Wahoo!!! Week four is complete and all the pieces are coming together as we prepare for full plate creation and presentation next week.

As we do every Monday we break into new groups to begin the week. As luck would have it and likely because I struggled so in week three... 5th wheel and I got to play in the same sand box one more time. UGH!!!! How can there be 38 people in my class and again I am SO lucky!!?

Monday we completed our potato production. Gratin Dauphinois, hashed browns, duchess potatoes, rosti & cocotte potatoes and gnocchi!!! Baked potatoes work best for this delicious treat. You mash the potatoes, add eggs, flour, salt & pepper then form them into long rolls. You cut the rolls into the little gnocchi dumpling shaped treats and boil them as you would pasta. Then we sauteed in butter and served with grated Parmesan cheese. Ummm!!

Tuesday was pasta day! We made the fresh pasta dough and then cut them into Fettuccine & rolled out the balance for ravioli's. Made Alfredo sauce and Pesto; the filling for the ravioli's was a ricotta cheese & herb filling. Delicious!!!! The challenge for the day was that we had limited pasta rollers available for use. We'll come back to this...

Wednesday was an extra special day!!! We had a group reprieve and were able to choose our own groups of two for the day!! It was egg day and we were to prepare the following items:

Sunnyside up

Over easy

Poached

French Omelet

American Omelet

Hollandaise Sauce

We were on our own for everything but the hollandaise sauce. My pal, ArmyGuy, and I were able to work together. Who knew that egg preparation could be so challenging?! Here is the key... no brown edges, flip withOUT a spatula. You are to flip IN THE PAN!!! Nearly certain that I would not be able to accomplish the "over easy" egg I continued to try to master the technique. I was ready... I began the back and forth arm movement and flip! I did it!! All along I had the encouragement of ArmyGuy and Chef D!! But... Chef D was not certain I had it down... he suggested another. I believe he stated that the expression on my face was so fun to watch that he had to see it one more time!! So... I crack another egg (I think A.G. and I went through 24 eggs that morning!!)and it begins to cook; it is a beautiful sunnyside up example & ready to flip. So, I am moving the egg back and forth in the pan, I push my arm forward and quickly back to flip that egg over. Beautiful! Then it's time to do it one more time to get the presentation side back up and again.... I take form, my arm comes back toward me and the egg flies upward in the air .... the skillet comes forward under the egg as it flies through the air. Suddenly... the egg is NOT in my skillet rather in the middle of the burner and flame! I shriek!! And laugh out loud! That full face giggle and belly roll kind of laugh. How wonderful it felt!!! I passed egg day!

Thursday I was back with 5th wheel and we were full blown into meat production!! We grilled and Saute Veal, Chicken, Pork Chops, Salmon & London Broil. Young 5th Wheel resisted when asked to take our team London Broil to the grill to sear it before we were to finish it in the oven. Her reason... I don't know how to do that!.... Hummmm... is that not why we are here? Then, when the London Broil came out of the oven she was more interested in hacking off a hunk to put in her bag for the afternoon snack than slicing it on the bias and plating it to show chef. UGH!!! The maddness of it all!! Friday we completed the week by poaching shrimp, deep frying chicken (sliced in "fingers") and pan frying veal.

Our Chefs are more than willing to allow us to stay after class and work on additional items. I have taken advantage of that opportunity and it has paid off in various ways. It's one on one time with the chefs, more hands on with the food and practice time on all the techniques. I was not happy with my grilled chicken dish this week. So, Thursday I stayed after for a re-do! Because I was there I was able to assist Chef D. in preparing the meat portions for the next class. I cut veal & pork and skinned the salmon and sliced the portions on the bias. Skinning that darned fish was not so easy!! I know now why I have purchased them clean before!! That slippery skin & those scales get all over the place and my hands smelt like fish for days. The poor salmon took a beating from me and it required some extra effort to correct my mess. But, I managed to get it done and was happy with the tips shared by Chef. He certainly is a kind and patient instructor. He is a huge Notre Dame fan ... so we had football to discuss as well as tips on fish fabrication!

