Now we're cookin'!

Bacon-wrapped asparagus with ricotta cheese

Tomorrow kicks off the third week of Cuisine Foundations II. In the first two weeks we've made three stocks(veal, chicken, fish), about a dozen sauces(I won't list them all, you're welcome.), and probably half a dozen soups. Last week started off with our "Sauce Practical" where we were given three sauces to make(Hollandaise, Bechamel, Buerre blanc) and graded according to flavor, consistency and appearance. I ended up making a 92/100, the bechamel was on point but the hollandaise was too thick and the buerre blanc had some weird sheen to it. I would have obviously liked to have scored better, but as far as I know it was one of the highest grades in the class. Tomorrow we have our "Soup Practical" where we draw two soups out of a hat and then have an hour or two to mise en place and complete them. From what I've heard we'll be choosing between French Onion, a Consomme, and Creme Dubarry, a cauliflower passe.

Our new Chef Instructor, Chef Mendoza, is an absolute trip. He's probably in his early 30's, graduated from Johnson & Wales in Vail, CO, and specializes in corny food jokes(Why did the chef go to jail? He was caught beating an egg.) and using his hands for everything rather than utensils. Where the students carefully ladle out gelatinized veal stock, Chef Mendoza just sticks his hand in there and pulls out a big rubbery chunk. Where we dutifully measure 4 ounces of butter for a sauce, Chef Mendoza digs in to a pound of butter, clawing out however much he feels necessary for the demonstration. Not that any of this is a bad thing or makes him less-than-the-rest per se, he KNOWS HIS STUFF, it's just something I've noticed and gotten a kick out of over the last couple of weeks. Honestly, I wouldn't mind at all having him as our Instructor for the rest of our schooling, but I know that's not going to happen. For one, it just doesn't work like that, and for two, he'll be taking his yearly "one-month retirement" in the next couple of months, then opening his own restaurant in his home state of Georgia. 

I know my blog entries are becoming less and less frequent, but we have a lot on our plates right now. Between weekly tests and increasingly difficult daily assignments, not to mention the two catering gigs I have in the next two weeks, I'll admit the blog has been pushed to the back burner for the time being. I know I say this every time, but I'll do my best to write more often. Encouragement from a certain classmate makes me want to write more often, but a lot of the stuff that goes on in class wouldn't really be interesting or applicable to the average person, and the people in my class have already lived it, why read about it? 

Until next time, thanks for reading.