When I took my weekend sojourn to London, I missed one class which happened to cover the varied spectrum of eggs. So, I was able to reschedule the missed class for this past week with a Level II class that meets on the Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday evening schedule.
Flat omelets, rolled omelets, poached, fried, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, sunnyside up, over easy, scrambled, cocotte (cooked in a ramekin with cream), stuffed…an almost endless amount of ways to serve this simple staple of our diet.
I could go on about how Chef showed us how to roll a good omelet or timing of a perfectly cooked egg – but something else seemed to peak my interest in class.
When I walked into the kitchen to set up my mise en place, I introduced myself to the assistant Chef and the Chef-instructor as a courtesy so that they understood why I was there. There were about 20 students in class and maybe 2 or 3 of them came over to me and introduced themselves. I found this interesting since the kitchen is a generally social environment. Now, I’ve worked in kitchens at different times in my life so I feel I’ve had a fair amount of experience in this setting. There was a weird vibe in that class – I couldn’t put my finger on it. It felt completely different than my usual classes. Overall, the students’ level of acuity was lackluster, unwelcoming, stiff. In this class students are paired with the same partner, at the same station for each class. How boring! I love working with different people no matter what their skill level. Cooking is like sex – sometimes you call the shots, sometimes you’re on the bottom and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you plate at the same time.
I left class that night with a greater appreciation for my own classmates (I love you guys!), our personalities, differences, skills and sense of humor blend together like a wonderfully seasoned and composed dish – all the components that make cooking and eating together a pleasure.
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