skills 1 Day 12

Espagnole Sauce



Jus Lie Sauce

 Day 12 we made Espagnole Sauce which is one of the five mother sauces and we also made Jus Lie sauce. We did our knife tray as usual in 45 minutes and then when we had completed that it was time to watch chef's demo on the sauces. They did not seem to difficult except they were both some what similar so it got a little confusing at certain points. We were sent to our stations after the demo to begin our production for the day. It took about an hour but we were given an hour and fifteen minutes, we started at 9:00 am and we had to be finished by 10:15 am that day. Everyone finished on time luckily. If everyone does not finish on time it puts the chef in a bad mood so it is in your best interest to be organized and finish on time. It was almost our last day of skills 1, we were moving up in the CIA community we would be in skills 2 before we knew it!

Skills 1 Day 11

Today in skills was a work out for my for my arm and everyone else in the class. So your probably wondering what I could possibly be talking about, well we had to make Hollandaise and mayonnaise. For both of these you must whisk intensely in order for the emulsion to come together properly and to ensure that the sauce will not break. My arm was killing me but the Hollandaise was quite yummy. We also had to do our knife trays, make brown veal stock, cook broccoli and make Consomme. We made Consomme on day 5 and we had to do it again. This morning at 5:30am up at breakfast I was informed we were making it, I had no idea for some reason until 30 minutes before class, so I quickly whipped out my index cards and wrote my game plan for Consomme. Luckily this time when we made Consomme I put just the right amount of salt and my soup did not have any grease droplets on the top like before. After we finished our knife trays and consomme we moved onto the Hollandaise and mayonnaise it went well and it really is not as hard and intimidating as one might think. We also had to make broccoli, this was so we would have something to put the Hollandaise on. I was trying to be smart and think ahead and for some reason made the broccoli before I had even started my Hollandaise sauce, well chef noticed and said "Tallulah are you going to serve me cold broccoli with a hot sauce, I hope not." So he did call me out on it but it was all fine because for some odd reason I kept a couple of spears on my tray that had not been cooked yet, so when I finally made the sauce I just dropped the broccoli into the boiling water, pulled it out a few minutes later and plated my broccoli with Hollandaise sauce. I still can't figure out why I didn't cook those few spears but I had a little guardian angle watching over me I guess. Chef was surprised to see pipping hot broccoli on my plate, but he was pleasantly surprised I think. After he took his one taste, I took it back to my station and enjoyed it but I put a ton more Hollandaise on it because I absolutely love Hollandaise, and by the end of it I ate a couple spoons of it. Lets just say too much Hollandaise = stomach ache. I could not eat lunch after that one, I think I learned my lesson! To much of something good can be bad, case and point. Tomorrow we have our final exam in skills 1, we will have to complete a 50 question fill in section, and then our final knife trays in 45 minutes. I am a little nervous, but tonight my class and I are having a study session at 6 so hopefully that will help me feel more confident about tomorrow!

The Culinary In The Winter Time!



The Culinary Institute of America









 

The Hudson River

Anton Plaza

Lunch!

This was lunch one day last week, it was from the Garde Manger kitchen. Some days they give out these appetizers and you don't have to use a meal swipe for them so it's pretty much free except for the fact that you probably paid for it in tuition! They were delicious!

Smoked Salmon

Champagne Jello with Fruit

Skills 1 Day 10

Mushroom Duxelle Stuffed Mushrooms

Cauliflower Gratin

Day 10...Friday! Finally this week seemed to drag on but Friday came in no time, which is awesome because we are all exhausted! Today we made Bechamel Sauce, mornay Sauce which is Bechamel sauce with the addition of gruyere and Parmesan cheese. We also made cauliflower gratin, and mushroom duxelle stuffed tomatoes with persillade (bread crumbs with parsley and garlic) on top. I completed my knife tray in our first 45 minute tray, which was so nice to have completed and done with. We then made all of the components for our dishes today. There was a lot of steps and we had to do them all in the correct order. I had a lot of fun making all of the components because it was fast paced and an adrenalin rush! It took about an hour and 15 minutes to complete everything. Luckily chef was happy with all of my work and that was a good thing to hear on Friday! We cleaned up the kitchen and today was kitchen appreciation day, meaning we have to clean every little corner in the kitchen from top to bottom. We completed the clean up, bagged all the stocks, and had lecture for an hour and a half, and it is officially the weekend! Time for us to catch up on sleep and not be stressed for at least 2 days, yay!

