ICE Week 5

My first four weeks of class consisted of long lectures, thorough demonstrations by my chef-instructor, Chef Sobrina, of the skills to be learned that day, and repetitious practice of chopping to drill these new skills into our young and vulnerable culinary minds. Now, everything has changed as we near the end of Module 1.

As we entered into Week 5 this past week, the organization of my class transformed from slow, technical training, to multiple recipe assignments that sent my classmates and I into a fast-paced cooking frenzy. The focus of the week was sauces, sauces, and more sauces. This afternoon, my partner, Kate, and I completed 7 intricate, technical, and incredibly delicious sauces. There were homemade tomato sauces, creamy sauces, and brown sauces used as meat glazes. 

With this new class set up, we begin each class with the various recipes of the day previously studied and written out so we will be able to anticipate cooking times, ingredients, and the skills needed to excellently complete our tasks on time. We are beginning to understand the amount of urgency that is necessary to succeed in a professional kitchen. After Chef Sobrina gives a quick run over of the recipes, we are sent off to perform what is required to receive our daily grade. Today, what was required of us was to have 7 various forms of sauces warm and ready in 3 hours. It took quite a bit of organization and teamwork from Kate and me. At one point we didn't have enough cream-based stock to complete the classic French cheese sauce called Sauce Morray, so we just threw in a heaping amount of freshly grated Gruyere and Parmesan cheese to compensate (about twice as much as asked for in the recipe). It turned out to be a thick, stringy mess! It might not have been the best Sauce Morray in the class, but it was a wonderful practice to think like a chef when something isn't going properly in the kitchen, and it made for a good laugh in the nerves of the preparation. 

Next week is our final week of Module 1 before we take our Mod 1 practical exam (ahhhhh) to move on to Module 2. That means we are already 1/5 of the way to graduating as chefs! I am nervous about the practical, but I cannot wait to be in Mod 2 which is primarily focused on various ways to prepare meat (my dad will be proud). 

I hope everyone has a wonderful October weekend! Happy eating!!!