#79 - more cooking...

Almost back to basic
This morning was my first practical (that I was scheduled to take) in over 3 months.  New kitchen, new policies, a huge fridge that I need both hands to open after firmly planting both feet, finding the foil, the aluminum cups, the greaseproof paper...and finding out 2 hours into a 2.5hour practical that I get to use all four burners on my stove.  It was almost like the first or second practical back in basic where we were all looking for things, only in my case, I was the only one doing it.


Better than yesterday when I kept going back towards the boulangerie after getting things from the washup area, only to go running past the door I needed and towards the emergency escape. Hopefully that's not some Freudian thing.


Cooking again (or, Picking Up Where I Left Off)...
So 8am today, I got my station kind of set up then gloved up.  We had to take apart a dover sole and I didn't want to smell like fish all day.  It took a little while longer to fillet and skin the fish than I would have liked - I'd like to blame my knife (I hadn't sharpened it properly in a while) but I'm afraid it's just being out of practice.  The good thing is the induction burners work really well.  The bad news is that I am getting used to them so I was either boiling things over (the crayfish water for blanching, the sauce after I added the cream) or they weren't really going (the champagne sauce was under reduced so still a bit too acidic from the champagne).


This was the last practical I did before injury back in November so I really am picking up where I left off.  The sauce stayed in the timbale this time and although it seemed to leak everywhere when I initially unmoulded it, it looked fine once Chef JB took it apart.  I have a feeling he might have been lenient on the grading today - or perhaps he was making allowances for my being in an unfamiliar kitchen.  It looks easy from the outside when you just look, but if you have to actually put your hands on a cutting board, it's no longer by the washup area which is shared by 3 porters, who actually do the washing up for both kitchens on the various levels.


The super good thing is that there is a lot more equipment.  Cuisine kitchens have maurices (silicon spatulas) again.  We have a lot of little pots to strain our sauces into when we are finishing and holding them for service.  and the 4 burner thing?  The others have had a chance to get used to it, but I almost didn't know what to do with myself, having so much space.  Tomorrow will be a chance to get organized because we have our mock exam the next day, so I have to review my knife kit and take out anything extraneous, then ensure all my blades are sharp and ready to go.


There's also a little downtime over the next couple of days.  There are a couple of blocks of time which are not relevant to me because they are for feedback for the students who have been here for the entire term.  I also have a chance to get rid of some of my ingredients because everyone is getting ready to try their desserts.  For the Grand Diplomes, the plated dessert portion of the final Patisserie exam is probably the most stressful thing because we have to make up our own recipes and methods (or adapt from things we learned previously) and there are multiple components.  The result is a group of people who freak each other out over various things - I'm sure some of them are silly, but it's hard to see that when you're in the middle of it all.  We all had a chance to discuss, bitch and moan between classes - there's a cafe with both indoor and outdoor seating.  And of course, I've already told you the food and coffee is good.


Tonight was dinner with UP.  Jamie's Italian on Threadneedle Street.  I'd write more but I'm so tired I fell sleep for a while when I was trying to complete the preceding sentence.


Tomorrow is a demo only, so hopefully I'll be able to post photos of the pigeon.


So until next time, good night.

#78 - How many pilots does it take to fly an A380?

I was waiting to board the plane when I saw 4 men walk past in what looked like pilots' clothes.  It could be that there was a navigator or a first officer (I don't know if he does any of the flying) or a couple of co-pilots - ages ago a pilot said it took two co-captains to take the place of a captain.  Anyway, I was wondering why they needed 4.  Maybe a couple were relief crew?  It was a 7hour 55minute flight to Singapore, then a 14hour flight to London.

Safely back in London

There was a moment of panic at the airport when I said something about a visa.  Note to self:  let the immigration guy do all the talking.  We managed to get my wording sorted out and he, not wanting to look through an entire stack of documents, looked at 2 pieces of paper, then sent me on my merry way.  You can bet if I hadn't had all the other papers, he would have wanted to see them.  Oh well, better to be over-prepared...

