Well, Hello There

I’ve not blogged in quite some time, it seems.

4th Quarter is hard. We started calling it the “Personal Demons Quarter”: all of your fears and challenges about working in a kitchen are challenged. The tears and breakdown ratio is high. This is not to say that our Chef is mean and nasty: she’s quite lovely, but also very demanding. That stuff is hard, yo.

I leave 4th quarter knowing that I very much don’t want to work on a line – the compressed chaos is not to my liking. I am also convinced further that fine dining is not for me – all that work for so little food, and such expensive plates. It was a rough go in there for a while. I ended the quarter thinking, once again, “why am I doing this?”

We got a short break between quarters, and instead of cramming it with social activities and work, I tried to stay very much unscheduled. It was wonderful. The house got at least a surface cleaning and organization, I got sleep, my garden got planted, and I found myself implementing many of the skills I had been working on during the previous term. I’m not comfortable with all of the butter I’m using, but I can sure make tasty and pretty food.

Summer Quarter started this week. We will spend the next 7 weeks learning garde manger (cold foods), buffet, catering, and spending a day working on a farm every other week. The big project this quarter is a Show Platter, mostly based on culinary competition guidelines. It will end up something like this:

Egyptian entry in the National Salon Culinaire 2008 competition

We must have a “grosse” piece, a secondary piece, a composed item, and an accompaniment. We need to use at least one forcemeat technique, and we are encouraged to utilize multiple techniques. We will be graded on difficulty, precision (8 perfect portions!), and presentation. The gross piece must be aspiced and free of smudges, fingerprints, etc. I’m a little scared, as precision and a delicate touch are not among my strong points.

Every week, nine of us will spend the week prepping our Show Platter and presenting it on Thursday. I am one of the lucky few whose Show Platter is…next week.

I am frantically researching terrines, pates, roulades, mousselines, etc. I think I have a plan: “Duck, Cluck, Mousse”.

Country Terrine With Duck and Port Shallots [grosse]

Chicken and Leek Terrine [secondary]

Zucchini Net with Faro, Fava Mousse, Blueberries, and Ginger [composed]

Celeriac Crisp, Carmelized Onion Strawberry Rhubarb Jam [accompaniment]