Yesterday in Intro to Culinary (or the 5 hour morning class) we learned how to the following:
Lower left is minced parsley to be used for garnish, above that is a rough chop of a tomato, and above that is a tomato concasse, which is a tomato that has been boiled to crack the peel, peeled, seeded and diced into exact 1/4 x1/4 squares (very pretty). Above that is minced garlic..a very small and exact mince at that.. then right next to that is a garlic paste. (find the extreme close-up below)
My camera phone doesn't take the greatest pictures, but you can tell which is which, right? Notice how well done my garlic paste is? Yeah, it hurt to push that hard, but was well worth it. I had to work right after school and my wrist was killing me. The garlic paste was definately the culprit. Everything I did today I paid extra attention to, taking the time to bring in on the tip of my knife to the front of the room and to compare it to chef Pauls. I asked him to forgive me for obsessing, and he said, "No, you're just passionate." I felt so much better after I heard that.We also made pasta from scrath and rolled it into a big ball, (put plastic wrap and our name on it), to make pasta tomorrow. I was stoked for that!
Bonus!! We got let out of class early for a stew contest between the teachers, so we got a ballot that had room numbers and teachers names on them and we all filed into 10 different classrooms to try the deliciousness.
The stews included in this contest were : Filipino mixed vegetable stew with Buko (coconut) , Caldo callego, Blanquette de Veau (my fave), "It's just Stew good", Portugese fish stew, Attilla the Hungarian stew, Cassoulet, Chocolate stew (this was very good too), Cooler stew (my 2nd fave), Veal stew, Irish stew (my 3rd fave), and Nana B's stew.
Some rooms ran out of spoons and half way through the given time you could see just about everyone with a spoon in hand, walking into the rooms in fear not finding another. I did this myself..
I didnt have time to write last night because I had homework that took be from quarter to 9, until I fell asleep (about 12) to do. I still had some to do after that, so I did it during class (I know, I'm naughty sometimes..) but I got it done, and it wasn't counted as late. Woo-hoo! There was also another quiz today that I didn't get a perfect score on, but I did well. I hate it when I double check my work, change an answer on a couple, then get some that I changed, wrong. DOH! Oh well, I will do better next time.
Okay--switching to today now.. lalalalaaaa
(pause)
okay, heres the knife cuts we did:
These were simple for me by the way...hehehe... okay! Top is a onion emance (thin slice) that don't have to be a certain width, but must be the same width. Thin and equal is the idea. Below that is a medium dice of an onion. 1/4 x 1/4 x we know that some parts of the onion are uneven, so it's just 1/4 x 1/4. Next to that is a green pepper julienne, next to that is a chiffonade of spinach..as thin as you can get it..or, like my Chef instructor says, as thin as HE can get it. LOLThen we took all the ingredients that we saved from yesterday and today, rolled our pasta out in the little hand crank roller until it reached its 'supple leather' texture we were looking for, and made either linguine or fettucini. Then we got to boil our own, and sautee the ingredients from the veggies we chopped yesterday and today and some leftover turkey for the meat group(if desired). Then we feasted like kings on our own great creations. I am still stuffed! After not having time to eat or just not eating at all these past couple days, to feasting yesterday and today, I would rather feast....and then just be rolled out. hehehe
Time to roll out.. Enjoy the weekend!
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