Today's the 2nd day of exams. Yesterday's tests were a breeze, actually. The whole class finished in under an hour - and we were given 4 hours to do the test. My hunch was right - the exam can't be that hard. And here I was, preparing for the worst and the hardest. Sometimes, more that actually studying hard, its more important to be confident that you can ace the exam. I saw really bad nerves in some of my classmates yesterday. It was as if they were going to face a firing squad rather than take a test. They were reading like crazy, not eating, and getting unnecessarily nervous and tense. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

My 5-day "week-end" officially ends tomorrow as I return to school to take the first month exam. I've been stressing over that test since it was announced 2 weeks ago, but now I've learned to accept the fact that whatever happens tomorrow is out of my hands. I've done my part to study, but I know that my mind can only take so much information. Now, I'm trying to be mellow about this test and psych myself that its not going to be as hard as I'm expecting it to be.

I'm glad to have had that relatively long break, and I'm thankful to have been able to make full use of it by being able to study, practice cooking, hang out, and be lazy during the last 5 days!

I cooked up a storm yesterday...well, not really. However, at the current level I'm at, cooking more than 2 dishes at the same time would qualify as a storm. My relatives came over for a visit and they wanted to try some of the dishes I've learned in school so far. It was nothing fancy really, as I prepared no-brainer dishes that even the most amateur of cooks couldn't mess up: Creamed Potatoes, Pasta Aglio Olio, and Pan-fried Fish Fillets with Parsley Cream Sauce. I'm glad that it was well-received by my family. Really, thats all that matters.

Today, I had a taste of how the culinary profession is like. We had our first cooking session and I had to stand all throughout the duration of the class, which ran from 7 AM - 12 NN. It didn't end there though, as we still had to do our debriefing and mise-en-place for tomorrow which wrapped at 3 PM. I guess God really did listen to my prayers to take me out of my boring desk job, and decided to put me in the kitchen where the action never stops! I can't complain. Anyway, I had fun today, notwithstanding the aching feet and back.

I learned how to truss a chicken and a tenderloin today. To truss something is to tie up a particular ingredient using string in preparation for roasting. It helps to keep the shape of products such as chicken or pork loin or beef tenderloin, for example. Otherwise, your meat would just be splayed all over the food pan with no fathomable shape to speak of. Our chefs vividly demonstrate how an un-trussed chicken would look like: They would raise their both their arms in the air at different angles and raise one of their legs from the ground. Its funnier when you see them do it, and we get the picture. I've been practicing my trussing skills on a rolled up towel, which finely mimics the shape of a beef tenderloin. Trussing a chicken is much trickier, so i'll probably buy myself a chicken carcass tomorrow to work on it. All I need to know now is how to properly roast these things, and I'll be on my way.

I love being a student again. The rules of the "adult" world simply don't apply to a student. Today is an example - I don't have class today. While the rest of society are back to work after a 3-day weekend, I'm still here at home, taking the time to blog. Ahh, the simple pleasures in life!

I've been practicing cooking at home for the past 3 days. Its more in order to gain the confidence in the kitchen more than anything else. Last Saturday, I tried my hand at making stock. My chef instructor mentioned something during last Friday's class that struck a chord in me and motivated me to prepare my own stock - "You cannot call yourself a good chef, unless you know how to prepare a good stock." Thus, I took up the challenge and made myself chicken stock over the weekend. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I could say that I made a textbook preparation of stock.

On Sunday, still feeling confident from the day before, I once again challenged myself to cook. This time, I tried making tomato sauce from scratch. None of that processed, heavily colored stuff. However, my tomato sauce was not as successful as my stock experiment. Taste-wise, I believe I made a passable, borderline good sauce. My shortcoming on the sauce were on two things. The first being that my sauce was not thick enough. The second was that it was not as red as we made in class. I analyzed where I could have missed something and I concluded that it was probably from the lack of flour (thickness) and tomato paste (color). Anyway, there will be more opportunities to practice to come, what's important to me was that I gain the confidence to cook.

Yesterday, I helped my mom prepare a traditional chicken milk soup, also known as "sopas". I did the mise-en-place of the vegetables as well as shredding the boiled chicken. We also used the chicken stock that I prepared the other day. The verdict: dishes really do taste better when made with authentic stock. It adds a different dimension to food. Using the processed stuff, laden with MSG doesn't give food the authenticity from preparing things from scratch.

