Day forty: Last day of second term and last day of exams

Posted on | September 21, 2009

Today was the second day of final exams. It started with a product ID test, very similar to the product ID test I’ve had before, so I won’t bother to go into that.

But two interesting things did happen today. First, I got my scores for the black box test I took on the first day of testing (where I was given a bunch of mystery ingredients and had to make a three course meal). Second, I had my skills test today which included my old nemesis, the two over-easy eggs.

Wanna know how I did?

“Watermelon; it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”
~ Enrico Caruso

Just before we went into the kitchen, the Chef gave us our scores from the black box practical exam. Here’s what I got:

My dessert (crepe with fruit sauce and whipped chantilly) got a perfect score. So did my salad. I got perfect or nearly perfect for my entree excluding my protein. For that, I got a 3.5 out of 5 because it was overcooked (I cooked mine for almost half an hour, hence why it was overcooked, but I found out that poor Mama, who also drew poached salmon, started hers the moment we got in the class – poaching her fish for a full two hours).

And I got perfect for sanitation, too. (I wondered what Asian Guy’s sanitation score was. See, halfway through the test he dropped his wooden spoon on the floor and simply picked it up and plunked it right back into his food without so much as even a cursory wipe. I debated saying something to the Chef – not to tattle, but because I knew he was going to taste that food – but ultimately, I did not because it was just not my business. But I’m not convinced I made the right choice.)

So what was my final score, for everything? A very nice 95!

Now, I don’t want to be obnoxious, but I overheard my fellow students comparing grades and mine was the highest, by far.

Well, maybe I can be allowed to be a little obnoxious. Just for a moment!

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”
~ Charles De Gaulle

And, on that note, I walked into the kitchen, ready for my practical exam.

After the usual mirepoix and potato cuts, we were given a list of items we had to complete in two hours. Excluding the biscuits, this was the exactly the same as our midterm exam:

Two over-easy eggs (in one pan)
A two-egg omelet
Biscuits
Saute: Graded for doneness
Saute: Graded for technique, both left and right hands
Roast tie
Chantilly (flavored whipped cream)
Hollandaise: Ratio
Hollandaise: Technique
Hollandaise: Consistency

My strategy was to get as many easy grades as possible. That way, if I ran into problems or ran out of time, I would have racked up as many points as I possibly could.

So, the first thing I did was the roast tie. This was just rolling our side towel and tying it as if it was a roast.

I can’t sew or knit or crochet. But I tie a mean roast!

Next, I did the omelet. This, and poached eggs, are my areas of expertise in egg cookery, so this was an easy one.

I was about to grate some butter for my biscuit, when Mama, who was sharing prep space with me, realized she had grated too much. She asked the Chef if I could have the extra, he said “yes,” and I wrapped it up and popped it into the freezer to chill.

I made chantilly yesterday, so I was comfortable making it again. So I did! Then I demonstrated my saute technique with some mirepoix, first with the right hand, then the left, then the Chef wanted to see the right again.

I’m right handed, but I swear I toss food better with my left.

Then I cooked my mirepoix so it could be graded for doneness.

Next up, I made my biscuits. Leaving me with the two items that were the trickiest: Hollandaise sauce and those over-easy eggs.

Over easy eggs are always a torment for me. See, I tend to break one of the eggs when I flip them. And that’s no good. And the hollandaise, well, we had to make the sauce, then have the Chef break it, then we had to fix it. And that worries me, too. But not as much as those damn eggs. So I did the hollandaise sauce first.

And promptly broke it. Which meant I had to fix it myself only to have the Chef break it for me so I could fix it again.

Are you following this?!

To hell with that. I ditched the broken sauce and started again.

And promptly broke it again. (The evil irony here is I made a hollandaise for my black box test and it was just fine.)

Hollandaise: Round three. And the clock is ticking down the minutes.

This time, my hollandaise did not break. At least not until the Chef had me break it so I could fix it.

I fixed it. And had it graded at exactly three minutes before grading was going to close.

Damn hollandaise.

“Toots Shore’s restaurant is so crowded nobody goes there anymore.”
~ Yogi Berra

So I yanked my biscuits out of the oven, cracked two eggs into two separate containers, threw a non-stick pan onto a burner, and cranked up the heat.

Drizzle of clarified butter.

“Two minutes, people.”

I turned the heat down, waited a moment, then slid my eggs into the pan.

Wait, wait. Peek under with a heat-resistant rubber spatula. Not yet. Wait.

“One minute, people.”

Peek underneath again. No, not yet.

“Thirty seconds.”

Screw it. I flipped ‘em and caught them. Perfectly. No way! Way!

“Chef! Chef can you grade my eggs?”

To the class: “That’s it. Time!”

To me: “Yep, that’s over easy.”

I pass out. But only inside.

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”
~ Julia Child

So I bet you want to know my grades, right? Well here they are (all grades are out of 5 except the biscuits which are out of 10):

Two-egg omelet: 5
Biscuits: 9
Saute: Graded for doneness: 5
Saute: Graded for technique, both hands: 5
Roast tie: 5
Chantilly (flavored whipped cream): 5
Hollandaise: Ratio: 4
Hollandaise: Technique: 5
Hollandaise: Consistency: 5

And as for those damn over easy eggs? I got a 4.5 out of 5. I never found out what I lost .5 for. I was just happy not to have broken them!

In my next post, I will start my third, and final, term. In the first half of the term I will, as I have been doing to-date, split my days between the classroom and the kitchen. In the second half I will be cooking in the school restaurant where my food will be served to a paying public.

Heaven help me. And them.

Comments

2 Responses to “Day forty: Last day of second term and last day of exams”

Don
September 17th, 2009 @ 8:17 am

My word, that read like running commentary for an episode of Iron Chef America!

Dear FoodTV, if ever Alton Brown needs a break, I can suggest a temporary substitute!
robyn
September 21st, 2009 @ 8:10 am

Sounds like you’re really getting it down. Now for third semester! You’ll be running the restaurant in no time!

Eggs. I can’t flip one to save my life. My husband can do it in his sleep. aack.