Skills 1 Day 9

Skills day 9, wow I can't believe it is day 9 already. Time here at the CIA goes by so fast, I can hardly remember what I did on Monday because everything is moving so fast. We would be making cream of broccoli soup! One of my favorites with out a doubt, so I was excited to finally learn how. For this soup we had to make a veloute in order to thicken the soup, I had never made a veloute before so this would be a first time also. We did our knife trays as usual in 50 minutes and we took advantage of those 50 minutes because day 10 we had to do it in 45 minutes! I did my knife tray and completed it with time left in the time we had given to us which was weird because I normally take the whole time. I kept looking at my tray and trying to figure out what I had left out, but after checking it for the 10th time I assured myself that I really had just done it with 10 minutes to spare which was awesome because we were going to not have as much time the next day so it prepared me. So like I said I was surprised at how fast I did it and when I took my tray up to chef he said "what are you doing up here so soon?" I laughed and so did he because he was also shocked to see me done early, it's not that I am ever late I just like to use all the time I have. It was time to make our soup for the day and we also had to cook broccoli and let him taste it to show that we knew how to properly cook it. I made my soup and it was coming down to the end of the time that he had given us to make it. I was running out of time because I still had to puree and strain my soup and also reheat the garnish so it would be hot when I put it on top. There are only 4 blenders in the kitchen for 20 of us...so pretty much there was a line waiting for the blenders, I was starting to enter freak out mode. Luckily the people in my kitchen are awesome and one of the guys offered to reheat my vegetable garnish for me because not only were the blenders all being used but my team took my pot of boiling water to the dish room with out making sure I was done with it, and I needed that for my garnish. Curve balls such as my boiling water being taken off the stove with out my knowledge are thrown at you all the time in the kitchen and you have to be able to react calmly and in a smart way. After all the craziness of the last five minutes I finally had my soup plated and I was on my way to take it up to him. He tried it and it was good...yayy, I was so relieved and happy do have that day done. So overall I learned a couple different things in class on day 9. I learned how to recover from a mistake made by my team and I also learned a little about myself and how I react to things in a kitchen. It is very interesting to see how you will react or respond to something in a kitchen under all that pressure. You would be surprised at the things you do when under stress and pressure in the hot kitchen. Overall day 9 was successful.

skills 1 day 8




 

Fish Chowder





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On day 8 we made fish stock and with that stock we made fish chowder. Before we could start the days production we had to make the chicken stock like we do everyday. In skills class everyone makes stock daily in huge kettles because every kitchen in the CIA uses the stock that we mass produce for recipes that they need it for, if they have to makes soups, sauces and whatever else they might need it for. After we had finished with all the stocks and turned them on to cook for hours it was time to begin our knife trays, once again we had 50 minutes. I completed on time and my tray looked good! The fish stock and chowder was fun to make and it was quite delicious.









Skills 1 Day 7

Puree of Lentil Soup

Me making Brown Roux

Today I woke up to snow on the ground! It was really cool from the window, but walking up to Roth in 18 degree weather with a lovely wind was not so enjoyable. Day 7 would be focused on puree of lentil soup, bean cookery, introduction to brown stocks and Roux. We had a lot of stuff to get done today plus our knife trays which had to be completed in 50 minutes once again. For the first time in skills class we had to complete timelines in order to come into class, which lists on an index card the recipe we will be completing the proceedure that we must follow and a very detailed equipment list, all on the same card. Nobody really knew what they were doing so it was a litte nerve racking coming into class this morning. He was in the process of checkeing our timelines and then stopped the class and gathered us all around his desk. He told us that the timelines were horrible and that we better learn how to do them fast. So I was thinking to myself, "oh no I messed it up and will get graded down for it!" We all went back to our stations and continued to work, when all of a sudden I hear chef call out my name across the entire kitchen. He said "Tallulah. And I responded back with "yes chef" he continued to say "very nice job on your timeline, it's perfect." I was totally shocked because he had just said they were all not very good and to add to that he just complimented me infront of the entire class! Once again I had a huge goofy grin on my face, this was also even more exciting because I was the only one he said something to about the timeline being good! Class went on and it was time to turn in our knife trays, he looked at mine and said "Your cuts look very good! Tallulah you have a very good eye." Once again I couldnt help but smile from ear to ear in pure excitment and accomplishment. Now it was time to make the lentil soup and make our black beans. Every step in the process went very well and when it came time to taste my soup had great flavor and the beans were cooked just right! Once again I was as happy as one could possibly be.

