Wine study week two / Introduction to the customer service

It's me in the service uniform

Can Riesling be sweet?

The week was quite busy. In addition to wine class I had another class for four days in the mornings - Introduction to Customer service. That class was a basic training for the waiting tables. In one short week, right after wine class we start our restaurant classes - half of the group will be cooking, the other half serving, after six week we will switch.

Wine class was about Europe. The biggest difference between New World and the Old one is labels. In New World the wine labels are straightforward - country, region, producer, grape type, vintage year. In the Old World labels are not so obvious. There will be the name of the region (sometimes just a village name), quality level (vin de table, Appellation d'Origine Protege, etc), maybe the name of vine - Chablis for example. Based on the region and village name you suppose to conclude the grape type or blend type.  Chablis is made with 100% Chardonnay in the region of Chablis. In case of

Wine study week one

Our first fly

Where wine produced in the USA?

The first week of wine study class and the first week of the last (fifth) semester at the school. Time flies. Did not expected that it will be so fast. Wine class is harder than I expected.  There are A LOT of information, indeed too much. Every time we try to limit it amount a bit, we have an answer from the instructor 'haha, class with major in wine have to know much more'. It's true.

During our first week of study we learned about different types of wine (I thought there are two - red and white. LOL) how grape are grown, the general steps in wine production and some other technical details. We also studied wines of USA. It was a surprise to learn that in the USA wine is made not only in California, but also in

Baking week three

Cheesecake made on Wednesday

How to make a great sorbet?

This was our last week in Baking and pastry skills development. The chef was probably happy to get rid of our class. For me it was sad to go. I did enjoy this class and all these great products we made. I feel that I learned quite a lot. On our last day I told the chef

Baking week two

Coconut cream pie

What is the most important in bread?

That was our second week in Baking and Pastry skills development. The week in general was really good, except for Thursday, when the chef was extremely bitchy and barked at everyone. I go bollocking for using a wooden board to cut salami. I tried to say that it was ready to eat food and the cutting board was from the hot side, not from the baking shop. He yelled at me and all I could do was to say 'yes, chef'. Other than that the week was good. The chef struggled with our class, he did not expect to have so many people who do not pay attention and doing what seems easier for

Baking week one

Chocolate hazelnut cake

How difficult is to make pie dough?

We started Baking and Pastry Development skills last week. This is school practise - send bakers for three weeks to the kitchen and send cooks for three weeks to the baking side. Our instructor welcomed us on the 'bright side' (he calls kitchen 'dark side'). Baking shop is very different from the kitchen side. It has different mentality. You have to use exact measurements and for large volume they are grams and ounces (or pounds), not spoons or cups. As soon as you form your product and place it into oven you are not able to change anything, it's done. In the kitchen you can adjust seasoning, add some flavor, and so on. Our instructor is really

Garde Manger week two

One of our plates from Friday

Salt perception on the same product when it cold or hot...

The second week of Garde Manger was even more intense, but interesting. We made a lot of forcemeat (galantines, terrines, pates) and we made very interesting flavours.

Monday was the sausage day. All class was busy making sausages. I made sweet Italian sausages. Before I mixed seasoning I asked the chef if the recipe is accurate in terms of salt. I remember making similar sausages in meat fabrication class and the recipe was really off for the amount of salt. The chef said the recipe isfine. So I made sausages as per recipe and it was over seasoned. Later I realized why did this happen. I was making half a recipe and used full amount of spices and salt. I poached them first and then grilled. The poaching

Garde Manger week one

Our piggy for the class

Why knife skills are so important in Garde Mange?

This week we started a new block - Garde Manger. This block is all about cold buffet, appetizers, and different techniques for preservation. We are going to make sausages, pates, and some other exciting dishes. The instructor for this block is extremely knowledgeable about the subject and very passionate. Also he is very open minded and understandable. His position is that mistake could happen, but you should analyze your mistake and learn from it, to avoid the same or similar mistake in the future. Garde mange is all about presentation. As a result knife skill