Run Forrest RUUUUN!!!

Wow, it's been 2 weeks since my last confession and I've been pretty much been dead on my feet since the 3rd term started.  Exciting and Daunting at the same time but I'm learning a lot from Chef Frerichs. 

Every day since the beginning of school we have a line up for uniform inspections and they almost Always check to see that we are wearing Black socks... WEEEeeell, Since term 3 started Chef had not checked our socks but...Yes he did, and he SOOOO Busted someone, No names to protect the guilty, with White socks on and now that someone with no name has to make Hollandaise sauce...100 times.  And as a result of these findings Chef told us a story of how he, while in school, had no black socks for the day so he took a black marker to a pair of white socks... Desperate measures for desperate times lol.  Happy Hollandaise...<cough>

I've burned vegetables, yes, to a nice charred crisp, undercooked and overcooked meats, had dirty rims, OMG it's just been one thing after another and after the first week I came out with a B+ for my grade and I must say that I'm happy to have it compared to some of the other plates I've seen hit the Pass for grading...

I've cut myself 3 times in one day and not be able to finish prepping my stuff on Mise day due to spending more time cutting myself instead of the veggies and because of this I was scrambling around the next day trying to catch up on mising and then cooking my ass off in order to get my plate to the pass on time.  I haven't missed a pass time yet, knock on freaking hard wood.  On my undercooked chicken day my plate looked great except for the chicken and the Chef says, "Why didn't you just put it back in the oven instead of bringing me undercooked meat?"  and I said, "Because I'd rather get docked on points for undercooked meat than not get a grade at all for missing the pass time..."  Honestly, In real life I would have made the customer wait just 5 more minutes...

But, things did get a little better for me on the second week.  Daunting still, but better.  As for recipes we've pretty much been doing the same stuff we learned in CF2 except for just a different twist to technique from Chef Frerichs, good times.  We made the cutest Potatoes gratin in these tiny little aluminum cups... And so so easy to make.  I'll share this on my next blog.

And the Chef's favorite mantra is "It only gets Harder"...And so, I'm preparing myself for more bumps, burns, cuts and bruises.  Round 3... DING, Bring It On!  (as I hear the music from Rocky vaguely playing in the back of my mind.)


It's Memorial Day weekend and we get Monday off... YAY!!! I'm so happy for the time off...

That's my blip for my BFFs today.  (I promise to try and get more recipes up and write more...)

First day 3rd term.

We made BBQ chicken breast.  Fabricated the chicken and made our own BBQ sauce from scratch.  For my BBQ sauce I used Tomato puree, molasses, mustard, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and worcestershire sauce.  It turned out yummy and the Chef liked it.

So, today Chef told us that for a nice moist grilled chicken breast, you put it on the grill for the marks and finish it in the oven.  Yep, my breast was nice and juicy.  Come back out of the gutter... I was talking about the chicken.

I was crunched for time and my beans were under seasoned and my mashed potatoes tasted great but needed just a little more cream.  Eh, it was an off day, I don't do well with new people and well, it's a new chef.  He's a nice enough guy but...  Maybe it'll be a better day tomorrow, we're making beef stew.

Well, that's my boring blip for my BFFs today.

Term 2 Finals

First day of finals consisted of Lamb stew practical with French Omelette for a curve ball and 100 question written test.  Thank the heavens for the 5 dozen eggs I used to practice making French Omelettes lol.

Second day we made poached salmon, rice pilaf and sauteed zucchini.  Curve ball was 15 questions on basic cooking techniques. 

Third day was Pasta day.  We had to make a noodle dish, as stuffed pasta dish and a surprise for the chef as a curve ball.  So, I made tortellini stuffed with ricotta and herbs in a mushroom alfredo sauce.  Also, Fettuccine alfredo with Prawns.  And for my curve ball Chefs suprise I made Carbonara with spaghetti noodles. 

Over all I did well.  I came out with 95% on my written test and on my test the Chef wrote that I had the highest score out of the students of both A and B shifts.  Yay me.  Thomas and Rikki were both vying for the first place spot but after it was all said and done I came out #1 in class again.  Both Thomas and Rikki have made it clear that I should watch my back because they are coming to get me next term lol.  I have been fortunate enough to score high on my written test because they are both Excellent cooks and are both very capable and I was honestly expecting one of them to come out on top and not me. 

CF3B Here we come.  Bigger, Badder and Harder.  We've graduated from Jr. High and High School is on the Horizon. 

Today I volunteered to help Chef with the schools Open House.  We made Gourmet beef and salmon sliders.  Good stuff.  No, not mixed, Separate.  Beef sliders and Salmon sliders lol... Everything was made from scratch yep, we ground the beef and salmon right there in the kitchen.  And I got a funny vid of Sal singing away while cleaning up.  I got to bring some food home and share it with my little family.  Yum!!

