Wednesday, August 25, 2010

No Rest for the Weary

Week 2, Day 8-
To start off the morning we took our two written tests. Boy, I've been out of school a long time. Things have definitely changed. Who remembers the old purple copies made on the big drum that you cranked to make your copies. What was that called? And then we moved to scan-trons with number 2 pencils. Today we took the tests on HP Netbooks right in class. It was kind of cool because we got our grades instantly! No more waiting a week or longer for an instructor to grade them. I received an A and a B for the first go around, stupid Serve Safe....you'd think I could have aced both of them.

No rest for the tired and weary. We imeadatley headed in to a long lecture by Chef Bruce on stocks and their production. Class finished up with a veal stock demo. Yes, we actually used the ovens and cook tops today!! We began making the stock by roasting the veal shanks and a saute of the mirepoix (mixture of 50% onion, 25% celery, and 25%carrots). We next prepared the sachet d'espices of bay leaves, thyme, black peppercorns, and parsley stems. Unfortunatley, we ran out of time today, so Chef Sara will combine the ingredients in to a HUGE stock pot and leave it to simmer overnight. Stocks should cook a minimum of 16-18 hours, but good ones cook for up to 48 hours. We'll get to see the results in the morning.
Bundling up the Sachet d'Epices for the stock

 Preparing the veal shank for roasting

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on the test scores!!! I had no idea that they had to simmer that long! I'm getting an education just listening about yours! :)

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  2. good job! how did the stock turn out? I usu let my chicken stock go over night...reminds me, I need to make some.

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  3. Those old machines were called mimeographs (which made mimeos). I loved the way they smelled & how the ink used to get on my fingers (& face, & clothes, etc.) And yes, I used to sniff the mimeos, don't judge.

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