On Tuesday we started the lesson by learning about the Brigade system. This is a traditional system that is followed in most kitchens where specific roles and responsibilities are defined by title. The chef, which in french means chief, is the head of the kitchen. Below him is a ladder of different roles and rankings. Some positions are managerial, such as the chef and sous chef, while other are task oriented such as the line cooks. There are separate cooks who have the role of making soup, grilling, making cold appetizers, butchering and numerous other positions. When you order a grilled chicken with a balsamic glaze and couscous it is possible that at least 3 or 4 people all helped prepare this meal. Chef told us about the roles we should expect as an entry level cook. Although their is a 'dishwasher' in the ladder of positions available she recommended we do not apply for this position, too bad.
After the history side of the class, we learned about the different fats used for cooking. To really understand the differences in flavor and color we cooked scrambled eggs in 3 different types of fat. We cooked 3 eggs in olive oil, canola oil, butter, and clarified butter. As a big Pam advocate when cooking eggs I was shocked to see how much fat chefs use in egg preparation. Not so shocking was how good these eggs tasted. After cooking each set of eggs we lined them up next to each other to see the different characteristics each batch had. Buttery eggs browned more, and eggs with olive oil took on a green hue. Although we were cooking the most basic thing it was still a really interesting lesson, and a class full to the brinks with eggs.
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