Tuesday & Wednesday

The Creme Brulee turned out great and we learned two techniques for making the brulee part of the creme brulee. Other than that we worked on various pie crusts and pie fillings, choc. chip cookies, butter tea cookies, cakes for the advanced baking class and made an attempt at angel food cake. Angel food cake is incredibly picky and is easy to ruin. It turned out that were were a little bit premature on removing them from the oven and they fall apart so we couldn't use them. They were still pretty dang tasty but damaged so they were unable to be used. We also made some orange and apple juice sorbet which was really good and surprisingly easy to make.

Today we made more pies. I made and rolled the pie crusts which is pretty dang time consuming but worth it for awesome crusts. We made apple, strawberry rhubarb, and coconut cream pies. More cakes, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc. Its all starting to blur together but I am learning more and more everyday while we make really tasty stuff. I think I have cracked close to 100 eggs over the past 3 days. I am very good at it now. The last time I had to Separate 24 yolks for one recipe and I managed to not break any of the yolks.

As we were making sorbet I learned that It requires a PH balance. Usually done by an acidic main ingredient and balanced with simple sugar. The neat trick for finding the right balance is to take an egg, wash and sanitize the outside then place it in the acidic liquid, add the simple sugar until the egg floats with a portion of the egg (about the size of a quarter) breaking the surface like an iceberg. Thanks to an awesome Culinary grade ice cream machine we had sorbet in a little over 7 minutes which was very nice to have in a very hot and humid kitchen.

After all this I got to thinking about what you could put in a sorbet with it still turning out right. I asked chef Foote if a watermelon, cucumber sorbet is possible. His response? "Lets find out!"

Tomorrow should be interesting.

Basics passed!

I have made it through basics and started my first day of Baking. Practicals week went alright but i did have some issues with my tests. I passed but I could have done better. I haven't gotten my grades yet, though. I guess I will just have to keep on practicing my skills!

Last Friday our tests were finally over and all we had left was cooking breakfast for the entire school. It was quite a bit of fun. I ended up getting assigned to making sautéed potatoes with onions and bell peppers. I had a little bit of trouble with my first batch as my flame was too high so my onions started to char before the potatoes cooked fully. it was a little darker than the rest of the batch but it was all being mixed together so it was salvageable. After that I had it locked and the rest turned out perfectly. Many people ended up complimenting our potatoes so I was happy about that.

After that our class formed a plating line while the other basics class started making French omelets filled with sautéed onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and grated cheese. the plating line basically just put all of the ingredients we had made ahead of time and added it to the plate as a successful omelet was made. we added salsa, fruit cups, sausage, bacon and the potatoes. cleaned the dish of smudges or fingerprints with a clean rag dipped in a bit of warm water and distilled white vinegar and gave it to the Du Jour class wait staff to serve throughout the school.

Eventually we switched places and our class started to make omelets but the other basics class did an amazing job and got out most of the orders. In the end I made one omelet I browned a little too much so it couldn't be served. The next one i made was perfect but soon after putting it on the plate I was informed all orders were filled so I should keep it for my own meal, which I did. It and everything else plated with it was very tasty. After that all that was left of the day was breaking down and cleaning the kitchen, a written test and a quick introduction to our baking instructor and the course.

Monday Started off with more lecture getting to know our new kitchen and our instructor. We did get some cooking in later in the day but most of it was mise en place for the following day. i was assigned to the dessert station so we broke up the jobs between us. Together we made apple pie filling, chocolate chip cookie dough ready to go in the oven tomorrow, a few doughs for pie crusts, and creme brulee filling. I made the creme brulee filling and Chef Foote decided to go ahead and bake them today so I decided to stay a bit after to see how they turned out. they really wont be completely done until they have cooled overnight. Chef Foote said they looked a little too soft but they were starting to brown on top so we had to take them out. We wont know if they were solid enough until tomorrow. Once I see the final product I will try to remember to get a photo of it to show off here. I have a Feeling I am really going to like the Bakery, just as I thought I would.

Now that classes will be a bit calmer I will try to post more often but until then thats it for now!

update

Sorry for the lack of news. Things have been real busy lately and will continue to be for the next week as it is the final week of basics!

Lets see, I left off mentioning shellfish. That was a pretty interesting day. We made Oysters rockefeller, oysters on the half shell, clams casino, fried shrimp, and a dish of sauteed and steamed mussels whose name I can't recall. All the dishes turned out pretty well and I manged to get a sample of them all. The oysters rockefeller, clams casino, and mussels were good. The fried shrimp was great and disappeared shortly after being served at the family meal! I also tried the oysters on the half shell, I probably wont be eating those again anytime soon.

The next week started with chicken! It was set up so we would take a day trussing and then fabricating the chicken and the next day would be spent cooking with what we fabricated. So, Tuesday we made Chicken Picatta, Chicken cordon bleu, and one other dish that I can't recall right now.

After that we moved onto red meats where we each fabricate a rack of lamb and chef Sayre demoed some other meat fabrication. The next day we cooked the lamb rack with a persillade crust, a grilled fillet in bearnaise sauce, roast beef, and an Austrian schnitzel. The roast beef was done with partners and ours turned out perfectly cooked. I did have a little trouble when it came to slicing it thin. the blade I was using wasn't sharp enough and it lead to some off angle cuts. Beyond that it was all pretty dang tasty!

Today we made steak au poivre, lamb nevarin, and beef rouladen. All went pretty well without any major issues. Nobody set themselves on fire when the brandy was added into their hot pans for the steak au poivre. I almost burnt myself when I didn't open the oven fully and the spring started pulling the insanely hot door back into my forearm. Fortunately, I was able to react fast enough and got my arm out of the way. One of the other students wasn't so quick to react and got a good sized red mark on her arm.

It has been a crazy 5 weeks and i am pretty sure I have forgotten more than I have retained but thats where practice comes in and my training is far from over!

Next week will be the end of basics which means it also the most demanding. I will be spending this weekend practicing for the final practical exams taking place Monday to Thursday as well as putting together a 5 page report on Russian cuisine so I will be pretty dang busy! Oh, and on Friday we cook Breakfast for the whole school. Sausage, bacon, eggs, stuffed omelets, and pancakes for 90 or so people. Chances are I will get around to posting again once it is all over and done with. wish me luck!