Practical Day One

Wednesday was the first of several days of practicals. Each of us arrived with no knowledge of which menu we'd be asked to perform.

First was setup. We were assigned tasks such as pulling equipment, proteins, preparing stations with labels and various necessities such as cutting boards and trash bins.

Then we were assigned our menus. I was assigned chicken fricasse; I'd just practiced it on Monday night to my disappointment and my husband's. (No more chicken!) I also had to make handmade egg noodles, which I'd also practiced on Monday night. They were yummy!

I started my broth (to present the noodles) so that it could simmer and absorb all the meaty goodness as possible during our three hours. I then started my pasta. I beat the eggs with water and oil, salted my flour and created a big well. I poured in the egg mixture and started stirring, intending to slowly incorporate the flour. Instead the dam broke on my flour levees and egg was pouring out onto the table. I tried to move flour to plug the hole but that created problems elsewhere. Soon I had egg running everywhere. "Don't panic!! Too early for a breakdown!" This eggy issue did not happen at home. I finally got it under control and incorporated most of the flour. My dough was particularly wet. Why?

Oops! I'd used twice as many eggs as I should have. The recipe was supposed to be halved, but I'd overlooked this in my egg calculation. Duh!! "Don't panic!! Too early for a breakdown!" I quickly measured more flour and incorporated it. Disaster averted. Phew! I kneaded and put the dough to rest. I could hear the chef chastising another student for not making the proper amount. How long until he noted my humongous pasta dough ball.

On to the chicken fricasse.

I started the mise en place. This progressed well, my chicken was a little darker than it should have been but by no means golden. (If it was to be golden, or doré as the French say, it would have been judged much too pale.) I pulled the chicken and rested it while I made the sauce. I used the required amounts (yes! I was correct this time!) and it tasted too much like the white wine. I believe I didn't cook it down long enough. I tried to let it cook longer after adding the broth. Still winey, but not whiney; the chicken thankfully was dead. I needed to move on so I replaced my chicken pieces in the pot and put the pan in the oven.

Just then, "Dallas, is that your pasta dough?" Dang! Busted on the full recipe!

"You should put it in the refrigerator." Phew! That's it?!? Interesting, the recipe said let it rest for an hour at room temperature. I'm not going to argue however.

Check my chicken. Not done, 120F. I needed 155F. Back in the oven it went.

Now I needed to blanche my julienne strips for the chicken soup and my diced carrots and leeks to finish the fricasse. The water WOULD NOT BOIL! I felt I was losing valuable time waiting for it to boil. It was a small pot too; I can't imagine how long a big pot would have taken. I actually didn't have anything to do waiting on that stupid pot to boil. Of course this only heightened my anxiety. I kept thinking "a watched pot never boils." I wasn't looking so boil!! Still no boil. Ugh!

Finally a boil! I placed my chinoise with the diced and julienne carrot pieces in it. There wasn't enough water to cover the pieces. I had to add more water and wait for that to boil again! "Don't panic!! You've almost made it through without a breakdown!" I went through the whole cycle again thinking "a watched pot never boils." I wasn't looking so boil!! Still no boil. Ugh!

I checked my chicken again, 140F.

Finally a boil. My carrots were on! While they were blanching I decided I wouldn't have time to blanche the carrots, then the leeks, and then the celery. I'd have to do the leeks and celery together, but having them mix together wouldn't work either. It'd take me 20 minutes to separate them. I made a cheesecloth pouch and put the celery julienne inside, except one I would use for tasting, I added to the leeks.

Carrots done, leeks and celery on!

I checked my chicken again, 180F. Whoa! DONE! I wondered how apparent the overcooking would be in this dish since it's slowly braised in liquid versus dry roasted in an oven left to dry out. Not much I could do now.

Celery done! Make the fricasse sauce. I removed the DONE chicken and placed it aside. I tasted the sauce, needs salt. Plus it was still winey (not whiney). I decided to add more chicken stock but this would thin my sauce which was at that point a good consistency. The stock helped to rid of that winey taste. It was actually pretty tasty but still too thin. I added the cream hoping it would assist in thickening my sauce. It did, but not enough. I didn't have time to reduce it and thought it actually was supposed to be thinner than the other sauces so I decided to move forward.

"Plating in five minutes, Chef." I proceeded to strain my sauce and give it's final seasoning, of course more salt. I mixed in some of the blanched carrot and leek dice and saved some to sprinkle on top with some chopped parsley. I retrieved my bowls from the hot box, labeled "Dallas" so no one would steal them. I poured the sauce over my chicken, set up in the proper form-- thigh on the bottom, leg partially stacked on top with the bone in mid air. Last I sprinkled on my garnish and brought the two servings to the judges, our chef instructor and another chef instructor.

On to finishing my broth... "Plating in five minutes, Chef."

I needed to cook my noodles but I didn't have time to wait for water to boil. I'd have to reuse my blanching broth, something I was sure would come back to haunt me. I strained my broth and noted there was still lots of debris. I remembered later I was planning to use cheesecloth when I strained the broth, but I forgot. I cooked my noodles. They took much longer than I thought they would to cook. I wanted to be sure not to overcook them though, something that was highlighted in lecture. My broth was ready, all except for noodles. I'd chopped my chicken pieces to include and added my julienne strips of carrot and celery.

I was tasting my noodles for doneness but the things were so slippery I couldn't get them to stay on my spoon. There were no forks for tasting so I used fingers- A BIG NO NO!!! I knew this but felt pinched for time. Sometimes logical thought goes out the window.

Finally, I was ready to plate my soup. I took my labeled bowls to the judging table and felt relieved to be finished, but anxious I'd get hit with sanitation dings.

I noted all the second plates were held together for class review. Mine were the only dishes labeled. Oh well. I should be proud of my dishes!

In my one on one with the chefs I learned my fricasse chicken was over browned, the chicken over done and the sauce too salty. Jeez! It looked good, perfect color and nice veggie pieces and garnishing. The sauce was too thin. It didn't stick to the chicken pieces but rather ran off leaving the chicken dry looking.

My broth was more successful. It was full flavored and well seasoned and the noodles well cooked. During the class lecture someone tasted both broths and said "Dallas' is better." The commenter didn't realize the competing student was who she was telling, not that she was offended.

All in all, not too bad.