Yippe, Whaoo & Pork Butt!!

I have survived my first round of "final exams" and "practicals" at Le Cordon Bleu!! Whaoo!! And must say I am VERY pleased with the results and grades posted for my classes. I always knew I would be a better student as an adult!

Following the flood of the century here in Atlanta in the beginning of the week things began to settle down in my world so I could get to the task of studying for the exams.

Wednesday morning my senses were on high alert for the product ID and herb/spice practical. 50 kitchen items were flashed up on the screen and we were to fill in the names of those items. The slides cycled through twice. Then we were sent out of the room, broken into two groups and the "senses" part of the exam began. We had 18 minutes to identify 50 fresh, dried & ground herbs & spices as well as several oils and vinegars. I was comfortable with the differences between ground nutmeg & ground mace, I could finally get the subtleties between dried tarragon & dried savory. And fenugreek... smells a bit like chicken to me! Sherry vinegar and Malt vinegar don't really smell or taste distinctly different to me. I knew that these items would be the toughest for me and I was right!! Even with those darned vinegars I was pleased with my results.

Every now and then we are faced with moral dilemmas in life. Five students were late for class that morning. They missed the product ID portion of the exam but did take the spices section. These students were given a chance to take that first half later in the day. Here's the issue.... once everyone had finished the spices exam, the five students who missed part one were to leave the room. The Chefs wanted all of us to go through the slide show together and they were sharing the answers. One student did not leave. She stood there and watched and listened as the answers were revealed. I noticed she had remained in the room... Do I turn her in or let her slide? I hate cheaters... it really is one of my biggest peeves. However, I don't like tattle-tells either! In undergrad I would never have been so bold as to speak up! I went Chef during clean up & asked for a moment of his time and then shared what I knew. I have no idea what (if anything) happened from there. I simply knew that I could not let that slide.

Seems that morning that we had not only cheaters... but theives. Before class my pal Wayne (sits next to me) had his apron stolen from his gear outside the classroom. He had left his toolkit, backpack and apron near the kitchen lab and was reviewing some spices down the hall within eye-sight and ear-shot of the items. Since he is an Army guy, his stuff is starched and pressed better than any one's! I didn't see anyone in our class with that crisp apron during line-up so can only guess some student from another lab felt the need to borrow that item from my friend. So, he had points docked from line up that day for not having his uniform complete and some joker has a fresh starched and creased apron!

Thursday morning brought the knife skills practical exam. 1 hr 15 minutes to do the following...

2 Carrots

1 Potato

1 Tomato

1/2 Onion

Spinach leaves

Cut:

12 Julieanne Carrots

12 Batonnet Carrots

Small dice Carrots ~ enough to fill 2 Tablespoon cup

Brunoise Carrots ~ enough to fill 2 Tablespoon cup

Chiffonade Spinach ~ enough to fill 2 Tablespoon cup

Concasser Tomato

Ciseler Onion

6 Tourne Potatoes

We were graded on our cuts, the waste & organization of our station area. One by one we presented our trays and cutting boards to Chef and he graded our items and presented the grade. A really groovy thing about this...no waiting! When you leave class you know your score.

The week ended with a written final in both Foundations I & Food Safety. I was thrilled when the tests were over & ready to celebrate a bit! Wine and pizza with some friends that evening was a perfect end to a hectic week!!

Did some cooking on Saturday for the big Purdue v. Notre Dame game. I was thrilled that my meal turned out as my Boilermakers left me sad and frustrated with the loss in the last 2 minutes of the game. So... Pulled Pork! I braised my pork butt because I didn't have grill available to smoke it. The dry rub consisted of some paprika, cayenne pepper, cracked black pepper & Kosher salt. Rub that all over the pork, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hrs. I then seared it in a bit of canola oil and added some of the "mop", covered it and let it cook for 7 hours at 250 degrees (mopping it every hour). The "mop" was apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt & cracked pepper. To add some "smoke" flavor I also dashed it with liquid smoke. Once the meat was cooked (about 6 hrs) I removed it from the pan, pulled the pork apart, discarded the fat & juices in the bottom of the pan. Returned the pulled pork to the pan, added the remaining "mop" and let it cook another hour. Served it on buns (open faced) topped with coleslaw. It was a HIT!

