Well, we did our final practical exam, and I'm happy to say that I passed it by the 'hair of my chinny chin chin'. The dish was a sauteed salmon Nicoise salad. My portions were too large, and my beans were slightly overdone, but this is because these conform to the local tastes, and I still find it hard to pull back on these kind of things just out of habit. My knife skills are still mediocre, but I'm afraid that is as good as they will ever be. Too bad.

I have also finished my final exam, which I aced, thank you very much, so this class is over. I'll have to say that I will miss it in a masochistic sort of way. The course was tough, but that is just what I needed.

I look forward to continuing my education, and seeing everyone this Summer. Ciao.

Last week wasn't too bad. We made braised beef ribs with a celery root puree and carrots Vichy. Luckily for us, our food wasn't bad, as we continue to have problems with the final plating. Hopefully, these problems will be resolved in the next week, as our final grade will be determined in large part by this. Wish us luck.

This week was the best ever. We made a confit of salmon salad with a mustard viniagrette, quail eggs, and roasted beets and onions. Yum. Here's a pic if you are interested. Ours didn't look quite that good, but it was pretty nonetheless. We still have a way to go. Our mise was still lacking, but we scrambled and pulled it off in the end. This coming week is pasta Heaven, or Hell, depending, but I'm sure everyone will do their best.

This weeks homework assignment was relatively easy: roast a chicken. Not much to talk about there so I'll keep things short and sweet.

I first marinated the bird in 'Mojo Criollo', a commercial Mexican marinade made from bitter orange that I recommend highly. You can find it here at Avanza. I roasted the chicken outside in the bbq grill, which gave it a wonderful smoky flavor. There isn't much left, just enough for quesadillas in the next day or two.

That's it for this week. Ciao.

Another Class Review

This week was all about fried food. Fried chicken, catfish, hushpuppies, pommes frites, as well as fried okra. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the dish, I'll try and find a picture. It was all edible, but just barely. I wouldn't have paid for any of it, if that tells you anything. The chicken was a bit over or underdone, depending on the piece, the catfish was slightly overdone, the french fries were ok, but the fried okra was dismal. I wouldn't touch it and I really like fried okra. Our presentation was weak once more, and we were again late to the table. The bright spot, if you can call it that is that we were incrementally better this time. We still aren't working as cleanly as we should, although I paid special attention to keep myself clean.

As no one outside of myself will be reading this, I think that it is about time to open up a bit. I feel as if I am hamstrung when I am in the kitchen. I have to work with people who don't really know what they are doing, and it slows me down. There is nothing we do that I haven't done many times before. I am used to working alone, and not having so many unqualified hands in the mix. If the Chef had asked me to prepare this meal, and have it ready at a certain time, it would have been done, and done well. This is what I am used to. I have to find some way to get past this. I am not use to being ashamed of my work, and it is eating at me. I want to take control, but I can't just bulldoze the rest of the class- they need to learn, but I am tired of being called out over other peoples' mistakes. (Not that I don't make plenty of my own). I am legitimately concerned about failing this class, and it has me so worried that I can't sleep at night.

This coming week is about roasting and baking. If we somehow can't roast a chicken with some veggies and a pilaf, one of the simplest meals we could make, we should all turn in our aprons and start work at some fast-food hellhole, because that is where we belong.

New Critique

When it's springtime in Nebraska, I'll be bloggin' back to you. Here is my critique of our latest kitchen fiasco. Actually, things weren't that bad. This week was everything you wanted to know about rice but were afraid to ask.

I made a chicken and shrimp jambalaya, as well as a wild mushroom risotto. I thought that they turned out fairly well. I received a number of compliments from folk that had never even heard of these dishes, let alone eaten them before. I do need to work on my presentation skills. For those of you that don't know, here is a picture of a similar sort of jambalaya.

Next week it's on to the wonderful world of frying. Time to get our grease on. Until next time, keep your knives sharp, your feet happy, and your Chef happier.

Week 2 Critique

The second week started out pretty much the same as the first. Lecture, break, demos, then the cooking. I'll be the first one to admit that our team wasn't as prepared as we should have been. We were scrambling the whole time, but we got our food out on time. We were actually the only team that did that. Of course, we cut corners, and what we put out was crap, but we were ready. Of the many mistakes that were made that day, the worst was to pay too much attention to what the other teams were doing. We intentionally slowed down our service to match the other teams. This won't happen again. We are going to be ready, with our food plated and our butts at the table at the designated time. If this makes any of the other teams look bad, that's too bad. It's time to get cut-throat.

I'm not looking forward to this week's class. Rice is picky, especially for rookies. There is a pilaf, a jambalaya, a risotto, and a stir-fry. We'll get it done, but this does seem a bit much for this size class. These aren't easy dishes to get right- they need a lot of attention. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but after last weeks' performance, we're going to have to step it up a notch.

This is a bit late in coming, but here is (finally) the picture of my rolled omelet. It was made with a duxelle and Italian parsley. The omelet part was easy. The tricky part was finding the camera and manipulating the photo.