serendipitously rachelle…

… unintentionally intentional.

It’s Sunday, am at work as usual, checked the student portal for any information on our class for tomorrow… so far, nothing. I should be used to this by now. I mean the first three classes did not post any information the day before so why should this next class be any different? I guess I’m just feeling a bit apprehensive remembering Chef B’s insight into the next class. From what I’ve heard from students before us, I really should not be worrying. After all, every single one I’ve talked to said that the hardest class is Foundations II and I have passed that with flying colors… so Foundations III should be a walk in the park, a piece of cake, no biggie… right? Maybe so, but as is natural for me when I start anything new, I worry… most of the time needlessly, but I still do it I think it helps me to prepare myself for what’s to come, unexpected or otherwise. Besides, its not the debilitating worry kind, just enough worry to make sure I gather my wits and keep my brain cells properly functioning.

I am so looking forward to continuing my culinary education. I have already learned so much, but I know there’s still a lot more learn. I will also be seriously looking for a place to do my externship. I just want to make sure that its a place where I will continue to learn about food, cooking, and everything else in between.

Here’s to another term… Foundations III, here I come!

So, what does one do when faced with a whole week of nothing to do? I guess I should not say nothing since I still have to go to work (only school is off), but after 3 months of everyday mise out, prep, cooking, tasting, presentation, cleaning, etc. etc. it feels like I am doing nothing

So I embarked on an ambitious project, spring cleaning, what else? I had the kids clean their rooms (a small miracle), changed sheets, did laundry, cleaned kitchen (not done yet), degrease stove top, oven and vent (this took a loooooong time), will sort out clothes (again), box stuff not needed, etc. etc. See why this is an ambitious project?

When not spring cleaning, chat with friends, comment of friends’ status, be obnoxious (I’m bores, right…), watch endless movies or tv series, text, take pictures, etc. etc.

Wow! So I am doing something after all… in fact, I seem to be doing more from the looks of this list than when its not spring break. Oh well… I’ll be slacking off a bit, my muscles are a bit sore

I have finally been able to sign up and work a one time event. I’ve been wanting to try it firstly for experience and secondly to gauge if this resembles what I want as a future career. Granted that this is probably not what I’ll end up doing but it is experience in the field so I got to see chefs, servers, and students like me go about their natural business, that of providing food for the public.

I only did food plating, which might not be considered exciting by most, but for me it was very informative. A sketch of the finished plate was provided, though one or two got changed before actual service as the chef and the owner of the catering service saw fit. Monotonous to a point because you’d have to place each and every single food item as specified to create the illusion of identical plates. Well… yes they can be considered identical containing the same food with almost the same amount (portion control), but obviously if one is to be anal about it, then you would notice each tiny detail that would render the illusion just that, an illusion. Food did looked great and am sure looking at more than 300 plates, one could not say the other is getting something different from the rest.

To make 300+ plates looking almost exactly the same required a lot of work… and fast. This is especially true when plating the main course and dessert that needed a last minute addition, e.g. mousse or chocolate (so it doesn’t melt). And after making sure that I’ve only placed 5 raspberries on each dessert plate, my eyes have become glazed and off focus… only to have the owner of the catering service change her mind and told us to add one more raspberry…

Plating the main course was fast-paced. Meat being cut at the end table, since we have asparagus, potatoes and carrots, there were two of us placing these items on the plate, then another person pours the sauce and adds the garnish. The Expediter checked and cleaned the plates before handing it over to the servers. And then the last plate was served… and we got about 15 minutes break as we let the guests eat their meal…

Then its dessert time… plopped (sorry, decoratively placed…) the mousse on, topped it with a piece of chocolate shaped like a shovel and serve. It was’t so bad, just frantic Oh yeah, we had to take out the mint leaves and replace it with fresh ones… the mint leaves we put on earlier got wilted due to the heat of the overhead lamps

We did get free dinner afterwards so we did not go home hungry. In all, it was a great experience for me.

Chef K captured it perfectly. Today’s plates contain just about every temperamental dish we’ve learned so far. Cotes De Porc Charcutiere, Pommes Puree and Poached Salmon w/ Beurre Blanc Sauce, Rice Pilaf and Sauteed Zucchini. Temperamental because with both the pork chop and salmon, I had to catch it at the right time… when its starting to get done. Chops have to be pink inside but does not ooze with any reddish liquid while the salmon had to have that shiny orangey tinge… any hint of whiteness in the middle is considered overcooked. Of course I already talked at length about cooking rice (I refused to put it in the oven and just cooked it on the stove top), beurre blanc? where do I start… I think there were some who broke this sauce, today of all days.