So, Foundations II starts in the morning. We will be cooking everyday for the next 6 weeks. I can tell by the syllabus that this class will not be easy or for any weak hearted, thin skinned folk. We begin with stocks, move into sauces and soups. We have a practical exam on stock preparation on day 6 of class. Oh, and the final on November 3rd... "Limited Mystery Basket" Prepare a plate containing a protein, sauce, vegetable & starch. I think this may be as close as I'll get to Chopped!

The flood of 2009!

I had no idea that this week of preparation for class finals would also require FLOOD preparations!! If you have not seen the news, Atlanta has been devastated by heavy downpours and flash flooding throughout the area. Seventeen of our Georgia counties are under a state of emergency. Eight individuals have lost their lives and thousands have lost homes, family mementos & family pets.

As classes begin so early, I leave my little nest at 6:15AM every morning. The rising waters behind me had to have been well on the way but since it was dark... I was clueless until I returned home at noon. My first hint that there might be an issue was when I was routed through various parking lots and back on to my road. It was closed due to water being across the road 1/8 mile from my condo. Hummm? As I made my way back on the road I could see that my community was no longer dry!!

So you can get an idea of what I see from my back door... here are some before and after (the flood) photos... Notice the pool is covered with water and the fence that covers the garbage dumpster is now under water. The dumpster is likely in Buckhead somewhere by now, it's gone and no where to be found. Those things are BIG and heavy! Just imagine that floating away!

At it's height the water was about 25 yards from my back door. Just a bit too close for me!! I did do some packing and the kitty's and I were preparing to head to a friends house on higher ground. Fortunately, we were able to stay home and be safe. The water receded and this morning the green space was back. MUCH better than the lake!!

The sun came out this morning, shining and bright! The Lord and the weather certainly work in mysterious ways!

My final exams start tomorrow morning. I am as ready as I can be for the product ID test. My nose is over whelmed with the scent of spices and herbs. The vinegars are still a bit of a challenge but if I don't know it now... I doubt that I will. Bring it on!

We have been blessed today with a dry and sunny day. My how the Lord (and the weather...) work in mysterious ways!

Consomme

Consomme... A rich favorable stock or broth that has been clarified to make it perfectly clear and transparent. In French the term literally means "completed" or "concentrated".

Basically, you take your stock (chicken, beef, fish) and you clarify it by adding a clearmeat to it. The clearmeat consists of lean ground meat (for flavor), egg whites (as binder & to clarify), an acid (to help coagulate the proteins) & mirepoix (for structure & flavor). You mix all that together and basically have meat-loaf! This whole process sounds totally counter intuitive to clarification but hang in there, it works! After you mix up the clearmeat you add it to your stock and toss in some peppercorns, a bayleaf & thyme. Stir it all together over low to med-heat. Once the clearmeat begins to coagulate and form a "raft" on top of the stock STOP stirring. The raft will act as a sort of "meat" lid to the stock. Once this meat lid or raft is formed a slight hole will need to be made in it to allow steam to escape from the cooking stock. This should all remain at a low temperature (160-180 degrees) generating little if any bubbles. After 45 min or so you have a beautiful clear Consomme! Ladle it out and strain it through a Chinois & serve. Our chicken Consomme was full of wonderful chicken flavor and delicious!!

This technique was just one of many learned this week in class. We are winding up the Foundations I class, finals are this coming week. It is UNBELIEVABLE to realize that the first round of classes is nearly over! By this time next week I will be 1/6th of the way through my program!! Now, the really scary thing is that 55% of my grade depends on my in class performance next week. Wednesday we have our Product ID test. This is a combination of 50 herbs, spices, oils & vinegars we must identify. We can use our eyes, nose & taste buds to determine the answers. We must also identify 50 kitchen tools & equipment properly. On Thursday we have our knife skills test. We'll be given a series of cuts to perform in a certain amount of time. Then Friday, the written final. While I am VERY pleased with my score going into next week ... everything could change!!

