Week 3 Blog

 This week I feel was our strongest week of the project in terms of cooking. On Tuesday we at Shoyu Ramen at Kizuki Ramen and on Wednesday we ate Sushi and Nigiri at Sushi Mioga. These two meals were complimented with several side dishes and drinks of those cuisines as well. This week we cooked Udon with SPAM and Chicken Butter Masala. A specific moment where I feel we all learned was while making the udon. We had to simultaneously cook the different aspects like the noodles themselves, the vegetables, and the broth. Cooking the noodles first was where we came short in fulfilling the recipe. While the recipe did inform us to cook the noodles first, we let them sit in the pot for quite some time. By the time we had everything cooked and ready to assemble it was evident that leaving them in the pot made them slightly mushy. This being said, the dish as a whole was delicious and fun to make as well.

What I feel I learned the most about this week was the act of cooking over a stove top. Other than pasta I have no real experience using a stove to cook things so this week I got a lot of time cooking on a stove with the udon broth and sauce aspect of the buttered chicken. I learned that leaving a broth simmering over the stove for too long makes it thicker. I also learned how to sauté vegetables and how useful simmering is.

 The goal that I feel I made progress on from week one is my actual skills in the kitchen. I was able to tell when things were fully cooked or ready for the next ingredient. I was also able to improvise when I felt that a certain part of the recipe needed more salt, spice, or something of the sort. 

I think the only question I have is where the line is in terms of substitution. I know this is easily answered by making it but I wonder how we can make a substitution before possibly ruining the dish.