Week 8: Back in Business!

Hurricane Sandy hit New York pretty good, so my school was closed last weekend and I didn’t have class, therefore I had nothing to report but the fact that staying in the house for a whole week made me gain 100 pounds, become an alcoholic and watch too many cooking shows for my own good. Thank God I was ok and didn’t need anything, some people were not that fortunate.

After a major school clean up (just imagine how much food went bad without proper refrigeration for 5 days), finally we were back in business, class was on for this weekend. I was so excited to be back in the kitchen especially after my disastrous start of Mod 2. I came in ready:  recipes on index cards check! Read material before class check! I’m not gone a burn anything attitude …sort of check!

I had a good start in the morning, but it started getting stressful as the day progressed (I guess that’s Mod 2). There were tons of recipes we needed to that day it was the last class on sautéing so we had to get our sh...  together. We got to work in groups of 2 which made it better, and the Chef realized we absolutely could multitask but we needed more time to make sure we were doing things right instead of rushing. We sautéed away: lamb, beef, scallops, spinach, salmon, sole (we made the famous dish that Julia Child tried in France for the first time Sole Meuniere) – I can proudly say I can filet a flat fish no problem!  We didn’t burn anything, but some of our seasoning was still of – pinch of salt, pinch of salt, pinch of salt!

On Sunday sautéing was over, come on in pan frying and deep frying! – A diet nightmare or a hangover paradise- . Again groups of 2, good! We started with knife drills- which basically means chopping potatoes in different shapes so we can practice – I swear there is no way I can make a straight line! Even with the angle tip, but I am getting better so yey for me! Then it was time to set up the breading stations which are as follows: flour-egg-breadcrumbs or panko, and you season the meat not the egg mixture – something new. We cooked veal Milanese, chicken Supreme, crab cakes, potato pancakes, and guess what: tostones! And this was just in the first half of the day. I remembered the first classes when I was so hungry, now I was so stuffed! We had to try everything and of course you’re picking at the food here and there, I could feel I was gaining a pound a minute! Then came deep frying!!!!  We were getting ready to cut the potatoes into fries when out came the scariest tool: The Mandolin. Let me explain, I have cut myself at least one time, my mom has cut he self like 3 times, a friend of mine who is a chef  lost the tip of his finger, so I absolutely did not want to cut with that. I kept watching as all the other students were setting up their mandolins, moving the blades, and securing the level. Me? I kept looking away and then going to the bin to find a mandolin for me which thank God was not there, so we had to share and I had to wait my turn. I swear it was like magic: 2 minutes into the cutting session I heard the first aghh! (one down) Darn it! Ouch (two down) jkdhf hef – Hebrew (three down) @$%^# (four down). Ha I knew it! Stay away from the mandolin! There was a quite a bit of blood, and the finger gloves went flying from the first aid kit. However I know the chef was waiting for me to tackle it, but since it was a bloody mess, she taught how to do it with a side towel – which was may better, but I swear half the potato went to the trash.

We cooked French fries, fish (fish and chips), broccoli tempura, fried oysters, and fried chicken southern style.  Everything was delicious, but at the end of the day it was too much frying for me, I think we are done with dry cooking techniques and we are moving on.

Finally that day I had signed up for a Turduken demonstration.  Let me explain what a Turduken is. Are you ready? It is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. I will give you a minute to get it. Ok, I just want to understand who was the “fatty” person that invented it? Seriously how hungry can you be that you thought of putting a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, I swear that is why there is an obesity crisis in the U.S. I didn’t go to the class because I was disgustingly full and couldn’t stand more any more food least of all a TURDUCKEN!

I can say it was a very good weekend, and I had missed it tremendously, and as always I can’t wait until next Saturday.

PS: Oh and we found a little crab inside an oyster!