The Southern Gourmand

Don’t laugh.  My hair cannot be contained in that tiny little hat.

As my time in culinary school winds down, I wanted to take the time to reflect on this past year.  It’s been a year of growth, both in skills and my understanding of myself, but it has also been  a year of challenges.  I realize now how much of a bubble I lived in before. 

I have gotten much more assertive this past year.  I think that you have to be if you want to work in the food industry.  A lot of the other students are fresh out of high school, and for lack of a better word, are fairly undisciplined or professional at times.  We practically live with the same people for several hours a day, all week, in a high stress environment and we’re all sleep-deprived.  Toss in a few sharp objects and a screaming chef (yes, some of them really do scream at you) and you’ve got yourself a party. 

That’s not to say that I haven’t loved it.  I really am fortunate to have had this opportunity.  I have learned so much about food, food culture, personalities, what I am capable of and what I am most certainly not capable of.  The feeling that you get when a chef compliments your food is indescribable.  And when you let one of the good ones down, you feel the weight of that, as well. 

My biggest regret is that I didn’t take photos throughout the course of the year.  Since I didn’t, I’m going to borrow a few pictures from Emily’s blog, The Front Burner , but only of me or my food. 

So, here are my top picks from this year…the good, the bad and the questionable. 

#10…Surviving my first practical.  I had never cooked a pork tenderloin and, genius that I am, I decided that it would be a good idea to do one for my first cooking grade ever.  All things considered, it turned out perfectly moist and juicy and, for the first time in culinary school, I felt like, “Ok.  I can do this.”

#9…Stabbing myself on a baguette.  In my defense, it was cut into leaves, which were very pointy. 

#8…Learning that Germans don’t have cookies, and are therefore far superior to Americans.  I would argue, but you don’t argue with a Master Pastry Chef…who happens to be German. 

#7…Seeing a 5’2″ tiny little chef throw pots and pans at us because the class was abandoning dishes in the dish pit.  Yeah.  Don’t do that.

#6…Seeing just what food is.  I’ve always had issues with veal and foie gras, but after seeing what a healthy duck liver looks like, and what foie gras looks like, I’m going to become a pesco-vegetarian (more on that later).

See for yourself.

The foie gras is on the left and the regular liver is on the right.  Part of the job description of chef is knowing where your food comes from, and there are certain responsibilities that we have as a result.  It hits home when you’re confronted with it.

If that wasn’t gross enough, here’s my partner dangling foie gras veins.  I’m beside her, rolling them into logs.  Fun.

#5…Actually churning out some decent looking desserts.  I thought that I would hate Advanced Patisserie (see #s 8 and 9 for the basis of my opinions on baking), but this was probably my favorite class in culinary school.  The chef was a fellow WoCo alum, and I absolutely adored her. 

Some of my handiwork.

(Bavarian cream with strawberry and mango coulis and chocolate straws)

(Creme brulee with vanilla shortbread cookie and caramel sauce)

(Chocolate molten lava cakes with tuile cookie and vanilla ice cream.  The cookie was higher than the cake, so the sense of scale is a little off in this photo.)

(Fruit tarts with mango coulis and spun sugar)

#4…Not catching anyone on fire during Advanced Dining Room.  We used these carts called “gueridons” that have a burner and we have to cook on them for tableside service.  When it came time to flambe, I was convinced that someone, possibly me, would end up in the ER.  I don’t have a shot of the food or the flambeing, but here’s one of me in the dining room.  I’m on the left.  The pleated, high-waisted pants circa 1988..HOT.

#3…Picture perfect grill marks on tuna and seeing Chef go back for seconds and thirds.  Also, I overheard another instructor say that the tuna was perfect.  I think that I beamed from ear to ear.  It was during Classical French (aka Death by Butter) and my class really struggled to find our footing in that one, which is a polite way of saying that we went down in flames at least half the time. 

#2…Finally making a hollandaise that didn’t break.  It came together on practical day, mercifully.  My previous attempts resembled oil slicks or scrambled eggs.

#1…Having my mornay described as “beautiful”.  First of all, I don’t think I would necessarily call cheese sauce a thing of beauty, but it was kind of this culmination of past ideas, current techniques and I felt like a chef.  And, really, wasn’t that the whole point of all of this?