These past few weeks have been really full of surprises !
In my last class Restaurant Rotation , We as a class had the honor of having a one on one with Certified world known Chef Ferdinand Metz... let me say it was the best experience i have ever had in my culinary life !!
At first none of us were thrilled because we thought he would be arrogant and full of him self like our Restaurant Rotation class Chef " yea yea yea " Wessman. but to our surprise when he arrived he was the most humble and relaxed guy we have ever met !!! it was an honor to have him by our side and teach us how to make many dishes with corn.
the menu was as follows :
Corn fritters ( NEVER FRY !!!)
Fresh corn polenta
Corn wontons
Corn dip
Corn chowder ( NEVER USE FLOUR)
He took over my friend's station and was showing her how to make the corn base for all of these dishes when Chef " yea yea yea " interrupted and tried to kiss major ass ( excuse my french ) by taking over her station and being by his side doing everything he said like a puppy. It was annoying until Chef Ferdinand basically put him in his place by saying " No you did it wrong ,do it again" haha. Oh we very much enjoyed that and had a good laugh at it. Chef " yea yea yea" then left and we returned to our normal selves.
I believe that what made us fall in love with Chef Ferdinand is that he was just the coolest nicest humble person... he let us know he was human like us too aside from his famous title.
We all stood in a line in our best behavior and watched and did as he said , he assigned us to do little things to help around , instead of taking over and doing everything by him self ( as you would see in TV shows)
I helped with the wontons , while a class mate cooked them and sauteed them, of course 6 at a time like he said because you dont want the pan to be over crowded. :)
one of the highlights of the night was the corn fritters... which were far from corn fritters. He refused to fry it in Chef's yea yea yea deep fryer that he went out and bought with his own money -__- need i say more ? (kiss ass) -cough-
instead he pan fried it. the first one he tried it did not hold so it ended up falling apart, so he did another one and it stayed together. we were all shocked to see that he made a mistake when his fritter fell apart ! it let us know he was human ! we were relaxed at the sight of that. he then made use taste both and compare and contrast the flavor... the one which fell apart had more flavor because of the butter he kept putting in to save it, plus it was more golden in color which adds to the flavor elements.
Another interesting thing was when he made the corn chowder. to our surprise he used no roux at all. he said roux and flour does not belong in chowder ! we listened and tasted and it was still a yummy chowder with out the thickening agent. one of the most important things he said that night was " read the labels always read the label " and to make sure to use the freshest ingredients " which not surprisingly a lot of people don't ..a sad truth. he reminded us a lot of our favorite Chef, Chef Williams. He use to scold us and say the same things he said. it made us feel comfy for a second. All in all i really enjoyed and will never forget this experience. it was the best time of my life !!!!!
p.s. It was cool when he recognized us the next day while serving his wine :)
