Now on to my new class: Meat Fabrication. My new teacher, Chef B, well, he's a real dick. Stereotypical egotistical chef who screams at students under the mistaken belief that people actually learn that way...
So you may be reading a lot of venting over the next 14 days. Thank goodness it's a 14-day class rather than 15.
Anyway, he yells a lot. Tells us he loves "knocking chips off shoulders" right off the bat. Here's a thought, how about you actually give students a chance before you assuming we're going to challenge your authority? I mean, it's just a thought. And how about you figure out that yelling at people doesn't make them perform their best, but instead only makes them do it well enough that it won't bring you over to their station to scream at them?
Oh, and keep in mind, it is "meat fabrication" so you will be seeing raw meat, if I do manage to take photos - that involves a lot of extra hand washing so I can pick up my camera - I may not always do that.
Here's what we did today: trussed a chicken (cool, mine got selected to be one of the five that we're roasting tomorrow), "spatchcocked" another one, and then lastly, removed the thighs and breasts of another one.
Here's the trussed chicken:
He taught us a "triple x" method - I could show you if you asked, but I don't know if I can describe it all that well. Here's what the book says:"Place the chicken breast up with the neck end toward you. Tuck the first joint of the wings behind the back. Press the legs forward and down against the body. Pass the center of a length of twine under the hip bone just ahead of the tail. Bring the twine up and across the ends of the legs. Pass the twine under the ends of the legs as shown and pull tight. Bring the ends of the twine twoard the neck end of the bird. Pull firmly on the twine while pressing on the breast portion. Tie the twine tightly. The stub of the neck holds the twine in place, preventing it from slipping behind the back."
Here's a cut one: Actually, I realized that is really gross looking. So, I'm not going to post it.
By the way, that wishbone is not easy to get out in one piece. I don't know how you're supposed to get it out without tearing apart the breast. I probably would if I had an instructor that was actually interested in answering questions instead of shouting at you for not already knowing how to do it...
Ha. Serious issues with this guy. This should be interesting.
Lessons learned:
Probably best to keep your mouth shut when Chef B is telling you that cold water doesn't stop bleeding, only pressure does. Ha. Well, gee, Chef, thanks so much for telling me, I mean, don't bother asking if I've been CPR certified on and off for the last 10 years, but really wow I am learning so much under you. And resist the urge to point out that as a psychologist it is your opinion that he could stand to see someone for his obvious anger issues, and as a school psychologist, that he could stand to do a little research into the best teaching methods. Gonna have to control that urge for the next three weeks. We'll see how well that works.
Updated 8/3/08 - I bought a chicken and trussed it myself at home, and then roasted it with a brining solution that I just guessimated the ingredients (I think Nemo accidentally kept my recipe when he borrowed my notes) - it turned out pretty good, and I was proud of myself, having never made a whole chicken all by myself before!
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