California Cuisine

Yesterday I was MOD for the second class session. I felt like things went a little smoother than last time. We had all of our ingredients so that made things easier. I felt like we were well prepared for our recipes. The timeline was a little off because we had budgeted for my presentation to be at the beginning instead of the end. I feel like it worked out alright though. I made the sautéed duck breast. I do not usually do the entrée for class, so it was a good learning experience. I have never worked with duck or even tasted it. It is pretty easy to cook if you know what you are doing. The demo helped a lot. I was afraid I was going to undercook it, so after I seared it I put it in the oven where it got a little overdone. I loved the taste. Even the more gamey ones tasted great to me, they were just a little tougher. The sauce I made was a rushed, but I liked the taste of that also. The sweet really complimented the duck. As a group I feel like we are much more in sync overall. We know what to do and where to go when we have down time. It did take a couple class sessions to get there, but we are really meshing as a team in my opinion. I also was nervous about my presentation, but I felt like that went alright. There was so much information; I had a hard time covering it all. I loved listening to Chef talk about his experiences in California since I am going in a month.