Iron Maiden

First order of things, we made Fumet today.  And what is Fumet?  It's a fast way of making fish stock.  Why not just call it fish stock?  Well, because it's the process of cooking that makes it Fumet and not just fish stock.  Fish stock you take the bones, add the aromatiques and water then simmer it for a while, an hour or so.  Fumet you sweat the aromatiques in butter, add and reduce white wine, cook the fish til it's opaque, add the water, bring to a simmer and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

We had to work as a team and Nikki was my partner today.  We had to make the fumet together but individually make roux, blanc, blonde and brun.  Chef did his demo on the fumet then Ding off we went to set up our mise en place and cook our assignments.  So I asked Nikki to get our roux ingredients while I got the Fumet stuff.  Badabing, badaboom we knocked out our fumet and roux like pros.  The Chef walked around to check out everyone at work and we passed with flying colors. 

Poor Leslie and Leonard didn't have much luck though, Chef made them step back and take a look at their work space, I couldn't help but look over to check it out myself.  It looked like the Cabbage Patch kids ran amuck in their area, and they looked a little overwhelmed, then come to find out that they were individually making fumet as well as roux... Ooops...  I'm so glad that I can't stand to work in a mess and have always cleaned up as I cook ever since i can remember. 

Time for Testing our finished product.  As I was draining our fumet through the chinois the aroma of it was wafting about and I had Nikki lean in to smell it as well, OMG it smelled so good and the color of it was really nice.  We were both drooling and if we could have we would have seasoned it up and eaten it right then and there lol.  I walked up and handed Chef the taster spoon as an indication to him that we were ready to be scrutinized.  He dipped the spoon into the cambro, tasted our fumet and whispered "wow".  So, I do believe he liked it with a response like that lol.  Roux was also on the money and we got really good scores.  Yay Us...

Everyday we have to line up and have our uniform inspected for cleanliness, wrinkles, black socks, properly tied cravat, trimmed nails and hair in nets or trimmed and for the guys, if they've shaved.  First person Chef goes to he says, "your apron looks a little wrinkled."  he looks at the next guy, "your apron looks wrinkled too"  then he looks around and says "Sol, please step forward."  And as I do so he says, "That is how your aprons should look.  Nice and pressed."  So I turn a pale shade of pink, turn around to face the class, held out my apron like a skirt and gave them a curtsy.  I can't help it if I'm anal about how well pressed my clothes have to be lol.  Can you say Obsessive-compulsive disorder?  A mild case but a case still the same lol...

And that is my blip for my BFFs today.