So you read that i practiced my hollandaise technique last night and it came out just ok. Today i walk into class and on the board for production we're to make Hollandaise AND Mayonnaise.
What can i say? He did his demo then he said "You have 40 minutes, Run Forrest, RUN!!" and we all scrambled around like chickens with our heads cut off lol. We were not working with a partner today, this time you were on your own and I swear, i can't believe how many people don't pay attention in class. There were so many people that looked lost. They probably didn't do their homework either. Well thank goodness I do my homework (phobia of failing) and for as much as i hate it i did my shopping too. I almost gave up last night at the supermarket and was telling myself maybe I'll just do it in class tomorrow and take my chances. But I've made it a habit to not listen to my brain but to my inner voice when it comes to making decisions... That still small voice that some of us learned about in Primary is My saving grace.
So i started with the mayo, I got my spices, vinegar, and egg yolk in my bowl. Got the oil in my left and whisk in my right and i just started pouring and whisking, and whisking and pouring and i was feeling the burn in my arm and forearm but, no pain, no gain right? And dammit if i didn't get that emulsion going and my mayo looked like mayo Yay!!! Time for TAAT, Taste, Analyze, Adjust, Taste. Hmm? A little salty, and that was what i added from the recipe so i added some water, whisk, whisk whisk, TAAT, TAAT, TAAT, TAAT...STOP!!! I gotta get my Hollandaise going. I could TAAT forever lol.
So since i worked on my Hollandaise, failed and tried again last night, I was feeling more confident today so off i went to get my mise en place set up (everything in it's place) and then there i was sweating and whisking in front of the burner slow burning my right arm muscles. BAM! I whisked up my Hollandaise and TAAT, TAAT, TAAT, and I was done. Back to TAATing my Mayo because I was Not happy with how salty it was. Step away from the bowl... "TIMES UP! Bring your bowls up for tasting! If you're done then good if Not then get it done before the end of the tasting line."
I sit in the middle of the class so i was kind of in the back of the line and while I wait my turn I'm worried about my Hollandaise getting too cold. The teacher is asking, do you want to take your mayo home? Ok, i won't double dip... He asked all the people in front of me. I get up to him and he sticks his spoon in my mayo, tastes it. Dips again and tastes, looks up, "Oh, i'm sorry, did you want to take that home? I just double dipped in your mayo" (looking at me with a big grin, he's a funny guy) "eh, i'll go home and make more for practice" He dips in the mayo and tastes it again lol...Hollandaise time. Dip tastes, dip tastes... "hmmm Very good flavor in both, Next?" Was i walking away with a big grin on my face? But Of Course!!! I worked it baaaby. =D
So, it's clean up time and Chef always says, "don't get stuck doing the same thing every day", so i grab the sprayer at the sink and start spraying down the used bowls with mayo and hollandaise in them, and i'm sprayin and sprayin and this young guy, I don't know his name, comes up next to me and reaches for the sprayer in my hand and says, do you mind? Oo... Big mistake. I'm like "what?" "do you mind, I can take this over." Now i've watched this guy every day and I think he worked as a dishwasher before he started school because that is where he is all the time during cleanup and he's like the Tazmanian devil but you know what? The dishwasher wasn't waiting on me and I'm not new at this so i'm like, "no, I've got this." He reaches again for the sprayer and says, "well I need to wash my hands" "well, the hand washing station is down there" (as i point him in the right direction) and this whole time i'm still rinsing away... Tons of bowls and cups and pots and spoons and ... 10 minutes later here he comes again right next to me and he starts to move things in my directions and all up in my work space... Yes, you guessed it, I Dropped the "F" bomb, "F*ck, What, are you doing?" "I'm trying to organize stuff" shoving the bowls in front of me...Me, my Samoan AND Scottish came to the fore... "Get the F*ck away from me!!" Aye, I may not have red hair but if you could have listened real carefully, that Scottish brogue was there all over the "F" bomb and in a split second he was Gone. The poor dishwasher cracked up at me and said, "that guy is always like that", and I looked at her and said, "it's not like you were standing here waiting on me, as if Noboday else but him knows how to wash dishes" Sheesh Some people. Eh, I'm an old sailor, I drop "F" bombs, get over it lol.
I want to share a story from Sanitations class, I know, I know, this blog is a little long but eh, I have to tell you this one last story... So, Chef De La Cruz worked at a Very high end restaurant, where the chairs had the wings that came around your head so if you leaned back it would give you the feeling of privacy, and the waiters ran around in tuxedos, and the food was just simply Marvelous. Well, Chef D was the Chef de Legumes (vegetable chef) and this particular night was very busy and he ran out of all the veggies he prep'd for the day, so, he tells the Executive Chef then heads to the refer to get more veggies to prep etc... the Ex. Chef looks at him and says, " no, no, no, we don't have time for that. You see that over there?" Get this... There is a bin where the waiters put the vegetables that people didn't eat. He was pointing to that bin..."Go get those, fire up the saute pan and reheat those and serve it." OH HELL TO THE NO HE DIDN'T!!! But he did and Chef D said he quit. And this an Executive Chef in an Upscale restaurant. Shame. Sanitation classes make me afraid to go to restaurants but then I get a hankerin for that really good General Tsaos Chicken at Twins Garden and I forget All about the Nastiness that goes on behind closed doors. Admit it, you do too. lol.
Well, i'm sorry (Sue) that i didn't take any pictures in class but honestly, the stuff in the bowls looked all nasty because it's not all plated and presented in a visually pleasing manner. =P
And that's my blip for my BFFs today.
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