Idle Threats

Chef scheduled the "class buffet" for today, the culimnation of our garde manger training. And seriously, we put on a pretty nice spread. We began work, some of us, about 6:30: that's what time I preheated the oven for the country pork paté. (Then I sat on a stool, did yesterday's NYT crossword puzzle, and read the food section from today's Chronicle, while I drank my Peets.)

We had to be ready for "company" at 11:00 am, which meant dishes done and floors swept, in addition to all the food prep. Silvia was absent today, but fortunately Travis was only slightly late. He worked on a fruit platter (made a wacky canteloupe/blueberry basket/"pirate ship" to accompany my fruit terrine... which actually turned out splendidly). I randomly put slices down on the mirror but Chef made us retray it in a more "organized" fashion, which meant even lines of overlapped fruit aspic. And of course he was right: it looked much better his (or, "The Cordon Bleu") way.

After I finished my coffee, I began Green Goddess dressing for the crudité (raw vegetable) platter. The recipe starts with two cups of mayonnaise, and that's from scratch, buddy. Then mix in sour cream, tarragon vinegar, and minced herbs, garlic, and anchovies. Then I did lots of vegetable cutting, but first I made "containers" out of red and green bell peppers, which also served as a platter garnish. The big red pepper held green onions and celery, and the green one was full of cherry tomatoes.

Andrea put together her antipasto platter, adding sliced salami, coppa, proscuitto and provolone to the vegetables she'd grilled yesterday. Then she worked on polenta circles with two toppings: mushrooms duxelle and caramelized onions.

Andy was late, after oversleeping apparently, so the Meat team was in a bit of a dizzy until he showed up. The erstwhile Seafood team had individual assignments and interestingly, you'd overhear them ask Chef Duffy if they could help one another when needed: "May I ask Jordan to help me with the won ton cups? He has made them before." "Yes, you may." The team member who yesterday threatened to boycott was in class after all. (But no sign of Nadeen.)

The buffet came together as planned: the Seafood team contributing sushi, a cheese platter, crab canapés, and shrimp ceviche; the Meat team donating, among other things, a stunning mirror with slices of paté en croute, ham mousse, pork forcemeat, and truffled duck liver paté (topped with bacon!) Several "neighboring" Chefs, including Chef Joseph, came by to look and sample. And Chef Judy brought over some cookies and the list of equipment we need to bring to class next Tuesday: she'll be our Baking and Pastry chef. She's sort of short, with a friendly but no-nonsense air about her. She admired our presentation and filled two big paper plates to take back to share with her current students.

After we ate, and carried the buffet remnants (replated, of course, to look wonderful and non-remnanty) down to the student dining hall, Chef concluded the class with a short review of the types of material to be covered on tomorrow's final (fifty questions, multiple choice. Hint: know the ingredients in Cumberland sauce [port/currant jelly/citrus/ginger: goes well with forcemeat]). Before the review, though, he made a few pointed comments about some people needing to leave the attitude at the door.

People packed up and left and eventually, it was just Chef, Andrea and I in the kitchen. We were packing our bags and he was doing his daily double-check of supplies and equipment. We were ready to walk out and said goodbye, then I added, "Thanks for putting up with us." He turned and said, "It's a total pleasure," then walked over to the work table where we stood and talked for about ten minutes, in a sort of round-about way, about the issues during this class. And we all agreed that you get what you give.

Andrea and I continued talking on the way down the elevator to the lobby, where we reminisced about the first day of school and the advice we'd gotten on the first day: "You are here by yourself. Don't worry about making friends. Don't worry about anybody else. Be completely selfish with your time. When you leave here, all you take with you is what you know. Don't care about what other people think about you."

Amen.