No Need To Be Sloppy

Oh how wonderful today was. I had my first day at the Chesterfield Technical Center, It's where i get to go every other day to study culinary instead of school. This place is spectacular, my teacher, Chef Kimmel, Is amazingly nice, and the kitchen is awesome. The gas stove has 20 burners, 10 in the front, 10 in the back; not to mention the pantry is filled with so many spices! After Chef Kimmel tested our knowledge of kitchen and culinary tools, he got us working on our cooking project of the day, Sloppy Joes. First Chef demonstrated mise en place basically having everything ingredient you need prepared and ready before you begin the actually cooking. Once we got started it was hectic,the 22 of us running around with pots, knives etc etc. It was exhilarating. The clang of the cooking spoons against the pots, the sizzle of the ground beef, the swift chopping noises; I was in my element.

After we had finished making the sloppy joes, we began to clean up our station a little before we went off to the cafeteria to eat.It was awkward since i didn't really know anyone to sit with, thankfully this one girl from my class invited me to sit with her friends. They were all girls so i mean i didn't have much to talk about with them, I'm more into talking about video games, not listening to pointless gossip. I appreciated it none the less.

When we returned to the culinary room,we began the clean up process. There were two super large sinks, each divided into thirds; one part for cleaning, another for rinsing, and the final one for sanitizing with water mixed with bleach. We also had to sweep and mop the floors, clean the stoves, take the garbage out, make sure all of our supplies were accounted for, turn in our knives, and was the tables with water and bleach. Sounds like it might be dull, but trust me, it's never boring in the kitchen, there was always something to do.

Pac-Manwhich [lolpun!] photo cred to http://www.insanewiches.com

Sloppy Joe Sandwiches:
-8 oz. ground beef
-1/4 onion, diced
-1 clove of garlic, minced
-2-3 un-pitted green olives, minced [optional]
-1 tsp flour
-1/8 tsp. dry mustard
-1 tsp.paprika
-1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. ground black pepper
-1 tsp. honey
- 1/3 c. ketchup or tomato sauce
-1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
-1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

First heat a pan on medium high heat.When hot enough to the point where the meat sizzles when it touches the pan, brown the meat with the onions, garlic, and olives. Drain some of the excess fat, but not all of it. Stir in the dry ingredients, simmer for 5 mins. Mix in the wet ingredients, simmer for another 5-10mins. Serve the sloppy Joes on toasted hamburger buns, a warm bun always tastes better.

It was a nice tasting Joe, or Jane in my case I suppose. Making these from scratch always tastes better, and you know whats in it, not to mention you can pronounce the ingredients. So basically, this recipe demolishes "Manwhich." Manwhich is for pussies! Whoopzie Doodles, i need to mind my mouth.

Its a basic recipe, but that's what this place is all about, learning the basics, knife skills, how to handle certain ingredients, etc. etc. So basically its legit awesomesauce to the max. I also have to wear a chefs uniform, which is freggin sweet, cant wait till the order comes in for it.

OH,on top of all that i had my first ever interview,for a job at "Party City", I nailed it. The manger said he put me in the "hire" pile. So in 1-3 weeks ill be working at one of my favorite stores! Excitement!

May the force be with you...

<3