cooking the Lentil Soup

Skills 1 Day 6

Speacialty soups and mashed potatoes was the focus for day six. So on the morning of day six I was hoping to wake up no longer dizzy. For the past 4 days Thursday thru Sunday I was very dizzy and even the doctors at ergent care could not explain why. I guess my mom and dad were right when they said I was a rare breed because doctors never seem to be able to figure out whats wrong with me, they had to ask the nurse for a "situations hand book" I was thinking to myself great they have no idea what they are doing here. So on Monday when I woke up, thank the lord I was no longer dizzy! Still not sure why I was. So I make my way to class feeling great and refreshed, I swiped for breakfast that morning which means I can actually get a nice hot breakfast opposed to the normal scone or special K cereal I get in the morning. I ordered pancakes and they give you 3 of those, then it came with home fries and bacon, it was lovely. So I though my day was off to a great start well I thought that too soon because I went to put my things in the locker outside the classroom and I bend down to put it away and then as I am coming back up I slam my head on one of the metal lockers that had been left open above me. Yeah that did not feel so good, I thought this was an indication of what the rest of the day would be like, but only time would tell. Day 6 would be the first day we had to do our knife trays in 50 mintes, which does not seem like that much of a difference but you would be very suprised. The time flew by but luckily I made it in the time limit! It was a little stressful but chef said that my tray looked good which was positive. We then went on to begin the days production which was puree potato and leek soup, and mashed potatoes! Everything went smoothly as far as prep and the cooking of my soup went, we had till 10:15 am to present our soup and mashed potatoes to chef. I walked up to him with soup bowl in hand with the potatoes in a small container, he tried them and I waited for the verdict. For the soup he said the flavor was right on the money! Then came the mashed potatoes, they were the perfect consistency and the flavor was great! Once again I was the happiest person ever, with a huge smile on my face I walked back to my station getting high fives along the way and then began the clean up for the day! Luckily hitting my head earlier that day was not an indication of my day was going to go!

Skills 1 Day 5



Knife Tray (with Julienne veggies for Garnish)

This is the Raft of a Consumme



Day 5 was consumme day. Consumme is perfectly clear broth that is very rich in flavor, the clarity is achieved by combining quality stock with globular proteins such as the ground meat and egg whites that go into a consumme. This was the last day we would have to complete our knife trays in an hour which was scary because I always take just about the entire time just like everyone else in the class, so we all enjoyed the hour we had to complete the tray. It was time to turn them in and everything was good on my tray and chef was impressed with my cuts, except my julienne and brunoise could use a little work as far as consistency. Which is something that could easily be fixed the next class. After cleaning up our stations it was time for chef to show us the demo for consumme. When you make consumme at first the liquid and all the ingredients looks like dirty dish water and not very appealing, but through the cooking process it creates this thing called a raft. A raft is when the egg white cooks and collects all the ingredients and impurities in the soup and it forms a hard raft type object on the top of the soup, this is what makes the soup clear. This process is very important because if you don't pay close attention to your raft it will burn and your consumme will taste like burnt fried egg, which is not the flavor you are looking for in consumme. We had to julienne carrots, parsnips, celery, and leeks for the garnish in the soup. Those vegetables have to be blanched since they do not cook in the soup, so they must be cooked an alternative way. I finished blanching my vegetables and my soup was ready to be strained. I strained it and amazingly clear soup came out of the pot it was amazing, and a pretty awesome science experiment. I put the veggies in the bottom of the bowl and filled it with my soup and took it up to chefs desk. He tried it and told me that the flavor was great and the vegetables were cooked perfectly! Yay!!!! I was so happy and excited once again, I was smiling from ear to ear literally. It was a good day in class!

