Breakfast -- Batters and Cereals (Team Fumble)

The lecture portion felt a little bit silly, with Chef C reading from rote about how to fry a pancake, then as an aside defending teflon pans as fine to use, and how he doesn't like brain-washing. I'm pretty certain teflon-coated pans have been shown to leave toxic residue when treated improperly, and I'm quite certain if you get 30 students on a teflon pan, more than one will beat it up a bit.

We had a long menu of foods today: pancakes, crepes, waffles, french toast, one hot cereal and one cold cereal per group, granola, dry or fresh fruit compote. With Norbit on board, Speedy asked me if I wanted to be team leader. Want? No. My ego said I was the only one to hold this motley crew together, but unless I'm asked nicely by all, why stick my neck out for the frustration? Norbit jumped into the gap, and chaos immediately ensued.

After waiting a few minutes for some direction, I spoke up and said that indeed, the Muesili had to get started first, as it had to soak for 2 hours, so I got it done. Soak oats in milk, sugar and lemon juice. Chaos, but by this point Chef C stepped in and made Roundhead team leader, so I told RH I was on the Muesili and starting our hot cereal, cheese grits. RH, N, and Sp were working at cross purposes to get together 5 portions of dry and wet parts of the three batters, while Dora the Explorer was off chopping apples for the crepe topping for Crepes Normandy, despite the apples already being on the fire.

I kept my head down and made some kick-ass cheese grits, ending up using 2x the milk that the recipe called for. The Muesili had to be mixed with various chopped fruit right before service, I had to tell RH several times that we had to wait for the oats to soak before mixing, or the fruit would be unappetizingly brown.

The apples Normandy on the fire was wrong -- someone had plopped the mise into the pan without thought. Apples had to be flambed in calvados (apple brandy), carmelized with sugar, brought to sec, and finished with cream -- yet here was a pot of all the ingredients together, cold. I asked RH what the hell was this, he knew nothing. "Toss it, start over!," I said, more than a little annoyed -- all other groups were way ahead of us, and here we were with thumbs planted firmly in butts. (After class, I apologized to RH for yelling at him, he said it was no big deal but I think he respected that I wasn't a dick about it.) If I was Chef in a restaurant and not a fellow student, I'd simply say, "You're fired. Get out." DtE never would of gotten through the door.

Assembling batter from the prepped mise was silly easy, and because someone else prepared it, you had no control. The pancakes were fine, but my personal mix at home is 10x better. The waffles were kinda silly, just plop the batter in the waffle iron and off you go.

The crepes and the french toast presented more of a challenge. French toast is deceptively simple, but you have to be careful not to absorb too much egg mixture. I guess if we were using older staler bread, it would of prevented it from being so spongy. The temp of the pan needs to be regulated to both cook the eggs and toast the bread at the right consistency. Chef C demo'd on a cast-iron griddle, but I lazily tried to knock them out on a steel pan, which proved difficult to get a steady and correct temp. With so much chaos around me, I just didn't want to move and shake up the station with so many people who didn't quite know what they were doing around me. I got one good french toast out, but 5 went into the garbage as too much egg, too little, burnt, etc.

The crepes were challenging and delicious. Using a small cast iron flat round skillet, coated with Pam (yuck!! silicon dioxide!) then poured a small amount of the thin batter on the center of the pan and swirled it to cover. Once pleasantly browned, flip and cook for about 1/4 the time. It took me several tries to get the temp right, but once I got cranking, it got easier. The apples normandy was an amazing sweet complement, the herbed goat-cheese, a savory filling that was not so amazing.

While people mukkled about with frying, I chopped some fruit for the Muesili and hit it with fresh whipped cream, a squeeze of lemon and topped with some slivered almonds I toasted quick on the crepe pan. Chef C said it was great, and even some team members of other teams took it home because it was better than what they made themselves. That didn't quite make up for the motley team, but it was nice.

Talking it over with Lady Wifey later that day, she reminded me that in real life I'll always be working with bumbling fools at some point. I reminded her in real life, if people get to work this unprepared and get it this wrong, they don't get a second shot.

ADDENDA:

I assisted Chef C in an "Essentials of Provencal Cuisine" recreational class along with Dirty Kim in the evening. It was a really fun experience, getting there an hour before the public, coordinating with Chef, setting up, then leading a team of 5 people of all ages (and equally absent skills) through 3 recipes, from easy peasy (tapenade that had all the ingredients stuffed in the robo coup then seasoned with lemon and pepper) to complex (crusted rack of lamb, frenched and served with simple pan sauce.) Unlike in class, not only was I leading the team but I was teaching everything, from how to hold a knife to why we brown and season. As the people were eating, chatted casually with a bunch, many who are in town for the fancy food show this week. Good vibes.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, 2 pancakes, 3 crepes with apple normandy and whipped cream, spoonful of muesli parfait, small bowl of cheese grits, 2 bowls,hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, 2 grilled shrimp, 1 piece bread, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

Accompanied Wifey to lunch.

LUNCH: 4pm, seitan, hijiki, quinoa with tahini dressing, vegan chocolate chip cookie, 1.5 bowl, hunger 3/5

Had an underwhelming yoga class, grabbed some yummy HVS-approved food before heading out to assist on a rec class where meat will enter my tummy and have a rumble with the vegan. Who will win?

DINNER: 10pm, roast rack of lamb, french bread toast, beef stew, provencal vegetables, whipped potatoes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5