1st Service

Disclaimer: Its midnight, I don't feel like proof reading. Sorry.

This week has been by far the most exhausting, stressful days of Paris to date.  Wednesday we had our first dinner service followed by lunch service on Thursday.  No, it was not all bad, but I'm sure the physical exhaustion, dehydration, and lack of sleep had a little to do with the cold I'm fighting.

So here's what happened....

Tuesday: Prep

We all went down to the economat to pick up our goods for service.   I was in the fish group, along with Alissa and Claire, responsible for this ugly fish, sole.  One weird thing was that this is a flat fish (other types are flounder and halibut) which means both beady eyes are on one side of its body.

Luckily, I did not have the messy job of scaling....no, instead I had to peel/rip the skin off both the top and the bottom of this guy and a few of his friends.  Random trivia: although it is unattractive, this fish costs about 20 euro; at todays rate that's like $26!  Anyhoo, after the de-skinning (i think that's a word) came the filleting.  I must say, I'm getting pretty good at this, just need to work on my pace.  But its kinda scary when presentation is considered.  These knifes are sharp and unforgiving.  At the disapproval of Chef Antoine, this is as far as the three of us got on our only day of prep. Ha!  I guess we all need to work on speed.

Wednesday: Mise en place and Service

Everyone getting their game face on!

The first seating for dinner was at 7:30 so we needed to be in the kitchen by 2:00.  Due to some scheduling conflict that only the French could cause, another class was just finishing their lunch service we were waiting...for like an 1hr.

So with 1hr less of prep time, we all hit the kitchen already in a hurry.  It was kinda like a black out.  I don't remember all the details of how I got from the beginning to the end, but here is a rough synopsis of our dish:

Mushrooms: sauteed in butter with shallots and garlic

Veggies: thinly sliced with a mandoline, then quickly blanched to maintain color

Sole: First flattened then scored and seasoned

Razor Clams: steamed with sauteed shallots and white wine

Sauces: reduced from the cooking liquids of the clams and the fish stock (made from the bones of the sole) with cream and lime juice.  Half was mixed with finely diced zucchini and carrots.  The other half was "foamed" for platting (which I also hate because the bubbles on last for the current platting...you have to re-foam for every order! and why? just for looks! it tastes just like the other sauce minus the diced veg--which, might I add (since I'm already complaining) take FOREVER to chop that small, brunoise its called.  i felt like i was in purgatory!)

Salad: baby arugula with olive oil and salt and pepper

Our dish was sauteed mushrooms rolled in two overlapping filet of sole, all wrapped in a spiral of slightly blanched zucchini, and orange and yellow carrots.  Platted with razor clams and mini salad.

Filet de sole aux girolles en spiral de legumes
Couteaux en mariniere

Due to the 1hr lost in the beginning, we only got a 20min dinner of cafeteria leftovers while our chefs each had a sample of each dish.  That's 6 dishes each and an appetizer!  I still have no idea how my plate taste.  But they needed to see what, if anything needed to be tweaked.

Then began service.  Basically, if you've seen "Hell's Kitchen" you can picture what it was like.  Not too many moments of yelling (at least not at me) but kinda hectic with both sides trying to send dishes out at the same time.  So all the cuisine students were split into Anglo A and Anglo B, 13 students in each, at the beginning of the program.  This was our first time in the kitchen together since then.  We had our own menu and Anglo B had their own.  

Each dish had a chef de partie, the chef in charge of that station, that dish.  The aboyeur calls out the orders for all 3 courses for each table and the chef de partie shouts "Oui Chef" to let him know they understood the order.

As waiters took the orders, customers could choose between a dish from Anlgo A or Anglo B for each course.  So if 2 people at a table of 4 ordered sole and the other 2 ordered the fish from Anglo B, all 4 had to be hot and ready at the passe (front table with heating lamps) at the same time.  

The aboyeur comes back again to "claim" the plates he said were ordered.  Which basically means, reheating or last minutes of cooking for some elements.   Timing is key; the aboyeur can either scream at you to hurry with your plates or get angry and send you back when you are too early.  So there was more screaming across the kitchen as each chef de partie tried to coordinate with the chef de partie of the corresponding dish.  

And then we had to do it all again on Thursday.

All in all, it was exciting and nerve racking at the same time.  It will probably only get more stressful, I will probably need to be chef de partie at some point. Yay! 

Kinda shaky, but here's a glimpse...