I found myself sitting at my computer two weeks ago, trying to find the thoughts and words that usually come pretty easily for me when I work on this Blog. I had nothing. We've been in classroom mode, and although it's interesting and informative it just hasn't caused any creative juices to flow through my little pointy brain. The bulk of our lessons have involved the the science of various cooking methods and fabrication (cutting and preparation for cooking) of meats and fish, and all this very practical and useful information doesn't lend itself well to spellbinding bloggery. As always, I want to provide interesting commentary, so I wracked my brain for many minutes trying to put together an edition of The Innocent, but came up empty.
So I took a week off from the pressure.
As it turns out, the middle of last week brought me the opportunity to catch an Air Force flight to Alaska where I was able to get some personal business done, visit some great friends, and feel chilly for the first time in almost a year. I love it when I get the chance to hop on a cargo plane and travel, it's one of the great hidden benefits of military service. This trip was on a C17 that had 54 seats going to Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, Alaska. The flight was on time, I was able to get a ride from the base, and my most excellent friends and co-workers in Fairbanks and Anchorage helped make my long weekend trip a roaring success. The only downsides to my spur-of-the-moment trip were missing two days of class that I'm hoping Chef Klaus will forgive me for, and eating a meal that several friends recommended to me at one of Alaska's highest-rated restaurants that upset my stomach for two days afterward. Also the fact that I wasn't able to score any cheap king crab to bring back (prices on everything have gone up).
I am surprised how often people I talk to express envy at my being in a culinary arts course, and tell me that it has been a desire (even a dream) of theirs to do the same. I'm certain this has something to do with The Food Network, but I can't prove it. I have a lot of friends and relatives that are into cooking and it makes for some great conversations, but I feel just a little self-conscious when asked "What have you learned?" or "What are you cooking for us?" The answers are simple: A lot, and nothing. So far.
The course at Gros Bonnet is designed to prepare students for work in the professional kitchen and a lot of the important information is directly related to that end and just doesn't relate to conversation outside that environment. For example last week, in addition to meat and fish fabrication and cooking methodology we spent a lot of time on menu costing, profit margins, food cost percentages and such. When my friends ask about school, I don't want to bore them with these very necessary topics. Just like I'm boring you now...let's move on.
I'm told we have an extra-long test on Thursday marking the end of our second rotation classroom session.
OH, GOD, NO!!!!! NOT ANOTHER TEST!! Yeah, I think we are all feeling better about our test performances since the last classroom, so we face Thursday with far less apprehension than before. I'll keep you posted on our relative success. I'll try to get back on track with my posting of The Innocent, with more excitement, more kitchen adventures, and more lack of political correctness since next week marks the return of Chef Otto from his six week vacation. Stay tuned.
Today is Memorial Day. A time to remember and offer thanks to military service members that have given so selflessly over the generations to ensure that we keep our freedoms. There are SO MANY things that are wrong and need fixing in this country, but in the end it's still the greatest place in the world, so let's not lose sight of that fact.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
OK, everybody rotate...
Wow. This week marks the end of our first rotation through the course's five functional areas, Classroom, Garde Manger, Hot Kitchen I, Bake Shop, and Hot Kitchen II. Three weeks in each area plus a bonus week working on the Grande Buffet seem to have gone by very fast and it has me wondering just how much of the information and practical work the class will retain. The bulk of our academic work came in the first three weeks while in the Classroom setting, with the far more practical (and interesting) information coming from the Chefs themselves in each of the kitchen phases. I think a fair balance was struck, as cooking, with all it's history and theory, is ultimately a practiced skill refined by repetition and experimentation.
I just thought up that last line. Really, they should hire me as a consultant to work on our textbook, which was apparently edited by the proverbial Thousand Monkeys on a Thousand Typewriters that would eventually type out all the works of Shakespeare. A $100 textbook did not exist in my world before I took up this course of study, and now that I have one I can only say that somebody who cannot spell or produce an accurate graph is standing in line at a bank somewhere, chuckling and getting the date wrong on his deposit slip. On the bright side, Enju was finally able to score a Korean language version of the textbook, so now she can get the same mis-information as the rest of us.
