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I passed!!!!
Well, for those of you who don't know, I go to a culinary school.
Today, I had my Black Box. For those of you that don't know what it is, I will explain.... Some time in your last 6 weeks of class, you go in and they give you this box. inside the box are some foods that you have to use, along with a cooking method for the protein and a classical French cut for a root vegetable. There are a few other food items in there that you have to use, and in 2 1/2 hours you make a 5 course meal. The dessert is assigned to you, you don't get any recipies or anything and you also are given a classical French sauce to go with your protein.
i did really well, thought I would share, cuz I'm pretty excited. My plated dessert was the only thing that didn't turn out that great, I had never heard of that dessert that was assigned to me before, so I winged it, I did it some what right, but it wasn't perfect.
Anyways, I'm just excited that I passed, I'm so glad its all over, and that I only have 4 more weeks of class left before my externship! YAY!!!!
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Re: I passed!!!!
Wonderful news!!! Is there anyway we could get a sample??
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Re: I passed!!!!
Good for you!!! Feel free to come practice at my house! I don't live far! lol Cooking for a family of 5.. with 2 of the kids being pretty damn picky..now THAT'S a test! hahaha
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Congratulations! I can't cook worth shit...I wish I was better at cooking.
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Good job,I know that test is hard,especially getting everything out hot on time.
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^ yeah, I know I can't get it all done at once! I suck at cooking! haha
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So, what did you make!?
I wanna hear!
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I'll take a lean pastrami on pumpernickle, brown mustard, sweet onion, 2 slices of Jarlsberg, and a sliced jalapeno. No chips, wrapped. Kosher dill on the side. Also a large sweetened iced tea with mint. To go. Thanks.
...
Looks good. Here's a nice tip. Thanks, luscious.
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Congrats! Best luck to you as you start your career
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okay, well, the items that were in my black box kind of sucked. There was broccoli, fresh mozzarella, avocado, rutabega, cod, proscuitto, almonds, and a sweet potato. Those were the things that I HAD to use. I also HAD to sautee the cod according to the black box, and I had to make my choice of a burre rouge or burre blanc (butter and wine sauces) for the sauce with the entree. Also, with the entree, the rutabega and sweet potato had to be used on that plate. My dessert that was assigned for me to make was a galette. Which I now know is a rustic tart, that's kind of what I did with it, but it didn't turn out the greatest, I really wish we would have made those desserts in the one baking class that we had. I also had to make a viniagarette for the dressing on my salad.
Anyways, so I used my broccoli in a cream of broccoli soup, with a hint of parmesan cheese in it. For the salad, I used the avocado, fresh mozzarella, and then I diced some tomato and made a sherry viniagerette and used some almonds that I toasted. For the entree, I wrapped the cod in the proscuitto and sauteed it, since I had to saute the cod, and I roasted the rutabega with some red and yellow peppers for some color, and I made a sweet potato puree and finished with a burre rouge sauce. For the dessert, I made the galette, that I've already talked about with an apple filling. i had forgotten about the appetizer after i had made all of that and taken it up, but luckily, the courses didn't have to be in order, so I just quickly made a puff pastry with duck confit (duck that's been preserved in duck fat, sounds fattening, and it is, but it is soooooooooooo freaking good) with a blue cheese sauce and a pomegranite reduction for some color on the plate.
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Re: I passed!!!!
Congratulations!
I'll be in Portland for a few days next month.
What time's dinner? :)
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^^^^ I don't even know if I'll be here next month, my school is taking its sweet ass time finding me a place for my externship, the suspense is killing me!
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I have thought about going to culinary school myself before. How long does the program last?
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the program I went through, is a Le Cordon Bleu school, which pretty much means you learn the French cooking methods and techniques. It is a 14 month program.
There are quite a few Le Cordon Bleu schools in the U.S. but honestly, if you can afford another $20,000 on top of the $40,000 (I think the tuition has actually raised to $45,000 now, but not too sure) then i would suggest going to Johnson and Whales, or better yet, the CIA (culinary institute of America).
They are better schools, they take a little bit longer, but I think its well worth it.
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Oh, also, a lot of community colleges offer culinary arts degrees, I've seem some of the textbooks that they have verses the ones that I have, they are pretty much similar, other than the fact that its not Le Cordon Bleu certified, so if you're looking for a cheaper solution, I don't think that a community college's program is really any better than the one I've gone through, at least at my school, i recently found out that my school is pretty much the reject Le Cordon Bleu school, any one can enroll and stay in school as long as the check clears, which sucks, because they're all morons, and if I want to stay in Portland, its going to be hard to find a job, because Chefs think that all the people that go to school at Western Culinary suck! I even had one tell me that at an interview once, before he even let me show him that i could do a good job.
but whatever, they're just jealous, they can kiss my ass!
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Re: I passed!!!!
Great job !! So any short/longterm goals yet ?
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Well, right now, I have been dating my current boyfriend for 8 months. He also goes to school there and will be done in a few months. As things are starting to get serious, we are trying to figure out where we want to be. I don't really want to stay in Portland, but am open to other places in Oregon. He has friends and family in oregon, so we may go to Salem. We have agreed that i will try it out for a year, and if I don't like it, then we can go some place else, since I REALLY don't like Portland, and i'm kind of home sick as it is.
Eventually, maybe 10 years from now, maybe a few more, i would like to open up my own restaurant. Most likely in the area that I am from in Washington. Its a smaller area, probably nobody has heard of it, Cashmere, WA. Its where the Applettes and Cottlettes (yuck, if you've never had them, don't) are made, I guess they sell them in airports and what not, we get a lot of asian tourists visiting the factory because they think its some big thing, but its not, the place is really small, the tour takes less than 5 minutes. Its next to Wenatchee, which is the Apple Capitol of the World, and Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian village, EVERYTHING in the town is in a German theme. The only nice restaurants in that area currently are a few in Leavenworth and one in Wenatchee, so most likely, I will open a nicer type place in Wenatchee. i don't really know what I want to do with it yet, I've had a few ideas about styles of food and restaurant style ideas, but I'm not sure what I want to go with, but over the next 7 years or so, I'll probably do a lot more thinking on that matter. I do know that I will try to use as much local product as possible, since I grew up on an orchard, and my family still runs it, I have plenty of apples, pears and cherries I can utilize when in season!
For now, i will most likely, for the next 2 or 3 years, work as a cook in an upscale retirement community, one that doesn't make cafeteria food, there are actually quite a few here, so I have choices. My son turned 5 recently and will be in kindergarten in the fall, so I want to be able to pick him up from school, or be waiting for him at the school bus stop, I don't want to be working late nights EVERY night as a chef for at least a few years. I will probably dance, mabye one night a week, maybe two, just for some extra money, most likely, to go away to a college fund for my son, or to go on a vacation some where.
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Yeah. Portland is often reported as the new meth capital. Who woulda known?
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Re: I passed!!!!