Skills 1 Day 4

 

Today was French Onion soup day! This is probably one of my favorite soups, my mom has always made it for my family and my hope was to be able to make it as good as hers always is! Our day started promptly at 6:30 am I was on the stock team today, we made assembled the chicken and white beef stock and turned on the large kettles to cook for the day. We then went on to starting our knife trays for the day, we began at 7:20 am and we had till 8:20 am to finish. Finally around 8:15 I completed my knife tray and had chef check it, all my cuts looked good except my juliennes and brunoise needed to be a little more square which is something that can easily be fixed and hopefully that will happen with my knife tray tomorrow. It was then time for the demo on French Onion Soup, that took about 30 minutes and then it was off to the races for us. We all broke from chef's station to our burners and work stations. We each sliced a pound of onions for our soup and we had to caramelize our onions, then when we thought it was to the correct golden brown color we had chef check it and then we could add the beef broth to begin simmering for 25 minutes. At the end of the 25 minutes I added the sherry, salt and pepper to season. I then plated my soup and took the walk with it up to chef's desk. He took his tasting spoon and tried it he said "Mmm this is good Tallulah, very nice job!" So once again I went back to my station with a huge smile on my face and the feeling as if I was on cloud nine! It was a great day once again. Tomorrow we are making Consumme, which is a perfectly clear broth with very rich flavor. I can only hope that tomorrow goes well as my nerves are setting in, I will let you all know how it goes!

Skills 1

For the past three days I have officially been in a CIA kitchen class! I absolutely love it so far. The class is called skills 1, it is probably one of the most important classes you could take here at The Culinary. You learn all about the 5 mother sauces, knife cuts on vegetables, broths and stocks, pretty much all the building blocks to becoming a great chef. The first day was like any typical day in a new place, we got the tour of the kitchen, where everything belongs, what time we should be there and we were pretty much told that by day 2 we shouldn't be asking where anything is because we should have the kitchen memorized like the home we live in. I was thinking there was no way that was possible but on day two when your stuck in the situation of not knowing where something is and having to complete a task quickly you will some how some way find it yourself because it is much better than having a chef yell at you for asking where the location of an item is. Day 2 we learned about what tasks would be required daily for the next 3 weeks such as; filling the huge kettles with pounds of chicken and beef bones for stock, cutting up 15-22 pounds of Mirepoix also known as the vegetables that go into to stocks to help with the flavor, those veggies being 2 parts onion, 1 part celery, and 1 part carrot. The whole class is a part of preparing the many pounds of mirepoix so its not that bad of a job to have to do daily. After that task is finished we must complete our daily knife trays which includes; 2 onions thin slice 1/8 inch thick, 2 onions small dice 1/4 inch dice, 2 tomatoes each cancasse (aka. shocking the tomatoes so they can be peeled and then diced), 3 cloves garlic minced, 1 shallot minced, small bunch of parsley minced, 1 potato medium dice, 1 potato julienne 1inch long 1/8 inch on each side, brunoise (juliennes diced 1/8 by 1/8 by 1/8 by 1/8), 1 potato battonette (2-2 and a half inches long and 1/4 inch on each side, and last but not least 1 small sachet (these are to heighten the flavor of stocks and broths). That whole knife tray must be completed in an hour, if it is not you don't bother turning it in because chef will not accept it. Also the knife cuts with all the precise measurements must be those measurements and if there not start saying by to your pints for the day because you loose 5 every time they are wrong. That is only this week though next week we will only have 50 minutes to complete the tray, and if any are not the right dimension it is 10 points off each one. By the final week of the class we will have to be able to do it in 40 minutes...yikes! On day 2 we also made beef broth and chicken glace, which is chicken stock reduced. It was a successful day! Today on the third day we did our knife trays I finished in time and once again like yesterday he said my tray looked beautiful, which is great for the chef to tell you because complements don't just get thrown around. Today we had to make our first soup, and first legitimate dish at The Culinary Institute of America, it was exciting and very nerve racking! We each individually had to make vegetable hearty soup. I made my soup and then plated it, I then took the walk up to his tall, white desk and I placed it down in front of him and stepped back a little. He picked up his spoon, took the first bite and to my relief he was very pleased with it! The vegetables had a great texture and had been cooked properly and the seasoning was just about perfect but he said for his taste he likes a little more salt, so a tiny bit more would have been better. I was so happy after hearing those great words come out of his mouth instead of my soup! I don't think I can truly describe how I felt when I got back to my station, it was like I had won the lottery I was extremely happy because this was the first thing that any chef at the CIA would be trying that I produced! I know it seems silly because it was a vegetable soup, but when he adds a time limit and the stress of it being the best thing you can produce and hoping nothing goes wrong you truly feel like you are on top of the world. It is really something one has to experience themselves! Tomorrow is day 4 and we will be completing our knife trays and making French Onion Soup individually. I am excited but of course nervous, but I will let you all know how it goes!

Meat ID and Fabrication Final day!

