What To Do With 30 Gallons of Brown Beef Stock

Wow, week one of Foundations II is done, and I am actually happy to have a weekend off from school. Not because I do not like what I am learning, but because I need a break from the high intensity pace that is a part of this class. On day one, we made over 30 gallons of Brown Beef Stock. Day two through four we made 4 mother sauces and 6 small sauces.

So what are the Mother Sauces? Bechamel, Tomato Sacue, Hollandise, Veloute, and Espanganole. The Mother Sauces form the basis of almost every sauce you will find in the culinary world.

The pace of this class is intense. A typical day starts at 6:45 AM when we are allowed into the classroom. We have 15 minutes to set up our station for the day. This consists of getting all of the equipment at our station that is needed to prepare the day’s recipes. Then we have to line up for our uniform inspection and our personal inspection (showered, shaved, hair in a net if needed, shoes shined, no ring tongues, jewelry etc.). From 7:00 to 8:00 Chef Winter has a demo on the items that will be prepared in class. For the next 2 hours, we have to prepare the recipes for the day. Then we have 30 minutes to clean pots, pans, utensils, cutting boards, stove tops, the walk-in cooler, floors, walls, and take out the garbage and recycling. If we are not done in the 30 minutes, everyone is docked 1 point for the day.

If you have ever seen the TV show Chopped, you get an idea of the pace and time limit that we are under for those 2 hours. Day 3 of class we had had to prepare two Mother Sauces, a Velouté (stock made from Veal, Chicken or Fish Stock with a blond roux) and a Bechemel (white roux combined with milk), and two small sauces, a Mornay Sauce from it’s Mother Sauce Bechemel, and a Allemande sauce made from it’s Mother Sauce Velouté. Was I stressed and were my classmates stressed? At least for me, this was an extremely stressful day and I am sure the majority of my classmates felt the same way.

After four days, I am becoming more accustomed to the pace. Even starting to enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes with being this busy, it could become addictive.

So what to do with 30+ gallons of Brown Beef Stock? Well, we will be using it for everything from sauces to soups, so we should have plenty to eat in the coming weeks.

Cheers