Oh, joy of joys, my crab bisque was a success!
Picture this: we prepare our dishes and line up to present our bisque to the chef. Tasting spoon in one hand and a palm pilot in which he makes note of our grades in the other, the chef waits to taste the soup that we've been preparing for two and-a-half hours. The guy in front of me gets a "this is not crab soup, this is crap soup!" I gulp, take a deep breath, and hope for the best. There's no turning back now - the crabs have been flambeyed, the soup strained and seasoned, and the end result sits in my little serving bowl, waiting for the final say.
"Good. Nice texture and consistency. Good taste."
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO and phew. Quadruple phew.
When I walked into this practical, I stopped for a moment, inhaled, and told myself to relax, enjoy the process, and think. I prepared all my ingredients ahead of time, stopped to listen and smell while the ingredients simmered, boiled, and burned up in flames (we had to flambe the Cognac we poured over the simmering crabs). I learned the technique, and trusted myself to develop a nice working rhythm. The result is that a pretty tough chef liked my soup. Most importantly, however, I loved my soup and the process. After all, this is the purpose of my coming to culinary school, and I'm loving it. Bring it on.
Picture this: we prepare our dishes and line up to present our bisque to the chef. Tasting spoon in one hand and a palm pilot in which he makes note of our grades in the other, the chef waits to taste the soup that we've been preparing for two and-a-half hours. The guy in front of me gets a "this is not crab soup, this is crap soup!" I gulp, take a deep breath, and hope for the best. There's no turning back now - the crabs have been flambeyed, the soup strained and seasoned, and the end result sits in my little serving bowl, waiting for the final say.
 |
| crab bisque with croutons and cognac-enhanced whipped cream |
"Good. Nice texture and consistency. Good taste."
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO and phew. Quadruple phew.
When I walked into this practical, I stopped for a moment, inhaled, and told myself to relax, enjoy the process, and think. I prepared all my ingredients ahead of time, stopped to listen and smell while the ingredients simmered, boiled, and burned up in flames (we had to flambe the Cognac we poured over the simmering crabs). I learned the technique, and trusted myself to develop a nice working rhythm. The result is that a pretty tough chef liked my soup. Most importantly, however, I loved my soup and the process. After all, this is the purpose of my coming to culinary school, and I'm loving it. Bring it on.
OMG .. he sounds like the crazy chef on TV from Hells Kitchen. I hope he's not that bad. I'm so happy for you ... not a bad review yet. Congratulations!
ReplyDelete