Today was the last day of meat ID and Fabrication! It was exciting because that meant we would not be in the dungeon of the school absolutely freezing. Today when I walked up to Roth hall for class it was about 25 degrees, pretty much it was way to cold for my liking and then I got into the meat room and I am pretty sure it was about the same temperature. It was pretty miserable and it was cold like that all morning! We started class with the 2nd part of our final which was 25 identifications. The IDs could come from a pig, lamb, cow, or veal. It could be anything from a flank, skirt, or hanger steaks, veal sweetbreads, beef tenderloin, rack of lamb and many other possibilities, but just to give you an idea of what would be on the test. After completing the ID it was time to make sausage. We made Italian and breakfast sausages. We had to get all the ingredients for the recipes the mix it with the pork trim. After mixing everything together we then had to grind all the meat together so the meat would be the right consistency for the type of sausage. Then we got the intestines from a pig and used that as the casing for the sausage. The next step was to actually stuff the sausage and then the rope of sausage we had just made into links. It was a fun and interesting process, the best part was at the end of the day when we got to try the different sausages, they were delicious! After cleaning up the kitchen in the meat room for the last time we went from the bottom of Roth Hall up to the 4th floor to take our 100 question multiple choice test. Then after finishing that intense test I turned it in to chef, I shook his hand and was officially done with meat ID and Fabrication. I can't really say I going to miss that class but I learned a lot! I also won't have to get up at 5am anymore, I get to sleep until 5:45am it is quite exciting! I start my first kitchen class on Monday also known as Skills One, I am really looking forward to it but I am of course very nervous!

Meat ID and Fabricaition

The last days of meat class were pretty relaxed and easy which was nice. On Thursday we broke down chickens. We had to take off the breasts, legs and wings the most important parts pretty much. We started off with one chicken and I finished first! I know it was not a race but it was still cool to be done first and also have my cuts look really good. Then we did 2 more chickens and once again I finished first and I looked up and saw the girl on the cutting board next to me and she was still on the first one, it was a good feeling! We then had lecture about poultry, and started our lecture for the next day on sausage. After lecture we took our butchers yield test, the first part of the final. I felt pretty good about it and my chef graded it right after class for me and I got an 11 out of 10! I received a bonus point on the test! So all and all it was a good day!

Meat ID and Fabrication

I have been taking meat ID and fabrication the last few days, I must say that I would prefer to be in the fish room more. The meat room is freezing cold, worse than I thought it would be and the smell of all the dead carcasses is sometimes almost unbearable. Don't get me wrong it is all really cool stuff but for some reason I think I enjoyed fish class more. So far we have learned about beef, veal, pork, and lamb. Tomorrow we will learn about chicken. Each day we have broken down different parts of animals; for example we did the tenderloin of the beef, we took the hotel rack of the lamb and Frenched it, we also fabricated a lamb leg, we have done a few others but those are just some examples. Today in class we had a whole carcass of a lamb, it was cool but crazy to see the whole animal but with no curly fur and a head. Our chef broke down the whole animal into primal and sub-primal cuts. It was a cool process to witness I must say. Tomorrow we will be taking on the chicken, I don't think it will be to difficult because who has never worked with a chicken I mean honestly. I only have 2 more days of meat and after we work on chicken we have our butchers yield test, which is the first part of 3 for our final. This test is where you figure out how much of the product you started with and figure what the usable amount will be, the trim loss of the product after cutting it down and how much all this will cost you. I think I have a good handle on the yield test! Class will begin at 6 tomorrow I actually get to sleep in and hour instead of getting up at 4 like I was last week I now sleep til 5am, it is quite the luxury!

Seafood ID and Fabrication day 7 (final day)

