Thanks LL I sure hope so!

Piq - I know. I've always written "m. *date* exp. *date one week later*" but not anymore!

She said that she expects our work to mirror hers and if it doesn't we're doing something wrong. There is no "but it's my first time trying this". The plating doesn't sound too difficult tonight or tomorrow. I think the hardest part will be sprinkling the sugar/torching the tarts EXACTLY the same. We only have to do one identical plate for this plating, all others will be 2 plates. It's really a lot harder than it sounds.

Thank god we're doing a full week on chocolate bonbons with 2-3 practicals on various types so I have a chance to scoop up easier for me points.

Sprinkling sugar the same way as someone else actually sounds really hard to me. I cant do it the same way on two servings in a row.

Can you pre-print some labels with the "headers" she's requesting?

I come from an FDA regulated industry. I totally get labeling. Still, disallowing common abbreviations seems like ineffective use of time.
Oh well, on any boat there's 1000 ways to do any task, but the only right way is the way the captain wants it done. I guess that's true of kitchens and chefs too.

Cant WAIT to see the pix!

I hadn't thought of actually making labels to bring in! We just have normal blank labels there and we scribble in the info. It would be much easier to just have to write the name of the products and the dates. I might pick some up today

The use of her abbreviations just seems like a power trip to me but she's the Chef and I'm not! Her way or the highway and I'd like to stay in the kitchen.

It sounds like a power trip to me too. I hate people like that. Set up a label document in your computer. It will save you loads of time.

Can't wait to see the pics!

chef's are mean..

that's their badge, their identity.. particularly in 'classic' kitchens

quote:

Originally posted by apple*:
chef's are mean..

that's their badge, their identity.. particularly in 'classic' kitchens

It isn't just that. It's training to be meticulous and to follow detailed directions.

It's like that in a lot of school settings, and in a lot of demanding professions, and in the military and in sports. Do it EXACTLY the way we teach you to do it. Particularly at junior levels, they don't want you to exercise independent judgment. That comes later in your career.

I had a boss like that, very early in my career. He was incredibly demanding. We used to say that, once he taught you HIS way of doing things, you never had to wonder whether there was a more thorough way that you didn't know about. It wasn't possible. Then, you could figure out for yourself whether there was a more efficient but less thorough way of getting the job done.

You can just imagine how well the idea of following incredibly detailed directions without using any independent judgment or thought went over with me. But you get through it.

Apple - that was my first thought. But then as I thought more I came to the same conclusion (for now) as Quirt. She is training us and our production is a mirror of her work, she will not be misrepresented so we do it her way. Every Chef is completely different and in each class you have to things the way the current Chef wants them done, even if you're better/more efficient at another way because it's their way or the highway. It sucks but I understand why they're in complete control of everything.

Today was so BORING. We had a short lecture on plated desserts, what they should include, functions of sauces, etc. Then she demo'd sugar garnishes that we have done in other classes and can do in our sleep now. Then she showed us how to cut fruit and plate up the creme brulee and components. After all of that I thought now it's our turn! HA! Then we were onto math lecture. Ugh. It was all review from our last classes. We had a handout, she had a handout...yet she wrote out all of the tables on the board. They're fairly large tables. It's a lot of repetitive formula crap and she went through each column of the 4 examples. Huge waste of time, at least skip the 5 minutes of writing the table on the board when we all have a copy! Then we did 4 Baker's Percentage problems that date back to our first class. They've been on all of our exams, if you don't know how to do them by now.... basically we spent 3 HOURS reviewing math. Then with 25 minutes left, of course we can't leave early, Chef decides that she needs some puff pastry. That takes a lot longer than 25 minutes...so we all had to stay late. By the time we got to leave the kitchen my stomach was eating itself. My first Chef's class is on the way to the parking garage so I stopped by and got a ham and cheese croissant

Needless to say we didn't get to our plated dessert today. I brought my camera and took pictures of Chef's so I can compare tomorrow, I'll post them both tomorrow night!

The plating went okay, I got a 23/25. I accidentally broke the "seal" on top of the creme brulee. After you do that the sugar just get absorbed by the custard so I wasn't able to brulee the edges, just the center and my almond spike was too spike-y for her, wanted thicker sugar. Oh well! I took a picture, but it was after grading because I forgot to do it before, so it's been minimally attacked.

Haven't uploaded the pics yet but I will do that in the morning and edit to add them.

Ran into my partner from my first class today! Haven't seen him since that class ended around Halloween. Turns out he and heroin-addict-guy have been in jail . Stay off drugs kids. Jeez. Now he's on 2 years probation. Heroin-addict-guy punched the officer arresting him so he'll be in jail for awhile longer.

Got a sneak peek at our next plating. It's a Napoleon made with puff pastry, diplomat cream, and raspberries. Garnishes will be a sugar rod (piped caramel in a straight line. Much harder than it sounds) and a colored isomalt cracked sheet (kind of hard to explain but so pretty). Plus chocolate and raspberry sauces and a pretty design on top of the Napoleon. Yes, I'm already nervous.

I have my in person interview with the exec chef of Walt Disney World on Tuesday Very excited! It sounds like it will be a group interview, but at the moment I'm the only one signed up for the 4pm time slot.

Good luck on your interview!

Oooh. Creme brulee. Yum. Although I only really like the classic one, not when they tart it all up (pardon the phrase) with fruit and stuff. Maybe a raspberry or two as garnish on top. Maybe.

Can you take an iPod to class?

Nina - pretty much everything in this class is going to be ridiculous. I just like dessert on a plate. The sugar stuff *is* edible but I won't be eating it so don't put it on my plate. Not much of a fine dining fan

Chef's demo for us to replicate:

Creme Brulee with tuille waffle cookie, brandy snap cup with fruit, strawberry garnish and an almond spike.



My presentation (forgot to take the picture before hand, oops):

Why is there a giant sperm on top of that beautiful creme brulee'? I'm not a fine dining fan, either. I suppose it is fun but when it doesn't taste as good as it looks, I think the chef's priorities are a little bit backwards.

Nina -

Tonight we're doing another plating. This time we need to present 2 identical plates. I'm a little nervous, I really really hate piping caramel. My hands don't like to hold 340 degree caramel in a flimsy paper cone very steady. I might cheat and draw straight lines on the back of the paper . She didn't say we couldn't....but I bet we're not supposed to!

Tomorrow is my interview with Disney I've heard good and bad things about the spots available for pastry students. I'd really enjoy just working at one of the resorts making the breakfast pastries.

Class was soo long tonight. We started our plating practical at 6:15, I plated and presented at 9:20. We didn't get out of the kitchen until 10:45 (instead of 10:20) because some people in our class didn't present until 10:30. We had to detail the back hallway. So gross. Not really sure what they're called but it's a hallway that runs behind 3 pastry kitchens and they keep all of the cake pans, etc that all of the classes share back there. Found some grody stuff.

Pictures!



The paper in the background is what we were supposed to replicate I did okay, 23/25.

My net sugar almost looked like a bird!

It does look like a bird. If you get a job at Disney, maybe you'll need to learn how to make net sugar Goofies and Plutos!