Today, I killed four crabs. It goes a little like this...You see Chef demo killing the crab and you slightly recoil in horror of the noise that it makes, the stuff that flies everywhere and the mere thought of hacking into a live being. Then, it's your turn and you hold the clever and look at the poor crab and tell it in a soft voice that it's all going to be ok while it tries to claw its way off your cutting board. Next comes a definite hesitancy as you swing the clever towards the unsuspecting crab (unless of course he's not the first and then he might have some idea what is coming his way). And then quite frankly, you realize it isn't that bad and that you don't have time to talk to every crab because Chef is yelling, "Allez, allez, vite, vite" and you basically become an efficient killer (of crabs, at least).
After that, gutting four fish seems like child's play. Although, it smells like complete nastiness. I've never gutted a fish before, especially not with my bare hands, but it was exciting. It was when I was pulling out the fish's jaw/insides with my fingers and realized how excited I was to be learning that that I knew I had made the right decision by coming to France and going to culinary school. This is what I am supposed to be doing, and it's the coolest experience of my life. As you can probably guess, we were making Soupe de Poisson (Fish Soup). Pictures are below. Stayed tuned for the final product as we will finish it tomorrow morning.
Upon entering the kitchen today, this is what I saw. I had to gut all of these with bare hands!
Huge eel. I didn't have to do anything with this other than cook it.
However, the sous-chef of the week, Leo from Brazil, was the one who had to hack it into pieces for everyone. He's a doctor, so he's used to cutting into things I guess.
Me and Estee from Holland hanging out with our soon to be murder victims.
Chef's demo on the crab
It just doesn't seem like a fair fight, does it? Me and that clever against that crab. However, he was a feisty little pincher.
Sorry Mr. Crab. Better luck next time.
The final damage.
The other thing we did today was a consommé, which is very intense because you don't want it to be cloudy, and it is a very fragile and finicky thing to make. Luckily, after working on it for two days, mine turned out quite well! I was worried that it was going to be cloudy but it was really quite clear although it is hard to tell in the photo. Chef's response was, "C'est Jolie (it's pretty) and good work." So, I sighed with relief and then quickly accepted an invitation to grab a drink after cleaning up the kitchen with several of my classmates.
After making the marmite (stock that is slowly cooked), it is strained and put into a copper pot with veggies, ground beef and egg whites. This is what you see above.
Then, after a slight simmer, a "raft" forms on the top. It is basically all the impurities found in the pot. You then make a "chimney," which is the hole you see in the photo and you eventually ladle the clear consommé out of it.
The "raft" is then left in the bottom of the pot.
And you hopefully end up with a clear consommé.
And several friends with which to celebrate!
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