Was it really already day seven, I could not believe that this would be the last time I would have to wake up at 4 in the morning. It was exciting, sad and reality was setting in that I had three different finals in that class. I was getting extremely nervous as expected. I was also super excited for this day because it was Caviar day where we would get to try about 11 different roe from the fish we had learned about in Seafood ID and fabrication. My chef told me that the plates would probably be about $80.00 worth of caviar that we were eating. I am a very, I guess you could say an exotic  eater or I am really willing to try anything unlike most of the people in my class. So I ate my entire plate of caviar and saw plates still full of caviar. None the less I ended up eating 5 plates of caviar, so I pretty much just ate 400 dollars’ worth of caviar, it was awesome because I could not let all that goodness go to waste. I was very content. After our tasting it was time to take the first of three tests in my class. This first section was identifying 10 different fish, from the 150 we learned. Along with those ten different fish, each one had four questions to go with it. So it was now a total of 40 questions. We could be asked about the activity level of the fish, where it lived and spawned in the ocean, the proper name for a market order, what knife cut to use, and characteristics of the fish. It was a little stressful to say the least. Finally we had finished the first part of the final and it was time for the math portion, where we had to determine the yield percent of a fish, how much the edible portion and as purchased portion would cost. Pretty much little figures that are very important to the success of an establishment. After the math section was complete we had 35 questions all about things that we had learned in class, it used to be a multiple choice test but that is no longer the case unfortunately. It was a short answer test, which is not my cup of tea. I think I did pretty well on all the different tests in class. I turned in all three sections and went up to Chef, thanked him for a great class and shook his hand and I was out of there. Unfortunately there is no down time between Seafood class and meat ID and fabrication, so after class I went and got lunch then my friends and I went right to the library to do the pre-day one homework for meat ID and fabrication. We had to watch 3 videos, that took about and hour. Then we also had to define 20 key terms and answer 10 study questions pertaining to meat. We then also had to review the power point for day one and already know what we would be talking about for the next day. Last but not least we had to roll up or side towels so they resembled a tenderloin and then we had to practice our knots and ties on the “tenderloin.” This work took quite a long time I finally finished with it all at 9 that night. I was excited going to bed because the next morning I was going to be able to sleep it! Well if you consider 5 sleeping in, but it was better than the last 7 days at 4 in the morning!

Seafood ID and Fabrication day 6

Day 6 was not that exciting to wake up to because it was a Saturday morning and everyone knows that college students need their sleep, but in this case we all said good morning to the dark cold outside world at 4:00am nobody was excited about that. Saturdays class we learned all about crustaceans which included shrimp, lobsters, crabs, and crayfish. This day was also important because we would be reviewing for our three part final. In the beginning of class we had a review of all the fish that we had in the walk in, 10 of the many fish in the walk in would be on the ID portion of the test. Then we had to scale 11 Haddock, which is a fish in the Cod family, then we also had to scale 11 Atlantic Cod. We scaled them because later in the class we would be filleting them. We each got 1 Haddock and 1 Atlantic Cod to fillet and we had a little less than 20 minutes to do it in. Over all the fillets were successful, except on one of my Haddock fillets I accidentally cut out the belly which you will see in the picture the spot missing, and of course I did it just to show you what not to do! Not really but, now I know how to prevent that from happening, so that negative part of class taught me a lesson! After cleaning up the kitchen we went into lecture for three hours and we would be having a tasting in the beginning of crustaceans. Our tasting included; Tiger Shrimp, White Shrimp, white shrimp cooked with shell on, Langoustine, Jonah Crab, Blue Crab, and Lobster. It was all delicious as usual! Lecture was chalked full of a ton of interesting information as usual, but at 11:00am we were all happy to get out of class and go take a lovely nap to recover from getting up at 4:00am. This nap was important because it was Saturday night our only free night of the weekend, so everyone had fun plans that they had to be fully rested for. There was one negative to only having Sunday off this past weekend and that was the fact that normally every other class has Saturday and Sunday to study but we only had Sunday to do that because we had Saturday class, and we all knew that a lot of Sunday would be dedicated to sleep. So we had to figure out a balance of study and sleep fast!

Seafood ID and Fabrication day 5



My Butterfly Cut, Rainbow Trout

 