Almost did not make the window to present my plate. Darn that pork chop!!! The bone side was about 1/4 inch thicker than the meaty side and it simply refused to cook properly. Thank goodness when I presented the plate to Chef B, it finally behaved and came out nicely done, no reddish ooze Chef B really liked my charcutiere sauce saying its the best sauce he’s tasted today… and I was second to the last plate to be tasted The pommes puree… shhhh… JT and I placed in the oven on a pan with water in a bain marie to hold… and when we took it out, the side was starting to burn. Uh-oh… fix it!!!! hurry!!! So I very carefully fluffed it out (added some more cream and butter), re-seasoned it and scooped it out without touching the burnt portion. No one else need to know shhhhhh….

Cotes De Porc Charcutiere, Pommes Puree

The salmon… Chef B said I have to make sure I’m careful when cooking it. Again, I was on the verge of overcooking this fish. A second more and it would have crossed over and Chef B would not be a happy camper. My rice came out perfect, and I mean perfect… thank god I decided to stick to my plan of cooking it top side. The zucchini… my poor tourne zucchini was overcooked. I have never sauteed a zucchini before and the chefs have not demonstrated this to the class so I had no way of knowing if its been cooked or not Chef B trying to cheer me up said the taste is great though.

Poached Salmon w/ Beurre Blanc Sauce, Rice Pilaf and Sauteed Zucchini

It was still a great finish with some mishaps averted and one overcooked zucchini And with some final words of wisdom, Chef B and Chef K wished us luck on our next class. I hope they teach another class that I have to take in the future. I have learned so much from these two chefs and I will miss them terribly.

Note: romance is in the air… am so excited. No its not me

First day of the final practical exams. We are to produce two full plates, Navarin d’Agneau Printanier w/ Polenta and Escalope De Veau A’ La Creme, Petits Pois A’ La Francaise, Pommes Puree.

But first things first… coffee please

It was cold….. brrrrr…. the coffee helped thaw out my brains a little. I guess this was a good thing cause if my brains were any sharper that morning, I might have said something that I’m sure Chef B would disapprove of. One would think that by now, students in this class would be more attuned to the morning routine of mis en place. But no! Some are just too thick skinned to volunteer themselves to help out. And they have the audacity to complain that not everything was ready right away. I was like, deal with it!

I still need to push myself to move a little faster. I made it, but I know I could have been done sooner. I also need to be very conscious about keeping my station “clean.” It was clean and I even sanitize it before cutting up the next ingredient, but my station was so cluttered that it doesn’t seem to make much difference, well, to me at least, and probably to Chef B also.

We were so engrossed with what we were doing that almost too soon, it was time to bring our plates to our respective chefs. Presenting Navarin d’Agneau Printanier w/ Polenta.

Navarin d'Agneau Printanier w/ Polenta

Congratulations, Maria! It would seem that you’ve managed to come up with the “perfect” plate. The meat was tender, the veggies nicely done, tournes looked great, glazed veggies seasoned very well, sauce has excellent flavor, texture and consistency, even the polenta which was missing Parmesan cheese tasted great (I put butter to compensate for the lack of cheese). Chef B sat there, twirling my plate, spooning the sauce, moving the food around, in to me was a deafening silence. Then he said, “I was trying to find something wrong with you plate.” In my thought, I said, okay….. And then he said, I could not find anything wrong with your plate. I tried, but I can’t find anything… you did an excellent job!” and I breathed a huge sigh of relief

Next came Escalope De Veau A’ La Creme, Petits Pois A’ La Francaise, Pommes Puree. I know I wanted to take a picture of me cooking this dish… I wanted proof (other than me seeing it) that I was able to successfully flambe my sauteed mushroom for the sauce. And again, after cooking this dish and successfully firing up my pan three times, I still don’t have a picture to show. Next time. Anyway, this dish passed with flying colors too!

Escalope De Veau A' La Creme, Petits Pois A' La Francaise, Pommes Puree.

Even that kinda weird vegetable concoction, Petits Pois A’ La Francaise (Boston lettuce, peas, glazed pearl onions, pork lardons) tasted really good, and I don’t even like cooked lettuce But most importantly, Chef B was very happy with my plate, “excellent job, ma’am” said Chef B. Big grin and the imaginary pat on the back…

And as soon as it started, it was over. It was a great day indeed

well… it was actually a stormy day/week for LA.

