Busy Weeks

Been a little while since my last post. It seems like the quarter is just about over and like there is a long time left at the same time. On one hand there is only 3 more classes of Soup Sauce, but on the other we just made the switch to breakfast in Ala Carte which would imply we are only half done. In reality the quarter is getting fairly close to being over, just got May to get through.

Lunch at the Bistro went out like a lion, with our busiest 2 weeks easily being the last 2 weeks. By that time we had gotten a pretty good handle on how to make everything and there wasn't really any major issues at the end of each day. I closed out on the pantry station, which along with the grill are easily the two busiest stations. The week prior I made the suggestion that we put two people on pantry and consolidate middle/saute into one, since no one seems to want Mac & Cheese with bacon, bechemel, caramelized onions, and like 3 kinds of cheese when it's 80 degrees outside (who knew?).

As predicted Monday and Wednesday were quite busy, lots of salads, lots of clubs, and lots and lots of burgers.

The ticket situation (which only got worse before it got better) was finally solidified and we handled everything that was thrown at us. Time sure does move when you are busy the whole time, which is about the exact opposite of breakfast.

Yesterday was my first hellish morning up at 5:45, morning person I am not, but I survived, coffee in hand. The saving grace on Monday for this next month will be going home around 10 and getting to take a little nap and rest before having to be back at school for soup/sauce. Compared to lunch breakfast (at least yesterday) was basically a 2 hour prep session for lunch and breakfast the next day, which I am fine with (especially since I have a new toy to play with tomorrow, more on that in another post. Suspense!). I think we had 7 tickets all morning, most all for the potato rosti. Despite the fact that we were not busy I still thought the time went pretty quick, possibly because it was probably 8 by the time I actually had my hollandaise made, gonna need to get on that a little quicker tomorrow.

The Cholula hollandaise was merely a primer for the traditional hollandaise practical I had later in the day. In my opinion the Cholula hollandaise was the better of the two, which is unfortunate since I wasn't graded on that one. I also think that part of the reason there is a Cholula hollandaise on the menu for breakfast instead of a traditional one is because it is easier to fudge a specialty hollandaise than the real thing. The breakfast one tastes more of buttery Cholula goodness, while traditional is much harder to balance the flavors properly. I do definitely have the technique down, just got to work on flavor balance a little more.

I wish I had taken some pictures of the food last night in Soup/Sauce, it was a very good night. Warm Duck Breast Salad with Asian Spices and Orange Soy Vinagrette, Thai Melon Salad, German Potato Salad, Seviche, Tapenade, Marinated London Broil, Salad with Green Goddess Dressing and some tasty barbecue sauce over a ground and then reformed chicken log (really don't know what that was called. It was all as good as it sounds. The several experiments (brined vs. un-brined, marinated vs. un-marinated, emulsified vs. non-emulsified marinade) made quite a difference, the one that stuck out the most in my mind was the emulsified vs. non-emulsified marinades. The one that was emulsified first seemed to have so much more of the flavor, and that is such an easy step to do when you are prepping something. I'm working on a whole post just about marinades, specifically using alcohol, so stay tuned for that. More to come this week...maybe.

One of Those Days

It seemed like everyone in class Friday night was just having one of those days, or maybe it was the end of one of those weeks. Once we were able to get things rolling we started in on the beef chuck rolls. In the video we watched it seemed so simple to break this sucker down into Delmonico's, Denver's, short ribs and Sierra's but in our hands it seemed to quickly move into formless meat territory. I managed to take the top section off and after realizing an error in my cut was able to trim it out and cut the Delmonico's and short ribs while Gary worked on the bottom section. By the time he handed a chunk of that over to me I had lost any and all bearing as to what part of the cow this even was. Eventually after much deliberation I got a handle on it and was able to knock out the Denver steaks.

After the beef it was on to veal. We had a veal leg to break down as well as a bunch of veal breasts to be cleaned up. I didn't get much time with the leg but it looked like quite a process to fabricate, the thing was huge.

Gary and I worked on the breast which turns out isn't all that hard to break down, basically just removing the rib bones and then cleaning it up a bit. I think bistro is going to stuff them with something delicious and then do like a roast type thing, which will probably be killer. It was pushing 11:30 by the time we got cleaned up and got out of there, what a long day.

It would be nice if somehow we could get more practice with this meat, I would need quite a bit more time with the chuck roll to feel totally comfortable in fabricating one.

I'm front of the house in Ala Carte this week so stop in and make everyone else on the line busy!

First Day of "Work"

Ala Carte basically boils down to working a shift at a restaurant, only not getting paid for it and instead of being fired for screwing up horribly you just get to discuss what went wrong. Monday was the "grand opening" for our lunch crew and it could not have been more anticlimactic. Andrea and I were fully prepared to crank out the stuff our side of the line was responsible for: steaks and mac and cheese for her and chicken carbonara and cuban sandwiches for myself.

That is what the line looked like at the beginning of the day...and the end. Not a single mac and cheese, chicken carbonara, cuban sandwich or steak and fries was ordered in 2 1/2 hours. Now I wouldn't say that I'm complaining about this, it was certainly less stressful than if we would have been slammed the whole time, but I could have dealt with a few orders. I'm sure now we will be crazy busy tomorrow since we've been lulled into thinking it will be slow.

It would be nice if the intensity ramped up slowly but I can't imagine things working out that well, stay tuned.

Everything Right Is Wrong Again

So the other update last weekend never happened that's what happens when you work all weekend I suppose. In Ala Carte we were showed how to plate a large variety of the lunch items (such as this lovely Salmon Tartine, actually looking at the definition of tartine shouldn't this be served open face?) and in Protein we fabricated chickens, there now everyone is up to speed. That brings me to tonights main topic: chickens.