I got so worked up with vegetable cuts yesterday, so I decided to continue working on it at home. I asked for rotting vegetables at the neighborhood store and got to try out my new knives on mushy carrots and potatoes. Doing these cuts on my own also helped me memorize the different sizes. Although I still need to work on my measurements, the cuts you see here are pretty much what they are, give or take a few millimeters here and there. Ok, give or take a few half centimeters.

We had a lesson on vegetable and potato cuts today. I must admit that I had zero knife skills before the class, and my inexperience was evident all throughout the day. I've had different people give me tips on my knife work. First, Chef Jay taught me how to use a vegetable peeler as I couldn't even use a goddamn vegetable peeler correctly. Chef Manoj also dropped by my station to show me how to move my hands as i'm cutting. Finally, Direk taught me how to do a Paysanne cut with a carrot. I was a bit embarrassed for myself, especially as I was being taught how to peel vegetables. It shows me how much I still have to learn. I still have a very long way to go before I can call myself a competent chef.

Tomorrow's our first day in the kitchen, and I'm excited for it! I've had experience working in the school kitchen when I took the fundamental course, but tomorrow's session feels different. I have mentioned that the first few weeks of school have been the happiest I have ever been. I feel that tomorrow will be a validation that I am where really want to be.

There are a total of 14 cooking methods in Classical Cuisine. 14?! Before this course, the only cooking methods I knew were boiling and frying. Now, I have to slowly ingrain these 14 methods in my head: Blanching, Poaching, Boiling/Simmering, Deep-Fat Frying, Pan Frying/Sauteing, Steaming, Roasting, Butter Roasting, Grilling, Stewing, Braising/Glazing, Baking, Glazing Vegetables, and Gratinating. Its been said that if one masters all of these methods, then you can cook anything.

I bought my first starter knife set today. My haul: an 8-inch Chef's Knife, Paring Knife, Turning Knife, Vegetable Peeler, and Leather Carrying Case. The damage: 6,200 pesos. Its really not that expensive considering that I've seen knives cost twice as much as what I paid for - and its just for one piece! I guess those MAC or Global knives would have to wait for now. Anyway, all the chefs in school have been harping that its not the knives that matter, but the skills. It wouldn't matter if you have the most expensive knife in the world if you did not know how to use it. So while waiting for the opportunity to do serious damage with samurai-sword like quality and price knives, I'll have to work on my knife-skills to prove my worthiness.

Today's session seemed more like a science class than a cooking lesson. Our topic was on the properties of water, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Chef Gerd demonstrated a number of these properties at work in the kitchen. We learned a lot of basic stuff like combining hot and cold water to flour and starch, and how these two thickening agents behave differently. I also found out that our apples have a layer of beeswax in order to keep it shiny (Try scraping the skin of an apple, its freaky!). We tried burning cream, roasting flour, combining water and oil, whipping up egg whites and then pouring a fat over it, soaking legumes, among other things. It was a pretty interesting topic, only I was pretty restless in class today, and I didn't absorb as much information as I usually do. Must've been the cold I contracted from someone.

My Chef's Jacket Has Magical Powers

Since I started wearing my chef's jacket / school uniform, I have noticed that people have been paying more attention to me. I get double takes from random people in the street, on the train, and in the mall. I have experienced total strangers blurt out "Hi Chef!" in my presence. There are even people who obviously stare at the name tag affixed on my jacket. Restaurant workers also give me the look that either says that I should try the food at their place, or stay as far away as possible. It's a conundrum that I have yet to be able to answer. Has donning the chef's whites made me more attractive?

My Attempt at Holland-Daze Sauce

I was inspired by today's lesson about Sauces, plus the fact that Chef Manoj in his own way "ordered" us to experiment on sauces at home. I experimented on making Hollandaise Sauce. To the uninformed, Hollandaise sauce is a butter based sauce, which is part of the 7 Mother Sauces. From the 7 Mother Sauces, which includes White, Brown, Butter, Tomato, Oil, Pureed, and Specialty Sauces - one can make a thousand and one derivative sauces. However, in order to make these sauces, one must first have an expertise of the 7 Mother Sauces.

