#26 - In which studying has commenced and I have no idea what happened on what day

In which the size (or lack thereof) of British refrigerators is really brought home at last
The last post gave a tentative menu for dinner on Sunday night.  Well - my refrigerator only fits so much in it (it is rather mini) and it is still filled almost to capacity.  I had to give in and the eggs are now residing in my microwave - I expect they will be gone within the next few days.  Patisserie goes through eggs, butter, sugar and flour like nothing else I've ever known.  Of course I know a very teeny tiny bit about law (in Australia only), a teeny tiny bit about bees and...that's about it, so I suppose it's a rather limited statement.

The fridge in this photo contains 30 large eggs (63 - 73 g), 3 medium eggs (50 - 60g), 3 kgs of unsalted French butter, 2.4 kgs chicken, 2 containers of left over ganache, 3 cheeses, 2 containers of cream cheese, smoked salmon, miso paste, salad, green vegetables (not the ones for dinner) and other fridge staples.  Unbelievable - can you believe it's just one person who lives here???
I had to have a rest after I lugged home all the groceries.  I then had a quick visit with Michael and Rufus a couple of doors down.  I can't remember if it was just to say hi, but I suspect I dropped off some food - I can't remember now.  Anyway, I was tired and I needed a hug.  Rufus was kind enough to oblige me with a solution to both mini-dilemmas.  Yes, we are lying on a sidewalk - but actually, I am laying on Rufus (who has had a bath and is consequently better than the sidewalk).

The best laid plans - or perhaps not...
Things did not go according to plan.  For one thing, I never made it to the fishmonger to check out the fish and for another, I didn't use the salad that I bought at the Farmers' Market.  You might quite rightly wonder why, to which I can only say - when space is as limited as it is in my kitchen and you spend as much time as I do wondering "where did I put those blasted shallots?  I just had them a second ago!" the two hours allocated run out quite fast.  Of course if I can do it in a kitchen where I don't have enough pots and pans, my pan doesn't fit in the oven for the braising and I don't have space for mise en place (i.e. putting everything in its place) I can probably get it done in the space and number of pots allotted to each station in the kitchen at LCB.

Not one of my more clever ideas
I had this idea I would be super efficient and do all kinds of things at once and amaze myself.  Well, there was amazement, but not in the good way.  I hadn't realized quite how limited the counter space was until I had butchered my chicken on the space where I normally dry 2 glasses and a pair of chopsticks (or in this picture, where the bowl is drying). 

There was no room for all the washing up or a place to put the dishes/pots once they were washed, especially since my dishwasher chose that day NOT to work.  It is now perpetually not working and the agents, despite promises to get onto it straight away, have done their usual stellar job of...well, nothing, as far as I can tell.  Must remember to give them the benefit of the doubt - they may just have forgotten to tell me that someone is coming to fix the dishwasher.
I have no idea how long each thing took so I can't compare it against the tentative timing set out for each task.  Note that the timing didn't allow for having to wash so many dishes and pots because I was doing two practices at once.  Yes, that's correct, I tried to run through two exams simultaneously.  Luckily the fricassee wasn't too bad (no carrots because I had no room and was trying to wash pots and pans while making the meringue for the tart and chilling the lemon curd which refused to set).  Any defects in the dish are mine and on purpose due to various constraints, I swear.  Except for not having enough salt.

Not ready yet
I know I am not quite ready for either exam because I forgot a couple of crucial steps in my Patisserie run - like leaving the rice on the table instead of putting it into the tart pan when I did the initial baking (blind baking) of the tart lining.  It was in the oven, I looked at the table and then had to think why the rice was sitting there instead of in the tart case which was already in the oven, which explains why the tart kind of fell over but not why I lined it badly.  I can say that it took 4.5 hours to do both dishes though - so dishwasher breakdown notwithstanding, I kind of passed both practicals, assuming I get the lemon tart on the final.  I still have to practice the other two (tomorrow we are taking a run at eclairs in cuisine as part of making easy classical French desserts).

