I knew it was going to be tough, but I wanted to see if I could handle it. Just a test for myself. I'd actually done something similar before: Production Kitchen shifts from 6am to 2pm, and then demo classes from 3:30pm to 6:30pm. Those were pretty long days, but nothing as demanding as yesterday.
With Bistro Bleu, each week there is a different set menu, and it costs $25 per person; or $32 per person with one glass of wine. The small dining room seats up to 30 people (which means students do only 30 covers, at the maximum). Bistro Bleu is a great opportunity for Superior Cuisine/Pastry students to practise their skills and gain some experience in both kitchen and service, all the while under the supervision of chef instructors.
Students do the same menu for Thursday and Friday. Therefore, I was basically doing the same thing I did on Thursday. It made a huge difference to me, because I had an idea of what I was supposed to do and what the finished product should look like. Besides, I was working with a classmate this time (again under the guidance of Chef N), and it was a lot easier. As they say, many hands make light work.
In about 2 weeks' time, I will have my official kitchen shift for Bistro. Some time in May I will have to do an official service shift as well, which will be a real challenge, seeing as I don't even know how to make coffee (I don't drink coffee, and never had to make coffee for anyone).
Bistro Bleu table setting for two
This was the set menu for Bistro for 3 & 4 April 2009:
Normandy Menu
Appetiser: Seafood Feuilleté
Main Course: Valle d'Auge Veal Chop, served with vegetables
Dessert: Normandy Tart, served with apple sorbet and cinnamon caramel sauce
Day 1 plating of the appetiser: Seafood and pasta
Day 1 plating of the main course: Veal Chop and vegetables
Day 2 plating of the main course: Veal Chop and vegetables
Day 1 plating of the dessert: Normandy Tart (Apple Tart) and apple sorbet (The apple sorbet is piped with a 15mm round tip)
Day 2 plating of the dessert: Normandy Tart (Apple Tart) and apple sorbet (The apple sorbet is piped with St Honoré tip)
I enjoyed making the apple sorbet (with apple puree, syrup, glucose, stabiliser and inverted sugar). It was not too difficult and it tasted great! I can imagine making other kinds of fruit sorbet at home in the future -- lime, kumquat, mango, passionfruit, lychee and persimmon, at the very least, because my sister grows these in her backyard.
Anyway, I found it most interesting to observe how the cuisine students work in the Bistro kitchen. The cuisine kitchen is hot, and things move at a frenetic pace (compared to pastry, that is). Some of the stock pots and large saucepans are really heavy too... It is no wonder there are not as many women taking Superior Cuisine (basically, there are more men in Superior Cuisine and more women in Superior Pastry this term). However, I think the women who do take Superior Cuisine have found ways to cope with the challenges.
I shall write about my 5-hour Superior Pastry workshop in my next blog post, along with some photos of my Bûche de Noël (mousse version of the Christmas Log).
