Something fun...really fun.

At school right now I'm on the evening rotation I go to school from 2:00 till 9:00. Just until Christmas my class runs the evening service. We have 16 people to do a 5 person job. There is lots and lots of spare time. Chef Andrew will let us do anything in that spare time, in fact he encourages us. Any ingredient and any piece of equipment. And my class takes full advantage. There has been a smoked duck, a scallop terrine, popsicles made on the anti-griddle (a griddle that freezes instead of cooks), cucumber sorbet with ice wine, salmon cured in beet juice, oh the list goes on.Yesterday Chef Andrew asked if I wanted to make a fat sculpture and of course I said yes, even though I've never made a sculpture let alone a fat one. He had been making them for years and showed us a few he had done with a student last year. They look so cool.

So, I'm going to show you the process but I'm not going to tell you what it's of. It's going to take a few days but hopefully by the end of it you'll be able to tell what it is. One clue: It is Christmas-y. Of course!!

Here the block of shortening before I stick my hands in it...

And this is what the sculpture will be built on....
After 2 hours this is what it looked like...

Can you guess what it is? Just kidding, don't guess yet. It's missing vital parts.

It is so fun and relaxing. Who knew that you could do this with fat! I love it! I'm going back in today to work on it some more...I'll keep you posted.