follow the bone
follow the bone…
Ok, get your mind out of the gutter! So much has happened over the past week and a half and I am totally exhausted! It was a week of fabrication and “follow the bone” was the class mantra, not some smug fratstar’s pickup line at last call. (I’ve actually taken to repeating it in social situations, just to get the conversation rolling. Doesn’t translate to the over 40 crowd very well… FYI.) So what in the world am I talking about? Fabrication? Follow the bone? Nothing I’m saying is making sense? That’s exactly how I felt most of the time in class lately. We are still going through the motions in class on a very basic level but we’ve ventured into unchartered territory for me. Each day we focus on a different animal or group of animals (lots of species of shellfish) to break down. So far, I have (somewhat successfully) broken down an entire stew of shellfish, both round and flat fish (very important distinction here), poultry, beef, veal, lamb, pork and rabbit – oh my!! The process is both intimidating and exhausting- but EXHILERATING! I am fascinated by how much use one can reclaim from an entire chicken. I’m not much of a PETA sympathizer when it comes to animal rights (I LOVE a good steak, HATE a puppy mill…) but there is something so satisfying about using every part of an animal that I’m thinking, “do you see what I see?” Waste not, want not and we have certainly not wasted one thing lately (except for the hundreds of potatoes we’ve had to perfectly dice for homework every night.)
Let me break it down for you (no pun intended!):
On the first day of fabrication, we fileted some fish. Four different fish, to be exact! Salmon, mackerel, bass, and fluke. Growing up on the Pamlico River, I’ve caught and eaten my fair share of flat fish. I also had a totally inaccurate idea of how difficult flat fish (eyes on one side- like flounder) can be to filet properly. Wowsers!! Those skinny little bastards are sneaky tough to break down! The difficulty comes in the technique, you want to be firm and very precise, which means you must use strength but in a very delicate and careful manner. This sounds like a breeze until you realize you’re running low on time and this little guy is staring back at you:
After we “mastered” fish, we ventured further under the sea and practiced with shellfish. I was PUMPED to show off my shucking skills (“In North Carolina, we call this a cocktail party.” –Actual quote by me to team. Only the other college grad got it…) and I had a blast ripping the head off of the squid! Who knew Calamari is super fun to prepare!?! I also learned how to properly kill a lobster (knife right through the head) and opening clams in a beautiful way is nearly impossible. We made a delicious seafood stew with ALL OF THE SEAFOOD we cut up and I took a little bit home for Robert to taste. Loved it. Duh.
Like the dinosaurs, we moved from sea to land and in perhaps the most difficult day of fabrication, I learned how to break down a duck and two chickens. NOT as easy as it seems!! Joints: fun in college but quite the challenge in culinary school. Cutting through an entire bird, especially when you’re a little off with your knife placement, requires an extreme amount of grip and upper body strength that I obviously don’t have. After watching our chef’s demo, I end up at my cutting board staring at a naked bird and I think, “This is going to be easy. Chef just did this in 3 minutes. I have an hour. Done and done.” Oh God! Never assume! Especially in culinary school, because all of the sudden a little joint comes out of NOWHERE and just wont break in the right direction and before you know it, you’ve spent 12 minutes and all of your energy on an effing chicken wing. Then, thanks to the French, after breaking down the entire bird, you have to choose the “prettiest breast” (heeheehee… mind in gutter!) and “French it” (HEEHEE- mind in gutter again!). This requires actually cutting through the end of the bone without breaking it and then exposing the bone so that it’s appealing to the eye. That’s literally the only purpose of this ridiculous procedure- appealing to eye. Thanks French, you assholes.
We moved on from there to beef and veal. Fun and much easier to work with- I loved slicing up the beef loins and removing every last bit of the silverskin. My OCD was out of control on the days of beef and veal. MUST CLEAN EVERY LITTLE PIECE!!!
We climaxed with the rabbit, which brought everything we’ve learned together in one teeny, tiny little bunny carcass. I secretly named mine Edgar, which is Robert’s middle name and the cutest name for a rabbit ever! (I realize this would be much cuter if the rabbit was not skinned and sprawled out in front of me, waiting to remove his liver, kidneys, and heart.) For a better understanding of what I’m talking about, check out all of the photos I’ve uploaded!