My verdict:  Not horrible, not great.  They all tasted pretty good, taste comprising 20% of the marks for each exam, so I have hopes of at least passing, barring any silly mistakes.  LM and MA liked dinner.

This week...
is not over yet.  It is Friday night/Saturday morning and I have to go to sleep soon.  We finished our class tonight just before 9pm - there was no way to go faster because we had to rest our dough so many times.  It was 28.8C in the Boulangerie - which doesn't sound too bad except the butter didn't like it and consequently, neither did the dough for our petits fours.  Tomorrow we have a double Cuisine Practical - Beef Stroganoff (with more julienned vegetables), a quick lunch / water break then back to the kitchens for the eclairs.  But I am getting ahead of myself here.

Evil sabayons
I forget which day we did the grilled steak.  Tuesday, I think.  Once again I had trouble with my sauce - Bearnaise (i.e. Hollandaise but with added vinegar, peppercorn, tarragon & white wine reduction) - it was too thick and then - it split on my bain marie in less than a second.  We managed to bring it back, or rather Chef J did.  I had been told the theory but this time I got to put it in practice.  Um yeah - I did it on purpose so that I could learn how to fix a split sauce...really.
Fries were "way too small, Chef" and the steak unevenly cooked. Apparently it was medium rare, our target. It still feels squishy and rare to me. I had to cook it more when I got home. LM also thought the steak was rare, so it was perfect for when she had it for dinner whichever night it was. Luckily everything tasted good, according to the tasters. I wouldn't know - I haven't been able to smell anything since Monday. Hopefully the cold will be completely gone by Tuesday - seasoning is going to be difficult if I can't smell / taste.

Lord I don't want to be one of their number
We had one day where we didn't have to cook.  I think it was Wednesday - there was a demo (it must have been the eclairs) and then the ice cream/sorbet tech class for Patisserie in the afternoon.  I had to throttle the urge to ask one of the people if she was hard of hearing - I looked for a hearing aid (or two) and didn't see any.  She is one of several annoying Americans who asks the thing the chef just said 5 seconds ago.

     Chef:  "This is called a Pate a Bombe."
    Annoying person:  "Chef, what is this one called?"

Argh!  It's called "If you had been paying attention, you would have heard its name AND how it's spelled!  And if you were paying attention, why are you making him repeat himself and killing the rest of us with irritation???  So glad your mouth works - you have demonstrated it often over the past few weeks - can you please do us a favor and also demonstrate how well it stays closed?"  Ok - rant over.  Too much?  I have stopped asking questions for others and gone back to my previous policy - ask only if I have a question that I think is or might be relevant, they have laryngitis and I think their question is or might be relevant, or they are paying my firm - in which case I wouldn't have any questions for the chefs anyway.  Am also hoping that particular person is going to stop after basic...

Anyway, have decided it is better to throttle the urge than to throttle the person.  I have a feeling that giving expression to your annoyance in anything beyond loud sighs, groans, eye rolling and banging your head against your desk or the wall would be frowned upon by the school.  Plus it would inconvenience others in class and we're not exactly blessed with lots of wiggle room in the demo rooms.  At the moment I suppose it's a good thing if you happen to be trying to squeeze your way past the cute girl/guy you've been eyeing in class.  I have been told by others that we haven't exactly been blessed in the eye-candy department, but I've been too busy taking notes and watching the chefs to notice one way or the other.  Lack of wiggle room is not a blessing when the person sitting next to you is...um - fragrant and not in the just-got-out-of-the-shower or wearing-clean-laundry way.

Practice, practice, practice...
Some friends and I got together yesterday afternoon to practice our piping for last night's class.  You'd think after all that practice, things would be fine.  Well, it worked for the others, but my chocolate was cold by the time I got around to having to pipe my continuous border and...oh dear.

