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!