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!