final

Do you remember taking finals in college right before winter break? Do you remember (despite your grade) that HUGE sense of relief and excitement that washed over you as you walked out of the room from taking your last final?  It was an awesome feeling...I mean AWESOME!!  All of the hard work, long hours and studying had come to an end.  But all of the fun, traditions, and merriment of the holidays were waiting right there.   I have found this feeling to be totally unique to this setting.  And I'm sure it had something to do with the timing of the exams, the holidays and extended break.  Sure, I have felt relief and accomplishment after completing long, complex projects at work (back in my working days)....but I have always said it never measured up to the feeling I got when I completed finals in college right before Christmas.  In fact, I remember feeling kind of cheated in my working days that THAT feeling was gone.

Well, Christmas came early for me this year...I got to feel THAT college exam feeling all over again this week.  Sure, I felt the exhaustion-butterflies-and oh my goodness, I may vomit from nervousness feeling too - but it was totally worth it.

As you can guess, I took my culinary final a few days ago.  There were three parts to our final: a written exam, a timed knife skills test and a cooking exam.  The written exam would account for half of our final grade, and the knife skills and cooking exam would account for the other half.

We were told to study our homework, lecture notes and textbook for the written exam.  It would be about 40 - 50 questions ranging from multiple choice, true/false and fill-in-the blank.  Early last week I sat down to review some chapters in the textbook - I fell asleep while reading.  Clearly, I had to relearn how to study - which makes sense, as it had been almost two decades since I had taken an exam.  I like to write...I mean physically write things down with a pen and a piece of paper.  My life is made up of lists.  Ah yes, I remember now...I retain information by writing it down.  So, I spent the next several days writing thorough, beautiful notes for each week of lessons (you know, I should save these notes and offer them to the highest bidder for the next semester of CP1 students...just kidding).  And then I spent a couple more days reviewing my lovely notes.  On Monday afternoon I had reached the point where I either knew the material for the written test or I didn't...nothing else was getting in.

The knife skills test is going to sound SO much easier than it was.  But give it a try for yourself and you'll quickly see my point.   You see, I thought it sounded easier than it was too.  I have been practicing knife skills since the first day of class on September 5.  As we got closer to the final I started practicing the finer cuts more often.  I really focused on getting the each cut precise.  For the test, we would have to julienne a potato (1/8 x 1/8 x 2), brunois a carrot (1/8 x 1/8 x 1/8), and small dice an onion within 5 minutes.  I felt that I was doing pretty well during my practice....and then I decided to time myself.  I sucked!!!  It was so much harder than I thought it would be.  On my first timed trial I only got through the potato and part of the carrot - major suckage!!!  I cut so many carrots, potatoes and onions this past weekend trying to improve my speed without totally screwing up my technique.  I improved, but I also made peace with the fact that this would be the weakest part of my exam (well, hopefully).

Chef gave us the details of our cooking exam about two weeks in advance: fabricate a whole chicken, roast a skin-on, bone-in breast, grill two legs, fry two wings, saute a skinless, boneless breast, braise two thighs, saute mushrooms, cook glazed carrots, cook simmered rice, cook rice pilaf, and prepare macaroni and cheese using a bechamel sauce...and no recipes.  The test was totally about technique.  Mystery Basket class was for creative flavoring, not our final.  He wanted perfectly cooked food.  It felt weird to have this information in advance, but I kind of think Chef wanted to see if we would do something with this advance info or would we just show up to the final and figure it out on the fly.  Table 3 took full advantage and quickly divvied up the dishes, devised our timeline, and made our mise en place list.  With three of us at Table 3, no one had a lot of dishes to prepare and we had at a little more than 3 hours do to it in.  The only tricky part was that the dishes had to be presented in certain blocks, but even that wasn't a big issue.  Each of us spent the week prior to the final perfecting our dishes.  I roasted many chicken breasts taking notes with each attempt on temperature, time, and doneness - and repeat.  I did the same drill with the pilaf and carrots.  I had these dishes down - in my kitchen, on my stove, in my oven - now it was time to see if I could do it in the school's kitchen where the stove area is claustrophobic, I can't reach the back burners, people are always opening the doors to the ovens (which isn't helpful when you are cooking food in those ovens), the burner heat is either off, high or hotter than high, and where people will move your pots right off the stove (this is never done maliciously, but it's still a pain in the....).

I felt really good during the written exam.  I came across a few tricky questions, but for the most part, I knew the answers.  Chef showed us our grade for the written test at the end of class...I got a 98.  I was super excited, but I also felt a teeny, tiny bit disappointed - but just for a split second. I know that sounds silly and I am slightly embarrassed to admit it.  I never thought answering all of the questions correctly was within reach going into the test.  But I only missed two questions...I was so close to a perfect score and for a kind-of-crazy-type A-perfectionist like me coming that close to a perfect score came with a touch of disappointment.  But I got a 98 and I'm shouting that from the rooftop with pride!!!

I survived the knife skills test.  I didn't cut my fingers, so that was good.  I got my knife on each product and produced a sample of each cut, but I did not finish cutting any of the vegetables.  Chef knew that most of us wouldn't finish within time, so he encouraged us to at least get a sample of each cut.  The cuts I made were good...I was pleased.  I'll keep working on the speed.

