Yankee Swap Mystery Basket

During my culinary career I have worked with several forms of mystery baskets. At culinary school there were the practical exams that one needed to excel in in order to move to the next class. I have also used mystery or ‘clean out the box’ meals as family meals in both restaurants and culinary school. This was an interesting spin.

What made this meal difficult also made it fun. We did not know the kitchen very well so (nor did was the station set up properly), several times during the prep we had to stop and hunt around for utensils and bowls. At school or at a job, you know the people you are working with so you are used to the way they move in the kitchen, their skill sets and their speed. Working with new people in a new enviroment it took time to ease into working together.

As far as who did what, we kind of cut up whatever was in front of us. Maria seemed to have good ideas about the marinade so she put it together and we all tasted it. It tasted great, I think reducing it masked the flavor of the garam masala. We should have used more of the powder. The black mustard seed added a nice amount of heat.

The ingredients we had made things fairly easy to figure out. Baby lamb chops, cremini mushrooms, frozen sweet peas and Worcestershire sauce. Having lamb chops was a bit difficult because we kept on coming up with ‘classic’ ways to prepare the chops. I am not very creative. I like good old-fashioned savory foods. At home this is how I cook. But for the sake of the class we needed to be a bit creative. My classmates took care of this part. We decided pretty quickly to make a vegetable medley with the veggies and marinate the chops. But we needed to figure out what type of marinade to use to add flavor and make the dish interesting and different. We decided on an Indian flavor, using garam masala powder. The Worcestershire sauce kind of took over. The timing was a bit off as well, but that will improve when we know the kitchen better and get used to the class.

Background knowledge was something that I could not get out of my head. Since I have spent much time in the kitchen I have a few learned habits that I cannot get rid of. Cooking red meat, sear (or grill it) then finish in the oven (this changes if cooked on an outside grill). Rice, do not look at it for at least 12 minutes or so. As long as the heat is low and there is enough water it will come out fine. If there is a flat top available use it!

The chops came out great! Actually everyone’s food came out great. The plates were all beautiful, the food was delicious and there were some very interesting ideas that people put together with their food picks.