"L-i-i-i-i-i-sa, how can you e-a-a-a-a-a-a-t me?"
a.k.a. The Meat Post, by popular demand.
-- Lisa the Vegetarian
I apologize for going a week between posts, but meat is tough. Well, some of it's tender, but you know what I'm saying. Here's the basic breakdown:
Days 1 & 2: Beef
Day 3: Veal
Day 4: Pork
Day 5: Lamb
Day 6: Poultry (tomorrow)
Day 7: Sausages, Test Day
If that sounds short, it's because it is short. I'm not the only one who thinks the meat and fish classes should run a full three-week block each instead of sharing a block. I mean, we spend six weeks in gastronomy, but only seven days learning about meat and fish? What's more practical, getting hands-on experience with meat fabrication or learning about Escoffier and Careme? That's not to say gastronomy wasn't interesting, because it was. But I think those six weeks of B-Block could have been put to better use.
Moving on. Chef Sebald isn't really what I expected. He certainly has a wealth of knowledge and experience, but he's not as tough as I had imagined. He's firm when he has to be, sure, but I wouldn't describe him as a yeller. His entire approach is rather grandfatherly, and he's very patient in trying to make sure you understand the material. He also likes to tell jokes, relay stories from his apprenticeship days in Germany, and pretend to cut himself when doing demos in the butchering room. Overall, he's a great teacher, a close second to Mr. Virgili (Food Safety) in my book.
Our days are about as follows: Arrive at 6:45am. Chef is still eating breakfast at this point, but he builds in these 15 minutes to make sure he's not waiting for anyone. He wants to walk in the room at 7 and have everyone ready to go, and so far we have been each day (this is quite a feat for my group, believe me). We then have about two hours of lecture on the meat of the day, including what he calls an "oral quiz" in which he asks questions about the previous day's topic, readings and videos. He generally calls on half the students each day, but it's random enough that you'd better be prepared in case he calls you. These quizzes are part of our daily grade.
Around 9am we take a ten minute break, during which people either run outside to smoke, run upstairs to get coffee, or both. I've been getting a double espresso during these breaks. Next up is more lecture, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation featuring tons of pictures so we have some idea what we're talking about. Sometimes there'll be something like a slide with three carcasses of the day's animal, and he'll ask which one we'd buy going on appearance only. We also go over the animal's skeletal structure, different cuts, and cooking applications.
Somewhere between 11 and 11:30 he lets us go for lunch. We generally have in the neighborhood of 35 minutes, depending on how long he lectured. My class is eating at the Cuisine of the Mediterranean kitchen right now -- yum. Thursday and Friday featured a Spanish menu that was really good; I had oxtail Thursday and a lamb chop Friday. They even have a cheese plate and some light tapas (Spanish appetizers). I'm going to miss this kitchen.
After lunch we grab our knives, don safety aprons (almost like wearing armor) and regular aprons, and find our stations. Chef will do a demo or two, the first one being on a larger cut (or "primal," such as a round of beef) that we won't get to do. Next up he'll do something smaller, like a beef hind shank, and then we each get a beef hind shank to work on. He does a couple of steps, then sends us off to do the same. When he calls "Demo time!" you walk back to his station to see the next steps. We weigh everything (edible portion, bones, fat, usable trim) in order to perform a yield test at home that night which is due the next day.
We finish up around 2pm, and then it's a mad dash to clean the room. Boards get cleaned, rinsed, dried and sanitized, floors get swept and mopped, dishes are done, product vaccuum packed and labeled, boxes broken down and the trash taken out. With 17 people this goes pretty quickly, and everyone has been good about staying on task this week. Finally we're back in the classroom for a few minutes, where Chef gives an assessment of the day, goes over any homework, and reminds us of the next day's topic. Physically and mentally exhaused, and perhaps covered with animal blood, we then leave the cool comfort of the meat room and step outside into the 90-degree heat of the afternoon.
Despite being in his 60's, you get the impression Chef Sebald could handle himself pretty well in a fight. For starters, he carries his knives around in a sort of hip holster, so they're always at the ready. He employs a standard 6-inch boning knife (thin, stiff blade; despite the name, it's not for cutting bones but rather cutting meat away from bones) and a 12-inch cimeter (curved blade, a bit more suited for large cuts of meat than a chef's knife). He also wears a hardhat, a practice leftover from his days as a commercial butcher. Finally, he has incredible hand-eye coordination and all his cutting movements are incredibly fluid. There's no wasted motion, no stopping and starting.
Here's a quick look at what I've done each day.
Monday: Truss (tied) a roast. Bone out beef hind shank (back leg), cut meat into 1" cubes for stew.
Tuesday: Peel and denude (remove all fat, connective tissue) beef tenderloin. Fabricate beef strip loin into oven-ready roast.
Wednesday: Trim subprimals of leg of veal, cut into scallopine (thin cutlets).
Thursday: Bone out a pork shoulder, tie into a roast, make 1" cubes for sausage.
Friday: Bone out a leg of lamb, split into appropriate roasts and truss, cut 1" cubes
Yes, we love our 1" cubes here at the CIA.
I'm looking forward to poultry tomorrow -- breaking down a chicken is the one thing we'll do in class that I've done many, many times and can already do well. There's also a portioning test tomorrow. Tuesday is the big test day, with a written test, a yield test, and a 20-item ID test (identifying vaccuum packed cuts of meat is not easy, at least for me).
Next up is fish! The time really is flying by.
Lisa: No I can't! I can't eat any of them!
Homer: Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute. Lisa honey, are you saying you're *never* going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: [Chuckles] Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.
