(Jay-Z & Kanye West- Niggas In Paris)
Lesson two of Cordon Bleu focused on stocks. Stocks are the basis of many dishes in this school, and I feel that we will be making these quite often. The demonstration class instructor walked us through the many basic stocks, and made a brown veal stock and white sole stock in class. The second emphasis of this class was to learn how to descale and filet a sole. The instructor, with typical grace and dexterity, made the entire process seemed natural and straightforward. I went home that day thinking it wouldn't be too bad.
Our practical class was bright and early at 8:30am on Saturday. We had an Asian chef insturctor, who was friendly and very clear in his instructions. What a contrast to our chef in lesson one! Curiously, I couldn't find this person in the chef's biography file, so I can't find out his name.
Sadly that was basically the only highlight of this class. The processing of the sole took an arm and a leg. Wash>De-fin>Scale>Gut> Take out Eyes>Filet> Skin the filet. The process was painful. I've heard graduates of Cordon Bleu say that the memory of fileting a fish will forever be seared in their minds, and I see exactly what they mean. My first filet was an absolute disaster, with the piece of meat looking more like mash potato than fish filet. Luckily, each fish has 4 pieces of meat (for each quarter of the fish), and we had 2 soles to prepare. Still it was quite nerve-wracking cutting out the fish filet, and then meticulously cutting off the skins.
My hands smelled
like sole for the rest of the day, even after a shower and a few hand
washes. I will never take a fish filet for granted. Ever.
Review of my dish: Sauce was too thin (I should have Stirred in More Butter). I also folded the fish the wrong way (pretty bone side should be facing out). Finally plating could have been prettier (garnishing, sauce could have been poured better)
Otherwise the fish was actually braised pretty well.
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