Slow but sure....

I've resigned myself to the fact that this blog will not be as regular as I had hoped. There has been lots of exciting stuff happening lately, but so little time to write about it. (Culinary happenings and life-happenings....all good.)

Chefs Gala 2011:

This was an awesome experience.  I helped Chef Jeff prepare one of his signature dishes on Friday.....Parsnip, Vanilla and Apple Soup with Rosemary Walnut Bread Pudding and Wild Rice Fritters. I thought that there may be a handful of students helping out, but was surprised when it was just the two of us. I confess...I was proud to be chopping, cooking, and prepping next to the 2010 PEI Chef of the Year.

On Saturday I arrived at the Culinary Institute around 3pm. Since Saturday was "the day", there were 16 other student volunteers for the Gala. I was still with Chef Jeff on the soup station, and while other students were helping prep, on Saturday I was helping cook. As far as I can tell (in my infancy in this profession), in the kitchen, there are three places to be: prepping, cold line, and hot line...the level of prestige is in that order. Once again, I was pretty proud to be the only student from my group to be trusted with cooking off the items required for this $150 per ticket meal.

The meal was scheduled be served at 7pm. The time spent prepping on Friday and cooking on Saturday was nothing compared to the adrenaline rush at 6:30pm when you hear the emcee at the microphone talking about the evening's schedule and when all of a sudden there are 150 fancy gold-rimmed plates covering every flat surface of the kitchen being plated with the first course of the evening.....that's when the realization hits that there are 150 people sitting just outside the kitchen doors that have paid a lotta money to eat food that you've helped prepare. Simply awesome.

Of course by this time, I was keeping the two 11-litre rondeaus of soup hot enough for service, but not so hot that it burned....it was a cream soup, so one mis-step and it could have burned. I remember thinking, "If I burn this soup after putting about six hours of labour into it, I might as well go home, lock the doors, and choose another career path.....if I live to see the sunrise."

That's when things got interesting. I had no idea, but four students were going to be chosen, by drawing out of a chef's hat, to be excused from service and join the people out in the dining room for the evening's meal. I was one of the four that won!

The meal was amazing. Seven courses, five of which had wine pairings. Here is the menu from the evening:

     I was seated a table with the three other students, the 2010 Atlantic Chef of the Year and the 2011 Atlantic Chef of the Year. Pretty neat conversations through the evening.

After the gala, I discovered another neat aspect of the culinary world....the chef's afterparty. After eating for 3 hours, I went upstairs and had (free) drinks and appetizers for another 2 hours. I met some interesting people, one of which was a second year student from Vancouver who gave me some tips on the Vancouver market.

All in all, an experience I won't soon forget....regardless of the fact that I had to take a cab home and pick up the car the next day.

As for course work, I scored 96% on my ServSafe Certification, a certification course administered by the US National Restaurant Association, accepted world-wide and valid for 5 years. (A pass is 75% and there is a 35% failure rate for applicants.)

In my Entremetier/Cold Cuisine course, I scored a 93% on my Entremetier final exam (class average = 70%).
I had my black box practical exam today. For this black box, you are paired in groups of two and asked to design a sandwich, then two weeks later prepare 24 sandwiches to be sold on the cafeteria cold line.
Being a late addition to the program in January, I was the 17th person in a 16 person class, so Chef Linda asked if I was ok doing the sandwich black box on my own. I accepted and came up with:

A Cilantro Lime Chicken and Avocado Sandwich on Chipotle Pepper Focaccia with Roasted Cumin Mayonnaise & Monterey Jack Cheese

I tested the focaccia, mayo, and chicken marinade at home over a period of 2 weeks, but in separate taste tests, so didn't actually taste it all together until today.

Once again, the adrenaline rush you get minutes before the Chef calls you over to have your black box preparation graded is quite something......a recipe you designed and assembled is about to be scrutinized.
I was shocked by my mark: 51.5 out of 51! I lost a half point for seasoning (I never salt things enough), but gained a bonus point for not having a partner. Chef Linda was pleased by the used of textures and commented that every bite was full of various flavours that could be tasted separately.
Bonus: All the sandwiches were sold out in less than an hour. This was unfortunate for Kim who arrived for lunch at 12:10pm, for the sole purpose of trying my sandwich. I guess I'll have to replicate the sandwich at home.

Assignments and tests upcoming, so this will have to suffice as an update for now.