The after class event on Thursday gave me a chance to observe another class of students. I left that afternoon feeling grateful of the knuklehead brigade that I am part of!! One student actually whistled at the Chef as if she were a dog because he needed her attention. I thought she was going to come unglued! All I am sure of is that had I been the instructing Chef that insolent young man would have been gone for the day! I continue to be amazed at the reasons for behavior such as this. Culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu is an elective education opportunity. It's not a required Home Economics class in the public school system! WHAT would make a person choose to learn this craft unless they really wanted to? Could it simply be that they like to eat more than cook? Is everyone like 5th Wheel ... more worried about feverishly confiscating lunch? The studies here are not horribly hard, nor are they overly easy! You have to read, you have to study, you have to practice. You have to use your brain, think things through. Take initiative, make a plan and follow it. Sort of like life..... Humm?

Til next time....

Anthocyanin & Fifth Wheels...

Anthocyanin, the Pigment that makes red vegetables red! Red beets, Red cabbage, but NOT tomatoes! The pigment is determined by the inside color of the vegetable not simply the exterior. Tomato's are actually in the yellow/orange category and that pigment is Caroteniod! Acids and Alkali's effect each vegetable pigment differently so it is important to understand what happens to the product when you add either. Acids make red vegetables more red, while adding alkali's will turn them blue. That is your science lesson for today!





It has been a VERY busy week! We have been working with Grains, Vegetables & Potatoes. All total we were to complete 22 different recipes throughout our class time this week. There were a few I didn't get to so this weekend will be reviews of those here at home.



Monday we were broken into new groups, 4 people per team. The good thing with Monday ...there were 9 people absent from class and we actually have ample room to move and work. Our class is extremely large and therefore space is tight. My frustration is that these conditions were not discussed during my application/interview process. In fact, just the opposite! I was assured that class sizes were held to a 25-30 person limit. Not sure how 38 students in my class add up to that ... fuzzy math perhaps?! When Tuesday arrived and 8 of those 9 missing students returned the mayhem began! Our 4 person "working" group became 5. This student completely fits the definition of 5th wheel! "Any thing superfluous or unnecessary" according to Webster.





On Monday the four of us divided up the mise en place and prepared all the items needed to create our various grain recipes. Chopping onions, carrots, celery, and other items. Everything was ready and then we each just grabbed what we needed to prepare each assignment. Since that had worked SO well we decided to try it again for Tuesday. The challenge with Tuesday's vegetable items were that some things needed to be cut a certain way. Batonnet or small dice or bias cut carrots for example. We gave the task of the bias cut carrots to "fifth wheel" and she did NOT know what that meant!! WHAT? You can't understand what it means to cut a carrot on the bias? Did you not just complete Foundations I? UGH! So after a demonstration she was off and "walking". The other 4 of us were attempting to complete all the tasks so we could each have a stab at roasting, grilling, sauteing, & blanching our vegetables. I came home thoroughly pissed off. Too many of us to get to each technique. And some dead weight in our group that took up space we needed to work.


Wednesday I arrived with a new attitude and decided it was each person for themselves. I'll work on what I want to work on. These are my burners, this is my space, I came here to learn damn it and that is what I am going to do!! The group also thought this was a good idea and we were moving! I prepared my roasted beets, vegetables "jardiniere", artichoke gribiche, & "spinaci alla romana" (spinach roman style). Whew! The beets were not a huge success... I was told by "fifth wheel" that Chef tasted one and spit it out. Perhaps she was simply emulating Tom Colicchio (Top Chef Las Vegas) because I can tell you they did not warrant that! While a bit lacking in salt they were fine... and I don't even like beets! Oh, and "fifth wheel"... she managed to prepare one artichoke in 2 hours!





Thursday we moved into the Legumes section of our studies. I prepared the white beans bretonne style, lentils in cream and falafels! Each of my attempts were given a thumbs up by the chefs and I left class feeling very pretty good (and questioning if the "spit out beet" incident actually happened!). Friday it was potatoes! Pommes puree (mashed potatoes), pommes Anna, pommes Daufine & pommes frittes (french fries). My best dish of the day... Pommes Daufine! These things ROCK!! Here's what you do.... cut up and boil your potatoes, drain them, dry them a bit in a warm oven, mash them. Season with butter, salt, pepper & nutmeg. They will be sort of stiff because you are not adding a lot of butter. Once the flavor is what you want you add egg yolks. Mix all that together and hold in a bowl. The next step is to prepare the Pate a choux. You boil water & butter, then add flower and mix until you form one stiff solid ball. The ingredients must be weighed and scaled perfectly to create the right consistency. Once you have the ball you move it all to a stand mixer, let it cool slightly and add one egg at a time until it is a medium consistency batter. Add 1/3 lb of the Pate a choux to 1 lb of potato mixture and mix well. Fill a pastry bag with a 3/4" opening with this mixture and squeeze & drop 3 inch sections of this potato mixture into hot fat & fry them. Remove when they are golden brown, lightly salt & enjoy! They are this light-fluffy-delectable treat!! Both Chefs just grinned ear to ear when they tried my offering. I left feeling totally vindicated after a challenging week!! Oh, and "fifth wheel" ... mashed potatoes & an Anna. All with the help of her friends from 2 other groups....





