Soon-to-be student needs advice!

To be honist with you, i would look around here. Everything is here. Use us as your resouce.

Another thing is I started at the CIA this past august, finished my first year a few months ago, They did seemt o think we should know our knives atleast but everything else isnt that big of a dael youll pick it up.

Mother sauces are easy once you get them down same with knives and rouxs and all that jazz.

So what im saying is dont worry, but if you do post it up here youll get the right anwser very very quick.

HOPE I HELPED!

Good for you!

Here is as good a place as any. E-gullet, too. Your problem is going to be that you don't know enough to really have the questions. But, that's why you're going to school.

As I said.

Peterson or Larousse are very good on the mothers. But first lesson: Don't overrate the mothers. Other than their utility there's nothing that special about most of them. Furthermore, besides Escoffier's five mothers (espagnole, bechamel, veloute, hollandaise, tomate) there are several others just as useful -- mayonnaise for instance. Remember also, there are a number of "right" ways to make most of the mothers. Keep some perspective. A kitchen is a place where you go to cook, not to receive the word of God.

Depends on thickness mostly. Fo 1-1/4" or less: Simple seasoning; no protracted or overly spicy marinade. Direct heat and plenty of it. Turn when the meat releases. If cooking on a grate, rotate for cross-hatching tatoo. Time the first turn for the tatoo. (Learn to) Press with the fingers to determine doneness. Allo the meat to rest. Second lesson: Respect your ingredients. Don't try to make them something they're not.

What is it with everyone and roast chicken? See the "Perfectly Wonderful Roast Chicken" thread in the recipe section. In terms of classic technique -- what I wrote about brining is probably not CIA applicable. The "truss and turn" method is otherwise classic, professional, French technique. Julia Child's method, described in "Mastering the Art ..." is another. Look around the web and see if you can't learn to truss a chicken. Learn to tie knots. That will save you some time.

Learn to free hand sharpen a knife very well. I mean very well. Invest in a good set of stones appropriate for the knives you'll be using at school. Don't spend hundreds of dollars on a knife "set" Yet. Learn to use a sharpening steel -- even if you think you know how to use one. For instance, steeling a knife does NOT include banging the blade against the steel.

Here's an off the top of my head list of most of the major culinary knives: Chef d'chef (big, heavy chef's knife aka "lobster cracker) Chef's or cooks; Slicer; Boning (desosser); Swedish Fillet (same shape as the boning knife, but flexible); Cimiter; Butcher's; Fillet (flexible utility); Utility; regular Paring (couteau office); Sheeps foot paring (pied mouton); Bird's beak aka turning aka bec d'oiseau aka tourne; Salmon slicer; Sole slicer; Ham slicer; gyuto; deba; Western deba; petty (really just a paring knife); yanigaba, sujibiki; nakiri; usuba; santoku; etc. Oh, there's the garde manger knives too. Homie don't do garde manger.

FWIW, the little dimples on a "Granton Edge" are called kullenschiff or simply kullens.

Try and stay simple minded, it works for me.

BDL

I'm a student myself; I knew many things about food and techniques before I joined but nothing hits you like realizing all the basics you're lacking. For instance, you should know your primal cuts of beef, veal, lamb and pork- the cuts that come from them as well as the method of cooking that is required for said cuts. It's useless to know how to cool something if you don't know what cut your cooling or the method it took to get it too that point. Along those lines, it's also best to know the different ways of cooking under the dry-heat and moist-heat methods.

Being able to identify products is also very important. Knowing your fishes and mollusks, the different varieties of greens and fruits are always helpful.

Techniques and the like are best learned through your teachers, otherwise you might learn something incorrectly and develop some bad habits. You'd never think cutting something correctly was so complicated until a chef corrects your posture.

My biggest advice to you though, is to work at being the top of your class; participate in any/everything your school has to offer from the very beginning. There are tons of people receiving the same education that you will be and graduating every month, make sure to stand out above them whenever you can.

Playing catch up in class is never fun but I tutor a lot of students who grew up with limited palates so it's not always about bookwork; one can't describe the texture and taste of a mango if they've never tried it.

Look through askthemeatman.com, it has a lot of information on proteins.
Go to wikipedia to find Beef Primal Cut charts.
I recommend using google to learn about moist and dry heat cooking methods as there are numerous sites for it.

For product identifying, visit different grocery stores. Organic, Asian, Russian, any and all have something new. Look for stuff you don't know about or how to cook, write it down then look it up when you get home.

Hope this helps!

-Rika