We had our written tests for each class a couple of weeks ago, which after lots of studying/stressing, turned out well (insert deep sigh of relief here), so now all that is left are the exams in the kitchen. The school had given us a list of 10 dishes that we had prepared in practical over the last 3 months. On exam day, we are given the ingredient list, but it is up to us to memorize the steps because we aren't be allowed to bring any notes into the kitchen. They choose 3 dishes, and as we enter the kitchen, we are randomly assigned a dish, so that everyone will not be making the same thing. We have exactly 2.5 hours to prepare the dish (and a technical skill) clean up, and leave the kitchen immediately. Very Iron Chef like. The dish is then be judged by a panel (we don't ever hear any feedback from this, which doesn't seem very helpful to me), and as long as we don't get a phone call the next day, it is safe to assume we passed.
I have my cuisine practical exam tomorrow morning at 8AM (shocker!), and I find that I'm much more creative when I am procrastinating, so I thought it would be, um, better to clear my head and write a blog before really getting started with my studying...or something like that.
My pastry exam was Friday night, and I really wasn't too worried or nervous about it until just before we entered the kitchen, which was really weird for me. I was actually genuinely concerned about why I wasn't nervous, which, in turn, made me nervous. Who knows. Anyway, the exam wasn't as bad as I thought would be...aside from a couple of hiccups here and there...
1. I forgot my chef pants. How the *$@# did I forgot my PANTS?? I thought I was so prepared the night before...doing laundry, ironing my uniform, getting my bag all ready to take to school, etc, but somehow I forgot one of the most important pieces of my ensemble. I realized it when I went to my locker to change and oh, ha, no pants in there! After freaking out for a few minutes and running around to everyone that I saw asking if they had extra pants, a girl in my class showed me a super secret compartment in a display case that has extra uniforms. The only catch? The pants we found were made for Godzilla, and they had bleach and hot pink highlighter stains all over them. I rolled them up 3 times (they were still falling down) and tried to cover up the stains with my apron as much as possible. They worked...kind of.
2. My class was waiting downstairs in the communal area trying to get some last minute studying in, while people who had just come from the exam kept coming up to us and assuring us that it wasn't that bad and blah, blah, blah. That is, of course, until we headed up to the kitchen we were scheduled to be in. As we stood there waiting patiently for our dish assignments, we watched each person from the previous class walk out, and they looked defeated. I couldn't tell if they were generally pissed off or had just been crying, but either way, they looked like that kitchen (and the same chef we were about to have...) had chewed them up and spit them back out again. Awesome, just what you want to see before walking into an exam. I felt like I was awaiting my turn at the guillotine, and I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or pass out.
3. There were a couple of other minor issues that I ran into...like forgetting to add the butter after the dry ingredients, but before the wet ingredients for the sweet short pastry dough that we had to make for the technical part of the exam. Translation: I had to use my spoon to try and scoop egg and water from a well in the middle of flour and sugar, add butter and combine with my hands, then pour the liquid back in...all while trying to make sure the chef didn't see me make a total. rookie. mistake.
The cake I was assigned was not that bad - Dacquoise. I would say of the three dishes, it was middle of the road in difficulty. One of the cakes was definitely easier, and one was slightly harder, so I felt confident with what I had to do.
Here is a picture of the Dacquoise cake that the chef made from the demo we had back in September. I don't have a picture of the Dacquoise I made in practical because it was on my camera when I got mugged (tear), but you can see how it was supposed to look.
We couldn't take any pictures in the exam, so you are spared from seeing the semi-disaster that I produced. When the chefs would talk to us about the exam, they would say stuff like, "Don't worry, it will be fine. Just make sure you make the best cake of your life." No pressure or anything. I can say with confidence that I definitely did NOT make the best cake of my life. In fact, I think the Dacquoise I made in practical was MUCH better than the one I made in the exam. I don't think that is what they were aiming for...my piping looked miserable (even though I had practiced the night before!) and my marzipan flower looked like a blind person made it, but, I don't think it was fail worthy.
Just before we left the kitchen, the chef asked who all was moving on to Intermediate Pastry, and a handful of us raised our hands. He then looked directly at me, and said, "Yes, if you pass this exam!!!" (insert evil laugh here). Yikes!
I had the exam on Friday night, it's now Sunday afternoon. I haven't heard anything, so I am going to hope that I passed!
Please say a little prayer that my cuisine exam goes off without a hitch! And that I don't forget my pants...
- a tout à l’heure!
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