Sunday night dinner with the family...
Breakfast omelettes
A cupcake made on the iPad followed by an afternoon tea...
Showing posts with label beef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beef. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2012
#96 - But the meals go on...
Apologies for the long silence, but here are photos...not much commentary, but hope you enjoy the food...
Sunday night dinner with the family...
Breakfast omelettes
A cupcake made on the iPad followed by an afternoon tea...
Sunday night dinner with the family...
Breakfast omelettes
A cupcake made on the iPad followed by an afternoon tea...
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
#73 - Settling back in...and the end of the sabbatical?
FYI, there are no photos in this post so feel free to skip it if you want to see food.
Cooking shows
I just started watching a show called "My Kitchen Rules". For people who don't live in Australia and/or don't know what it is, it's a show where couples from the different states (and New Zealand) cook for each other and a couple of judges (I think they're both chefs). At the end of the night, the contestants give each other scores, then the judges give their scores. The couple with the lowest score gets eliminated - I'm not sure how many rounds there are.
I can't remember how much time they have to prepare - I think it's 8 hours to shop and prepare, then they have to serve people at the dinner - I think it's 12 people. Anyway - sometimes hearing them talk about the food and what they're thinking is great and sometimes not so great. There was a cringe when a couple of the guys said they were aiming for medium rare eye fillets (beef) and aiming for 66C. Um, except that's closer to well done and will be well done once you take the steaks out of the oven and they rest up. Oops. Then the chefs told them that - and they ended up throwing away the meat thermometer. I'm not sure if it was a case of they decided not to trust it or whether they blamed it for overdone steak.
Some of the judges' comments - reminded me of days in the kitchen when I felt bad for inflicting bad food on the chefs. They make some of the same mistakes we've made (although I don't think the contestants are professional chefs) and of course it's good to be reminded that sometimes a bit of bitchiness is entertaining. There's a girl they call Princess and she and her partner say the following lines:
"I don't like [insert the main ingredient of at least one of the courses here]"
"I'm expecting a lot from [contestants of the week]."
Then something to the effect that they didn't like the food with a sneer - how could it not be funny?
Watching various people's work in the kitchen was also a learning experience - messy kitchens with stuff everwhere, things not prepped (a lot of things which could have been done in advance hadn't been done. I didn't see the beginning of tonight's episode so I don't know where all the time went). Tonight's contestants said they were aiming for an hour between the starter and the main. Even though they are feeding 12 people, it makes me feel pretty good about the dinner I did for my parents (served 6). The main course hadn't been served after 2 hours...is it bad to see their meltdowns and feel better that my screwups in the kitchen weren't as bad?
Apparently there are a couple of guys who say they can cook and there are some bitchy comments in the trailers - of course the anticipation of hearing those comments makes me question the basis of such glee. Misery loves company or snotty arrogance?
Settling back in
Getting back into the regular routine has been a bit of a challenge. There's a lot of unpacking (still!) to do and the bits and pieces from London haven't arrived yet because I didn't finish one of the pieces of paperwork I needed to do - but like so many other things, is on the growing To-Do list.
Trying to get ready to cook
Some of the ingredients are difficult to get here so there has also been a certain amount of research. Chocolate is heavy! Anyway - I haven't cooked in the last few nights, but I think the first things to make will be the brioche, truffles and sable biscuits. Time to try the butter puff pastry as well - it would be nice not to have to make my own.
Photos to be provided once I start cooking again - which will be after the kitchen is organized again.
The sabbatical would be over except that I have gotten the all clear for my hand from the doctor! There's some paperwork to be done before I can take my final exams, but the end of cooking school is in sight and confirmation that I can cook under pressure. The range of movement in my hand is almost completely back and the nerves are getting better. The real test will be tempering chocolate for the truffles in the next couple of weeks.
So until next time - may everything be in its place and all things right with the world.
Cooking shows
I just started watching a show called "My Kitchen Rules". For people who don't live in Australia and/or don't know what it is, it's a show where couples from the different states (and New Zealand) cook for each other and a couple of judges (I think they're both chefs). At the end of the night, the contestants give each other scores, then the judges give their scores. The couple with the lowest score gets eliminated - I'm not sure how many rounds there are.
I can't remember how much time they have to prepare - I think it's 8 hours to shop and prepare, then they have to serve people at the dinner - I think it's 12 people. Anyway - sometimes hearing them talk about the food and what they're thinking is great and sometimes not so great. There was a cringe when a couple of the guys said they were aiming for medium rare eye fillets (beef) and aiming for 66C. Um, except that's closer to well done and will be well done once you take the steaks out of the oven and they rest up. Oops. Then the chefs told them that - and they ended up throwing away the meat thermometer. I'm not sure if it was a case of they decided not to trust it or whether they blamed it for overdone steak.
Some of the judges' comments - reminded me of days in the kitchen when I felt bad for inflicting bad food on the chefs. They make some of the same mistakes we've made (although I don't think the contestants are professional chefs) and of course it's good to be reminded that sometimes a bit of bitchiness is entertaining. There's a girl they call Princess and she and her partner say the following lines:
"I don't like [insert the main ingredient of at least one of the courses here]"
"I'm expecting a lot from [contestants of the week]."
Then something to the effect that they didn't like the food with a sneer - how could it not be funny?
Watching various people's work in the kitchen was also a learning experience - messy kitchens with stuff everwhere, things not prepped (a lot of things which could have been done in advance hadn't been done. I didn't see the beginning of tonight's episode so I don't know where all the time went). Tonight's contestants said they were aiming for an hour between the starter and the main. Even though they are feeding 12 people, it makes me feel pretty good about the dinner I did for my parents (served 6). The main course hadn't been served after 2 hours...is it bad to see their meltdowns and feel better that my screwups in the kitchen weren't as bad?
Apparently there are a couple of guys who say they can cook and there are some bitchy comments in the trailers - of course the anticipation of hearing those comments makes me question the basis of such glee. Misery loves company or snotty arrogance?
