After finally getting over my bout with illness, I went to demo on Wednesday to watch Chef Stril make stuffed veal paupiettes with a jus and 'turned' vegetables. Nothing gets an appetite back like watching veal, pork shoulder and pork fat go through a mincer!
It looked simple enough, no real surprises until it came time to turn the carrots. Turning is a process by which you essentially whittle a vegetable so it's the same size all the way around. For example a carrot goes from looking like a carrot to a bullet (with a perfectly round bottom). They look like baby carrots but more uniform and peeled- and we had to do 6-8 of these to accompany our stuffed veal. We then glazed them along with peeled baby onions and a jus.
8:30am came very early yesterday and I was feeling pretty good. It was my first day back in the kitchen in a week and I was excited to be back in there. Chef Stril walked into our room and a big sigh of relief came over group B. Then he walked out. Cotte walked in. I said aloud 'today's the day I will get over my fear of him'. I just put my nose down and worked. Quickly and efficiently making the stuffing, tenderizing the veal and wrapping them together with pork back fat (gross) and using string to tie them into parcels. Chef came by and said "Bon Travaille" or good work- things were looking up!
Once they were put together (I was ahead of the curve on this one) we had to dust them in flower, brown both sides and while they were browning, prepare the braising liquid. Mirepoix carrot, onion, celery and make a bouquet garni, peel, seed and concasse tomatoes and cook. Adding tomato paste for color, armagnac for taste and browning the veggies, it was time to braise the veal. Pouring veal stock 1/2 way up the sides of the veal paupiettes and cutting out a paper lid- they were in the oven for 30 minutes.
Carrots. UGH. It took me a LONG time to get them all turned and the chef had to do one for me so I could see. You need to use the paring knife in one movement to get this shape. I cooked them and the onions, and glazed them (let them caramelize in the butter and get color), strained and reduced my jus and everything was looking good! I cleaned and warmed my plate and was adding butter to make my sauce shine and the Chef came over, looked at my sauce and gave me a high five. PARFAIT! I plated my dish and I have to say, it looked really good! I removed the fatback from the veal and had the Chef taste it. He liked it, though he said I needed to salt my carrots a bit more. All in all, he didn't yell at me- he told me I was working well and loved my sauce. My veal was braised perfectly and I was SO happy.
I cleaned my station and headed to the winter garden to wait for our next class- a conference. This was the second conference we've had and was equally as dumb as the first one where we learned to say "CHAUD" when walking with something hot. We had a fire drill in the beginning which was kind of fun. Seeing a sea of students all in their uniforms walking across the street and the ladies from the front office standing in the street with vests on to stop traffic.
We had demo after conference and we watched Chef Stril make chicken breast stuffed with chicken mousse, turned mushrooms (can't even describe those yet) and yet another cream sauce! We also watched him plate his duck terrine that had been in the fridge since Wednesday...YUCK.
Now I'm off to make the chicken stuffed with chicken...wish me luck!
A bientot!
Cleaned my station and
Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
"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
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
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