The Final Test: This Is IT

DISCLAIMER: Today was the only day there were no pictures. I hope my words can paint a vivid image of my experience and my nerves… Enjoy!

Seven weeks went by so fast.

Chopping, slicing, dicing, simmering, tasting, laughing, smelling… all of that culminated into one final showdown. The Final Practical.

Homework quizzes have been done and graded. Whatever you got on that was what you got, what you didn't finish was a plain zero. The end arrived. You either studied or you didn't. You either got those knife cuts and the smell of Old Bay down to a T or you didn't. You either passed this exam or you didn't get into the Culinary Arts Program. If this is scaring even you, imagine how the class felt.

I walked in twenty minutes early. L was already there and we went around smelling spices and checking out large equipment. Surprise! Some spices were those we have never heard of. We scrambled to figure out what it was and what it smelled like before we had to return to the demo kitchen. Once Chef Gabriel and Loving arrived, everything was put away. At that point, it was time to prove our worthiness.

We set up our station first. Mise en place. Then we sat back in the demo kitchen and began our written exam.

What is a demi-glace? I know that it's half veal stock and half espagnole reduced. While taking the written exam, I completely forgot. What are the five grading criteria for stock? Clarity, Flavor, Body, Aroma and… No fat? That is what I marked. The last answer was color.

Once I turned that exam in, that was it. I couldn't dwell on it. Either I passed or I didn't. Don't worry, the other millions of questions I was sure I answered correctly, but I am not without mistakes.

Knife cut time. This was the most nerve-wracking. I barely finished last time and that was a few cuts. Here were the cuts we were given:

Medium and large dice of potato

Batonnet of potato.

Small and julienne of carrot

Short julienne of onion

Roast a pepper, slice it, deseed it

Chop parsley

Mince garlic

Perform two of tomato concassé

Perform oblique cut of carrot

Perform weird cut of carrot we don't remember learning

All this in 1 hour 15 minutes.

Ready…. Set… GO!

I have been more scared in my life, but most scares are artificial. This was real. I nicked myself with my knife and kept going. I peeled, diced, julienned, evened out… but soon there was only five minutes left.

I still had to chop garlic, do my tomato concasse, perform the last two carrot cuts, chop parsley, and julienne onion.

I julienned the onion. I minced the garlic. I started the parsley with thirty seconds to go because at least I could have SOMETHING.

11:15 came. I threw my hands up in exasperation… 11:15 went… the buzzer didn't stop.

1 hour and 15 minutes meant 11:30… not 11:15.

Chef Loving came over and calmed me down. He let me know I still had 15 minutes. It was the scariest thirty seconds of that day, but with relief, tears poured out of my eyes. I let out a humorless chuckle as he placed a hand on my should. It wasn't the time for a meltdown. He said now wasn't the time to mess up, helped me figure out what to clean up, and said to keep going. I did. I finished my cuts. My parsley was not perfect, but I finished with time to clean my station.

They scored in front of us. Each cut was out of five (the tomatoes and extra carrot cuts were not on there) I got 5/5 on both the medium cut of potato and the batonnet, 4/5 on all of the other cuts, but a 3/5 on the parsley because it was rough. I didn't care… that was an awesome score to me!

Next we warmed our stock from the week prior and let the chefs taste it.

5/5 Taste and Body, 4/5 Aroma, Color, and Clarity. PASSED.

We made a roux with clarified butter and flour. I used half of my stock and a little roux to start my Velouté. It immediately started to reduce when I suddenly got an idea. My girls around me had a thicker sauce, but L said you can't base anything off of anyone else's because they might be wrong. I added more stock and put in more roux so that it looked like Velouté instead of adding roux little by little until it simmered into a Velouté look. With that method, my sauce stopped reducing. It sloshed around, it had good nappé (coating consistency), so I place it in a little cup and waited.

M- too thick, L- too thick, A- too thick… mine?

"Not bad!" he goes. I sighed in contentment. This was happening. I was passing.

After the clean up, it was time for the Identifications. We were split into two groups. I was ready. I knew most of the items, so instead of wasting time, I went as fast as possible. My group started with small equipment. I waltzed around the room, writing down everything I knew, guessing what I didn't (only two pots looking things and I think my guess was pretty good). After that, I sat in a small area and wrote down the uses. I did the same for Large Equipment.

Imagine walking around a room and seeing the things you either used at home or have used while working on campus in a cafeteria. You have to treat this like this is what you want to do. It's not 'studying', it's knowing what you're using. That has to be your mindset in this program. You can't 'memorize' that this is a buffalo chopper and you can use it for chopping carrots. You need to know first hand in the back of your mind- I want to chop my carrots or mince my garlic quickly- I'm getting out the Buffalo Chopper. It soon becomes second nature.