Had we taken our knife test this past Wednesday I would have failed!! Here was the assignment...

10 Batonnet Carrots

10 Julienne Carrots

10 Fine Julienne Carrots

2 oz. Brunoise Carrots

4 oz. Small Dice Carrots

8 Tournes

We were given 2 carrots and 1 potato & 45 minutes to complete this challenge.

People would have starved if they were waiting for me to cut their carrots!!! It takes a lot of carrots to make up 6 oz all cut up in 1/4" and 1/8" cubes!! For crying out loud!!! I didn't even have enough carrot to make up those cuts had I wanted to because I somehow create a lot of carrot WASTE!! Oh, and we are judged on that too!!!

So, I have stayed after class everyday to practice and on my way home yesterday I stopped and picked up carrots, potatoes, tomatoes & onions. I have set up a few challenges of my own for the weekend and am working toward time improvements. I have a blister on my right index finger from gripping the knife that needs to be a callous by Thursday!

The pressure has intensified this past week as well. My Chefs are low on tolerance for those with poor & lackadaisical attitudes. On Monday we began lining up for inspection INSIDE the class room rather than the hall. Now, for those who can't seem to be on time this posed a very difficult challenge. The doors of our kitchens lock. You can get out you just can't get back in unless the Chef opens the door. If you are late, too bad! Now, these stragglers were eventually allowed into the class after a "discussion" in the hall. Eek!

The knucklehead brigade continued even after 4 weeks of the same routine for knife cutting practice... there were still some who could not get it. A few folks can't remember from day to day to "stack the chairs on the side of the room, get cutting boards & tools out". It seems that since we were given only 4 minutes to do this task the brains left the bodies of some of my class-mates! Well, this set Chef M off! It was likely the closest we will see to his "Chef Ramsay ~ Hell's Kitchen" impersonation! (Maybe not quite that bad, but he was NOT happy!) He made it quite clear that it was unfortunate there were some who brought the rest of the class down because they can't participate positively and as a team. And apologized to those of us who do show up daily with a good attitude for the stress that creates. Personally I am surprised it took him til week 5 to get this riled up! I have been irked since week 2!

This class continues to bit of a Sociology class for me. I find it most interesting how people interact with each other. My sister reminded me of a nursery rhyme recently that works pretty well ....

Poor Tired Tim! It's sad for him.

He lags the long bright morning through,

Ever so tired of nothing to do;

He moons and mopes the live long day,

Nothing to think about, nothing to say;

Up to bed with candle to creep,

Too tired to yawn; too tired to sleep;

Poor tired Tim! It's sad for him. (Walter De la Mare)

This young lady in my class moves slower than nearly anyone I have encountered. She never takes a note, she seems so bored, she rarely smiles and when ever you greet her with a "how are you?" ~ "tired" is the immediate response. It's become a bit of a game for me. I ask her every day to just see if I get a different answer. Hummm, interesting?

Along with my Foundations I class I have also been in Food Safety. Here is were we learn about all the groovy pathogens (Biological hazards) that improper food handling can create. Like Staphylococcal Gastroenteritis, Hepatitis A, Norovirus Gastroenteritis, Cryptosporidiosis & Shigellosis. All of these fine illnesses are Oral-Fecal transmitted. YES! You read that right! PEOPLE PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS!!! Using soap & lathering, 100 degree water & vigorous scrubbing for 15 seconds will keep everyone a little healthier!!

