Thursday, January 7, 2010
I Resolve To...
Class Monday is Latin (the cuisine, not the dead language), Tuesday and Wednesday is Regional American. I can't wait! This quarter should be delicious and fun. Also, I'm most likely taking Nutrition or some sort of Mathematics for Culinarians (I kid you not-I'm sure it will be challenging since I took through pre-calc in high school...)
Hope your holidays were wonderful and as filled with friends and family as mine were. Here's to a spectacular 2010.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Finals!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Leek Out!
Burned Out On Baking
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
While I Love Being Correct..
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hey Everybody! Remember Me?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
In the Words of Fiona Apple
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Paella Madness
Plan B is Once Again Employed
- Slicing ham for four and a half straight hours did not change the fact that ham is one of the few things that makes me nauseated on sight.
- I can peel roughly 30 lbs of onions in 25 minutes.
- I really really need to become fluent in Spanish ASAP.
- I can still smile through anything, even four hours of back spasms while working.
- I'm able to make about 400 potato pancakes in 3 hours.
- Using the palm of your hand to cut off the ends of shredded potatoes against a metal scoop will leave scoop shaped welts on said palms for at least two days.
- Handling dry ice with bare hands will burn your skin.
- Working with food and chemicals and fancy schmancy equipment is ridiculously fun.
- Saying "I personally prepared food for Jose Andres, Placido Domingo, and their wives" does not get old. Ever.
Never Fear, I *am* Alive!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Week Ten - The End is in Sight!
- Sauce Preparation
- Seasoning
- Caramelize the Mirepoix
- Meat Preparation
- Braising
- Serving
- Trussing
- Remove Meat
- Searing
- Deglazing
- Pince tomato paste
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Week Nine - More Eggs, More Breakfast
Friday it was discovered that we, the evening class, had gotten the day class' cart by mistake, which is why we had so much product to work with (we have 11 students, they have 24). Thankfully, that meant we only had to use up two loaves of bread...which was still somewhat of a challenge. Air Force made a french toast casserole and Island Kid (who is transferring down to Atlanta after this quarter) and Old Gross Guy (as I'm now calling him) made normal french toast. Uppity worked on making tortillas, which I teasingly pointed out turned out more like arepas. Slightly oversalted, but tasty. She, of course, finished like 40 minutes after we all were done with our stuff, so once again we were all waiting around for her to be done.
The Young Gentleman in my group and I took the ground pork and made a couple batches of "sausage" patties. I put it in quotes because, while really good, they tasted more like seasoned pork than breakfast sausage. We kinda just threw a bunch of stuff in and pan fried up the patties. The pork ended up having minced fresh garlic, onion powder, marjoram, thyme, crushed red peppers, salt, and pepper in it. Delicious!
For some reason, we had a bottle of banana liquer on our cart, so I brought in some bananas Friday and made a non-brandy containing version of Bananas Foster. I always thought it was some intricate, fancy dessert until I figured out a couple years ago, it's really just melted sugar, butter and some booze with sauteed bananas. We ended up using it as a topping for Air Force's casserole. SO GOOD.
At some point in the evening, GMC came in and pulled me over to him. He handed me a sashimi knife that he's used for 25 years, telling me it was from the heart and that he wanted me to have it, as my birthday present. I was pretty speechless. Now I just need to learn how to use it...
