MOCK-MIDTERM FRENZY

The real midterm is fast-approaching (May 26th) and in preparation everyone does a mock-midterm. We've cooked in teams of two for each dish but the midterm is an individual test. We'll each be cook two dishes using one burner, one flat-top while sharing an oven. In preparation, when a partner doesn't come to class, we've worked by ourselves. While challenging, it's hinted at what's to come.

I won't normally go into this much detail but here's a play-by-play of what happened to give a sense of the work flow in the kitchen.

When we arrived Meg checked the fridge and saw order forms for the Aile De Raie À La Grenobloise (Sauteed Skate Wing in Brown Butter, with Capers, Lemon and Croutons) and the Tarte Aux Pommes (Apple Tart). We were relieved. Neither of us had filleted Skate yet and the slippery and spiny wings would be a challenge but overall it's a straightforward dish. The second dish? If there's anything I know, it's Apple Tart. I've done it at home many times and done variations like pear and strawberry tarts.

We assumed we shouldn't mise things out yet so we set up near the stove (the other two stations at the prep table are not adjacent to the stoves) got our pots, pans, plates, utensils, sizzle platters, cleaning solution, and cutting boards ready. Though we didn't know our time frame we examined our notes, broke down the processes of each dish and devised a plan:

- Make pate sucree (tart dough)
- Fillet fish
- Clarify butter
- Peel apples and cook compote
- Turn potatoes
- Cut croutons
- Cut lemon supremes
- Slice apples for rosette
- Cook potatoes
- Chop parsley
- Cook fish and plate
- Make apricot glaze and brush tart
- Make creme chantilly

Chef arrived and began writing on the white-board:

A: Oeufs Poche and Poulet Saute A L'Estragon
B: Aile De Raie À La Grenobloise and Tarte Aux Pommes

Then he wrote 'A," on the corner of Meg's station and 'B,' on mine. He added two times beneath each letter and said we could begin our mise en place. I lucked out; our plan was for Group B so I didn't need to adjust like Meg did. In a way it would have been better to get thrown into the two dishes I didn't know as well. My biggest fear was being able to time out the two dishes. After attendance we were given the go-ahead. It was 6 p.m.

1ST DISH DUE: 8:52 p.m. 2ND DISH DUE: 9:41 p.m.

DISH #1: Three hours for the first dish and almost another hour for the second? This seemed easy! I followed the plan, beginning with the pastry for the Tart Aux Pommes and putting it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. It would be ready to roll out around 6:50. I put butter in a pot on the stovetop and let the oven-heat below (425°) melt it to make clarified butter for the Skate dish. While the dough cooled I started filleting the skate. I struggled a bit but ended up filleting it without asking for a hint from the chef and felt good about the way it separated from the cartilege.

While slicing off the skin the chef saw me using the fillet knife and said to use the regular knife because the other one bends too much. The fillets looked good but suddenly, it was past 7 p.m. The others were halfway done with their compote. I put the fish on ice under plastic-wrap and in the fridge and washed my apples and lemons. While wiping my station I accidentally wiped off my second time which was written in temporary black marker. I hadn't written them elsewhere and had to waste time asking the chef.*

Once I'd chopped the apples I put them in the russe with water, sugar and lemon juice under a cartouche (parchment paper lid) and over a low heat it was time to roll out the pastry. Unfortunately, it tore at the edges when I tried to lift it from the table on the rolling pin. I realized I'd forgotten to grease the tart ring and metal bottom. I buttered them, put them in the fridge and went back to the dough, balling it up then tearing it in half. I put one half in the fridge and tried to roll out the other half again. It was too hot by the oven and the dough kept sticking.* Finally it rolled out thin and I draped it over the tart ring, tucked the sides, docked it and put it in the fridge to cool. I added more water to the compote and heated it while slicing apples for the tart top. I took extra time to slice the apples superthin to make the end result more appealing but noticed that aside from prepping the fish, I'd fallen behind the others; their tarts were going in the oven I'd preheated.

I put the compote in an ice bath and continued slicing apples. The chef noted the compote could use a more time on the stove. I was worried about it burning but I returned it to a low heat. Rushing, I tossed all apple slices in a bowl and squeezed lemon juice over them to prevent browning.* With the slices out of order they were cut it would now be more difficult to find even slices to decorate with. The chef noted this to me. The positive was that the dean who was watching us all noted that the rosette was very done. I brushed the top with butter and put it in the oven at 8:04 p.m.

I had less than an hour to do the fish and I began swelling with a controlled panic. There was still time but the rush was on. I peeled the potatoes, checked the tart, turned the heat down to 350° and got back to turning potatoes which went into cool water on high heat. It was almost 8:30 p.m., 24 minutes left and I was running out of time. I checked the apple tart. The apple edges were browning nicely so I turned it around in the oven.

I'd drained the capers already but still didn't have croutons or supremes. The bread I'd put in the freezer to make it easy to cut into small, even squares disappeared and I used softer slices from the fridge. Into sizzling clarified butter* on the stove they went-- too much butter so I drained some, tossed the croutons over heat and sliced lemon supremes. I turned back to toss the croutons-- now they needed more butter and then back to the supremes. A minute later, a teammate warned that the croutons were overbrowning.* I cursed and tossed them into some paper towels to blot the butter.

