Day three, Laundry list of info

Day three has been all about the tools and equipment found in a commercial kitchen.  (It has also been about my Filipino deskmate mumbling about tequila and mangos de Manila.)

So far, we've covered many different ovens, convection, salamanders, grills, griddles, flat tops, steam tables, bain-maries, broilers, warmers, rotisserie, stack ovens, combi ovens. 

Different commercial size kitchen choppers, dicers, mixers, slicers, processors, blenders, kneaders, steamers, pressure cookers, fryers.

We've spent time focusing on different types of metal for your pans and pots.  Aluminum (most common pan), copper (great heat conductor, also can make food toxic), stainless steel (poor heat conductor, used in hotel pans and holding containers), cast iron (must be cured against rust, breaks if dropped, heavy, versatile), and five or six others I can't remember offhand.

We've exhaustively covered pathogens and foodborne illness, or 'the microworld' as the book calls it (sounds like a theme park).  Viruses, bacteria, parasites.  Worms, diarrhea, vomiting, amnesia, miscarriage, vertigo, death.  Contagion, coughing up worms.  Food handlers with dirty hands, most of the time from their poop somehow.  Cross-contamination.  Seafood from bad sources.  Leaving food out too long.  Spores that form and can survive freezing.

There's so much I'm forgetting at the moment, too.  There's been a ton of info this week.  Tonight is a quiz, then we continue on identifying different types of pots and pans, then assorted tools.  I feel like the human version of the old school video game Frogger - hop to work, hop to school, hop home, repeat.  I'm tired as shit but can't stop smiling when I walk through the school.  Last night I watched a different class preparing ganache, then walked down the hall and there's a class rolling baguette.  It didn't look like pale student bread to me.  I mean, life is pretty damn tiring anyway.  Nobody I know - single people, parents, other - feels like they've neccessarily got a whole shit ton of energy.  At least I'm tired while learning about culinary arts.