Sunday, February 9, 2014

Week 4 - Halfway Through


This week was Revisited Classics, taking classic recipes and placing a spin on it.  I was sous chef, the right hand man for chef.  I was paired up with chef, scaling and mixing recipes with him.  Our chef was Philippe, and it was his first time teaching the class.  He has been a teacher at ENSP for three months.  This posed some problems.  He was a very friendly chef, enjoyed teaching, but didn’t trust our skills or capabilities, and therefore had to demo every recipe.  When one of us had a question, he automatically assumed we needed a demo for the entire recipe. 
         Also, because he has never taught the course before, we were his trial run, and we weren’t able to complete the entire recipe packet in the four days.  We also didn’t execute the recipe as required per other classes.  The final products weren’t finished as needed.  When the last day finally came, and we set up our buffet, we as a class saw the culmination of a not so great week.  We didn’t take a group picture with our buffet because most of us weren’t satisfied with the products. 
         For the first time, two of my products made it onto the buffet: the Mille Feuille (Napoléon) & Tarte Facon St Honore (black current/cassis dessert).  It was interesting learning a twist on classic desserts; I just wish our teacher was more prepared and knowledgeable on the subject at hand.

In class we made:
~ Paris Montaigne                ~Mille Feuille               ~Tarte de Citron
~ Tarte Tatin                                  ~ Tarte Facon St Honore

We semi finished:
~ Éclairs                      ~ Religieuse                 ~ Opera (Frambroise)

We didn’t make:
~Tarte au Chocolat
        
This coming week we have confectionary.  We switch to PM labs for the final four weeks were in France. Tomorrow (today) is my practical midterm.

         One month ago I arrived in France, a thought I only dreamed about for so many years.  In four weeks I graduate from ENSP and leave this magical land, and return to classes as normal at Johnson & Wales University.

      My dreams aren’t stopping now.  If you work hard enough anything is possible!




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