Saturday was just the final for our Safety and Sanitation class, which was actually a certification test for Serve Safe. It was 90 questions, and I know I missed one for sure, but feel really good about it overall. And then I proceeded to be social two nights in a row. I'm really not quite sure what to do with myself now...except crank out a PowerPoint presentation for Saturday and do some review for my finals this week. Thursday is the written and I'm sure knife cuts, then Friday and Saturday we will be broken up into two groups to do the practical. After that I get about two weeks off, which I plan to spend doing some pre-reading for Baking and Pastry since I discovered from Chef F (the instructor) that we cover the first 6 chapters in the first 3 weeks...it's a really front-loaded class.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Week Nine - Eggs and Breakfast
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Week Eight - Les Poissons
Thursday we spent a bit of time reading aloud from the chapter again. LOUD SIGH. Air Force and I voiced our displeasure to Chef and hopefully we will not be doing this again. We spent time identifying different types of oysters and clams, talking about the difference in opening them (oysters through the hinge, clams through the front), going over the recipes, etc. The usual Thursday night activities. We went down to GMC's class where they were working on pates, which...ew.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Week Seven - Lab Nights
Friday night we collectively decided we didn't need to do the fried or mashed potatoes because all of us have made them in class at some point, not to mention all the Thanksgivings at home. We were able to bust through all the recipes that night so we could then just work with our pasta dough Saturday. My group went three of four for best of Friday night. Island Kid put too much nutmeg in our Gratin Dauphinois, but our risotto, rice pilaf, and Potatoes Lyonaise were excellent. Yay!
Chef and I went down to GMC's kitchen to get some arborio rice (the guy who does our cart only gave us enough for one group, not three). Almost immediately after the door shut behind us he turned to me and said "Man, Uppity just gets on my very last nerve. She drives me crazy." So we had a nice conversation about her. I should say now, she's really a lovely person conversationally, very intelligent. But, as is the case with a number of highly intelligent people, she has issues with anyone who doesn't agree with her or who knows something she doesn't. She really likes knowing something no one else does and unfortunately for her, I'm pretty well versed in international cuisines and products. She actually glared at me when I knew what tostones were. Sigh. I can't wait until she gives her attitude to the baking and pastry chef. He does not stand for any disrespect.
Speaking of Baking Chef, I ran into him Saturday before my early class and was able to talk to him a bit about what it is I want to do after graduation. He's a member of the Research Chefs Association (I'm a student member) and is very much into melding baking & pastry and culinary fields, whereas a lot of chefs just do one or the other. I am really looking forward to his classes next quarter. I think he's going to be a great resource. He's also reading the same book I am right now, which is Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. Basically, it's a book that details out culinary ratios. Once you know the ratio, it's like having thousands of recipes. Very interesting and yes, just as geeky as it sounds. But this is coming from the girl who really enjoyed reading The Secret Life of Lobsters so...
Saturday was pasta day. My team only had three people that night so we each took a portion of the pasta dough we'd made and made our own dishes. Most everyone made some sort of ravioli since we had ground chicken and pork on the cart. I kept mine simple, as I tend to do. I sauteed some garlic and onions in a bit of olive oil, deglazed with white wine, wilted in some fresh spinach and then seared up some shrimp and added in some crushed red pepper flakes. Once my pasta was done cooking (about a minute) I added that to the pan and served it up. Chef loved it and kept coming back for more. He actually used some of it to top his fried polenta cake. Yay! I recreated it the next night (Sunday) at home and added in some halved grape tomatoes, which is the picture above. You all can thank Tony for that - he's requested more pictures, so more pictures you will get! Oh, and that isn't a fancy table setting...I had just laundered my apron and it was on the table.
Off to re-read about the 90 different kinds of fish we need to be able to identify.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Week Seven - Potatoes, Grains, and Pasta (aka, Starch Week) Lecture Night
- oblong
- mealy
- hull
- originating
- nuttier
- groat
- Lyonaise Potatoes
- Deep Fried Potatoes
- Gratin Dauphinois Potatoes
- Mashed Potatoes
- Risotto Milanese
- Rice Pilaf
- Basic Pasta Dough
Week Six - Meat Cookery
- Grilled Lamb Chops with herb butter
- Brown Beef Stew
- Aunt Ruthie's Pot Roast
- Roast Prime Rib with Au Jus
- Sauteed Veal Scallops with Citrus Wine Sauce
- Chateau Potatoes
- Peas with Fennel and Bacon
- Julienne Carrots and Crookneck Squash
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Cupcakes!
