Grilling, being grilled...

Monday, October 23

Today was all about grilling vegetables, fruit, tofu and tempeh, meat, fish and seafood. We learned about grilling and marinades.

Tips: The chef explained that most people think that the longer they marinate something the better it will become and more tender but this is not true and most home cooks overmarinate from his experience. Also, he said if you want tender meat, then buy good quality meat that is tender already. The more you marinate, the stronger the flavour will be. Before you bring out something to grill from the refrigerator, you should adjust it to room temperature before cooking, for example 30 minutes for vegetables, and adequate time for meat to aclimatize but it should not be out for long.

Then we created a variety of dishes by assemling numerous marinades and marinating the main ingredients, whether vegetables, shrimp or tempeh, etc., in the marinade and grilling either on a rack on a stove or a stove top grill. We added accompanients liked whipped potatos, garlic bread, rice, salad and roasted potatoes and had a beautiful spread that included tuna, chicken, tempeh tofu, shrimp and vegetables in marinades and sauces, including the following and more: three-citrus, ginger, orange-miso barbecue, fresh herb, red wine, curry, barbeque-style, Balinese chile, and asian flavours.

Speaking of grilling, tomorrow we are being grilled on our knife skills and basic cooking techniques. It should be interesting as this is my first practical test, one of many to follow such as the one next week as part of our mid-term exam.

In the afternoon, we had our first class on menu planning and went over the different food guides and their histories and political nature as what was pushed as good for us was because a lot of lobbying from the meat industry and then they wanted to make more money so they pushed for dairy. Also, there is a lot missing from the guidelines such as the quality of food and whether it should be processed or natural, whether you eat whole grain products doesn't matter, and they usually don't care about the size of what you eat. We went over the guidelines for balanced meals in general, in particular for vegetarian and vegan ones.

Tonight I took an intro course on homeopathic medicine, which helps the body and mind heal and looks at the whole person, and is FDA approved in the US. The course was given by a medical doctor who became interested in adding homeopathic medicine to treating his clients with much success. A herbalist gives the same treatment to all while the homeopathic doctor gives a different treatment for each person and tries to cure the underlying condition. The doctor recommended different herbal medicines for pains in particular that are acute, or happen all of a sudden such as colds, flu, sore throats, menstrual cramps, etc.