Today was our first practical and written exam. YIKES!! We had to make 4 sauces (hollandaise, Beurre Blanc, Marchand de Vin, and Bechamel) and present them in given time blocks... we weren't allowed to use any procedures on our recipe cards, or notes we had taken in class. We were only allowed to have the ingredients and there amounts. So everything we made had to be from memory...which was scary because we haven't exactly spent a whole lot of time practicing each sauce. Watching and practicing something one time doesn't exactly make me feel too confident that I can do it perfect for an exam!! We also had a written exam that had multiple choice/fill in the blank questions and product ID. This I could study from my textbook and I was more confident about. As for the sauce tests, I spent a couple hours going over the recipes and making a production schedule, and an ingredient list to to make things a little easier the day of.
So...I stayed up way to late last night to study and 5 am was NOT looking good to me at all! I was/still am exhausted. Once I got to class our Chefs made everyone wait outside so they could set up the product ID portion of the test. This was making everyone, including me, nervous and anxious. I just wanted to get in there and get things over with! When they were ready Chefs let us in and passed out our exams. I finished in 10 minutes...the exam was really easy for me, and I think I did pretty well on it! (We will see soon though!) When everyone was finished with the written test we were set loose to start our sauce practical. I grabbed my ingredient list and began getting my mise together. My hard work last night had paid off, everything was easy to organize and set up. I didn't have to spend a lot of time running around trying to get the right ingredients, so it gave me more time to work on my sauces! Chefs put up the time windows for each sauce and I tried to keep my mind in the game and not get to stressed. The first sauce due was the Beurre Blanc. I thought this would be an easy one... but I must have been a little too confident in myself because I ended up cooking it too hot and it broke. UGH... Already I messed up...great. Bound and determined NOT to screw up any of my other sauces I paid extra attention to what I was doing. I started my bechamel and left it to simmer for a while, then moved on to my hollandaise. Whisking and whisking I finished my hollandaise and got it turned in right as the window opened. "Very nice Kassandra," chef said, and I was back in my game :) Soon after my bechamel was ready and I turned it in. Another "very nice" came from the chef and I was on to my last sauce...Marchand de vin. This was another sauce I thought was fairly easy but I didn't get ahead of myself this time. I followed all the steps carefully and finished my sauce. "Perfect consistency and great taste," chef was pleased! I had redeemed myself with my last three sauces! Relieved, and fairly pleased with myself I started my dishes. My first STRESSFUL exams for class were over! All my studying and hard work had seemed to pay off, but I guess we will have to wait and see until I get my grades!Night, night to all!
- One Very Tired Chef Kass in Training :)
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