SAUCY-IER

Friday night, our last on Saucier during this go-round. On Wednesday we butchered the lamb and put it in a marinade to soak up some flavor. We served it hot with thinly sliced potatoes au gratin (Gratin Dauphinois) layered with chopped herbs and Calamata olives. But tonight, the food wasn't the only thing served hot. Tempers flared.

DISH: Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb (Alpes De Haute-Provençe), Gigot D'Agneau Grille En Papillon

RECIPE: Trim and butterfly lamb leg with shank removed, reserving bones and trimmings. Place meat in pan with marinade (185 ml extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, zest of 1 orange cut julienne, t tablespoon fresh ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, 1 1⁄2 tablespoons chopped savory leaves, 1⁄2 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram leaves). Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Make a jus with roasted bones and trimmings. Remove lamb from fridge and bring it to room temperature for 20 minutes, then brush off the marinade and season meat with salt. Grill over medium fire for 20 minutes (turning once) to char the outside. The lamb may also be seared with crisscross (quadriller) marks then roasted in a preheated 425ºF oven. Internal temperature should be 130ºF. Remove meat and rest 10-15 minutes, then serve sliced thinly against the grain with the jus. Accompany with Gratin Dauphinois and tomato Provençale.

For potatos: thinly slice on a mandoline and don't soak in water. Grease the bottom of of a pan, rub it with garlic, pour heavy cream to cover the bottom of the pan and then do three overlapping layers of potatoes, three layers of potato, then two then three, with cream, Calamata olives, salt and pepper and some grated cheese between each major layer. Nota bene: recipe above is for 8 to 10 servings multiplied proportionately in the restaurant kitchen.

BREAKDOWN: The recipe says you can roast the lamb in the oven but we cooked it on the grill. It also says the internal temperature should be 130ºF but our chef told us it should be 120ºF. To plate the dish use a circle cutter a few inches deep to cut out rounds of Gratin Dauphinois, lean three thin slices of lamb on it, coat with a ladle and a half of jus and stick a sprig of herbs in the potato-round.

Yikes, what a night. It starts with one of our chefs. He's knowledgeable but sometimes it's not clear exactly what he wants. He tends to speak to us as if we've been in Level Three for some time and leaves some details out, sometimes tells us one thing and means another and also speaks with an accent. He has also told us to ask questions if we're not sure but then gets annoyed when we ask questions. He demos some of the things but doing a demonstration or showing how to do something doesn't immediately translate to knowing how to duplicate it. We don't know how to set up stations for slicing meat, the thickness the meat is supposed to be sliced, the quickest way to identify the grain on a slightly charred piece of meat or the amount of sauce to plate with. I think in the end, he'll be a good instructor, I like that he brings perspective to the dishes, telling us where the recipes come from ("Ma Gastronomie, A Classic of French Cuisine," by Fernand Point and "The Nouvelle Cuisine of Jean and Pierre Troisgros) and that he has high expectations, but he's been riding me for some reason lately and there's only so long that I'll take that before making it known that I don't appreciate it. I'm respectful, I'll say, "chef," and apologize after disagreeing about something or asking for further explanation, but when all I'm doing is paying attention and someone tells me "You're not paying attention," I'm not going to just sit and take it.

After some earlier prep work I grilled the lamb and then thought I'd be able to rotate onto some line preparation. But aside from having a tough time with the chef there were some issues within our group. For one reason or another I'd been getting the cold shoulder from someone in the group and I'm not sure why. Unfortunately, the chef wasn't there (like a cop-- never there when you need one!). When it began to interfere on the line I said something. An argument ensued, someone walked off the line and our group had to continue one person down.

One member of the Level Four group pitched in during our rush and a few people remarked that they couldn't understand what precipitated the walk-off but I'm not going to say anymore. It's pointless to say who, why or the exact details of what happened, or to describe the person's recent tenuous history in the kitchen especially in a public forum-- it's not going to help anything. As much as I think the whole thing is silly I do think this needs to be talked about before we have to serve dinner again or we're going to continue to have problems.

Did I mention our homework assignment is to write a little something up about where we envision our careers in five and ten years? Due Wednesday. It's a good thing but you know, go figure out your life in four days!