I tried a new lemon cupcake recipe and it's delicious. I added a brush of lemon juice to the tops after baking for an extra kick (because I love lemon and the zest and juice in the batter just wasn't enough) and it also has kept the cupcake *shudder* moist *shudder*. Gah I hate that word. I also tried, for the first time, a buttercream meringue icing. I'm going to need to work on that one. It tastes good, but is nowhere near as smooth as I'd like it to be. Practice practice.
Week Five - Vegetables
Friday and Saturday we made the following: Grilled Vegetable Skewers, Braised Celery with Basil, Baked Butternut Squash, Stir Fried Asparagus with Shiitake Mushrooms, Beer Battered Onion Rings (all on Friday), Parsnip Puree, Broccoli Almondine, and White Bean Salad (on Saturday). Quick rundown: Basic and delicious, disgusting in theory and practice, tasty, delicious (even the mushrooms!), delicious and easy, a nice variation on the standard mashed potatoes, boring, and surprisingly refreshing and good.
We got read a bit of the riot act on Friday night. There was yet another meltdown by Uppity. Sigh. The woman just needs to accept that not everything she knows is correct. And that she isn't the instructor. And that if Chef tells us to do something a certain way? DO IT THAT WAY. She kills me. We also were made aware that the highest grade we could get at mid-term is a B+. GMC told Chef to start us at a C, but Chef was nicer than that. So frustrating. I got a B+ with perfect test and quiz scores. Grrr. Saturday we were assigned new groups. He chose the three strongest and then split up the rest based on skill level. I'm now the leader of a group that is made up of three people who I could have given birth to. If I started having sex when I was 14. Which I didn't mom. Start breathing again. You okay? Okay. So I've got the good, cool 18 year old guy - we'll call him Alton because he and I always talk about Good Eats; one of the young girls - the giggly baking one who is super sweet but Ditzy; and Island Boy who is going to be our group's problem. I like the kid, he's pleasant most of the time, but I won't stand for any crap he tries to pull. Expect issues.
Saturday was our Serve Safe mid-term. The one we've all been stressed about since we need to know the receiving, holding, storing, cooking, reheating, etc. temps for all foods; about 15 foodborne illnesses and their symptoms and whether an employee exhibiting such symptoms should be excluded or removed. And a whole bunch of other information that is overwhelming in scope. The mid-term was to be a practice test similar to the final, which is a 90 question certification test. It was 40 questions and took me about 5 minutes. I got 100% and an A in the class so far. Yay!
All in all, it was a good, but stressful week. Now I'm off to make cupcakes as a test run to see if I want to enter the cupcake challenge at school next week. Lemon with buttercream meringue icing. I'll let you know how they turn out.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Week Four - Poultry Lab
Here's a description of the sink area. On the left is a disposal area, circular, with one of those hanging down, high-power rinsers, then to the right there are three compartments filled with water. The first is for washing and has soap, the middle is for rinsing and is just plain water, the third is for sanitizing and has a chemical in it. At the end is a drying area with a rack. Our cutting boards are about 2x3 feet and fairly heavy. Island Kid left his on top of the disposal area, completely blocking it, which caused a back up for everyone else. So Air Force called out to the class asking whoever put it there to come clean it. He answered back that he was doing other things and that he'd get to it when he got to it. She responded, calmly, pointing out that no one else could do their dishes until he did his or moved it and he shouted back "Then do it yourself and leave me alone. You aren't my mom." It devolved from there to the point where he was yelling at her in the middle of the kitchen 30 minutes later. Chef pulled them out into the hall and gave them a talking to and by the end of the class, she had resolved things with IK. It's a shame because she's a lovely woman and the kid overreacted and made her feel guilty for saying anything. Sigh. This is why I don't talk to people...
On to the deliciousness then. Friday we prepared the white wine marinade and two chicken dishes - Grilled Chicken with Red Pepper Butter and Chicken Saute with Garlic and Basil. The red pepper butter was delicious and super easy to make. You basically just roast the heck out of the red pepper, puree it up and whip it into softened butter. The saute was one of the easiest, tastiest things I've ever made, and all three chefs who tried it said it was the tenderest chicken they'd had from a first quarter student. YAY!! Saturday was Pan Fried Chicken with Pan Gravy, Poached Chicken with Tarragon Sauce, and Chicken Fricassee. All of which were ridiculously easy and good. Other than the drama, it was a pretty boring week.