Back to my Hollandaise, I could say that it was a good first try. I actually had 2 attempts at making the sauce. The first one - I turned into scrambled eggs, possibly because of the lack of liquid (vinegar reduction) or the heat was too high. Casualty Count: 2 egg yolks

Determined to get it right the second time around, I made sure that there was enough of the reduction for the egg yolks. I also started whisking my yolks a little below the required temperature of 80 degrees Celsius. After making these adjustments, I was finally successful in churning out a respectable (in my opinion) Hollandaise. Although I still think that its far from perfect, as I found the vinegar taste a tad bit overpowering, I'm very proud of my work. Here are the pictures from my practice session:

For those who would like to know how Hollandaise Sauce is made, here are the ingredients, mise en place, and method:

Ingredients:
Egg Yolks
Clarified Butter
Shallots
White Wine Vinegar
White Wine
Water
Bay Leaf
White Pepper
Lemon Juice
Cayenne Pepper
Salt

Mise En Place:
Chop shallots
Wash Eggs and separate the yolk from the egg whites
Clarify the Butter

Method:
1. Combine Shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, bay leaf, water, and white pepper in the pot.
2. Boil the ingredients until the liquid almost evaporates (This is called a reduction)
3. Add a little bit of water
4. Strain the reduction and allow to cool
5.Prepare a water bath - Boil a pot of water to 80 degrees Celsius and place a bowl on top of it. This is where you will whisk the egg whites
6. Place the cooled reduction on the bowl
7. Combine the egg yolks with the reduction and whisk vigorously until the mixture is foamy and creamy
8. Pour your clarified butter in a slow steady stream and continue whisking vigorously. Your aim is to create an emulsion with the mixture
9. Season the sauce with lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper

Next time I'll probably have to work on my timing, as it took my almost 2 hours to make this sauce. But nevertheless, I'm happy with the end-result.

We had Chef Manoj again today, and we were finally subjected to his famous recitation sessions. I got off easy as my question was this: What are chemical hazards? Hahaha! That was it.

My other classmates were not so lucky. Some had the tougher questions, some plainly blacked out, while there were some who simply chose not to study.

Today, we started our lesson on stocks and sauces, which is tough because now we have to memorize all of these recipes. Right now, I'm stressing over the fact that I have to memorize 7 stock recipes by tomorrow... and that's hell.

What makes food good? Is it just the taste? Is it using the freshest ingredients? Does good food always have to be healthy? These were some of the questions that were raised in class this morning as we had a discussion on what constitutes good food.

We identified 3 basic factors that have to be achieved in order to be able to say that the food one prepares is good. Its not to say that these 3 are the only things one should aim at fulfilling when preparing food. These are the minimum requirements, so to speak.

1. Taste
2. Texture and Consistency
3. Aesthetic Value

There was a point raised in class that really stuck to me today. That in the preparation of food, all ingredients that come into play in a particular dish should fill a purpose. It should either contribute to the taste, texture, or the aesthetic value of the food. No ingredient should be included just for the sake of having it or just because it might sound good for it to be there.

I can't believe that another week has passed. Those 5 days flew by so fast, I hardly had enough time to breathe. Its has been a very busy week in culinary school, but besides being busy, it was also the most fun and enjoyable 5 days. I say "so far" because I'm definitely sure that the weeks to come will be great, I can feel it.

Today we had Culinary Terminologies. We were introduced to more than 100 terminologies today, almost 200 I think (but I didn't count). To the uninitiated who has absolutely no idea what the words Mise En Place or Antipasto or Chateaubriand means, its bound to overwhelm you. Just pronouncing the words is a chore, let alone memorizing the definition of the terms. In my case, it helps to be a wide-reader, especially of literature related to food. I had encountered most of the terminologies we discussed from books I've read in the past, as well as from all the Saturdays I spent in the Culinary Fundamentals class back in January. In a way, I had an easier time today.

After school, our class had a bonding session over beer in one of the joints in Katipunan. It was a great way to cap off the busy week of lecture. I got to know a bit about some of my classmates I'll be spending 14 months with in school. We're a pretty diverse bunch in terms of age and personality.

The first official week of class is in the books. I'm excited for next week's round of topics. I'm reallygetting into the whole studying everyday thing. The last time I studied this religiously was when I was still taking pre-medicine. But unlike my pre-med days, I'm really having a blast right now. Having a keen and deep interest in the subject matter is making me double my efforts to really do well in culinary school.