@Shelovescake

Week 8 can only be described as epic. Wine exam plus two formal practical assessments. And added to that the emotion of the first anniversary of my mum’s death. Definitely a hard week but looking back I’m beginning to see the culmination of everything we have learned over the foundation term.

The wine exam kicked off Monday morning: 9.30 sharp. Thankfully no tasting involved! A very helpful menu planning workshop followed, supporting us to think through our approach to private cheffing, menu design and costing to ensure a profit. And a relatively relaxed session in the kitchen to round off the day – the only one of the week! Za’atar prawns with a bulgar wheat and herb salad. The salad sharp with citrus and bejewelled with pomegranate and pickled red onion. The prawns were lightly spiced; mine were on the better edge of being overcooked. Overall very tasty and the bowl was all mine for supper that evening.

Fish pie to Leith’s exacting standards was our first formal assessment of the week. The kitchens were tense: no talking amongst students except to discuss stoves and washing up. The timetable was tight: make a roux, infuse milk, boil eggs, poach fish, make a pipe-able well seasoned mash, a flavoursome white sauce and assemble with fancy rope-piped mash, grilling to just the right hue. All in just 2.5 hours. No feedback of any description was given based on the view that no distraction was needed ahead of the second formal assessment on Friday. I had trialled the fish pie at home at the weekend and woefully under-seasoned it. When my assessment pie was returned to me by the teacher, I took a taste: nicely seasoned for my tastebuds but possibly under for the professional chef palate. In all the excitement, I forgot to take a photo before service so this one is when it had been shovelled into tuppaware for transportation – you get the idea 🙂 In the afternoon, we were talked through and shown the menu for our second assessment of the week. Always looks easy when the teachers do it!

Wednesday was a welcome reprieve: a day off to plan our upcoming group buffet challenge and start revising for our theory exam. Following a Mass said for the souls of my parents, I busied myself making mince pies, wholemeal bread rolls (practice for Friday) and trying a Christmas biscotti recipe.

Two hanging pheasants greeted us in the dem room on Thursday morning signalling a morning of game. Mostly feathered (pheasant and grouse) and one furred (venison). A real treat to see how to cook the birds without drying them out and with their traditional accompaniments. I’ll admit I always found bread sauce a bit pointless but Ryan made it so delicious that he’s changed my opinion. Extra bowls of game chips were quickly inhaled by the group as the tasting plates were passed around. My particular favourite was the sprout tops, pancetta and chestnuts served with the grouse. Deeply savoury and salty with extra crunch coming from the fried crumb. Everything in moderation!

The calm before the storm in the afternoon. A mise en place session ahead of our Friday all day cooking assessment. We prepared almond crumble, spiced poached pineapple and a vanilla panna cotta. Our wholemeal dough also made, we tucked it up into the fridge for the night and left to dream of cleanly un-moulding our panna cotta for service.

My nervousness was considerable as I made my way to Leith’s on Friday morning. Running through my mind the initial tasks I needed to execute efficiently to ensure I met the service window. Dauphinoise first: sweating the onion and preparing the potatoes and celeriac. First time using a mandolin but there was no time to get the jitters. Next scoring the duck fat and leaving it to temper whilst preparing a tray of ingredients for the pan sauce. And finally, removing the dough from its sleep in the fridge and letting the warmth of the kitchen allow the yeast to kick in. I’m delighted to say that the assessment feedback said my dauphinoise were ‘delicious’ and the duck cook and flavour was very good. The less said about my over-cooked kale the better! Good flavour on the wholemeal rolls with some helpful pointers for how I can continue to elevate my dough making skills. A quick 15 minute lunch and then the plating up of the pud. The panna cotta took a bit of encouragement but it was smooth in consistency and fun to arrange on the plate with the crumble, pineapple and edible flower. A gruelling six hours but enjoyable and satisfying to have achieved it all to a good standard. And very happy customers at home who got the leftovers for dinner! No rest for the wicked and following a brief pause for a cuppa and a mince pie, I started on the christening cake I had been commissioned to make. A marginally calmer week ahead with our group buffet assignment to deliver. But for now, a well earned weekend.