Mousse phobia (Charlotte au Cassis, Mousse aux Framboises, etc. etc. - aka Sponge cake with raspberry jam, blackcurrant mousse and blackcurrant glaze)

Side view


So this (left) is what happens when your chocolate is too cold.  In addition to my problems with the mousse.  This is the second time I had a problem with my mousse - last week it didn't set.  This time the gelatine hardened and made my mix lumpy - it was going to take too long to fix - luckily the recipe was enough that there was more than enough for each cake.  Three classmates kindly donated their excess mousse so that I could finish the stupid thing and go home.  Anyway - mousse problems led to too much time doing other things and cold chocolate resulting in awful piping.  The side view is from today so the mousse has collapsed a bit, but the stripes are layers of sponge and jam, which are actually quite delicious.  I can't bring myself to eat the mousse and it doesn't help that I keep misspelling it to "mouse".

Bad pastry hands
And this brings us back to tonight and our Petits Fours Secs, so called because they were baked in small ovens.  It was really hot - somehow my dough was ok for the first time, probably because I kept my hands out of it for as long as possible.  Warm hands are not good for what we were doing, so I used my scraper as much as possible and worked on a tray that I had chilled in the refrigerator almost first thing.  Piping decoration was another story altogether but the sable biscuits (like shortbread cookies) turned out not to badly.  I can't call them cookies because Chef NH almost fell over and died in a very French and melodramatic fashion when I called them cookies.  The meringues are the lady fingers and the other little disc shaped things (the little ones stuck together with raspberry jam and the slightly larger ones with almond cream piped in the center).

Chef NH said he hopes I don't make such a mess of my chocolate piping at the final given tonight's performance.  "I think you piped more chocolate on your hand than on the batons marechals.  Show me your hand."  I refused - my hand was covered in chocolate and it was oozing between my fingers - and you lose marks for being unhygienic / not working cleanly.  I blame it on lack of sleep last night.

Sleep may be overrated but I still want it
I haven't had nightmares about food and turning, mainly because sleep has been noticeably in abeyance for the last few nights.  I think I managed a 15 minute nap this afternoon but it doesn't really make up for a mostly sleepless night.  I am more impatient (witness the annoying American above, although more people are getting pissed off at her) and grumpy.  Some of the other people seem to be taking this as a bit of a lark - I don't know what their lives are like outside of school - whether they have other jobs, whether they really want to do this - because we don't see them often.  Maybe they are just really good and nothing ever goes wrong.

I am still waiting for the day when I don't have at least one major hitch in my practicals.  Until then, I don't care about the vacations they are planning when the Chef is explaining what happens if the oven is too hot or why you have to do something a certain way.  Could we please keep the conversations down to one side conversation if you have to talk?  Thanks - that way I can try to tune you out with one ear and listen to the chef with the other.  I run out of ears soon after that...

Indications of true chef-ness starting to emerge?
Have also come to the stage where I can no longer tell you how I got which scar on which hand.  There are too many and sometimes I don't know I have a cut/burn until much later - squeezing lemons is always a surefire way to discover any open cuts.  I notice my knife kit has been getting heavier and heavier - the first indication was when it pulled me over one day before I stood up from my locker and it was over my shoulder.  Anyway, I am guessing that this bruise is from the kit...finally fading...it was quite impressive a couple of days ago.
Ok - must try to get some sleep now.  Stroganoff and then eclairs - maybe I won't need to cook dinner tomorrow night - although I still have to cook the other practice chickens...

So until next time - happy sleeping.  May your days be filled with conversations that you are interested in hearing.  Incidentally - it is too late and I am too brain dead to check grammar and spelling, so apologies for the last few posts and this one.

#25 - Approaching the end of the beginning...