Had to run some errands before heading back to LCB - my first time at the new campus, so my camera was charged and ready to go.  Oh, and I had to get directions.  Lots of little things to do and I saw the amount of stuff I left at my friend JB's place - goodness there's a lot!  Luckily the largest box was full of supplies and ingredients and part of the smaller box had my uniforms.


So the first class was a demo - fun demo - it was the last dish I did back in November before I burned my hand - the practical is tomorrow morning at 8am - back to fish mongery (to be precise) and killing crayfish first thing, then a champagne sauce.  The champagne sauce was good and so was the crayfish one, but the dover sole wasn't my favorite that day.  Maybe because I'd been travelling for so long it was hard to tell which way was up.


30 hours of travelling then having to stay awake for another 15 hours was enough to make anyone pass out at the oh-so-partying-hard hour of 9pm.  You'd think that would help one sleep, no?  Well yes - for three hours anyway.  I was wide awake at midnight and didn't get back to sleep until sometime between 4 - 5am, then awake again early in the morning.  I was pleased to find out the cafe at school opens at 7am...except I didn't go in the side entrance and spent several minutes fighting with the biometric scan which actually doesn't turn on until 7:15.  Yes, they have biometrics - they scan in your fingerprint which opens the gates to admit you to the locker rooms and kitchens.  Um...they have reset my fingerprints several times - index, thumb...I was tempted to give the scanner the middle except that probably wouldn't have worked.

Our new digs are in Bloomsbury Square - opposite some enormous building which looks like it could be a museum or an academic institution of some kind.  I got there early enough to see the milk and other dairy delivery.  I'm not sure if it's a daily thing, but wouldn't be surprised if it were.  I love the idea that it's cold enough that they can leave the milk outside and that it's delivered daily.  There's something so anachronistic about it.


Luckily the cafe still gave me the student discount even though my finger didn't scan - probably because no one would wear the uniform as a fashion statement.  The time difference was sufficient that I actually ate breakfast - and the croissant was still a little warm from the oven.  What can I say, coffee and croissant are definitely worth waking up early.  It's nice to have the cafe - the breads look good and I can attest that the croissant is excellent.  I haven't tried the sweets, but they resemble some of the ones we made for the Superior Tea Party so I'm not really in a hurry to try them, although some of the banana bread type things would be nice to take over to people's houses or good with tea.  Or both.  Why choose if you don't have to?

First practical
I feel like I got started on the wrong foot today.  I got caught with my coffee mug in class (although I had it more for the fact that it was a warm drink which helped with a vicious cough, rather than because I didn't care about not having a hot beverage in class).  Then a surprise:  Chef JW expected me to take part in class from 8am this morning - blown sugar and a few other things.  I was under the impression that I would be watching only (so said my schedule), which was why I didn't have my knife kit or any equipment with me other than my uniform - the uniform being required if you are going to be in the kitchen.  My mistake - I got the knife kit and participated in the second session - a run through of the sugar centrepiece for the final exam, for which I am very grateful.  Verdict:  need a lot of work, but today was the last day of my group's sugar module so I have some catching up to so.


The photos...not so good.  My notes are somewhere between London and Sydney so I had to try to remember things.  The sugar sculpture is literally 3 ingredients:  sugar, water and glucose.  I just couldn't remember exactly when the glucose was supposed to go in.  The induction stoves are amazing - they heat up really quickly.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing:  good because you don't sit there forever, waiting for the sugar to get to the right temperature.  Bad because you could turn your back for a second and the sugar is all of a sudden much too hot (about 10 degrees too hot, although somehow I managed to save it).

I thought the sugar would be ok, but...well, not so much.  I got some good feedback, constructive criticism and a few useful tips, but it just makes me realize just how much I lost by being out of it for so long.  Perhaps I should have repeated Superior after all, but I didn't have the energy to sustain such a pace nor was my hand strong enough to handle it.  But back to the sugar - it was very plain - so much so that it showed all the flaws in the piece.  There was no movement and the whole thing just didn't look very good.  You forget all these little things (like a support for the backdrop) and try new things (which resulted in not having a very good color or assembly of the sculpture in general.  Someone asked me if I had to do the sugar piece for the exam - I'm guessing they asked because of the accident last term.  I told them it wasn't optional.


