Moving right along! Today was a treat because we didn't have to come in until 12:30. How nice to have the morning to myself! We began with a demo which had 2 parts. The first part of the demo was to finish up with the Duck Terrine from yesterday's demo. The chef really dazzled us with his artistic flair. To the right is a picture of the Terrine. Each piece of colorful decoration on the platter was made by using a pastry nozzle to cut out the shapes out of vegetable skins. The chef used eggplant, zucchini, and red pepper to acquire a palate of the colors for the border. He then used a tomato peel to make the roses, and blanched leaks to create the flower stems. All of the decorations were then brushed with a melted gelatin and chicken stock glaze to create a shiny coat. The white layer underneath the terrine was made with a milk, starch, and gelatin combo to create a decorative glaze to serve as a canvas for this masterpiece. I thought it was really impressive.
Part 2 of the demo was Stuffed chicken breasts, sauce and mushroom which we would have to make in the practical session immediately after the demo. It was a straight forward dish done in the typical French fashion.
After the demo, Kelsey was in and out of the basement with all of our ingredients before I even showed up to the kitchen. She was ON it today. Thanks Kelsey. We still ran in to a few glitches of not having enough chicken stock and running out of cream.
Setting up shop for my practical
My plate (Damn I forgot the chive garnish)Some color would have been nice
We began by dressing 2 chickens. The breasts were cut off and prepared. The remainder of the carcass was chopped and used to make the sauce. Since we are still in the forced meat part of the course, we had to prepare a stuffing for this chicken using a meat processor to blend some chicken breast meat with egg whites and cream. Salt, pepper and a few seasonings were added. It was a nice dish with a great tasting sauce. The sauce was made from the browned chicken scraps, deglazed with white wine, reduced with some chicken stock, and finally cream was added and reduced again...strained, cooked mushrooms added, and voila! A very flavorful concentrated sauce.
During the session Flavia cut her finger. It was not a bad cut, but two of the Chefs appeared out of nowhere like 2 spidermen ready to save Gotham City from all evil..."Ahy you ok Flavia..let meee zee Flavia...zis is a bad cut...no? Zis is a tragedy!" I thought they were going to "kiss it good" for her. Flavia is from Brazil and she has that certain something that makes the Chefs behave like bumbling little teenagers around her. Even one of the older Chefs gets a little extra bounce in his step and a silly smirk on his face when he walks by her. Flavia could be a McDonald's cook and she would still graduate from LCB. Luckily she is an excellent cook. Her kitchen station has been next to mine from day 1 and I have witnessed her in action around the stove. She is very organized and capable and has repeatedly put together a nice plate. It's just funny to see her effect on the Chefs. A few minutes later Eduardo had an oven burn. There were no superheroes in sight.
Here is Julia anxiously awaiting the Chef's analysis.
It appears to be a tense moment but it looks as
though he is beginning to say "oooo Laaaa Laaaa"
The day ended with our 2nd Conference which was an informal session discussing the hierarchy of a professional kitchen, but mostly about how to prepare for the final exam.
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