In our Sanitation class, the head of our department came in to advise us on next quarter. I'll be taking Intro to Baking and Pastry, two classes, three nights a week, all lab. Two nights for Baking, one for Pastry. I think I'll also be taking Nutrition, but online. That will all total up to 12 units again so yay! I asked about doubling up on Culinary and Baking/Pastry and she didn't know the answer, so I'll need to check with the Registrar's office, which I'll do Wednesday when I'm at school for the Culinary Club meeting.
What else...Oh, mid-terms this coming week. Blech. The one for Skills is going to be anywhere from 40-100 questions, depending on the day Chef tells us about it. At least it's open book, but I'd like to be able to finish it without using the book. Our Sanitation exam is going to be a bear. It's basically a practice test for Serve Safe certification, which we'll get at the end of class if we pass our final, which is the actual, proctored Serve Safe exam. This means our mid-term is 90 questions and covers all 15 chapters of our book, even though we've only gone over 10. Should be interesting. It's a lot of memorization of times and temps, food handling, cooking, holding procedures, etc. Just a lot of information in a little time. For cooking lab, we're doing Vegetable Cookery...so another boring week for you guys. Grilled skewers, braised celery with basil, baked butternut squash, etc.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Week Three - Chicken *is* First
Air Force, Cake Girl and I discussed the quiz while we got changed for class (even on lecture days we must be in chef coat, checked pants, hat, neckerchief, hat, two towels, apron, etc.) and there were two questions we agreed were written poorly. When we got to class, Uppity brought up one of the questions and was unable to understand the actual point. The question was "Why is it necessary to make a roux when thickening a soup with flour?". She could not get past asking why a roux needs to be made with flour. Long story short is you can use alternate starches, but the book explicitly states a roux is made of flour and fat. However, that was not the answer to the actual quiz question, which is you make a roux to 1) cook the flour before adding it to the liquid and 2) the fat coats the starch granules and keeps them from sticking together.
So after a half hour going over that (my fellow students are not known for their brevity), we moved on to how the two syllabi (one for lecture, one for lab) are different. We're now all straightened out and tonight will be making a white wine marinade, grilled chicken with red pepper butter, and chicken with onion, basil, and tomato. Depending on how those go, we will either finish early (please please) or move on to one of tomorrow's three recipes.
A number of the recipes call for chicken stock. We've been using a base, which is ridiculously salty, to make "stock" the last couple classes. None of us are happy about this, but if you don't have bones, you can't make stock. We went over to GMC's class to observe them deboning pheasants, ducks, and chickens. Not looking forward to that class..... I asked GMC if we could steal some of the bones they weren't using for stock so that we could make some and of course he said yes. yay good products for our cooking this week! We all headed back to class and made the stock, which has now been simmering and developing overnight. Island Boy cut his finger pretty deep chopping up the celery...we've managed one cut a week so far. Not too bad, right? I mean, everyone still has 10 fingers, so success!
During our lecture, we also discussed the difference between a duck and a goose. Which led to us discussing the plurals of animals. An entertaining conversation to say the least. At the end of class, Chef once again brought up being professional and warned us that if there were any problems, he would be breaking up the groups. Grrrrr.
Off to do errands, reading and lunch with Jim.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Tonight's Dinner
While reheating some of the shrimp bisque, I sauteed some shrimp in garlic, olive oil, and a dash of a nice Pinot Grigio (always cook with a wine you would drink). After the shrimp were seared off (about a minute and a half each side), I cut up some fresh basil and put both in the bisque. With a nice rustic garlic roll on the side it was a delicious dinner.
