Day one - Orientation & Demo 1

== posting this one day behind..  been so tired, its tough to type up my notes ==

So it begins!

Orientation started at 10AM, and consisted of a review of the history of the school, administration, schedules, and a tour of the school.  We also got our uniforms and knife set.. YAY!  The course will be 30 separate lessons over the next 5 weeks, with a written component as well.  Unlike many other LCB schools, Ottawa is known to and does fail people.  

The first demo class was taught by Chef Benoit.  He's really funny in a mean, sarcastic kind of way.  He kept on making comments throughout the demonstration.  "It's okay if you don't like my sense of humour, I can be a bit of an ass."  I'm a keener so I sit front row and enjoyed the banter.  Since I'm paying big money for this, I don't want to miss a thing and also it forces me to at least look like I'm paying attention even if my mind wanders.  I was attentive and ended up taking 12 pages of notes! 

We covered etiquette and hygiene in the kitchen, different types of kitchen equipment, and a bunch of different cuts and terminology and then Chef Benoit made a Potage Cultivateur or Cut Vegetables' Soup.  

Etiquette / Safety

- Roll up your sleeves

- No jewelry that could attract bacteria - plain bands okay.

- No facial piercings, or cover it up with band-aids

- Respond "Yes Chef" if you understand something

- Whenever in motion with something that could cause damage say "CHAUD-DEVANT"

- Tell people when you open oven

- When walking around, press the knife against your leg.  Say "Knife!"

- If there is a hot pan taken out of the oven, sprinkle the handle with flour as a sign

- Do not put sharp things to be cleaned.. respect the cleaning staff.

- Do not cross contaminate... there are three different cutting boards.  Blue = Fish, Red = Meat, Wood = everything else (bread, cheese, veggies)

- Ball up wet paper towel underneath the cutting boards to stabilize

Hygiene

- Paper towel is your friend

- Pink bottle is to disinfect

- Clear bottle is mixture of water with tiny bit of vinegar, makes plates shiny for presentation

- Towels are only for lifting hot pots and pans.. not for cleaning / drying hands.  Remember: Paper towel is your friend!!

Kitchen equipment includes

- Plaque Chauffant (cooking surface - better than burners)

- Russe

- Marmitte

- Sautoir

- Sauteuse

- Poele a Frire

- Saucier (gravy boat)

- Bain Marie

- Chinois (strainer) / Chinois Etamine

- Tamis

- Cocotte (Dutch Oven)

- Ecumoire

"Garniture aromatique" which consists of 40% onions, 40% carrots, 20% celery.  can be made clear without the carrots.

Different cuts

- Mirepoix is a rough cut

- Julienne is matchbox, 3.5 finger lengths.. 1-2mm thick

- Brunoise make tiny cubes from julienne

- Paysanne - 1cm cube cut into 1-2mm thick

- Ciseler - finely chopped onions. a) cut to edge of root b) cut across c) chop across 

- Emincer - cut onion in half, then into long slices

- Concasse - chopped up fairly rough - use two hands and rock back and forth (Parsley, remove stems)

- Hache - chopped up to dust

Techniques

- Blanchir is putting something in cold water and bringing it to a slow boil.  Rinse, cool and repeat as necessary to remove saltiness or bitterness.  ie. salted pork belly

- Suer - sweat, cooking at a low heat, no colour change

- Mouille.. wet, add chicken stock or water

- Green beans, break ends and pull down, gets rid of the hard "vein"

Tomorrow is two practical labs, and one demo... killer.