Hot Wrist Action

No, don't get all unnecessary.

My right wrist got a severe workout this morning with nearly an hour of whipping and beating. Still no need to get unnecessary.

Only three dishes to cook today but several elements to each, one two stand alone dishes joined to create a third, and lots of ingredients. First up a tomato granite topped with a crab mayonnaise. So make the mayonnaise, 25 minutes whipping the constituent parts, then make a tomato puree, liquidise and put into a sorbetiere to set. Then pick a crab and combine meat and mayonnaise. Finally put the granite into a classy glass, top with a blob of crab mayonnaise and serve.

Next a traditional sponge cake. Cream butter, add sugar, beat in eggs, add flour and bake. More wrist action about 20 minutes. Then cool cakes and line with Raspberry Jam, Raspberries and Whipped Cream (another 10 minutes). Sandwich together and dust with icing sugar.

Finally make a really good bread sauce to accompany the chicken being roasted by my partner. Good results too, the cake rated 5.5/6 the crab mayonnaise and sorbet 6/6 and the bread sauce 5/6. The cake was a triumph particularly for a man who does not stride in the footsteps of Mr Kipling, it was eaten before I could get a photo so you will just have to take my word.

Tomorrow looks easy on paper, just a salad and curly kale to cook. However, the salad has several steps and the Kale is cooked then pureed and seasoned before being re-cooked for service. My partner will cook a soup and a coffee cake.

Don't imagine though that we have several hours to produce a limited range of dishes. Today we learned how to make a paper piping bag and the relatively short cooking demand will ensure that we have time to make bags, melt chocolate and practice chocolate decorations and writing. If there are still a couple of free minutes omelettes will be back on the menu.

Soups and salads dominated the demo with a stunning range of cakes displayed toward the end all based on one mother recipe.

The salads revolved around chicken with Asian, Indian, Mexican and European influences and  a host of techniques needed to deliver them. The tasting at the end was a culinary circumnavigation, and tasty too.

Only one more cook this week as Thursday is the School Trip to a number of producers. More on that Thursday.