Two down. Three to go!

It's hard to believe that I've already completed two of my lab classes here at Johnson and Wales. Lab classes seem to fly by, and I only have three more before Thanksgiving break!

Since my last post, my class made has gallons upon gallons of stock, I spent a weekend in Tampa, and I survived my first hot lab practical exam. It seems as though Stocks, Sauces and Soups flew by, but yet I learned so much. We covered the six traditional French mother sauces (Bechamel, Veloute, Hollandaise, Tomato, Espagnole, and Demi-Glace), and I can now produce any of them without a recipe. I can now recognize and taste the differences between a well-prepared flavorful stock and a weak stock. And my knife skills are.....well, they could use a little improvement, but they're getting there and I've got the blisters to prove it. And after passing the practical exam, I know that I can make most soups without even glancing at a recipe. Learning to rely on my instincts rather than reading a recipe has certainly been an adjustment, but it's also a lot of fun to throw in a handful of an ingredient and taste to see how it flavors the final dish. Just as it was in baking and pastry, we were once again assigned lab groups, and my group members worked very well together this time. Here's a group photo that was taken while we were working on a roux for our mushroom veloute.

My practical exam for Stocks, Sauces and Soups was Monday and Tuesday which adds up to 12 hours of testing if you're wondering. Each student in my class was individually assigned two sauces, one soup and certain knife cuts to produce without notes or recipes. We weren't allowed to talk to anyone, and even the Chef was reluctant to answer any of our questions, and he deducted points if we had to ask questions. I lucked out in my soup assignment when the chef asked me to prepare a chicken vegetable. Very few if any of us were assigned a soup we had studied in class, and even though we hadn't prepared chicken vegetable in class, it required very few techniques which made it easy to prepare. I watched as my classmates prepared chowders, bisques, and creamy tomato soups as I prepared my thin chicken soup. I was relieved to say the least! For my sauces, I was asked to prepare a chicken veloute (basically a chicken stock thickened with a roux) and a hollandaise which is shown below:

The chef asked each of us to prepare certain cuts which he graded for correct size and consistency. Below are my potatoes (parmentier), leeks (brunoise), onions (brunoise) and carrots (brunoise, macedoine, and julienne). Again, they're not perfect, but I'm working on them.

And here I am with my friend Nia and Chef Jaffe after completing the class.

Yesterday was my first day of Introduction to European Cuisine. Exciting, right? Sadly we were in lecture all day yesterday (over 4 hours) and didn't get to produce anything, but we were given a thorough run-down of all that we will cover and I cannot wait! We will learn the ins and outs of braising and stewing and how these techniques differ between countries. A sub-focus of the class will be traditional European rice dishes such as rice pilaf and risotto as well as homemade pasta and pasta shaping. Today we will be making braised chicken legs and pork stew. Dinner should be delicious!

Also, for those of you who aren't on facebook, I have added a Photo Album section in the top right corner of the blog. This link will take you to more pictures of my culinary school journey.