Another week of class has passed. So many countries discussed, and so many dishes prepared. Since I can’t talk about all of well, i’m sure I could but I dont think there’s enough room on here. After all the wonderful dishes we prepared last week, two dishes from two countries caught my eye. Before I talk about the food, I would like to give a little background on the Countries I’ve selected. The first country is the great China. Many of us enjoy Chinese cuisine from every mall in America, but I never understood how much work is involved in putting together an authentic Chinese dish. Seafood, chicken, and rice is the basic foundation of a Chinese diet. With that said, some of the main ingredients include rice, peanuts, carrots, mushrooms, ginger, pork, and so many more. These are not your typical ingredients but they somehow make it work. The next country is Japan. Many people would argue that Japanese cooking and Chinese cooking is the same. In some way it’s true however, Japan use a lot of mandarin fruit, and varieties of seaweed. Something China doesn’t use often.
The dish we prepared from Szechwan region of China was “Kung Pao Chicken”. I’ve seen this dish before, but never wanted to try it because of the heavy use of peanuts. In my mind, peanuts and chicken does not and should not be mixed together. To my surprise, it turned out better than I thought. The peanuts, wine, and sauce all meshed well together and came out with a great place. I don’t think i would buy this dish from a mall restaurant. If anything, I would make it myself. The next dish was more of an appetizer if anything called Tempura from Japan. Tempura is deep fried vegetables, seafood, poultry, or meat. I can actually see myself making this at home. The batter we made gave it the pretty golden brown look. In out tempura we used chicken, mushrooms, onions, and carrots. Surprisingly enough, the onions did not taste like a onion ring. All of the vegetables that we fried had a great taste, even the mushrooms.
In conclusion, another great week for a culinary student as usual. As our days of class are winding down, I hope to apply everything I have learned in my kitchen. I have already prepared 3 of the dishes from class at home and I would love to prepare many more.
