Now we're buying souvenirs...

It sounds like two mutually exclusive concepts, doesn't it? "It was a great day in Garde Manger" and "We made head cheese." But both are true.

But first: breakfast (warm house-made pastrami, french bread, and cheese), then our final solo tray project. For my emulsified dressing, I made a vinaigrette using fresh pureed avocado and cumin. And my tray included the highlights of charcuterie: chicken sausage, head cheese, mortadella, and braunschweiger.When Chef Al graded it, he pointed to the head cheese (five small slices) and said, "I wouldn't include that. It looks like filler. You need a whole line of it." "But that's how much head cheese my customers will eat," I replied. "Gotta know your audience." He laughed and gave me 10 points anyway.

And we spent the rest of the morning making head cheese. Derrick started it on Monday, brining three big lexans filled with pig trotters, hocks, shanks, and, of course, the head itself (cut in half with a hacksaw). After two days in the marinade, the pork products simmered slowly overnight, and this morning, we skimmed out the tender results, the meat literally falling off the bone. We lined terrines with plastic wrap, diced some red onion and herbs, and prepared some aspic making reduced pork stock. Chef Al showed us how to pick through the cooling meat, tossing the skin, fat, and tendons and saving the meat. We separated the shank meat from the other parts, and made two types of terrines.

The shank meat was combined in a mixer with melted duck fat, herbs, and aspic, blended only enough to break the meat apart. "We're not making Spam here," Chef cautioned. The actual head cheese involved the careful layering of the head parts: cheeks, jowls, tongue, snout, and ears, and Chef carried on a running commentary about the parts as he coated them with aspic, for the benefit of the more squeamish among us. He held the ears up alongside his own, shook them, and asked, "Can you hear me now?" The terrines will set overnight, to be sliced and included on tomorrow's buffet boards.

While class progressed, Andy pulled out a piece of binder paper and asked, "Will you sign my yearbook?" He was actually collecting contact information, which Sam typed up later in the library and asked Chef to print out for us. Andrea talked about setting up a Yahoo group so that we can share our upcoming adventures. Alex and I agreed to bring sparkling wine tomorrow and Silvia volunteered to bring a bottle, too. "Should we ask Chef?" she wondered. "I think we show up with it and then ask," I said. Alex agreed.

On the way to the parking garage, I stopped in the school gift shop to get myself a jacket (a light green hoodie with the school logo on the right side), and a little something for my mom. I wanted to get a shirt that says "My daughter is Cooklady" but I settled for a CCA mug to add to her collection.