Americas Day 3 and 4

Americas is the next kitchen class we take after skills 3. It is a larger scale kitchen that puts out alot more dishes than skills 3. In skills 3 we did about 40 covers a day. In Americas daily we would do up to 70-80 covers, that is a significant change. Also in skills we would as a class split in half and each group do one full entree so it was a lot easier, where as in Americas we were split into groups of two or three and there would be 5 different entree choices and a soup and salad. Americas seemed overwhelming at first but I liked the adrenaline rush from it all. In Americas we would be learning about all the different cultures in the Americas such as American Midwest, American Southwest, Mexico, South America, and the American South and Louisiana Cuisine. Not only would we cook native dishes to those places but we would also learn all about there culture and how certain ingredients were brought from different countries and the influence that those countries had on the cuisines. So day three and four I was on the soup and salad station. On day three I made the Senate Bean Soup, it was fun to make and it was intersting having to make soup for 70 instead of the usual 40. I was also incharge of making the salads on both days. I made wedges of iceberg lettuce, with Thousand Island dressing. For garnish I had to slice tomatoes in half, make croutons, hard boil eggs, then cut them into tiny pieces and last but not least I had cut radishes very thin for the salad. On day four I switched soups with my partner and he made the Senate Bean soup and I made the Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese and Beer Soup. This soup is delicious, it is nice and creamy and it has beer in it what could be better! I made croutons as a garnish for the soup. This soup is probably one of the most popular ones made in Americas, and we sold out in about 15 minutes of opening, it was pretty cool. In Americas we would do each menu two days in a row so the first day you could work on one part of the dish but then the next day you could do a different part, so by the end of it all you knew how to make the entire dish. Overall day 3 and 4 went well and we survived!

Americas Day 1 and 2

Americas day 1 and 2 were exciting and scary. I was tournant which is like the sous chef, the sous chef and I prepared things for the next day that had to be done ahead of time. We were in a new kitchen with a new chef and apparently this chef did not play around one bit. We were all a little scared but figured we just had to be prepared with our time lines complete and we had to get our mise en place figured out. Mise en place meaning everything is in place. Day 1 the sous chef and I had to do 5 different jobs by the end of class. We had to # 1. simmer the hen for the Amish Corn and Chicken soup, complete step one of the method. Cool and refrigerate. # 2. prepare 2 gallons of Espagnole sauce. # 3. soak salt cod for the salt cod cakes. # 4. cook off clams for the clam chowder, remove the shells, reserve the broth. Cool and refrigerate. # 5. Fabricate and trim excess fat from one fresh beef brisket. It was a tough day that's for sure, it was especially difficult because we were in a brand new kitchen and had no idea where anything was. The sous chef and tournant also have to get there at 6 in the morning in order to pick up the meat, seafood and produce orders. Class does not start till 7 am so you are getting there quite a while earlier. Day 2 came around and chef said that we could work on our speed but we already knew that, we just had to do it. For day 2 we had another list of jobs that included # 1. Marinate the braised red cabbage as per the recipe. # 2. Make the sweet pickle chips for day 7 and 8. # 3. Trim and sear off the short ribs as per recipe. Cool and refrigerate. # 4. Trim and brine the top round of beef for the Brazilian carne seca. Refrigerate for days 13 and 14. # 5. Make one gallon mayonnaise. # 6. Roast pork bones and mirepoix for day 3 pork sauce. Also add apple cider and apple jack and then reduce & cool. So that was the work we had laid out for us. We completed it all on time, which was a good thing. There was a few negatives to day 2 though, one thing that happened was that I had made 2 gallons of Espagnole sauce for the next days recipe and when we got to class on day 2 it was gone, all we can figure is that the PM class used it and the group that was using it had to go find some espagnole sauce from another kitchen. That was frustrating because I had worked hard making that the day before. Also the girl I was working with made the sweet pickle chips and chef tried it and threw them all away because it didn't taste exactly how he wanted it, once again frustrating. Otherwise we made it through our first 2 days of Americas!

