Well, last week's test went smoothly as everyone passed with high marks. Test-day afternoon found us being issued our uniforms and checking them out for fit, function, and coolness. Knife sets were also distributed so that we would have the opportunity to cut ourselves over the weekend. They are a nice 7-piece set with a fancy case that should be just the thing to cut, dice, slice, chop, julliene, and mince. Hopefully not fingers.
Today was day 1 in the kitchen and we were all very excited to get our hands busy and MAKE something. As the students arrived in the morning, there were comments all around about how the new outfits look and feel. It might be a silly notion, but it felt just like the first day of school after summer break when your parents took you to buy "school clothes" and you got to wear them for the first time. And we all looked GOOD.
Our fellow student that lost her father last week returned to class today in good spirits.and we are very happy to see her. She's a Personal Chef and a really nice person (and if today is any indication, Chef Otto will be using her as his assistant from time to time).
The first rotation through the kitchen is called Garde Manger, and is essentially the preparation of cold foods. Salads, sandwiches, pate', dressings, many of which are prepared hot and served cold, so we will be cooking occasionally over the next three weeks. Today we made our own mayonaise, the very first item of production for the class. Each student made about 2 quarts of mayo (and it was excellent), which we combined and will use as a base for other dressings this week and on the many sandwiches we will be making. We also did an hour of knife drill on carrots, potatoes, and cucumbers. Chef Otto donned his Mr. Miagi Dojo headband as a blindfold and gave us a demonstration of blindfolded slicing and dicing that was pretty impressive.
Two of my classmates cut themselves over the weekend trying out their new knives, and we had our first bloody finger in class on this, the very first day. I just hope when it's my turn to cut myself I can show the same restraint and just nick myself a little bit.
Things I learned today:
I have pretty stout forearms, but whipping up mayo turned them into rubber.
Chewing tarragon tastes like licorice...and your tongue gets numb.
No matter what you do, something will splatter on your brand new white apron.
There are 10,000 expensive kitchen utinsels in the world, but without a $.99 peeler the potatoes just sit there.
Jusqu'à la prochaine fois, mes amis.
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