In discussing our menu for our first practical exercise, I voiced my opinion that the salad we were contemplating making was too "busy" with contrasting ingredients and the apple coating on our pork main dish seemed as though it would be overly-sweet. Ultimately we agreed on the menu as it was and were able to produce a pretty decent meal for Chef Sigi, making a complex salad, Apple-Crusted Pork Chops with Sauteed Asparagus and Potatoes Romanoff, and a dessert of baked Asian pears ala mode with caramel sauce. It all came off very well, and a really decent score was achieved for our grade with only a couple of points deducted...for a too "busy" salad with contrasting ingredients and the coating on our pork main dish, which Chef Sigi said was a little too sweet. I'm just sayin.
So Monday will find us back in the classroom, books, lectures, and notes for three weeks. I believe Chef Klaus is our classroom instructor, and that is a very good thing, as I have great respect for his knowledge, teaching style, and sense of humor.
I'd like to offer up kudos to the German Chef Apprenticeship program in the late
1950s. They have provided us with a Triumvirate of Chef Instructors that have made our first rotation through the school's departments interesting as well as educational. Chefs Otto, Klaus, and Sigi all received their training as apprentices in Germany circa 1956 or so, and have been cooking and running food service operations for over 160 years combined. They have been literally around the world, cooking in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Australia.
I would also like to offer a big thumb–up to Chef Chad, whose discipline and fastidious nature are perfect compliments to his skills in the Bake Shop. I look forward to the next three months and our second rotation through each of their kitchens.
Things that made me shake my head this week:
Our end of phase test - Don't just give us the answers, make us do the work.
GQ Magazine - I'd never looked through one before, but got a subscription to support elementary school fund raising. I have never known anyone that would dress and look like the models. And I felt like they should all be punched in the face.
South Seas Motorcycle - "5-7 days, we have to order the part" 10 days later: "Oh, we had to order the tool to change the part, it'll be 5-7 days" 7 days later: "Yeah, we ordered the tool...I need to check on that, call you this afternoon." 4 days later: Maybe I should call THEM.
Seattle Mariners - Brandon League loses 4 games in 8 days, giving up the winning run(s) in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th innings. Hmmm....time to find a new late-inning pitcher? Right? Ja? Right? No? Ja?
Chef Sigi - The third of our three German chefs to mention Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech...let it go, gentlemen, let it go.
I just thought up that last line. Really, they should hire me as a consultant to work on our textbook, which was apparently edited by the proverbial Thousand Monkeys on a Thousand Typewriters that would eventually type out all the works of Shakespeare. A $100 textbook did not exist in my world before I took up this course of study, and now that I have one I can only say that somebody who cannot spell or produce an accurate graph is standing in line at a bank somewhere, chuckling and getting the date wrong on his deposit slip. On the bright side, Enju was finally able to score a Korean language version of the textbook, so now she can get the same mis-information as the rest of us.
In discussing our menu for our first practical exercise, I voiced my opinion that the salad we were contemplating making was too "busy" with contrasting ingredients and the apple coating on our pork main dish seemed as though it would be overly-sweet. Ultimately we agreed on the menu as it was and were able to produce a pretty decent meal for Chef Sigi, making a complex salad, Apple-Crusted Pork Chops with Sauteed Asparagus and Potatoes Romanoff, and a dessert of baked Asian pears ala mode with caramel sauce. It all came off very well, and a really decent score was achieved for our grade with only a couple of points deducted...for a too "busy" salad with contrasting ingredients and the coating on our pork main dish, which Chef Sigi said was a little too sweet. I'm just sayin.
So Monday will find us back in the classroom, books, lectures, and notes for three weeks. I believe Chef Klaus is our classroom instructor, and that is a very good thing, as I have great respect for his knowledge, teaching style, and sense of humor.
