Once upon a time in France there was a pastry chef. We will call her Mme. Beurre-Noisette, because beurre noisette is delicious and we are in a hurry. After years in a restaurant kitchen, she took a job teaching students to make pastry.
Mme. Beurre-Noisette loved almost everything about teaching. She loved to watch the students who came in unable to tell a batch of pâte brisée from a gob of wallpaper paste turn into students who could make pâte sablée with one hand and pâte sucrée with the other.
Occasionally, though, some of the students still seemed a little confused about the wallpaper paste.
One such student turned in a required essay to Mme. Beurre-Noisette. Initially, Mme. B-N was struck by the high quality of the the writing. Who knew the student's understanding of the chemistry of pâte à foncer was so subtle? Who would have thought--
With a thud, Mme. B-N's enthusiasm plummeted earthward. This sounded a lot like Escoffier, she thought to herself. Sure enough, the student had taken her essay directly from the master. Directly, as in CTRL-C CTRL-V Bob's-your-uncle. Directly, as in roughly 5% of the word count originated with the student.
We will gloss over some of the details, because it would be a shame if Mme. Beurre-Noisette were ever to get fired for blogging, but the story wends its way to a panel of culinary school authorities. When this panel convened, my friends, Mme. B-N was, shall we say, surprised to discover that the student's statement described her as a super-mean meanypants with unreasonable standards. All the other instructors thought it was fine to use stuff from Escoffier.
Mme. Beurre-Noisette, like someone else who appears occasionally in these pages, is a rule-following type. After the panel questioned her, she was distressed. She is waiting for the results of the panel's discussion, feeling a little worried about a minor procedural error she made as a newcomer to the panel process.
She can't help thinking, though, that she is not the one who deserves a slap on her flour-dusted wrist.
P.S. I am fine, family is fine, work is fine -- just TOO DANG BUSY to blog.
Recent Comments