ISCAHM – Real Cooking Week 7

Unlike our first time in the kitchen before, we did a LOT of cooking now. Oh yes.

The setup is the same as before, we first do our miz in the morning.

Then the chef in charge gives a very very short demo on what needs to be done then we do the rest.

Different chefs have different ways of teaching in the kitchen. Chef Uli for example gives a short demo on each step. That means, everybody assembles each time we go to the next step. Moreover, his style in assigning tasks is on a per group basis unlike Chef Gerd and Chef Manoj who assign tasks to almost each individual.

The setup this time was that we serve for at least 70 people. That’s 70 portions of soup and main course with vegetables and starches. So technically, everybody did the same job at some point.

This time, the other batch was the one looking at us while we cooked.

We served lunch for a class of batch 11, our class, and the pastry class too.

Food wasn’t served family-style like before. Everything was plated like this.

And this.

Or this. Ok, I am pretty sure you get the point now.

So what were the highlights for me this week? Well, our group turned 245 carrots. Chef Uli assigned our group to be in charge of turning carrots.

It felt like our turning skills leveled-up!

You cannot not learn how to turn carrots if you were to turn 3 times as much as these.

Lastly, there was an intense session with Chef Manoj in Asian Kitchen class.

Chef Manoj handles Asian Class only. We have Asian Kitchen once a week during kitchen week. What made it intense? Well for one, it was Chef Manoj. The other is that there was a power shortage during our time. We were grilling chicken that time and the power went out so the exhaust fans stopped functioning. Smoke filled up the whole room! Chef Manoj told everybody to go out. After 7 mins, Chef Manoj told the sous chef to transfer the chicken from the Vulcan oven to gas ovens since the Vulcan oven was not functioning due to the power shortage. So Leon, the sous chef of the kitchen at that time, and I went back to this room.

We started salvaging the chicken inside the kitchen–all 80 portions! It was awesome since it was just the two of us. BAM!