Well, that's my blip for my BFFs today.  p.s.  The vid of Sal didn't turn out.  booooo!

En Papillote, not Papillon

Papillon is a breed of toy spaniels and well, I'm not in Veterinarian school, I'm in COOKing school.  So, Papillote is paper and what we're going to discuss today is Fish cooked in paper.  And why am i writing about it when I'm supposed to be studying?  I am studying, what better way to study for a final than to write about it? lol

Parchement is the paper of choice here and we used trout.  Take your parchement paper and cut it into the shape of a heart. Coat the paper with butter, this will help keep the paper from burning.  Season your fish, trifold it or if you had issues skinning your fish, stack your bits of fish and put it on top of a bed of sliced mushrooms on 1/2 of the paper.  Butterfly one Shrimp, season and put it on the fish.  You may want to think about putting some garlic on your shrimp if you like garlic shrimps.  Julienne a bit of carrot and celery and that goes on top of the shrimp.  Make yourself some compound butter and put that on top of the julienne veggies.  What is compound butter?  Seasoned butter.  Seasoned with what?  Whatever you want, watch the video if you really want to make it, you can buy seasoned butter. Drizzle a bit of white wine over all of it.  Fold over the paper and start folding the paper from the rounded end of the paper, please watch the video for this because this is one of those things where you've gotta see it because if I try to explain it well, you'll never get it because I can write but I'm not a writer that way.  JK Rowlings might be able to write a whole chapter on this for you but I don't think you want to dedicate that much time to folding paper around fish.

Now that the fish is encased in the paper, put it in the oven and let it steam and it takes about 3-5 minutes in a preheated oven at 400°.  The paper puffs up like a balloon and you should check the temperature.  The internal temperature for fish is 145°f.   The sauce for the fish will be in the bottom of the package made from the wine and butter, oh so yummy, and it's a beautiful dish for as easy as it is to make.  Scroll down for picture of mine.

Please see the video for this dish to help you with the folding and unveiling of your creation.  You got a hot date and you want to dress to impress? Dress this fish... Here's your chance.  What's that old addage?  Food is the way to a mans heart...or woman. Quick and easy and leaves you with plenty of time to dress yourself.

First day of Finals today and we made Lamb stew and had the written test.  Our Sous, Food and Sanitation chefs ALL showed up for class late today.  Early is on time, On time is late and Late is unacceptable.  They were Late and Late screws people up on Mis en Place... It's Finals for heavens sakes, what kind of person is late for a cooking final?  Wait, nevermind, what if they're reading this...

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Term Finals this week...

I apologize to my readers, it's been kind of hectic this past weekend and now it's Term Finals week and i've got my nose to the grindstone.  I promise to get back in here and write when finals are over on Thursday.  Good news is, I found out today that so far I'm at the Top of the class again as far as scoring/grades goes.  We'll see how I fair after finals. 

Coming soon, Poached salmon, Sautéed trout, Stuffed Chicken breast and perhaps a Lamb stew...

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Butchering, Trussing and Roasting a Chicken.

I've butchered chickens before, I've also got a video from  the first term on butchering but todays lesson and having Chef there guiding us every step of the way was very illuminating.  Please watch the butchering vids on youtube.  It's just one of those things that if I'm going to literally explain it, well I do believe you'll never read my blogs again.

As a kid I always loved getting the piece of chicken that had the wishbone in it so we could pull it apart, be the winner and make a wish.  And I think that a large majority of the class took the time to pull  apart a wishbone they had just extracted.  Yes, I was in the majority because well... I'm still a kid at heart.  Today I learned that pulling that bone out first thing makes butchering or carving so much easier.  I know, I've just dashed the hopes and wishes of tons of children out there...

Always truss a bird that you're going to roast. Why?  Because I said so...  LOL  It helps it to maintain its shape as well as to ensure Even cooking. 
Season the Inside of your bird, stuff it and whatever else you want to do with it, (Please, I don't want to know about your fettishes), then Truss it.  Season the Outside, cover it with Clarified butter, olive oil, salad oil etc. This gives it a nice golden brown.  Then you can either sear it in a pan before putting it in the oven or just put it in the oven.  And how long do you cook it?... Til it's done.  Chef roasted a whole chicken today at 450° for about 1 hour and oh 10 minutes.  The internal temperature of your chicken should be 165°.

As Chef said today, "If you call yourself a cook you should be able to make a simple roast chicken..."

That's my blip for my BFFs today.

