The Fundamental Things Apply, As Time Goes By.

It's still the same old story. A fight for love and glory. A case of do or die....
(Frank Sinatra- As Time Goes By)

Intermediate Lesson 02- Cabbage wraps

Our dish today is a Savory cabbage filled with salmon, served with a red wine sauce.

You'll have to imagine the salmon and fillings inside the cabbage.

The dish is pretty delicious, though I personally never liked red wine sauce. The filling consists of a perfectly cooked salmon with delicious bits of bacon, onion, celery and carrots.

The Chef (Need to figure out his name) commented that my fish and garnishes were very good, but that my sauce was too reduced. I guess I'm just always afraid that my sauce is not reduced enough because I have a history of my sauce being too liquid.

The big news today was that I cut myself again! I can count the times I cut myself during basic, but for whatever reason I am now two for two in intermediate. This time was pretty deep- I still remember the feeling of cool metal gliding into my finger, followed by blood splattering all over my uniform. Everywhere I went, there were traces of blood on the floor. I quickly tried to stop the bleeding with paper towels but to no avail even after 3 minutes. The practical brought me to the front desk to treat my wound, and the staff was debating whether they should send me to the hospital because it wouldn't stop bleeding even after a good 10 minutes. "NO!" I insisted that I was fine. "But if it's too deep, you'll need stitches!" The staff insisted.

As they debating about my fate, I started chatting with the receptionist and we discussed what kind of cut I had. She said that it was an émincer, which would imply a straight cut, but I said "nonono it's definitely an escaloper," because it was cut at an offset to my finger. I was about to undo the tape on my finger to prove my point when the debating staffs turned to me.

Ouch... please no condom jokes thank you.
I'm still bleeding after 8 hours. THISISSERIOUS!

The staff could not agree on whether I should go to the hospital, so they asked what I wanted. "Bien sûr je voudrais continuer mon cours." I reiterated. Finally they let me go back to class, where a surprised Chef greeted me in the classroom. Apparantly he already pronounced me dead, and was about to distribute my materials to the rest of the class. I swear if I came back and saw my stuff gone I would have made sure that I was not the only one bleeding. Just kidding......right.

Anyways, I discovered an unexpected benefit of being injured- I can be totally sloppy with my cuts now! Hey! The garnishes are meant to be cut burnoise, which is always the bane of my life. Seriously, I hate burnoise. But now I can cut them any way I want and just say " Mais Chef, j'ai un doigt très blessé!" Hah, nono I still cut my vegetables properly, though maybe a bit larger than required. That I blame on the fact that I lost 15 minutes fixing my finger and so I had to work faster.

At the end of the class, I thanked the Chef for taking care of me and my index finger, and he praised me for coming back to class. He even wrote in french "Had a bad injury but still returned to the classroom. Bravo!" on my grading sheet. Thanks chef. I would never miss a class for something like that. Too bad you're not British, or I'd make a Monty Python reference ("'just a flesh wound").

The key lesson from today is- despite finishing Basic Cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu, one must remember the fundamental skills and remain vigilant when cooking. I admit I was a bit sloppy in holding the celery when I cut myself. Next time, it might be more than just a deep cut. Noted, I'll do better.

To make myself feel better, I went for a late night ramen snack. Nothing makes me feel better than a bowl of noodle soup and beer.

 Now you see it.....

Quote of the day:

"Pulling out the mushroom stem is like pulling a baby teeth- you just need to rock them back and forth gently and they'll pop right off."

-Demo Chef Caals