I'm not quite sure how it happened but the reality of the rapidly approaching end of Basic is finally starting to sink in. I think the email from LCB confirming the spelling of my name for the certificate did it for me. That - and everyone else panicking.  I know that it's just food, but somehow that doesn't lessen the stress.  I have had to do more homework and study for this course than I ever did for law school or any other university class and there is still a much higher chance of failure than I have ever had to face before.  Everyone is tired, sleep-deprived and it has been a hard week.  Tempers are starting to flare and there is more bitching and moaning - quite justified.  Things that no one cared about much at the beginning of the term are beginning to grate as we all buckle down to study.

I haven't looked at what we are doing for next week so have no idea if it's going to be harder, but I suspect so.  We still have our full load of classes, each practice run is currently taking 30 minutes too long and we have multiple recipes to learn for Patisserie.  If we limit practices to 2 per dish (unrealistic for patisserie) that is still a minimum of 24 hours of cooking proper, not allowing for shopping for supplies which are too copious for anyone's kitchen to accomodate.  Then there's the theory to learn and I can't say, "who cares what the coagulation temperatures for various permutations of egg are?" because the dish will turn into scrambled eggs instead of whatever it's supposed to be - unless it's supposed to be scrambled eggs, but we are finished with scrambled eggs...no nightmares about food yet, but I fear they may not be far away.

Challenge for the Grand Diplomes
The 16 of us who are preparing for both sets of exams (with corresponding theory, only some of which overlaps) have stopped smiling so much in class.  Chef N told us on Friday night, "You are allowed to smile - this is fun!"  Which it is - when impending exams are not casting a cloud over our days.  No study week, as we had at university...difficulty getting the correct ingredients (guesswork on the flour, fondant is difficult to find), the equipment (enormous mixing bowls, huge balloon wisks, substituting any size ring shape for our tarts and cakes) and finding time to practice everything...have decided to imitate a sponge for the next week.

End of seafood (for now)
Anyway - quick update:  we finished seafood this week with moules marinieres (mussels steamed with white wine and vinegar) and crabe farci (dressed crab).  I never thought it possible to hear the words "too much butter" from a French chef...until Tuesday (or...Wednesday?) afternoon.

The crab and I had a bit of a disagreement.  It wasn't really awake when I lowered it into the court bouillon (basically - stock) so that was fine.  It was the getting through the hard shell which was a bit problematic.  I'm not that tall and it wasn't really possible to get the necessary leverage so I really had to whack the knife in order to cut it up.  The bruise on my hand was much more impressive the next day.

However, I finished the dish - take that, stubborn crab!  Also - it was the first time we used our cleavers.  Not the sharp edge of the blade, but rather the flat side - to crack the bottom of the shell so that we could use it for plating.  You can't tell from the picture (and I managed to kind of hide it from the chef) but I broke part of the shell, which is why I had to put 3 lettuce leaves and tomato petals...to support the broken part of the shell and shore it up while I was stuffing it.

Incidentally, those tomato petals are an excellent way to put tomatoes in sandwiches.  I always hated how if you packed a sandwich in the morning, the tomato would make the bread soggy by lunch time, even with copious amounts of mayonnaise or avocado "to creat a barrier between the tomato and the bread".

Next week we have to make a bearnaise (hollandaise sauce with added herbs) to go with the steak.  Remember when I said that I was sure that hollandaise, in some guise, would return?  Yup...and I found out that the students doing the Cuisine stream who were doing the bearnaise on Friday night were responsible for the massive shortage of eggs.  We ran out of eggs for our patisserie class - we needed them for our cakes and for the mousses and the patisserie recipes are already reduced to the bare minimum.  The Cuisine students who messed up their sauces restarted them - but since they used 2 - 3 egg yolks per recipe (whole recipe) and they did more than one, they needed extra eggs with a corresponding shortage for those of us baking and mixing upstairs.  Maybe it's time to start putting a dozen eggs into my utensils bag...

