Tag chicken

Week 12: Full Plates

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“If you’re not failing, you’re not trying.” – Carla Hall

This week, we cleared another hurdle in class: plating full entrees. All plates include a protein, starch, vegetable, sauce, and garnish. Each one must arrive to Chef on a hot plate (but not too hot), with all ingredients at the appropriate temperature. It’s like Thanksgiving, but with less family drama.

Well, that’s not exactly true. While I’ve been continuously impressed with the overall maturity and focus of this class, things are getting tense in the classroom kitchen. It’s been 13 weeks of intense physical and mental labor, with demanding coursework and long hours. Everything has more of an edge. A few arguments have broken out, and we’ve lost even more students. Starting with 24, we are down to 16 students. Attendance fluctuates as the real world collides with school. While it has been hard to be one of the slower, faltering students, I am lucky to not be studying so intensely during the wild waves of my early 20s (I paid my dues). I feel for the students who are still living at home, navigating familial obligations along with work and school. My path isn’t easy, but neither is theirs. Indeed, one of the most rewarding parts of this experience for me is learning more about the other students. Hearing their stories, why they love to cook, and what brought them to this class is special to me. If our stories are who we are, then, for cooks, our food is the sustaining spirit giving life to those stories.

Speaking of food…

The full plates are difficult. Timing things to be fully cooked at the same time is difficult. Keeping them warm and presenting them at temperature is even more so. Add the requirement of aesthetically pleasing plating and things get extreme. Different techniques help stagger certain foods. Some foods can be held at temp or reheated. I don’t have industry experience, so a lot of this information is new to me. However, being a home cook still prepared me for the juggling required of multiple plans enacted at once.

Grilled Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Grilled Asparagus, Creole Cream Sauce, and Parmesan Cheese garnish
The chicken quarters were massive. The older pans in the lab have bowed centers, so I had to keep moving them around to get a sear (I was not very successful, and still came out with some flabby skin).
I was overjoyed to be working with polenta. I ran around the kitchen espousing the simple deliciousness of this side. I felt my Italian ancestors beaming as I cooked it down.
Braised Chicken Leg with Polenta Cake, Steamed Broccoli, and Veloute Sauce
Prepping proteins and just-fried shallots. Trying to work clean.
Ribeye Steak with Roasted Potato Wedges, Carrots Vichy, and Fried Shallots, drizzled with Demi Sauce and topped with Compound Butter
Sauteed Salmon with Rice Pilaf, Haricots Verts, Beurre Blanc Sauce, and Lemon Supremes garnish

Week Five – Day One: More Chicken. Yes, Even More Chicken

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“Some goals just ain’t meant to be microwaved, baby.” – LaNia (tiktok)

This week was the one that changed the kitchen lab for me. I’m still not sure if for better or worse…

Next week is the midterm exam, so this week’s work was all about more practice and preparation. We would fabricate another chicken, saute a breast, pan fry a leg and thigh, and practice more knife skills. Those included sliced, chopped, and mincing garlic into a paste, chopping various herbs, and slicing and grilling zucchini. We also learned multiple methods for slicing vegetables like bell peppers and onions for different preparations. 

I’ve started loving the thrill of multiple tasks, and getting to approach them in my own ways. I feel more in control of my work, making the wins that much more meaningful. 

Chopped herb practice, and garlic three ways. I’ll never go back to buying garlic paste again.

Slicing vegetables and preparing garlic and herbs is very much something I love doing at home, so I knocked those out quickly. Preparing and grilling the zucchini was sort of a thankless task. At the end of slicing and cooking, you still just have…a brownish zucchini.  Chef did say my seasoning was on point, though, and that I was successful in making zucchini look edible (for the win?) with “great color.” I’ll take it!

The secret to water-heavy vegetables like zucchini standing up to the grill are thick, even cuts. Shrinkage is real, people.
You can’t really get the cross-hatch marks on zucchini (correction: I cannot), but you can still get a nice color with proper seasoning and patience.

I am getting disturbingly fast at breaking down a chicken, as well as pan frying. Sauteeing still keeps throwing me off. Today, time was once again not on my side. Chef began counting down minutes while I was convinced my breast was still underdone. We had to saute with skin on today, making timing even more difficult. How to keep things crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and still fully cooked…

I pulled the breast for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rest, as minutes turned to seconds. I had to plate quickly and was sure I was presenting an underdone piece of meat. It turns out that time constraints actually forced me to cook the breast properly. She was perfect, and Chef even laughed at me a little, since I was forced to get out of my head and JUST COOK.

The sexiest of sautes.

Things were starting to feel good. Really good. I was getting a handle on my real skill sets in the kitchen, and seeing where I needed practice. Having a growth mindset is tough, but it’s about getting back up. Today’s class was one of the first times I felt the home cook meet the kitchen lab cook, and visions of a possible future chef seemed less like a strange dream and more like a future. I still wasn’t sure where I wanted to end up. The kitchen life is hard, and I am a creature of comfort. I don’t like sweating, or yelling, or burning myself, or standing up for hours. And yet, something happens to me when I’m in class. Some sort of core activates inside and I just move. I am in no way great. And in no way even good. But there is something electric inside me when I chop, and cook, and plate, and move on to the next task. I still don’t know quite what it is or what it means, but it’s becoming harder to ignore. 

Ironically, the next class brought total catastrophe and pushed these feelings even deeper into my mind. On a day where everything goes wrong, and everything around me is miserable, on a day where I epically and publicly fail spectacularly, do I still love to cook? Could my worst day in the kitchen also be my best day?