Day 1
The first day was probably the roughest I've experienced in a while. The chef instructor introduced himself and right off the bat, the entire class could tell that he was going to ride us pretty hard. We went over general kitchen hygiene, how we were supposed to come to class dressed every day, our toolkits were given to us, two more books (one solely devoted to desserts), first aid, preventing cuts, the kitchen brigade hierarchy, the layout of the kitchens we'd be working in, the equipment we'd be using and how to take care of them, all the french names of pots/pans (really confusing), setting up our proper mise en place, how to properly wash and peel vegetables, learning all the different names of the cuts we'd have to learn and master, and finally chef demo-ed two ways of cooking vegetables: a langlaise and a letuevee. A l'anglaise is where you cook the vegetables before dinner service and reheat them later. A l'etuvee is when you're cooking the vegetables to order. We get served dinner every night at 830. Tonight we had meatloaf and mac & cheese. I was starving by the time dinner rolled around so it was pretty rough. To make matters a little worse, we had to practice our taillage (technique for cutting vegetables) which I screwed up on since I started to get panic that I wouldn't finish on time which made my cuts un-uniform. I was pretty pissed off too at my partner cuz he wouldnt share some of his veggies and wanted to cut the everything on his own (selfish prick). Having chef constantly yelling at us to keep our station clean while we were cutting didn't help either. So to summarize the entire day was pretty rough and we ended class late which meant I wasn't going to catch the last bus that dropped me off at my uncle's place. My old roommate gave me a call after class ended and it was a nice morale booster to catch up and vent a little bit about how the first day went.
Day 2:
It was a lot better today since we had a different chef for most of class. We were going over Servsafe (kitchen safety/sanitation stuff/safe food handling practices) that we would need to know at the end of level two. This guy was pretty hilarious and even allowed us to grab chairs and sit down while he lectured. We had a break in between where our regular chef came back so that we could practice some more taillage while we critiqued us individually. Sadly, my cuts were not up his standards and I think I got pretty low marks for them. In a way I guess it's good to have a chef who's really hard on you because most chef's in the field aren't going to baby you around once you graduate. But at the same time my morale gets so low when he doesn't have anything good to say about the work I did. It took about 20 minutes to get changed and pack up, so I wasn't able to catch the 1130 bus again. I worked out system with my uncle where he leaves his car two towns away from the house since there's another bus that can drop me off later than 1130. So I drove home for the first time with ice on the roads which was pretty scary since I was sliding around when I was trying to brake. I got home around 1am and by the time I showered and ate something it was already past 2.
Day 3:
I've been getting to the city about two hours before school starts, that way I give myself plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and get down to Soho so that I can change and get ready for class. On Tuesday, I went back to that 99cent pizza place on 43rd street next to Grand Central. Their $2.75 combo (2 slices of pizza and an arizona tea) is pretty much one of the greatest deals I've ever seen. Sure it's not the best pizza I've ever had, but for 99 cents a slice I'm not complaining. Today I went over to Totto Ramen on 52nd street since a friend had recommended it. What they're known for is their chicken broth ramen which pretty unorthodox since most Japanese ramen is usually made with miso flavored broth. The ramen was pretty good overall, broth wasn't too salty like it usually is which was nice, the seared Char Siu pork was a nice touch since it didn't lose it's crunch in the broth. Noodles could have been cooked a little bit more tender which would have been nice. $10 dollars for a bowl of ramen isn't too bad considering its NYC. It was finally sunny today even though it was still freezing. It's really sad when I think 40 degrees is warm and even sadder when I look at the temperature back home in LA.
Alright, so for class today we made Ratatouille and a Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Timbale with Granny Smith Apples and vinaigrette. Absolutely amazing! Chef demoed the two recipes for us before we were to make it on our own. The Ratatouille was something we'd tackle as a team (2 people) and the Goat Cheese we'd do individually. For the Ratatouille, chef was telling me to lower the heat because I was burning the onions and I also took some heat (no pun intended) for cutting the zucchini so that the skin was nonexistent. However, once we finished the dish and presented to chef, he liked it a lot, which put a smile on both our faces. The Goat Cheese dish was the first time I would be working with a mold for a dish which was a bit daunting because after I prepped everything and put it together in the ring, the cheese on top was sticking to the ring which almost collapsed the entire thing. Luckily, I used chef's trick of heating up a paring knife and running it along the side so the ring would come out cleanly. The dish came out looking better than I expected, although chef said be careful to not drown the lettuce in oil so that it becomes limp. After dinner, chef gave a lecture on vegetables, spices, and herbs and called it a night. I was getting better at knowing where to get on the subway so that when I came out of the car, the entrance to the bus station would be right above me. I got home around 1am again with some leftover Ratatouille I made which I heated up for a midnight snack before going to bed. Delicioso!
1 comment:
Really awesome dude!
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