Today (Monday) I cooked for the last time at Ballymaloe, except for my practical final. It felt strange and a little sad to realize that I wouldn't have the benefit of an excellent crew of instructors to advise and guide me in my future cooking experiences. I'll also miss the adrenalin rush that goes with a tough cooking assignment that I'm not sure I can handle. As Rory O'Connell said one day in demo, "Things sometimes have to be a bit scary." Three months of a routine and you get used to it and it becomes the "norm." My norm is changing again, but fortunately it will soon be going back to many things that I know and love.
As I've mentioned before, my confidence has been building and this week-plus was my most relaxing time of cooking. My partner for the week, Olivia, extended the long weekend and I had the section and choice of menu items to myself. I decided to cook a Thai chicken curry, which turned out O.K. but didn't excite me, and a puff pastry called vol au vents, which were filled with pastry cream and compote of apple with sweet geranium flavoring. To make the vol au vents you roll out the pastry, cut them into shapes (mine were rectangular) and then cut down into the pastry a little ways in from the edge all around. After they are baked, you remove the part of the top that was scored and hollow out a space for the filling, bake a few minutes more, fill the hollowed part with the pastry cream and compote, and put the top back on. Not only looked neat but tasted really good. On Tuesday, Olivia was a no-show and I chose to make a beaf consomme, which takes lots of effort and requires expensive ingredients. Even though mine tasted like it should (according to Mami), I think it isn't worth the effort. Fortunately, I also made poached salmon with Hollandaise sauce, which didn't require too much effort and was really good.
Because Charlene was scheduled to arrive Thursday morning, I made arrangements to not cook and to not do my extra duty on Thursday. When I learned that she would be delayed, I had the time to cook but not the inclination (played hooky). On Friday, my anxiety level was back down and Olivia and I both cooked. My seafood chowder sounded great but wasn't, while my stuffed chicken sandwich sounded mediocre but tasted pretty good. I wish I could say that my last day of cooking was inspirational, but it was not to be. The roast pork with sage seasoning was O.K., but the cuts of pork we used are too fatty for my taste. Although the custard on the creme brulee I made is best cooled overnight, I attempted to add the caramel topping after just three hours. I chose to sprinkle sugar and then caramelize it with a blow torch (really). Since the custard wasn't fully set, this didn't work perfectly. I probably would have had better luck if I had made caramel and then spooned it on. Next time!
So far there have been no pictures, but the weekend fixes that. Here is a shot of Charlene with the center of Kinsale in the distant background. We are about 100 yards from our B&B, the Chart House, which is a restored Georgian structure with period pieces, that provides "luxury" accommodations. Fortunately, luxury is not synonymous with expensive, in this case. Great place!
On Saturday, we took a walking tour of Kinsale that provided real insight into the histories of Ireland and Kinsale. In the 17th century, taxes were collected at the building in the next picture. The tax code is posted and would fit on one page!
On Sunday we visited Charles Fort, which was built following the unsuccessful Spanish invasion of Ireland at Kinsale in 1601. The fort, which has a now classic star-design (was relatively new in 1601), was in use through WW1. The following views are from the inside of the fort.
Tom:
ReplyDeleteWonderful cronicle of your experience. At this writing, I know you have finished your final and school is over. I hope it all went well!