Week 1, Day 1. Part 2. Fruits and Spices

After her introductory lecture, Chef D spent about an hour-and-a-half talking about the different families that various fruits and spices fall into. I honestly had a hard time focusing on the words coming out of her mouth. After listening to the intro lecture, I was really getting fired up to actually begin cooking something, but overall, I did enjoy hearing about the topic of the day. It was such a refreshing change to be listening to someone teach a subject that I have an interest in rather than be forced to pay attention to a 60 minute conference call relating to the inner-workings of retail banking management. Ugh, I’d rather just shove my head into the nearest convection oven.

When it came time to dole out the daily recipes, I volunteered to prepare the Deep-Fried Peach Fritters served with a Spiced Whipped Cream. I have never attempted to deep fry anything at home, let alone use a restaurant-grade deep fryer, so I thought that this would make for a good challenge on day 1. The recipe also had another component that was new to me…the beating of egg whites to stiff peaks followed by careful folding of aforementioned whites into thick batter. More on that later.

Let me say that the first few minutes of this part of the day were quite overwhelming, a feeling that would stick with me for the rest of the afternoon. It’s one thing to be told once where everything in the kitchen actually lives. It’s a totally different thing to have to then go and assemble your very first culinary school mise en place in the company of 9 other students that are just as confused and utterly clueless as you are. Luckily Chef D and a teaching assistant were there to help guide us. Chef D’s calm and cool demeanor were very reassuring throughout the entire day as she efficiently fielded an endless barrage of questions that either began with “ummm, chef…where can I find X? or “ummm, chef…how do I use X?”. I really don’t know how she did it.

Once I got my work station organized and took a few deep breaths and pulled my head out of my arse, I was able to get on with the fritter dough making. My batter would have to be made in stages with a rest period between the 2 stages. It would have to sit in the refrigerator and rest for 1 hour before beating the egg whites and incorporating them into the batter. Once I completed stage 1, I figured that I’d have some time to take on an additional recipe while I was waiting for the batter to chill out. I asked Chef D for ideas and she suggested that a Rhubarb-Strawberry Sorbet would make a very nice complement to what everyone else was making. Not wanting to shy away from another challenge and another chance to learn, I accepted her offer, read over the recipe and set about preparing this item.

I have never made a sorbet from scratch before. It was only after I started to assemble my mise en place for this dish that I realized I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew (yes, the pun is intentional). I’d first have to essentially braise the rhubarb for 20 min over medium heat, but the stovetop was awash in sea of white, a total clusterf**k of other students. I’d also need a second burner to make a simple syrup (2 parts water, 1 part sugar) which would be used to sweeten the dish. Once these 2 items were cooked, I’d then have to use the robot-coupe (a commercial food-processor) to puree these and a few other items together. The robot-coupe was a first for me. At this point, I had Chef D pretty much holding my hand through this process. Once the mixture had achieved the right consistency, I’d have to put it in an ice bath and chill it so that I could place it into the ice cream maker when it was cold. Now, I’ve seen Alton Brown do this 100 times on Good Eats and I totally understand why you want the mixture to go into the ice cream maker cold (it helps to ensure a smoother texture for the finished product by minimizing the size of the ice crystals…or something like that), but when you are undertaking this endeavor in a totally new kitchen that you are not quite comfortable in and you have 9 other culinary school students all jockeying for space and time is running out, you’re not totally thinking clearly. I was beginning to feel like I was ‘in the weeds’ and that I couldn’t keep up. Never mind that I still had egg whites to beat and the rest of my fritters to deal with and that I had somehow been cooking for 3 hours, I really had to keep moving. I had inadvertently set all of this into motion, but goddamit, I was going to complete these 2 dishes.

Once the rhubarb mixture had been placed into the ‘fridge, I had to refocus my energies back to the fritters. I managed to perfectly beat my egg whites into the stiff peak stage but my folding technique left a lot to be desired. Luckily Chef D was hovering over me and literally grabbed the rubber spatula from my hand and showed me the proper way to do it. Again, something I’ve seen on TV 100 times, but actually performing this slightly awkward motion for the very first time when the inner-most part of your brain feels like pudding made for a good challenge. I eventually got the motion down and my batter was complete…time for deep frying. Chef D told me that I’d need a sheet pan, table spoons, paper towels, and a slotted spoon to which I responded “I have no idea where any of those items are located”. A few minutes later and I was deep frying. Placing a thick, liquidy batter into 375 degree oil in an organized manner while keeping the final presentation of the finished product in mind without being burned on your fingers by the scalding hot oil was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Chef D came back to check on me after a few minutes to inspect my fritters. She approved of the perfect, golden brown color that I had managed to give them. A  small victory. While I fried off my fritters in small batches, Chef D placed the now chilled sorbet mixture into the ice cream maker. I plated up my fritters, dusted them with powdered sugar and presented them to the rest of the class, which elicited that same visceral response a deep fried item always seems to elicit. The students were impressed with the taste and look of the fritters, as was I. I was also impressed that I only managed to get splattered by hot oil a few times. I must say, my fritters were delicious. The only thing missing was the whipped cream, which I totally forgot to make. The sorbet was also quite tasty, and I’m not a big rhubarb guy. All of the other student-prepared items that I sampled were delicious. The other items included poached pears with caramel sauce, freshly made granola with dried fruits, a prosciutto-brie-fig sandwich, blueberry cobbler, and grilled chicken with a mango salsa.

I’d call the first day a success. Both of my items tasted really good, which made all the hard work totally worth it, even though I had to seek out assistance from Chef D more than I had anticipated. But that was my own fault for trying to do too much and underestimating the combined effects of working in an unfamiliar enviornment with unfamiliar equipment, unfamiliar techniques, and unfamiliar ingredients. But at the risk of sounding cliche, I feel that because I was under all of this of pressure, I really had to learn quickly and now that some of these initial growing pains have happened, I’ll be better prepared for the next class and each class after that.

After a long post-class ride on the T, I was a totally worn down when I got back home that afternoon. When I began to share my day with the wife, who had been eagerly awaiting to hear all of the details from my first day, my throat all of a sudden became hoarse and it felt like my vocal cords were about to seize up. That seemed a bit strange seeing how the only time I spoke that entire afternoon was when I needed Chef D’s help. I guess that’s just a testament to how tired I was after class. I was so tired, I even left my notebook at school. But you know, I can’t wait to do it all again tomorrow. The topic: Vegetables and Herbs. Stay tuned for a recap.