Ready Set Go! (I am still a Knife Virgin)

Woo hoo! First day of class on Monday. We showed up for class bright and early and were given our uniforms!

A Chefs coat, cap and apron-it was so exciting. And our own set of professional knives in its own bag!

First class with Chef Griffith was on knife skills-Emenciers, Slices, Rolled cuts, Chiffonades-exotic names with different actions to go with it! Realised that I had been holding my knife wrong all this while. We were warned that cuts were to be expected and to be prepared. True enough 2 of my coursemates had their hands cut! I survived and am still a knife virgin. Knife cuts are simply cleaned and treated with turmeric and plastered and life goes on.

Learnt a few things about about handling different vegetables and about moisture content in vegetables and how it affects cooking.

Afternoon class was about baking theory with Chef Preethi and we started with chocolate chip cookies and chocolate peanut butter cookies which came out yummy.

We learnt that both our instructors had at least 10 years experience working in 5 star establishments around Mumbai and some had now become instructors due to the pandemic and its lockdowns. Interesting how one’s career journey progresses by the turn of events.

The academy while small is a constant buzz and hive of activity. There was someone even from South Africa doing an intense series of private classes on North Indian dishes - so the aromas were quite tanatlizing!

While it was all exciting and fun-one also comes to appreciate the long hours chefs spend on their feet on the go non-stop!

On to Day 2…