Day one hundred twenty

Quiche Lorraine pies finished and
ready to be cut and served

Going to the 'dark side' for the traditional Quiche Lorraine.

Second day of breakfast cookery. Today was a little bit different how it felt to wake up so early. A little bit tired, however was able to fall asleep yesterday at 10 in the evening. That was almost a record for me (days when I struggled with jet leg do not count).

Our team have done some baking today. Our chef called this 'go to the dark side'. We made Quiche Lorraine, which is traditional French savory tart with onion, bacon, cheese and custard. We managed to make it really good. There were good appearance and taste.

Other teams made

Day one hundred nineteen

Block of butter we
had to clarify today

What is the biggest amount butter to clarify so far? 

Back to the school after the summer break. This time we are doing high volume production cookery. This short block will be split in two parts: seven days breakfast and seven days lunch. For our group the first part is breakfast. The most difficult part is that class starts now at 4:30 in the morning. One day is done, six more to go.

The big difference for this class is that we have six groups and every group cooks something different every day. Our group has cooked egg benedict today (poached eggs, served on English muffin with a slice of Canadian bacon and sauce hollandaise).

Other teams cooked: ham and cheese omelette, asparagus fritatta, has brown potatoes with bacon, buttermilk biscuits with country gravy, fruit platter and smoothies.

As per our chef instructor for the first day we did

Day one hundred eighteen

My plate on the practical

What is the main point during a practical? Do not panic.

It was the second term practical exam yesterday. The task was easy - cook one menu in two and a half hour. There were six menus and by the draw it was determined what you suppose to cook. My menu was chicken consommé, beef stew, fresh pasta, green beans, and assorted vegetables (rutabaga, turnips, and carrot).

It was interesting, but the night before I had a dream of making fresh pasta. The pasta was only in one menu. When I draw this menu, the first thought was that I do not remember exact ratio for the stew. How much wine, or stock you need, so I went by instinct.

There were a few differences between the first term and the second term practicals. For the first tir we were allowed to use recipe cards. There were only two

Day one hundred seventeen

The day before practical...

That was quiet day. In the morning I took written exam. There were 100 questions related to all subjects we have studied so far (the culinary fundamentals, food safety, product knowledge, meat identification, seafood identification). Actually the written was easy. I have not received grade, however I am sure it will be above 90%.

Also there was final for the college writing. It was three parts: questions, short essay, and grammar test. The grammar test was probably the hardest part. There were 50 sentences and each of them have some kind of error. The task was to identify the errors. The good things that it was multiple choice, the bad thing is that 50 sentences were too many. Finally it's done. Will see grades later on.

Tomorrow is the second term practical for me. I have spent a lot of time going through the menus (six of them) and preparing my timelines for each menu. Everything should be fine tomorrow.

Day one hundred sixteen

Today's plate

What is a perfection?

The last day of A la carte cooking class. That was the shortest class so far, only eleven days of cooking (also arguing and fighting in the kitchen). In spite of the short time, I feel that the knowledge we receive  in this class exceed greatly what we got from the previous one. Tomorrow it will be written exam for me and on Wednesday is practical.

Today our menu was:
Grilled Mahi Mahi with Pineapple Salsa
Basmati Rice Pilaf
Sautéed Spinach
Grilled Vegetables
Chicken Consomme
Seasonal Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette.

I was responsible for the grilling fish and the rice pilaf. What I found out today, it that we had a plenty of time. Indeed, I had an extra hour. It was too early