Settling back in
Getting back into the regular routine has been a bit of a challenge. There's a lot of unpacking (still!) to do and the bits and pieces from London haven't arrived yet because I didn't finish one of the pieces of paperwork I needed to do - but like so many other things, is on the growing To-Do list.
Trying to get ready to cook
Some of the ingredients are difficult to get here so there has also been a certain amount of research. Chocolate is heavy! Anyway - I haven't cooked in the last few nights, but I think the first things to make will be the brioche, truffles and sable biscuits. Time to try the butter puff pastry as well - it would be nice not to have to make my own.
Photos to be provided once I start cooking again - which will be after the kitchen is organized again.
The sabbatical would be over except that I have gotten the all clear for my hand from the doctor! There's some paperwork to be done before I can take my final exams, but the end of cooking school is in sight and confirmation that I can cook under pressure. The range of movement in my hand is almost completely back and the nerves are getting better. The real test will be tempering chocolate for the truffles in the next couple of weeks.
So until next time - may everything be in its place and all things right with the world.
Friday, December 16, 2011
#67 - (Not) Graduation and variations on a theme
The variations are not on a theme by Paganini. It's more a theme by Le Cordon Bleu London - that is to say, hygiene. Kind of. Sort of. What can I say, it's more laundry. But as usual, I've begun in the middle so must loop back to the beginning.
Good bye Dinner
On Thursday night I had dinner with a friend of one of my brothers (they of the walk in the countryside and trip on canal boat fame) - she and her partner took me to a lovely restaurant called Alba near the Barbican - really good Italian food - definitely comfort food. I took a photo of the dessert as research. As delicious as my vegetable soup and slow cooked lamb were, they weren't something I might put in an exam. Probably not the pear either, but it was good for taste, texture and potential ideas (the marscapone cream was really good - definitely on the list for a future dessert). The Alba is a family owned and operated establishment and my hostess had been going there for years. I must say that I will definitely go back - what's not to like? Small but thoughtful menu with something available for the carnivore, the vegetarian and the pescatarian (they're the ones who eat fish but not meat, right?). I was tempted to get the set menu which had a truffle dish on it, but couldn't go past the lamb.
Graduation Lunch
As of Friday, 16 December 2011, the term has officially ended for my fellows in Superior Cuisine and Patisserie - they are now chefs, some of them entitled to wear the toque at least for the last few minutes of the graduation ceremony. Today was graduation day for most of those who began this long quest to learn how to cook, improve technique and to share our love of all things food. The party was at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Much better food than what I remember being served when we had our graduation from Basic. This is the final graduating batch of Superior students from 114 Marylebone Lane. From next year, students will be taking classes in Bloomsbury Square.
It was nice to see everyone dressed up and out of their school uniforms. It appears that people dress up more for the Superior Graduation - not that I remember much from when I was in Basic (and I wasn't here for the Intermediate one) but I have to admit people cleaned up very well.
Everyone had put their best shod foot forward and you could feel the palpable air of relief, excitement and (possibly it's my imagination, but who knows?) the need to catch up on just a little more sleep after the marathon Patisserie exam a couple of days ago. Some of people said that a few problems had occurred in one of the exams and sometimes it was little but important things which just went wrong on the day. I think it's always frustrating when you have an element which normally is not a trouble maker all of a sudden causing problems on the day because it tends to throw you off your stride.
The Dorchester was very pretty - a little OTT perhaps, but then again, this was a big occasion for everyone - a culmination of a lot of work and in many cases, some blood, lots of sweat and a lot of tears. Possibly also some grumpy moments, loss of sleep and monumental self control when something didn't go right in class and continued not to go right. Yes, it is personal experience talking...
Having had so much time in class, I have to say I cast an eye over our lunch as though we were having it presented to us for tasting and judgment. Maybe not Iron Chef - but definitely consideration on a couple of levels: the first being, could I do this? (Sometimes yes, sometimes maybe...) - and the second one being, what might the chefs say if this was a dish that we were presenting to them.
So I do not have a 3 Michelin star palate - even after al this time and the incredible ingredients we used in class, I still do not like foie gras (although today I hated it less than usual). The toasted brioche was a nice touch although I observed a demonstration of someone's objection to it which is that you get this large slab of foie gras but only a little bit of bread and salad.
The menu said cannon of lamb. I thought the cannon was part of the leg but this looked more like a steak-ish type of cut. Also, it didn't taste particularly lamb-y, but maybe the tastebuds were confused by the foie gras and a piece of the toasted brioche (yummy, by the way) which had preceded it. Again, left the sweetbreads behind. I think they are considered a delicacy nowadays - certainly they seem to be trendy at the moment, both as part of the head-to-tail philosophy of using every part of the animal and as part of the offal-is-trendy-because-it-sounds-kind-of-weird-and-no-one-knows-what-it-is.
Dessert was a mocha and something-or-other parfait, macadamia nut brittle, coconut ice cream (milk ice cream?) and sauce. This one got particular scrutiny as there were several patisserie students at my table from all the levels as well as our head Patisserie chef. The students looked at it from the view of a plated dessert and Chef JW looked at it, comparing it to what had been served during the tasting (when they chose the menu) as well as technical points. The only really technical point is that a parfait is frozen, which these weren't. I thought the mousse might have been a tad heavy on the gelatine, but that might just have been me.
There was some discussion as to how well the chocolate was tempered, some people at the table having had rather recent and harrowing experience with uncooperative chocolate. Split verdict - I thought it was fine, someone else thought not and Chef JW did not weigh in with her opinion. She did observe that there are two LCB graduates who worked in the pastry team of the Dorchester and at least one of them had worked on these desserts. In any event, it tasted good and was quite pretty. They stuck the tuile and chocolate in the dome though, so I'm not sure what Chef GB thought of that - he told us particularly not to do that to our plated desserts.
