For My Old Friend Jerry. Agnello Arrosto, aka Roasted Rack of Lamb.

Jerry.

Performance Poetry, Solomon Ramada lead vocalist Jerry.

Okay Jerry requested the Rack of Lamb Recipe that helped me get the 91% on my practical. Do here it is. I wish I had taken a photo of my plate but it was too hectic and I just forget.

The # 1 principle of food preparation is “garbage in garbage out”. That translate to buy the best ingredients you can find. Frequently, but not always, the higher the cost the better the product. So if you have a choice of lamb that costs $2.99 a lb or $15.99 a pound chances are the $15.99 cut will be better. Use common sense when picking out ingredients.  Buy from reliable sources. Fresh is usually better than frozen as long as it is really fresh and not frozen, which is thawed and then labeled fresh. Typically you can determine the freshness by the color, smell, date stamp and use by date on the package etc. The point here is if you want a fabulous meal you cannot always pinch pennies. Often you do “get what you pay for”  so be careful.

RACK OF LAMB, ICA RECIPE.

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Test Results!

Well, even at 52 you still fret some when you are put to the test. I guess its hard not to worry when someone else is judging you or in my case my food and my cooking IQ. The second big cooking practical has come and gone. A practical is a bit like a TV cooking show.First thing you randomly select a cooking station. While the stations all have the same equipment, namely burner, oven, flat top and work surface some are more strategically located. For example the  refrigerators where some of the ingredients are located are on one side of the room. The dry ingredients like flour, sugar, olive oil, vegetables etc are on the other side. The sinks are closer to some stations and the stations in the middle are 1/2 between both sides but with people going back and forth it can get hectic in the middle.

So first thing we select our stations by pulling numbers. Then we are given the recipes. We must cook in a very specific amount of time. And since everyone can’t present at exactly the same time the presentation times are staggered so some people have a little more time some a little less and of course when we present our food must be hot, the plates must be hot or cold depending on the dish, the sauce must be fluid, the Risotto must not me all stuck together, the lamb chops must be medium rare, not to cooked not to little cooked and the Artichoke must be warm but not not mushy. You get my point. To timing is a big factor.

Anyway since yesterday was also a theory test before any of the above we took a written test.

Theory test 100%. Practical was Rack of Lamb, Artichoke, Roman Style and Mushroom Risotto. 91 %. A good day.

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