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| Chicken dish the presentation is clumsy |
The last two blocks of the school are in
the kitchen. Honestly, there were so many things going around, so I had no
chances to find time for the blog, my apologies. Now, when the first block is
over and I am on summer break, I am going to catch up and write notes for the
blog for the last three weeks.
So, let’s begin. It was switch and our half
of the class moved to the kitchen. That was rough, indeed. It was not the point
that the cooking is very difficult. The dishes we were cooking were really
simple. The problem is some individuals. Some people are extremely slow and
have no sense of urgency at all. On top of that, one of my classmates was
always in demand for the student workers help. Yes, we have student workers in
the kitchen and they were helping for the really big tasks or when you are
really behind. In my mind you should not
count on them, yes you can ask help if
you really need it, but do not think that they have to help you. Tomorrow there
might be no help available.  |
| Petrale Sole with Beurre Blanc, warm lima bean salad amd spinach |
For the first day in the kitchen we made a
record.It was a prep day, we were not open for public and we were not even
required to produce demo plates. However, we started our day in the kitchen at
3 p.m. right after the lecture and we finished at 1 a.m. That was ridiculous. One
person spent three hours to poach two dozens of eggs (overcooked, wrong shape
and so on). Another guy spent four hours on cleaning beef striploin. The
station I was assigned to with John was the fastest. We finished our prep list
around 9 p.m. and helped other people to finish their job. At the wrap up I was
pissed at the chef. He said that there was no sense of urgency except for one
person. That person was able to impress the chef by the way he moved. You know
sometimes people move fast and go back and forth, so that was the case. This
person did not have a clear vision what was going on and what to do, just
running. And that was an example how all of us should behave. So I was not
quiet and when I was asked about my reflection for the day I told the chef
about this ‘injustice’. He said something, but I was not convinced. So that was
the end of the day one.
Almost the whole week we finished classes
around or after midnight. That was difficult. There was no chance even to go
and by fruits at Safeway, as they close at midnight and nothing else is open in
St Helena at that time, except bars.
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| Crispy skin salmon with asparagus, smoked potatoes and aioli |
The foods are quite simple. My station was
responsible for three dishes: brick roasted chicken, salmon dish and the sole
dish. For the first half of the block I was on garnishes and John was cooking
all proteins. Also I was plating all our dishes. For the first week we were not
able to finish dishes in timely manner. The time expectation is 8-10 minutes
after the order was called to finish (order fire). The average time was well
above 15 minutes. There was no consistency some days it was 14 minutes, the
other it was more than 20 minutes. Many times grill station pushed us back with
wrong temperature on steaks.
There was a lot of homework. The chef is
very passionate about food and how foods are produced. He required a lot of
research from us about food system in USA. I would love to spend time on this;
unfortunately that was a week before our final practical exam. So when the week
was over it was a huge relief.
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