What a busy few weeks it has been!!
Week 4's Intro to Bakery and Production classes were pretty standard... in Intro we had a test.. and... i aced it! yup! thank you.. thank you! :)
In Production I was able to be part of making dough for bread and ONCE AGAIN couldn't work that damn baguette machine!!! fuck! i don't care, i love working the dough with my hand and rolling it and shaping it like people did back in the day!! I think we loose originality with machines... yes it makes things go way faster, but I don't know.. the more machines replace humans the less love there is in the final product....
So we hand rolled baguettes.. then another machine we use was broken.. the one that cuts dough into 36 little bits for dinner rolls... so we shaped little rolls and knots (yay! i learned how to make knots!!!!!!) that was that!!
So!! Week Five!!!
Intro to Cooking Techniques!
EGGGS!!!! MORE EGGS!!!!
This class we learned how to make 3 types of omelets! French, Belgian, and Spanish.
French
So! Here I was thinking French was gonna be the easiest... but in fact it was theeeee hardest to make!
I can't really explain the french omelet... how to make one, but I'll try :)
So, I just watched a video on youtube of Julia Child making a French Omelet, but the way she does it wasn't the way we were taught... it semi is... here's the video.
So... you see how she shakes the pan? Well, I was taught to shake the pan with one hand and with the other take a fork or a spatula and mix the eggs around in the pan at the same time.. I should try Julia's way and see which is easier. I have a feeling her way might be easier because I messed up my french omelet TWICE!!! I couldn't do it!!! Partially because the pan wasn't a non-stick one so I didn't polish it enough with salt and didn't put enough clarified butter so it stuck for the most part :) I was also worried about over scrambling the egg by mixing it with the fork... anyways, I'm sure I'll get it one of these days! I should've practiced it more! I only tried it twice and got fed up with it :)
Spanish
Taken from here |
Super super easy! Ya'll might know this as the Fritatta... which is actually the Italian name for this omelet... I forget what the actual spanish name was oh! La Tortilla Espanola! So you cook the ingredients you want in this omelet... I cooked some peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Then you beat your eggs... pour it into the heated pan and then pour the fillers in. You let it cook in the pan for maybe half a minute, so the bottom is sorta cooked, then you stick it in the oven for the rest of it to cook. It takes a couple of minutes for the omelet to finish cooking.. maybe like 5-10 min.... depending on the temp you have the oven on. mm I'm hungry! This one is so super filling!! And soo sooo yummy!!!!! AND!!! Sooooo easy to make too!! There's no way to mess this one up.. unless you put really gross fillings in... or leave it in the over for too long.....
Belgian
Love love love this one!!! It's so light a fluffy and doesn't taste like eggs AT ALL! Seriously! I love it!! We made this omelet with a delicious sweet strawberry filling! We just cut up fresh strawberries and cooked them in sugar a bit of water and a bit o' butta!
Anyways! This omelet is truly amazingly delicious! I never knew it existed! Apparently neither does Google!!! I did a search of Belgian Omelets and Belgian waffles came up!! Anyways! this kinda omelet is seriously to die for!!!
Okay! here's how you make one!
So, you take however many eggs you need.. in this class we made it with 3.. which i think might actually be the perfect amount.... I feel like if you used more it might not cook evenly and nicely all the way.
You take 3 eggs... separate the yolk from the whites.... beat the yolks and beat the whites to a soft peak... nothin' super stiff just a nice soft peak.... then, you add a bit of the white to the yolk and fold it in.. then add the rest and fold all the whites in with the yolk.
Once you have that nice nicely folded together you already see how nice and fluffy the texture of the mixture is, compared to the standard beating of the whole egg for an omelet. You then pour the mixture into the heated pan... let the bottom cook a bit, like you did for the fritata then! You put it in the broiler for like... maybe 15 sec?! if you have the broiler on really hot it cooks super fast! Mine cooked fast and looked ready but when I was eating it, once I got midway it was sorta uncooked.. so maybe it's best to put the broiler on low so it cooks evenly through?
Anyways! you slide that omelet on a plate, then whatever filling/topping you made you put it on half of it and fold the other half over it! Tadaaa! There's your belgian omelet!! So delicious and fluffy and totally not egg tasting! This one dude in my class was saying how his fiance doesn't like eggs but he got her to start liking them by way of the Belgian Omelet! Fancy, eh!!?
Production!!! ahhh!! Production Production Production!
Well!! Since we have 2 weeks off due to the holiday and new years in today's production class we made some bread and then worked on heaving cleaning and good inventory taking!! This was, by the way, the last week for me at the bread station!!! :( sad face!
So, we made bread and pizza dough. There were only 3 of us at the bread station this week... so... while the other 2 took inventory, I got handed the lovely task of cleaning up the ice that was stuck in the freezer..... man oh man.... so like that freezer generator thing was leaking water, so there was ice stuck down the side and alll on the bottom of the freezer.... so! Chef gave me a torch and I used my bench scrapper and fired and scrapped away!!! It was quite fun!! And!! very fulfilling once I got it all done. I had to crawl into that thing and really get some big chunks of ice out!! I must have gotten at least 12lbs of ice out of that freezer!! insane!!!! and fun!!!! I enjoyed using the torch :)
So! My next 3 weeks in Production class are going to be at the CAKE STATION!!!!! oooOOOooo.... I'm excited! Although, I hear it's not as exciting.... apparently all ya do is make muffins....sigh... we'll see!! Gotta be positive!!!! So far though, I don't think anything will top the bread station... I love it :)
Well!! Until next time!!!
Enjoy your food ya'll!!
<3