Weeks 11 and 12
Last week in basic we learned how to fabricate and make shell fish dishes. Not bad. We made Oysters Rockefeller. Another team made clams casino...which I was really interested in tasting since I saw George order it on one of the episodes of Seinfeld.
For Garde Manger last week, we made some more appetizer/hors d'oeuvre items. Our team made beef sate (beef skewers) and shrimp tempura. I don't know about you, but I have tried some pretty horrid tempura recipes in the past. In fact, over the past two weeks between Garde Manger and Basic, we have had tempura three previous times--and not one of them tasted like tempura. So this particular recipe seemed like a winner...and it WAS!!! The trick was keeping the batter really REALLY cold (no need for club soda), swishing the shrimp while it is frying (to get those delicate crispies on the breading), and using a mixture of veg., peanut, AND sesame oil. Very tasty!
This week for basic was horrendous. To comply with state funding regulations, we had the career services lady come speak to us. But she has no experience with food jobs. All she did was ramble about resumes for 30 minutes. And our chef canceled the rest of class. So I drove about 40-50 minutes to class for a 30 minute presentation that was not informative and then drive 40-50 minutes home. Ugh!
Garde Manger this week was a little boring, but I did learn some cool stuff re working with aspic. We made and pour some aspic on styrofoam plates and then artistically decorated them, and then sealed the item in "suspended animation" with more aspic. Kinda cool stuff! Our team also worked on chaud-froid...the same thing as aspic except made with cream/sauce instead of water/stock.
Our designs were fun to make, but nothing exciting (unless you count the Shrek character made out of cucumbers).
The good thing about garde manger letting out so early was that a few of us got the chance to finally try out the school's own restaurant. Today was french bistro day. We had mussel saffron soup, quiche lorraine, and chocolate souffle. I was really impressed with what our school produces. I am impressed that these classes will lead us to producing this level of dishes.
No pics for these two weeks. Nothing photo worth unless you want to see the crazy aspic photos....oooooohhhhh, why not. Below are the aspic creations and the hors d'oeuvre items from last week. (hmmm...I tried to get the photos to appear, but they aren't showing up [even with the insert photo function]...so feel free to click on the links. Enjoy!)
Beef Sate
Shrimp Tempura
Basic Aspic with veg carving
Shrek under aspic on chaud-froid
For Garde Manger last week, we made some more appetizer/hors d'oeuvre items. Our team made beef sate (beef skewers) and shrimp tempura. I don't know about you, but I have tried some pretty horrid tempura recipes in the past. In fact, over the past two weeks between Garde Manger and Basic, we have had tempura three previous times--and not one of them tasted like tempura. So this particular recipe seemed like a winner...and it WAS!!! The trick was keeping the batter really REALLY cold (no need for club soda), swishing the shrimp while it is frying (to get those delicate crispies on the breading), and using a mixture of veg., peanut, AND sesame oil. Very tasty!
This week for basic was horrendous. To comply with state funding regulations, we had the career services lady come speak to us. But she has no experience with food jobs. All she did was ramble about resumes for 30 minutes. And our chef canceled the rest of class. So I drove about 40-50 minutes to class for a 30 minute presentation that was not informative and then drive 40-50 minutes home. Ugh!
Garde Manger this week was a little boring, but I did learn some cool stuff re working with aspic. We made and pour some aspic on styrofoam plates and then artistically decorated them, and then sealed the item in "suspended animation" with more aspic. Kinda cool stuff! Our team also worked on chaud-froid...the same thing as aspic except made with cream/sauce instead of water/stock.
Our designs were fun to make, but nothing exciting (unless you count the Shrek character made out of cucumbers).
The good thing about garde manger letting out so early was that a few of us got the chance to finally try out the school's own restaurant. Today was french bistro day. We had mussel saffron soup, quiche lorraine, and chocolate souffle. I was really impressed with what our school produces. I am impressed that these classes will lead us to producing this level of dishes.
No pics for these two weeks. Nothing photo worth unless you want to see the crazy aspic photos....oooooohhhhh, why not. Below are the aspic creations and the hors d'oeuvre items from last week. (hmmm...I tried to get the photos to appear, but they aren't showing up [even with the insert photo function]...so feel free to click on the links. Enjoy!)
Beef Sate
Shrimp Tempura
Basic Aspic with veg carving
Shrek under aspic on chaud-froid
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