Thursday, Second Week

I am thoroughly exhausted today.  I bet I washed every pan in our kitchen at the end of the day.  We worked on small sauces which are offshoots of the original five Mother sauces.

 

I kind of felt like a real sous chef today because Chef told me to make a big pot of roux.  So I did and he showed me how to make a brown roux, which I have never made before.  It was probably 2 cups of clarified butter to 2 1/2 cups of flour.  I feel like we are really cooking now.  We worked in groups of three today and we all shared duties and helped each other instead of everyone making their own sauces.  I made the Chauccer sauce.  A roux for everyone to dip into when they needed a thickening agent for their sauces.  One of the hardest mother sauces to make is the dreaded Hollandaise sauce.  You have to work quick so as not to scramble the eggs.  It is tricky and hard to get to the right sauce consistency.  You can salvage it if it gets too thick by adding more lemon juice or warm water.  You have to add the melted clarified butter slowly so the egg will accept it.  I actually did it right today.  I made it yesterday and Chef did most of the whipping and just showed me.  I didn't get a chance to make it start to finish, yesterday, so I did it again today.  We have midterms next Thursday.  I will have to make a Hollandaise sauce and  some other mother sauces, soups.  Unfortunately, our chef will be out of town and we will have a different chef grading all our dishes.  I will have to practice cutting veggies tomorrow and the weekend.  Still not consistent with my cuts.  I am a little anxious about mid-terms but too bad soo sad, I have to take them.

 

Safeserve classes are getting into biology.  Microorganisms and pathogens and all the different ways bacteria can grow and multiply.  There is so much to learn about preventing bacteria from growing.  You have to know all about temperature control.  How long certain foods can stay out.  How high you have to reheat certain foods to ensure bacteria is killed, etc...  I must say that I have a new respect for restaurant owners.  They have to know about all this safe serve info, and make sure the employees are complying with every rule.  There is so many ways to cross contaminate food and spread germs.  You have to make sure everything is fresh from the receiving line all the way to reheating and serving  to the public.  It is serious stuff, if outbreaks occur, which they do pretty frequently.  I forgot how many the health teacher told us that get sick from food borne illness every year.  It is in the hundreds of thousands, and that is just the ones that have been reported through hospitals and health departments.

 

All in all, I may be exhausted when I get home but I still feel exhilarated, from learning something new every day.

 

My daughter and a friend of hers have private music lessons tonight.  Mom's got to get on the road.  I will write later, much later.   Study, Study, Study .....