This week at school we made consomme, and worked our way through the mother sauces. We made a veloute , which is a thickened stock, a bechamel, which is thickened milk, espagnole sauce, which is a brown sauce, and finally a hollandaise. Tomato (the last of the 5 mother sauces is Monday)
Friday was hollandaise day. We have a lecture every morning, and in our lecture we were reminded that all hot foods must be served and kept above 141 to be out of the temperature danger zone (the zone where bacteria and microbes multiply like crazy). So we all march into the kitchen confident that we can make this sauce. I make mine taste it and its perfect, I bring it to chef, she temps it and its at 90 degrees (our school issued thermometers are on back order so I didn't have one). She asks me if that is above, or below 141. I tell her below and she tells me to go and get it hotter. I go and put it on my pot of simmering water and 5 minutes later it breaks. The eggs and butter separate. I try to fix it. Start with new egg yolks, add the broken sauce...and it doesn't work. I try to blend it in the food processor. nothing. I try to add some water, another CIA approved method. nothing again. I make a new one. Its beautiful, and tasty. I try to make it hot enough, I put it into a heated bowl. Chef temps it, 111 degrees. not hot enough. I try to heat it up again, it breaks and get angry at my bowl which gets angry back and I burn every finger tip on my left hand when I try to fix that sauce. I make a new one and am convinced that I will just go and ask her about the flavor and tell her that I think its impossible to make it hot.
I walk my bowl of sauce over to Chef, she asks me if its hot. I say well its hot ish, but not 141. I also tell her that I think its impossible to make it hot without it breaking. She says "Oh really, you do do you?" I am terrified. She asks me what temperate eggs coagulate (which we learned in our consomme lecture) I say 120 and as soon as the words leave my mouth she smiles and says my sauce is great, and that its physically impossible to make a hollandaise above 120, because it will separate. I spent 2 hours making a sauce that was impossible because the book told me that it must be served and held at 141.
What Abby Learned -
+The even thought it is regarded as such, Th New Professional Chef book is not in fact the bible of cooking, and that common sense is good too.
+Although it is commonly known that the CIA of today is a more snuggly CIA than that of the 70's and 80's the chefs still like to mess with you to make a point.
Sooo this week was a little rough at the end, but this coming week will really test me. This next week is out test for our first unit. We have a timed knife test and written test on Thursday and a cooking test on Friday. Wish me luck and send good thoughts my way this week. yikes.
Lots of love
Abby
6 comments:
Stupid Socratic method! I'm glad you got it figured out. Were the other students having the same problem?
Also, the phrase "mother sauces" makes me think of aliens. It's a paranormal cooking school!
You should feel good that you got angry enough to lash out about the sauce, thereby teaching yourself the lesson. Good job! I'd foof your burnt fingertips if I were there.
"Mother sauces" makes me think of ancient crocks of sauce you have to scrape the mold off of to dip out a smidgen of the starter for future sauces. Kind of like sourdough starter. That always makes me a bit suspicious of the bread, knowing that part of it has been alive for decades. Creepy.
Ann - The other students were having the same problems. Sauces were being yelled at with multiple four letter words all over the kitchen, in multiple different languages.
Barbara - My finger tips are recovering nicely. Mother sauces is kind of a weird term...but the French are weird people. :)
Abby, I forgot to tell you how cute and chef-y you look in your school clothes. Just like a real pro!
Oh, those French! Mother sauces, indeed.
Love, Barbara
Hey mother sauce! So, is this like the mother goose of the cooking world? Just curious. Well, I am glad you learned a lot but a chef making you work for 2 hours and swear at your sauce makes me think that the CIA is not so snuggly. I am sure that sauce week was hard but at least you looked cute doing it :) Good luck with all your tests babe. Knowing you, you probably already know this shit back and forth.
-Leigh-
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