I also found out one of the girls who just completed Basic Patisserie has been reading this blog - rather a compliment. I asked her how she had found it and she said it was because she had been searching for photos of the dishes we had been making in class.
Chefs!
Anyway - they made it and have the medals, papers (lots of papers) and the hats to show it.
Good bye Dinner
On Thursday night I had dinner with a friend of one of my brothers (they of the walk in the countryside and trip on canal boat fame) - she and her partner took me to a lovely restaurant called Alba near the Barbican - really good Italian food - definitely comfort food. I took a photo of the dessert as research. As delicious as my vegetable soup and slow cooked lamb were, they weren't something I might put in an exam. Probably not the pear either, but it was good for taste, texture and potential ideas (the marscapone cream was really good - definitely on the list for a future dessert). The Alba is a family owned and operated establishment and my hostess had been going there for years. I must say that I will definitely go back - what's not to like? Small but thoughtful menu with something available for the carnivore, the vegetarian and the pescatarian (they're the ones who eat fish but not meat, right?). I was tempted to get the set menu which had a truffle dish on it, but couldn't go past the lamb.Graduation Lunch
As of Friday, 16 December 2011, the term has officially ended for my fellows in Superior Cuisine and Patisserie - they are now chefs, some of them entitled to wear the toque at least for the last few minutes of the graduation ceremony. Today was graduation day for most of those who began this long quest to learn how to cook, improve technique and to share our love of all things food. The party was at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Much better food than what I remember being served when we had our graduation from Basic. This is the final graduating batch of Superior students from 114 Marylebone Lane. From next year, students will be taking classes in Bloomsbury Square.
It was nice to see everyone dressed up and out of their school uniforms. It appears that people dress up more for the Superior Graduation - not that I remember much from when I was in Basic (and I wasn't here for the Intermediate one) but I have to admit people cleaned up very well.
Everyone had put their best shod foot forward and you could feel the palpable air of relief, excitement and (possibly it's my imagination, but who knows?) the need to catch up on just a little more sleep after the marathon Patisserie exam a couple of days ago. Some of people said that a few problems had occurred in one of the exams and sometimes it was little but important things which just went wrong on the day. I think it's always frustrating when you have an element which normally is not a trouble maker all of a sudden causing problems on the day because it tends to throw you off your stride.
The Dorchester was very pretty - a little OTT perhaps, but then again, this was a big occasion for everyone - a culmination of a lot of work and in many cases, some blood, lots of sweat and a lot of tears. Possibly also some grumpy moments, loss of sleep and monumental self control when something didn't go right in class and continued not to go right. Yes, it is personal experience talking...Having had so much time in class, I have to say I cast an eye over our lunch as though we were having it presented to us for tasting and judgment. Maybe not Iron Chef - but definitely consideration on a couple of levels: the first being, could I do this? (Sometimes yes, sometimes maybe...) - and the second one being, what might the chefs say if this was a dish that we were presenting to them.
So I do not have a 3 Michelin star palate - even after al this time and the incredible ingredients we used in class, I still do not like foie gras (although today I hated it less than usual). The toasted brioche was a nice touch although I observed a demonstration of someone's objection to it which is that you get this large slab of foie gras but only a little bit of bread and salad.
The menu said cannon of lamb. I thought the cannon was part of the leg but this looked more like a steak-ish type of cut. Also, it didn't taste particularly lamb-y, but maybe the tastebuds were confused by the foie gras and a piece of the toasted brioche (yummy, by the way) which had preceded it. Again, left the sweetbreads behind. I think they are considered a delicacy nowadays - certainly they seem to be trendy at the moment, both as part of the head-to-tail philosophy of using every part of the animal and as part of the offal-is-trendy-because-it-sounds-kind-of-weird-and-no-one-knows-what-it-is.
Dessert was a mocha and something-or-other parfait, macadamia nut brittle, coconut ice cream (milk ice cream?) and sauce. This one got particular scrutiny as there were several patisserie students at my table from all the levels as well as our head Patisserie chef. The students looked at it from the view of a plated dessert and Chef JW looked at it, comparing it to what had been served during the tasting (when they chose the menu) as well as technical points. The only really technical point is that a parfait is frozen, which these weren't. I thought the mousse might have been a tad heavy on the gelatine, but that might just have been me.
There was some discussion as to how well the chocolate was tempered, some people at the table having had rather recent and harrowing experience with uncooperative chocolate. Split verdict - I thought it was fine, someone else thought not and Chef JW did not weigh in with her opinion. She did observe that there are two LCB graduates who worked in the pastry team of the Dorchester and at least one of them had worked on these desserts. In any event, it tasted good and was quite pretty. They stuck the tuile and chocolate in the dome though, so I'm not sure what Chef GB thought of that - he told us particularly not to do that to our plated desserts.I also found out one of the girls who just completed Basic Patisserie has been reading this blog - rather a compliment. I asked her how she had found it and she said it was because she had been searching for photos of the dishes we had been making in class.
Chefs!
Anyway - they made it and have the medals, papers (lots of papers) and the hats to show it.
Well done chefs!
As for my graduation, hopefully I will be able to time my finals with the next batch of graduating Superior students. This was supposed to be a year of food, but it's turning out to be a bit longer. It's been more of a year of building character - in which food played a large role. I will know more once I hear back from the Academic committe but for now, there will be photos of practice sessions (once my hand is back in shape), possibly some bitching and moaning and now I have a great excuse to eat a lot of things at a lot of places. After all, it's a chance to collect ideas for finals without trying to get too clever. It wasn't far to find a very large silver lining (a break to reorganize, get warm at home for the holidays with family and friends and a chance to see the new school).
So until next time, happy holidays - may your year end as positively as mine bids to do.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
#30 - Um, where did the time go?
Somehow the first week has gone by in a complete blur. Then the second week...I'm not sure where the time went, but here is a quick recap:
The end of June had Pithivier (right) and Mille-Feuille cake (left), both made with the Evil Puff Pastry from Hot Monday (aka the first day of Intermediate) - and I was so tired by the end of the day that I got the two mixed up on their labels when I put the photos up on Facebook.
