That being said, we're moving into Culinary Foundations II. This was the class that stretched me the most. It was hard. This is the class that taught me that there is crying at culinary school (not in baseball though). I relearned that lesson in most of my classes, by the way. Other things I learned as this class began was that we were all responsible for our own prep, cooking, and cleanup. There was one dishwasher and one three-compartment sink to share. It was chaotic as we cleaned up for the day. We were assigned duties of taking trash out, cleaning the chef's dishes, prepping for the next class's chef, sweeping, mopping, cleaning tables, and other random jobs. It took about an hour when we first started. I did t ever take the garbage out. I didn't remember where it was and my peers used that as a smoke break. It seemed to work out for everyone.
That leads me to the next important lesson. Everything was done with a sense of urgency. The chefs reminded us of this over and over again. So you had to be fast walking, prepping food and cleaning at the speed of light, and never taking it easy. You were always exhausted at the end of class, but it meant we got a lot done. That lessons helps when I need it today. (Shopping or cleaning quickly makes it less painful.)
The head chef in this class was one of my favorites. He was a butcher for years before he became a chef and then an instructor. He was extremely patient and helpful. He also joked around with the group at my table (probably because we were the funniest). That balanced the difficulty level for me. I needed it. I don't know how many times he had to go over veal cutlets with me before I got it down. (Yeah, cried that day. I guess I should tell you that I am not a baby. I don't just cry for fun. I am just a perfectionist that was outside of comfort zone and in an industrial size kitchen being graded on things she'd never experienced before. It was stressful.)
Since we learned so much in this class, I am going to break it up into several sections. The first weeks was all about stocks, sauces, and soups. It started nice and slow the first two days. We worked as a class to make stocks. (I called and told my sister all about making beef stock with cow hooves. She took it a couple of steps further for me and reminded me that cows walk in the same place they go to the bathroom. According to her logic, because I used those same hooves, we weren't making stock, we made poop soup. I know. Super mature. Hilarious to think about in class though. Please note that we used thoroughly cleaned hooves. There was no cow waste in our stock.)
After the first two leisurely days, we were all pushed to our limits. In the next three days, between 4 and 6 sauces were lectured on, demonstrated, and we got to make them. (So many dirty dishes...) my favorite sauces were tomato, remoulade (think crazy good tartar sauce), beurre blanc (white butter sauce), mornay (cheese sauce), velouté, and hollandaise. I'd never even tasted hollandaise before making it. First time around, I had scrambled eggs instead of sauce. Not my only failure, by the way. That was the best part of class: messing up so the chef could teach you to either fix it or try again.
One you have sauces down, soups are pretty easy to master. It is like a sauce with delicious vegetables and proteins. I can't wait to share some my favorite soups: consommé, French onion soup, clam chowder, dubarry (cream of cauliflower), shrimp bisque, caldo verde, and gazpacho. It was a little hard to make soups in school because the lowest temperature was around 80 degrees. Not quite what I call soup weather, but they were still delightful.
Two of my best friends at culinary school came from this class. We were at the same table and laughed so much. We helped each other stay relatively sane and focused. I still talk to them every once in a while. They will be mentioned again, so it is good to know a little about what I love about them. Anita is 4'11" and is such a loving person. She has two daughters and her life is centered around her family. (The way it should be.) She helped me SO much in school. We had amazing conversations and good times. Rachael was so focused and talented. She has amazing things in store for her career. She was one of the kindest people in class and always worked so hard. These girls were one of the reasons I was supposed to go to culinary school when I did. I would never have made it through without them.
Ok, last lesson for today. Mirepoix is the basis for just about every stock which is the basis for most sauces and soups. So, when you are trying add flavor, don't always rely on spices and herbs. Go back to the basics of celery, onion, and carrots. In a classic mirepoix, you would use 50% onion, and 25% carrots and celery. Also, cut them to about the same size so they infuse flavors at the same rate. When a soup recipe calls for stock, I usually use part water and add carrots, onion, and celery to the soup for additional flavor and fewer calories.
I think I like the format of telling you about part of class and following up with a recipe. I am going to stick with it for now. So the next time I post about culinary school, it will be a recipe I learned from this section of class. As always, if there is something I mentioned in here that you want me to elaborate on, just ask. I'm nice enough to tell you. I promise.
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