Continuation to Culinary School

So, its been quite a bit since I don´t follow my blog, but I will be posting past blogs from school, and start from there on.

 

So, after poultry butchery, we started the fish week. It was very challenging going back to school after thanksgiving break and having to grab a giant crab and a lobster.. alive. Me and my partner decided each one should grab one, so I’m standing there with all the crabs alive, and my heart is beating so hard, I thought it was going to come out of my body, making me drop the crab and having to chase it all over school. Everybody was just grabbing theirs and I just stood there, until luckily my partner noticed and helped me. My partner that week, helped me push my limits to start thinking ahead, and learning to always keep thinking what was the next step. We had fish menu development, so we got together a day before to plan ahead, and even met that morning before class, to go through everything. It was challenging knowing what Chefs expect from us, that day, we received very different feedback for our dishes, either too high, not too high, too light… So we decided to change at the last moment our last dish, which came out to be the one with the best feedback.

Seared Tuna with Avocado-Ginger Puree: too feminine…?? !

As a higly supporter of gender equality, would someone please rationally explain to me what is a too feminine dish?

Charcutery week was amazing, I did something I never believed I would do… debone parts of a pork and a lamb. The last time I ordered lamb I could not eat half of it, just remembering when I deboned one, but I am positive I will get over it.

We also had three days at the farm, the most interesting thing was learning about bees, and how complex their life cycle is. I have always had some sort of fear being near them, so those 5 minutes being in their hive, were amazingly indescribable, it was hard to pay attention, just thinking I was overcoming that fear and being around thousands of bees all over me – not exaggerating… really.

All the pictures, I’ve been posting on my instagram have been of all the nice dishes I’ve made, but not everything turns out as beautiful to post. On charcutery week, I burned my tourtiere. I might need to buy a timer.

So to all my friends who were dissapointed about me not eating tacos again, I am a little bit sorry, but I will still eat them, how couldn’t I? 

 

The Start of My Culinary Career

First day of school, we start with introducing ourselves, and getting to know the chefs. In class, there is from high school graduates, to people like me, who are going through their second career. As mentioned in my last post, first day of school, and first quote from Chef  WELCOME TO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, and I start to panic because I have no formal cooking experience.
I love cooking and love mostly sharing it with family and friends, so I truly believe is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

End of week three at school, and I am thinking how many skills I have learned this days, from knife cutting techniques, kitchen cleaning and organization (which will make my home cooking way much easier), to techniques like pan searing, difference between purees and creams, learning how to do consommes, clear consommes, let me repeat that, VERY clear consommes, the composition of canapes… and most importantly doing gnocchis (YUM! I am never buying packaged gnocchis again).  Week 1 passed by with no knife cuts (YAY for me, Knife 0 – 1 Me). End of week 2, I had knife cuts and burns, which is fun by the way. (Its funny now, wasn’t before). I also learned how to de-bone a chicken, which was very challenging and interesting (just the thought of it, was freaking me out) Now I cant wait for meat butchery days! Oh, and farm days, I am very interested in learning more about farm to table.

I still need to improve a lot of things, like my confidence when cooking and following instructions or recipes, my speed and having in my head very clear what is the next step, knife cutting (I need to be consistent with the size, I am still practicing). Anybody out there need diced carrots? I have a lot, by the way! Besides the language challenge, I have the challenge to learn more about herbs and species that I had never used or heard of before. I am very thankful to my classmates and chefs, who all have been very kind, when I have questions, or only need reassurance of the following steps, and some quick feedback on how I am doing.

Who said that eating a salad is boring??

A brief summary and pictures of my first Composed Salad:

Buckwheat cracker (dehydrated buckwheat grains) with a mesclun (green mix), orange and lime segments with chickpeas, diced cucumbers, peeled tomatos, arugula, alfalfa sprouts, apple, cooked yellow beet and toasted pecans.  As a garnish: biased green onions, and fried tomato peel.

What is a Composed Salad?

What differentiates a composed salad from a simple green salad is that you always want to have the following: Mix of greens, a vinaigrette, some kind of protein, vegetables (which could be raw or cooked) and fruits (pickled, raw, dried, macerated)

Advantages of using tomato peel: no food waste, excellent taste, gives your plating a good texture, and most importantly free money. (Just because it was something you were going to throw away)

PS. KITCHEN TIP > Did you know that instead of wasting your money and buying sanitizer you can make your own? Just 1 part bleach and 3 parts water, can also add a teaspoon of baking soda or white vinegar. #kitchentips