This was an abnormally long stretch of time in which I was unable to create posts. I'm sorry that I didn't post, but I wasn't just procrastinating or neglecting the blog. I was thoroughly busy with schoolwork.
On Monday the 15th, day 44, I started my Meat Identification and Fabrication class. I had an extreme abundance of work due for the first day, and it took me all weekend to finish. I had to:
- Read a total of 171 pages from four different books
- Prepare, clean, and press my chef jacket, pants, neckerchief, toque, and apron
- Tie knots on a side towel as if it were a roast
- Study the Day 1 powerpoint
- Prepare to bring my complete knife kit, calculator, pens, and a notebook
- Print 5 blank copies of the Butcher's Yield Test
- Print the 56 page course guide
- Define the 17 Day 1 key terms
- Complete the 10 Day 1 study questions
- Watch the knot-tying video on the CIA web site
- Watch 30 minutes worth of videos in the CIA video library
This class was all about doing things well on your first try, since it was coincidentally also your last try. Here is the list of focuses for each day of class:
Day 1 - Beef
Day 2 - Beef
Day 3 - Veal
Day 4 - Pork
Day 5 - Lamb
Day 6 - Poultry
Day 7 - Sausage
When you think about it, the class is only seven days long. Therefore you can understand how much information they are required to shove down our throats every day. For the most part, they only have one animal a day, and there are so many methods, techniques, cuts, and so forth for each animal that we only have time for getting one shot at each procedure. For example, we can only French a lamb rack once, because we also need to bone an entire leg of lamb. Oh, by the way, the meat room is kept somewhere between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Class started promptly at 7:30 every morning, which meant that in order to be safe, you would get there at 7:15. My friends/ fellow classmates (9 of them total) would all eat breakfast in Farq. before going to class. I certainly didn't have to go with them, but I always did. In order to be at breakfast on time, my roommate would set his alarm for 6:00. It takes me about a half hour to get completely ready from bed to exiting the building, so this seemed pretty doable. I decided that I'd just get up with his alarm, and meet everyone for breakfast.
You see, I always feel sick in the morning if I get up really early. Not only am I never hungry until two to three hours after I wake up, but I always have a slight stomach ache feeling when I get up earlier than normal. So, I'd always get up, get ready, not eat breakfast, go to class, get hungry, get hungrier, become starving, and leave class past lunch time.
Class started at 7:30, like I said, and would last until around 12:30 to 2:30. The time we leave depends on how quick we are during class and how fast we do clean-up. The basic structure of class is as follows:
7:30 start lecture in room 432, on the 4th floor of Roth Hall
8:45 take a fifteen minute break
9:30 end lecture, and go down into the meat room
9:45-10:00 start meat fabrications
12:30-2:30 end class
Every day we'd have to complete the next day's study questions, key terms, watch the required videos, read the required readings, study the powerpoint, re-tie our side towel roasts, and wash our blood-covered clothes.
The first day, or pre-day one, was the hardest amount of homework. Not only did we have to learn about the next day's animal, but we had to learn about meat in general. Once we finished learning about meat, the homework load got a bit lighter, since all we had to learn about was the specific animal.
-- On the first day of beef, we deboned the solid shank side of beef, and we deboned the shoulder clod. The shoulder clod contains the top blade, which flat iron steaks are made from, the heart of the clod, and the "no-name" (actual name of the muscle). Then we cubed the no-name and heart of the clod, and tied up the top blade.
-- On the second day, we trimmed, and prepared beef tenderloins, and made cubes from the wing pieces and the side muscle. Then we trimmed and tied a boneless strip loin.
-- On the third day, we completely trimmed various cuts from the veal leg, and then we made cutlets from the top round.
-- On the fourth day, we deboned and tied a boneless pork loin, and deboned the Boston butt in order to tie it and create a roast.
-- On the fifth day, we deboned, trimmed, and tied a leg of lamb to make a roast. We also made cubes from our usable trim. Then we trimmed and Frenched a rack of lamb.
-- On the sixth day, we trussed, trimmed, and deboned three chickens. From the chickens, we created wings, boneless thighs, boneless drumsticks, and we supremed chicken breasts.
It is now Saturday, and yes, I had class today. Normal schools get off for around a week or more for Thanksgiving, but we're apparently lucky to have off at all, so we make up for it by having Saturday classes. Today was poultry, and it was the only day that went well for me.
Sure, I did some things well, but most things were decent or worse. It was my first time boning, trimming, tying, slicing, and doing anything like this, as it was for everyone, but I guess I just needed more practice before I could get to be at the level that most students in my class were at. On certain days, I went home from class pretty proud of what I'd done, (mostly just the beef days) and on other days I was more or less exhausted and miserable at my performance (pork day).