Then we had three practicals for Cuisine - a (too salty!) pumpkin soup and Flemish style beef stew with braised endives on Wednesday, a Dover (?) sole with seafood and cream sauce on Thursday and a braised salmon fillet roulade with sole and scallop mousse, turned mushrooms and broccoli on Friday. The salmon dish, by the way, is one of our potential exam dishes for cuisine this term.
FYI, it was 39 degrees in the kitchen on Thursday and on Friday it was 40 degrees.
Saturday was a lovely day of nothing, ending with a delicious meal (Lebanese?) in Islington. I don't think I've been there before, so it was a nice little adventure. Then came Sunday and the highlight of my week - a cruise down the Thames followed by a pub lunch and a long walk in the English countryside.
Anyway, I arrived and we took the canal boat from Abingdon to...I've forgotten the name of the little town. During the trip we went through a couple of locks and I got to steer for a little while. I gave back the rudder when we approached the first lock, mainly because it required steering in a straight(ish) line and my steering had the boat basically waggling along down the river.
KTQ hopped out of the boat to push buttons to open the sluice gates or the lock gates to adjust the levels of water so that we could get into it, T had the rudder and one of the big ropes and I got to play deckhand and loop the rope around one of the things on the side of the lock while they lowered the water.
Then came week 2
There was baking - lots and lots of baking. We did various buns, pastries, more fish and for the first time, quail. Quail is a lot harder to carve once it's cooked because it's so small and you don't want to mess it up - bones aren't nice for anyone. I'm so happy that there are more vegetables on the menus this term. I'm not sure if it's because we have to work faster or if it's more advanced stuff, but depending on the day, we sometimes make a starter and a main in our cuisine classes. It will take too long to write about all the food, but here are the pictures:
Patisserie
Cuisine
I couldn't find my camera to take photos of the roast pork filet with prunes that we did the day before the quail so I don't have any photos for that one, unfortunately. They are starting to do desserts in our cuisine classes as well, hence the souffle.
Also, finally made it to the British Museum on Saturday morning. There are just as many tourists as I feared there might be, but I did get to see things I haven't seen before. Last time it was most of Ancient Egypt (the ground floor part) and part of Assyria. This time it was some of Ancient Egypt, then on to Ancient Greece and Rome with a wander through the Celtic region and Britain during the Iron Age. It's amazing how so things have survived, virtually intact, for a few thousand years. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of eeling through hordes of people who stop in the middle of a sidewalk to check their maps. You tend to run into them if you're walking quickly and then they give you a dirty look and you just have to smile sweetly and apologize.
Yesterday was bread day...I officially have bad boulangerie hands. The dough for the rye (pain de siegle) kept sticking to my hands.
No cooking today, but tomorrow it will be back to two classes in the kitchen. Wish us luck - we start going over our exam cakes next week.
So until next time, may the tourists not be with you.
The end of June had Pithivier (right) and Mille-Feuille cake (left), both made with the Evil Puff Pastry from Hot Monday (aka the first day of Intermediate) - and I was so tired by the end of the day that I got the two mixed up on their labels when I put the photos up on Facebook.Then we had three practicals for Cuisine - a (too salty!) pumpkin soup and Flemish style beef stew with braised endives on Wednesday, a Dover (?) sole with seafood and cream sauce on Thursday and a braised salmon fillet roulade with sole and scallop mousse, turned mushrooms and broccoli on Friday. The salmon dish, by the way, is one of our potential exam dishes for cuisine this term.
 |
| Braised endive with Beurre Meuniere |
 |
| Pumpkin Soup |
 |
| Braised fillet of Sole with seafood sauce |
 |
| Salmon stuffed with scallop and sole mousse, mushroom cream sauce and steamed broccoli |
 |
| Carbonnade of Beef |
FYI, it was 39 degrees in the kitchen on Thursday and on Friday it was 40 degrees.
Saturday was a lovely day of nothing, ending with a delicious meal (Lebanese?) in Islington. I don't think I've been there before, so it was a nice little adventure. Then came Sunday and the highlight of my week - a cruise down the Thames followed by a pub lunch and a long walk in the English countryside.
I was invited by a friend of my eldest brother (from their university days). There was some unfortunate miscommunication at Paddington station involving my asking for the next train to my stop, the lady (it appears) not knowing and telling me that the trains only run once an hour to that stop (they don't) and my arrival much later than originally planned.
Anyway, I arrived and we took the canal boat from Abingdon to...I've forgotten the name of the little town. During the trip we went through a couple of locks and I got to steer for a little while. I gave back the rudder when we approached the first lock, mainly because it required steering in a straight(ish) line and my steering had the boat basically waggling along down the river.
We saw lots of swans, coots which look like ducks a little, ducks and gulls with black heads. There was a cricket game going on - it wasn't over when we came back 5 hours later - and we passed by little village churches, under various bridges and past fields of wheat and barley. The wheat has already started to turn golden but the barley is still somewhat green. In the meantime, I had Sting's Fields of Gold running through my head. Until we arrived at the second lock, anyway.
KTQ hopped out of the boat to push buttons to open the sluice gates or the lock gates to adjust the levels of water so that we could get into it, T had the rudder and one of the big ropes and I got to play deckhand and loop the rope around one of the things on the side of the lock while they lowered the water.
We made pretty good time and stopped by the bridge of this tiny little village where I didn't even know which direction was the town center. We had lunch by a pub which had delicious looking food. I couldn't go past the traditional roast beef (very traditional beef!), Yorkshire pudding and some vegetables. I feel bad I couldn't finish the potatoes but we had a lot of walking to do and we were starting to feel tired from all the food.