More sponges - and gentle intro to chocolate...
Then it was on to cakes - the Gateau a la Foret Noire (Black Forest Cake) - my first flat sponge...overworked batter so it came out really dense - NOT what we were aiming for.  The chocolate work went a bit better although - you have to be fast.  Some of the stencilling didn't come off because I hadn't worked that patch while it was still warm enough.  Not great, but not horrible.  We happened to go past a pub in search of dinner after class and I didn't want to schlep the cake in the big box, so I gave it to the first person who asked.  Some man who was very excited for the cake (FYI, the box was cardboard and he couldn't see inside).  Little did he know...

The next day (Friday) was our first Charlotte au Chocolat (Chocolate Bavarois encased in light chocolate sponge).  I didn't have the right sized piping tip so any inaccuracies in piping are a lot more apparent - too thin and the cake snaps (like mine did) so you have to make a join and repair it.  Making the bavarois, which is like a mousse except you lighten it by adding whipped cream, has been added to my ever expanding list of things to practice.

For the moment I am concentrating on getting through the next 11 or so days.  We have classes straight through and next week we do truffles in Patisserie.  I forsee many, many days of laundry - cocoa powder tends to stick and chocolate spatters are a lot harder to hide on a white uniform than a dusting of flour or a deluge of milk.

Hopefully today I will make it to ballet class - adrenaline gives a boost to our days as exams approach and the amount of what we have to know sinks in more each day.  The theory is starting not to be so much fun (chocolate is more fun to play with than to learn temperatures for) and I need the activity to clear out my mind...wish me luck, it's the first class this month.  Somehow May has just whooshed by - so much so that I called to wish my niece a happy birthday earlier this week.  Except her birthday is in June!

Well-aimed kick
Tonight I have arranged for a couple of friends to come over for dinner.  Knowing that I have promised to make dinner and they have set aside time to come over is the necessary impetus to make me practice.  I have found reasons to postpone for the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully my lemon meringue and the chicken fricassee will only need one or two practice runs to get the timing right so that I can focus on the others this week.  It's so much easier to learn a recipe when you make it, rather than just sitting and rote learning it.  More delicious when it comes to tasting too...and since we have a max 2.5 hours for all the patisserie, there's also a set amount of time for the practice - going over is not an option because otherwise your kitchen chef (apparently) screams at you to get it done and if you still don't - well, basic is full for next term and visa conditions require that you remain enrolled in your course in order to remain in the country...see where this is going?

Right - must run. Time for a coffee and my grocery shop so that I have time to get set before class. Then it's cooking time - on the menu for tonight - ahi poke (if I can find acceptable fish), mixed green salad with vinaigrette, chicken fricassee with potatoes, carrots, zucchini and baby onion (and possibly rice, since this is my first mini-Hawaii Club in London dinner) and a lemon meringue tart. 

Hawaii Club in London
LM has agreed to give me feedback on the tart as she did this 3 months ag0, although she didn't get the tart on her final.  She got the choux pastry (eclairs) - and of course it was the one for which she wished she had had more practice.

MA and I have started discussions regarding the charter for our multi-national LLC (to be incorporated in Delaware).  We haven't told LM yet, but I think it should be broached after dinner - maybe over the tart.  Not sure about the IRS position, we'll need to check out non-profit status (currently considering UN model but will need to defer to MA's experience and knowledge).

Light at the end of the first tunnel
Am looking forward to the time between end of exams and graduation (22 June 2011) - haven't booked any flights yet, but hoping to get a last minute one to Manhattan to visit friends.  The Columbia alumni in Sydney are also hoping for me to go - they have a shopping list for the alumni store!

Thank you
Somehow I have found out that there are more than 8 readers, which came as a bit of a surprise and for which I am very grateful.  I trust you find the occasional flash of humor in these posts and sources for entertainment.  I am not allowed to give recipes, but if you ever have a question, please ask.  If I don't know it (and chances are that I won't, but you never know) then I know who to ask.

So until next time (which might be after exams! I have a lot of reading, studying, flashcards to do!) I wish all of you well and look forward to (hopefully) giving an account of triumph over the clock.