After a giant bag of fail that I call days 3-5 of meat class, I got to poultry day and things went really well for me. I suppose I found my niche.
Many exciting things happened during my 6 of 7 days in meat class. On day 3, when my chef deboned a veal leg, he found a tumor inside that was about the size of a large ravioli. It was covered in a fatty tissue, and it leaked out green fluid everywhere. He said he hadn't seen something like that in over ten years. This is coming from a guy who is in his 50's, and he has been working as a butcher since he was 14 years old. He used to own a meat store, but in the past decade he sold it. He currently teaches meat at the CIA, and runs an online meat market called Elia's Meat Market. The kitchen that he prepares his meats in is about fifteen minutes away from the school, across the bridge, and this is the link:
This guy is incredible when it comes to butchering meat and sausage-making. He really knows his stuff, and we all had a great time in his class. Out of all of the things that I learned (so far) from meat class, I'd have to say I'm happiest that I know as many cuts of meat as I do now, that I know the anatomies of most animals, know how to properly portion cuts of meat, and most of all, that I can confidently debone a chicken.
Boning a chicken was a very intimidating task, which I wasn't sure I could do very well. It turns out that I did everything faster and better than most of my classmates, and it was an intense confidence booster.
Also, one next-to-impossible task is being able to identify all the cuts of meat just from looking at it's raw form. They look so damn alike. I have many pictures from the whole week, and some of them are from meat class. At the end, the pictures are of about half of the meat subprimals (sections of the carcass), and the point is to show you how hard it is to identify them.
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| Veal with Tumor (center of the muscle) |
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| Whole skinned Goat |
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| Inside the Meat Cooler |
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| Lamb Carcasses Hanging |
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| Self-Fabricated Chicken Supremes |
There may be another one or two pictures from meat class that I will post later on that have been taken by my other classmates. The chicken picture is of four of my six Frenched chicken breasts. The terms "Frenched" and "Supreme" refer to any cut where the bone has been trimmed and is sticking out like a handle. I'm sorry if the goat picture is a little gross, and I'll admit it kind of resembles a horror movie, but think about how I am the one who actually has to cut up all this stuff.
Because of the cold conditions in the meat room, I have, since the second day, worn thermal underwear and three pairs of socks. I was so nice and toasty.
And now for the second part of this blog post. The meals. My eating schedule has been very strange. I haven't eaten any breakfast, despite being up at 6:00 every morning. Most lunches were just special K with red berries cereal in Farq. immediately after class, and lots of dinners were taken back to my room. Regardless, I'm going to show all of my pictures. Obviously, if I use the normal format, this post will be obnoxiously long, so I'll just show the pictures and use captions.
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| Ham with Haricot Verts, Sweet Potato Purée and Mustards (K16) |
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| Cheesecake (It was a certain flavor which I couldn't place) |
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| Pasta in Shallot Cream Sauce with Slab Bacon, Roasted Tomatoes, Peas, and Shredded Cheese (K16) |
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| Braised Leg of Duck in Duck Jus with Polenta Cake and Sauteed Red Swiss Chard (K16) |
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| Southwestern Burger with Guacamole, Pepperjack Cheese, Crabmeat, Sprouts, and Remoulade (K16) (Before I fixed it) |
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| Southwestern Burger with Guacamole, Pepperjack Cheese, Crabmeat, Sprouts, and Remoulade (K16) (After I fixed it) |
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| Southwestern Burger with Guacamole, Pepperjack Cheese, Crabmeat, Sprouts, and Remoulade (K16) (After I fixed it) |
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| Steamed Salmon Filet on Puréed Celery Root with Glazed Carrots, and Mache in Watercress Sauce (K16) |
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| Chocolate Eclairs and Sesame Bread in Farq. |
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| The Chocolate Eclairs and Sesame Bread I brought home from Farq. |
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| Beef Burger with Swiss Cheese, Fries, Pickle, and an Olive (K16) |
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| Whipped Egg White and Chocolate Dessert |
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| Poached Pear Tart |
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| Spain Menu |
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| Rabbit and Shrimp Ragu with Sauteed Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts, and Grilled Garlic Bread (Cuisines of Med.) |
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| Chicken and Pepper Canape, Fried Cheese Ball with Bacon, Toasted and Spiced Almonds, Assorted Olives, Serrano Ham, Sweet Italian Dried Salami (Tapas from Cuisines of Med.) |
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| Grilled and Marinated Shrimp (Tapas from Cuisines of Med.) |
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| Skills III Menu |
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| Sauteed Medallions of Beef with Sauce Chasseur, Cauliflower, Green Beans, and Pommes au Gratine (Skills III) |
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| Chicken Noodle Soup (Skills III) |
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| Banana Bread Pastry |
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| Banana Bread Pastries |
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| Diced Apple Pastry with Whipped Egg White Cream |
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| Cuisines of Americas Menu |
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| Pan Fried Quail with Red Beans, Rice, Andouille Sausage, and Spinach (Cuisines of Americas) |
Now I will describe everything briefly. Let's work backwards. This was the first time I'd ever eaten quail, and it was delicious. The whole meal was really great. That apple pastry was really nice, and the apples inside were really tiny cubes, which was impressive. The banana bread pastry was so exciting and phenomenal that I had to get two. It had fried dough on the top, whipped cream, banana slices, and then the tart shell contained banana bread. Just wow.
