Work it like a pro-pro-pro, sit and watch it go-go-go...

Down, Down on Me, Put It Down on Me
(Jeremih ft 50 Cents- Down on Me)

Intermediate Lesson 28- Lots and lots of stuff

Today's dish is a seared veal tenderloin served with a creamy risotto and mushroom duxelle and asparagus sauce.

Chef Caals' dish.
The veal's underneath all that garnishes and above the risotto.

Searing the veal was pretty simple, but the garnishes for this dish was a pain in the neck. Chef Caals made all this looked so simple during the demonstration, but that's just because he's a pro and could manage everything  with ease. For me, I know I definitely got a bit disoriented having so many pans cooking at the same time.

You had to prepare the asparagus sauce by boiling the asparagus stems in boiling water, then blend the stems. Meanwhile, you have to cook the mushroom duxcelle, and begin sweating the shallots for the risotto. All ingredients must be served hot, so you can't finish preparing the garnishes too early in advance. There was a point towards the end when we were all using 6 stoves simultaneously: one stove for cooking the risotto (remember to stir constantly), one stove for preparing the Sauce Mornay (remember to stir regularly), one stove for heating the mushroom duxelle (remember to stir regularly), one stove to sear the asparagus heads used for decorating the dish (remember to stir regularly), one stove for making the jus (remember to degrease), and one stove for searing the steak. Good thing our class was in 2GS, a bigger classroom than the standard 1PS / 2PS, because we all had 6-8 stoves to work with, instead of the usual 4.

My dish came out okay. The veal came out very well cooked, but all my elements lacked seasoning. I admit that the risotto came out a bit weak, but the duxelle and the veal I thought tasted just fine. When a teacher consistently gave me the same feedback, my business school / consulting sides start questioning whether I am actually learning from the feedback provided. Perhaps for next class I should put down biblical proportions of salt onto my dish just to see how the chef reacts.

After class today, I ran into Chef Ju in the hallway. She explained to me that she had no more intermediate classes planned to lead, and I won't see her again in class since I am not doing superior cuisine. It was quite a teary-eye moment because Chef Ju has taken really good care of me. More importantly, because we’re constantly being rushed in and out of classrooms, I would always leave some equipments in the room, and Chef Ju, who for whatever reason always had the class after us would find my knives with their distinctive blue indicator tape lying in the drawer. She must have found hundreds of Euros worth of equipment for me over the entire intermediate term, including big knives like my cleaver, which she almost threw at my head for leaving it behind. Merci Chef et bon courage!

Quote of the class:

After a student expressing dismay at how Demo Chef Caals was contradicting himself in class.
Chef Caals: here, read this sign.  *throws out a magnetic sign from his collection of magnets. Sign says: Le chef a toujours raison. (The chef is always right.)
Me: Hey, that's just like what my mom has!

“Wait, no bacon today?”

-Student in demo class,

commenting on the lack of bacon because

we've had bacon as an ingredient

for almost every dish recently.