Physical hazards are also a challenge. Foreign objects like hair, metal staples, rubber-bands (for those of you who were at dinner with me this summer... you remember!), bandages & such. So here's one for you... while discussing the fact that jewelry can not be worn unless it is a simple wedding band, a class mate shared his confusion over an employer telling him he could not have a gold tooth. Gold teeth are not on the list as physical hazards so why would that be an issue? The Chefs response was something like "it must be that company's policy" or some such thing. Much restraint was needed on my part to not BUST out in laughter!

The rigors of Le Cordon Bleu are not for everyone. I am told that we can anticipate about 15% - 20% of our class to be gone as we move into Foundations II. While I will enjoy having a better student to Chef ratio & hopefully less horse-play, I am sad to think that there will be those who will not get to complete this wonderful program. I am drawn to wonder were they forced to choose this profession? Did they think it would be easy to learn culinary science & classic French technique? And bigger still, what will become of them? These young souls searching for their passion in life..... perhaps they will get a second chance to do this and approach it with a different and more focused frame of mind.

BETH V

Do you know BETH V? Let me introduce you!! She is the acronym for the 5 Mother Sauces!

Bechamel

Espagnole

Tomato

Hollandaise

Veloute

In my last post (over a week ago... SORRY!) I gave you the run down on Espagnole. Well, from these five wonderful sauces you can make DOZENS of small sauces. The possibilities are endless. Preparing for the quiz was a bit challenging as one never knows how deep into the list the Chefs will go. I am such a better student as an adult. Amazing!!

This week we began our Product Identification classes. Unfortunately for me I have a cold and my sense of smell and taste is just a little OFF! For the past 3 days we have had 35 - 50 items a day to identify by sight, smell &/or taste. Items include fresh herbs, dried herbs, ground spices, whole spices, vinegars & oils. I can HIGHLY recommend that you don't EVER taste Orange Oil or Mace!!! OMG! While my sinuses were suddenly cleared by both of these items there has to be a better way! During the test we must also be very specific in our descriptions...

• Whole Peppercorns Not just Peppercorns
• White Sesame Seeds Not just Sesame Seeds
• Fresh Rosemary Not just Rosemary
• Ground Cumin or Cumin Seed Not just Cumin

My biggest challenges seem to be in the ground arena. Everything begins to smell the same after awhile and there are some spices that simply smell similar! I am trying to jot down things about the smells to help me learn them. For example, it smells like dirt. Or this reminds me of my Grandma (Pickling Spice Blend). This is NOT an easy part of class!! So, I challenge you readers!! Go to your spice rack, get some small plastic 2 oz cups or a sheet of wax paper . Pour out various spices and have your friends guess. This would be a great game for date "game night"!! I have been cooking for a long time and some of the most frequently used items have stumped me. The test is two weeks away.... I have some sniffing to do!!

I have had some inquiries regarding what my class room looks like. Here are some photos that will give you an idea of the "chair" challenge I mentioned a few posts back. We also are on display everyday as our class room is one of two that if full of windows toward the lobby area. This way folks who come to visit the school can see what is happening. Not that there are many visitors at 7 AM!!

Along with the product identification this week we have begun to discuss cooking methods & the techniques that go along with each.

• Moist-Heat Methods: Poach, Simmer, Boil, Steam & Braise
• Dry-Heat Methods: Roast & Bake, Broil, Grill, Griddle & Pan-Broil
• Dry-Heat Methods Using Fat: Saute, Pan-Fry & Deep-Dry

Chef's demonstrated by Roasting and Braising Chickens this week. Then today they fed us lunch!! How wonderful! Included Mashed potatoes (all those Tourne's we have been practicing) Pasta & Tomato sauce (demonstrated Tuesday) and the chickens. What a treat!! Now... I think I mentioned the piling of food that occurred at the breakfast event a while back. Chef M. informed everyone in the line for chow that there was to be NONE of that behavior as there was plenty of food. He planned to go through the line last and if there was anything gone by the time he was passing through there was going to be some problems! So I was not the only one flabbergasted by the gluttonous displays of plate overload!! It seems some folks "ain't got no fetchin!"

