Incidentally I posted about this last week on Facebook, so I apologize this is almost exactly the same.*
Last week was the knife skills class. For the first hour, he
talked to us and showed us knife cuts that he practiced on various items (and
which if we couldn't see him directly, there was a live video and a tv near
you). He joked with us about why we were taking the class, since he was sure
none of us had ever held a knife before or used one. Yep, we all looked like a
bunch of FOOD NETWORK watchers if I ever saw them. He got through all the
various cuts; he pointed to the cuts on the poster he held up before and after
he did them; he then asked us if there was any cuts we needed repeated or any
cuts he hadn't done that we were curious about.
I said, "Well, it's not a cut we need for the class, but it's on your board and it looks very pretty. Can you show us how to do the diamond shaped one?" Rondelle, I believe, but don’t ask me to pronounce it. He just got done showing us the burnoise cuts, which is uniform little squares that the average layman would called “diced.”
He says, Sure, though I don't think I've had to make that cut since culinary school. "Oh,” I say, “it's like me and algebra then. That's okay if you can't."
"No, no, I can do it." He planks some pieces of carrot like he showed us to make fine dice and julienne. He talks as he's demonstrating, saying turn your blade this way and that and he gets a nice pile. "Any questions?" There’s confused silence.
"Um, I'm an English major, so again, math not my strong suit, but didn't you just make a bunch of triangles and not diamonds?" I ask. Was I missing something? I felt like the kid pointing out the emperor was naked; the emperor WAS naked, right?
Another girl in class. "I am a math major and those do look like triangles rather than diamonds."
"Damn, you're right," he says. "I really haven't done this cut since culinary school. I've got it, I've got it." He does another plank; he makes another batch of triangles. We're all staring at him, not saying a WORD. "We'll figure it out in the other room when we practice. I know how to make the cut, I promise."
We figured it out though. When we got to do just practice cutting on carrots (all the food was prepared and cooking), I made a plank, cut a bias line like he did, then stared at a minute, and made a parallel bias line next to it...diamond shape. Voila! Of course, if I’m ever making carrot cut shapes this precise, just shoot me. Dicing the onion had a neat trick, but in the end, I’m relatively certain I’m going back to my old way of slicing the half onion horizontally in thin slices, then turn the group and slice them vertically in thin slices. Lovely dice, really. Much finer (and faster) than doing the “correct” way, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of practice.
Pam and I worked alongside a lovely couple, Kevin and Angie, and all the food turned out wonderful. We made the guacamole first and salsa to "snack" as we waited for the other food to cook, um, yeah, it was so good and we were so hungry, we ate all of the guac and salsa before the fajitas were done...so the fajitas could have done with a little bit of the guac and salsa on them, but we made do. The corn chowder also came out very delish. I notice that when I’m cooking with complete strangers I’m a lot more obsessed with the outcome than if I was doing it for friends. If I burned up my onions when friends were over, I’d toss them out and start again, no big deal…a little burnt bacon, it’ll add flavor. Nope, I hovered over that pot of corn chowder like a Jewish mother over her only son. “Do you think the bacon is rendered enough? It doesn’t look very crisp” and “do the onions look sweated enough? Too crunchy? Yes, I think so too.” Seriously, they weren’t going to give us anything to make that could be easily fucked up, you know? They didn’t even allow us to do anything dangerous, like cut up raw chicken or fry the sopapillas!
I said, "Well, it's not a cut we need for the class, but it's on your board and it looks very pretty. Can you show us how to do the diamond shaped one?" Rondelle, I believe, but don’t ask me to pronounce it. He just got done showing us the burnoise cuts, which is uniform little squares that the average layman would called “diced.”
He says, Sure, though I don't think I've had to make that cut since culinary school. "Oh,” I say, “it's like me and algebra then. That's okay if you can't."
"No, no, I can do it." He planks some pieces of carrot like he showed us to make fine dice and julienne. He talks as he's demonstrating, saying turn your blade this way and that and he gets a nice pile. "Any questions?" There’s confused silence.
"Um, I'm an English major, so again, math not my strong suit, but didn't you just make a bunch of triangles and not diamonds?" I ask. Was I missing something? I felt like the kid pointing out the emperor was naked; the emperor WAS naked, right?
Another girl in class. "I am a math major and those do look like triangles rather than diamonds."
"Damn, you're right," he says. "I really haven't done this cut since culinary school. I've got it, I've got it." He does another plank; he makes another batch of triangles. We're all staring at him, not saying a WORD. "We'll figure it out in the other room when we practice. I know how to make the cut, I promise."
We figured it out though. When we got to do just practice cutting on carrots (all the food was prepared and cooking), I made a plank, cut a bias line like he did, then stared at a minute, and made a parallel bias line next to it...diamond shape. Voila! Of course, if I’m ever making carrot cut shapes this precise, just shoot me. Dicing the onion had a neat trick, but in the end, I’m relatively certain I’m going back to my old way of slicing the half onion horizontally in thin slices, then turn the group and slice them vertically in thin slices. Lovely dice, really. Much finer (and faster) than doing the “correct” way, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of practice.
Pam and I worked alongside a lovely couple, Kevin and Angie, and all the food turned out wonderful. We made the guacamole first and salsa to "snack" as we waited for the other food to cook, um, yeah, it was so good and we were so hungry, we ate all of the guac and salsa before the fajitas were done...so the fajitas could have done with a little bit of the guac and salsa on them, but we made do. The corn chowder also came out very delish. I notice that when I’m cooking with complete strangers I’m a lot more obsessed with the outcome than if I was doing it for friends. If I burned up my onions when friends were over, I’d toss them out and start again, no big deal…a little burnt bacon, it’ll add flavor. Nope, I hovered over that pot of corn chowder like a Jewish mother over her only son. “Do you think the bacon is rendered enough? It doesn’t look very crisp” and “do the onions look sweated enough? Too crunchy? Yes, I think so too.” Seriously, they weren’t going to give us anything to make that could be easily fucked up, you know? They didn’t even allow us to do anything dangerous, like cut up raw chicken or fry the sopapillas!
Fun class though. If you haven’t tried a cooking class
before, I highly recommend, even if you already know how to cook more than ramen
and frozen pizza. I will be keeping my eye out for one of the more adventurous
classes. Cheesemaking, maybe. That one looked fun.
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