Then came week 2
There was baking - lots and lots of baking. We did various buns, pastries, more fish and for the first time, quail. Quail is a lot harder to carve once it's cooked because it's so small and you don't want to mess it up - bones aren't nice for anyone. I'm so happy that there are more vegetables on the menus this term. I'm not sure if it's because we have to work faster or if it's more advanced stuff, but depending on the day, we sometimes make a starter and a main in our cuisine classes. It will take too long to write about all the food, but here are the pictures:
Patisserie
 |
| Hot cross buns |
 |
| Brioche |
 |
| Croissants and Danois |
I couldn't find my camera to take photos of the roast pork filet with prunes that we did the day before the quail so I don't have any photos for that one, unfortunately. They are starting to do desserts in our cuisine classes as well, hence the souffle.
 |
and braised lettuce |
 |
| Vanilla Souffle |
 |
| Roast quail with glazed veggies, potato rosti and jus |
 |
| Selle sur cher with glazed beetroot, grape and poppyseed vinaigrette |
Also, finally made it to the British Museum on Saturday morning. There are just as many tourists as I feared there might be, but I did get to see things I haven't seen before. Last time it was most of Ancient Egypt (the ground floor part) and part of Assyria. This time it was some of Ancient Egypt, then on to Ancient Greece and Rome with a wander through the Celtic region and Britain during the Iron Age. It's amazing how so things have survived, virtually intact, for a few thousand years. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of eeling through hordes of people who stop in the middle of a sidewalk to check their maps. You tend to run into them if you're walking quickly and then they give you a dirty look and you just have to smile sweetly and apologize.
Yesterday was bread day...I officially have bad boulangerie hands. The dough for the rye (pain de siegle) kept sticking to my hands.
 |
| Baguette viennoise, pain de siegle and focaccia |
No cooking today, but tomorrow it will be back to two classes in the kitchen. Wish us luck - we start going over our exam cakes next week.
So until next time, may the tourists not be with you.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
#27 - And the examining begins...
A quick rundown of the last couple of days...Had a cuisine demo and a practical on Monday. Then we had our Patisserie theory exam. I have invented a new recipe which combines the bread dough and the eclair recipe. I will not be trying it at home and I'm quite sure that the chefs looking at the recipe will probably need a bottle of cognac to get through them.
Whose stupid idea was this?
Have asked myself whose stupid idea this was and then remembered it was mine. Wit and wits have temporarily (I hope) deserted me - all I can remember are numbers and sort-of patterns/ratios. Like, short crust pastry is 2 flour to 1 butter. Sweet pastry is not quite that ratio. The sponge (Genoise sponge, not one of the other 5 or something that we've done in the last couple of weeks) is 1 flour to 1...sugar? Butter? Eggs??? Drat - have to look at it again! Luckily that practical exam isn't till Monday morning. At 8am we will be assigned our stations and exam dish which we draw out of a bowl. It would be a hat except that this is a cooking school, not a millinery school.
Still having classes!
There is no study period as such. We had class on Saturday - 8am, then again at 12pm. It was eclairs but they changed the quantities so although the ratios are the same, I can't use it to consolidate the recipe in my mind for next week. Or rather, I could, but then it would be wrong for the exam and they deduct marks for the first 9 minutes or so that you are late, then after 10 minutes, they fail you. Basic Cuisine and Patisserie are full for next term...
So Saturday we did a beef stroganoff, then eclairs in the afternoon with the pastry cream filling - yum. Too bad they are still lumpy and sad looking. On Monday it was meringues shaped like eggs and poached in a syrup and a creme caramel. No photos of the caramel - because we did it in the 2nd week (I think) of Patisserie, but also because I had a problem with mine and it was only just set as we finished class 2 hours in. There wasn't time to cool it and unmold it (it would have gone splat on the plate). Luckily there were two, so I left them for the nice porters who washed so many of our bowls and pots. Have also managed to burn my finger because it slipped when I was checking on the creme caramels in the oven. Ah such is life - as long as I don't do it as part of my practical exams, it's all good. Anyway, this picture is of the oeufs a la neige avec creme Anglaise (aka snow eggs with vanilla sauce).
Have unearthed chicken scratches in my notes where I clearly fell asleep during class and was still trying to take notes. I must have had my eyes open, no one nudged me awake and the chefs usually ask people to poke whomever is sleeping through a demo or lecture. Have found further chicken scratches in my study notes. Ability to sleep is currently only in evidence when I am sitting up with my notes. Said ability immediately departs upon trying to go to bed as evidenced by my attempt on Monday at 6:30pm following little sleep and a couple of classes, one of them rather unsuccessful. Of course as soon as I get up to study again, I will fall asleep on my chair...
People have been short of sleep and occasionally, tempers, for the past week or so. Some of them have had their eating patterns affected - even more so than usual. We are getting used to late dinners after our classes which finish at 9pm - hopefully not so many of those next term if the incoming Basic students have a similar schedule to what we had...some of the girls have said that they can't stop eating because they are stressed. Others can't eat and still others can't stop once they start, but they are too stressed to start...
No signs of Iron Chef-hood
Today was my Cuisine practical exam. I went over by 3 minutes. Our kitchen chef was counting down ("Station 3, you have 30 seconds...20 seconds...10 seconds...). I wanted to tell him that although appreciated, he wasn't helping but I was too busy trying to take a deep breath and make sure that I got something on the plate. Also he made me calm down and make sure that I plated accurately. The sauce wasn't reduced enough, not degreased none of my vegetables were cooked enough and there was a bit of disastrous knifework with the parsley chiffonade but at least I had the right ingredients and all of them on the plate. I didn't think we were supposed to brown the potatoes so I didn't. We'll see if that was correct or not. Hopefully a certificate will still come out of this.