Skills 3 Day 13





My groups plates up at the grading table



Today was the final day of skills 3, we had to take our final written exam and our practical exam. For the practical we would be split into new groups that we would find out the day before our actual exam. Also at that time we would figure out what our menu would be. At the end of day 12 we found out our new groups and I was quite content with mine, also I was happy with the menu I got. I had made the same menu before for class, so I was feeling pretty confident about the exam. For the practical we had from 6:45 am till 10:25 to prepare our dish and if we didn't do it in time we would loose major points. Our dish was sauteed chicken fines herbs, with carrots and sugar snap peas, with freshly made saffron pasta. I was in charge of all the vegetables and cooking of the chicken for the dish. We started off the day pretty well and our prep went just as planned, we were right on track with everything. It was now 10:20 and plating was going perfectly. One thing that we had to make sure of when we took our plates up to chef was that our food was hot. He was big on making sure our food was hot, one of his favorite sayings was "make sure your food is HTH, aka hotter than hell." When we took our food up there he would shoot it with this laser gun and make sure the food was at 145 degrees. He asked me if I had made sure my vegetables were and I told him that they indeed were. He put one in his mouth and almost spit it right back out because it was so hot. He was like I think I just burned my tongue, I could not help but laugh and tell him "I told you it was hotter than hell!" He laughed a little after that one and just kind of shook his head at me. It was a good day, my group ended up getting a 92 on the soup and a 90 on the entree! It was pretty awesome final grade for the class!

Skill 3 Day 11 & 12

Salmon in Poaching Liquid

Day 11 was an exciting day for me because it brought me back to about a year and a half ago when I came to The Culinary Institute of America. At that time I was still trying to decide whether or not I wanted to do Culinary Arts or Baking and Pastry. I came to the CIA to participate in a program they have where you can shadow a culinary or baking class. I shadowed both but the significance to this story is that when I shadowed the culinary class, it happened to be skills 3 and on day 11. When I went into that class to shadow for the day I was put on the soup and salad station and ironically for my actual skills 3 class I was put on the soup and salad station for that day too. I would actual get to make what I helped with a couple years ago, it was actually kind of bittersweet. Also on this same day a man came into our class to shadow it for the day to get a feel for the curriculum and the school itself. For day 11 I made Spinach, Arugula, and Radicchio with Honey-Poppy seed Citrus dressing, and the soup was a cream of cauliflower. That day was successful and fulfilling! Day 12 I made Deep Poached Salmon with Sauce Béarnaise, Tournéed Potatoes, French Cut Green Beans and Squash Noodles. It all went smoothly we got our deep poach done on time along with all the other components of the dish and chef was happy with the final product.

Skills 3 Day 9 & 10

Beef stew

Chicken Fricassee

Day 9 and 10 we would be learning all about braising and stewing. On day 9 I made beef stew, whipped potatoes, battonett vegetables, and for the garnish we made these little things that look like a potato chip. Then right before service we had to top it all with parsley that was chopped up. Day 10 we made chicken fricassee, chicken fricassee is a white stew. I really enjoy this dish because the chicken is so moist and all the components together make for a nice filling lunch or dinner. Accompanying the chicken fricassee was rice pilaf and battonett squash, beans and peppers. For the rice pilaf we mixed wild rice and jasmine rice to give the rice some more appeal. Both days went well and chef was happy with the groups!

Skills 3 Day 7 & 8

On day 7 I was on grilled steak with sauce Marchand de Vin sauce, french fries, and stuffed tomatoes. The tomatoes were stuffed with a mushroom duxelle which is mushrooms chopped up very fine and then they are cooked. I grilled the steaks for family meal and was in charge of plating for service. When I am in charge of plating I have to add whatever the garnish may be, such as chives, parsley, or compound butter to the top of an item. Then I must wipe the outside edge of the plate and make sure it is clean and presentable, then I cover it and and take it to the line for service. I enjoy that job because I get to see a really cool final product every time. On day 8 I was on grilled Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa, jasmine rice pilaf, grilled vegetables and green beans. I was in charge of making the pineapple salsa, cutting up the veg for the day, and I grilled the fish for family meal. I love the salsa that accompanies the fish, so I was very excited to be making it! The grilling of the fish was a success I had never really grilled fish before so this was an exciting but scary task, because I did not want to mess it up. Luckily when we went and ate family meal nobody had a overcooked or undercooked piece of Mahi Mahi on their plates! It was a good day.

