Some Revisions

I am editing my Independent Component!

After feeling the heat and pressure of throwing a dinner party, along with the financial responsibility that comes with it, I have made the decision to edit my Independent Component. I can’t afford another hundred dollars, nor can I devote another 25 hours of time to creating another whole party. Beyond that, when this Component was originally crafted, my essential question was about time management in a kitchen; I had been looking more into the production of food in a restaurant kitchen.  A dinner party, I reasoned, had a lot to do with this: I would be working under a time crunch, I would need to cook multiple courses, and I would have to serve a table of guests, just like in a kitchen.
Now, however, my final essential question is all about the flavor of food; I am focusing on the contribution and impact food has on the body and it's senses. This Component is no longer as helpful as it had been to my original question. Therefore, I am taking the two parts of the meal I was least satisfied with and recreating them for my family. This way, I can take the food that lacked in some area of flavor and make it better. Learning to fix previous mistakes while improving the flavor of food should help me find an answer or support to current answers for my essential question.

I will be remaking the stuffed pork tenderloin and the roasted potatoes.

There was nothing particularly wrong with the pork, but it just wasn’t as exciting or flavorful as it could have been; the meat could have been amped up farther. Therefore, I decided to take some information from the book All About Braising (book D in my WB). Though I am roasting the pork tenderloin, both braising and roasting involve letting the heat of the oven do the cooking. I think the most important thing I can take from this book, however, is the importance of searing the meat before baking it (entry 21D of my WB). According to this book, some initial searing is important because it creates a base for all other flavors to build off.

With the potatoes, I will be trying the methods described in "Really Crisp Roasted Potatoes"  (entry 40 in my WB). Originally, I made Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes, but those came out dry on the inside and only mildly crisp on the outside. I kept them in the oven until I say a pretty brown color, but that proved to be too much fro the potatoes to handle. Thanks to this article, I now have many things to change; for example, I will be using golden potatoes instead of red one; This potato has a medium starch content (good for browning) and medium moisture content (good for creamy center). I will also be slicing the potatoes rather than quartering them, which increases surface are while reducing number of flips (now 1 is needed instead of 2-3). I will also be parboiling the potatoes in simmering water for five minutes, which will bring the starches within the potato to the surface, so as to kick-start the browning process once the potatoes hit the oven.

I hope these changes will make for an even better meal! I am very proud of my mushrooms, a dish I've made many times before and even convinced one of my guests that mushrooms can be good. I also really enjoyed my salad, and the dessert was a big hit. Therefore, I will not be re-trying those dishes.