Thoroughly demoralized by 2:33pm but I packed the chicken and took it home. I had a friend from Intermediate Patisserie coming over for dinner after her theory exam - and possibly a class, I can't remember. Had a little rebellion against French food and ended up serving smoked salmon and cream cheese to go with the baguette, although the cream cheese was in (messy) quenelles as a nod to presentation (being plan B after I couldn't get the cream cheese out of a mold neatly). Note: cream cheese can be quite crumbly and is hard to quenelle neatly. Also made some poke which I shaped with a tiny measuring cup (see the bowls). Yes, I know - the picture is blurry. Obviously my acquaintance with the focus thing on my camera is still marginal at best.
There was no time to taste anything during the exam to check for seasoning. However, if dinner was anything to go by, it should still have tasted pretty good - assuming the chefs doing the tasting don't like to have chicken with their salt. No, I don't have a picture of the fricassee, either from the exam (I can't believe I even thought there was a chance of getting a shot!) or from dinner (which we ate with rice and broccoli - to hell with glazing vegetables) but you can take my word for it that LM and I both enjoyed it.
Cannot wait until noon on Monday. For better or for ill, our exams will have finished and our classes as well. For now, we will have finished 3 out of our 4 exams by Wednesday afternoon this week, but we still have classes on Thursday through Saturday. Interestingly, we have a demo for Patisserie on Friday at the same time that we are scheduled to have our debriefing sessions with our Cuisine chefs about our exam results. I am curious to see how the school is going to arrange for us to be in two places at once...
Until next time - take a deep breath and remember - it's just food. And get some rest!
Whose stupid idea was this?
Have asked myself whose stupid idea this was and then remembered it was mine. Wit and wits have temporarily (I hope) deserted me - all I can remember are numbers and sort-of patterns/ratios. Like, short crust pastry is 2 flour to 1 butter. Sweet pastry is not quite that ratio. The sponge (Genoise sponge, not one of the other 5 or something that we've done in the last couple of weeks) is 1 flour to 1...sugar? Butter? Eggs??? Drat - have to look at it again! Luckily that practical exam isn't till Monday morning. At 8am we will be assigned our stations and exam dish which we draw out of a bowl. It would be a hat except that this is a cooking school, not a millinery school.
Still having classes!
There is no study period as such. We had class on Saturday - 8am, then again at 12pm. It was eclairs but they changed the quantities so although the ratios are the same, I can't use it to consolidate the recipe in my mind for next week. Or rather, I could, but then it would be wrong for the exam and they deduct marks for the first 9 minutes or so that you are late, then after 10 minutes, they fail you. Basic Cuisine and Patisserie are full for next term...
So Saturday we did a beef stroganoff, then eclairs in the afternoon with the pastry cream filling - yum. Too bad they are still lumpy and sad looking. On Monday it was meringues shaped like eggs and poached in a syrup and a creme caramel. No photos of the caramel - because we did it in the 2nd week (I think) of Patisserie, but also because I had a problem with mine and it was only just set as we finished class 2 hours in. There wasn't time to cool it and unmold it (it would have gone splat on the plate). Luckily there were two, so I left them for the nice porters who washed so many of our bowls and pots. Have also managed to burn my finger because it slipped when I was checking on the creme caramels in the oven. Ah such is life - as long as I don't do it as part of my practical exams, it's all good. Anyway, this picture is of the oeufs a la neige avec creme Anglaise (aka snow eggs with vanilla sauce).Have unearthed chicken scratches in my notes where I clearly fell asleep during class and was still trying to take notes. I must have had my eyes open, no one nudged me awake and the chefs usually ask people to poke whomever is sleeping through a demo or lecture. Have found further chicken scratches in my study notes. Ability to sleep is currently only in evidence when I am sitting up with my notes. Said ability immediately departs upon trying to go to bed as evidenced by my attempt on Monday at 6:30pm following little sleep and a couple of classes, one of them rather unsuccessful. Of course as soon as I get up to study again, I will fall asleep on my chair...
People have been short of sleep and occasionally, tempers, for the past week or so. Some of them have had their eating patterns affected - even more so than usual. We are getting used to late dinners after our classes which finish at 9pm - hopefully not so many of those next term if the incoming Basic students have a similar schedule to what we had...some of the girls have said that they can't stop eating because they are stressed. Others can't eat and still others can't stop once they start, but they are too stressed to start...
No signs of Iron Chef-hood
Today was my Cuisine practical exam. I went over by 3 minutes. Our kitchen chef was counting down ("Station 3, you have 30 seconds...20 seconds...10 seconds...). I wanted to tell him that although appreciated, he wasn't helping but I was too busy trying to take a deep breath and make sure that I got something on the plate. Also he made me calm down and make sure that I plated accurately. The sauce wasn't reduced enough, not degreased none of my vegetables were cooked enough and there was a bit of disastrous knifework with the parsley chiffonade but at least I had the right ingredients and all of them on the plate. I didn't think we were supposed to brown the potatoes so I didn't. We'll see if that was correct or not. Hopefully a certificate will still come out of this.
Thoroughly demoralized by 2:33pm but I packed the chicken and took it home. I had a friend from Intermediate Patisserie coming over for dinner after her theory exam - and possibly a class, I can't remember. Had a little rebellion against French food and ended up serving smoked salmon and cream cheese to go with the baguette, although the cream cheese was in (messy) quenelles as a nod to presentation (being plan B after I couldn't get the cream cheese out of a mold neatly). Note: cream cheese can be quite crumbly and is hard to quenelle neatly. Also made some poke which I shaped with a tiny measuring cup (see the bowls). Yes, I know - the picture is blurry. Obviously my acquaintance with the focus thing on my camera is still marginal at best.
There was no time to taste anything during the exam to check for seasoning. However, if dinner was anything to go by, it should still have tasted pretty good - assuming the chefs doing the tasting don't like to have chicken with their salt. No, I don't have a picture of the fricassee, either from the exam (I can't believe I even thought there was a chance of getting a shot!) or from dinner (which we ate with rice and broccoli - to hell with glazing vegetables) but you can take my word for it that LM and I both enjoyed it.