I'd like to offer up kudos to the German Chef Apprenticeship program in the late
1950s. They have provided us with a Triumvirate of Chef Instructors that have made our first rotation through the school's departments interesting as well as educational. Chefs Otto, Klaus, and Sigi all received their training as apprentices in Germany circa 1956 or so, and have been cooking and running food service operations for over 160 years combined. They have been literally around the world, cooking in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Australia.
I would also like to offer a big thumb–up to Chef Chad, whose discipline and fastidious nature are perfect compliments to his skills in the Bake Shop. I look forward to the next three months and our second rotation through each of their kitchens.
Things that made me shake my head this week:
Our end of phase test - Don't just give us the answers, make us do the work.
GQ Magazine - I'd never looked through one before, but got a subscription to support elementary school fund raising. I have never known anyone that would dress and look like the models. And I felt like they should all be punched in the face.
South Seas Motorcycle - "5-7 days, we have to order the part" 10 days later: "Oh, we had to order the tool to change the part, it'll be 5-7 days" 7 days later: "Yeah, we ordered the tool...I need to check on that, call you this afternoon." 4 days later: Maybe I should call THEM.
Seattle Mariners - Brandon League loses 4 games in 8 days, giving up the winning run(s) in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th innings. Hmmm....time to find a new late-inning pitcher? Right? Ja? Right? No? Ja?
Chef Sigi - The third of our three German chefs to mention Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech...let it go, gentlemen, let it go.
"Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that crap."
- GEORGE CARLIN
Saturday, May 7, 2011
We're not the Freshmen anymore!
This middle week of Hot Kitchen II had a bit of international flavor, as we put together some classic dishes that most everyone has heard of but many haven't tasted and even fewer have tried to cook for themselves. Eggs Benedict (the hollandaise done right is the only tough part), Soup Garbure, Beef Bourguingnon, Risotto Milanaise, and Crepes Suzette offered welcome challenges to the class and of course some delicious lunches. We all know that recipes are in place to insure that a dish comes out looking and tasting as it should, but most include seasonings "to taste", and we are asked constantly if we have tasted it, seasoned it, checked it for flavor, etc... Chef Sigi is very interested in our flavoring opinions, and allows us pretty free reign on how we make things. Beef Bourguingnon apparently being the exception. Despite all the students tasting and agreeing that it definitely needed something more, he overruled us and left the dish as it was, which I thought was a little lacking. I think this was an "I'm the Chef" moment.
Thursday we peeled and sliced a 40 pound box of potatoes. So we have THAT skill down pat.
Not everything we make in class is as simple as get the recipe, put it together, cook it, eat it. This week found us preparing several dishes that were marinated in various mixtures of wine, vinaigrette, stock, vegetables, and seasonings and left overnight to absorb some pretty distinct flavors. There were also different tasks to perform with the left over marinades, pan drippings, and flavoring vegetables. These multi-step recipes are great practice for learning to time the completion of various components of your meal, and coincidentally gave Chef Sigi plenty of opportunity to shout out reminders (whether needed or not) about each phase of the preparation. A thick skin is helpful in a kitchen environment, and I've come to take the Chef's comments and admonitions for the guidance that they are. Once in a while I feel a little flash of insult, but usually a quick wise ass reply gets me back in the right frame of mind with little risk of offending the Chef.
Last week was the start of a new school cycle, with a smallish class of 5 beginning the first classroom phase. They are missing out on the eclectic teaching style of Chef Otto, who is on his semi-annual three week trip to Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam to promote his cooking schools, visit his wife, and spend some time with his...ladyfriends. With 4 men and 1 woman, the new class is our exact opposite, and have been spending part of their break times observing us in the kitchen. We generally have a pretty good time, so I think they are encouraged when they see us work. It seems both so long ago and just yesterday that we were in our first classroom, anxious to get into the kitchen and get busy. Next Thursday will mark the completion of our first rotation through the different phases of the course and I'm thinking that our familiarity with the kitchens and Chef Instructors will make the next rotation easier even if the standards and expectations for our performance are raised.
