At the end of our 8th week I
headed back to Dublin for the weekend and I felt like I needed it. Even though
I love being here and wish it never ends, living and studying in Ballymaloe is
like being in a bubble. You’re so immersed in all things food related and
removed from the real world that it’s difficult to stop thinking about it.
Being back in the big smoke was weird, all
the noises, the pollution and the busy streets almost made me feel like I was
in a completely different world. Even being in my own place, sleeping in my own
bed and cooking in my own kitchen was a shock to the system.
The weekend went by so quickly and on Monday
I was in Kitchen 3, back where it all started nine weeks ago. I remembered how
scared I was on my first day in that kitchen and how I burnt the onions for my
soup. I’ve learnt so many things since then and I’ve gained a lot of confidence
in the kitchen. I was delighted to have Florie again, as she’s just the best
teacher. I started the week cooking food that makes me happy: a curry, a
cucumber and yogurt raita and naan bread.
I was on salad duty that morning and
didn’t have a chance to get all my ingredients early so thought I wouldn’t have
enough time to do everything. My partner Denise kindly helped me to slice some
onions and once my curry was in the oven I managed to get everything done. I
was very happy with the results!
The afternoon demo was all about the
Ballymaloe buffet, covering all the dishes that are part of the
traditional Sunday dinner at Ballymaloe House.
The next morning I had to make pickled
beetroot as well as a cabbage pineapple and onion salad. It wasn’t too
challenging but what I loved making was a honeycomb ice-cream. It was quite
something to put the bicarbonate of soda onto the caramel mixture and to see it
bubbling. You then have to pour it quickly into the tin and let it set. In the
end the ice cream was just so tasty and you don’t even need an ice-cream maker,
that’s definitely something I’ll make at home.
Lunch that day was like the Ballymaloe
buffet, very colourful and there was so much food to choose from, everything was
simple but tasted so good. As I was on serving duty I got to carve the glazed
bacon, Kassler and pickled ox tongue. It was so funny to see the reaction of
some people when I was offering them some ox tongue. Being French I have no
problem with offal and can eat pretty much any part of an animal. So when some
of my fellow students looked a bit horrified at the idea of eating tongue I
just imagined what would happen if I offered them snails, frog legs, steak
tartare or tripe.
The afternoon demo with Rachel focused
mostly on fish and chips, crab and squid dishes long with nutritious Moroccan
soups.
With no cooking on Wednesday, the day was packed
full of information. In the morning Darina talked about cheddar cheese as well
as demonstrating delicious cheese biscuits. The rest of the morning was about
canapés and finger food. In the afternoon we got to learn about freezing food,
spices and we had an olive oil lecture followed by a tasting.
Back in the kitchen on Thursday I was on
bread duty and made a rosemary and olive focaccia that I was quite happy with, Florie
found it excellent. I was also delighted to get high marks for my passion fruit
mousse with sugared strawberries and my Moroccan spiced lentil soup.
The afternoon demo was a bit of a mix of flavours
with vegetable curries, risotto dishes and tarts. It even started on an
exciting note, with the crew from Primetime filming Darina for an upcoming show. She was delighted to talk about butter, ‘the fat of our land',
her eyes really smiled.
It was quite a long day but an enjoyable
one with our wine lecture in the evening including some revision for our wine
exam on week 10. After that, Gweenie, a fellow classmate shared her experience
of Woofing in Japan and also cooked some fantastic food for us to taste
afterwards, she almost made me want to live in Japan, a country I loved
visiting.
On Friday my highlight in the kitchen was making
strawberry jam, the smell of strawberries in the kitchen was just delightful.
Because I didn’t have many things on my order of work I added white and a brown
soda breads, neither of which turned out great. Funnily enough soda breads are
my weakness in terms of bread making and I much prefer making yeast breads,
even if they take much longer.
On the final practical exam, a bread will
be allocated by lottery to each student, so fingers crossed I don’t get a soda
bread. I’ve made soda bread at home before but in Ballymaloe you really have to
follow their recipe and techniques and even something simple like bread can be
tricky. The only thing to do is to practice and stay positive!
The next day, we ended the week with Rachel
demonstrating some delicious recipes: variations of bruschetta, roast duck
dishes and their accompaniments, puff pastry and several lovely meringues.
I was quite surprised how comfortable I was this week
in the kitchen, even finishing early which is definitely a great improvement.
As we are in the kitchen you don’t really notice it but I think I’ve progressed
a lot.
Sadly, I can feel that we’re getting close to the end of the course. People have started to talk about exams a
lot and others have started applying for jobs. Right now I just wish it would
never end. I think a part of me is scared of going back to real life, at the
moment I just have to follow a very organised schedule and I don’t have to
think about anything else. Of course I’d like to get back home (Dublin) but I
will have to find a way to stay as immersed in food. This is really something
that I love and doing the course made me even more obsessed about everything
(good) food related.
“Do you have any more jobs lined up?… I
think they want to stay with us forever”. Darina asking the students and then
talking to Pam because no one answered.
“You have to be very careful tasting
this…because if you do it will never make it to the freezer”. Darina talking
about honeycomb ice-cream.
“Pull it off like a very slimy sock” –
Rachel Allen taking the skin off a monkfish.
