CUISINE ASSESSMENT

2 items : Beef Consomme & Rack of Lamb in Parsley Crust, with Chateau Potatoes, Glazed Carrots & Turnips, plus French Beans. I did well in the Consomme, with a respectable 24 out of 25 across the clarity, flavor, uniformity of julienne garnish scores. I think I surprised Chef Steve, not to mention myself. Credit should go to his patient coaching and constant reinforcement on how I should approach my work flow. Chef Donovan, you should be proud of me. I followed every letter of the recipes today! The Lamb apparently did well too, not as well as the Consomme but it came out medium rare, appropriately seasoned, with well cooked vegetables. As for improvements : sauce was a tad thin, potatoes - hidden from view behind the racks - could do with more basting in the oven, parsley crust was slightly burned at the top. BTW we were taught to protect the 4 bones with aluminum foil in the cooking process, to ensure they come out clean in the presentation. I made the mistake of unwrapping them as I warmed the racks under the salamander at the last minute. Voila, brown bones, which must costed me a point or two. Lastly, beautifully fresh watercress dipped in oil & water (to give shine) were part of the garnish, to sit on top of the racks. I prepared them earlier, ready to go on the bench, and they were still there after the presentation ... completely forgotten. Work of an amateur!

We had a debrief with the Examiners, all rated chefs around Sydney. They were complimentary to what the class has done. I think they meant it, considering we all started from scratch precisely 8 weeks ago today. One of them repeated what Chef Steve told us, ' ... you can keep trying, keep experimenting but you can never be perfect as there is always something new out there you can learn'. He is right, cooking is an art, and there is no such thing as perfection in art. Even more so, this is not just a lesson about cooking, it is one about life.

This is a landmark blog @ TangCanCook, it is #100! Thank you for putting up with my rambling since April 20th 2009 ie 2 months ago almost to the day.