Cuisines of Americas week three

Very Mexican ingredients

How the South America develops ceviche and like dishes?

The last week of Cuisines of Americas. To the many words in Spanish this week has brought addition for Portuguese words as well. I was really surprised to learn, that there were Japanese influence in the South America, and that is why there are so many dishes representing quick marinated raw seafood.






Monday

Tortilla soup with all
condiments

It was the second day of Mexican menu. For our team it was pretty much the same as we had last Friday. Except for the Carne con Chile we cooked Pipian Verde (Green pumpkin seeds mole). The pork for pipian was cooked on Friday, it was simple cooking diced pork in water with onion and garlic. The chef said that our pipian was a bit dry and it was because pork was cooked too aggressive (my fault, should remember this).
My projects for the day were Jamaica flower cooler and tortilla soup.  Jamaica flower cooler is a fancy name for a simple drink - hibiscus tea. You bring the water to a boil, add hibiscus and sugar, simmer for a minute, off the heat, cover and let steep for 20-30 minutes. Then you should strain the liquid and cool it with ice or drink hot. The chef said there was not enough sugar (it seems we have different taste for sugar and salt).
Second project was tortilla soup. Cooking the same dish for the second time is a great opportunity to think about improvements and apply these ideas. On Monday we got epazote - Mexican herbs and I used it in my soup. Then I added a few pasilla chilies to the soup (toast, remove seeds, reconstitute in hot water, puree). The soup came out great. The only problem was chicken. I simply forgot to put chicken meat in the soup before service. The next day one guy at the buffet complained about this, so I had to tell him that it was a vegetarian variation of the soup and my face was very convincing.

Tuesday

Pipian de Chile Pasila

Was the final day for Mexican cuisine. Pipian for the day was Pipian de Chile Pasila Con Carne de Puerco. Such a fancy name for a Pork in Pasilla Chile and Pumpkin seeds sauce.
This pipian was my project. Keeping in mind what the chef told us about cooking pork on Monday, I did exactly what he said. Pork was cooked slowly and gently, no boiling no rush. The sauce was a bit complicated as it said in the recipe, but in reality it was kind of easy. A few components to prepare and at the end mix all together and adjust flavor. It came out perfect, the chef was really pleased.
Here is a recipe for Pork in a Pasilla Chile and Pumpkin Seed Sauce.




Wednesday.

Our tasting plate for
the day

We moved to the South America Peru, Brazil, Argentina... Our team was in Peru. Our menu was:

Ensalada de Quinoa con Tomates, Pinones, Pasas, y Huacatay (Salad with quinoa)
Anticuchos de Cordero (Lamb skewers)
Chifa-Style Tiradito Ceviche Costanera (Tuna carpaccio)
Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)
I made tuna carpaccio and there was not a lot of cooking. Actually it remind me the fist day for one of the Hells Kitchen. Every contestant supposed to cook a 'signature' dish and one lady made a salad. So Gordon Ramsey asked her what was cooked here? And her answer was 'nuts were toasted'! That was exactly about me today - nuts were toasted. Ok, snow peas were blanched as well. But otherwise I did not cook anything. Prepare tuna, slice it thinly, place on the serving plate right away (to minimize disturbance to the delicate fish). Prepare marinate. Cut vegetables for the salad (carrot, bell pepper, snow peas, peanuts), oh almost forget - deep fry wonton wrappers for the garnish. And that was it.

Thursday 

Store room to ripe cheeses

Was very nice day. We had a field trip and did not go into the kitchen to cook. The school organized for us the field trip. We went to Amy's factory producing ready to eat food. Quite a few items they make are burritos, tortillas, and so on. It was interesting to see large scale production process. A steam kettle with capacity 7000 pounds looks impressive.
The next stop was Mexican grocery store. Probably not the cleanest place I have ever seen, but the variety of products, especially chilies and spices, were good.
After that we had lunch at Peruvian restaurant. The place was small, probably around 25 seats. Food was good, especially appetizers. For the main the school ordered us sandwiches and it was not logical to have sandwich for the lunch at Peruvian restaurant.
The last stop was creamery - the farm producing cheese. They make cheeses using goat and cow milk. The lady explained the whole process of making cheese and it's a very precise process requiring a lot of steps.

Friday

Chupe de Camarones

Was the last day for the Cuisines of America. We started it with the final exam. Actually, we started it earlier, with our costing control class which we have on Wednesday and Friday. With costing control class almost everybody complained that it's too complicated and requires a lot of time to understand. 
After lunch we started our culinary class, we took final exam and moved to the kitchen. The menu was pretty much the same as we had on Wednesday. Instead of lamb dish, we cooked Chupe de Camarones - Peruvian soup with shrimp.
I had to make quinoa salad with tomatoes, pine nuts, raisins. Around 5 pm Samuel moved to help another team and I took over Chupe from him. He made all prep work and I had to finish the dish. It was good. Probably a little bit boring, but flavor was good, and shrimps were cooked perfectly. Students from a boot camp were impressed by presentations...