A Peek into FCI (French Culinary Institute)

It was harder than it seemed!

I just want to recap on a 5 hour audit of FCI's culinary arts classroom.  Two friends and I explored through the halls into classroom kitchens, stock rooms, break rooms, restrooms... overall, everything looked clean, professional, yet, warm. This was for the culinary arts program, but they were currently working on dessert.  The course includes regular cooking, wine tasting, and desserts.

I was mentally prepared for an intense demanding aggressive and "scary" chef instructor, but instead, I met a very charming nice hospitable informative chef.  We were lucky.  The pastry chef seemed friendly, but this other chef didn't seem all too chummy.

For the class we audited, I noticed that the students were extremely positive, eager to learn, helped another out, and over all a friendly bunch.  Student to instructor ratio was 5:1 for this class.  Other classes we passed by were maybe 10-15:1.  This doesn't mean that there weren't people running around the kitchen lined with a bit of chaos.  It was fast paced, standing 5 hours straight (I thought my knee caps were going to bust).  BUT, this is very doable.  There was even a pregnant lady.  Student ages ranged from early 20s to early 40s.  Each student also had their own "workstation", which includes personal cutting station, fridge, oven, and stove area.  However, there's a lot of team work, especially during prepping time.  Students divide work amongst themselves to set up all ready & measured ingredients.  One student actually was out sick (won't get into detail), and so the team prepared and made his portion, in case he needed it for reference for their final.  Near the end, everyone worked together to clean up, wash dishes, sanitize the area, and call it a night.  Leftovers are always enjoyed by students during and after the cookout. 

Enough of chit chat, below are some pictures from the class:

Strictly using All Clad pots and pans.

Sweet Roll Prep

Chef adding flour for non-stick action.

Chef showing to roll.

 Souffle Time

Pouring egg batter into lightly buttered & sugared ramekins.

Pouring in the souffle batter.  In & Out of oven.  H2O added for heat stability.

Final Souffle~!

Brownies

Brownies with nuts & chocolate chips.

Chef packed us some for to-go.

Cakes
 

Fondants galore.  We went to the pastry class to borrow ramekins for the souffle.

Overall, it was really fun.  It was more hands on experience than I anticipated, which was a big plus.  At the end of the day, we learned to make sweet rolls (batter), spritz cookies, brownies, toffee/brittle, and souffle.  Tricks and tips we learned:
1. Brittle: Add baking soda at the end of mixing the toffee mix. 
2. Cleaning: To avoid muscling through pots/pans with sticky stuck sauces, pump some soap with water.  Leave on low heat for about 10 minutes, then clean. 
3. Sanitation:  The chef reminded students during the cooking to never place hot pots or any pots on top of cutting boards.