Silence, and mis-en-place

Christina starts the Genoise sponge early in the evening so it can bake
while she prepares most everything else. 

“No talking!”

Chef Greg Singh is usually soft spoken, but his voice cuts across the thud of knives on cutting boards like the crack of a judge's gavel. I mutter my apologies to Chef and to the student that I have been chatting up, sinking back into silence as I snap photos of this part-time evening class. It’s their last week of studies, and the tension in the kitchen is near-tangible. The relative silence is both a blessing and a curse: There is no chatter to distract students from their mise-en-place; chopping, mixing, baking, preparing everything for their final, practical exam on Tuesday. But it also means they must rely on their kitchen bibles – the notes that they have kept throughout their hands-on lessons. No borrowing recipes. No last minute hints, tips or warnings of impending disasters. No talking!

Scott chops vegetables for soup, stock and main course. 

On Tuesday there will be no talking, no recipes, no kitchen bibles. The soon-to-be graduates will have to trust their memories and their own judgment to get them through the three course meal. They will need good timing and all the confidence they can muster, and it all starts today with silence, and mis-en-place.

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All is quiet but the whisk and ladle

All is quiet, but for the sound of the whisk and ladle.

Tom starts on his risotto,
the second course of the day.

Our weekend class- a new addition to the Liaison schedule in the past few months- hit the kitchen about the time that the rest of us were putting our feet up for the weekend. These students were often overlooked in our blog and Facebook page for this reason. In the midst of their final exams though, Chef Greg took a few minutes to capture them at the height of concentration.

Students from this class will be amongst our lineup when we hold our next graduation ceremony in January.

Aaron

Students prepped everything they needed the day before, so they were at the
stoves right away starting their mushroom soup and  risotto.

Gearing up for the final stretch

BEFORE: students' evaluation depends
on matching the dish to its rightful owner. 

AFTER: Chef has to try them all, but a
spoonful is all he needs to determine
if the soup is done right.

Gearing up for final, practical exams, Chef Bill challenged his Basic students with a couple of black box days, named for the culinary competitions that present competitors with surprise ingredients, and a short time-frame in which to produce a dish from them. Our students were kept in the dark about what they would cook, though they had already learned how to prepare the dishes at some point in their lessons.

Tom works with melted
chocolate for his mousse

As they set up their stations, ingredients were revealed: all the fixings for cream of mushroom soup and chocolate mousse with Genoise sponge. The deadline for the first – 45 minutes, no more, no less – presented hot, in a warm bowl. The timing for dessert: finished, ready to unmold and plate the following day, when they also had the challenge of producing a risotto and a main course of stuffed chicken supreme.

Joleen whips egg whites for her Genoise sponge.

These challenges were a lead-in to exams last week, both hands-on and written. As the last pen was laid down, the knives laid aside and the ovens shut down, silent tension made way for giddy relief. For better or worse, exams are over.