It’s finally over! The written exam was not too bad–lots of writing and describing the techniques for several types of dishes. I knew that would go well, but the cooking part is always the wild card. There were 4 parts:
Block 1: Knife skills–small dice an onion, julienne a potato, brunoise a carrot in 5 minutes.

Block 2: Make an omelet, French onion soup, and whipped cream in 40 minutes.
The omelet was fine, French onion soup not so great (onions did ot caramelize enough), and good whipped cream (by hand, of course)

Block 3: Eggs Benedict and blond roux in 30 minutes. Making the Hollandaise sauce was a little stressful but it was actually a good sauce. My egg was poached nicely and the presentation was good. The blond roux was OK, a little thin.

Block 4: Risotto Milanese and Chicken Tarragon in 40 minutes. Risotto is not a quick dish so I made that first and it was pretty tasty. The Chicken Tarragon was cooked properly but my sauce was just a little too thick. Overall everything was passable I think. Chef Waier said “good job” on most everything.

Just getting it all done on time felt like success and knowing this was the last time I would be under pressure to create something that was getting a grade was a good feeling.

It was way too hectic to take photos so none for this class. Next entry will be graduation.