CAP Classes
I took my first Culinary Arts Program (CAP) class last night. Tools of the Trade, for me, the class was review. The instructor, Martin Gravely was very good. He is very well spoken, answered questions, and was humorous.
The first class was mostly lecture, he covered oils, spices, herbs, pots, pans, ovens, spoons, etc. The last hour of the class was basic knife skills. More review. Dice an onion, a stalk of celery, and a carrot; then de-bone a chicken... well, break down a chicken. We left the bones in the legs and wings. It was amusing to see Martin demo the chicken. The lecture seating is close quarters, and two seats are right near the cutting boards. As he was taking the chicken apart, he was slapping the parts on the cutting board, the two right near him were almost cringing. The class had 16 people, so there were 4 groups of 4. My group had two people with poor knife skills and bad habits.
One woman and I commented to each other about how nervous it was making us. It's weird, I've seen people use knives poorly before, but never has it made me so nervous. Even on the easy things, celery and carrots. There were some things that Martin did not cover, but I assumed they were common sense. If you are taking rotations at the cutting board, put the knife on the board when you are done. I saw many people attempting to figure out how to hand a knife to someone else --bad idea!
The chicken was entertaining. Some people were grossed out by it. The food service woman in my group had never taken a chicken apart, but she breezed through it. I passed (I think a few people have seen my flying duck impression) and let the other woman in our group take a stab at it. I don't think she had ever used a boning knife before, she tried to muscle her way through the chicken. I tried to help her with the deboning, but she mostly ignored me. After she started to saw through the ribs, I stopped her. I pulled the breast back and showed her what she was doing, I tried to point out the area she needed to cut. I offered to help pull the chicken away from the carcass, as I had seen Martin do, but when she almost stabbed me, I just pointed with my finger.
Some knife observations from the entire class..
1. If you are instructed to put the miripoix (celery, onion, carrots) in a central location, either pick up your cutting board and take it there, or bring the pan to your station. I saw so many people scooping some onions on their chef knives and walking past 4 to 6 people to the storage pan. Every time I saw this happen, I grabbed the pan and brought it to the person.
2. Many people hold a knife like a weapon. It's really hard to bone a chicken if the knife is held in a fist. Boning can be done fast and fluidly if you sweep with the knife, but you can't do that if your hand is in a fist.
3. Being put on the spot can make you nervous. I know how to use a chef's knife, but I found myself shaking just a tiny bit. 3 people staring made me a bit nervous. Especially when the knife feels SO foreign. I'm gonna be the idiot and cut myself. I quickly found my zone, and zipped through my produce
Check for more CAP posts as I progress through the program.
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