And now for the cooking portion of this program...Chef looks, smells, tastes and shares his feedback whenever we turn in food.  But tonight he warned us that he would evaluate our food without saying anything to us...SUPER INTIMIDATING!!!!  Aside from that, the evening went quite well.  I took a few precautions to help ensure there weren’t any “hiccups” like labeling all of my pots and using a still oven which no one ever uses.  I was crazy organized.  Table 3 worked great together as always - checking in on one another, sampling each other's food, offering assistance when needed - I just adore my table!  Everything went smoothly cooking my dishes, but I had no idea what Chef thought of them.  Our feedback would come in the form of our grade that would be available online the next day.  Hmmm....I wanted more feedback.  I have been trying to be less focused on my grade and more focused on my learning, so this form of feedback wasn't helping my effort.  And I truly cared more about what Chef had to say about the food I made than the darn grade at this point.  So, I waited until class was over and most everyone had left and I asked for some specific feedback.  I mostly wanted to hear about the chicken, because it is so hard to gauge whether it is cooked properly or not.  You can't taste it first - you have to turn it in uncut to Chef and the piece is too small to get a good temperature reading.  This one comes down to practice.  Drum roll, please....the chicken was near-perfect...whew, what a relief.

And then it hit me...THAT feeling.  My final exam was over and the holiday fun was waiting for me.  Relief.  Pride.  Accomplishment.  Of course, now I'm in a mad dash to get a million things done before the kids get out of school and company arrives.  But each time I start to feel a little stressed about the holidays I take myself back to Monday night when I walked out of school with a huge smile on my face (and yes, teary eyes too) and THAT awesome feeling washes over me again.

mystery basket

Last night's class was Mystery Basket class.  Yes, it was much like a Food Network reality show.  But it was so much fun.

Let me back up a bit to Sunday (the day before class).  I worked Sunday Brunch this past weekend.  There are lots of great reasons to work Sunday Brunch (you learn a TON, you meet new people, it's fun), but one of the perks to working Sunday Brunch this particular weekend is that I got to chat with the Saturday CP1 students about their Mystery Basket class.  You see, Saturday is the start of our school week...so whatever happens in their class, we do the same thing on Monday.  So I got the skinny on Mystery Basket class.

I admit that what I heard about the class initially freaked me out, but that's the advantage to hearing about it ahead of time...I had plenty of time to freak out, get a grip and calm down.  I learned that Chef was looking for some creativity and playing it safe was not a good idea (one of the tables on Saturday made meringue - thanks for setting the bar really high!!!).  I knew we wouldn't be able to use recipes, but in the past we have been able to consult this amazing book called The Flavor Bible which lists every ingredient you can think of along with what flavors compliment that ingredient.  But Chef confirmed that The Flavor Bible, our phones and any other resource would be off limits.  No phoning a friend or texting a friend either (though, that would have been cool!).

I spent Monday morning reviewing cooking techniques and browsing cookbooks and food websites for inspiration.  I looked up recipes for unfamiliar vegetables just to get my head around different ways to cook them.  I also decided that I wanted to have fun with this class.  My focus wasn't going to be my grade.  Yes, I wanted to do a good job, but I felt the best way for me to accomplish that was to stay calm, trust my instincts and have fun with it.  Nervous butterflies crept in while driving to class, but thankfully gabbing with a friend on the phone got my mind off my nerves.

We didn't have a lecture Monday night, which meant we had more time to plan, prep and cook.  Chef explained the rules of the night (you know, the ones that had freaked me out), we drew numbers to determine which basket we got and then the fun began.

Our basket contained: Chicken breast, chicken leg, steak, tuna, pork chop, yellow squash, cauliflower, mushrooms, green bell pepper, sweet potato, israeli couscous, freekah (just for you, TCB) and Pernod (anise liquor). We had to use each ingredient in some capacity, but we didn't have to use the entire piece of food.  We could also use any other ingredients in the school (we even had access to the staff walk-in, which is where the good stuff lives).  We had to present at least 5 dishes.  Our dishes could be entrees, appetizers, side dishes...it was up to us.

I suggested (more like insisted) that my table take our basket back to the lecture room to plan.  We had a ton of time and I knew that planning what we were going to cook would help us in the long run.  We bounced around ideas for a bit and then we got serious and started claiming products and deciding on dishes.  D took the chicken leg, cauliflower, pork, israeli couscous and Pernod.  He prefers to plan while he cooks so no one of us were sure what he had in mind (but I knew it would be great).  S took the tuna and planned to make something similar to an Ahi tower.  She also decided to do an additional pork dish because K and I were mad for this sauce idea we came up with and S was open to giving it a go.  K took the chicken breast to prepare a chicken roulade.  She also took the bell pepper, squash, mushrooms, steak and couscous to make a stuffed bell pepper.   No one was jumping on the freekah and I'd actually rather cook grains than proteins, so I took the freekah (plus, I just wanted to be able to type that word a lot today).  I also took the sweet potato because I was really ambitious and wanted to make a sweet potato souffle (not that goopy stuff topped with marshmallows...I'm talking about a real souffle).  And then we were off to the kitchen to cook.

