OK, "brunoise" is REALLY REALLY SMALL

We used knives! But before that, we had uniform inspection. One guy was told to get a razor from the dean's office on the second floor, and report back once he was clean-shaven. Chef Joseph (I typed "Coach" first!) is not kidding around.

More discussions about food spoilage. Today's item of interest: Ciguatera is a food toxin that can infect some kinds of predatory reef fish from the Pacific Ocean, including snapper. One of the most common symptoms of this toxin (which is not detectable by smell or taste) is "reversal of hot and cold sensations". Now, that is WEIRD. (To avoid, "purchase reef fish from approved, reputable suppliers.")

The librarian, Beth, came to visit our class and made a pitch for their services. The school library contains 4000 food-related books, and 100 periodical subscriptions, and bunches of videos. Her favorite magazine is Art Culinaire — "cutting edge techniques, wonderful photographs of stuff you'll see in restaurants a year from now" — and that's enough of an endorsement to get me to subscribe.

In the kitchen, the Chef began with an admonition to Be Safe, which reminded me so much of my dad. When he was instructing his employees about tool safety in his manufacturing plant, he would always say, "If you hurt yourself, I will be very very mad." That was enough to encourage most of us to keep our wits about us. Don't want Dad mad.

After watching Chef Joseph demonstrate proper knife skills and practices, we were set free to cut our little hearts out. Figuratively, of course. We were instructed to cut potatoes into sticks (batonnets) and dice, and carrots into even tinier sticks (julienne) and dice (brunoise). I must say that the French Laundry is only place I have actually ever seen brunoise (a dice of 1/8" x 1/8" x 1/8") on a restaurant plate. There, it was green and red bell pepper, and it was a thing of beauty, sprinkled around the (apparently forgettable) entrée.

We minced (garlic and parsley, to the consistency of coarsely ground pepper), and chiffonade'd (cabbage — thinner than any cole slaw you've ever seen). And we tournéd red potatoes, which means cutting them into seven-sided little footballs. Someone asked why we cut them that way. Chef Joseph said, "Because Carême said so."

We will have a couple of weeks to practice and perfect our cuts before we'll be tested. In the meantime, we're supposed to practice as much as possible. This will be especially challenging for the kids living in the dorms. David should look forward to lots of brunoise garnish on his plates for the foreseeable future.

For tomorrow, in addition to chapters 5 and 6 (The Flow of Food: An Introduction, and Shipping & Receiving), we have to bring an article from today's food section (from any paper): we're going to have a writing assignment!!

I can do that!