I can now also admit that I have learned how to fabricate a chicken!!! While I recall trying to do this in the past I did not have much luck and the bird looked rather sad. Success is eminent and even the very sexy French Breast (or Airline Breast) with just the drummette bone left standing upright simply for presentation ... will be conquered!!

Only two weeks remain in this first class rotation! It's crazy how quickly all this is going already. Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

Espagnole

Espangnole ... Leading sauce made by combining Brown Stock with a Brown Roux & a bit more Mirepoix browned in clarified butter. Yummm!! Of the three mother sauces and two secondary sauces tried today... this was my favorite!!

Things are indeed heating up (oh the pun!) in class these days. The Chefs mean business regarding dress and timeliness for class. We are to be pressed, spit shined and in line up by 6:55am each morning. Yesterday, about nine (9) students were sent to the lounge to iron aprons and such. Today about the same.... I am overwhelmed by the seemingly difficult task this is for some people. Be on time, be dressed and pressed, be ready to learn. Now, keep in mind that the average cost of an Associate of Occupational Science degree at Le Cordon Bleu is about $40K (not including housing). This intense 15 month program is costly. It is meant to be for those ready for the rigors of learning. There seems to be something lacking in the 20-somethings I am encountering here. The young man next to me (who's mother is my age) also does not understand what it means to stand up and push in his chair!! Between the fella on the end of the row who never leaves enough room to pass behind him and this kid, I may just lose my cool... :)

We did have a nice treat at the end of class this morning. The Gard Manger class prepared a buffet breakfast. They had french toast with blueberry sauce, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, omelets to order, bacon, sausage, biscuits & sausage bechamel (can no longer call it gravy!), shrimp & grits, sliced beef tenderloin & fruit. A few of these same 20-somethings loaded up plates as if they have never eaten!! A 12" plate piled high with food that will likely not be consumed ... I was appalled at the ridiculousness of it!! What began as a nice gesture ended with people making gluttons of themselves. What is wrong with people?

We complete our review of sauces tomorrow with a few more demonstrations. These days spent on Stocks and Sauces do solidify the importance of these techniques. Knowing them and perfecting them is the foundation (the fond) of true French cooking. And honestly... ask yourself , who doesn't like something smothered in sauce?

Chiffonade

Chiffonade, cutting leaves into fine shreds. When done correctly the shreds are like fluffy puffs of spinach, sorrel or basil. Oh how lovely!



Things are heating up in class. We are now being given an amount of time to set up our stations for knife cuts practice. So here is what happens. Our class-room is a series of tall stainless steel tables with shelves below and chairs. To get set up to cut you must stack your chair along the outside walls, gather a half-sheet pan & parchment paper for that pan used for scraps of product. A cutting board that is secured on the table with a skid resistant mat below, fill a small wash and sanitize bucket and get all your knifes out and ready for the daily "challenge". None of this sounds (nor is it) difficult. The challenge comes when you have people on the end of your row who think that their pace is fast enough at a shuffle. Or the occasional individual who FORGETS that they have a chair to move. Hummm???? Basically, if you are not set up and ready to go, you get to leave class...No more messing around! Then we are given the challenge and timed.



Today! 45 Minutes to the following...

2 Carrots

• 10 Batonnet
• 10 Julienne
• 10 Fine Julienne

1 Potato

• 8 Tournet

Spinach

• Chiffonade

Now, this may sound relatively easy and may even seem like plenty of time... however, for new students (like me) and 44 year old eyes (like mine) I felt like I needed about 3 more minutes. Measuring a Fine Julienne (1/16" x 1/16" x 2") even with these new glasses was a bit difficult. But no worries, I did complete the challenge and my Tournes even looked close to the model! The muscle memory is sticking and my hand has fewer and fewer cramps! Whaoo!

Tomorrow we begin the sauces section of chapter 8. Those five mother sauces that we need to develop the many secondary sauces that smother those steaks & vegetables we love to eat!

Oh, by the way... 20 out of 20 on my quiz today! As the smile crosses my lips....