Classmate Enju opens her Mac daily and video records all the Chef's lecture and recipe offerings for translation and study later. He found this a little disconcerting at first, but seems to have grown comfortable with it. He hums and sings almost constantly in the kitchen, and his only requirement is that none of the video
that she takes find it's way onto Youtube or any other Internet sharing site. He's actually pretty lucky. Chef Chad was constantly in motion, so she recorded him by turning on her iphone recorder and putting it in his breast pocket every day.
Mistakes we made this week:
Monday's recipe called for fine chopped parsley. I was scolded for chopping it too fine.
Tuesday's recipe called for fine chopped parsley. I was scolded for not chopping it fine enough.
Wednesday somebody else chopped the f*#$ing parsley.
I dropped and broke an egg, which I cleaned up. Then I got another egg out of the refrigerator and dropped that one too.
A Sachet Bag is a permeable baggie containing spices and seasonings that is placed on a string into a simmering pot. If you don't tie the string off to the pot handle it hangs down into the burner and can catch on fire...ask how we know this.
On day one in Chef Sigi's kitchen he told us emphatically: Only drain one sink at a time. Wednesday Enju pulled the plug on two sinks and flooded the kitchen floor. So that was fun.
Thursday we peeled and sliced a 40 pound box of potatoes. So we have THAT skill down pat.
Not everything we make in class is as simple as get the recipe, put it together, cook it, eat it. This week found us preparing several dishes that were marinated in various mixtures of wine, vinaigrette, stock, vegetables, and seasonings and left overnight to absorb some pretty distinct flavors. There were also different tasks to perform with the left over marinades, pan drippings, and flavoring vegetables. These multi-step recipes are great practice for learning to time the completion of various components of your meal, and coincidentally gave Chef Sigi plenty of opportunity to shout out reminders (whether needed or not) about each phase of the preparation. A thick skin is helpful in a kitchen environment, and I've come to take the Chef's comments and admonitions for the guidance that they are. Once in a while I feel a little flash of insult, but usually a quick wise ass reply gets me back in the right frame of mind with little risk of offending the Chef.
Last week was the start of a new school cycle, with a smallish class of 5 beginning the first classroom phase. They are missing out on the eclectic teaching style of Chef Otto, who is on his semi-annual three week trip to Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam to promote his cooking schools, visit his wife, and spend some time with his...ladyfriends. With 4 men and 1 woman, the new class is our exact opposite, and have been spending part of their break times observing us in the kitchen. We generally have a pretty good time, so I think they are encouraged when they see us work. It seems both so long ago and just yesterday that we were in our first classroom, anxious to get into the kitchen and get busy. Next Thursday will mark the completion of our first rotation through the different phases of the course and I'm thinking that our familiarity with the kitchens and Chef Instructors will make the next rotation easier even if the standards and expectations for our performance are raised.
Classmate Enju opens her Mac daily and video records all the Chef's lecture and recipe offerings for translation and study later. He found this a little disconcerting at first, but seems to have grown comfortable with it. He hums and sings almost constantly in the kitchen, and his only requirement is that none of the video
that she takes find it's way onto Youtube or any other Internet sharing site. He's actually pretty lucky. Chef Chad was constantly in motion, so she recorded him by turning on her iphone recorder and putting it in his breast pocket every day.
Mistakes we made this week:
Monday's recipe called for fine chopped parsley. I was scolded for chopping it too fine.
Tuesday's recipe called for fine chopped parsley. I was scolded for not chopping it fine enough.
Wednesday somebody else chopped the f*#$ing parsley.
I dropped and broke an egg, which I cleaned up. Then I got another egg out of the refrigerator and dropped that one too.
A Sachet Bag is a permeable baggie containing spices and seasonings that is placed on a string into a simmering pot. If you don't tie the string off to the pot handle it hangs down into the burner and can catch on fire...ask how we know this.
On day one in Chef Sigi's kitchen he told us emphatically: Only drain one sink at a time. Wednesday Enju pulled the plug on two sinks and flooded the kitchen floor. So that was fun.
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