Le Cordon Bleu - Atelier Exam Dry-Run

Menu written out. Time line laid. Ingredients listed. And plating drawn. I walked into the first floor practical room. Ready for my last atelier – the final exam dry-run.

GOALS

1. Complete all components
2. Master new skills and ideas
3. Make it taste good
4. Complete on time

Proctoring Chef Poupard could not have been more helpful. Present in our room, walking around, assisting all students as needed. Everyone called out, Chef, many times throughout our six hour period. Most of us however, didn't take the full time and plated at the four-and-a-half to five hour mark.

Most of my goals were met. All listed items were cooked, puréed, pan-fried, baked, or blended. Failing at first. Some of my new ideas took a couple times at bat, but came through in the end. And Chef gave some great suggestions on taste. Complete on time. Didn’t happen.

I am fast, efficient, and organized in the kitchen. My sequence is always planned and my plating mapped. Yet. All three ateliers I have finished late. Assessing. I can see I underestimated some tasks. Inefficiently plotted particular steps. The main culprit though, is repetition – redoing because a caramel over darkened, or the tomatoes burnt, or the peas came out too soon.

Having completed the dry-run I now see the importance. A chance to make mistakes, mis-season, and incorrectly cook. With all this behind me I can revamp, tweak, and practice the difficult parts of my menu. For the next eleven days until the exam.

For Basic Cuisine we all went into the kitchen at the same time. Intermediate was staggered by ten minutes per two students. And Superior’s final exam schedule is one student, every ten minutes. This is mainly for the judges – a panel of outside chefs.

Staggering start times, does so as well for finishing. Judges receive one plate every ten minutes, rather all at once. Giving them a chance to look, smell, taste, and judge without pressure or confusion.

Such schedule was posted today in the Winter Garden.

Anthony Fassio – Cuisine Supérieure – Groupe C – Commencer 8h50 – Présent 12h50 – Lundi 23 Août 2010.