The cooking begins, FINALLY:

These are tales from the Skills kitchens. The "Skills" classes are divided into Skills 1, 2, 3. So naturally, Skills 1 covers the basics= knife cuts, soups, stocks, sauces. As of now, I am in Skills 1.

9-30-08

I have finished meat class. I started Skills 1 today, which is where we learn how to do a basic mise en place (put in place, having everything ready at your station), make stocks, soups, sauces....so the foundations of cooking. I have a French chef, Chef Le Roux. It is funny that his name is roux cuz we will be making roux in skills. I find it funny. He is so nice. Well, day one he is nice. I have heard nothing bad about him, so I am pretty sure I will be fine.

10-13-08

i LOVE LOVE LOVE my chef. One girl in my class and I want to adopt him as our Grandfather. I don't think I will ever have a chef like him again at this school. He originally was the chef at the Escoffier Restaurant (which is right before students graduate) and he was noticing that many students still did not have the proper techniques that they should have learned in the Skills classes. So he came back to Skills 1 to make sure we learn it the right way. He does not yell and he makes sure we always know what we are doing. He makes jokes a lot too, which is funny. He has a thick Fraanch accent, so sometimes it is hard to understand. He is very proud of our group because we get along so well.

In Skills, I have made French Onion soup, Consomme, Potato and Leek Soup, Lentil Puree, Cream of Broccoli (YUK), Whipped Potatoes, and LOTS and LOTS of stock.

So far everything I have brought to chef for him to try, he has really enjoyed. The first time we brought our food to him to grade, I was wicked nervous. It is especially hard during the soups because I had never made or eaten any of them! I just went on instinct and wallah, turned out maaahvalous! I have never had my food GRADED! I have only looked at my grades once in that class. I do not want to cook for a grade. I want to cook knowing I have pleased chef and that I have done my best. I asked him how my grades were doing and he told me that he would purposely show me if there was an issue. I don't want the number to psych me out.

We also have to do a knife tray on a daily basis. This consists of different cuts with potatoes, tomato concasse (peeled, seeded, chopped), sliced and diced onions, minced shallots, minced garlic, chopped parsley, and my least favorite: tourne potatoes. It is a football shaped vegetable, and we are learning on potatoes because they are easier to cut through. It is hard to get the motion down, but Chef says I am improving.