Knife Skills Day Five, Sauces

Today we made the mother sauces, espagnole, tomato, velouté, béchamel, and hollandaise. (Wow, I didn't think I could remember all those from merely hearing them in lecture, but after making them and knowing which teams made what, I actually can name them all. See... experience does matter.) My team made espagnole and tomato and each student had to make his own hollandaise.

I told my husband I had to make eggs benedict over the weekend and got a big "Alright!" He may get surprised with some asparagus or steak too with hollandaise. Something tells me he won't mind.

The sauces generally weren't difficult. I did learn that when you think you've sweat the onions enough, or carmelized the carrots enough... you didn't. When you think you added enough oil, you'll receive an "add more" from the chef. I'm guessing this is true too with salt, but I have yet to experience it firsthand. From appearances across the classroom, the other sauces were also completed without difficulty.

The hollandaise sauce I thought would be a different story. Rather, everyone was able to make theirs without breaking it, meaning the fats/oil would separate from the egg or the eggs get to hot and scramble instead of making a nice smooth sauce. There was one example of a broken sauce, made on purpose so we'd know what it looked like.

At the end everyone had to label their bowl and the were all compared at the end. I noted one bowl was not the original bowl in which the sauce was made. Thus there were no crusty pieces on the sides or other references to the actual process of making the sauce, just the finished product in a nice and clean bowl. "Who's is that? That's sneaky!" Of course if was our class leader's (same guy who had the nice tournés) and he got a shout out from the chef for cleaning up his presentation. Not fair! I asked before putting mine out if I should strain it and got a "don't worry about it." Obviously, I should have worried about it, especially since mine got used as the example of high sides of dried egg.

Next class sounds busy too. We're making several soups and consommé. I can't wait to see the raft that forms on top of the consommé with all the impurities! After learning this was sometimes used as family meal for peasants I felt bad for all the "Eeww that's for dinner tonight, Mom?" inquiries through the years. I suppose fast food beef could be equated to the contents of the raft however, meat bits, some protein additives, flavoring, sounds like a Whopper to me. Grill up the raft and put it on a bun! (Please don't! That's NOT Dalliscious!)

Serving Class

In addition to my knife skills class, I also attend twice a week a serving/front-of-the-house class. The uniform for it is a cotton button-down shirt with one breast pocket, black pants with a black belt, black dress shoes, black socks, a black bow tie, black apron, and our name tags. (Recall, I left this at home one day and lost points because of it.) The women in the class think its ridiculous that for this class no make up or jewelry is allowed, similar to the kitchen uniform. Isn't the waitstaff supposed to be pleasing to the eye? Our instructor states we're all beautiful and don't need make-up.

We are assigned a duty daily. So far I've been the bartender and a server. On the day that I was the bartender, I had to walk the class through those duties to prepare them for their day in that position. I had to make three batches of iced tea, using a white coffee pot not a black one for each batch and turning the handle forward on each batch. This is a "silent signal" that tells anyone who picks up the tea making process before it has fully completed which of the three batches is brewing. Other silent signals include a turned down napkin from the host at seating to indicate the place setting will not be used and needs to be removed from the table and a doily under the coffee cup to indicate it is decaf coffee.

After brewing iced tea I then brewed coffee. While reaching for the black coffee pot underneath the brewing machine, the cabinet door fell off. The class found this quite amusing and the instructor asked me what I did to break the door. "Nothing!!! Poor craftsmanship!"

In about two weeks we will have live customers in this class. There is another class that develops and cooks the menu for these customers. I have friends that will come one day while I'm serving. Knowing my friends, I'm sure they will point out any mistakes they can find and generally be difficult patrons. Can't wait! (Actually, I can. Bwoop!)

Knife Skills Day Ouch

No, I didn't cut myself. I'm still cut free, but a cut would have been better than forgetting my entire knife kit. That's major points off my grade for the day!

The last few days I've been completely absented minded so I'm not surprised I forgot my knives. The day before I forgot my name tag to serving class; that's points off for the day. The evening before I left my laptop power cord at work. I had to quickly put together a strategy document within my battery's one hour time frame. Then I realized I had to type up some recipes for class and had about 15 minutes of time remaining on the battery. I got through four of the five recipes and the screen went black. Luckily, I planned ahead and worked on my flash drive. I inserted it into my husband's computer and finished and printed my assignment. You'd think that would have been a warning then to get my head better into the game of school. Instead, out the door I went the next morning doing my mental checklist of class books, computer, snack, proper uniform and hot tea for the car ride--- no knives. Now I'll have to store them in my car, something not advisable in the neighborhood in which I live.

After approaching the chef with my tail between my legs, "Chef, I don't have my knives," he basically told me to make do, borrow, etc. (I wonder now if I should have even told him or waited to see if he busted me.) The lack of knives actually wasn't a huge inconvenience, more an embarrassment. I continued to work on my tournés, noting that I am improving, although the guy in front of me had tournés that really looked good, not perfect but good. Show off!! Bwoop! (He didn't really show off. I peered over slyly looking, but I have to add some drama here. Also I'm pretty sure he reads these blogs.)