Black Sea Bass



Tasting in Class





Oysters and Clam I Shucked



 I woke up this morning excited about class today because it was Mollusks day! Specifically Gastropods which include uni-valves and bi-valves. The uni-valves we learned about were snails, conch, and abalone. The bi-valves were clams, oysters, scallops, and mussels. We also learned about Cephalopods; squid, cuttlefish and octopus. I love all of these animals they are delicious if prepared right. I also forgot to mention we do tastings every class on the fish that we learn about, it is awesome we try about 7-13 different ones a day. So today we would be trying all the different Mollusks and I have been telling all my friends how excited I was for today, they all just say yeah it's not that exciting to eat 3 different raw oysters and 1 raw clam at 6 in the morning. Well I will have you know I enjoyed every minute of it! We had to shuck southern, northern and western oysters, one of each, and then one clam. Shucking the oysters was not as hard as I thought, you just have to use some elbow grease! After shucking them we ate them off the half shell, I thought they were delicious, but the faces of everyone else in the class were priceless! A few people ran over to the sink and rinsed their mouths out instantly, a few spit it right back into their napkin and others just gave the face that they clearly were not enjoying them. Some of the people in my class felt sick after, it was quite funny because the Mollusks did not bother me at all. Then after cleaning up all the shells, we had to fabricate a Rainbow Trout and a Snapper we had to butterfly the Rainbow Trout and fillet the Snapper. It was a good day in the kitchen because I got a compliment on my fillets from someone in my class, and the chef came up to me and looked at mine and said "that looks nice!" that is exciting because rarely does a chef tell you are doing something well but they will definitely tell you that you are doing something wrong, so it was a good day. We then went into lecture for three hours and had a tasting of mussels, Wellfleet clams, Steamer clams, Bay scallops, Sea Scallops, Black Sea Bass and Tile Fish. It was one of the best tasting days yet! We finally got out of class at 11 and then I went with some friends to get food at Cuisines of The Mediterranean kitchen. On the menu they had Kokotxas Saltsa Berdean, which is Cod Cheeks in Green Sauce, it does not sound very appealing and I probably would not have gotten it, but because in seafood fabrication the other day we learned that Cod Cheeks taste like Scallops! So I got that dish and it tasted like amazing scallops with the Green Sauce which was pretty much garlic, butter, parsley and lemon...Can I say it was pure bliss on a plate, it was so delicious! Today was very successful, now it's just time to start my never ending homework. It would be even better if today was actually a regular Friday night but Saturday (tomorrow) I have class at 5:00 am because, we have a day off for thanksgiving and there is no time to actually miss a class here, like I said it is intense!

scallops, oysters, mussels, and clams






Fish I Filleted





Seafood ID and Fabrication day 4

Day 4 was focused on round fin fish and non-bony fish (cartilaginous). All the fish we focused on are as follows; (you don't have to read them all, because I don't want to annoy you with all these fish names but just to give you an idea about all the different fish I learn about daily) Wild Striped Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Black Sea Bass, Red Snapper, Vermilion Snapper, Silk Snapper, Yellowtail Snapper, Lane Snapper, Red Grouper, Tile fish, Wolf Fish, Tautog, Weakfish, Catfish, Greater Amberjack, Lesser Amberjack, Pompano, Yellowfin Tuna, Bluefin Tuna, Albacore (Tombo), Skipjack, Bonito, Common Makerel, Spanish Makerel, King Makerel, Mahi-Mahi, Swordfish, Monkfish and Sturgeon. That's 29 different fish in one day...that was a lot. Then we were instructed to fillet aWild  Striped Bass, fillet one Rainbow Trout, and butterfly 2 Rainbow Trout. It was a lot of work to do and we did not have much time, plus Rainbow Trout have tiny pin bones that must be pulled out of each fillet with pliers or tweezers. When I finally finished that task, one of the guys in my group came up to me and said, "wow, those are beautiful fillets." I felt pretty good about that compliment, I guess my fillets were pretty good then, yay! After everyone finished we cleaned the kitchen and went into lecture for 3 hours, and there were a ton of fish to study for that night as I mentioned above. I was not looking forward to homework that night and I had every right not to because after I got out of class I took a 2 hour nap, because naps are needed with these crazy early classes. Then I started homework at 2:30 and did not finish til about 9, not joking! Finally being able to get in bed that night was awesome!

