The Tables Turn

Some of the young men in our class, still swaggering after the machismo that was Butchery, are finding Garde Manger a bit of a challenge. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Jordan stuck a pan of white bread triangles, crusts intact, into the salamander, then pulled them out shortly thereafter, blackened in places. He topped his toasts with a little clump of hummus and a slice of black olive and he begrudgingly admitted at the end of the morning, "Your canapes looked a lot better than ours did." Well, the crusts just aren't happening, for one, and they were two bites, at least, and they were totally lacking in either preciosity or cuteness. Canapés must have one or the other, or better yet, both.

No Travis today. (Too bad — I have to return the neckerchief that he loaned me yesterday — another "mis out of place" morning.) Chef talked about smoking — we'll be doing our duck tomorrow — and showed us another nifty garnish, some swift cuts of the paring knife that result in a flower. Cut from daikon, it's even quite dogwoodesque. Photos to follow. And now I actually have a reason to purchase daikon. [And it won't oxidize like a potato.]

Andrea cut today's production assignment of boiled ham. Silvia made marinade for chicken satay, and the accompanying peanut sauce. I put the duck breasts in brine to prepare for smoking, then seasoned the duck legs and thighs in advance of tomorrow's confit redux. Andrea is a big confit fan so she says it out loud, and the Chef says, "OK, let's!!" Well, it's worked for her two classes in a row, at least. This time, we've just salted, peppered, thymed and bay leafed the duck, basically a (light) dry rub. Chef Allen had us marinate them in olive oil, but Chef Duffy said, "What's the point of olive oil? They'll be cooking in duck fat!" And there's no arguing with that.

I cooked the wheatberries for a salad and they took FOREVER. The recipe said "one hour or until done"; after an hour and a half, Chef tasted them with me and said, "You'll get mouth fatigue eating these." I mean, really. What's the point? I also prepared the rest of the salad: chopped scallions, parsley, mint, and diced tomatoes and kalamata olives, and Silvia made the lemon vinaigrette and we got Chef's okay to add some feta. We'll put it all together tomorrow.

Then we went into assembly line mode to produce today's canapé: a toasted disk of wheat bread topped with a (slightly smaller) disk of prosciutto, crowned with a rosette of blue cheese butter and garnished with a sliver of parsley and a little nugget of walnut. Both precious AND cute. And quite tasty. [Tip: we put a dab of cheese butter on the toast, to help adhere the prosciutto.]

Let me be clear: we have doilies in this class. And we aren't afraid to use them.