Seeds were going into the bain-marie with the lemon supremes.* The shelves beneath my station were getting messy,* the burners were all going at once, everyone crowding stove and it was getting down to the final minutes. I threw salt on the potatoes, grabbed my fish from the fridge, threw a pan on the stove with some butter, seasoned each fillet on both sides, floured each presentation side and lay them in the pan.

At 8:40 p.m. I checked on tart. The pastry was brown but not burnt, the apples evenly colored, the edges nicely brown. Though it hadn't cooked the full 50 minutes at 350° it was done. It was in the back of the oven which was probably hotter. I stashed it under my station,* wiped the top of my station clean while the fish cooked and squeezed through the throng at the stove to put my plates in the oven. Some butter I'd put in a pan on the flat-top to make a beurre noisette burned the pan black. I squeezed out of the crowd to dump it in the sink, grabbed a new one and glanced at the clock. It was 8:47. There was no way this would come together by 8:52 p.m.

I chopped parsley, flipped my fish, wiped my board, sliced some lemons for garnish, wiped and stashed my board then grabbed two plates from the oven. It was 8:52 p.m. I drained the potatoes, tossed them in the parsley and put one on each plate. In the pan went the other two seasoned and floured fillets and out came the first two and onto the plates in front of the potatoes. I flipped the fish, the edge of one fillet broke off, but without time to whine I put the capers in the pan where I had room, threw the lemon supremes in with them, grabbed my other plates from the oven, plated the other two fillets, sprinkled croutons over the fish, spooned the butter over the fillets with capers and lemons* ran out of butter, melted some more clarified butter in the pan, spooned it out, wiped the rims of the plate clean with a stashed paper towel, tried to grab the forks I'd stashed under my station, dropped one on the floor, put the other three next to my plated fish, ran to get a new fork, put it next to the plate and looked at the clock.

It was 8:56 p.m., four minutes late. Meg was only one minute late with her Oeufs Poche but the chef told her as much. What would happen with four minutes late? I let him know I was done. When he came over the first thing he said was that the rims were smudged and needed to be wiped with water and vinegar. I cleaned them and was done at 8:57 p.m.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: I used the wrong potatoes, Idaho instead of Red Bliss. Chef had told me I was about to use the wrong ones at the beginning but he had also told us they should be 6.5 cm long. The Bliss wouldn't be long enough so I used the Idaho. There were white blotches on them which I didn't notice until they'd been plated a few minutes. There weren't enough lemon supremes on each dish, nor were they visible enough. The edges of the plates weren't clean, the croutons weren't seasoned, not all the plates had enough beurre noisette and the fish could have been more brown. I was also five minutes late.

DISH #2: I was starving and thirsty so I grabbed some steak leftover made by the Family Station which was long picked-over. It was Bul go gi, a Korean dish I'd been looking forward to suggested by two of the Korean students in Family. I drank down three cups of water and got back to work. It was 9:10 p.m. I had 31 minutes until the second dish was due. Plenty of time.

I cleaned my station, dumped 3 plates of skate, stashed one underneath, brought up my tart, got some apricot glaze from the chef, put it on the stove top with some water on a low heat, and brushed it on top of the tart. The chef saw me doing this while the tart ring was still on and told me to take it off .

"You're 90% of the way there," the chef said, "don't ruin it now, cool the tart on a rack."

I slid it off the plate onto my board but didn't realize why until he explained that the bottom continues to cook on the hot pan after it comes out of the oven.* It wasn't burnt but it did get color. There wasn't any cream so I got some from the storeroom. Went to get ice from the kitchen over which I beat the cream, got confectioner's sugar from Pastry, sifted it over the cream, grabbed four forks, two spoons and some paper towels and put my plates in the fridge. I'd grabbed the mint I'd stashed under my station in an icebath, found four nice leaf-ends and dried them in paper towles.

I'd forgotten to take out my bread knife, pulled it out of my case, carefully cut the tart slices keeping the rosette intact. After grabbing my plates from the fridge I put a piece one each one, put my board under the station and started making quenelles from the creme chantilly to put next to each slice. I shaped them into ovals dipping my spoon in water, slipped them onto the plates, placed mint springs in the quenelles, put forks next to the plates, wiped down my station and looked at the clock.

It was 9:40 p.m.

CHEF'S CRITIQUE: The glaze was a little bumpy and the bottom was a little brown but overall, good job, and good recovery with the second dish on time.

"Usually it's the other way around, early on the first dish and late on the second," said the chef.

LITTLE THINGS TO REMEMBER:
- Should make two balls of pastry dough so the dough cools quicker
- Write the times down where they can't be wiped away
- When doing a rosettes on a tart keep the apple slices together
- Always season croutons while they're cooking
- Watch croutons closely-- they can't really be left
- Keep supremes in a shallow container to get to seeds easily
- Tart shouldn't go under the station where it can get ruined
- Slip tart off tray it's cooked on so the bottom doesn't burn
- Keep the top of your station and the shelves beneath clean
- Don't overcook supremes and make enough for each plate
- Make sure to make the portions and sauce equal on each plate

THE LONG STORY, SHORT? TOO LATE: It was a good thing I did the fish early but I would have had more time if I hadn't thrown all the apple slices together. Even without doing that I needed to speed up the rosette but having to search for even slices didn't help. There were some moments when we all got in each other's way, when some people were straying into burner territory that wasn't theirs and when oven temperatures were altered from what they were needed at. One of the students at my station was a victim of such a temperature change and her food wasn't ready until 20 minutes after it was due. Overall, it was a challenging night but also a rush and a lot of fun.