Where has the time gone? Our internship director, Dr. B, keeps insisting that our time as interns will fly-bye in a wink. I’m starting to think he’s right!
This morning I want to share a little bit of my classroom time with you all. Last Friday we practiced food demoing Rachel Ray and Julia Child style. And guess what? Its loads of fun! Its not difficult to actually perform the cooking demonstration (unless you have no idea how to cook!) the hard part is remembering to verbalize each step. I guess a good mindset to have while performing would be “how do I need to describe this so that if someone were only listening (i.e. radio show) they could still recreate this dish?”
We started the class with a demo of a demo. The lovely Chef Becki was the star and demonstrated how to make “Soyrizo” breakfast tacos.
Chef Becki working hard on our Soyrizo tacos!
The ingredients:
- 1 package Soyrizo (found at HEB)
- onions and bell pepper, chopped
- HEB 7 grain toritillas
- Eggs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cheese (optional)
- Salsa (optional but highly recommended)
She started by heating the soyrizo in a pan until crispy. Then you add the onions and bell pepper. Cook until tender. Add in eggs, salt and pepper. Scramble ingredients together until eggs are at desired consistency. In a separate pan, heat 1/2 tsp. oil and warm tortillas until soft. Make tacos by putting cheese, salsa, and Soyrizo eggs into tortilla, wrap.
the tortillas
the eggs
the star of the show - Soyrizo
I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of soystitutions for meat (i could never make it as a mainstream vegan). Partially from a worry about the long-term effects of consuming too many soy derivatives and partially because the damn stuff just doesn’t taste all that great 98% of the time.
Well, my soy prejudice was laid to rest after I tried these tacos – they were stinking AMAZING. Becki said that she had made these same tacos (plus some added spice!) for Hispanic men and they couldn’t taste the difference! To me, that is the greatest testimony to any substitute dish.
the finished product
After Becki finished her demo, all of us non-chefs were assigned part of a recipe to demo to the rest of the class. Little did we know that we were actually making a dish!
Here is the line-up of the next Food Network Stars:
Anna demonstrates how to chop an onion
Victoria teaches us how to cook the onion
Sarah diced a potato
Abbey must julianne a carrot
I caramelized the carrots
Erin started a lovely cream sauce
Vik put together a gravy/cream sauce
Monica butterfly cut a chicken and then cooked it
Vanessa made a perfect roux and then gravy
Dr. B shows off his cooking skills and puts everything together
And the finished product? Seared chicken and gravy with a side of vegetable cream sauce. Bon a petite!
Mmmm... Chicken and gravy with cream sauce
Considering how many people had no idea what to do, this dish turned out pretty well 
The breakfast tacos sound pretty good and a great alternative to real Chorizo which is super greasy! David is headed to the store this afternoon and I am adding the ingredients to the list. I will let you know what we think!