Halfway home in our third and last rotation through the kitchens of Gros Bonnet. Our third trip through Chef Klaus' Hot Kitchen I ended up being interesting and quite successful. Chef Klaus himself was for the most part patient, pleasant, and helpful. I hope he's ok. Of course it wouldn't seem right if we breezed through with no issues or arguments, and there were a few. The subject of test questions came up and where we would normally get not only the answers we need, but also the background, history, and expanded explanations, it was suggested that we save time and just get the answers. This didn't set too well with Chef Klaus, as his teaching style involves flexing his considerable knowledge for us. I also disagreed with the idea of just getting the answers because my pointy little brain likes to grasp context and reference to learn, so I voiced my opinion one time and then let the subject work itself out. Work itself out it did, with Chef Klaus getting a little pissy and refusing to expound on answers even when more information was obviously needed. I guess he showed us!
In the end it was of no matter, as everyone did well on the written test. The elusive perfect score escaped me yet again as I got 35.5 out of a possible 36. And no one to blame but my own dumb self, as I forgot to write down the most important step in making a hollandaise reduction....reducing. I thought it, I listed it to myself in the steps, I even had the 2/3 ratio right, but if you don't write it down, you blow it. C'est la Vie.
On Wednesday we prepared our evaluation meal, an excellent menu that Jessica and Sandy spearheaded that included a mixed greens salad with a nice creamy vinaigrette and shrimp mousse-filled savory pastry for the appetizer. This was simple, and allowed Van to redeem a failed vinaigrette from earlier in the week. Jessica's pate au choux pastries refused to expand when baked, and she was understandably very upset as we adjusted by using them as crumpets with the crab mousse on top...very tasty. We've had many issues with the temperatures in the ovens the last two weeks, and I think the pastries were a victim of that inconsistency.
The main course was my poached pork loin with a demi glace sauce that was good (without being outstanding), accompanied by potato fritters and sauteed green beans. Dessert was an excellent pumpkin roll with a sweetened cream cheese filling. Chef Klaus invited the ladies that develop the menu at Paradise Dinner Cruises to come and act as our evaluators and they were very nice, if not exactly generous with their scoring of our dishes. Chef's score is the one that counts the most, and he gave us 108 of a possible 120 points. This is a great improvement on our last rotation and we were very happy to get out of his kitchen in good academic shape.
When in doubt, go with your gut. While making vegetable ravioli, Jessica had them boiling and I asked if she was going to turn them over, thinking I had heard that instruction from Chef Klaus. She asked me if he had said to turn them, and I was overcome with doubt, so I decided to ask Chef...he said to "Yes, turn them over, didn't I tell you that?" To which I replied "yes, you did", thereby making Jessica look like she wasn't paying attention and making myself look like I sabotaged her by not saying that in the first place. All because of my self-doubt. Last week Chef Klaus told Jessica "Use your brain, you know a lot more than you think you do!" I asked why he had never said that to me...no answer was needed.
This rotation also found us introduced to some delicious and exotic dishes from around the world...Nasi Goreng from India, Paella from Spain, and in what I think was the best meal we've had all year at school, Moroccan Tajine (lamb, chicken, vegetables, dates slow braised in a covered pot) over cous cous, accompanied by an awesome creamy caramelized onion soup that was simply great. I also very much liked the small rolled balls of chopped dates, nuts, prunes, and raisins bound with honey and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It was a good three weeks.
I have to add here that in Chef Masa's Garde last month I made a Baba Ganoush. I made it only because of it's repeated use on the old TV show MXC. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.
Come Monday it's over to the Bake Shop and the precise instruction of Chef Chad. I'm very much looking forward to these three weeks, as I've had some real fun on the baking side of things and I believe we will be working with cookies, specialty cakes, and Bavarian Cream
Can we all just agree to disagree?
Our evaluation vinaigrette: Judges said too tart. We all agreed it was, if anything, too sweet.
The vegetable ravioli: Jessica kept calling it a "disaster". I thought they were dandy.
The World Series: Texas thought they had it won...The Cardinals disagreed.
The NBA lockout: 5 million/year average salary...Can we agree that we don't give a rat's ass?
The 99%: Yeah, whatever.
A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.James Beard
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