#43 - Cutting off feet...and wet dog smell?

(Intermezzo)
Thank goodness I tried to make a couple of things when I was back in Sydney.  They may have been partly unsuccessful and I still bear marks from mysterious sources (ok, the cut on my thumb was my chef's knife, so not a mystery) but at least I hadn't completely forgotten how to cook.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your brains...

Truffles - to set overnight

I think everyone's brain is still a tiny bit switched off.  Or it may have something to do with the fact that we started at 8am on Monday morning (which means we were in the locker rooms at 7:30 or so) and then did things with chocolates, nuts and other messy but fun things for the next 6 hours.  Well, there was a 30-minute lunch break...then we got to do it all again the next day because some of the things we made on Monday needed to chill overnight before we could finish them.  The result:  6 kinds of truffles, 6 kinds of ganache, 3 confectionary items (one of which went onto a ganache) and 3 praline things.  It actually looked quite impressive once we laid out the trays with all the goodies.  I took home 2 containers full of the things we made, which eventually made the rounds to several friends.

Cutting off feet

Deciding which ones to take home
(all of them, of course!)

When we had finished our initial allocated tasks, people help others finish theirs.  My team was lucky that our tasks seemed quite straightforward and were not time consuming (although the brittle took a lot longer than we thought it would).  One of the things I was supposed to do to help was to cut the feet off the dipped nougat.  It's when you trim off the little bits of chocolate that spread out past the base of the thing you're making to neaten them up for presentation.  EA gently reminded me I was supposed to just trim the feet, not cut off the chocolate dipping on the sides.  Whoops!  Luckily I only did that on one nougat piece and the remainder were fine.

We even finished the second day early enough to have a quick run at making the shells for our exam truffles.  Good thing we did, mine were a fail and will need lots of practice - something some of my guinea pigs are already cheering.  The good thing is that I got to figure out what NOT to do in the exam.

Seriously - start your brains.
Then first day of Superior Cuisine which started off with a bang.  Actually, it was more of a squeal as I fell up the last 4 stairs on the way up to our demo (note to self:  heeled sandals on stairs + running does NOT = good idea when caffeine has not yet been ingested).

The first demonstration was a wake-up call in working cleanly.  I'm not sure I will ever be able to work as neatly and tidily as Chef EB.  I noticed during class that my station had stuff everywhere - so now it's time to be more organized.  Although that would imply things were organized before.  Anyway - Chef EB managed to go over our course manuals, prep 3 (or was it 4???) livers for the terrine tomorrow, give us a break, then prepare and cook 4(???) mallard ducks, plate and feed us.  We students did 1 duck apiece in our practical and still managed to go a little over.  Most people managed to get satisfactory results with their dishes (my duck breast was a tiny bit overcooked and the legs a tiny bit under, carrots and duck legs needed more salt and the sauce was over reduced.  Ahhhh!!!!!  Still coming along - but will it ever arrive?  It's like waiting for Godot - and I fondly think of Doc Bassford and Doctor Gorsky from high school as I think of Godot).  Presentation needs work, but at least most of it tasted fine.  Have managed to find a loving home for one serving tonight and tomorrow will see the other serving go to another home.

Wet dog smell
You might be wondering what the smell of wet dogs has to do with cuisine if we're not actually out there hunting down our own wild ducks.  Here's the thing - apparently it's the smell of game.  It bothered most of us to a greater or lesser extent and all I could think of was large, hairy, wet dogs.  Chef DM was convinced that I must have stuffed wet dog smell up my nose.  Of course he was also teasing me about my "delicate" hands as they were covered in duck blood while I was ripping out the spongy bits left behind from the lungs when I took out the heart and whatever other things they left inside the cavity of the duck.  It took scrubbing my nails like TV surgeons do in order to get the smell off my hands.

Tomorrow is salmon steak.  Must go to sleep - things are starting to feel floaty and we have class from 8 - 6.  There's a lunch break in there somewhere, but I'm not sure I'm going to make it to ballet after school.  Monday and Tuesday were only 6 hours of class but they felt much longer.

So until next time, happy cooking.