Salmon

Good day fellow readers.  Boy what a day ... I am not sure where to start with this post.

Today I was totally confused and could not find my way most of the class.  I don't think of myself as a dumb person but for some reason today I just was having a very hard time understanding what the game plan was.

Finally I asked Chef Abbey what in the heck we were suppose to do and how were we suppose to do it and I sort of got it for the rest of the day but I walked away today very disappointed in the lack of work that I had accomplished today.

I will try and explain so you will understand it better ... heck, I don't understand it.

For the next 6 weeks we are doing "buffet's" on Thursdays and preparing for them on Tuesday and Wednesdays and then finishing up the dishes on Thursday and putting them all out in a buffet.  Sounds simple right?  We were very lucky in the fact that we got to keep our old team ... we are very capable of finishing the tasks at hand in a timely manor .. so, that was a very good thing.  But our assigned dishes for our team are:  Smoked salmon/caviar, cucumber cream cheese on pumpernickel, peanut butter and jelly (cashew butter and jam), Lamb brochettes with sauce, stuffed mushrooms, chicken in phyllo and profiteroles with chicken moose.  Sounds pretty easy .... well it isn't.

So, after my little talk with the Chef he showed us how to write it down so it made more sense to us and so we could get a feel for what was a today project and then tomorrows work and then the final on Thursday on the buffet table.

My first project was to cure/cook the salmon because that process takes 3 days so if I hadn't have done it today it would not be ready for the dish.  I get all of my Mise en place ready as we were taught and then my day got ugly.  I went in the walk-in cooler and got a piece of salmon that I thought that we would be using and guess what?  Not so ... I had to put it back and get a salmon that looked about 1 foot bigger than the one in the picture above and then ... look out here I am fighting with the stupid fish that is so big (18-20 lbs.) and slippery that I can't lift it, scale it or anything else to it.  Plus ... we had never cut a salmon before so before I got real scared Chef Abbey stepped in and helped and showed me how and what to do.  He cut off 1/2 of the head and cut down the back bone and showed me what to do and then I had to do the other half.  What a trip ... I was covered in scales and fish blood and guts but I will tell you that in the end I did get a very nice fillet and I put the curing ingredients on it and put a pan on top of that and weighted it down with 4 #10 cans and so Thursday we are ready to go with the fish at least.  The rest remains to be seen ...

I will tell you that I stopped at Rite Aid on my way home and the cashier said ... do you smell fish?  Well, what do you think ... you could see all of the shinny scales that I was covered in ... I came right home and washed me and my clothes.

So, as days go I did learn something today.  Thank you Chef Abbey for teaching me about salmon today!  I am truly hoping that once we do one week of this that it will become easier and I will feel like I accomplished something ... I mean I did the fish and I helped Molly and Angie with their bread that they were getting ready for some of our dishes but all in all I just wish that I got it a little better or maybe I just need to understand the time line and what can be made ahead of time better.

My clothes are in the dryer and I have had a little snack for my dinner and I did some homework that is due on Thursday and I am ready to quit.  I have reviewed and reviewed the menu for Thursday so hopefully tomorrow will go a little easier and feel a little more productive.

Everyone have a really great night and I will post tomorrow and tell you where we are with our portion of the buffet.  Maybe I will have some pictures ... I should have taken a picture of the fish but I was so covered in it I did not want to touch my camera ... maybe tomorrow ... Good night everyone from 1HappyChef.  :)