Week Three - Soups
Our syllabus is broken down by week, detailing which recipes from the book we will be cooking in our labs. Thursday, Chef tells us which we'll be doing Friday and which we'll be doing Saturday. We are required to copy the recipes onto 3x5 notecards to use while we cook so that our books aren't out on the counters and tables in the way. First week we were told to half all the recipes when writing our cards. I would say about three of us actually do that (out of the six or so who do the recipe cards), which becomes frustrating and confusing if someone is working off more than one card. My group usually uses mine since the two other women write both the whole and the half measurements and the Moroccan doesn't do them at all. I'm wondering how well he can read and write English actually from a couple things that have happened. Moving on... Each recipe includes the appropriate mise en place, which is basically the prep work that needs to be done before starting cooking. Incredibly helpful in getting the timing of the dishes correct.
Friday we started with a quick Q&A about the recipes we would be working on that night and then we were let loose. Our group immediately set to work on the mise en place, looking at the timing for simmering, etc. so that all our soups would be done at the same time. The other two groups just started one at a time, not taking anything into consideration. Which just adds to the time we're all standing around waiting for them to be done. It's getting pretty frustrating. Also frustrating is the fact that we seem to be the only group washing our dishes as we go. As soon as we are done with something, one of us immediately washes it. We're all about using time wisely and strategically. I think it's due to me and Air Force lady. We're very methodical, both planners. I'm slowly becoming the person who plans out our evening and keeps everyone on task, which scares me because I don't want to be naturally good at running a kitchen. If this continues, I'll want to open my own restaurant and then I'll never have a life. Sigh.
Our Split Pea, I'm told, turned out delicious. I'm not a fan of peas unless they are raw or lightly steamed in the pod, so the one very small spoonful of bacony, milled split peas I tasted was more than enough for me. All I will say is that you can rest assured I will not be making that frequently, or at all unless it is requested by someone I really like. The Beef Vegetable was good, boring but good. A little salty, but that's because we had to use beef base rather than stock so the sodium started out through the roof unfortunately. The NE Clam Chowder was delicious and not much made it out of the classroom. What little did, I handed over to Katie who was sweet enough to give me a ride home. She, a native New Englander, texted me the next day saying that it was the best clam chowder she'd ever had. Yay!
Saturday I was able to talk with my Sanitation/Safety instructor about classes and my thoughts on doubling up and getting the AA in Culinary Arts as well as the AA in Baking/Pastry. The difference between the two degrees is about five classes it seems so one or two more quarters to get an entire other skill field would be worth it methinks. I have to meet with my advisor this week to schedule Fall classes, so I'll most definitely be inquiring about the possibility of doing that. I'd be really surprised if it was an uncommon request.
There were only 7 of us (regularly 11) in class Saturday so we thought we might be able to get through things easier than usual. Oh. So. Wrong. I'm going to try to not build up my group as the best thing since sliced bread, but the differences are really becoming stark as the weeks go by. Long story short, one of the women (the uppity one) in the other group is allergic to shellfish and told only her team to hold off on making the bisque until the last part of class. Well, the bisque needed an hour of simmering, the consomme needed an hour and a half and the broccoli needed about 20 minutes. So it made sense to start the bisque once we got the consomme's raft going. (The raft in the consomme is when the egg whites, veggies, and ground meat meld into a solid on the top of the simmering broth.) Having not been alerted to her allergies, we fired up the shrimp shells. After four hours about cross-contamination and the importance of near constant hand washing, I was sure to be washing my hands about every five minutes since I was working on three soups, two of which had raw flesh ingredients. Evidently, one of the guys in the other group was walking all around without washing his hands and Uppity freaked out. The group had already been quabbling with each other over how to do things, how much to put in when, etc. For the most part we ignored it, focused on our own things, but man it was getting tense on the other side of the room. It did not go unnoticed by Chef. At the end of class, he called a Code Blue (which means we all go to wherever he's standing) and dressed the class down for not being careful about the shrimp and not being prepared. After getting condescendingly lectured by Uppity, I pointed out that had she let the entire class know about her allergy instead of just her group, I would not have started the shrimp at the time I did on the middle stove. She was all about reaming the kid who was running around and wasn't hearing what I was saying. It was a bit frustrating. Class ended on a high note though, with Chef taking home some of our bisque. Yay! I had some of the Cream of Broccoli last night and it was so good. If any of you want any of the recipes I mention, just drop a comment and I'll email them to you.