The herbs and spices were my favorite. It was challenging, but I ran around the room inhaling and tasting spices. That can't be paprika because it's burning my tongue something awful… it must be cayenne! Mace smells like nutmeg, ground mustard tastes like crap! This sage stuff is what I can use to make stuffing! For the herbs, I broke those leafs apart and inhaled. That saved me so much because the basil and the mint looked alike. I broke it open- one smelled of Italy, the other like fresh chewed gum. What would I use this mint for?? CRAP! Oh… I can make Mint Julep!

That's how it went. No lunch break, no bathroom break, nothing from 8am-3pm. I finished that and turned in all of my papers. I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone, but I knew it wasn't good bye… it was see you when we're in the program, crying on each other's shoulders.

I stepped outside and there was my future hubby, in the same clothes I left him in, but well-rested and looking like love and promise. I was exhausted, I was shaken, I was almost defeated, but I smiled at him. First thing I say? "I need a drink!"

Bahama Breeze, Top Shelf Long Island Iced Tea… thanks.

Practic-No's and Velouté Woes

Remember when I gushed about how my boyfriend was 'my rock' and was extra 'supportive'? Not the first day of practicals. In fact, he was a lazy bum and I ended up being five minutes late.

I walked into the class and both Chef Loving and Chef Gabriel were there giving instructions on how we were to start our test. Step one was to set up our mise en place. Then we would:

• Cut the mirepoix and make another stock (apparently our batch spoiled because the refrigerators stopped working that week. I think they used it)

• Take quiz #2 that we were supposed to take a week or two weeks ago.
• Practice knife cuts in a timed manner that would mimic the timed practical the next week.
• Medium and small dice, battonet of potatoes
• Julienne and brunois carrot
• Mince garlic
• Roast a pepper
• Chop parsley
• Julienne an onion
• Do all this in an hour (SURPRISE, they gave us 55 minutes)

• Practice making veloute using their stock and a team effort of roux.
• Learn herbs
• Learn more smallwares

Do you know what we DIDN'T do? Take the actual practical. I'm definitely not complaining, but realize that this is mainly because we didn't have time to learn most of these.

Mirepoix and Standard Sachet

We set up. Mirepoix does not need to be perfect, so I got those out of the way in no time. We got our stock going, and we went to start our quiz.

I didn't study for it because I assumed it would be our herb and spice ID quiz and some other things for the practical, so I studied that instead. I BS'ed on pretty much everything, including what a buerre manie (kneaded butter) and a remouillage (reusing bones and stuff from another stock) was. Some things were pretty easy, but it wasn't the practical, so I'm not extremely nervous about it.

We immediately got back to work in the kitchen. Our timed knife cuts practice was set to start at 11am and end just at lunch. When he said GO, my team (A, L, and M) started on roasting our pepper first, while we worked on our cuts. We reminded each other to turn the pepper, and gave feedback on what our cuts looked like. I peeled everything first (I forgot to peel the garlic. Damn you garlic!).

My approach was to start with the hardest- battonet of potatoes. Then I moved on to the carrots and onion, minced my garlic, finished off my pepper- all while random people were staring at us through the display windows. I was in the process of chopping my parsley when the timer went off! We still had another five minutes, but I have no idea why they stopped early.

Not bad...

Chef Gabriel said I had the idea of the cuts. It was really a generic critique. I basically just need to get my sizes in order and consistency. Of course, the parsley wasn't fine enough, but whatever.

VERY Rough...

Lunch broke up the day. My chicas and I decided to go to Wendy's- the first place we went out together. How sappy! It was cool though, of course they teased me about how messy I am.

After lunch, we added our mirepoix and got to work on Velouté making. The Assistant J scooped us gelatinous globs of stock and said 'I'll give you a little extra because I like you." Giggle. We cooked the stock to a liquid, made our clarified butter, and gathered flour to start our roux. Remember, Velouté is just pale roux and stock.

I make a nice roux and M says she'd hire me to work in her kitchen. Yeah right. I'M going to be the one with the restaurant kitchen, ha! When it came to Velouté making… eh…

My Velouté was way too thick, I figured that much. It did taste pretty good, though. I had no idea what I was doing wrong because it kept reducing into nothing. For my practical, I knew I couldn't mess up and I swore I would find out what happened.

After the stocks finished, they were strained. Mine was a little cloudy, but the flavor was amazing.

It was clean up time, and that's when J, the assistant, reminded us the importance of being a team. Everyone helps out in the kitchen and no one leaves until everyone can. We were family in a manner of speaking.