So last week Chef Oystein (I seriously hope that is spelled right) showed us his way of fabricating a chicken, which as we noticed, was totally different from the way in that weeks lecture. He described it as being easier and like many things it was the way he was taught so it is the way we would be taught. His way seemed logical and was very similar to the way I butchered a chicken last summer with the help of Alton Brown (on YouTube, not in person). Everyone seemed to be getting it pretty well but I noticed there wasn't much talk of the "oyster" which I have long thought to be one of the prized chicken bits. Didn't think much of it until tonight when we were scheduled to have our practical on the 3 proteins we have gotten our hands on so far (pork, fish and chicken). When Chef Garvey stepped in during Team Chicken to show them how to fabricate it most everyone was caught off guard because it was pretty different from t

he way we were showed last week and this time much was made of the oyster.

With such wide spread confusion thankfully we were not tested tonight on our chicken skills. Everyone got a chance to break down one or two birds with a practical to come I'm guessing. I did the first one just the way Chef Oystein showed and while Chef Garvey remarked that it looked very nice, basically none of the oyster was intact on the thigh. So I grabbed another one from the cooler and decided to try a combo method of the two Chefs in an attempt to get the oyster while still doing it how it makes sense to me. It turned out to be a complete success (except for leaving the damn wishbone in until only the breasts remained). This little experiment is the proof of what I have heard time and time again in culinary school: take all the best information and technique that you learn from the instructors and distill it into your own method.

A post on my triumphant consomme practical in a few hours when I'm bored at work!

Filleting Flatfish, Consuming Consommés

I can't decide if the weeks are going by quickly or slowly. Time seems to be flying by but at the same time it seems like it has been forever since my last class. That probably won't bode well when it comes time for tests.

Last Friday in proteins was all about finfish. Of all the classes that would have benefitted from the cooling system working in the protein lab, that would be it. It was pretty fishy smelling toward the end and I don't know if it was that, the 16-hour day, or being hungry (despite Gary's delicious meal he brought for us) but I was starting to feel a bit ill.

I don't seem to have any problem filleting the flat or round fish but when it comes to skinning the filets something always seems to go wrong. I wish we had some more practice with it before the practical. It also seems like merely walking through the door to proteins that first day instantly dulled all my knives. I've hit the boning knife and now the chef's knife with that somewhat ghetto 3 sided sharpening "stone" that is really more like 3 sharpening rods, but it doesn't seem like that works as well as the actual stone, hopefully we can procure that this week.

Soup/sauces was interesting on Monday in part because there seemed to be (and actually was) a lot of people gone as well as it being the ICA open house. Lots and lots of students running around doing prep and then once we were in lab a lot of visitors coming and poking their heads in while we were cooking. I noticed Chef Garvey being interviewed by what looked like a TV station but I didn't see the news that night to see if anything made it on.

Consommés are an interesting beast. Basically the only thing that they require is patience, which I generally have in spades. Needless to say I think mine turned out pretty well. The chicken was really tasty and the beef was good but a little more fat needed to be taken off the top. It is amazing how concentrated the flavors get, it was like drinking a glass of chicken (in a good way).

More about ala carte and protein this weekend...maybe. Phil gave us all his Picasa info and he takes a ton of pictures so hopefully we'll all have some good pictures to pull from.

It's So Much Better When You Earn It

Of course I am referring to shower beers, that magical combination of a hot cleansing shower and delicious fermented hop juice. How did I earn such a treat you ask? I had just gotten home from my first experience of working "on the line". Now granted it was only for our class and I only really fired three entrees of Mac-n-Cheese, but still! Ala Carte Cookery has easily been the class I have stressed about the most so getting through that first day on the line was a big deal for me, plus it was St. Patrick's Day.

Unlike most people in the Culinary Arts program I don't plan on working in a restaurant or owning my own restaurant AND I have never worked in a restaurant. I have no delusions of being some hugely talented chef, I know my place isn't in the kitchen but in the lab. So having to prepare high quality food in an extremely timely manner for people who have actually spent money on what you are about to feed them was a little nerve wracking.

It was cramped and it was hot and we only worked for about 30 minutes but we all made it and I think it went pretty smoothly for our first time. Dare I say it was even kinda fun? Of course there are things to work on, like cooking a hamburger properly which no one seems able to do (myself included) but I also think a lot of things will fall into place once we break into our breakfast/lunch crews and we become increasingly familiar with the menu. I think it took some of the stress off when I learned that first day would be the only day I would have to be there at 6:30am as well.

My quarter got slightly less hectic today with my decision to drop my chemistry class. I went through several hoops to get in that class without taking the prerequisites, apparently a bachelors in Biology means nothing when it comes to 0900 science classes. It's not that it was too hard, it certainly wasn't, I just didn't see room in my days for 3 culinary classes, working 40 hours a week, including 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday, plus a 3 hour chemistry class 3 nights a week. I'm sure I could do it but it would put me in the same position I have been in every other time I've had chemistry; just struggling through it and immediately forgetting it.

Day 2 of Protein Fabrication tomorrow night and I think we're tackling fish of some sort. That class fascinates me, I just wish they could get the temperature in the protein lab down like it is supposed to be.

Also a note on my shower beer of choice: that is no ordinary skunky can of Schlitz, oh no no, that is a bottle which contains the "original 1960's recipe". Call it Schlitz Throwback if you will, the farthest west I have ever seen them is Des Moines but last weekend when my dad was in Illinois (wow that website is hilariously terrible) he brought back two 12 packs.