Activity on All Fronts

Lots of production, lots of drama.

We started with a "composed salad" video, very straightforward. ("Composed" as opposed to "compound." Potato salad is compound. An artfully arranged Chef's salad is composed.) Then Chef cut some more garnishes: a pineapple, a melon basket. During the garnish demo, Rudy answered a phone call and walked out into the hall. Chef stopped his demo and addressed the class in general: "What is he doing? Is he running a side business?" Apparently the two of them had words in the hall during our morning break, with Rudy reportedly saying "I'm pay fifty thousand dollars for this and I can do what I damn well please." Uh. No.

We had a lot of work to accomplish: 10 identical plates of composed salad, plus preparation for tomorrow's buffet. While my teammates worked on black beans and romesco sauce for appetizers (different ones) and ten plates of Salade Nicoise, I tackled two big projects: fruit terrine and country-style pork paté. For the paté, I combined equal portions of pork, lamb, and pork fat, and marinated it for an hour in a mixture of sautéed shallots, bay leaf, wine, brandy, and quatre epices ("four spices," traditional for paté: pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon). I also cut some batonnets of ham and veal to put inside the paté (it's still called "garnish," even if it's mixed in).

Meanwhile, I started the fruit terrine by making three kinds of fruit aspic: pineapple, coconut, and cranberry. (Pretty simple: fruit juice warmed up with gelatin powder mixed in. For the coconut, I used canned coconut cream mixed with heavy cream.) I made the first layer of the aspic in a triangular terrine by putting a line of blueberries in the pointy base of the metal mold, covering it with pineapple aspic, and refrigerating it.

To make the paté (a type of forcemeat, which means a ground raw product, as opposed to a mousse, which is a ground cooked product), I set up the grinding attachment on the Hobart mixer, which is just like my KitchenAid, only Much Bigger. I used the biggest die to chop the meat, with about 3/4" holes. After grinding the meat into the mixer workbowl (Tip: put a piece of bread through last to helps clean out the apparatus, and it just blend right into the meat mixture), I detached the grinder and used the mixer to blend in three eggs.

I spread a third of the mixture into a rectangular terrine, added some strips of veal, spread the next third, topped that with ham, then finished spooning and smoothing the filling. That went into the walk-in until tomorrow, when I'll poach it off, to be sliced and used on the buffet.

I finished the fruit terrine by adding a layer of coconut on top of the pineapple, waiting until it was somewhat firm, then adding a layer of halved grapes. After those were imbedded, I added the final layer of cranberry with suspended apple chunks. I'm not sure this will be one of my more successful efforts. It requires lots of patience and time and, well, I had neither. It may end up being a swirly psychedelic thing. We'll see tomorrow. Psychedelic triangles on the fruit platter.

While we were busy like bees, there was more ominous buzzing in other corners of the kitchen hive. When we started our morning work by getting together as a group to make a list and divide tasks, Chef was huddled with the members of the Seafood team who were in attendance today. He apparently reviewed the day's tasks and assigned them to each team member, who were told to work independently.

I walked out of the building at the end of the day with one of the team members. He said, "I'm not coming to class tomorrow. I'm showing up for the final on Thursday, and that's the last he'll see of me. He singled me out because I tried to help another team member: she was supposed to boil the crabs and lobsters and she didn't know what she was doing. When I went to talk to her, Chef reprimanded me and said we were no longer a team and couldn't work together." I made a noncommittal but sympathetic noise, and he said, "Well, it's okay with me. I'm reporting him to the Executive Chef, and I'm not the only one."

I'm sure Chef Duffy will be thrilled to see the last of us on Friday. Hard to say whether things will be better in Baking & Pastry next week.