Potage Cultivateur

Thursday we all met at Bragard, a uniform shop here, to be sized and have our uniforms embroidered.  By far the most unflattering thing I have ever worn but its for a good cause.  And its HOT!  cotton polyester blend that is so thick and almost crunchy.  but it is suppose to stand up to heat and boiling liquids if i have an oopsy and spill something on myself.  On top of that we have old lady-nurse shoes that are "security" which much translate to "rock hard".  AND I have a hat (kind of a floppy baseball cap) and super long apron.  But how cool is that? My name on a chef jacket!

Did i mention the uniform was hot? Hence the poopie look on my face 

Friday was my first day of cooking!  It was kinda surreal, but already felt familiar as I dressed in my uniform and headed to the kitchen.  Side note: I might as well be back in the OR! No jewelry, nails cut short, no polish, full uniform and hair cover!    

I arrived to class 10 minutes early (if you're early, you're on time)  to begin our mise en place.  Each week someone is assigned "Chef of the Week"; it is this person's responsibility to make sure everything is in order.  That means retrieving the goods from the school's "pantry" and any and all cookware from the dishwasher and the storage shelfs in the kitchen, and evenly distributing items between the 13 students and Chef.  Thankfully, he or she can accomplish most of these task by delegating to the rest of us.  Lets just say Friday was a cluster.  We were all moving around but it was hard to accomplish simple tasks.  And after gathering items we would still be one short even though we all know we need 14 of everything.

 

This is not quite how my station is suppose to look, but its the first day

Random story: we were suppose to put most things in little containers and cover with plastic wrap.  But imagine what happens when an industrial sized roll of plastic wrap is without a cutting mechanism and you have to cover a small bowl or a small plastic cup (like the size they give you when you ask for a cup for water at a fast food place.) I knocked over my bowl of gruyere trying the "hold down with your arm and tear" method.  

Before each new recipe we are suppose to read before class.  The book is in French so no last minute preparing on the train.  But it didn't matter because Chef demo-ed everything right before we did it.  He shouts "Demo" and we all drop what we are doing and gather around his station.  Basically if you are boiling something, it is still boiling without being watched while you watch the demo.  Chef doesn't like to be ignored.  

Potage Cultivateur (avec gruyere et de baguette en tranches)

As you may have guessed, by soup was over cooked and soft (sad face) and the toaster oven thingy burns everything in the middle of the rack.  I tried to use the lighter baguette slices ones first, but i needed to use some of the burnt slices too.  (a few extra-burnt ones still on the cutting board).  The soup ingredients: butter, celery, carrots, turnips, leeks, potatoes, and cabbage (all cut paysanne, squares 1mm thick, 2-3 mm wide), pork belly, green beans and green peas, yuk!  anyone who knows me well knows i will pick every single pea out of something before I can start to eat it......alas, it was on the list so in it went.  I only added a few pinches of coarse salt, but other than that it was veggie water.  but I was starving so it was pretty good and the gruyere was one tasty bite before it all went into la poubelle (I bought tupperware today so that should never happen again)

Basically not a win for me.  And I felt like my name was the only name he knew. "Ericka" with a french accent sounds nice until you hear it followed by a criticism.  but hopefully the harder he pushes me the more prepared i will be for my stage (internship).