The skills III meal was exceptional, too. The steak medallions were so tender, and absolutely everything on the plate tasted so good. The Spain tapas menu made me so happy. I loved it the last time I went to Med. for Spain day's tapas menu, but this one had completely different menu items. This was also the first time I ever had rabbit, and it was a great success. The tapas made me so happy, because I absolutely love pork products and olives. Plus, raisins are an incredible match with sauteed spinach and pine nuts, and I never thought it would be.
The pear tart has a funny story with it. I got it thinking it was apple, and I first thought, "Wow, this is a big slice of apple." Then as I tasted it, I thought, "Wow, this is a really tasty apple." So, now I'm a big fan of poached pears. The other dessert that was circular was incredibly interesting. It was light like a whipped cream, or maybe a little bit thicker, but it was definitely made with egg whites. It also had a little bit of a lemon flavor. I was sure it was cheesecake when I picked it up, but by a pleasant surprise, I was wrong.
The burger with swiss cheese was good, and that night there were two of my favorite things in Farq. That bread is intensely good, and those eclairs are a revelation, so I stocked up. The salmon looks really appetizing, and it definitely was made really well, but I couldn't eat much of it. It wasn't really the kind of flavors I could stuff my face with too much.
The southwestern burger was a mistake. I didn't realize it came with a remoulade (white sauce served with seafood), so when I got it, I had to do some cutting. I took it back to my room, took out my pairing knife, and carved out the center portion of the top bun. I felt like a genius, and it looked like there wasn't any sauce on the crabmeat, so I tried the burger, but I was wrong and it tasted bitter. I removed it again, and this time just scraped all of the guacamole and crabmeat off. In the end, it was just a beef burger, but it tasted good.
The braised duck leg and everything with it was delicious, and it was actually a special occasion. That was the exact first meal I'd gotten at the CIA outside of Banquet. It was just as good. The pasta in shallot cream sauce is something I've also already gotten, and it was just as good this time as the last. It had a perfect sauce, and the slab bacon, as usual, made it even more fantastic. The cheesecake was flavored with something that I couldn't really place, but looking back, it might've been butterscotch. As for the last meal, or first in this case, the ham was very nicely cooked. I obviously didn't have the mustard, but the sweet potatoes were my favorite part.
Well, there's about a week's worth of posts in one. It was an intense week, and I don't know if I can make another post until I go home for Thanksgiving. Monday is my last class of meat, and I make sausages and take my meat final. After that, I start fish kitchen with Chef Corky Clark. He is known far and wide as being the toughest teacher. He's like the chefs you see on some TV shows. He yells and yells and yells. From what I've heard, he's hilarious, curses abundantly, is bipolar in that he'll flip out on a dime, and he is extremely passionate about fish. He is known to have held students many hours past class just because he felt like talking about fish.
I will admit, I'm very, very scared about this class, mostly because I'm a very sensitive person. However, I always come off (because it's true) as a really serious student who cares about what's being taught and tries their best. I've noticed that this is true from many teachers. For example, in meat class I sat in front every day, took detailed notes, handed in every homework assignment, asked for help in class when I needed it, barely ever spoke in class otherwise, and asked the teacher a few times during brief off-times about his company and other personal meat questions. By doing all this, and this is just how I am (it's not an act), the teacher understands that if I have a question, I'm being sincere that I'd really like to know the answer, and that I deserve it because I don't fool around.
If it was just the case the Chef Clark only yells at people who fall asleep in class, fool around, or completely mess up on their fabrication, then I wouldn't be worried, but I know that he screams at people if he thinks their question is dumb. It seems like I'll need to word my questions carefully, and keep them to a minimum. I think that every small detail counts with this guy. Needless to say, I'll be shaving every day.
Besides my disposition as a good student in the classroom, if I had to think about it, I'd say that I definitely have one other advantage over most students (the ones he would normally scream at). I deeply enjoy fish. I so far haven't found a single fish, raw or cooked, flatfish or mollusk, that I don't like. Not only does this mean that I will love learning about them, and that I won't mind tasting them all or smelling like a fish cooler for a week, but also that I'll be able to appreciate what he's lecturing us about. I'll be genuinely interested. Hopefully he will see that, and respect me for it.
Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more
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