Skills 3 Day 5 & 6

I want to apologize to everyone who is reading my blog for the delay of a new post, I could not remember my user name or password to save my life! I finally figured it out today and will be putting a couple of new posts up at a time, enjoy! Day 5 and 6 were fun, I made sauteed beef medallions with potatoes au gratin, cauliflower, green beans and sauce chasseur to go on the beef medallions. Day 5 was successful and chef was happy with our production. Day 6 I was on the soup and salad station and all we had to do was make Caesar salad. It was an easy but fun day, I got to help out other groups if there was prep that still needed to be done.

Skills 3 Day 3 & 4



Sauteed Trout



Sauteed Chicken

Day three and four was all about sauteed white meats and seafood. On day three I was on the sauteed chicken entree with sauce fines herbs, fresh saffron pasta and broccoli rabe. Day three was fun because I sauteed the chickens for family meal and made the sauce that went to go on top of it.  In my opinion it was absolutley delicious, probably one of my favorite meals we have made so far.  Day four I made sauteed trout amandine, which is a brown butter sauce. With the trout there was tourne potatoes and seasonal vegetables, we also made burdock root chips to go on top of the dish. On this day I was assigned to doing all of the tournes for the class because I was the best at making tournes in skills 2, so I ended up making about 60 tournes! I was so glad to be done with all of those little potatoes. Days 3 and 4 were very successful and fun!

Skills 3 Day 1 and 2

We were moving up in the culinary world little by little. Skills 3 would be the first kitchen where we actually served our classmates and the entire school if they choose to come and eat at our kitchen. The most covers we would do daily would be about 60. There were 20 for family meal, and the other 40 for the other students eating. Family meal in case you were wondering is when you pretty much have the entire meal ready and you make just enough for the class and we all go eat together before service begins. It normally lasts for about 30 minutes. We have to get to class at 6:15 and we have till 10:45 am to make the meal, then we take our break for family meal at 10:45 am till 11:15 am, then we are back to class and ready to open the doors for service by 11:45am. Normally we sell out by 12:15 and that is when we close for the day. Then chef gives us about 30 minutes to totally clean up the kitchen and do our wrap up lecture for the day and we are out of the kitchen by 1:30 pm. It seems like a long day but it goes by so fast because its fun and because it is just fast moving the whole time. The first day I was on the soup and salad station and we made french onion soup and a salad with a lemon vinaigrette. It was nice to start out on that station because it is definitely the easiest one. So the first day was definitely a success for our first production kitchen! Day 2 I was on the roast chicken station. We would be in charge of making pan gravy, steamed broccoli, glazed carrots and whipped potatoes. I am in a group with 4 people, there are 20 in the glass and we are all in groups of 4. We split up the different tasks between the group members and everything went really smoothly! Another day of production and service gone well!

Skills 2 Day 12

Chef and I

The Class!

It was the Final day of skills 2! This was a very exciting day because it was our last day in a small scale kitchen, we would no longer be making portions for 2, it would be portions for 15 or 20. Today we had to make steak, grilled vegetables which included eggplant, squash, zucchini, red onion and a portobella mushroom. We would also have to make french fries as a side! To go with the steak we made a sauce called Bernaise. It is like a hollandaise but it uses herbs in it and goes really well with steak. It was all absolutley delicious eventhough my steak was a little underdone which chef said was fine because I could take it back and fix it, it was better than it being over cooked. So that was a positive way to look at it!