Cook, Eat, Sleep, Repeat

As evidenced by the radio (...er keyboard?) silence, I probably shouldn't take up blogging as an occupation. On second thought, money might actually prove motivating.  However, I am not being paid to blog, so consider reading my sporadic posts a privilege. 

I'm now in my third week of level three and our big midterm is fast approaching.  Level three is really all about repetition and refinement.  We take the techniques we learned in levels one and two and attempt to perfect (maybe that's aiming too high...emphasis on ATTEMPT) dishes.  There's also the added element of time.  We are now assigned specific times (to the minute) of when we have to present our dishes to the chef.  It feels a little like an episode of chopped, but far less intense. 

Here's how it works.  The class is divided into four teams of three or four students, and each team member is assigned a position (station) as either Garde Manager, Poissonnier, Saucier, or Pâtissiere. There are two dishes assigned to each station.  E.g., this week's dishes:

Garde Manager- Poached Eggs, Consommé 

Poissonnier- Trout Grenobloise, Barramundi Américaine 

Saucier- Chicken Grand Mère, Boeuf Bourguignon

Pâtissier- Apple Tart, Pâte à Choux 

Each team is given different times, so starting around 11:30 is dish one from Team 1 Garde Manager, 11:35 Team 2, 11:40 Team 3 etc. etc. until we get to Team 4 Pâtissier.  Five minutes later Team 1 Garde Manager is up again with their dish two, etc., etc., you get the idea.  At the specified times, we have to bring 4 plates of the dish to our chef to be graded. The next day we rotate positions, and continue until we've cycled through all the stations.  Then we have a mock midterm where we have to prepare two of the dishes from the past week, and the times we present are drawn out of a hat.  Our first mock midterm, I presented second. Tuesday, I ended up presenting thirteenth. So luck of the draw I guess.

Fun Fact: We moved kitchens and switched teachers at the  beginning of the week, and kitchen 3 is tiny and cramped and lacks enough equipment for our large class of 13. We're really getting a feel for being in an actual restaurant haha!

AND now the part we've all been waiting for... cue photo dump! P.S. I've also been a slacker when it comes to photoing my dishes so here's a partial sampling of what i've been up to the past month.

Nutrition Week: Falafel, spaghetti squash, artichoke and endive salad.

Some Seasonal Menu Items from Sustainability Day:

Pasta and Cheese Day!!!

 Making ricotta cheese:

Taste Testing:

 Lasagna with homemade everything, including the mozzarella 

Half-eaten gnocchi (sometimes I can't wait):

 Make up your own flounder dish...mine looked hideous:

Amuse Bouche- Fried okra* with shiitake mushroom:

* For our amuse bouche, chef finds a random "secret" ingredient from the store room and we have to make it into something creative.

Chicken Consommé:

 

Amuse bouche- Lamb Tongue (secret ingredient) Crostini with Ravigote: 

Pork Chop with green peppercorn sauce:

 Amuse Bouche- Chicken liver (secret ingredient) meat pie with bacon and onions:

Chicken Grand Mére:

Lemon Tart with raspberry compote:

Sous Vide Day:

Eggs with hollandaise:

Barramundi Américane

Attempt One...

Attempt Two:

Massive dish pile:

Boeuf Bourguignon:

Creme Puffs:

Apple Tart: