The south has risen

Hey Yall!
I know it has been WAY too long since my last post! To be fair, I was off for three weeks for the holidays and since I have returned, I have not had internet access at home. I should be getting it tomorrow, but decided to hit the computer lab up because too many good things are happening that I have to post about!
Since we last spoke, I have completed all skills classes! Skills three wtih Chef Patrick Clark was a blast - hard, stressful, but fun! It was our production class - basically, we made the same things we had made in skills 2, but we improved them and made 20 servings of everything instead of just 2 for chef to taste. After chefs plate, the rest was for plated lunch service! We set up lines like in restaurants, chef was the expediter - as the other students and staff came to lunch, he would tell them their options and call out their orders, which we would then prepare a la minute (to order). "Fire 2 poached salmon, thats 4 all day!" he would yell. SO MUCH FUN. Intense, hard, stressful - but i loved it, which is what really told me that i am IN THE RIGHT PLACE. I feel like every day im falling more and more in love with what Im doing. Anyway, yesterday we started Cuisines of Americas with chef ken, which is the class i have been looking forward to the most! I must admit I dont like the setup, but i understand why they have to do it that way: ill explain. There are four groups, and every two days there are four menus. Group 1 completes menu one, and they do it the next day as well. Then on day 3, the menus change. However, we get all new menus - this means that during the two days, groups 2-4 have menus that I will never get to cook. They do it this way beacuse there is SO MUCH to go through, and if we make some of this time once and it doesnt come out right, we never get the chance to figure it out. So we can feel confident with our dishes, and at least see a variety of other things that other groups work on. We dont get to pick our menus - they are randomly assigned.
So, what made me so eager to post? TOMORROWS MENU! Thats right yall, its SOUTHERN DAY! Its technically called "The american south and louisiana", and the menus are divided as such: Louisiana, Texas, South, and TexMex. Why texas gets two and the WHOLE SOUTH only gets one is beyond me. And wouldnt you know, I got TEXMEX?! Bad luck. Dont get me wrong, texmex food is great, but louisiana and southern is what really butters my biscuits. But at least ill get to see it going on, offer critiques and assistance, and best of all...eat! Without further delay, here are the dishes the class is preparing tomorrow:
LOUISIANA: Shrimp and Okra Gumbo, Blackened Redfish with Crawfish Etoufee, Green Beans with Tasso and creole candied carrots, chicken and shrimp jambalaya.
TEXAS: Red pepper and grilled corn chowder, country fried steak with white gravy and whipped potatoes, stewed okra and tomatoes, red beans and rice, texas beef brisket chili and cornbread, baked beans.
THE SOUTH: Buttermilk Fried Chicken with braised greens and country chicken gravy, hoppin johns, fried green tomatoes, pulled pork butt bbq with onion rings, cole slaw, and hushpuppies.
TEXMEX: Tortilla Soup, beef fajitas with pico de gallo, guacamole, lime cream, flour tortillas, texmex rice, and refried beans, chile verde, jalapeno smoked shrimp with tamale spoon-bread sticks and pinto bean ranchero sauce, cheesy grit casserole.
Dont you wish you were me right about now?
Every team gets to prepare a different bbq sauce from various recipes we were given, but when I told chef where i was from he gave me permission to make my own, so of course ill be making my mustard based vinegar carolina sauce.
Thankfully, this chef professor unlike the last few allows pictures to be taken in the kitchen, and encourages it...so look out for pics galore!
Until next time (which will be sooner i promise)...EAT WELL!