Whupped

Today I was beaten by a 21-year-old, 100 pound woman of Persian descent in an iron chef competition, and it's bothering me. I'll be thinking about it while falling asleep tonight. Not because of her, who I like very much, but because I got cocky and soft in the past few weeks of not cooking enough.

Actually, as a brief aside, though it wasn't for an iron chef competition, last week I plated two very well received dishes: a roasted butternut squash soup, and ginger-sauterne poached pears, each of which earned genuine raves from both chefs (a rarity).

But today sloth got the better of me, and I'll be a better cook for it. Lesson learned. And don't be surprised to see a petite Persian woman running a well respected kitchen in a few years. She's very talented.

Two for three

Yesterday I competed in my fourth cooking competition since beginning this program. Paired with a brand new student, who was extremely slow, we didn't complete the four plates we were supposed to produce. I was not motivated to compete yesterday regardless, and it showed in the food (The Chef instructor: one dish was boring, the other "sensational").
Someone once said that being a professional is performing well the thing you love even when you don't feel like it. That was yesterday. But, the other two teams on which I competed were superior. Great fun.

Badge

During cook-off experience number two today (among classmates) I cut my thumb. It's my first kitchen injury, with the exception of a minor arm burn. Worthy of journaling.

Cook-off

The end of my second week was marked by participation in my first cook-off last Saturday. A massive catering firm that serves many of the Silicon Valley tech firms invited students from my school to participate (more info here if you care). Only two of us attended, plus two chef instructors. But enough setup.
It was amazing.
Quickly, the rules: we all met at the Sunnyvale farmers market. We divided in to two teams of, oh, around 15, each with a budget of $300. My team then split in to smaller teams: the tofu guy, the veg dude, the lamb/meat team, and the fish team. I volunteered to shadow the chef of the "fish team." Black cod, salmon, local clams...
The pace was quick, but never frenzied or angry.

Shuck and shave this corn. No, not so shallow a cut. Good. Then fine slice shallots and garlic. Sautee it with the corn. Puree it with some stock and strain it. No, more stock. No, add some cream. Yes, that's it. Now trim these green beans. No, cut them on a bias. Good. Now slice peaches like this. Nice. Strain this clam stock. Blanche this celery. Sear all these pieces of cod. Put the seared cod on a half sheet pan and oven roast it, 5 minutes. Perfect. Ladle the chowder for presentation, wipe it down and take it out. That's it.

Two hours later everything was plated. You can see it using the link above. What I learned, most of all, is that I have a lot to learn, and that there's huge talent in big catering firms. The next opportunity to do so can't come soon enough.