If I say ‘steak and chips’ many people will salivate on the spot. To ask about their favourite foods, it is often that the response is something along the lines of ‘you can’t beat a good steak and chips’. Although not my opinion, it excites me to cook something which I know that someone else will love. Also on the menu was ratatouille, a dish revived and made famous in recent years by a cartoon movie of the same name. For the simple reason that I love cartoons, I was massively looking forward to making this, especially as I had watched the movie in advance the night before. Along with those, I was going to make all of the brown breads before finally approaching the granary loaf the following day.
Anyway, steak and chips already, I hear ya! First thing is that we need to prepare the steak. To this, there is little to it. Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub all surfaces of the steak with it. The reason for this is that it heightens the beefy flavour, and there is definitely a noticeable difference. Then crack some black pepper corns over it and lightly glaze with oil. In this state, ideally you will allow it to rest for an hour at least. Meanwhile you can make your chips. Again as simple as can be. Potato, cut up in whichever way you like, a chip is a chip. You can leave the skin on or you can peel it off, if you’re just cooking at home then it’s really a question of ‘how do you like your eggs’, you choose. Of course you can cook them in the oven, but the frier just makes you feel a little more guilty as well as having a nice crispier shell, so we use the frier with our steak. For doing this, we can part cook them in advance which is of no detriment to flavour. The time for this will depend on your choice of cut, but generally look for that light golden colour, where you know that you are only two minutes from being fully cooked. This then means that later, while your steak is resting, you can get them cooked through in two minutes, plate them up and your steak is ready in perfect time.
At this point I might just point out the popularity of this dish again, and then to consider the simplicity of the process so far. That is why I can’t stress enough how important good quality produce is in any case, but particularly when you are relying on two simple ingredients and basic seasoning. Get steak and chips right and you’ll find your customers returning, so don’t compromise on quality. When I am making dishes that I wouldn’t personally choose on a menu, I like to ask those that would what exactly they expect. Making the steak and chips, I asked my teacher at the time, who also said that she might not necessarily order it all that frequently, but there is one restaurant ‘Annie’s’ in Sundays Well, Cork, which do a particularly good steak, and one which she would and does return for. The reason for this is that it’s top quality produce and cooked simply. As is often repeated here in the school ‘get to know the place stop’.
So then we get to the cooking of the steak. This part requires, what I hesitate to call technique while practice might be a more appropriate choice of word. I’m not talking about heating the grill pan and adding oil or butter, I’m talking about the question of ‘how would you like your steak?’. Rare, medium-rare, medium and so on, it is crucial that you get this spot on, or you’ll be getting steaks sent back to your kitchen, and that’s an expensive mistake. You can follow guidelines for sure, but I learnt, by error, that you need to be considering it from the moment you get you piece of meat. As it happened the steak I was cooking was a little bit thinner than it should have been, as a result, it cooked quicker. I should have anticipated it, but my unfamiliarity with the meat meant that I read ‘6 minutes on one side and three on the other’ and stuck rigidly to it. My medium-rare was medium. Not the end of the world, but if your customer is having a bad day anyway then they for sure wont be happy with an incorrectly cooked steak.
Now for those of you who have seen the movie, you’ll know ratatouille to be a French stew (as well as a rat with incredible cooking talent). The movie glorifies the dish, and this is something which I loved. It may have been made with an audience of 7 year olds in mind, but it carries a message which resonated with me as an aspiring professional cook. In heralding this old, typical dish, they made it into something beautiful and gave it a place in a society where we are blessed to have a plentiful choice of food, whether it be good or bad. At the school however it was approached with the idea that this is what it is: a stew. Of course this attitude is important especially as stews are a big part of Irish food culture, but for today I was going to be a rat with finesse and it wouldn’t just be poured into a side bowl, if I could avoid it. The ratatouille itself with peppers, aubergines, courgettes and so on wasn’t something which appealed to me greatly, but I was excited nonetheless. In honesty the dish was a time consumer. The peppers took quite a lot of time to soften fully, not a huge problem as I had it started early and I didn’t have to stand over them, but still making this a dish which one couldn’t put together in a hurry. All the courgettes and aubergines had also to be grilled on the grill pan which taught me the lesson to hold my nerve. The slices may look charred, but they might not necessarily be cooked through so hold out, otherwise 5 minutes in a moderate oven will finish them off, but be careful not to dry them out. Assembly of the dish then almost seemed impossible to make it pretty, and I soon learnt that the cartoon was exactly what it is supposed to be: fantasy. However, I tried and actually the end result is one which I would quite happily serve. Regarded here as a side dish, I’d be happy to call it a standalone course. What’s more, is that it was really tasty, if I do say so myself. I would absolutely order it and most definitely would make it again.
As for my breads, I made a wholemeal loaf, brown soda bread and brown yeast bread. All of which I have made on several occasions in the past, I just wanted to check that I’ve still got it: I do! Haha.
Dirty Whites 