Please Come Back

While I thought Chef Instructor Hot was going to be THE Chef Instructor for my current class, it turns out he was just a substitute while Real Chef Instructor was off getting married in Zihuatanejo.

Chef Instructor Hot ran the class quite nicely. He focused on technique, not recipe. We could damn well make any sauce, use any herbs or spices and concoct some wicked flavor combinations as long as we followed the proper technique.

We could present our dishes for grading at anytime, as long as we met the specified deadline. Nice. Relaxed. Calm. Learning.

After two weeks, Real Chef Instructor returns. It’s back to the original grind. Assigned times for grading, and if you’re 1 minute early or 1 minute late, minus five points for the entire day. Ouch.

Real Chef Instructor spends almost 2 hours demo’ing the dishes we are to prepare. Once we know what we are supposed to do, he turns us loose and posts our deadlines. My partner and I are Team 2. We have 1 hour to prepare our dishes:

Coconut Basil Shrimp with Coconut Infused Rice
Frog Legs and Crab Cakes with Remoulade
Calamari Frito with Saffron Aioli

We are 2 minutes late. We get a stern scolding. “Ladies, what took you so long?”

Um, Chef? It took you TWO hours to do all this and you’re a pro. You want me to cook this shit in 1 hour? Um, okay. Minus 5 points.

I want Chef Instructor Hot back.