If you've read my post from grain class, then you know that freekah is the "up and coming it grain".  Rumor has it that freekah is going to take all the love away from quinoa.  It is brown, earthy, nutty...total tree-hugger food.  I decided to make freekah two ways: sweet and savory.  For the sweet route, I approached it like oatmeal.  I cooked it in milk with beautifully diced apples, dried cherries, dried cranberries, and cinnamon.  I added a bit of brown sugar.  I served it topped with slivers of roasted almonds (and I put two slices of bacon on the side for plate presentation).  For the savory version, I went the latin route.  I cooked the freekah in chicken stock with cumin and salt.  When it was almost finished cooking I added corn and black beans.  I stirred in fresh cilantro at the end.  I served this with fresh backed tortilla chips.  I really liked them both.  Chef had nice things to say about both dishes as well.  Yay!

Now for the souffle.  I had already baked the sweet potato while I was making the freekah dishes.  To my sweet potato mash I added cinnamon, honey, heavy cream, and orange juice.  I pureed all of this together.  I prepared my souffle dish and prepped my egg white bowl.  I prayed to the Goddess of Egg Whites and started whipping.  I folded the egg whites into my sweet potato goodness, poured it into the ramekin, wiped the edge of the dish clean and put it in the oven.  I watched the clock, I cleaned, I paced, I prayed.  I made a stellar chocolate souffle about a month ago.  That has a lighter base than the sweet potatoes so I knew this souffle would take a bit longer to rise and cook.  While it was in the oven I started to think I should have added more egg whites.  I followed the ratio for egg whites to base, but I just had a feeling that this heavier souffle needed a bit more umph to get a good rise.  My instincts were correct.  My souffle didn't rise.  Chef was kind.  He topped it with sugar and torched the top of it creme brulee style.  He really liked the taste of it.  We talked about why I thought it didn't rise.  He agreed with my assessment.  He appreciated that I took on a souffle.

I would have loved for my souffle to rise, but I don't regret trying it.  In fact, even though it didn't turn out I'm really glad I tried to make a souffle.  I didn't play it safe and I had a blast.

My table team made some incredible dishes with our other mystery basket ingredients.  I can't speak in detail about how they built their dishes (we are all too busy with our own dishes to really know the ins and outs of our teammates dishes), but they were all delicious.  My table turned in a total of 9 dishes.  I believe we each had a hiccup to overcome during the course of the night, but really those hiccups provided the most learning.  Mystery Basket class wasn't perfect, but it was a blast!

wine 101

The Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday the entire Chef Pro 1 class attended Wine 101.  As my friend D said, "it was like a cocktail party, except the hosts made us clean the glassware."  Chef Pro I has three different class times.  Some of us have met each other working Sunday Brunches or if we attended a different class time one week, but this was the first time all of us first-semester students were together.

The objective of the class was to teach us the basics about wine (which ones are whites, which ones are reds), along with learning how to identify the different flavors in the wine, which will eventually lead to us learning how to pair wine with food.  We tasted 23 wines...and yes, we spit most of them out because we weren't allowed to crash at the culinary school that night.

Chef would pour 2 to 3 wines at a time.  Before we could taste we had to look at the wine.  We talked about the color, the clarity, the depth.  Next, we swirled and smelled.  We had to smell with our mouth closed several times, then smell with our mouth open.  It may sound weird, but there is a difference.  It's amazing the different smells you can get from wine - everything from pleasing aromas to darn right nasty smells.  And finally, we took a sip and slurped and clucked and spit.  We chatted about the different flavors we experienced and our responses varied greatly.  And some of those darn right nasty smelling wines sometimes tasted better than expected...so weird.

Most of my classmates are college-aged and some aren't 21 yet, so their experience with wine has been limited.  For some, this was their first time to taste wine.  As I said, the class was Wine 101.  I'm not anything close to being a wine expert, but I have consumed quite a bit of wine over the years.  My husband and I went to Napa this summer and tasted amazing wines.  Wine is the preferred beverage in my social circle - we have wine parties when we are snowed in and the kids can't go to school (we give the kids juice boxes...the wine is for the mommies), we bring wine camping, ladies night out is often at a wine bar, everyone I know always has a bottle or two (or more) in their house.  My point is this - I've tasted some mighty fine wines and the wines we tasted at Wine 101 were not fine...blech!!!  Chef explained that most of the class doesn't really have a palette for wine just yet, so the school doesn't spend the big bucks on the really nice wines for CP1.  I'm not saying that good tasting wine has to be expensive...not at all.  Most of the wine I drink is in the $15 - $20 range (well, except for the really tasty stuff we bought in Napa).  But it would have been fun to compare a $5 bottle (and there were LOTS of $5 bottles in the tasting) to at least one pricier wine to see if we could taste a difference.

Although we spit most of the wines out, the class did get a little louder and a little sillier as the night progressed.  But everyone made it home safely and despite the cheap wine, the class really was a lot of fun.

Salud!