(Turandot- Nessun Dorma)
Intermediate Practical Exam (!)
Here we go again. Today's the intermediate exam. They staggered our start time so that the kitchens would not be too crowded, and also to ensure that our dish remained hot when the judges taste our product. I was scheduled to start at 11:30am.
Last Starbucks run as "Ash"
Pre-exam selfie. Was sharpening my knives one more time
Martin just finished his exam
("How was it?" "Putain de merde!" "Oh...")
Okay, exam time. I drew the Sea Breams wrapped in lettuce. Not too bad right? My strategy for the exam has always been to stay calm and just work at my own pace. The dishes are designed to be finished in 2 hours, and we had 2.5 hours. Plus we've made the dishes before. I therefore just need to follow the steps that I memorized. Cook the Jerusalem artichoke (which again are neither from Jerusalem nor are artichokes) à l'anglaise. Set the oven to 170C. Prep the shrimp to grind to become fillings. Ete. We also had to prepare a béarnaise sauce as our technical dish, so I began reducing the vinegar+ white wine under very very low heat while I minced the shallots, tarragon and chervil stems. I'll come back to the sauce after I'm done filleting and skinning the fish.
Chef Caals was present almost the entire time proctoring the exam, and Adolpho, his trusty teaching assistant from Argentina was there the whole time helping people and dropping hints. "You might not want your saucepan on such high heat." or "Here's some cut shallots from the previous exam. It'll save you some time." Chef Caals also provided very good time guidance the whole time. "One hour left! Ouard? I didn't hear you." "Oui, Chef...."
When we had half an hour left I realized that I was running behind. By the 15-minute mark, I just put the fish into the oven, which would require 7-8 minutes to cook, and then I would still need some time to reduce the sauce. I ended up keeping the fish in the oven for another minute since an undercooked fish is a fail but a slightly overcooked fish isn't. Oh right, I also haven't done my bearnaise sauce yet. Uh oh.
I started picking up speed and running in beast mode, frantically cutting the tomato for the Jerusalem Artichoke puree and the tarragon + chervil leaves for the bearnaise. When the chef yells "You all have one minute left!" I was still reducing my sauce. I began frantically whisking the egg yolks for my bearnaise. Egg yolk was flying everywhere over my bain-marie. I didn't care. When the fish sauce looked like it was reduced enough, I plated my dish in the worst possible manner and sent it to the judges, who were waiting in the basement. The bearnaise sauce was then plated separately, and I sent it to Chef Caals the moment it was done, and he evaluated the sauce.
"Ouard, t'es 15 minutes en retard." (Howard, you're 15 minutes late.) The chef said.
"Oui Chef, je sais"
"Qu'est-ce qui se passe? You know every minute is 2% off your grade."
"I was going as fast as I could Chef."
"Look, I'm going to write 5 minutes on your evaluation. That's the most I can do. I have to put something down. Are you fine with that?"
"Oui Chef, thank you very much."
"Now sign here."
Shit, I was 15 minutes late. Even if he counted only 5 minutes, that's 10% off my exam grade. I knew that at Le Cordon Bleu there's no grade inflation, unlike my college. My basic exam grade, despite the fact that I actually liked it, was in the 60% range. I was definitely not proud of my sea breams today, so I doubt that I would get a higher grade than in my basic exam. And now I would have 10% off? I'm pissed.
Poor Christian, the friendly American college student in our group, whose sauce was accidentally thrown away during the chaotic last few minutes of his exam. Since he started half an hour after us, we were busy cleaning up our stations as he finalized his dish. Before he knew it, his sauce was gone. Props to him for not panicking, but it still sucked since the essence of his whole dish lied in his sauce, which has dissipated. No one admitted to taking his pan away. I swear man, I certainly didn't. I was nowhere near his stoves. Chef Caals said he would go check with the school director and see if they could evaluate his exam dish without his sauce. I hope he passes.
Oh well, the exam was over. I packed up my stuff and left the practical to change. I felt like crap, I smelled like fish and I had eggs all over my uniform and face because I was whisking so hard to get my bearnaise sauce done.
When I met up with a friend near Centre Pompidou afterwards, I realized that I didn't put cream into my fish sauce, which would completely alter the profile of the sauce. "Oh well, maybe I remembered wrong and I didn't need to add the cream." I told my friend. She replied "But you think you might need to add cream right? Well then, you probably needed to but forgot. Sucks." Thanks, I feel so much better now. This is exactly what friends are for. I checked the recipe later that night. I needed to add cream. Uh oh.
I really don't know how my exam dish is going to turn out. If I fail the class, I'd get a phone call in the next day or two notifying me. It's like the Nobel prize, except you DON'T want the phone call. I'm going to be spending the next few days not sleeping and clinching my phone close.
To be. Continued...
Quote from this class:
"Ummm..... where did my sauce go?"
-Christian,
Uttering probably the last thing one would ever
want to say in a French cuisine practical exam
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