Practical Exam - Day Two Roasting

Today started well. I was assigned the roasting menu, which includes Roasted Chicken with Pan Gravy, Corona Beans (cooked in bacon and herbs) and Cream of Broccoli Soup.

I'd practiced these several times so felt this shouldn't be a difficult menu. Time would be my main challenger. The beans were not presoaked which added and extra hour to the cooking process.

I started presoaking or quick-soaking my beans to get going on the day. I then mise'd (short for collected my mise en place) my chicken and got it into the oven. All was going smoothly. I got my mirepoix in the oven after 20 minutes so it could roast alongside my chicken. I checked the chicken at that point and it was progressing nicely and it had a nice color. I also basted it to ensure its color remained golden, lovely and skin crispy.

I started my broccoli soup in the hopes of plating it quickly and getting it out of the way. It too progressed nicely. I forgot to incorporate the flour into my pan before adding stock, but recovered nicely by adding roux. With this underway, I decided to check my chicken again. I pulled it out of the oven using my towels. The handle was so hot that I could feel the heat making it's way to my hand. I tried shifting the pan some, but its weight got the better edge and onto the floor the pan went, with a large clank to draw attention of everyone in the kitchen. No one said a word. Chef looked at me; I looked at him and then at the bird on the floor. I knew he wouldn't taste the chicken now.

I picked up the bird and placed it in the pan. Chef told me to finish the practical and make my sauce separately. Had I thought about it I could have recovered the wing tips and still had a decent sauce. Unfortunately I'd tossed the bird into the pan with the mirepoix and wingtips however. I started a new pan of mirepoix and put that into the oven for roasting.

Chef told me to leave and gather myself while the sous chef/dishwashers cleaned the floor. "Where do I go?" I wanted to just keep moving and forget it had happened. I left the kitchen got a few quick boo hoos in and returned. I'm sure I looked worse than when I'd left. I moved on and started my beans and finished my soup. Meanwhile I burned my second attempt at roasted mirepoix. I gave up and decided to do the third round on the stovetop, but I'd have to wait to get my soup plated to get a burner.

My soup came out okay, but I'd over blanched my broccoli garnish so it was lacking some crunch. Otherwise it was good. Thank goodness! I'd need something to help me after dropping the chicken.

With my beans going I started my pan gravy, only without chicken bits from the roasted chicken. The sauce considering was decent. It needed some flavor though so I stole some stock from my bacony beans on the burner behind them. It helped immensely. I strained the sauce and now was just waiting on my beans. I didn't have to worry about reheating my chicken at least.

The beans took forever!!! I'd cleaned my entire station minus what I needed to plate the beans, chicken on a separate plate, and sauce. Still the beans were crunchy. I was nearly twiddling my thumbs waiting on them. Tasting and tasting but still crunching and crunching. Finally I was running out of time. I wanted to wait until the last minute because I knew the beans would need it.

"Final fifteen minutes," Chef stated to the class. I guess my beans would be ready or not. Luckily they were ready. I'd forgotten all the herbs during cooking so I swirled in some finely minced fresh herbs for color and taste. They passed the test. Thank goodness!

The gravy was fine, but waiting on the beans killed it. It had gotten very thick and there was no chicken broth left to thin it. I swirled in some butter and instead my sauce broke. I think the sauce was not meant to be that day.

At the end I was just glad to be done. Now I could look forward to getting a crappy grade. As suspected, I got just that.