Today was the roughest day by far that I've had ... I messed up on both practicals. Really badly... good thing these are only worth 1.5% each of your final mark.
On the bright side, this is the last day of "new" techniques.. lessons 24-30 are all reviewing these same basic techniques (obviously in different dishes). Also, we are now switching to two lessons per day (demo, practical) and so I will be done at 3PM most days.. (unless of course there are seminars).
Practical #22 was "Poulet Saute Chasseur", one of the exam dishes. I cut my chicken into four pieces fairly quickly, but forgot to remove the wishbone right away so I had to backtrack a bit. The bones were really brittle, so I could not Machonner (remove the meat exposing the bones) very well. But that turned out fine. My sauce with veal stock, tomatoes and mushrooms reduced too much, and in my rush at the end I didn't thicken it out. Cooking my chicken was a disaster. There were NO large pans left for me to use, so I had to cook my chicken properly in a small pan. It was not cooked and Chef Gilles said "If you served that to someone you would kill them." He's right. I knew it wasn't ready, but I was already the last person to serve. In retrospect, if I had an extra 15 mins, I could have thinned out my sauce and cooked my chicken better I would have done well. Noted for the final, in case I get this dish.
The mid-term was immediately after, and I was so shook up from the practical, I was worried I wouldn't do well. However, it wasn't too bad. Mutiple choice and True or False. Taking a big step back... The mid-term is worth 10%, the practicals are worth 45% so I can make up the difference of a 3/5 and a 3.5/5 hopefully. It's been very helpful writing this blog, I didn't have to study too much since I've been keeping on top of things.
Demo #023 was with Chef Benoit and focused on seafood. Chef made had the infamous French frog legs, "Blanquette de Cuisse de Grenoilles". They are basically tasteless and when cooked look like white meat. Also done were Praires Farcies (clams in anchovie butter), Feuillette D'Escargots aux Champignons des Bois (Puff Pastry with Escargots and Morels), Coquilles Saint-Jacques a La Provncales (Scallops with Tomato sauce).
Practical #023 was the frog legs and the scallops. We were given time to MEP (Mise-En-Place) all our ingredients and then Chef would ask us to pull dishes together with changes. It was really stressful and the second order, I didn't even deliver frog legs plate, because it was supposed to be with white wine, but the Fumet de Poisson (quick fish stock) contained white wine. The frog legs are supposed to be cooked in the fumet, and you are supposed to make the sauce with the fumet as well... so some people boiled the legs in water, but used the sauce anyway. I didn't want to risk "killing" someone again, in case they had an allergy to it. Oh and my first scallop dish, Chef Benoit yelled at me for that too "This has no resemblance to what I did in the demo!" because I didn't montee a l'huile my sauce enough. Bah!!!
This was supposed to simulate how it is in a real restaurant, and I am now 100% sure this is not for me...
But still having a good time.. only 1 week of lessons, then it's final exam. I'll talk about that more later today, and will be changing the format of my posts to review the 13 recipes and detailed instructions.
Tonight we are going for the "class dinner" at the restaurant that is a part of the school. I wonder who will be cooking? I don't like most French food... maybe pick up some Subway on the way home. LOL.. Oh and Happy Moon Festival to all my Asian readers. Moon Cakes!
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