Diary: August 28, 2002

[Malawry]

Monday, August 26

Back to the regular routine this morning: Albert Uster’s training session is over, and we’ve completed Test 2. We sat through an old-school demo this morning and cooked lunch just like we usually do once again. Over lunch, Kristin commented that things seem more routine than we think of in an educational setting, and pointed out that most of us haven’t spent all day every day learning with the same small group of people since we were in elementary school.

We had veal escalopes for what seemed like the fifth time today, and I still haven’t made them, so I volunteered to handle them for today’s lunch. They came with a beurre noisette sauce and a new class favorite (I write facetiously), viennoise garnish: a round of peeled lemon covered with hard boiled egg whites, hard boiled egg yolks, and chopped parsley in three stripes, plus an anchovy-wrapped pimiento-stuffed olive. I had to force the whites and yolks through a tamis and I butchered my first lemon before getting it right with the second one, and then Chef Peter made fun of me with my garnish. I had placed the olive off-center, and he got all fake-haughty with me about it. “This is CRAP! It’s supposed to be dead center, didn’t you watch the demo? (chuckle, chuckle)” It is a fussy little thing, but I like all the components so at least it didn’t seem disgusting in addition to being a pain to assemble.

During the break, I picked up my graded notebook, which I scored just as well on as I did the last time. Chef Francois caught me coming back from the library with my notebook and stopped me to tell me he’d looked at my diary. He said that it was interesting, and he commented on the level of detail and the length of the entries. He also said that he understands how people talk in kitchens, but to be accurate I should say “mise en place” and not just “mise.” He asked me a little about my goals with the project and said he planned to keep reading as I continue to post. I also talked to one student who looked at the diary over the break. He told me which entries he had read and also commented on the length and detail.

Chef Somchet spent the afternoon going over pate feuillete (puff pastry) with us. I look forward to learning this since puff pastry adds a real “wow” factor to food. We will each make our first batches of the stuff tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, August 27

Some days Chef Peter rides herd on us, and nobody can do anything right. Today was one of those days. Usually I don’t let it get to me, but today he yelled at the rest of my team for something that was my fault. We learned our first chicken mousses today, and we stuffed the mousse into rock cornish hens which we had to debone. I deboned two myself, and the first one I messed up badly enough that I managed to remove a leg. Chef Peter came by and looked at it and told me to “make it happen,” which normally means use whatever you messed up and make the most of it. Later, he came and told my teammate Ivelisse to go get an extra hen since the one she’d worked with was pretty messed up too. I didn’t go get a second hen to replace my butchered one, because he’d told me to “make it happen.” So later, when we’d piped on the mousse and tied shut the birds, he yelled at us about the pieces on our tray. “I told you guys to go get another bird for those ones you messed up! Why didn’t you get another bird? Why do I bother telling you guys things when you don’t listen!”

By the time this happened, Chef Peter had already picked on my breadcrumbs (too large, I should have sieved them), the seasoning on my duxelles (too peppery), the cut of the mushrooms for the duxelles (they looked like dog food), and just about everything else I’d had a hand in. I just tried not to look at anybody and focus on my work, but later my teammates tried to josh with me about the legless bird. “What’d you do, rape this thing?” Not too long after that I couldn’t help it any longer and I had to go into the freezer (the most private place I could think of) and try to calm down. I know a few of my classmates saw me go in there, which was embarrassing. Jonathan came into the freezer to look for something while I was in there and saw me upset and put his arm around me for a moment, which meant a lot to me. I wish I could leave my emotions behind every day, but sometimes it catches up to me and today was one of those days.

After lunch Chef Peter came into the student lounge where a bunch of us were chatting about our next papers and told us our scores on the practical exam. I dropped a little from my last practical score. Most of the scores given to my classmates were a little better, not much better but better enough that I’m still pretty sure I’ve knocked myself from my number 1 slot.

We tried our hands at our first puff pastry after the break. I got two double turns in before packing it away for the day, and I intend to come in early enough tomorrow to fit in the last two double turns. (This was a quick version of puff; we saw a demo on the classic version, but I dunno if we will actually have to make it.)

Wednesday, August 28

Despite my comments about how routine school has become, things have changed a little about classes this week. Chef Peter no longer gives a list of ingredients when talking about a new recipe, and he’s less patient with our memory issues than he used to be. He fully expects us to rattle off derivative dishes when prompted, and yesterday he quizzed us about something we learned around Week 2 that never actually appeared on the menu and was only mentioned offhandedly in class. He seems to be prowling the kitchen more carefully than before. I wonder if these are the sorts of changes Chef Francois suggested would be coming as we head towards midterms.

I did indeed make it in early enough today to finish the turns for my first puff pastry, and once we were divided into teams I volunteered to go into the pastry kitchen. I haven’t spent time in there for what seems like a long time, because I spent so much time there while I was sick that I really wanted to stick to the main kitchen once I was up for it.

Today’s dessert was a puff pastry cake with frangipane in the center. Chef Somchet showed us how to use the cool rolling/compressing machine that takes up so much counter space in the pastry kitchen. It has a big wheel on it that you turn to adjust the thickness of the rollers, and a long conveyor belt which will send puff pastry flying across the kitchen if we’re not careful (I didn’t do it, but a few of my classmates came close). Everything came out beautifully, and Chef Somchet showed some people my cake as evidence of the right way to do it. I made a big batch of crème anglaise and served the cake atop the sauce on small salad plates.

