It's More Than Just Reading Recipes

Amongst the last few units, one particular instance stood out well over the others. The unit involved was when we made pastries or bars. Chosen by our group, Matt Baldino, Logan Puleri and I planned to take on the task of producing peanut cookie dough brownies. We knew well going into the procedure that it was a time consuming process, but I didn’t fully understand just how difficult and tedious of a task it was until we began. While I worked on the peanut butter cookie dough layer, Matt worked on a chocolate layer, and Logan worked on creating the brownies. After the previous day of strenuous mise en place, as a group, we were prepared to work as soon as we arrived. In order to complete the task, we worked extremely hardly the entire period. The full fifty or so minutes was just enough time to finish what we needed done. Once all the creating was complete, we still weren’t ready to enjoy our product. It took time in the freezer and time to bake before they were ready for enjoyment. The amount of time needed for preparation was much too long for us to stay and wait. We were forced to return a few periods later. When the brownies were ready, we pulled them out of the freezer and began attempting to cut the rock solid masterpiece. Using nearly all my strength, I struggled to separate the large dessert into individual pieces. Mr. Neumeyer saw my struggles and easily cut the brownies. The whole experience simply taught me two things. One, how cooking something good takes a lot of hard work and effort, and two how through experience, practice, and training, you become comfortable with any dilemma cooking or baking may present to you. Neumeyer’s assistance proved that true.
- Matthew M