-- Lisa the Vegetarian
I apologize for going a week between posts, but meat is tough. Well, some of it's tender, but you know what I'm saying. Here's the basic breakdown:
Days 1 & 2: Beef
Day 3: Veal
Day 4: Pork
Day 5: Lamb
Day 6: Poultry (tomorrow)
Day 7: Sausages, Test Day
If that sounds short, it's because it is short. I'm not the only one who thinks the meat and fish classes should run a full three-week block each instead of sharing a block. I mean, we spend six weeks in gastronomy, but only seven days learning about meat and fish? What's more practical, getting hands-on experience with meat fabrication or learning about Escoffier and Careme? That's not to say gastronomy wasn't interesting, because it was. But I think those six weeks of B-Block could have been put to better use.
Moving on. Chef Sebald isn't really what I expected. He certainly has a wealth of knowledge and experience, but he's not as tough as I had imagined. He's firm when he has to be, sure, but I wouldn't describe him as a yeller. His entire approach is rather grandfatherly, and he's very patient in trying to make sure you understand the material. He also likes to tell jokes, relay stories from his apprenticeship days in Germany, and pretend to cut himself when doing demos in the butchering room. Overall, he's a great teacher, a close second to Mr. Virgili (Food Safety) in my book.
Our days are about as follows: Arrive at 6:45am. Chef is still eating breakfast at this point, but he builds in these 15 minutes to make sure he's not waiting for anyone. He wants to walk in the room at 7 and have everyone ready to go, and so far we have been each day (this is quite a feat for my group, believe me). We then have about two hours of lecture on the meat of the day, including what he calls an "oral quiz" in which he asks questions about the previous day's topic, readings and videos. He generally calls on half the students each day, but it's random enough that you'd better be prepared in case he calls you. These quizzes are part of our daily grade.
Around 9am we take a ten minute break, during which people either run outside to smoke, run upstairs to get coffee, or both. I've been getting a double espresso during these breaks. Next up is more lecture, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation featuring tons of pictures so we have some idea what we're talking about. Sometimes there'll be something like a slide with three carcasses of the day's animal, and he'll ask which one we'd buy going on appearance only. We also go over the animal's skeletal structure, different cuts, and cooking applications.
Somewhere between 11 and 11:30 he lets us go for lunch. We generally have in the neighborhood of 35 minutes, depending on how long he lectured. My class is eating at the Cuisine of the Mediterranean kitchen right now -- yum. Thursday and Friday featured a Spanish menu that was really good; I had oxtail Thursday and a lamb chop Friday. They even have a cheese plate and some light tapas (Spanish appetizers). I'm going to miss this kitchen.
After lunch we grab our knives, don safety aprons (almost like wearing armor) and regular aprons, and find our stations. Chef will do a demo or two, the first one being on a larger cut (or "primal," such as a round of beef) that we won't get to do. Next up he'll do something smaller, like a beef hind shank, and then we each get a beef hind shank to work on. He does a couple of steps, then sends us off to do the same. When he calls "Demo time!" you walk back to his station to see the next steps. We weigh everything (edible portion, bones, fat, usable trim) in order to perform a yield test at home that night which is due the next day.
We finish up around 2pm, and then it's a mad dash to clean the room. Boards get cleaned, rinsed, dried and sanitized, floors get swept and mopped, dishes are done, product vaccuum packed and labeled, boxes broken down and the trash taken out. With 17 people this goes pretty quickly, and everyone has been good about staying on task this week. Finally we're back in the classroom for a few minutes, where Chef gives an assessment of the day, goes over any homework, and reminds us of the next day's topic. Physically and mentally exhaused, and perhaps covered with animal blood, we then leave the cool comfort of the meat room and step outside into the 90-degree heat of the afternoon.
Despite being in his 60's, you get the impression Chef Sebald could handle himself pretty well in a fight. For starters, he carries his knives around in a sort of hip holster, so they're always at the ready. He employs a standard 6-inch boning knife (thin, stiff blade; despite the name, it's not for cutting bones but rather cutting meat away from bones) and a 12-inch cimeter (curved blade, a bit more suited for large cuts of meat than a chef's knife). He also wears a hardhat, a practice leftover from his days as a commercial butcher. Finally, he has incredible hand-eye coordination and all his cutting movements are incredibly fluid. There's no wasted motion, no stopping and starting.
Here's a quick look at what I've done each day.
Monday: Truss (tied) a roast. Bone out beef hind shank (back leg), cut meat into 1" cubes for stew.
Tuesday: Peel and denude (remove all fat, connective tissue) beef tenderloin. Fabricate beef strip loin into oven-ready roast.
Wednesday: Trim subprimals of leg of veal, cut into scallopine (thin cutlets).
Thursday: Bone out a pork shoulder, tie into a roast, make 1" cubes for sausage.
Friday: Bone out a leg of lamb, split into appropriate roasts and truss, cut 1" cubes
Yes, we love our 1" cubes here at the CIA.
I'm looking forward to poultry tomorrow -- breaking down a chicken is the one thing we'll do in class that I've done many, many times and can already do well. There's also a portioning test tomorrow. Tuesday is the big test day, with a written test, a yield test, and a 20-item ID test (identifying vaccuum packed cuts of meat is not easy, at least for me).
Next up is fish! The time really is flying by.
posted by JMB at
7:32 AM
3 Comments:
Sounds like things are going great Jason! I love reading your blog to see what you've been up to. Good luck on the test tomorrow and I look foreward to reading all updates!
By
Anonymous, at 9:48 AM
Chefs... smoking? Should give a lower grade right there.
By
Anonymous, at 5:24 AM
I don't disagree, anon. Who be you?
jason
By
JMB, at 4:48 PM
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