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!