Prepping for Salmon-Fest

Chef Duffy posed the following question yesterday: "What's the culinary equivalent of returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown?" Dava immediately said, "Cutting apart 200 chickens." Chef said a previous Garde Manger class was given a couple of hours to provide "Welcome to the Building" platters for the new Citibank office downstairs, using ingredients that were on hand. Silvia worked a catering event at the CCA where the lead chef left, ill, the morning of the event, and several hours passed before the "new chef" showed up. In the meantime, the students carried the ball, as it were. You can't count surviving a night of "being in the weeds," because that happens all the time. It has to be really over the top.

Today was another day of prep for what sounds like an awesome seafood platter later in the week. Chef alluded to the typical kitchen schedule for facilities where there's a big weekend buffet: lots of steps are done early in the week and then everything comes together at once. Andrea sliced cheese, Silvia made marinated mushrooms, and I prepared the mis en place for Chef's mid-morning mousseline demo. And we poached lobsters, crabs, and prawns in the court bouillon that Andrea made yesterday, then cleaned them. The walk-in is full of little packets and containers that "belong" to the Seafood team.

A mousseline is like a mousse except that it's made from raw ingredients (today, salmon, shrimp, and scallops). The protein is processed to a paste, then egg whites, seasonings, and cream are added until the mixture is the right consistency in between thick and thin. Then you can go all sorts of ways: we layered the three mixtures in a terrine, which we will poach in a bain marie tomorrow, then slice. You can make quenelles or roulades: Chef made several, using fresh salmon filled with shrimp mousseline ("Bring forth the salmon!" he directed), which we will also poach tomorrow.

It's been a while and therefore we were undoubtedly due for The Lecture. Yesterday, four people were missing (including Nadeen, who called Chef to say that she was "stuck in traffic," a condition that apparently prevented her from ever making it to class either yesterday or today). Today, Chef had to remind Jim to remove his earring, Silvia was without her neckerchief, Rudy and Julian were whispering together during lecture. So we paused for a moment of gentle rebuke: "How long have you been in school here?" And we were told that we need to pick up the pace and work with an increased sense of urgency, and some people are not showing any initiative and acting like they want to be followers their whole lives, which is not acceptable. So should we switch up the teams? Silvia and Andrea and I looked at each other and said "NO!" Travis didn't vote as he was absent. Our teams are intact. We are not the problem of which he speaks...

Oh, except for the posture. I was standing stork-style, one foot on one knee, and Chef commented on my knife work, then added, "And another thing, your stance is all wrong."