My group then had a cuisine practical - I didn't go because I had missed the demo for it last week.  I suppose I could have done it but I was a bit done in and I still had to prepare for tomorrow's class.  I decided I'd give the cafe another try - lunch.  This is cream of mushroom soup with croutons.  I assume the green on top of the soup is drizzled olive oil.  The bread which came with the soup wasn't very good though, so I ended up leaving it.  Notes are done and I feel a little more organized for tomorrow morning's class.  It's now a decent hour to go to sleep, so off I go to the land of Nod.


Apologies for any errors in this post - it's late enough that jetlag is making my thoughts extremely silly and disjointed.


So until next time, may you be free from misunderstandings and miscommunication.

#57 - Sugar, fish, lights, action!

Long day Wednesday
Wednesday was Day 2 of sugar in Patisserie.  I got so used to Patisserie being late sessions (3 - 9pm) that I completely misread my schedule.  I want to say it was because I was on painkillers, but that would be untrue.  On the other hand, although I was still (mostly) in bed at 11:45am, that was more due to the fact that I was trying to get my back into working order.  Back spasms are kind of inconvenient when you have to push, pull and carry things.  Anyway - got a text from one of the girls in class - I was late!  Major rushing (also not good with bad back) and staggered into class.  Managed to finish the bow and ribbon, but I think I didn't pull the sugar enough.  For whatever reason, I didn't cool it enough before I put it together, so the ribbons looked ok when I put them together.  A few minutes later, however...


Then the centrepiece.  A second try - I tried out a couple of things, quite unsuccessfully.  I say unsuccessful because the second try turned out worse than my first try.  Also, I managed to drip some sugar on myself - a couple of burns on my fingers.  The blister on my middle finger burst in class on Friday morning while I was cleaning my knives.  The other one is still on my pointer finger, so we'll see how cleanly they heal.


Wednesday afternoon was the official ceremony to turn on the Christmas lights for Marylebone Village.  I was in class during the time when the street was closed off, but the lights were on when I was on my way home.  I must admit that any Grinch-like tendencies which normally want to rear their heads around this time of year have been quiescent - mainly because lights at nightime are pretty, regardless of the time of the year.  They are just more effective at the moment because the sun sets before 4:15pm so it's pretty dark by the time we get out of class and head home after 9pm.  No Christmas music yet (thank goodness) but the lights, the cold wind at night and breathing air which feels cleaner because of the drop in temperature all help alleviate any slightly depressed feelings that might otherwise make us a little more like Scrooge rather than Tiny Tim.


Cuisine Thursday...
Normally they give us a little leeway when plating now.  I took this to mean that the spinach could go the plate the way I wanted - as a swirl instead of a quenelle.  Apparently not.  I presented my plate and Chef FJ said "funny."  What do you mean?  "Funny plate, funny quenelle, funny lemon...are you feeling all right?"  When a teacher says they can tell you are tired and sore - that's not a good thing.


So the dish - halibut grilled...with Bearnaise sauce and other stuff.  I gave my fish to Chef P in the production kitchen.  I didn't give him the Bearnaise sauce because it was too light in texture (and I hadn't cooked the sabayon well enough at the beginning so I had to fix it by cooking another yolk / sabayon), but at least it tasted ok.  The potato is supposed to look like a rose but having to slice pieces that thin and long, like an apple peel, almost caused a nervous breakdown in class.  Apparently the potato rose tends to do that to people.  The potato is slippery, the peel gets oddly shaped and breaks off in short pieces which makes it hard to fasten into a rose.  Then when you cook it, it expands a bit - great if well assembled, but otherwise it falls apart or looks like mine.  It's supposed to be crispy outside and creamy/soft on the inside of the rose.  The centre was ok but something was wrong with the outside, I just can't remember what.


Then we had our wine tech class. It was the Patisserie wine tech (dessert and wine pairing), which means sweet and sticky wines. I like the flavors much better but generally this is also where we run into fortified wines. Even with the (inelegant) spitting, my ears still got really hot. Good thing it ended a little early so that I could actually get to the theatre in relatively good repair.


