So, What is it Really Like???

It's hot. Really hot. Every burner in the small kitchen is on. Every oven is about 350-425 degrees. There is no air. Just 20 students with their heads down, barely any talking unless it's to communicate with your partner. The banging of pots and pans is really all you hear. Except when it's close to presentation time...."Where are you poissonnier? My skate is 30 seconds late!" or "1 minute and my Beef Bourguignon better be sitting in front of me!"

Ahhhhh, this is what I have been waiting for!

I have been anticipating level 3, with some fear I have to admit, since I first made the decision to start school. I walked though this class when I was taking a tour and remember seeing the concentration and fear on a lot of the students faces. I even questioned my ability to make it to this level. I mean, I didn't even really know how to use my knives!!

This is the level where repetition, consistency, technique and timing are enforced. We have a selection of 16 dishes for the entire level - 4 Garde Manger (soups/salads), 4 Poissonnier (fish), 4 Saucier (meats), and 4 Patissier (desserts). You and your partner spend 2 classes at each station, and on one night are responsible for 2 of the 4 dishes, and then the next night you do the other 2, and then move on to the next station. My partner and I were assigned to start the class in pastry. I think we were lucky, because it was hard enough to get used to the new format of the class, and pastry is just a lot of waiting. Waiting for the dough to rest, waiting for the tart to cook, waiting for it to cool....

Each station has times up on the board when you must present 4 identical dishes up to the Chef. We then get graded on time (not a minute early or late), presentation, taste, correctness of technique, etc. Since we are bringing up 4 dishes, each one must look and taste identical, be exactly the same portions, etc.

I have found the most challenging part of the class is plating. You never know exactly how long it's going to take. Especially when you are doing a dish for the first time. You can't plate too early because who wants to eat fish that has been sitting on the plate for 5 minutes? The plate needs to be hot, so if you plate too early, your plate and the food itself will get cold by the time you bring it up. And most likely your sauce will look pretty bad too. But, at the same time, if you wait too long to plate, you may underestimate how long it takes to cook your protein and it may not be done in time. You also then start rushing when you plate, and your presentation may not be clean and perfect.

My partner and I have struggled with both. One night, we were 2 minutes late on a dish, thinking that it would not take more than 8 minutes or so to compose our poached eggs over a mixed diced vegetable salad, topped with hollandaise. But while rushing, one of the eggs broke while placing it on the vegetables. We had made an extra, so it was not a huge loss, but by the time we got the dishes up, it was no longer warm. Another time we were so close to being late, that in rushing through we forgot to put parsley on the plate. On the other side of the coin, when we were on the fish station, we plated our Barramundi too early and the dish ended up being ready 3 minutes early. The sauce served with this turned out to have not been reduced enough and was too watery. If we had just trusted our instincts, we could have spent an extra 2 minutes reducing the sauce to a better consistency, and then the fish would have been plated and ready right on time.

In any case, I'm having a lot of fun with this level. As we get further into the level, times are moved up, and you have to work a lot faster. Pretty soon we will be expected to do 2 dishes a night on our own, which will lead us right up to the final for this level, where we will have to cook 2 dishes selected randomly for a panel of judges.

I was particularly pleased with our lemon tart, so here is a little "taste":



The next 2 photos are just a look at all of the dishes for a night. When we present 4, one of them ends up at the front of the classroom, and then at the end of the night the Chef goes through each teams dish one by one and gives good and bad feedback.