Today, we beat the hell out of eggs. I don't mean we scrambled eggs. I mean that we used a whisk and beat the ever loving hell out of the poor little guys. At lest the yellow parts.
I'm talking about hollandaise and mayonnaise. We were showed how to do it yesterday, so I gave mayonnaise a shot last night, failing miserably. I don't know the exact science about it all (Gotta find that Good Eats episode), but it has something to do with the proteins (?) in the egg yolks binding the water and fats into that lovely schmear. I started off by beating the hell out of the egg yolk. You gotta break up all those chains and get some air in the mix. Then add some mustard powder. Then beat it some more. Then slowly drizzle the oil into the egg while you beat the hell out of it. I think this is where I went wrong last night. I was a little quick on the pour. It 'breaks' and no amount of shaking will bring it back.
Today, we worked with partners, so one person could make their arm numb, beating it like Michael Jackson and the other could slip in the oil like BP. (Too soon?) Then switch! It took us about 25 minutes, but we managed to get the ONE egg yolk and teaspoon of vinegar to absorb and get along with the entire CUP of oil. That's right. One egg yolk to one cup of oil. I don't think I can eat it anymore.
Hollandaise is similar, but instead of oil, we used clarified butter. And instead of simply beating the eggs, we had to heat them too. So, now we are worried about our arms falling off, the building burning down AND the eggs turning from the lovely custard texture into scrambled eggs. Ours was perfect.
And next time, I'm using the damn mixer.
The BS Chef
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Pastry
I was walking down the hall after class today and passed by the pastry classes. Man, maybe I should have gone that way. Luckily, I had my camera on my, so you can see what culinary school is like. My classes are kind of like this, only with more knives and fire.
Check out the Pastry Chefs!
The BS Chef
Check out the Pastry Chefs!
The BS Chef
Saturday, July 10, 2010
One Week!
Well.... I made it through the first week of school. They warned us that the first six weeks would be the hardest, but I'm pretty dang sure I will make it.
I have only screwed up once too! I missed the shoe delivery, because I wasn't in the general education class when the truck showed up. Then I missed the 411 about the second delivery. So I'm shoeless, but I will get a pass on it.
The knife kit is pretty sweet! I'll try to post pictures when I have a little time to take some good pictures. It is basically a 20 pound kitchen in a bag!
So far, what we have learned (or been taught at least)...
Some basic knife cuts. It is really hard to cut a carrot into 1/16 inch cubes, but apparently it is very important to be able to. We also cut shallots into transparent slices and garlic into paste. I think it is neat that all the stuff we are cutting in our beginning class gets carted away to other classes to use in actual cooking stuff! And the scraps get fed to pigs. It is a circle of life and all that jazz. The biggest problem I'm going to have is all the damn French words for everything. I have enough problem remembering what things are called in English! Sheesh. Julliene this.
Safety and Sanitation class is pretty much a huge Fox News scare tactic class. There are millions of things in food that can kill you or make you poop yourself. Or if you cook them, and someone else poops themselves, they will sue you and you will be mocked by the culinary industry forever. I have discovered that I am a face toucher and need to wash my hands all the freaking time. I rub my eye, wash hands. I scratch my ear, wash hands. Whew. I think all that water saved on organic farms is going to wash my dang hands...
So there we go! I'm remembering how to be in school. I had one minor freak out about homework and papers and research, but got through it just fine. I have almost 100 note cards already and one paper written in my head. And I haven't cut myself. Yet.
Until next time!
The BS Chef
I have only screwed up once too! I missed the shoe delivery, because I wasn't in the general education class when the truck showed up. Then I missed the 411 about the second delivery. So I'm shoeless, but I will get a pass on it.
The knife kit is pretty sweet! I'll try to post pictures when I have a little time to take some good pictures. It is basically a 20 pound kitchen in a bag!
So far, what we have learned (or been taught at least)...
Some basic knife cuts. It is really hard to cut a carrot into 1/16 inch cubes, but apparently it is very important to be able to. We also cut shallots into transparent slices and garlic into paste. I think it is neat that all the stuff we are cutting in our beginning class gets carted away to other classes to use in actual cooking stuff! And the scraps get fed to pigs. It is a circle of life and all that jazz. The biggest problem I'm going to have is all the damn French words for everything. I have enough problem remembering what things are called in English! Sheesh. Julliene this.
Safety and Sanitation class is pretty much a huge Fox News scare tactic class. There are millions of things in food that can kill you or make you poop yourself. Or if you cook them, and someone else poops themselves, they will sue you and you will be mocked by the culinary industry forever. I have discovered that I am a face toucher and need to wash my hands all the freaking time. I rub my eye, wash hands. I scratch my ear, wash hands. Whew. I think all that water saved on organic farms is going to wash my dang hands...
So there we go! I'm remembering how to be in school. I had one minor freak out about homework and papers and research, but got through it just fine. I have almost 100 note cards already and one paper written in my head. And I haven't cut myself. Yet.
Until next time!
The BS Chef
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
First Day!
Well, today I had my first day of school. I saw the world at 6am, and it actually wasn't too bad. The trees weren't on fire and the monsters must have gone to sleep already. We will see if they keep that up...
Anyway, as with most first days of schools, the first day was a bunch of "HI! Here is what to expect!" I'm sure tomorrow will be a little more interesting.
I'm hoping that having a college degree isn't going to hurt my binding with fellow classmates. I stole a peek at my neighbor's schedule, and she was booked for 2 or 3 more classes, while I left after 2. I'm not complaining, but networking seems to be dang important... I'll just have to hang out in the library more often or something.
I did manage to secure a theatre connection already though. One of the ladies in my classes went to school with one of my fellow backstage crew members way back in the day. She also had worked at the Ren Fest and mentioned not to eat the food there. It can't be THAT bad, right? Er.... One of the Chefs also mentioned that he once worked in a pickle factory and said we should never eat relish. Eat the big pickles, but never, ever eat relish. I may ask him to elaborate on that sometime. Could that be the reason relish and hot dogs go so well together?
Also, we got our other 4 uniforms today and learned how to tie the cravat. We were given every book we will need at once (the bag weighed at least 60 pounds) and were told we will get our knives tomorrow. I am excited for tomorrow!
Until then, I will read my 2 chapters of homework and try to remember how to retain knowledge.
The BS Chef
Anyway, as with most first days of schools, the first day was a bunch of "HI! Here is what to expect!" I'm sure tomorrow will be a little more interesting.
I'm hoping that having a college degree isn't going to hurt my binding with fellow classmates. I stole a peek at my neighbor's schedule, and she was booked for 2 or 3 more classes, while I left after 2. I'm not complaining, but networking seems to be dang important... I'll just have to hang out in the library more often or something.
I did manage to secure a theatre connection already though. One of the ladies in my classes went to school with one of my fellow backstage crew members way back in the day. She also had worked at the Ren Fest and mentioned not to eat the food there. It can't be THAT bad, right? Er.... One of the Chefs also mentioned that he once worked in a pickle factory and said we should never eat relish. Eat the big pickles, but never, ever eat relish. I may ask him to elaborate on that sometime. Could that be the reason relish and hot dogs go so well together?
Also, we got our other 4 uniforms today and learned how to tie the cravat. We were given every book we will need at once (the bag weighed at least 60 pounds) and were told we will get our knives tomorrow. I am excited for tomorrow!
Until then, I will read my 2 chapters of homework and try to remember how to retain knowledge.
The BS Chef
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