“The Joy and satisfaction of a meal is equal to the passion and effort given to its preparation”- Gordon Ramsay.

by Bradley DCouto, September 20, 2018

The past quarter went by like breeze. It was a pleasant beginning, work riddled middle and finally wound down to a laborious last few weeks. I got the opportunity of learning multiple different cooking techniques and ways of preparing meats and their accompanying sauces and side dishes. The beauty of these classes was that we were allowed to deviate and also create dishes that we thought would go well and this helped keep class interesting.

I started the quarter with Garde Manger which roughly translates to, “The pantry” and it is a class where we would have to use what we have on hand and create something beautiful and bite-sized to munch on. It was a class that relied on your creative thinking, food flavor pairings and since it lasted only three weeks there was something new to learn every day. I also got the experience of working with tallow (equal parts of paraffin wax and beef fat) which I turned into a mini foosball table and a squash craving on which I carved a flower. I also learnt the importance of choosing suitable meats and their accompaniments and arranging them on Charcuterie boards which was also new to me.

I then moved on to Fish and Sauces where I learnt about the different types of fish and shellfish and their different fabricating and cooking methods. It was in this class that I learnt my new favorite technique which was cooking and shucking a whole lobster. We got the chance of working with beautiful live lobsters and cooking them in a flavorful stock, shucking them and then creating a heavenly sauce with the shells. Some of them were not too happy to be taken away from their seaweed laden resting place and they even put up a good fight.

The financial help that I received from Kendall College Trust helped me immensely by taking some pressure off myself by not working as much during this term. The timely break came in between the busy quarter and in the form of a hiking trip with a couple of friends up to Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin, which helped me relax and come back hungrier to finish the quarter even stronger. I am deeply indebted to the Kendall College Trust and to all the various other organizations which provide the students of Kendall a much-needed lifeline through their vast financing network and I believe that we as recipients of this generosity should be able to pay tribute to the people working behind the scenes for our betterment by making the Kendall name great and keep our flag flying high.