My CIA Culinary Experience: Culinary Fundamentals. (Thursday/Friday)

THURSDAY.

It's time for some Culinary Fundamentals. A very very early class. I woke up at 4:40AM.. And got breakfast before my class. For breakfast I had a bagel and some orange juice! And now it's time for class. What did I do you ask? Well I made Beef Vegetable Soup and did my Knife Tray and made Glace.

We make Glace every day, so we know how to do it and do it well. And we do the Knife Tray to enhance our, you know, knife skills. I told you all what Glace was and what my Knife Tray consists of.. Oh we also made Clarified Butter. Have a told you what Clarified Butter was? I don't think I did.. But Clarified Butter is when you melt butter to separate the milk fat from the butter. The butter becomes very clear, it's a yellow color but it's clear. This is the final product of Clarified Butter:

And here is my Glace, final product:

And my Beef Vegetable Soup, almost final product, not plated just in my pot:

To make the Beef Vegetable Soup, you will need Peas, Tomatoes, Celery Root, Leeks, White/Yellow Turnip, Cabbage, Beef, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, Sachet d'epices, and Stock.

(Everything is cut into Small Diced)

First you put 2 oz of Clarified Butter in a med sauce pot. Then on low heat, add 1 oz of Carrots, Onions, Celery Root and Garlic. Now sweat the mixture. Use WOODEN SPOON to stir.

Then add 40 oz of stock. After that add Leeks, Cabbage, Yellow and White Turnips. And now add the Sachet d'epices.

And you simmer. But you Convection Simmer. And Convection Simmer is when you move the pot to half of the burner so the fat situates onto one side so you can skim the fat from the liquid.

Add salt to season.

And after that add the potatoes and keep them in there for 5 minutes. And then add the Meat.

Now you simmer for 3-4 more minutes.

Then add Peas and Tomatoes.

AND PLATE.

Then we are graded on it. Our chef, Chef Barry, grades it on the appearance and taste. I did well on it, he said, I need to have my vegetables cut more precisely. So, that's good:)

Now after this all happened, the power goes out. Then the fire alarm goes off. We are evacuated from the building. And since this happened, lunch was rough. I had a bowl of Chicken and Rice Soup and Tres Leche Cake.

This was the BEST Tres Leche Cake. Sorry Megan;)

And for dinner I had Vollaille Fermiere with Potatoes and Haricot Vert. With a Raspberry Crepe.

FRIDAY.

So, I had Culinary Fundamentals again on Friday. In this class, we made French Onion Soup, Glace and our Knife Trays.

This time we had 55 minutes to complete the Knife Tray, I finished in 48 ish minutes.

I am okay with that, I WILL get it down even more. I mean, we have too.

For the French Onion Soup, we have to use alcohol. So we were given 5 different alcohols, and we had to try them all, in order to figure out which one to use.

The choices were: Calvados, Apple Jack, Brandy, Sherry and White Sherry.

Calvados is a apple brandy from the French region.

Apple Jack is the American equivalent to Calvados.

Brandy is well, Brandy. And same with the Sherry..

Now it is time for French Onion Soup.

To make this you must first put 2.5 oz of Clarified Butter in a Sauce Pot. Then add the Onions right away. Now sweat the Onions for about 40 minutes. The Onions must be julienned.

The color should be a dark brown.

Here are the stages of the onions:

After you brown the Onions you add the minced garlic. And now it's time to Flambé. So add the alcohol and turn the pan to it's side and the alcohol vapors catch fire. After that you add the stock and you let it simmer. You convection simmer it and skim off the fat from the top.

With the French Onion Soup, we made Croutons. And that is sliced baguette that is grilled in a sauté pan. And then sprinkled with cheese.

My finished product:

And I did very well on this too! He said I just needed more salt, because it needs to be both sweet and savory, and I just needed to balance those flavors better.

And for lunch I had Ravioli Fromage de Chèvre.

(Ravioli filled with Goat Cheese, Ricotta and a Provencal Tomato Sauce)