After clean-up, Chef Gabriel took us through more smallwares and dismissed us.

Adrenaline kicked in at the oddest of times. I felt ready to take on the world… I felt ready to take one of the most important exams of my life.

One. More. Week.

Could I handle it?

Enter the Master Chef

Everyone arrived bright, early, and nervous.

Okay, not everyone because some people were late. Either way, it was our first quiz and we were all in our books like we hadn't studied at all.

Come test time, I blasted through everything. The questions were simple: Name five parts of the kitchen brigade in English, French, and the duties; What is an oginon piqué?; Describe how to mince garlic and chop parsley; Name what goes in a standard sachet and standard bouqet garní, etc. I think I aced it and so did a few of my friends. We sat in the hallway and chatted about what we forgot, but overall, I think we all did well.

Chef Loving left us. We were introduced to our first Master Chef that we would see, Master Chef Jeffrey Gabriel. When I think of Master Chef, I think of someone like Gordon Ramsay.  I love him and all, but he is extra intimidating and has a penchant for being a little mean. Chef Gabriel was nothing like that. He was nice, funny/witty, patient, yet still had that air of respect about him.

He realized that we need more practice with our knife cuts, and I enjoyed his demoing more than Chef Loving's, only because Chef Loving demoed first in the demo kitchen and THEN we all went over and practiced. Chef Gabriel would do a demo of onions right in the practice kitchen and then we would do it and he would check it. Then he would do another demo and we would follow…. It helped a lot! This time, we delved into parsnips to make a white mirepoix for a white stock.

Before we go further, let me tell you about mise en place (meez ahn PLAHZ). It basically means you prepare everything before you cook your meal. That's an important step because it keeps you neat and organized, and Lord knows that is something I need in the kitchen. We set up this way: a cutting board with soft mesh underneath to keep it from moving, a small tray to hold our knives and other utensils needed, two dry rags folded neatly by our cutting board, three dishes- one for edible garnish (not necessarily pretty cuts that is for use in something like stock), non edible garnish (you can either compost this or throw it out), and basic trash (like plastic wrap or stickers off veggies), a thing with all of the items we need to chop, a red bucket of sanitizer and a rag, and a green bucket for detergent. After that, the next part of our mise en place is to prepare the veggies, meats, etc so that it is ready to add to the dish. That would mean peeling everything, dicing, chopping, etc. Peeling everything that needs to be peeled first, and then starting our chops would be an efficient way to finish our timed practicals.

Right before lunch, Chef Gabriel took the onions we julienned and caramelized them in what is called a Tilt Braizer. He added beer, stock, Tobasco, and some other stuff to make a French Onion soup. The assistants tossed some brioche in the oven to crisp and melt mozzarella on top. We grabbed bowls, topped our onion soup with the brioche and enjoyed a delicious meal from a master chef. I was so in awe and impressed. This is what I'm here for!

Delicious French Onion Soup!

Lunch was at Wendy's with three of my new friends. They are freaking hilarious and everyone is so nice and crazy! Walking into a Wendy's with our Culinary School uniforms was an experience. People stared at us and I'm sure wondered what everyone wonders: why the hell are fancy-pants culinary students in a Wendy's? I enjoyed that Single Cheeseburger and Strawberry Lemonade (a splurge from my water-only diet). Although culinary school may be grueling and intense, the important part is that you don't have to go it alone. We all become a sort of family, and it has only just begun!

After lunch, we moved on to the big stuff. Roasting a pepper on our own, chopping parsley, mincing garlic, and doing a tomato concassé. I think I did fairly well with these! As a matter of fact, Chef Gabriel said that I had a 'very nice' mince! :)

This is a ...  tomato concassé... you know what minced garlic looks like.

It's blurry, but I promise this is what a roasted pepper should look like.

Before we leave the kitchen everyday, we all work together to clean up, which includes an assembly line doing dishes, someone wiping down counters, someone sweeping… it's harmony. After, they let us try some delicious looking treats that the pastry students must have prepared. They were so cute and pretty that I had to try them. Big mistake! Not only were they kind of bland, but I soon got strangely dizzy… was it the effects of an allergic reaction or did they slip me some roofies?

By the way, this is that panning machine I told you about...

It had to be the latter. We huddled up in the bake shop and I could barely pay attention. Chef Gabriel told us how different baking and cooking was because in baking everything needed to be precise. He asked if I was tired and I smiled, not revealing that I was seconds from puking all over him. I held it in, don't worry. He let us out about an hour early with promises that we were going to BAKE BREAD the next week.

SPOILER ALERT: He lied.