CIA Boot Camp – Day 3

This is part 3 of a 5 part series on my adventures at the CIA Boot Camp. You can see other posts here:

Topics covered in the Day 3 lecture, and reinforced in the kitchen included:

  • Dry-Heat Cooking without Fats & Oils
  • Soups

Day 3 was devoted to dry-heat cooking without fats & oils and included: grilling, broiling, and roasting. Grilling was interesting as we spent a good bit of time talking about how they get the grill marks just right! It’s quite an art apparently.

Fun Facts we learned today:

  • Wild rice isn’t really rice – it’s actually a grain.
  • If you heat buttermilk on the stove, it will separate.
  • Farm-raised Tilapia is fattier than wild and worse for you than a cheeseburger.

Team 1 (my team) prepared:

  • Grilled Salmon with Caraway-Orange Glaze
  • Wild Rice Pilaf with Dried Cranberries
  • Roasted Corn Succotash

Grilled Salmon with Caraway-Orange Glaze
Grilled Salmon with Caraway-Orange Glaze
Wild Rice Pilaf with Dried Cranberries
Wild Rice Pilaf with Dried Cranberries
Roasted Corn Succotash
Roasted Corn Succotash

Team 2 prepared:

  • Roasted Chicken with Pan Gravy
  • Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
  • Grilled Zucchini

Roasted Chicken with Pan Gravy
Roasted Chicken with Pan Gravy
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Grilled Zucchini
Grilled Zucchini

Team 3 prepared:

  • Roasted Port Loin with Apricot-Armagnac Sauce
  • Creamy Polenta
  • Grilled Ratatouille

Roasted Port Loin with Apricot-Armagnac Sauce
Roasted Port Loin with Apricot-Armagnac Sauce
Creamy Polenta
Creamy Polenta
Grilled Ratatouille
Grilled Ratatouille

Again, we ate family style. Each day, the food was amazing. We patted ourselves on the back for all of our hard work. I recall thinking, before Boot Camp, that I would be able to get a lot of other work done in the afternoons, since we finished up so early. But it didn’t happen that way. We were on our feet for several hours at a stretch. And, we were constantly thinking. Each team had only 2 people and we had a lot of food to prepare. But, it definitely was worth it.

Got questions about my CIA Boot Camp experience? Leave a comment below or use my contact page.

This is the third in a series of 5 blog posts on my adventures at the CIA. Look for the series to continue for the next few Fridays. To view other posts:

Barbara
Follow me
Latest posts by Barbara (see all)

One thought on “CIA Boot Camp – Day 3”

  1. That’s very interesting but not surprising that farm raised tilapia is fattier than wild. All the more reason to buy wild-caught fish!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *