The Return of Tweety Bird: Black Box Edition

Today’s black box workshop revisted one of my favourite (ha!) ingredients from Intermediate Cuisine – quail (aka Tweety Bird).

I was determined I wasn’t going to fall into the shit this time. While I presumed, based on some of the ingredients in the basket (mango, pineapple, red pepper, etc) that the workshop was about learning to balance sweet flavours, I decided to focus my particular efforts on mise en place, that is to say, having my shit together.  And having that in mind early on certainly paid off because not only was I able to plate on time, I tried out a new trick AND plated a whole extra course: dessert!

I decided early on to save my heroics today for something other than the quails.  I simply tore out the backbone and boned them out flat, similar to the Cornish hen in Intermediate.  It went a LOT faster this way.  While I was digging around in one of the quails, I tore out its tiny little heart.  Mwahahaha!

With the boning of the quails done quickly, and the trimming of the cod for my fish course done in a flash, I made some pâte brisée and decided to repurpose the leftovers from the pineapple-star anise glaze I was making for the quails into my riff on Guyanese pine tarts.  Made the pastry and threw it in the fridge, made a ginger crème anglaise and threw it in the fridge and still had more than enough time to get my fish together and plated on time.

My fun little trick today?  I decided to play with the white powder again.  I’m very much with Alton Brown and his take on molecular gastronomy (ie. it’s a tool, but it’s not food), but I can’t resist once in a while.  I keep a few of Molecule-R’s magic powders in my knife kit, and had some fun turning balsamic vinegar in to “caviar” with agar-agar.

So here’s what I plated today.  Not bad for just under three hours.

Cod with honey and sherry vinegar sweet and sour sauce and asparagus

Pineapple and star anise glazed quails, with wilted arugula and peas in a cardamom vinaigrette, roasted red pepper, and balsamic “caviar” (note: this is after Chef 2 took a run at it!)

Pine tarts with ginger crème anglaise (replated at home)

Not everything was perfect, but I wanted to try some new things and with my mise en place in gear I had the time. And sort of interesting that I was thinking about mise en place this week.  My various spies and sources told me that this term’s Intermediate class got very much in the weeds with their pheasants yesterday – perhaps they got their lecture on organization from Chef 3 today, just like the one we got after our quails. And having that kind of organization drilled into my brain is what allowed me to do the fun things today.  Once you’ve got the basics down, then you can play.

And these Tweety Birds?  Very tasty.