29 May 2012

My day started at 8am with stock duty. You wouldn't necessarily think this was an ideal way to start the day, but it's actually a lot of fun ... you get to massacre meat carcasses with a cleaver before throwing them in the stock pot. It's quite a cathartic experience - just think of something you're not happy about and THWACK! Much better.  

Today's cooking was all about breakfast. I made a grapefruit, orange and mint cocktail which involved segmenting two of each fruit - one of those skills which looks effortless in demonstration but actually takes hours and all your patience in real life. 

Another doily (oh, and some fruit)

I also made some oatmeal porridge, which I cooked for a little too long so it started to resemble wallpaper paste until I cunningly disguised it under a heavy layer of milk, brown sugar and toasted almonds. I was meant to fry some kidneys (which delightfully involves wrestling them from the sack of lamb fat they are snuggled in) but sadly there were none left by the time I got to the meat trolley. Quelle Dommage. 

Finally, every student had to make what is known as a full Irish breakfast. This usually consists of an egg, rashers (that's bacon to you fellow Aussies), sausage, roasted tomato, black and white puddings, and sometimes a roast mushroom and a mini potato cake. There was a prize for the best breakfast in each kitchen, which was really the last thing on my mind as I struggled to have eight items concurrently hot and edible. So it was a real surprise to have my name called as one of four winners at the end of today's demonstration. My design inspiration was the Swedish midsummer maypole dance - the egg is the maypole and the fried meats and vegetables are the happy dancing children*.

Today in demonstration we were shown: How to fillet a flat fish, Monkfish goujons with harissa and coriander mayonnaise, Spiced goujons of sole with coriander aioli and chilli salsa, Basic fish stock, Chilli con carne, Avocado sauce, Colorado sauce, Tortilla chips, Provençal bean stew, Cannellini bean salad, Steamed rice, Choux pastry, Chocolate/ Coffee eclairs, Beignets with cinnamon sugar, Hot chocolate, Cheese Galette (delicious cheese pastry cake) and Marshmallows.

But the day did not end there; after school I went to the hotel restaurant down the road for an evening in a professional kitchen. I didn't actually get to cook anything, but I did get to do some quality control (quietly munching on bits of food thrown to me by the chefs and then nodding my approval). The kitchen was surprisingly calm and quiet, in fact apart from a brief whizzing of the food processor, the noisiest thing in the kitchen was probably me (I am reminded of my primary school reports which always said that I was a good student but it would be nice if I shut up occasionally ... not a chance). Anyway, it was a fantastic experience and I am now going to fall into bed where I will likely dream of food ... I was standing next to the carvery all night and my hair smells a little bit like roast beef (Must not dream of Sunday lunch, must not dream of Sunday lunch... - Ed).

*This is clearly a joke, readers. My design inspiration was 'As soon as I plate this food I can eat it'. The parsley was a reluctant afterthought.