Today I took the final written exam for Foundations II… surely enough the one I forgot was the knife cuts dimension, sigh! Why does it always have to be that part with numbers on them? Really?! Anyway, I did not do too bad, I got the rest of it perfect

It was a relatively easy day. We got to practice the recipe we’re doing for finals. Gotta do this so we can get the technique down to a science… well, maybe not that yet, but at least gain more familiarity with how the process should flow, improve on taste, texture, consistency, plating, etc… I chose to cook the lamb stew, simply because this was one of the very first recipes we did and I wanted to refresh my memory on how to make it. Good thing too since I kinda messed it up a bit… a touch strong on tomato paste. Chef B was right, you can taste it sowee… I practiced on my tournes, glazed veggies and mashed potatoes. I wanted to do the veal w/ mushroom cream sauce but I miscalculated my time and was not able to even start prepping for it. No worries…

I spent the night reviewing the recipe, figuring out in my head the steps I need to do in succession…

… and so I face the final curtain… or the final four plates and a final written test that will mark the end of Foundations II class.

Tomorrow we’ll be having our final written exam, then we get to practice on the four plates that we need to make as our final practical test. Its also tomorrow that I have to submit this journal of sorts, so I guess this will be my final entry… for this class at least

I have learned a great deal in this class, techniques that I have only just begun to understand and have yet to master. But that will come in time. For now, after the hectic day-to-day productions, its time to let it sink in, to appreciate each technique, the reaction it generates when we prepare a dish, the myriad of flavors that passed through our lips to envelop our senses, the art that is inherent in the food we eat… let it become a part of who I am, of what I love, so that I can recreate what I’ve learned, create more from the knowledge gained, but most importantly, enjoy each experience and continue to grow.

Learning would not have been possible without two great Chefs who have left the glamor of working in or owning  fine dining restaurants and have instead dedicated themselves to teaching aspiring chefs the art of cooking. Thank you.

I also give credit to my classmates, even those who complained behind my back… you are also part of the learning process. To JT, my tag team partner, we rock! And to the “pack” I am really glad to have met and call you friends. Let’s all move forward and conquer more plates!!!!

More fish!!! And no we’re not filleting, those got sent back to the vendor. We’re using the frozen kind… and some salmon.

As usual, the instructions for the recipes were quite confusing, especially for the Fillets De Sole Bonne-Femme. Hmmmm… I just smelled my index cards… fishy! And the finished product do looked like potatoes au gratin… so this could be fish au gratin? I can still picture in my head Chef B’s grimace as he said it smells good, he he he As Chef B demonstrated how this recipe is executed, it became easier to understand. It was actually quite simple, but it needed a lot of things prepped before one can start cooking the actual dish. I wasn’t too happy with the way this dish turned out. The sauce almost dried out on me, though it tasted okay, potatoes and fish cooked and the sauce did not curdle, still…. Chef B did say that we needed more liquid. Oh well, chalk that up to experience… hopefully I don’t have to make this dish again… did not like it at all. Still, it looked good on the plate.

Fillets de Sole Bonne Femme

The poached salmon turned out better. Good thing I took it out when I did or it would have overcooked. The process was called shallow poaching because the protein is only partially submerged in the poaching liquid ( we used court bouillon). Chef B said salmon should be cooked until its medium done so it doesn’t dry out. He also said in some instances, the grayish meat (where the skin meets the flesh of the salmon) might need to be taken out depending on where we work. This is for the skinless type. Beurre Blanc sauce topped this dish and garnished with finely chopped parsley.

Poached Salmon w/ Beurre Blanc Sauce

My nursery rhymes are all messed up…

Today we are going to learn how to fillet a fish… I’ve cleaned fish before, took the skin, scales, innards out but have never filleted one. Being a crustaceans person, I am not too fond of fish unless its fish and chips or salmon. I think this stems from the fact that if there’s any bone left on the fish, it will surely find itself lodged into my throat often necessitating a visit to the doctor if I’m unable to dislodge it myself. One fish in particular I always stay away from (unless I myself prepared it) is milkfish. Its tiny fork-like bones never failed to end up stuck on my throat… and with that much fatal attraction, I thought it best to completely stay away from eating it

This is the unfortunate fish that we’d be practicing our knife on… I was sure I’d seen this fish before but it was only now, when Chef B pointed out, that I realize its eyes are right next to each other… on one side of its head. Chef B said it was because it stays at the bottom of the ocean, one side to the ocean floor and the other facing up. Sure enough, one side is whitish in color while the other has the shade of the ocean floor making it a great camouflage.

