Week 4

Perhaps I am starting this a tad bit late, but better late then never, right?
I am a culinary student at the Art Institute in Seattle, getting my Bachelors in Culinary Arts and Business Management. This is my first year, first quarter and I'm rounding off my first month. We work on a quarterly system at school, so I will be having my first midterm THIS WEEK on on Thursday.
I know that it all sounds very soon to be having a midterm in my first month of school, but I must let you in on something. Culinary school is the most fast paced crazy thing I have ever done. If you've gone to a regular University or College you have NO idea, even summer quaters/semesters when things are crammed, doesn't compare.
My midterm is on incredibly basic stuff.

Stocks
-white
-brown
-fish fummet (isn't a stock, but very similar process)
-mirepoix (by weight 25% celery, 25% carrot, 50%onion)
-sachet d epices and boquet garnis (10 cracked pepper corns, 6 stems parsley, 2 pinches of thyme, and 1 bay leaf wrapped in a leak leaf or cheese cloth and tied with butcher twin)

Sauces
- The Mother Sauces which are Veloute(white with blonde roux and white stock, generally chicken), Bechamel(white roux with milk+ an onion piquet), Hollandaise(a sauce created from emulsification of eggs and pure butter fat), Espagnole (brown sauce, brown roux and brown stock), and Tomato (I think we all know what a tomato sauce is)
-Knife skills; We are doing very basic cuts which are, Large Dice, Batonnet, Medium Dice, Allumette, Small Dice, Julienne, Brunoise, Frine Julienne, Fine Brunoise and very rough coarse chopping for our mirepoix

Vocabulary
-A various jumble of French words/cooking utensils and proper equipment names and various phrases one will need to know to read and write our recipes

*no recipes, no notes and no team assistance... it'll be interesting. We've learned and memorized this in less than 4 weeks (this is just one class mind you)


I didn't know that I was going to be having a midterm this week until last Thursday when my Chef (Chef Nash, you'll be hearing a lot about him) sprung this on me and my 8 other classmates. (our classes used to have more people... but we'll touch on that later).

Fortunately this is relatively easy stuff when you break it down in your mind. I've found doing it at home is great for me because when I am in the kitchen at school, all dressed up in my uniform, I tend to get very nervous. Chef's are not always the most pleasant or forgiving teachers. There is nothing quite like having a pile of perfectly carved out laborious mini footballs from potatoes getting dumped in the trash casually and then being instructed to start again with a dismal look from the teacher.

It's funny, when you first start, you're given your uniform and your texts. The knife kits is fabulous almost to a point of intimidation. You feel like you're starting off already knowing something. Let me just say right now, you know nothing. In fact, if you think you do, then you for sure don't. After your first week you'll realize this. I've been cutting things wrong all my life, I haven't made a cheese sandwich correctly ever. Cooking is a very personal thing, so even as an extreme novice it's a hard pill to swallow when you're told you're work is worthless and a an utter disappointment.

Now that I'm on week #4 I have a various number of projects occurring right now. I will touch on those in further blogs as they happen. There is a bit too much for me to write.

It's 6 a.m. so it's time for me to start my day!
(normally I'm not up this early, but I have an unruly amount to do today)



Culinary school is no picnic, But it is just the place for a hungry artist like me.

peace.