Seafood ID and Fabrication days 2 and 3

On days 2 and 3 we fabricated a few different fish. On day 2 we fabricated a winter flounder and made quarter fillets and whole fillets out of the full fish. Then we also had to fillet a round fish, for this fabrication we used an arctic char and used the straight method of cutting. My fillets came out nicely thankfully! I would have to say my favorite cut is the flat cut, which pertains to a flat fish. Also day 2 was all about the flat fish family. The different types we focused on were the Dover Sole, Winter Flounder, Summer Flounder, Witch Flounder, Plaice, Turbot, Yellowtail Flounder, Rex Sole, Petrale Sole, and Halibut. Imagine having to learn each one of those fish and the activity level for this fish, their characteristics, how to cook them, the flavor profile, health benefits, where they are found, and the fishing techniques to catch them. That is alot of information to learn about for every different fish. That is one of the reasons this class is so intense is because in 7 days we learn up to 150 species of fish and we have to know all those little details about them and be able to identify them if chef holds up one of them. Day three I woke up to a huge thunderstorm at 4:00 in the morning that was quite interesting and scary. I walk outside my dorm getting ready to brave what looked like to be the end of the world, or I might have to run and build an arc. There was wind that was so strong I almost fell over a few times, the rain was pouring out of the sky it was bending my umbrella, and I happen to be walking out when there was three big strikes of lightning and the loudest crack of thunder I have heard in a long time, luckily I made it up to Roth Hall safely! In class on day three we learned about the Cod, Salmon and Trout families. The different fish we learned about in the Cod family were; Atlantic Cod, Haddock, Pacific Pollock, Cusk, White Hake and Silver Hake (Whiting). In the Salmon and Trout family we focused on Atlantic Farm-Raised Salmon, Pacific King Salmon (Chinook), Coho Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Steelhead Trout, Arctic Char, Brown Trout, Golden Trout and Cutthroat Trout. We then learned about different ways of farming these types of fish. For fabrication that day we filleted a Pike fish and Rainbow Trout, those fillets were also a success! So just to give you an idea in those two days we learned roughly, 31 different types of fish, and pretty much have to know them by the next class because when we go into lecture the next class we are quizzed on those fish from the previous day. The chef goes around the room and we have to pick questions off a jeopardy board, he then gives us a certain amount of time to answer it and if you don't answer it in that time, you get it wrong and it moves on to the next person. Also if you just get it wrong, well it's a point off your grade for the day so it is in your best interest to study and review the night before. I spend about 5 or more hours on homework a night. It's intense but I have learned so much about fish already it's insane!

Seafood ID and Fabrication day 1

When you start at The CIA you are required to take B block, which is where you learn Introduction to Gastronomy, Product Knowledge, Food Safety, Mathematics and writing for 6 weeks. If you pass those classes you can proceed on to C block which is Seafood ID and Fabrication and Meat ID and Fabrication. Both classes last 7 intense days, 6 hours a day, so in 14 days you have learned a ton about meat and seafood. Yesterday I began Seafood ID and Fabrication. This class is scheduled to began at 5:30am, that is not to bad except you are required to be to class 30 minutes before hand to set up demos for the day, which then makes it 5am and I need plenty of time to get ready so I set my alarm for 4:00 am.  I am not normally a morning person so the idea of getting up that early was not exactly appealing.  Monday morning I was finally able to wear my chef whites, it was exciting putting on the perfectly pressed white jacket with my name embroidered on it with a green thread, the black and white checkered pants and my toque. The walk up to Roth Hall (the main building on campus) was pretty awesome, even though it was dark outside and freezing, I couldn't help but think about how many great, influential people did this exact same walk in the cold to a room that would be even colder and have a great fish smell that would definitely wake you up! I get to class and we start to work right when we set foot in the kitchen. Everyone thinks they understand what they have been instructed to do...except for the obvious confusion on every ones face because everything we are instructed to do is very vague.  When we all ended up in the walk in together asking each other, what the heck we were supposed to be doing it was clear we needed to figure out what our TA (teacher assistant) had just told us fast or we would get in big trouble. Not to worry we figured out our jobs and did not get in trouble! Our chef came in promptly at 5:30am he did his little introduction and told us straight up that he was a "ball busting hard ass bastard" excuse the language but I thought it would be important for you to see exactly what I would be dealing with for the next 7 days. He told us that he has also been called "el diablo blanco" for those who don't know, that means the white devil, I was a little worried for the next few days to come. For the most part the first day was about getting to know the walk ins, the storage rooms, and how the kitchen should look for demos, class and when all cleaned at the end. We did get to learn about some species of fish though, specifically salmon, trout, bass, cod, flat and some miscellaneous fish. After the demos in the kitchen we went into a classroom for lecture around 8:30am so we had lecture for about two and a half hours where we learned everything about each fish such as; where it's from, it's activity level, what knife cut you are supposed to use on the fish, it's color, texture and a lot of other important little details. Class finally finished at 11:00am and I was exhausted but glad that I survived the first day! Our homework included watching a video about blue fin tuna, defining key terms and answering study questions.
--If you are interested in watching the video about the blue fin tuna I am posting the website so you may view it if you would like. It is an amazing fish that is sadly being over fished, but the video is very interesting and full of very informative facts. Enjoy.. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4423723n