Perfect attendance is for sissies, kiss-asses and geeks.
So I took a day off - so what? Big deal. I emailed Chef Susan with a quick note letting her know I would not make it in, would collect notes from a classmate, etc.
B&P is methodical and measured, as expected. Lots of cups and pints and tablespoons and ounces, no more, no less. Not a handful of this, not a pinch of that. A handful of this or that lands you in hell. Try to make a strawberry souffle with a handful of egg yolks and stiff peaked whites and pastry cream, a pinch of sugar, you will have a soft, wet disc with roughly the same consistency as oatmeal. You have to know your measurements, you have to love your measurements.
Plating requires a certain amount of precision as well. We worked on plating in garde manger, but desert plating is a whole different craft, bordering on art. You don't slap a blob of sauce on a plate with a souffle in the center. You dabble, you stripe, you surround it in coating chocolate, you lay a molded cookie of caramel batter around it, carefully place a few fresh berries, and done. Phew.
This first week is all deserts, all the time. Our fearless leader through this education is Chef Susan Nocella, and she is no slouch. She definitely knows her shit. Chef Susan began her culinary career on the savory side, later finding pastry to be more her passion. Her knowledge of food is staggering, and I only needed two class lectures to see it. But she's not strictly business. She also has a wicked sense of humor, but is careful about when she flashes it.
Where garde manger tested our capacity to be rushed, pushed, beaten on and generally harassed, B&P will test our ability to develop an artistic manner in presentation. This does not mean we have the opportunity to unleash our inner Jackson Pollock; you cannot turn a plate into a tangle of sauces and a blot of mango ice cream. No, this art requires a gentle, minimalist style: a soft curve of raspberry coulis crossing a mango coulis, a dime sized drop of sour cream sauce, all surrounding a pillow soft souffle.
Did I mention I made a souffle? Not nearly as hard as it is cracked up to be, although mine did come out a little wet on the inside. I wanted a rustic strawberry souffle, with pureed but unstrained strawberries...but the berries wouldn't cook enough, so I ended up with a pretty, but unsatisfying product. Chef says there's a way to do this, but we don't talk about souffles in depth until tomorrow.
I suppose it's a combination of the nature of the product we're producing and Chef Susan's hard-ass exterior, but the action in the room, the ridiculous antics we generally get into, are much more reserved. I imagine we will wear down this chef as we have the others, and soon enough we'll return to our daily 5 hours of debauchery and abuse. For now, though, it's a nice change of pace. And there's always time to smoke!
So what did I do with my 5 borrowed hours? Duh, I made dinner. A stuffed pork roast, a nice chasseur, smashed red potatoes, green beans, plated to perfection, high and tight, and a composed salad in lettuce cups with a shallot vinaigrette.
So I took a day off - so what? Big deal. I emailed Chef Susan with a quick note letting her know I would not make it in, would collect notes from a classmate, etc.
B&P is methodical and measured, as expected. Lots of cups and pints and tablespoons and ounces, no more, no less. Not a handful of this, not a pinch of that. A handful of this or that lands you in hell. Try to make a strawberry souffle with a handful of egg yolks and stiff peaked whites and pastry cream, a pinch of sugar, you will have a soft, wet disc with roughly the same consistency as oatmeal. You have to know your measurements, you have to love your measurements.
Plating requires a certain amount of precision as well. We worked on plating in garde manger, but desert plating is a whole different craft, bordering on art. You don't slap a blob of sauce on a plate with a souffle in the center. You dabble, you stripe, you surround it in coating chocolate, you lay a molded cookie of caramel batter around it, carefully place a few fresh berries, and done. Phew.
This first week is all deserts, all the time. Our fearless leader through this education is Chef Susan Nocella, and she is no slouch. She definitely knows her shit. Chef Susan began her culinary career on the savory side, later finding pastry to be more her passion. Her knowledge of food is staggering, and I only needed two class lectures to see it. But she's not strictly business. She also has a wicked sense of humor, but is careful about when she flashes it.
Where garde manger tested our capacity to be rushed, pushed, beaten on and generally harassed, B&P will test our ability to develop an artistic manner in presentation. This does not mean we have the opportunity to unleash our inner Jackson Pollock; you cannot turn a plate into a tangle of sauces and a blot of mango ice cream. No, this art requires a gentle, minimalist style: a soft curve of raspberry coulis crossing a mango coulis, a dime sized drop of sour cream sauce, all surrounding a pillow soft souffle.
Did I mention I made a souffle? Not nearly as hard as it is cracked up to be, although mine did come out a little wet on the inside. I wanted a rustic strawberry souffle, with pureed but unstrained strawberries...but the berries wouldn't cook enough, so I ended up with a pretty, but unsatisfying product. Chef says there's a way to do this, but we don't talk about souffles in depth until tomorrow.
I suppose it's a combination of the nature of the product we're producing and Chef Susan's hard-ass exterior, but the action in the room, the ridiculous antics we generally get into, are much more reserved. I imagine we will wear down this chef as we have the others, and soon enough we'll return to our daily 5 hours of debauchery and abuse. For now, though, it's a nice change of pace. And there's always time to smoke!
So what did I do with my 5 borrowed hours? Duh, I made dinner. A stuffed pork roast, a nice chasseur, smashed red potatoes, green beans, plated to perfection, high and tight, and a composed salad in lettuce cups with a shallot vinaigrette.
