School's out...
Thursday, January 18
Well, school's out forever. We still have to get our exams and assignments marked and back, and have to finish our required internship hours, but yesterday was our last official day of classes. It was a great but strange feeling to be finished. It seems to be a very short period since we started as newbies back in September but long in all that we learned and went through. We all couldn't believe it was over but also felt that we were ready to go outside to the real world and start applying our skills and learning more. I realized that the course was a basic foundation and a starting point, as are most courses, and what you do with what you've learned and how much you keep on learning is really dependent on each individual. In this career line, you really have to keep on learning from practical experience and stay on your toes on what's happening in the industry from reading, experiencing different restaurants, talking to others, watching people, traveling, etc. After school, we went to a popular seafood restaurant and bar across the street from school for drinks and the head chef came out to congratulate us and gave us tips. He told us to keep on learning, taking risks, and reading everything about food all over the world so that we know what works together or not, as in the end, it comes down to simple flavour combinations that work time and time again. He said right now he's in a Thai phase and is using that combination in his cooking. His sous chef is in love with South American cuisine and is using those flavor combinations in his cooking. And sometimes they merge flavours. He said proudly that he had about nine jobs in the first year or so when he started and was fired from many of them but he learned from each one. He came from culinary school and would stretch his experience so he could get into restaurants and they would catch on and fire him. But, he would take something important from the restaurant before going such as how to make their famous stock for their soups. He also said proudly that he worked double shifts for two weeks straight during the holiday season as there were a lot of people that quit. Seems like an industry where being a rebel and having a pirate-type personality seems to have really worked for a lot of chefs... work hard during the tough times and just grin and bear it, play hard during the off times, and don't get in their way during service. No wonder most people admire and fear good chefs at the same time. Perhaps there will be a future movie on the "Pirate Chefs of New York City" with Anthony Bourdain and others in it.
I finished the last practical written exam in the morning (yeah!!), which went ok and then we had the whole day to learn about and cook Sicilian in the kitchen. It was very nice for our last day to have Italian music in the background, prepare our dishes, and have a meal together with lots of excellent Italian food and red wine to toast, except for one student who is 19 and had to have sparkling mineral water instead (the drinking age here is 21). Interesting, he can cook with alcohol in the school but can't drink with it.
I made a dish that I really liked and is one of the most traditional dishes in Sicilian cooking we were told, which was a Pasta Con Le Sarde, made with fish stock, sardines, tomato paste, fennel and a number of great fresh ingredients, and a breadcrumb topping with anchovies. The hot pasta is covered with this tomato sauce and breadcrumb mixture... yum! I also made an improv cauliflower dish with roasted cauliflower and a tomato, caper, pesto type sauce, which turned out to be quite tasty and everyone ate it. The other dishes included fava bean puree with crostini, roasted mushrooms with artichoke hearts, panelle (chickpea fritters), caponata (eggplant relish), pasta alla norma (named after a famous opera singer) with eggplants, tomatoes, ricotta, fresh basil, etc., lentil pate, bitter greens and shaved fennel salad with a citrus dressing and spiced pistachios, and broccoli rabe with pine nuts, raisins and sundried tomatoes. Dessert, which is very popular in the region and influenced by the French, included cream puffs (pate a choux) with a ricotta filling and chocolate sauce (yum!), pistachio anise biscotti, and poached pears with a pomegranate/port sauce. And of course the plating of everything was superb and professional looking. That in itself shows you how far we've come. By the way, common herbs used in Sicilian cooking are safffron, parsley, oregano, mint, basil and capers and common ingredients include pine nuts, olives, coucous, pomegranates, breadcrumbs, capers, anchovies, tuna, broccoli rabe, eggplant, peppers, artichokes, chickpea flour, figs, fava beans, blood oranges, tomatoes, zucchini flowers, prickly pears and lots of nuts.
Some of us went afterwards to a hip, popular and inexpensive vegetarian Thai restaurant (the only vegetarian Thai restaurant in NYC it seems) in the East Village on 10th Street called Pukk (which means vegetables in Thai). Their motto is "Eat More Greens" and the food was very good. www.pukknyc.com
Friday is our graduation dinner prepared by one of our chef teachers Sue (the one who taught us Mexican and Sicilian cooking, some of our best cooking clases, so we are very pleased) and we will have the chance to relax and enjoy our dinners with family and friends, and have our last hoorah before heading out in our different directions. It's been quite the ride but it's not finished yet so hang on. I head to San Francisco on Sunday.
