Learning to Cook Lesson Four, I Boiled and Poached

Now that I'm up to lesson four, I feel pretty good that I can do this. I can't believe what I've learned in only a week. I am learning a lot about food cooking methods that I didn't have a clue about. It's getting serious. The best part of what I call condensed education is how Chef David takes time to describe, explain and show what the heck he's talking about. He does this in a way that I can easily understand.
I think his simplified explanations are so important, because even if I knew some or all of what he's talking about, it's "explanation" that enhances what I might already know. There are better ways to do something. I gain a much better understanding of what I do when cooking and why I'm doing it. This helps me get the results I want.

In this lesson, I learned about poaching and that in cooking, water doesn't have to be just water. I can add "flavor" to the food I cook by flavoring water. It seems obvious now, but who knew?

I have come to believe that in poaching food, the understanding is essential. From the pan of water to the flavoring and the food to be poached [chicken, for example], the process is not difficult. It's all about knowing how. Poaching is a lot more than boiling water and putting in a couple of shrimp. The right way to poach is so incredibly easy now that I see how it's done.

I made potatoes by using my new knife skills to cut my peeled potatoes into neat cubes. I then poached them until almost done, drained the pieces; added my choice of oil to the skillet and sauteed them to give them a nice brown crispy surface. Easy as Lessons 1, 2, 3. My honey loved them.

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