dirtiest class of all time

Well, we finally got yelled at today. We had all been waiting for the day when Chef Viverito's nonchalance towards our class would end and he would finally teach us in the strict manner that we had been accustomed to, and boy did it happen today. Having worked for CIA grads and other strict chefs, I have always known to keep my station clean and to have my mise en place ready. Apparently some of the other students in our class didn't get the memo, since Chef Viverito expressed that it looked like bombs had exploded all over their stations day after day. He finally yelled about us being the dirtiest class and that we never listen (which is true in some students' cases.) Besides that, it was a pretty calm day, though I did get a large grease burn from browning veal bones for stock.. it comes with the territory though.

Today we made brown veal stock, roux, and a pureed lentil soup. All quite simple separately, but challenging for some to do when attempting to multitask. I guess my need to be doing 57 things at once and writing lists and lists finally pays off (so far.)

Here are all the trays while we get them ready in the morning:

And my portion ready to be cut (with my new scale in the corner!):

Of course we did a knife skills tray, and I have been progressively getting better at my cubing (thank god), with a high yield on my julienned potatoes which chef called perfect:

Here are all the veal bones we got in to make stock today (only 120 pounds):

Which Chef shows us how to roast in the oven:

And turn about halfway through the hour or so of roasting:

Until they look like this:

Now for the lentil soup, the mise en place:

Caramelizing the aromatic vegetables:

Simmering the soup down with the sachet of spices:

We also pureed it once it was done cooking (here is Chef doing his):

And my presentation plate for Chef (who loved the flavor of my soup):

During that time we also made a roux (which is a butter and flavor combination used to thicken sauces and soups:

It has three stages, white, blonde, and brown. Here it is at blonde:

And Chef working on his:

And the blonde and brown roux side by side:

We went to the Skills 3 kitchen for lunch:

And here are some of my friends skipping back to class...