The one really good thing about being the only night class on Saturdays is that we get to take all the produce, etc. left over from the classes. So I headed home with about two pounds of broccoli, some chives, a bunch of fresh basil and tomatoes. Some others took some ground beef, shrimp, parsley, lemons, bell peppers. So much cheaper than the Yes! Organic Grocery down the street!
So, now that the drama is out of the way, on to the fun. Friday, GMC came into our class while his students were working on sandwiches and came to chat with us. I mentioned I'm currently out of work and he said he'd do what he could to help me find something with one of the many companies he works with placing students. I walked by while he was talking with Chef and heard him call me his "sweetheart" to which I just smiled and kept walking. He came over to chat with me and Air Force and we got him to tell us about how he ended up coming to the US, where he studied, who he apprenticed with, etc. He's really an incredible talent and very well-liked and respected. Later in the evening, I had to go down to his classroom to get some skewers. He was at the computer so without thinking, I know-shocker, I said "Chef, could you stop looking at porn long enough to help me find some skewers?" He replied "Oh, I don't look at it, I just do it." GAH! His classroom didn't have any skewers, so I said as I was leaving "I can't believe you're sending me away empty handed. I'm going to have to rethink all of this." About ten minutes later, he came back down with a printout of a bunch of job openings at one of the companies he works with, 99% of which aren't something I would be eligible for, but the thought was there. As he handed it to me he said "Now you aren't empty handed. No rethinking!" This is going to end well...
Enough babble. I'm on to read more than necessary because our lecture syllabus has us doing Eggs and Breakfast this week, while our lab syllabus has us doing Poultry. It's a bit of a pain, but I'm getting through it with the knowledge that the eternal question of which came first will finally be answered Thursday.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Week Two - Mother Sauces and Derivatives
Week Two was really fun. Thursday we reviewed production of brown and white stock and then discussed the five mother sauces (Veloute, Hollandaise, Tomato, Espagnole, and Bechamel) and the small sauces that can be made using them (which is pretty much every sauce known to man - those French are crafty). We went over emulsions, starch-bound sauces, thickening agents (are you asleep yet?), and finishing techniques (like if you want a really glossy, shiny sauce...butter is your friend).
My group is made up of me, an almost 60 retired Air Force officer who is going to teach me to crochet between our Saturday classes (she's pretty awesome), a woman in her I'm guessing late 40s who I think has been a line cook forever, and a Moroccan guy in his late 20s (I think) who has been working in the industry for quite some time, calls me "momma" and wants me to have his babies. No joke. That isn't going to get awkward at all.
The other two groups you ask? How thoughtful. One is made up of three kids who are all 18 or 19. They're adorable. The two girls are young and giggly and the guy is the nicest spoiled rich kid I've ever met (and I've met a lot) and hails from St. John. The other group is four people, three older, one young. The young guy is 18, just out of high school and wants to teach the culinary arts. He's a good kid with a smart head. The other guy on the team is about 40, has five (he thinks a sixth might be on the way but isn't sure) kids, a criminal record of some sort, has worked in the industry for about 25 years and is just the nicest guy. He's quite humble and even though he has been doing most of this stuff forever, acknowledges there are techniques and processes he may not know and is willing to learn. One of the women on the team is about my age, sweet, nice, knows absolutely nothing about cooking (she's in the baking and pastry program), and wants to open her own cake store when she's done. The other woman is mid to late 40s, has some level of catering business, has traveled the world with work but won't tell us what her job is, is uppity and prideful and will be the one person in the class I have issues with. While we were making our sauces, Chef came over and we had this conversation:
Chef: Your sauce looks excellent. Good job.
Me: Thank you Chef. It's all been a team effort.
Chef: Yeah, you guys seem to be the only ones working together and communicating.
Me: Please don't split us up.
Chef: Someone needs to work with her (pointing at Uppity).
Me: I will probably end up yelling at or punching her.