On Friday, we cook lunch and clean the kitchen and then we can go home early…basically whenever we finish cleaning the kitchen. I am not referring to our daily scrubdown here, I am referring to a serious effort of scrubbing down things like the walls of the walk-in and the oven floor. Chef Peter encouraged us to start on these tasks today, so many of us spent our post-lunch breaks working away. I devoted myself to cleaning off some of the Kitchen-Aid mixers in the pastry kitchen, and then I worked over some of the scales which look like they haven’t been cleaned in a few years. Grime everywhere.

Chef Francois worked with us this afternoon, showing us how to break down a pork loin into chops and discussing the various primal cuts of pork and how they are used. I am mystified as to what the difference is between a picnic ham and a regular ham, and the whole ham/leg thing is a little weird (the leg is so often made into hams that the leg is just called the ham, even though it is possible to cook and serve the leg in a way other than curing for ham). I stuck around after class with Melanie and Jessie for a few minutes to wrap up and put away the cut pork. Somebody dropped a small piece of pork trimming on the floor while Chef Francois was in the room, which caused him to ask if we knew the 15-second rule. Jessie asked, “You mean, when you drop something, if it’s on the floor less than 15 seconds then it’s clean?” He smiled and nodded. I asked, “Isn’t it also okay if you just blow on it?” He grinned. This is the first time he has shown a sense of humor about any food-related issue around me, and it made me like him a lot more.

Our written tests still have not been returned to us. Hopefully tomorrow.

[Jinmyo]

Rochelle, a picnic ham is actually from the shoulder.

[steverino]

Rochelle -

I'm new as a member, but not new as a faithful reader of your diary.

As always, a great glimpse into your education.

Thanks!

[Fat Guy]

Another terrific installment. Thanks so much.

[Dana]

These posts are so informative and interesting. Even if you're no longer #1, who cares? (I'm sure you probably are) You're having fun, learning a lot and keep us very interested in all that goes on at cooking school. Thanks so much for all you're doing.

[CathyL]

Your posts are so informative and illuminating, and such fun to read! Thanks, Rochelle.

[Huevos del Toro]

Malawry;

I’ve been following your wonderful diary and anxiously look forward to each installment.

It makes such a great read that I’ve rolled everything into a single document. You’re up to 34,642 words now! (That includes your eGullet bio as well as some background from your web site.)

I think I can safely say there are a lot of people here that are as proud of you as if you were our own daughter!

Keep it up!

[Ron Johnson]

When I was a waiter I often used the walk-in freezer for a second to "cool off" both literally and figuratively if something went wrong during service on the floor.

Now, unfortunately, when I screw up in the courtroom, there is no freezer in which to hide. It was a good place to go.

[sandra]

THE TAMIS.... one of my personal favourites....

Have you had to use it for fish or chicken yet? We always dreaded the days we had to make mousses - as soon as the tamis came out, it was groans all around...

Your puff pastry story reminded me that I still have some in the freezer from the basic course...must use it...

Sandra

[Malawry]

In my class, the tamis is part of a running joke. The joke is related to how breading is called a "three-way" by Chef Peter (the three items being seasoned flour, egg wash, and bread crumbs. Why this is a three-way instead a three-ingredient, I'm not sure. We have learned three ways to bread, but that's not what he is referring to when he talks aboug a three-way.)

One day, he talked about the three-way breading, and then later he was talking about using a tamis. Somebody asked if she was part of the three way (it's pronounced Tammy, after all). Then later Chef Peter referred to a jus lie (pronounced similarly to Julie) and somebody asked if she was part of the three-way too. Now any reference to any of these things causes titters among my classmates.

Make palmiers with your puff. Mmmmm. I don't dread the tamis, but I haven't used it much yet. Ask me after we've done mousses a few dozen times.

[Cheffie3]

Malawry,

I've finally finshed reading all of your entries and enjoyed them immensely. I am a new fan. I've taken cooking class series from a catering company nearby, and it seems that the kitchen set up and routine is the same. I plan to go to culinary school in about 3 years, after I get my degree. Keep up the good work....and don't be so hard on yourself...you're doing great!!!

My favorite entry so far was this one

Wednesday, July 24

This morning, I took three rockfish from whole fish to finished plate. I scaled them, gutted them, removed their heads, filleted them, skinned them, seasoned them, floured them, sauteed them, and topped them with a grenobloise sauce I made.

After reading that I said "You go girl!!!" outloud to my computer. I can't wait for the next entry.

Also, are you a bit afraid that Chef Peter may find the entries with him yelling at you a bit disagreeable? Just curious.

[Malawry]

Hi Cheffie3, thanks for your support. I told Chef Francois about this diary already, and I'm sure word has gotten to Chef Peter (although I have not spoken with him personally about it). Chef Peter would be doing me a disservice if he stopped yelling at me, both because it would be a disservice for me to be treated differently and because it would be a disservice to send me off for an externship without some sense of what it's like to work in a high-pressure restaurant kitchen. I think he knows that.

Like most of my classmates, I am quite fond of Chef Peter, and I think he does the best job he knows how to get us ready for what's coming in our futures. (I still don't really know what's coming, but I don't have any sense that his occasional riding herd will be an unusual phenomenon in the "real world.")

I think that if Chef Peter had something to say to me about the diary, he'd say it. So far, he hasn't said anything. And no, I don't think much about what he might think of what I write, although I wouldn't turn away an opportunity to hear his thoughts were he to offer them.