Finally, we got the chance to cook some protein. We learned a bit about heat transfer and what it does to proteins as they are heated to higher temperatures. Fish are classified as lean, medium, or fatty. Fatty fish would be salmon/tuna whereas lean fish would be considered sole or trout. Chef taught us how to choose fresh fish (shouldn't smell "fishy," firm flesh, scales in place, bright eyes not sunken and cloudy, shiny brilliant appearance, brightly colored gills) as well as how to store fish (upright with fillets not touching any ice once they've been removed from the body). Finally, we got the chance to fillet two fish (trout and sea bass).
This was the first time I'd successfully filleted a fish. I remember about a year ago, I bought some Spanish Mackerel from the market and tried filleting it to no avail. I got so frustrated that I just ended up throwing the fish away which was a huge waste. Removing the pin bones from the trout was a huge pain in the ass since they have more than your typical fish, and they're really small which makes it really easy to miss one. I also learned that after you fillet the fish, you should always store the fillet to fillet instead of fillet to skin since that can damage the flesh. We made two different dishes: Poisson en Papillote (fish baked in parchment paper) and Filet de Truite a la Grenobloise (sauteed trout grenoble style).
The Poisson en Papillote had four different components: the fish, the tomato fondue, the duxelles (mushroom/shallot mix) and the veg garni. All that had to be wrapped up in a heart shaped package (I kid you not) where it was to be cooked first on the stove and then in the oven. Usually this dish is served in the package in which it was wrapped. Mine unfortunately didn't come out looking like it should have, though chef said it tasted good, so I didn't take a picture.
Grenoble Style Trout was easier to make. Simply pan searing the fillets after flouring skin side down till brown. Then making the butter, shallot, caper sauce and then serving with a side of cocotte potatoes and handmade croutons:
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