Greetings from my study break! I’ve only been in school for two weeks but am halfway through my first lab of culinary school! We’ve got a big midterm on Monday, so I will be spending a lot of time this weekend glued to Quizlet and my textbook and trying to interpret my horribly written notes from class. These past two weeks have flown by, yet at the same time I can’t remember what it feels like to not have homework to do.
Homework aside, I’ve been having so much fun and learning a lot. We started with the basics, and each day we build upon it — knife cuts, stock production, and the natural order of setting up and breaking down the kitchen. And I mean really setting up and really breaking down. Tables get pushed around and then we drench the heck out of them with detergent and sanitizer. The floors get so messy with scraps that can’t be repurposed and splashes from straining stocks. I didn’t anticipate learning so much about sanitation and hazard controlling, but here we are! (I feel absolutely disgusted by my old clean-up habits in my own kitchen.)
Fabricating chickens has been my favorite lesson thus far. It’s much easier than it sounds and will definitely impress a crowd. But I don’t know if your next dinner party guests are up for raw/bloody chicken, so maybe reserve that task for your day of party prep… The next day for lunch we ate about ten types of chicken — some coated in flour and breadcrumbs, others slathered with compound butter. Definitely not sick of it…
My midterm is all about producing soups and stocks and identifying cooking methods. We’ve poached, blanched and shocked, and boiled, and in the next rotation we’ll move onto dry cooking methods like roasting and frying. Although my favorite part of school so far has been eating the fruits of our labor with my classmates, my biggest takeaway is about slowing down. I’ve been in a rush since the second grade. Deep down, every cell in my body is competitive, and while there are some aspects about culinary school where this serves me, I’ve learned to appreciate the absolute art that is slowing down. Of placing my knife at just the right angle to make a straight cut. Of letting things come to a slow bubble over the stove. Culinary school is all about time management and organization — that and having a sharp knife. You can do whatever you put your mind to with a correctly sharpened knife!!!!
Deciding to go back to school was a little scary, but it has been one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made! I wish I could have you all over for a feast (I’ll cut up the chicken before) to thank you for all the support you’ve given me over the past two-ish years that I’ve been on Substack. I love food and I love talking about it even more, so thank you x1000 for listening! Can’t wait to share what happens next!
Love this and so happy you are enjoying school!
So glad you’re enjoying what you’re doing 😘