Classroom Sunrise

I don't think I've ever been in class during a sunrise; until this morning.

Today was the start of my 2nd rotation. Nutrition and Stock, Soups & Sauces courses are now complete, and I started Food Production & Service today. The class portion is from 7am (still dark) to 8am (light), and then we are in the kitchen from 8:15am to 1:15pm. In Stocks, Soups & Sauces I prepared things to be used by the Food Production & Service course. Now the shoe is on the other foot. I use the things prepared by them to serve to the (admiring?) public in the CIC cafeteria.

This course is quite a shift in procedure. In SS&S, the onus was on getting what needed to be done completed by 5pm so we could go home. If it took until 5:15pm, well, it just meant you got home a little later. With Food Production & Service, the "Production" part has to be done by 11am, because that is when it shifts to the "Service" part, and there is a line of hungry people waiting to be fed for the next 2 hours.
So there is definitely an adrenaline aspect to this course that wasn't present in the previous courses. 

Since this is only day 1 of this course, there isn't much in the way of study material yet, but the instructor for this course said some things today that stuck with me:

1. "Mise en place isn't just the preparation of ingredients and equipment. It is also mental preparation."
This is very important in this course because you always have to be thinking a few steps ahead....for example, when the line is calling out for a new tray of vegetables, you can't be in the kitchen still preparing it; you have to come up with a method to always be prepared. Time management is key. (an the food still has to be fresh; you can't prepare it all at 10am; a fresh batch has to be ready to go as needed.)

2. "Culinary Arts is an art form that involves all 5 senses." 
I hadn't really thought about this until he said it. Most other art forms involve various senses, but since Culinary throws the sense of taste into the fray, it hits on all of the senses. People like a visually appealing meal (sight). It has to smell good (smell). It has to have an appealing texture (touch). If it is supposed to be crunchy, you had better hear that "crunch" (hearing). Most importantly it has to have flavour (taste). The sense of taste is the sense that is missing from other forms of art such as paintings, songs, books, sculptures, dance, photos, etc. Such a simple statement really conjured up a lot of thought for me.

My instructor for this course is Chef Jeff McCourt. He is a graduate of the CIC (Class of 1991). He worked as Michael Smith's sous chef for 4 years at The Inn at Bay Fortune, becoming executive chef when Michael Smith left. He was head chef at a Resort & Spa in Ireland for a few years before returning to PEI to be executive chef at the Confederation Centre of the Arts and then Red Shores Casino. He is a new instructor at the CIC, having just started in January (same day as me). Even though it is only day #1, I've already had a few personal chats with him and look forward to learning a lot about the industry from him.

This is going to be an interesting rotation.