"Nerd woman" succeeds in making delicious goujoinettes!

We are no longer assigned partners by Chef and we have been encouraged to not be "nerds" - selecting the front station every day. This "don't be nerdy" thing is pretty difficult for a girl who sat front row, center seat throughout college and harassed my professors via email on nights, weekends, and holidays... in the office, or at home. One time I even wrote my professor a “letter of concern for your health”. We had this stupid assignment to write a How-To piece on "How to deal with pigeons in your attic." He introduced the assignment by explaining that he had a serious pigeon infestation in his attic and he needed suggestions on how to resolve the problem. I told my mom about the assignment and she, a medical doctor by training, explained how dangerous pigeons are to your health! I was a little bit freaked out and decided that I needed to take this assignment very seriously and address it scientifically (afterall, I was a Chemistry major and it was a science oriented college).We both wondered if he was just “setting the stage” but decided that on top of completing the assignment, I must write him immediately and tell him that this is a much larger problem than he has described. It is a health concern. I delivered that email on a Saturday afternoon. If I still had access to my school email address, I would probably post the email here. He must have thought I was totally crazy - and gullible, which is pretty true. Anyway…

For fish day 1, I asked Amanda to be my partner. For fish day 2, I selected Elliot. Not that I really “selected”, per se, but when someone is standing alone and another person asks, "Do you have a partner?" you cannot really say no... right? …. unless of course you have been planning partnerships over email or facebook. So I tend to think that the person who asks is doing the selection. No one has ever “selected” me. I am not sure if this is because I ask first, or because I am really not good at this (though I think I have gotten better), or because I am a control freak (and authoritative in all things even when I might be wrong... ), or because I never shut up (true)? I am sure there are many reasons why I wouldn’t be chosen as a partner in culinary school… or for many other roles (like that job I didn’t get at GE because I didn’t have a “passion for finance”… another story for another time)… but it is actually nice choosing and not being chosen. Have you ever thought about your life in that way? Do you choose? Or have you been chosen? It is interesting to reflect on.

Another tangent, but I am back…. Elliot and I made the MOST delicious fried fish. The recipe is called “Bread Crumb-Coated Flounder with Two Sauces”. The two sauces were Remoulade (one of those mayonnaise derivatives that goes well with fried food) and Sauce aux Poivrons Rouges (red pepper sauce). For me, forget the sauces and hand me a lemon or even better, some ketchup. Heinz only. Someday I will write all about my dedication to and obsession with Heinz ketchup.

We began Culinary Arts Level One Day 13 with a flat fish, Flounder.

Mr. Flounder Fish 

Again, like last class, we were to dress this fish. For the Bread Crumb-Coated Flounder, we were to cut the fillets into goujonettes – small slices to reflect a goujon, a miniature fish whose closest American equivalent is the smelt. This whole process was sooo much easier with my newly-sharpened filleting knife. Yes, my sharpening was a success! The Flounder was to be served in a potato basket (made of gaufrettes, using a mandoline… eh!) and garnished with fried parsley.

As we moved into service I realized I chose a good partner. Without discussion, Elliot used the mandoline and saved my dear hands from more destruction… but then we moved too slow. Chef is yelling TEN minutes. The oil isn’t at temperature! My hands are shaking as I layer the gaufrettes to build the potato basket. Nine minutes. Still not at temperature! Elliot is coating the fish. I continue to adjust the gaufrettes, to fix and refix the mold. The thermometer hits 350 and I push the mold into the oil. This is it. We don’t have any more potatoes and we don’t have time. I hold the mold in the oil. I feel the heat creeping up the mold. The oil steam is warming my hands. Am I even doing this right? I am actually not sure what I am supposed to do at this point. How am I supposed to know it is done? I ask Andrew, who responds “when it looks done”. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!? If I was boss I might have smacked (or fired) an employee that responded that way, but I had to laugh.

So I held the potatoes there a bit longer. I lifted them out and put them back a couple of times (probably not right), and then Elliot returned with the breaded fish. Well, it is what it is I decided. I removed the potatoes and let him fry away with the fish. Three minutes. The potatoes appear to have fried properly but they didn’t want to come out of the mold. I couldn’t serve the mold on the plate. I started with a spoon to loosen the potatoes. No luck. Then a paring knife. Eventually the potatoes came out but the bowl was broken. Well… this is extremely unfortunate, but we had to make it work.

I plated the rest of the garnitures. When the fish was done, I fixed the potato bowl together with the broken edge on the plate, and layered the fish on top to hold it together. We presented to Chef with two minutes left. Another great success!

Bread Crumb-Coated Flounder with Two Sauces
Because everything sounds better in French: Goujonettes de Limande aux Deux Sauces

The bowl was our little secret.

Celebrating another great success!