Guest Butcher and Day 1 of Croquembouche

Today during cuisine demo, we had a guest butcher come in and cut up an entire lamb.  It was very interesting and I feel like I learned a lot.  Granted, I probably won't ever need to butcher an entire lamb, but I'm still excited to know how.  I took a few pictures in case I wasn't the only person interested.

After a few hours of the bonesaw, we went upstairs to work on the nougatine bases for our croquembouches.  For storage purposes, we weren't allowed to make ours as tall as the chef's, but it was still very fun.  I made a base and a piece to add to the top.  Working with burning hot caramel was a little challenging, especially since my hand has just started healing from last week's burn.  I found that if I just worked quickly, dunking my hands in ice water when it started to hurt too badly, I managed just fine.  I escaped with only 2 small blisters, and I didn't even have to use the hot pink rubber gloves I bought in case of emergencies.  On Thursday, we will complete the towers; if anyone has any suggestions about how to get the completed work back to my apartment, please let me know!

Sweet Dreams!