"Your knife, your hand and your product"

It was bound to happen- and it happened. I had my first bad practical :(

We had 8:30 demo where we were in the BAD demo room- it is not stadium seating like the big one and is nearly impossible to see everything. Compound that with being unable to sleep the night before and the terrible translator and it just wasn't my day.

I sat next to Bruna (Brazil) and right down the row from Anthony and in front of Lara and was scratching my head most of the class. We had the goofy Chef- Frederic and he LOVES to hear himself talk, so he was yammering on and on about how he worked for the President and how cool he was while he started the chicken stock.

Chicken pieces covered by water with leek, carrots, onion (with 3 cloves poked into the flesh), peppercorns and a TEENY bit of salt. 20 minutes later, the stock is ready! Seemed easy enough!

Then he babbles some more, calls me out AGAIN in class- this time about being hesitant when I was filleting my fish. And cleans a chicken- cuts of the tips of the wings, trims various glands that need to be removed (one in the neck and one on the tail- area) and begins to truss with a giant needle and string. This is difficult to see, but all in all I get it- you just make a neat little package with the chicken. He blanches the chicken- removes it from the pan, adds vegetables and takes it back to the pan, covers with water and lets poach for an hour.

He then makes a cheese souffle which was TO DIE FOR. There are a few little tricks that he does but all in all, looks the same as my technique. I'm SO excited to make that!

Then he goes back to the task at hand- riz au gras (rice with onions, butter and cooked in chicken stock) and supreme sauce. It all looks easy enough- I'm fairly confident heading into this practical thinking "it's chicken with rice and sauce, how hard could it be?"

...And then we walked into 2PS. We all started prepping to make the stock. 10 minutes in, Chef (different one) comes in and says that we're NOT making the stock, that we're to use the poaching liquid for our stock. This really starts us out on a bad note. We get to work and he comes over and helps me organize and said that the ONLY things that should be om the cutting board is your knife, your hand and your product". There should be no peels, no ends, no uncut vegetables...nothing.

Then I begin my chicken- first and foremost we have to blowtorch any leftover feathers that were on it- then clean and truss it. OF COURSE this chef wants us to truss it a different way than we were just taught- so that took longer than planned. He helped me (did it for me) and I blanched the old bird.

After our chicken is blanching we prepare our vegetables for our 'stock'. Peel, wash, mirepoix, create 2 bouquet garni- 1 for the stock, and 1 for the rice. We need to brunoise an onion for the rice and make a roux (butter/flour cooked together as a thickening agent). I've made roux before, but I screwed up the first one. Toss, start again. I get all this done and we have some down time. We can't start cooking the rice because we don't want it overcooked, and because our 'stock' isn't ready yet. I clean up my station and put most of my knives away per Chef's suggestion.

Then it's a mad dash to finish everything. Take out the chicken, let it rest, start the rice, finish the sauce, plate your dish.

I finished, but Chef told me my food wasn't seasoned enough. He also said that I need to really go over the recipe and have a plan before I get into the kitchen. Break it down into steps- like today we dealt with the chicken, then prep ALL our vegetables and really think through the process in steps instead of minutia. He said he noticed that I was freaking out for no reason and that I should only focus on MY work, not compare where I am with others. Oh, and he said my plate had fingerprints on it. He did say that I was very organized and had a good attitude while in the kitchen, but needed to assert myself more. He made me stand there and say "OUI CHEF" over and over as if I was in the Army. Hey- at least he didn't tell me to throw my food out like he did to someone else in class...

Overtired+no food+unseasoned food in practical=me completely and utterly deflated.

I go have a glass of wine with Lara who got a "tres bien"o on her dish- we completely dissected everything from class and talked about how we can both improve. It's amazing how LCB students really only talk about school and class.

I came home, took a nap and was getting ready for my first night out in Paris with Zulaikha and Siham. I ate my seasonless food and headed over to the 16th where Siham lives. Her apartment is super cozy and we go to this club called Sences.

Now, for those of you who don't know me- my ideal Saturday night is having dinner with friends and having some drinks at a bar. Usually a hole in the wall kind of place or somewhere like Perry's where I know everyone. I walk behind velvet ropes and into this club. WHOA. Laser beams, lights, REALLY loud music. It was such a blast though. We danced until WAY too late and had a great night. I slept until noon- I really needed it, and think I'm heading to the Marais with Anthony later because I've never been and because NOTHING is open on Sundays in the 7th.

I'm also going to buy the stuff to practice a cheese souffle over there so I can get back on my Tres Bien's next week. I don't have practical until Wednesday- but I really want to study- having unseasoned food really made me so sad!

A Bientot