Skills I, Done!

Today was the last day for Skills I in the A.O.S Program here at the CIA. Skills I teaches the fundamentals of cooking including stocks, sauces, soups, and knife cuts. Our "final exam," consisted of making a group soup of our choice, serving a Hollandaise sauce, and performing several knife cuts on differing vegetables with a 40 minute time limit. I got an awesome group for the Practical that consisted of myself, Matt Ignacio, Bill Billenstein, and Chris Turyk. Chef Brenda La Noue was our chef instructor who guided us through our 3-week culinary experience. Under the guidance of Bill "the Thrill" Billenstein and "the Culinary Kid" Matt, out came our Butternut Squash Puree soup that tasted about as good as it looks. Notice the attention to detail in using the toasted squash seeds. Nice, eh!

We left the Hollandaise task up to Chris "the Whisk" and myself. Chris worked at a restaurant that made Hollandaise sauces to order so he was the go to man for this one. After reducing our shallots and champagne vinaigrette, we whisked in all of our clarified butter and after a bit of heat and S&P (salt and pepper), out came our Hollandaise. We presented it as Eggs Benedict and this is a direct quote from our chef who has traveled all around the world "that is the best Eggs Benedict I have ever had and I have traveled all around the world." Not bad work. Off to Skills II after the Thanksgiving Break!