(Grease- Beauty School Dropout)
Lesson 30- The Finale
Today's our last demonstration class in Basic Cuisine. There is no practical class to follow this, and it was clear that demo Chef Stril was just having a lot of fun. He always liked to crack jokes but this time he was just on a roll, poking fun at the assistant, translator, the food, students, himself... everything. Honestly I suspected that he was probably drunk. And he still managed to whip up two amazing and complex dishes: Baked Alaska and a Herbal Crusted Lamb Chops. That's why he's Grandpa Bear!
Chef Stril's Baked Alaska (Omelette norvégienne)
Delicious Herbal Crusted Lamb Chops
Baked Alaska always has a special place in my heart. I remember for my 16th birthday my family brought me to Locke-Ober in Boston (R.I.P.) and pre-ordered a Baked- Alaska. I will never forget the excitement of the entire restaurant when the waiter poured the flaming liquor over the cake and the entire thing lit on a blue fire. Thank you Elaine for planning that birthday. Too bad we didn't get to make this today.
The reason why we didn't have practical today was that exams start the next day. Truth be told, I haven't been taking studying too seriously. Come on, it's cooking, right? We have 10 recipes to memorize. On exam day, we will randomly draw one of the recipes, write out the exact quantities of each ingredient, and then cook it by heart. We will also have a "technical" test in which we all have to cut an artichoke and cook it, which is actually quite complicated.
I figured it wouldn't be that hard right? I mean we've done every dish on the exam. And then as I started studying on Monday (already very late, most people started 2 weeks ago), I realized there's a lot of stuff to memorize, and it's so easy to get the ingredients mixed up. Crap. I am suddenly facing the prospect that I may actually FAIL cooking school.
Can you imagine my conversation with my friends or future colleagues?
Friend: I heard you went to cooking school.
Me: Nah, I flunked out.
Friend: Holy cow, was it really hard? What did you fail? Butchering a cow? A super complex molecular gastronomy dish?
Me: I failed at cutting an artichoke....
Friend: Wait, really?
This sounds just as ridiculous as that Grease song "Beauty School Drop Out"-
Beauty school dropout,
No graduation day for you.
Beauty school dropout,
Missed your midterms and flunked shampoo!
HOLY SHIT I'M BASICALLY GOING TO FLUNK SHAMPOO!! I didn't survive 4 years of college and 2 years graduate school only to fail artichoke in COOKING SCHOOL. No graduation day for me????
So yeah, since Monday I've been in lock-down mode and studying at home. I also went to the Luxembourg Garden to do some studying. I couldn't have gone through 3 years of French in Action and not study in Le Jardin du Luxembourg.
I still can't get over the fact that I am memorizing "2 carrots, whole. 2 onions, whole. 2 medium leeks, whole. 1 celery stalk. 2 Garlic clothes. 1 Bouquet Garni." Whatever, I just don't want to fail cooking.
Practicing one of the dishes
SO MANY GARNISHES TO MANAGE. AH ERMAHGERD
Instead of a quote from class today, I'll finish with a quote from the seminal 2006 movie The Pink Panther. What? You haven't seen that movie? Well neither have I....
"But you forgot a fundamental truth about women. A woman is like a....... is like a....... artichoke. You have to do a bit of work before you'll get to her heart."
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