Now, all the stress of there being too many students in my class & not enough space did cause me to request a meeting with the school's big wigs. I was encouraged to do this by one of my current chef instructors; they too feel the same frustration but realize that the paying student has a bit more power to affect change. So, Thursday morning after class I met with the Executive Chef and shared my concerns & challenges regarding the overcrowding of the class. He was open to hearing what I had to say and it seems that there are plans in the works to reconfigure the space to accommodate more teaching kitchen space. Friday during class the Schools President paid a visit ... I wonder if my meeting did gain some attention? While none of the changes to the schools structure will come soon enough to fix my situation I did feel better for having voiced my frustrations. At least my dollars are at work.... humm?



My mom had been visiting from Indiana and departed this week too. Over the weekend we had a chance to see some sights. We cooked and ate & spent some good visiting time. I am missing the little elf that would prepare my uniform for me each day and keep up on the laundry, square away the house and scoop the litter box!! Oh the joys of mom's visits! We share birthday's in October so our week-long visit was our gift to each other. She was able to see first hand how lovely I look in my uniform (costume) and the mess I can make out of all those white clothes in a 3 hour period! George, Olive & I are settling back into our routine. I know that they miss having her here too. George is back to licking his tail due to separation anxiety. And Olive... well, she's just Olive.


Recipes of the week....


Barley with Wild Mushrooms & Ham


1/2 oz dried Porcini mushrooms
2 oz hot water
1/2 oz oil
2 oz onion, small dice
2 oz. celery, small dice
5 oz. barley
1 pt. brown stock
2 oz. cooked ham, small dice (could use bacon!)
salt, to taste



1) Soak the dried Porcini mushrooms in the hot water until soft. Drain & squeeze them out. Reserve the soaking liquid. Strain or decant the liquid to remove any sand or grit. Chop the mushrooms.
2) Heat the oil in a heavy pot, add the onion & celery. Saute briefly.
3) Add the barley and saute briefly ... enough to coat them with oil (similar to rice pilaf method).
4) Add the stock and mushroom liquid. Bring to a boil. Stir in the chopped mushrooms and the ham. Salt to taste.
5) Cover tightly. Cook on top of the stove until the barley is tender & liquid is absorbed, 30-45 minutes.





Spinaci alla Romana





3 lbs Spinach
3/4 oz olive oil
3/4 oz prosciutto
3/4 oz pine nuts
3/4 oz raisins
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste


1) Trim the spinach, cook in a small amount of boiling water until wilted. Drain, run under cool water & press out excess water.
2) Heat the oil in a pan. Add the prosciutto & render the fat.
3) Add the spinach, pine nuts, raisins & saute until hot.
4) Season with Salt & Pepper. Serve immediately.

I enjoyed nibbing on both of these recipes during class this week and hope you'll enjoy them too! Next week we finish potatoes, move to pasta & then eggs. We'll finish up the week starting to work on meats. Only 3 weeks of class left for this rotation. That means the "mystery basket" final is only 15 learning days away.... It's moving very quickly!!

The Saucier (So-see-ay)

The Saucier (So-see-ay) prepares the stews, sauces, hot hor d'oeuvres & sautes food to order... usually considered the highest of all positions in the classic kitchen brigade. While I am very far from that title I have managed to pass my Sauce Practical with flying colors this week!! Wahoo!!!

The week began with a written test on sauces. What mother sauce they come from, the key ingredients, etc. We were then divided into groups of 5 and given start times for the practical exam scheduled for Tuesday morning. Here was the drill.... We were given 1 hr 45 min to prepare two sauces. I was on at 7:15AM and needed to present my sauces to the Chefs at 9AM. At 7:15AM I was given my test sauces, Beurre Blanc (White wine butter sauce) & Espangnol (Brown Veal sauce) & 5 minutes to review the recipes... then ALL the PAPERS were put away and we were off to create our sauces from memory. The sauces were graded on 5 categories.