Chef: Good. That's what she needs.
Me: (Laughing) I'm so glad you're not going to split us up.
He'd best not. Friday night the German Master Chef ("GMC") came in, as he does almost every class now, and Air Force and I got to talking with him. Turns out he co-owns a company that, in part, does research and development with multi-million dollar companies...which is what I would like to do. I quizzed him for about 20 minutes on the right steps to take to get a job doing that, telling him my plan, etc. He said I'm on the right track and that he'd be happy to help me along the way, to which I responded "Good to hear since I'm not letting you out of my sight for the next two years." This has led to me being one of his favorites. Well, that and my charm. He now gives me side hugs and rubs his hand over my back while chatting with me.
So, in addition to these two classes, I also have Food Safety and Sanitation. I'll do my best to just gloss over this one since lectures include topics of bodily secretions and parasites that cause you to vomit up worms. WORMS. Lovely. That's how I'll be spending the next 9 Saturday afternoons from 1-5. Learning about all the disgustingness that comes from not washing hands, cross-contamination, and just general poor food handling. Fun! The project for that class is to visit a commercial kitchen and perform an evaluation on their food safety practices.
Back to the fun delicious portion of my schooling. Friday night we used our sauces to create an entree. Our group made sauteed shrimp (Moroccan) over mushrooms sauteed in butter and white wine (me) and sliced potatoes fried in oil (me), with steamed asparagus (line cook), all drizzled in the Bechamel sauce (Air Force). It was delicious...except the mushrooms which as some of you know is one of the few foods I just cannot stand.
Phew! All up to date. Sorry for the length of these first few posts. I'll work on writing them on my way home each night so they're broken down and easier to read.
Week One - Stocks and Knife Cuts
Friday and Saturday we prepared our white and brown stocks and worked on our knife cuts, of which there are seven: julienne (1/8" x 1/8" x 2"), brunoise (1/8" x 1/8" x 1/8"), paysanne (1/2" x 1/2" x 1/8"), batonnet (1/4" x 1/4" x 2"), and small (1/4" x 1/4" x 1/4"), medium (1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2"), and large dice (3/4" x 3/4"x 3/4"). We're tested periodically on the spellings, measurements, and actual cutting of these so you'll most likely be seeing me list them out in an effort to help me study. Same with the mother sauces, but that's Week Two.
Brown and white stocks are fairly basic and easy, which equals tedious. But man do they smell good. Next up: Week Two where we create the five mother sauces out of the two stocks.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Orientation
Orientation finally began with the Dean of Students lecturing us on how important it is to show up for class, show up on time, and be dedicated and courteous of those around us. And then she started talking to the parents in the room. This is right about the time I began gchatting in earnest. Even after she told us to turn off our cell phones. Since she didn't mention blackberries specifically, I took that to mean she was not talking to me and continued amusing myself while she explained, in painfully great detail, how important it is to take college seriously and that we're now actually paying for our education. Because the hours spent filling out FAFSAs and trying to get loans didn't hammer that in enough...
Then we got to meet some of our student advisors and first year advocates. All I'll say about that portion of the orientation is that I would take someone extolling the virtue and importance of an education much more seriously if they spoke properly.
We finally got to break down into our disciplines at 11 and the day got much more interestng. We met the chefs who will be our instructors, learned a bit more about the program and their expectations, and had the opportunity to ask questions and find out that they're all people who have a great passion for what they do, take it seriously, but also have fine senses of humor. It should be a really challenging but enjoyable program. Never fear, I have no doubt those words will come back to bite me in the ass.
After that hour session, we were sent on our way to clear any remaining holds, get our ids, set up our email accounts, pick up our kits, etc. Any stop that should have required one person helping me for two minutes ended up being something that required four people and thirty minutes. Long long day, but everyone was incredibly helpful and friendly and understanding. At the end of the day, as I lugged my 70 lbs of textbooks, uniforms, and supplies onto the metro, the phrase "Nothing worth having comes easy" came to mind. I came to the conclusion that this is going to be the most worth having it thing I've ever done.