That was Easy!

Now, I bet you are wondering if that title references the updating of the blog or something to do with class . . .

Well I will tell you that it is both.

After a daunting loss of a post due to a crapped out Word doc and the metric ton of work, study and practice I just never got back on that horse. But I am here today to give you the lowdown and whatever I don't get out of the way today, I will get up real soon like.

So the past couple of classes have been the MOTHER SAUCES and soups. Even in Chef Ted's words, the mother sauces are rarely used any more. Not many restaurants are going to maintain those sauces when they can do a take on it as a pan sauce. This reality does not make LEARNING them any less important and for this I am thankful. After tasting the end result of a Sauce Espagnole is no comparison to a close cousin pan sauce. Plus I can not tell you how happy the wife is that I can now make a killer Sauce Hollandaise.

Honestly, these are the things I was hoping to learn. Old, Antiquated, but completely necessary technique that is going to bring my cooking to the next level. I like how I cook and the way my food tastes but I think to really get better you have to know why it tastes like that and how to get there. My art teacher in high school made us do copies of about 10 famous paintings one year as I started getting my portfolio together. I was so mad at her. I felt like it was busy work assigned by the school or who ever wrote up the curriculum. As it turns out his was probably one of the best things that ever happened to my art. Learning how an artist created a great piece of work gave me the skill set to use that in MY art. The same applies to cooking as I am finding out. Learning a sauce or technique that has fallen out of favor but is the basis of the gastronomy of now is both eye opening and mind-blowing to me. Each time I successfully create something in class, I feel like I am one step closer to being the chef I want to be.

After getting thru these recipes and techniques we entered the PRACTICAL. I can not say that I was not FREAKING OUT. I think this is the first REAL test I have taken since I left High School. Sit down, write down a TON of knowledge and see if you get it right. HOW STRESSFUL is that! Very. When you are 33 and the last test was when I was 18-ish. The practical was 10 definitions and 8 out of 10 Methods of Preparations (How do you make chicken stock?, How do you make a Sauce Bechamel and a Derivative of it?)

I think the stress of trying to do well served me very well. The test FELT easy as I was taking it. The words seemed to flow onto the page and I finished with 10 minutes to spare. To be honest, I don't think I missed more than maybe a point here and there on the Method of preparations. Passing by that exam, we made some Lobster Bisque, Gazpacho and another soup that escapes me memory leading us up to the actual practical.

2 medium diced potatoes, a full recipe of mayonnaise and a 1/2 recipe of Cream of Broccoli soup. The potatoes came out perfect(5 bags of practice potatoes later), the Mayo was spot on(after 3 batches that were too salty and 4 that rocked), and a cream of broccoli soup that was spot on. The only thing I was worried about was the soup, but I think that is what EVERYONE was worried about. The texture was perfect, the color was right on, and the salt was good. Overall, I think I rocked it. How hard I rocked it will not be put into a grade until next Saturday, so stay tuned for that.

That about catches you up on what you missed. I will get the rest of Sunday up here soon. Regaling you with my newfound love of Sautee.