Veal Scallopini with Petit Pois a la Francaise sauce.

We made 2 dishes today.  A grilled pork chop with Charcutier sauce and Escalope deVeau a la creme, petit pois a la Francaise.  I'm going to go over the veal dish because well, it was Nommy.  There was a recipe for peas and onions and blah blah blah... I'm gonna focus on the veal, mushrooms and creme sauce.

1 pc of veal escalope (thin sliced), 8 mushrooms, flour for dusting, clarified butter for sautéing, about 4oz cream, and oh about 2 oz of cognac, brandy...

Pound out the veal to about 1/4 inch thick in between plastic wrap.  slice the mushrooms.  Season your flour and veal then dust the veal.  Add clarified butter to frying pan, med high-high heat.  Sauté the veal, remove from pan then add a little more butter and over High heat, sauté the mushrooms then move the pan away from the fire and add the cognac then back to the heat and tilt your pan until you get FLAMBÉ!!  when the flame goes out add the cream.  You're stirring up the stuff  (suc) that was on the bottom of the pan to add all that yummy flavor to the sauce.  Taste, salt and pepper and add chopped parsley for flavor and garnish... This is enough for 2 servings.  Cut that veal in 1/2 before sautéing it or not if your a manly man, or woman...but you'll have a big 'ol piece of meat taking up the whole of the plate lol.

So, if you don't like veal then how about chicken, or pork chop even.  Don't limit yourself to the requirments of a recipe. 

We had peas and mashed potatoes to go with this dish.  I packed it all up and took it home to share with Darcy.  My photo of this dish is a little blurry but if you scroll down to my photos you'll see my plating for it.  The Chef liked it and I hope you do too.

That's my blip for my BFFs for today.  Bon Appetit... while playing WoW one of our guildies was logging off to go eat dinner and in my rush to type before he logged I misspelled Appetit and my Canadian friend gave me a bit of razzing about Ape tits...

Get your Fat on...

Gosh, we're at Day 21 already and I've got yesterday and today to write about so I'll try to keep it brief.  Well, as brief as I can make it...

So, Yesterday we made Fried foods... OH SO YUMMY!  Your Wet should be 1 cup milk to 2 eggs ratio. Dry, Wet, Dry is your mantra for breading.  I LOVE me some Panko breading... Dry off your meat, be it fish, shrimp, chicken etc...Season it, salt and pepper is usually sufficient but be creative if you like, then use one hand for the dry and one hand for the wet otherwise you'll have gross caked fingers to work with.  Here we go, meat into the flour with dry hand , then into the eggs remove with your wet hand, then into the Panko or whatever else breading you're using and use dry hand to completely coat.  Put it into the deep fryer that is set at 350°-375° and cook until GBD=Golden Brown Delicious. Season your food immediately after pulling from the fryer and onto your towels to drain the oil.   Chef also seasons the eggs, flour and panko but that is up to you. 

And here is a batter recipe that is super yummy for the shrimps and all else you could think of to use batter on. Dust with  flour first then batter to help the batter stays on. For onion rings dip it in flour, egg wash, flour then batter. Recipe for batter, 100g flour, 50g cornstarch, 1 Tbsp Baking powder and water.  So you add the water slowly while whisking and the consistency is up to you.  The thinner the batter the more like tempura it's going to be.  Start with a thick cake batter consistency and go from there.  Don't be afraid to Experiment.  Watch the Vids...

 If you're making fries you Blanch them first at 325°-350° until pale gold and you can squish your fries to test how soft it is.  Should be thoroughly cooked to remove moisture from the potato if it's not then your fries come out soggy instead of crispy.  Cool in refrigerator then Finish at 360°-375° Until GBD.  Please see vids on youtube for variations for deep frying your potatoes.

I'm going to share the recipe for a dip that is SOOOOOO good with fried shrimps.   9oz Mayo, 1/2 oz Parsley, 1/2 oz Basil, 1/4 oz Dill, 2 cloves Garlic all finely chopped.  Pinch of Curry and Cayenne (to taste... I loved a Lot of Curry flavor with this) Lemon juice to taste and Parsley or Dill for garnish.

Tarter anyone?  Mix Mayo, dill or sweet pickle or gherkin, onions, capers and chopped parsley, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste... Experiment with the flavors to get the desired sauce that you want.  Add a filet of anchovy, chopped or paste to make Remoulade ... Don't turn your nose up to the Anchovy because OMG it's some serious UMAMI in the sauce.

So, Live a little and say WTF, Get your Fat on because lets face it, Fried food is YUMMY.  Just remember, as with everything else in life, Too much of a good thing is...Not so good.

That's my blip for my BFFs.