Sole

To start, scales off, please! Good thing I at least know how to remove the scales without it flying all over the place or I would have passed off as a fish if those scales landed on me Off with their heads! Oh, that’s from a different cartoon…

Headless Sole

Notice the lines near the fins and one near the tail… Chef B said to make a cut along the sides to release the meat. I’d have taken a picture of it after filleting but my hands really stink so I let that go. Anyway, after making cuts along the edges, I then made an incision following the spine of the fish, this divided the two sides which would make my fillet. After that, I just needed to make light strokes with the end of the fillet knife following the bones of the fish to separate it from the meat itself. And voila! I have fish fillets And it wasn’t that hard at all. But of course doing this for the first time took a while… need to practice so I can pick up speed when doing this task.

Red Alert!!!! Worms found on the fish!!! No, I did not take a photo of the either… eeewww!!! Guess we’ll be cooking but not eating our food

The recipe, once all the ingredients are ready took about 5 minutes to cook (maybe less). Fillets are seasoned, folded to give it volume (because it was so thin), dredged in flour, sauteed, plated (warm plate), drizzled with lemon, sprinkled with chopped parsley, then topped with brown butter… don’t forget to brown the butter as you plate… multitask The butter needs to be hot enough to bubble when poured over the plated fish.

Fillets of Sole Meuniere

Alas, the duck did not make it up anywhere at all… only the leg made it to my cutting board The duck leg’s role is to get pan roasted (poeler) or to spell it out further, pan-seared (for color), placed on top of aromatics, then roasted covered in the oven. It needs to be pan-seared because its a small piece and won’t be cooking in the oven for long to be able to get a nice brown color. It also helps in locking in the flavor and juices of the meat due to Maillard reaction. This recipe also called for basting to create a glazed appearance on the meat.

As usual… forgot to take a picture, sigh…

Its been a great day, worms and all… my fish was cooked just right but was not tasted due to the worm infestation. The duck leg came out tender dispelling my doubts if I’ve cooked it enough, the sauce was well seasoned. A great end for the week.

Yes! I have tortured and abused chicken today in order to get it on a plate to serve…

We had to do what the culinary world calls “tunnel deboning”. This meant removing the bones from the chicken leg and thigh with minimal damage to the meat so it can be stuffed with whatever filling meets your fancy and still look like chicken legs with bones in it. Looking at Chef B do it can give one a false sense of ease… be warned, it is anything but easy. But I guess its to be expected seeing I’m doing this for the first time (well, technically the first time… dissecting a chicken is way different than deboning it ). Took some time but at least I got it right. We used some kind of mushroom filling for this recipe called “Duxelles” (a mixture of finely minced mushroom and shallots, sauteed). We also used caul fat to encase the stuffed chicken breast to prevent it from breaking out. It looked like a “webby membrane” and according to Chef B, this is what surrounds the pigs internal organs.

Tim showing off caul fat fashion

After deboning the chicken leg and thigh, the chicken breast (w/ wings on, its named airline breast… the only way to fly? ) had to be pounded mainly to expand the surface area so I can stuff it with the Duxelles, and also to even out its thickness. It was the chicken breast that needed to be wrapped in caul fat to seal it in. It also gave a nice looking pattern on the meat once cooked. Obviously, it was easier to use pounding as a form of chicken torture than deboning… and since the chicken has not yet fully succumbed to my ministrations of torture, I stuffed it to cover up the fact that I already took something out of it. Still uncooked, the chicken is now ready to be pan-seared. This is done to create a nice brown color to the meat (especially effective when cooking time in the oven is too short to get the right effect). The leg and thigh only needed to be seared on one side (presentation side) while the caul fat encased airline breast was browned all around. Still aiming for perfection, next destination is the oven, roasted along with mirepoix which will later be used to make the pan sauce (for flavor). The finished product when plated looked stunning, if I do say so myself. Imitating Chef B, the dish was plated with the sauce lining the plate, meat on top and served with starch (pommes puree), vegetable (carrots vichy) and some parsley for garnish.

Stuffed Chicken w/ Duxelles, Carrots Vichy & Pommes Puree

Stuffed Chicken w/ Duxelles, Carrots Vichy & Pommes Puree

A full plate served! Since we technically just served one plate, one would think that this should have been a piece of cake, with everyone finishing ahead of time. Wrong! I myself barely made it and I believe a few of my classmates were late in presenting their plates. While this may be one plate only, it should be noted that there’s multiple components to the plate, each requiring time to prepare and cook. Yes, I agree with Chef B, this again is all about time management. But a good chunk of that time was spent deboning the chicken leg. To reiterate, time management is the key… but with so much time spent deboning (this process requires a lot of practice if one is to move fast enough), there was barely any time left to manage. The side dishes took about 15 mins, but I had to wait for the chicken to cook before I can start my sauce. This is not an excuse, just a statement of fact… it took too long because I am not used to it. Could I have done it faster? Probably. But I could have also messed up my chicken in the process.

I watch and I learn by experience.