Week 10 – End of Term Frivolity And a Surreal Gin Demo !

Blue C with Michael

Incredibly that’s it – Bar the End of Course Practical Exam next week. Our 9 months of Professional Food and Wine Diploma has come to an end and what an amazing and crazy 9 months of my life it has been. Still have no idea quite what to do with my new found education but we will come back to that. Let’s round of the Course with notes on this final week- which not unsurprisingly has had an air of End of Term frivolity about it -or it did after we had all endured Monday mornings Theory exam anyway.

Most, if not all students spent their weekend cramming with revising for the 09.30am 2 hour Theory Test. Some had not really started their revision to the weekend and this would have been quite stressful. We have so many notes after 9 months of, fairly, intensive tuition, it would be impossible to memorise it all over one weekend. In truth we had a pretty good steer as what to expect in the exam and I found parts of it very simple, but of course there were elements where your mind went blank and you were struggling to recall specifics, for instance – How to make a pancake batter ! ?

Exam First Page

We had also been warned there would be a completely new part of the exam : recognition of ingredients which were laid out on a bench on various trays with numbers. We all thought this would be a “Gimme” and we could glean 20 easy points towards the overall 300 points (which were attainable overall ) but we were so wrong!

There were little cups of ingredients with unrecognisable contents ( powdered gelatine which looked like couscous), a brown grain which turned out to be Freekah ( which I have cooked with but simply could not remember its name when under exam conditions),  a weird vegetable which I had seen on the market but could not name -Kohlrabi, and a huge kidney which I am hoping was a Calves Kidney, but the juries still out on that one.

Anyway,  test done, and we all await to see if we have passed by Graduation Day next week. I would hope that most of us had knowledge enough to get through the 60% pass level, as even if there were quite a few questions that you were unsure of, the easier parts of the exam should be enough to outweigh them. The great news was that we had the rest of the day off and we could all relax a little as the remainder of the week was to be a relative breeze. Indeed the atmosphere was so end of term like I was half expecting us to be asked to bring in some games to play and some music to while away the days left.

Instead we had surreal entertainment from Alexander Darcey from Sipsmith Distillery who gave us a lecture involving a potted History of Gin, and the Gin industry in the UK today. Amazingly the number of Gin Brands has increased from 10  to 600 over the past 20 years with approximately 191 distilleries in operation. It appears to have originated in Holland and was known as Jenever ( distilled from their National liquor, flavoured with Juniper Berries ),  and their soldiers carried it in flasks whilst in battle, and the term “ Dutch Courage” appears to have its origins derived from the maybe, tipsy, fearless style of fighting it engendered. In the UK back in 1751 it transpires Gin was being distilled from almost anything you can think of and was being made in almost every residence – in sinks, bathtubs and every receptacle imaginable. However this led to it earning a reputation as “ Mother Ruin” as people were dying in the streets from this unregulated Moonshine that was being distilled from such things as Turpentine !

Expect the Unexpected – Sipsmith Demo !

I could go on and on about the History which was fascinating, but fast forward to our lecture which involved tastings of pure Quinine ( the third most bitter taste humans can identify ) , pure Tonic Syrup, and 6 different Gins.

Amongst them was a 57.7% ABV Sipsmith VJOP standing for Very Junipery Overproof which when drank straight was incredibly intense in its Juniper infusion and difficult to drink, but when watered down with a Tonic was actually very pleasant. These drinks were accompanied by some Trotters Crisps and Pork Scratchings the provider of which was also represented – the Union Jack waistcoated Rupert. Rupert told some amazing stories. He gave us a poem about a Pig who devoured its Owner as a Pre emptive strike when it realised it was being raised for the slaughter ( macabre), and a Dinner he was attending which was a Pain and a Pleasure themed event involving drinking from a serrated glass that cut into you as you drank, but then you supposedly enjoyed its contents even more as the joy of the alcohol tempered the pain of the glass !? This was also connected with a bondage themed Dinner ? The Demo finished with half the students quite tipsy after 6 Gin Samples, loads of Food arriving right at the end of the Lecture when we had more or less finished ( wierd timing), and the Sipsmith Reps singing us a rendition of The Owl and the Pussy cat. Or maybe that’s how I drunkingly remember it all. The most entertaining outside Lecture we have ever had and closely aligned to the atmosphere of the week !

This was a hard act to follow, but we also had Petersham Nurseries come in and provide us with lovely samples of cooking including Zucchini Frito with Sage and Lemon, and Salt Baked Hake with Shaved Radishes, Fennel and Asparagus amongst over dishes. One of the Reps attending, Emma,  had been at Leiths 2 years ago and was now Head of Patisserie in charge of 10 Chefs – good success story. They also had some interesting chat about the industry, especially as to how they reacted to a very bad Review of their new Covent Garden Restaurant in The Times recently. They had recognised that maybe some of their dishes were not right for the number of covers that the restaurant was experiencing and they spent the next week adjusting some of them in recognition of the bad review. As they commented, such a critical review could have killed a small Independant Restaurant but their brand was strong enough to overcome it, and their bookings did not suffer. However, even so, they took it up amongst themselves to respond in the kitchen.

On Wednesday we learnt our fate as regards what we are expected to cook in our Practical Exam the following week – an issue that had been discussed ad nauseam amongst students for the past few weeks.  It transpires that we will be preparing Mushroom Consommé ( clearing YAY!), Chicken Ballotine( students fav dish ), Potato Fondants and Veg, and Puff Pastry /Tarte Tatin. For me this is all OK , feel comfortable to cook all, but it is over a five and half hour period which when you try to prepare the Timeplan for is very, very tight and stressful. However, I am happy there is no bread( too many variables in timing with the proving and rising) , and no cakes IE sponges etc. Everybody ran off and bought half a dozen chickens to practice deboning them for a Ballotine so don’t be surprised if there is a shortage of chickens in London this weekend !

Our final 2 days were spent on Dinner Parties for 8, wherein we had been split into groups of 4 to devise a 3/4 course menu for 4 other students (plus yourselves ) with a budget of £8.75 a head. The group you cooked for would return the compliment the next/ previous day. Our menu consisted of Lemon Ricotta Tortellini with a Sage Butter, Apple and Mint Granita, Sea Bass Fillet with Soya Meringue, Pak Choi And Pan Fried Cauliflower, and Strawberry and Rose Crumble with clotted Cream Ice Cream. It all went off with ease and tasted great – good feed back from Tutors and our Guests.

Lemon Ricotta Tortellini

Sea Bass with Soya Meringue

Strawberry and Rose / Clotted Cream Ice Cream

Maybe our offering was not so original / not pushing the boat out experimentally as some were, but good quality cooking. We worked well as a team in a relaxed fashion and I think showed maturity and confidence with our prep and cook that we would not have been able to achieve some months back. A nice relaxed last day before the inevitable Practical next week, which for me is Monday – actually glad to be getting it over with rather than waiting for the end of the week.

During the week we also made a gift to our Term Teacher Michael Cropp who has been a fantastic, patient and skilled Mentor these 9 months. After a bit of spy like interrogation we established he was keen to visit Clare Smythes Restaurant CORE so we clubbed together and bought a £400 voucher for him/wifey to visit. I feel lucky and privileged to have been under Michaels wing for the past 3 terms, and if the culinary expertise he has in just his little finger has been somehow imparted to me then I will be eternally grateful.

Next week – Exam !!!!! Report back here soonest !