Whisk it, whisk it good!

These past few days in the kitchen have been based on emulsions, which you are probably familiar with. They are two liquids that never actually combine, but by whisking, they are broken into little tiny droplets that appears like it is an emulsion. We studied vinaigrettes (those dont hold long at all=salad dressings), and Mayonnaise and Hollandaise (a mother sauce). Mayo and Hollandaise are easy to make, but they just require a lot of whisking to emulsify the ingredients. Bringing back a broken emulsion is a pain in the butt, and thankfully i haven't broken one yet (knock on wood). Mayo is much much easier to make than Hollandaise because it just requires whisking one egg yolk with mustard, vinegar, and water then drizzling in oil until the mixture is fully emulsified. I now have a much better appreciation for Mayo (not Hellman's, I'm talking about the REAL stuff here). Hollandaise is a bit more annoying to make. Hollandaise, aka Heart-Attack-in-a-Bowl, is one of those temperature sensitive emulsions, so it is made directly before using (it can't be stored). It starts off with whisking 3 egg yolks with a reduction of water, white wine vinegar, peppercorns, and shallots. The bowl is then put over a double boiler and whisked until the mixture is thick and leaves "trails" behind. It is then taken off the heat and the 6 oz. of clarified butter is whisked in, slowly. Sounds easy, right? No. When the eggs are over the heat, you have to make sure the bowl does not get too hott or else the eggs willl scramble, leaving you with scrambled eggs, not Hollandaise. That is the hardest part because once that emulsions is made, its pretty simple to drizzle in the butter. Its just kinda of tiring on the arms (Wheres the elbow grease when I need it?). I am pretty comfortable with making these emulsions, they just require patience.
Tomorrow is our cooking practical for Skills 1. We have to make a knife tray (with about 10 different knife cuts), consomme, Espagnole (brown veal stock thickened with brown roux), Hollandaise, and Mayonnaise. Shouldn't be that hard....we'll have to see. A lot of people in my class are worried and I'm not....so i don't know if i should be.