The disappointment came when the chef told me my, I thought decent, tournés were a "C" level. Dang! I was hoping for a B- at least. Agreed they were no A. I will have to continue working on them.

The other in-class task for the day was to make white, blond, brown and dark roux. All came out nicely. I tried to take a picture to post here, but instead pushed the power button and not the shutter button. I noted chef saw me do this so I decided to slink away quietly. He must think I'm a complete ding-dong.

Next week will be better, especially since there is only one class because of the holiday.

Knife Skills Day Three

Today there was little lecture and demonstration. There is a large banquet tonight so our class was predominately working to prep items for that dinner. Big guests are expected, the American Culinary Federation, here for its monthly meeting. I am excited to see the food for it; I heard there's a lobster mac 'n cheese. Sounds Dalliscious! There's also an oyster raw bar. I sure hope I won't be the one shucking all those oysters.

I did get a shout out from the teacher on my uniform knife cuts. I guess the weekend practice paid off some. The potato-leek soup I made from my scraps sure were Dalliscious. I believe the cream helped. Bwoop!

Today I was assigned the role of Sanitation Director. This means I assign members of the class for various clean-up activities. It was fairly straightforward since I was provided a list of tasks that need to be completed. Thanks go to each classmate for a successfully completed cleaning. Each person accepted responsibility and tackled assigned tasks without moaning or making faces. I think everyone just wanted to get through cleanup as quickly as possible.

Still cut free.... (I do have a minor nick, but hardly anything worth mentioning.)

Knife Skills Practice

This Saturday I spent at Lunacy Black Market. Chef Luna gave me some interesting challenges and assisted me in honing my knife skills. My biggest challenge through the day was following through on a complete slicing stroke.

I started the day julienning a red pepper into lozenges (diamonds)- TINY ones! Then I sliced a sweet potato into thin slices and proceeded to julienne those. We deep fried the strips and used them as a soup topper. They were a nice addition to the pureed chickpea and tomato soup, both aesthetically on top and a tasty, slightly sweet crunch while eating the soup.

Next I tournéd several carrot pieces. It is a challenge working with something so small, but little did I know I would get to work with something even smaller. After the carrot came a potato- seems manageable, until Chef Luna cut the potato into small pieces. My hand cramped up from trying to hold them. I whittled these away into what ultimately looked like cloves of garlic, hardly the football shape they should have been.

I worked more on my knife strokes and julienned more peppers and then thinly sliced some garlic, used in Black Market's shrimp dish. Chef Luna would make me cut forward and then make me switch and cut backwards. The switch can be equated to patting your head and rubbing your stomach. My brain didn't want to switch quickly.

Upon finishing the garlic, Chef Luna said I needed to get some coffee. I thought he was going to make me tourné a coffee bean. I was very curious to see his demonstration. Rather, he busted out laughing; the coffee grinds get the garlic smell off your fingers. Duh! (and phew!!)

CONCLUSION: I will soon purchase a tourné knife.

It was a good day of practice. I will continue some work at home and am looking forward to potato & leek soup with the scraps. Dalliscious!

Knife Skills Day Two

We all practiced our knife skills making all 17 of our required cuts. I proceeded at a decent pace, but I'm not sure if I'd yet meet the time requirement of the test. Some classmates were struggling, nearly all of us with the tourne.

Overall, I was told my cuts were pretty good. An "Excellent!" would have been better. I'll have to work on that this weekend. Luckily, I can use my neighbor's commercial kitchen down the street some so I won't be trapped standing inside at my own place all day. No injuries to date.

Here's a full list of the required cuts.

1. Chop
2. Mince
3. Chiffonade
4. Julienne
5. Batonnet
6. Frite
7. Brunoise
8. Small Dice
9. Medium Dice
10. Large Dice
11. Tourne
12. Paysanne & Fermiere
13. Lozenge
14. Rondelle
15. Bias
16. Concasse
17. Oblique

Knife Skills Day One

My Knife Skills class should be called Skills. Sure knife skills are the basis, but there is way more than just cutting in this class. Still two people managed to cut themselves on their first attempt to use the sharpening steel. I've remained injury free to date.

We're provided the final exam on the first day and there is a five-day practical exam at the end. Only the first day of the practical is knife skills. Check out this line up...


Day 1: 17 knife cuts and 4 mother sauces

Day 2: Sauteed Supreme of Chicken w/Fine Herb Sauce, Grilled New York Strip w/Bearnaise Sauce, Puree of Lentil Soup, Rice Pilaf

Day 3: Chicken Fricassee, Chicken Broth with Vegetables and House-Made Egg Noodles

Day 4: Roasted Chicken w/Pan Gravy, Cream of Broccoli Soup, White Bean Ragout

Day 5: Poached Fillet of Sole w/Vegetable Julianne and Vin Blanc Sauce, Chicken Consumme, Duchesse Potatoes

Day 6: Written Exam, Kitchen CleanUp- Done for the Quarter! Bwoop!!