Cannot wait until noon on Monday. For better or for ill, our exams will have finished and our classes as well. For now, we will have finished 3 out of our 4 exams by Wednesday afternoon this week, but we still have classes on Thursday through Saturday. Interestingly, we have a demo for Patisserie on Friday at the same time that we are scheduled to have our debriefing sessions with our Cuisine chefs about our exam results. I am curious to see how the school is going to arrange for us to be in two places at once...
Until next time - take a deep breath and remember - it's just food. And get some rest!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
#23 - Things I don't understand about the UK...
There are a few things that have puzzled me since my arrival in London and I still haven't worked them out.
Miscellaneous
For instance, why does the deodorant/anti-perspirant need to work for 48 hours? Camping or being somewhere without hot running water and soap for a certain period of time (like my apartment when the boiler pressure turned off) is understandable. But if you are home and have access to a shower/bath - why?
And speaking of boilers - mine wasn't working the other night. It was late, it was freezing and I was tired from class. I eventually figured it out - there was a certain amount of desperation because the boiler controls both the hot water and the radiators. Also, because I cannot get into my bed when I am dirty.
Differences in language can be amusing too. In the US, saying someone is "spunky" usually refers to their personality. In Australia, it refers to their appearance, in a good way. In the UK, apparently it refers to...hm, how to put this...male bodily emissions. So not a compliment here to say that someone is spunky. There's also a whole thing on thongs, but I won't get into that. Suffice to say that between the US, Australian, South African and Hong Kong interpretations of the word, it gets interesting. The conversation in our locker room, by the way, was in reference to rubber slippers.
So - words that can cause confusion, depending on where you are:
thongs, slippers, spunky, next week (geography seems to determine interpretation). Feel free to add any suggestions to this list because I am too tired to think of any more.
Liquid soap - they have the usual arrows (one way makes the pump pop up, the other way makes it go down and you can usually lock it down). I haven't been able to make them work, so I just refill the one bottle that got unlocked (but a friend who lives around the corner) and refill that. Yes, I am not smarter than my soap pump. Who cares?
OCD is only a problem if it functions with your normal daily functioning. I haven't done the research (if you do, I will believe you as long as your source isn't Wikipedia). Anyway - I had tutorials for my Cuisine and Patisserie classes yesterday. My Patisserie mentor told me to stop cleaning so much (in response to my question as to why I am so slow in class). He said, "in the time you've taken to clean, you could have made something." Which is true - I am going to test it next week and see if I get pulled up on it.
Am very disorganized. Everything looks so organized, but it's all a facade. Nowhere is it more apparent than in the kitchen when I have neglected to collect the other 3 bowls you will need when you got the first two. It seems the chefs all have eyes in the backs of their heads. They seem to see everything (and they talk). Apparently they notice when we make 5 trips to the sink area to get various pieces of equipment.
Fashion - I think I am sartorially challenged. Spending most of my time in uniform makes for a lazy attitude towards every day dressing (I walk 4 minutes to class, change, then might go out for quick dinner with friends before coming back home). Total time spent traipsing around London in street clothes on a school day: 10 minutes - 4 hours...anyway - back to my point. During the 4 hour window, I have seen many inappropriately short skirts. A (male) taxi driver told me that is the fashion now. See? Fashion challenged - I am being told what is in by a taxi driver. So I thought I was being a granny but one of the younger girls in my course (she turns 19 in a month) also made the comment that the girls in London dress like prostitutes. Might be a bit harsh, but accurate nonetheless. If you have to keep tugging the hem of your skirt/dress down (and you don't have to lean a little to do it!) then it is probably too short, and possibly too tight.
Back to food
Somehow this week has whizzed by and I now have to update more photos.
I can't make soup...no time to take pictures of my chicken and mushroom soup (the soup wouldn't thicken...but the chicken julienne was nice) or the potato and leek (?) soup with julienned vegetables (watery soup flavorwise, but the first time my julienne was acceptable)...
Basic bread and cakes
Went a bit better. The bread tasted a bit boring but everyone I gave rolls and bread to seemed to like it - possibly because it was made with a certain something (like, I don't care as long as it's pretty).
SO & Sienna came down from Oxford to visit their friend Bernice. We managed to meet for coffee before lunch - so Sienna got to do some tasting. Evidently the madeleines have met and passed kid testing - she ate three immediately.
Then it was offal - yech. I tried them in demo and told the chef that if I liked liver or sweetbreads, I would have loved the dishes. As it was, I hated them both. So today we had to make them...I'm not sure whether I smelled the liver or the sweetbreads while we were in the kitchen, but any residual hunger I might have had from tasting the amazing sole from demo before (on the list for next week) was completely buried.
The sweetbreads (say what?) were beyond yuck - they looked like brains. Just because something doesn't have latex running all through it like in our fetal pig which we had to dissect for 4 weeks, doesn't mean that it doesn't smell bad or look good. They also feel kind of rubbery, but not firm - a bit squishy, actually. So I can make it look pretty on the outside, but this one, which was super thick, should have been cut into small escalopes, then breaded and fried. As it was, Chef E tasted the potatoes, asparagus and jus - bitter jus and the asparagus had been peeled too much...but the potatoes were good (ok, maybe I don't suck at potatoes quite as much as I thought I did).
So we finished class on time (even me!) and everyone headed to the pub for a drink. There was a deep sigh of relief as we started drinking down our various beverages (Coke, beer, Pimms...) I had run out of water during the practical so have been chugging for the last couple of hours.
De-offaling...
I took the longest shower ever - getting the feel of the greasy smoke, even if only in my imagination, took forever. Then it was scrubbing the day off before I could even think about dinner. So - the results of looking at innards for two days in a row: yes, I cooked. Yes, this is kind of an attempt at presentation, but I really couldn't be bothered. There's all kinds of fussing about to make things pretty and put them in shapes, which is fine if you are getting graded on it - or being paid lots of money to look it that way. At home, it's just more dishes to do and I have to do my own dishes - so just as soon throw it all together.