Chicago!
Tursday night capped off a slightly crappy practical with a show in the West End - Chicago, in case the heading to this section didn't tip give it away.  It was at the Garrick Theatre, near Leister Square.  I was expecting something like Broadway but this was almost more like off-Broadway.  Some of the singing was good and some of it mediocre (America Ferrera, of Ugly Betty fame, was Roxie Hart) - oh dear..her voice isn't bad but there were a few spots where I couldn't tell what the tune was.  She can carry a tune, but it's like she dropped it for just a couple of notes here and there.  Quite an entertaining show - I'd only seen the movie before - and the staging was great.  I loved having the characters move around the orchestra / band which was sitting up on stage, as a part of the set.


Thoroughly corrupted?
Afterwards I wanted something sweet.  Very unusual, I'm not normally a big sweets person.  My parents would be surprised by this picture.  I was a bit shocked - at the size of the ice cream thing whose name I've forgotten.  Something to do with chocolate.  Anyway, managed to get LM to have a teeny, tiny taste.  Pretty good for that time of the night, although it wasn't something that I could finish on my own.

Friday - Breakfast of champions?
We had an 8am demo on Friday morning. The practical which corresponds to this demo is our mock exam next week. Similar (but not same) conditions during the mock exam. In the meantime, Chef FJ prepared a standing rib roast, a Bordelais sauce, some mushrooms and mac 'n cheese.  Let me just say, normally I hate blue cheese. There is now an exception to this rule, which is gorgonzola in mac 'n cheese. I think they did something like this at some fancy restaurant - Ducasse? - although of course they call it by it's proper name, macaroni gratin. Anyway - wow! I don't think I can post pictures from demo because I don't have permission from the school or the chef, but I have the recipe so it's definitely on my list to make at some point in the near(ish) future.


Our dish for that day's practical was a Dover sole and crayfish timbale.  It was a fish mousse, blanched crayfish and crayfish sauce encased in a fillet of sole, served with more crayfish sauce and a champagne sauce.  Maybe it's because I don't drink, but I could really taste the champagne in the sauce so I put in butter at the end to soften the alcohol.  The result:  "too much butter".  Then Chef JB looked around and asked if he had just said there was too much butter.  We couldn't believe it - on the other hand, it wasn't that the sauce was super buttery (it kind of was, but I don't eat much butter at home either) - his objection was that he couldn't really taste the champagne.  I had put some aside to add at the end but didn't, so I added the reserved champagne and asked him to taste it again (marking was over).  Nope, still too buttery.

Then it was a bit of a hurry because I had dinner plans with MD.  We were going to meet for drinks in Gerrard Street, then head to dinner in Chinatown where her man was going to join us.  But first, the fish, mousse and crayfish needed a home.  I went to my go-to guys and even got a little cuddle.  Apologies for the school uniform - Michael had himself a little laugh but I felt so disgusting and sticky after cuisine, I couldn't bear the thought of changing into my civvies without having a shower first.  Not even the croquembouche decoration helped because it was quite a warm day so we didn't cool down much between end of cuisine and leaving school altogether.  Having seen Chef NH in action, I can only see how far we all have to go before we could even begin to look as smooth as he does when he works.

Harder than it looks (or else any monkey could do it) - aka guess the chef

It's actually like that with all the chefs.  Somehow they make it all look so easy, then we go to class and things fall to pieces.  People forget about the sugar ("Geraldine, I see blue smoke!  Who's burning the sugar?" or "The monkey used scisseaux to cut that.  I don't remember the monkey tearing the foil."  Or "I didn't say it was easy.  I didn't say a 2-year old could do it, did I?"  to which the reply was "No chef - you said a 5-year old could do it with one arm tied behind his back.")  Sometimes we forgot other things ("you can't pour the sugar on the side - you can't get it out")  In any event, it always seems that the thing which looks so easy in demo then is super fiddly in practical.  Occasionally it can make you want to throw the stupid potato across the room.

I'd write more but I have been falling asleep for the last 2 paragraphs so it's time to get some sleep.  so until next time, patience, Grasshopper!