I suggest you attempt them in this order; I'd rather you made a good béchamel than five lumpy sauces and burnt pots."

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Saucily!

Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar

(Zhari)

[I kid you not, this icon is called 'saucy minx']

Emma Swan

Isabelle Lightwood

Rilla Blythe

Flick

Sparkle

Alana

Billy Kaplan

...and taste the sauces!

...while Hannibal keeps the fire extinguisher handy!

Zhahar looked around for someone to team up with. She'd found that it was far easier to keep whisking the roux and let someone else pour than it was to try to pour and whisk at the same time.

Of course, leave a roux unattended for too long led to it burning, sigh.

"Would you like to pair up?" Rilla asked quietly. "I don't trust my concentration just yet."

"Of course!" Zhahar said easily, moving over slightly so Rilla could make herself comfortable in the station. "I'm just letting the butter melt, so--"

She paused and looked harder at Rilla. "Are...are you okay?" She's heard Rilla's name on the radio once or twice, but she didn't really pay attention.

Rilla nodded. "It's been a difficult month," she said, "but I'm doing all right now. Thank you for asking, though!"

"I'm glad to hear it," Zhari said, giving Rilla a relieved smile. "Have you made a roux before? Because they are a pain to get right, especially if you're not at the top of your game."

"I've ruined a perfectly good pot trying to make cream puffs?" Rilla offered. "It sounds like a similar start."

"Oooookay," Zhari said, trying not to make it obvious as she pulled the pot a little more protectively towards her. "I can handle the more complicated bits. You can help me pour?"

Flick had the use of both his arms this go around so he figured his attempt at sauces would be a little better than last week. He went for the easiest to make first, the Béchamel, and got it started.

Of course, it'd probably turn out halfway decent but at least Flick had some moderate focus back and was giving it a go.

Hannibal nodded at Flick as he passed, and watched him make his sauce with a bit of interest and possibly a slight frown. He had thought this would be simple, but several students seemed to be struggling with it to some degree.

Yeah, Isabelle was probably going to burn something.

She still set out to make Béchamel with her usual level of enthusiasm and optimism.

Hannibal winced at her idea of a roux, but didn't say anything. He was just grateful it wasn't actively on fire.

And she'd also managed to interact (in a pretty loose sense of the word) with Sparkle without setting him on fire, so this class was already basically a win for her.

She also flashed Hannibal a brief 'everything's fine' smile. Because that helped, sure.

Hannibal...was not buying that smile. He could smell that roux smoking from here. But as she clearly didn't want the help, maybe he'd just add it to a list of things he should cover later on.

Once they ping in!

Huh. After the excitement of the trip and Homecoming weekend, Zhahar felt like it had almost been weeks since the last time she'd been to class.

Funny how time flies that way, no?

Sparkle was there, of course, with a baby panther who happened to be his boyfriend close at his heels. He was being extra careful to keep Alec out from underfoot.

He was being even more careful to not so much as afford Isabelle a glance. He had sauces to make, here.

Isabelle had no interest in looking at him, either. But that baby panther was her big brother, so she did abandon her cooking for a moment at one point (thankfully not at a moment where anything could catch on fire) to come over and give the furry creature a few scritches behind the ear.

Just, you know, without acknowledging Sparkle's presence or existence at all.

Sparkle let her have her moment with Alec, fine. They were siblings, even if she was a bit of a psychotic freak, so it wasn't like he was going to stop her.

He just wasn't going to be intimidated by her any more, either. She wasn't the Miss Perfect that she passed herself off as. That was enough for him.

That remained to be seen, as far as Isabelle was concerned; she'd only ever intimidated him with veiled threats before, and she saw no reason to keep those veils up anymore. And maybe she wasn't Miss Perfect, but she could still break most bones in his body with ease.

... Not that she looked that way when she was slipping her bracelet off to try and get the baby panther to play with it. But, in general!

Yeah, Sparkle was super intimidated. You could tell by the snorting sound he made as he stepped around the two of them to get some stock for his velouté. A second thought had him measuring out two servings, and then coming back with a saucer of beef stock in one hand, which he held out to Isabelle with a raised eyebrow, nodding down to Alec.

Here, Iz. Feed your brother something that wasn't going to leave a nasty taste in his mouth.

Isabelle accepted the saucer, although in much the same way someone might take something from a servant: easily, but without much in the way of acknwledging him. So a thank you probably wasn't going to happen.

Alec happily eating it once it was placed down in front of him not withstanding.

Yeah, well, Alec's thanks was all the thanks Sparkle really needed, fortunately. It wasn't like he expected much in the way of decency from Isabelle. He'd never been given any reason to, why start now?

That accomplished, with a moment taken to offer Alec a fond scratch behind the ears, he stood up and got back to making his sauce. Some people in the room had classwork to do, after all.

Hey, it was better for everyone if Isabelle just stayed the hell away from cooking for as long as possible. Preferably for an entire class, even!

But after a moment longer of general sibling scritching and things, she patted Alec on the head before straightening up and going back to her own work station.

Where nothing had caught on fire, thank the Angel.

After watching the interaction with interest, Hannibal joined Sparkle by his stove. He nodded down at the panther. "A new acquisition?"

Sparkle glanced down at Alec, and then shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

"Yes and no. He's been my boyfriend a lot longer than he's been a panther," Sparkle explained. "Fandom, right? Alec, meet Professor Lecter."

Alec was really more interested in the beef stock he was still enjoying, thanks anyway.

"Sorry, I probably shouldn't be bringing anything furry to class, but I didn't really have an Alec-sitter, either, and I don't want to risk him eating my cat while I'm out."

"Ah. Hello, Alec," Hannibal offered briefly. "So long as you keep him from underfoot and don't get his hair in your sauces, I shouldn't think it's a problem. Does he still have his own mind?" Mavis had seemed to, but if there was talk of Alec eating pets, maybe this was different?

"So some extent, yeah," Sparkle replied. "I mean, he makes it pretty clear when he doesn't like something, and he's pretty easily distressed in strange situations, but I can't, like, carry on a conversation with him or anything. And he'll shamelessly chase a piece of string around. It's kind of either way with these animal transformation things. Some of his personality shines through, same as when I turned into a dog."

He'd been the brattiest corgi on the planet, for the record.

Hannibal nodded. "Well, so long as he's no trouble, he's welcome; hopefully the transformation won't last too long. I shouldn't worry about your cat, though. I doubt Alec here is a cannibal."

Yeah, he went there. This was Hannibal.

...about the fact you can't make stock or a roux or whisk eggs!

Yeah, next week will totally be "how to make a roux without burning things" and "how to thicken without lumps". He tends to forget that not everyone knows these things.

Making a decent roux was, legit, one of the most useful things I ever learned for cooking.

This is where I confess that I've never taken a single cooking class, isn't it?

Oh, my husband taught me! I haven't had a cooking class since 8th grade home ec!

But roux are essential.

I never even had home ec. LOL But I feel a little less clueless now? :)

Roux are definitely next week. After Hannibal boggles a lot at "how could anybody not know how to make a roux??"

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Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, 1st Period

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Make your own sauce

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