To Thine Own Self, Be Food

French for "everything in its place".  Or as a colleague of mine says... "todo en su lugar". "Mise en place" is the pre-preparation activity that goes on before the actual baking, cooking, or assembling.  You know, before you make cookies, you get out the flour, the sugar, the butter, the eggs, the chips, etc?  That way, you're not running around the kitchen, grabbing things willy-nilly from the fridge or pantry as you're trying to bake. This concept of having everything in its place before beginning any kitchen project has been oft-reinforced at school.  And now...it's starting to seep into my behaviors in my home kitchen.  As it should be, right? But...that's not all.  I'm also enrolled in a Safety and Sanitation course...and much of that info is now rolling around in my mind as I prepare food.  Gads! This morning, I was preparing a Pizza Casserole Take and Bake dish for a New Mom friend of mine.  Two months ago, I would have ...

If nothing else, our instructors are precise about the size of our cuts...for example, a large dice must be 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/4" a medium dice must be 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2" a small dice must be 1/4" x 1/4" x 1/4" a brunoise must be 1/8" x 1/8" x 1/8" a fine brunoise must be 1/16" x 1/16" x 1/16" and one teacher in particular is able to eyeball whether our large dices are too small and our fine brunoise is too big. For me, someone who is spatially impaired, this detail to measurement is difficult to visualize.  So, I created a handy-dandy little measuring card to fit in my chef coat pocket...AND I laminated it.  Ha! Eventually, I will get the mental picture of what a 3/4" cube looks like.  My larger problem? Fluting/turning a mushroom.  Our instructor demonstrated it, quickly, in class one day, and it was beautiful.  The rest of us tried it, and ended up hacking up our poor fungi to death. With a ve...

So.  Three weeks of culinary arts school done.  My French vocabulary is way expanding.  In addition to the names of the many, many French chefs who contributed to modern food services...there are many, many French terms in regards to knife skills. I've practiced these particular skills...and many, many more...(pictures courtesy of Google Images...mostly Wikipedia) Chiffonade: French for 'to turn into rag-like strips' A batonnet cut (on left): French for 'little stick'.  That's a small dice on the right. Tourneed potatoes and mushrooms: French for 'to turn' The beginning of a tomato concasse: French for 'to crush or grind' Es tres bien! 

For one of my classes, we're reading Lessons in Service , which is a guide (of sorts) to excellent restaurant service.  The book revolves around Charlie Trotter's restaurant in Chicago. I'm two chapters in, and the primary lessons so far are treat people like they're royalty, treat others how you want to be treated, and in the restaurant world, sweat the small stuff. I'm surprised at how easily the students spit these words out to the instructor, but I wonder if they even know what they're saying.  Honestly, how can I treat my customers like royalty if I really don't know what royalty is treated like?  Also, it's hard to visualize how to treat others based on how I want to be treated...everyone has different thresholds for that.  Personally, I don't want someone being rude to me, but I don't think that necessarily translates into good service.  There's something about servers anticipating my needs and wants, and getting me to have a good ...

After two weeks of culinary arts school, here's what I know: The chipping around I do in my kitchen and write about here is nothing like being in a professional workplace. My emotions have run the gamut these last several days.  I've been exhilarated, discouraged, distressed, exhausted...and I've second-guessed myself a lot.  I've been asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of self-reflecting. And it's all been wonderful.  I'm being challenged and I'm meeting some amazingly inspiring people. Tonight, though, might be the turning moment.  About eight of my classmates (and myself) stayed to help with a function the older Culinary students were putting on.  We started around four-thirty, and I and another student were given Crab-and-Tarragon scone duty.  Then, around six, we went out front to the "party" and manned the hors d'oeuvres station.  There, two other students and myself smiled and answered questions about the food. It was a...