• Time & Sanitation
• Flavor
• Sauce Consistency
• Color
• Temperature

Very excited with my PERFECT score on the Espangnol!!! While I was unable to pull off two for two I still left with a solid "A" for the day. Keeping your nerves and your head during these practical exams will be part of the key to success for the future.

The balance of the week was intended to prepare us for the Friday soup practical. In two days we made shrimp stock, shrimp bisque, white bean soup, consomme, french onion soup & clam chowder. Each of the selections were really delicious EXCEPT the Shrimp Bisque. It tasted like DIRT! Seems the class collection of stock was not so good as nearly every groups bisque offering left something to be desired. Very disappointing because "bisque" is expensive a bit of a process. The definition of bisque ... cream soup made with shellfish. So, when you encounter Tomato Bisque, it's really just a sexy way to market Cream of Tomato! However, it is likely able to generate at least $2 more than simple cream of tomato on any menu!

Friday we had our soup Practical... Can you Consomme? Seems I can! My practice here at the house on Wednesday evening went pretty well and helped to prepare for the exam. My mom was able to observe the process as she is here from Indiana for a little fall visit. These photos are of my home practice... this is that crazy process of making the "clearmeat" meat-loaf thing and allowing it to coagulate to draw the fat out of the stock and create a clear, rich flavored, elegant soup. We were again given 1 hr & 45 minutes to complete our soup and present it to the chefs. I was scrambling at the last minute to get it served up and ensure it was hot. I pulled out another great score and was over the moon!

Next week we begin our vegetable lectures, rice & legumes discussions. There are 23 recipes on my list of production items this week. I feel a really busy week coming on! I continue to love the learning's and all of the new techniques.

Thanks for joining me on this journey! I'll check in with you soon!

Depouillage

Depouillage (Dep- oh-lahj) .... A really sexy word for "skimming fat"! This is what you do when you remove the fat that rises to the top of sauces, stocks, and such. I also think it is a verb for what will happen during this rotation of Foundation II!!

The new class rotation began on Monday & it's not going to be easy! We began Monday making brown veal stock. Tuesday we made chicken, white veal & fish stock. Wednesday it was Bechamel, Soubise, Mornay, Chicken & Veal Veloute, Allemande, Supreme & White Wine Fish sauces. Thursday it was Mayonnaise, Espangnol & Tomato sauce. Friday was Classical Demi-Glace, Robert, Chasseur, Marchand de Vin, & Aioli sauces. WOW!!!! Next Tuesday is our practical!

On stock days we were in groups of 9 people. It was absolutely like herding cats!! And as with any group there are those who know it all, those who do nothing, those who start cooking before they know what needs to be done, those who lead and those who follow instruction. The smaller groups we were adjusted to for the sauce days demonstrated similar personality tendencies. Human nature I suppose... In a conversation while washing dishes (again! with the 8 other folks that always end up doing this exciting job! Mostly because people don't understand the instruction of "wash as you go") a fellow "senior" student mentioned that he felt the classes should be broken up by age. It actually sounds like a rather good idea. And while the institution might push back saying that while working in the industry we will work with all ages, creeds, etc ...learning may be a different thing. I am a full believer that life experience brings you BACK to school with a different passion and perspective that the younger, less-life-lived kids have.

Mayonnaise.... my arm nearly fell off in class while I attempted to make it. It broke twice and finally I gave up. My Bechamel sauce was runny Wednesday & during my after class practice. So, I came home and attempted to make it again and that's time it was paste! BROTHER!! Thankfully Friday ... SUCCESS! Mayonnaise twice! In class and at home. My arm is killing me but the fact that it was not broken was well worth it. I did have a flashback of grade-school. I was excited about my Mayonnaise success and sharing the moment with a class mate. Issue... Chef was talking and I was scolded for talking... "Ms. Bilger seems to have something to share with the class"... Ooops! More frequently than I am sure my mom would like to remember is that I was ALWAYS given marks for talking when I was not supposed to be! I think that "disruptive to others" was the phrase used on my grade school report cards. Seems some thing NEVER change! :)

Hollandaise & Bearnaise were on the breakfast menu this morning.... very happy with the results but ate very little. I do believe that I need to invest in a chicken, I have gone through so many eggs attempting to master all these sauces!! I am hopeful that practice will make perfect as I roll through the process.

I'll keep you posted!