Well, school's out forever. We still have to get our exams and assignments marked and back, and have to finish our required internship hours, but yesterday was our last official day of classes. It was a great but strange feeling to be finished. It seems to be a very short period since we started as newbies back in September but long in all that we learned and went through. We all couldn't believe it was over but also felt that we were ready to go outside to the real world and start applying our skills and learning more. I realized that the course was a basic foundation and a starting point, as are most courses, and what you do with what you've learned and how much you keep on learning is really dependent on each individual. In this career line, you really have to keep on learning from practical experience and stay on your toes on what's happening in the industry from reading, experiencing different restaurants, talking to others, watching people, traveling, etc. After school, we went to a popular seafood restaurant and bar across the street from school for drinks and the head chef came out to congratulate us and gave us tips. He told us to keep on learning, taking risks, and reading everything about food all over the world so that we know what works together or not, as in the end, it comes down to simple flavour combinations that work time and time again. He said right now he's in a Thai phase and is using that combination in his cooking. His sous chef is in love with South American cuisine and is using those flavor combinations in his cooking. And sometimes they merge flavours. He said proudly that he had about nine jobs in the first year or so when he started and was fired from many of them but he learned from each one. He came from culinary school and would stretch his experience so he could get into restaurants and they would catch on and fire him. But, he would take something important from the restaurant before going such as how to make their famous stock for their soups. He also said proudly that he worked double shifts for two weeks straight during the holiday season as there were a lot of people that quit. Seems like an industry where being a rebel and having a pirate-type personality seems to have really worked for a lot of chefs... work hard during the tough times and just grin and bear it, play hard during the off times, and don't get in their way during service. No wonder most people admire and fear good chefs at the same time. Perhaps there will be a future movie on the "Pirate Chefs of New York City" with Anthony Bourdain and others in it.
I finished the last practical written exam in the morning (yeah!!), which went ok and then we had the whole day to learn about and cook Sicilian in the kitchen. It was very nice for our last day to have Italian music in the background, prepare our dishes, and have a meal together with lots of excellent Italian food and red wine to toast, except for one student who is 19 and had to have sparkling mineral water instead (the drinking age here is 21). Interesting, he can cook with alcohol in the school but can't drink with it.
I made a dish that I really liked and is one of the most traditional dishes in Sicilian cooking we were told, which was a Pasta Con Le Sarde, made with fish stock, sardines, tomato paste, fennel and a number of great fresh ingredients, and a breadcrumb topping with anchovies. The hot pasta is covered with this tomato sauce and breadcrumb mixture... yum! I also made an improv cauliflower dish with roasted cauliflower and a tomato, caper, pesto type sauce, which turned out to be quite tasty and everyone ate it. The other dishes included fava bean puree with crostini, roasted mushrooms with artichoke hearts, panelle (chickpea fritters), caponata (eggplant relish), pasta alla norma (named after a famous opera singer) with eggplants, tomatoes, ricotta, fresh basil, etc., lentil pate, bitter greens and shaved fennel salad with a citrus dressing and spiced pistachios, and broccoli rabe with pine nuts, raisins and sundried tomatoes. Dessert, which is very popular in the region and influenced by the French, included cream puffs (pate a choux) with a ricotta filling and chocolate sauce (yum!), pistachio anise biscotti, and poached pears with a pomegranate/port sauce. And of course the plating of everything was superb and professional looking. That in itself shows you how far we've come. By the way, common herbs used in Sicilian cooking are safffron, parsley, oregano, mint, basil and capers and common ingredients include pine nuts, olives, coucous, pomegranates, breadcrumbs, capers, anchovies, tuna, broccoli rabe, eggplant, peppers, artichokes, chickpea flour, figs, fava beans, blood oranges, tomatoes, zucchini flowers, prickly pears and lots of nuts.
Some of us went afterwards to a hip, popular and inexpensive vegetarian Thai restaurant (the only vegetarian Thai restaurant in NYC it seems) in the East Village on 10th Street called Pukk (which means vegetables in Thai). Their motto is "Eat More Greens" and the food was very good. www.pukknyc.com
Friday is our graduation dinner prepared by one of our chef teachers Sue (the one who taught us Mexican and Sicilian cooking, some of our best cooking clases, so we are very pleased) and we will have the chance to relax and enjoy our dinners with family and friends, and have our last hoorah before heading out in our different directions. It's been quite the ride but it's not finished yet so hang on. I head to San Francisco on Sunday.
posted by Caroline at 7:34 AM
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