Day 116: One last practice on fish, making a ladyfinger cake, and learning we have 8 potential dishes on the final

Today was a good day of cooking!  Although I don’t like monkfish, I hope one of the dishes I pull for the final is the monkfish. It’s super easy to prep and it’s hard to overcook that fish, as it’s not one you want to undercook.  The chances are 1 in 4, since we learned today that in fact there will be 8 dishes in the hat, grouped in 2’s.  That’s different that what we were all expecting.

We were led to believe there would be 4 dishes total, and only 2 combos (which would have been nice and easy, like the mid-term).  I think the powers that be are experimenting on our class again. It’s either that or the instructors are not all on the same page. Either way, they’re giving us different messages or they’re still deciding.  Kind of frustrating as some of us had built in practice time at home for a couple of the dishes we’re weaker  or slower on, but now that the number of potential dishes has doubled, practicing far more than anticipated a few days before the final is not practical.  I’m busy over the next few days, so I’ll only get time to practice one or two as I had planned, but I know others who now feel the need to practice more. But, I refuse to be phased.  It’s no different than the “real world” when you are led to believe one thing and then you quickly have to adapt when it turns out to be different than originally presented.  Adaptation is going to be my middle name.

On a more fun note, we had the pleasure of Chef Jae in our class today.  He’s a pastry chef and instructor.  Since I had some time today after I finished prep, Chef Udo suggested that Bobby and I make a cake with Chef Jae’s guidance.  So, we made a ladyfinger layered cake.  Chef Jae says there’s no name for it, but the layers were made of ladyfinger dough brushed with raspberry liqueur and in between we piped mouselline (a combination of pastry cream and butter – LOTS of butter) and whipped cream.  Then, we topped it with fresh blueberries and a little raspberry liqueur + fresh raspberry “dots” in the center of the blueberries.  The cake is pictured at top.

Here are a few more action shots, in sequence (including Chef Jae in action).  I did all of the piping, with the exception of the first layer, as Chef Jae had to show me how.  I also make the ladyfinger “dough”, which is turned upside down in the pictures to soak in the liqueur. Bobby did the mousseline and Rachelle did the blueberry with raspberry dots. I have to say I love Chef Jae. He is sooo nice, and has a nice, easy teaching style.  Plus, he’s just a darling person.

Off to Range for dinner with FK.  Hope my new fillings (as of this afternoon ) on my chipped teeth hold up, as this restaurant is all meat!