Miscellaneous
For instance, why does the deodorant/anti-perspirant need to work for 48 hours? Camping or being somewhere without hot running water and soap for a certain period of time (like my apartment when the boiler pressure turned off) is understandable. But if you are home and have access to a shower/bath - why?
And speaking of boilers - mine wasn't working the other night. It was late, it was freezing and I was tired from class. I eventually figured it out - there was a certain amount of desperation because the boiler controls both the hot water and the radiators. Also, because I cannot get into my bed when I am dirty.
Differences in language can be amusing too. In the US, saying someone is "spunky" usually refers to their personality. In Australia, it refers to their appearance, in a good way. In the UK, apparently it refers to...hm, how to put this...male bodily emissions. So not a compliment here to say that someone is spunky. There's also a whole thing on thongs, but I won't get into that. Suffice to say that between the US, Australian, South African and Hong Kong interpretations of the word, it gets interesting. The conversation in our locker room, by the way, was in reference to rubber slippers.
So - words that can cause confusion, depending on where you are:
thongs, slippers, spunky, next week (geography seems to determine interpretation). Feel free to add any suggestions to this list because I am too tired to think of any more.
Liquid soap - they have the usual arrows (one way makes the pump pop up, the other way makes it go down and you can usually lock it down). I haven't been able to make them work, so I just refill the one bottle that got unlocked (but a friend who lives around the corner) and refill that. Yes, I am not smarter than my soap pump. Who cares?
OCD is only a problem if it functions with your normal daily functioning. I haven't done the research (if you do, I will believe you as long as your source isn't Wikipedia). Anyway - I had tutorials for my Cuisine and Patisserie classes yesterday. My Patisserie mentor told me to stop cleaning so much (in response to my question as to why I am so slow in class). He said, "in the time you've taken to clean, you could have made something." Which is true - I am going to test it next week and see if I get pulled up on it.
Am very disorganized. Everything looks so organized, but it's all a facade. Nowhere is it more apparent than in the kitchen when I have neglected to collect the other 3 bowls you will need when you got the first two. It seems the chefs all have eyes in the backs of their heads. They seem to see everything (and they talk). Apparently they notice when we make 5 trips to the sink area to get various pieces of equipment.
Fashion - I think I am sartorially challenged. Spending most of my time in uniform makes for a lazy attitude towards every day dressing (I walk 4 minutes to class, change, then might go out for quick dinner with friends before coming back home). Total time spent traipsing around London in street clothes on a school day: 10 minutes - 4 hours...anyway - back to my point. During the 4 hour window, I have seen many inappropriately short skirts. A (male) taxi driver told me that is the fashion now. See? Fashion challenged - I am being told what is in by a taxi driver. So I thought I was being a granny but one of the younger girls in my course (she turns 19 in a month) also made the comment that the girls in London dress like prostitutes. Might be a bit harsh, but accurate nonetheless. If you have to keep tugging the hem of your skirt/dress down (and you don't have to lean a little to do it!) then it is probably too short, and possibly too tight.
Back to food
Somehow this week has whizzed by and I now have to update more photos.
I can't make soup...no time to take pictures of my chicken and mushroom soup (the soup wouldn't thicken...but the chicken julienne was nice) or the potato and leek (?) soup with julienned vegetables (watery soup flavorwise, but the first time my julienne was acceptable)...
More troubled soups: burned croutons on the French Onion soup because I forgot about them, and soup a bit bitter because I overcooked the onions.
 |
| French Onion Soup with burned croutons |
Beef consomme was still a little too oily and the crepes were too brown. Agh! I will never make soup!!!
 |
| Beef consomme with too-brown savory crepe |
 |
| Basic Breads: Soda bread and dinner rolls |
Basic bread and cakes
Went a bit better. The bread tasted a bit boring but everyone I gave rolls and bread to seemed to like it - possibly because it was made with a certain something (like, I don't care as long as it's pretty).
 |
| Basic cakes: Lemon cake and madeleines |
Cakes - were edible. A bit too much baking powder in the madeleines resulted in air pockets, but otherwise any stuck edges were on the side not being presented. I tasted one madeleine and a tiny edge of the cake - the one and the edge were enough.
 |
| Sienna eating a madeleine |
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| Some research: Comparing to my test eclairs... |
 |
Wouldn't you visit this store?
|
This week - more meats and stuff...
A dish to help practice butchery because my chicken fricassee was way behind schedule - where does all the time go?
 |
| Poussin with apple compote |
The poussin - had problems with potatoes. I can't cook potatoes either - this is the third time something has happened to them - I hate potatoes! and forgot to trim the drumstick ends.
Luckily JK and ML each had some spare potatoes so I could plate because mine were not cooperating. The apples were a bit tart for Chef J, but I thought they were perfect...cut through all the butter and cream. Oh well - still developing the palate (is that a good thing?)
Chef EB refused to taste anyone's liver because he had already done 3 classes worth of tastings today.
 |
| Veal liver with onions & sauteed potatoes |
I don't blame him - my one teeny taste yesterday was enough to turn me off liver pretty much forever. I can confirm that my policy of refusing to eat anything that has ever been on my dissecting table (or a variation of said item) is completely sound, along with the certain discrete exceptions (i.e. fish). So the liver was well done, as per Chef E's directions, the onions burned to a crisp and beyond repair (I checked my photos from the demo - should have stopped when I had originally stopped) and the potatoes were good except they needed more salt. Maybe everything needs more salt because we are always so hot in the kitchen that everyone pretty much sweats buckets. Yes, yes, I know - ladies don't sweat. Well, we're not ladies - we're chefs! And I defy anyone to stay cool, calm and collected (and not to sweat) when it is 40 degrees C / 100 degrees F in the kitchen with the clock ticking and the dishes misbehaving.
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| Veal sweetbreads with asparagus tips and parisienne potatoes |
De-offaling...
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| My dinner after all the awful offal |
So until next time - no more offal!
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