Its unbelievable, but there is only one full week left to go! We started this week off with an Asian buffet, which was prepped last Friday. Since the food is mosty fresh and rather quick to make, there wasn’t too much preparation actually required. Nonetheless, the class was divided into groups of 4 for the task. Each group had to create their own dishes and interpret the recipes accordingly. This all had to be well organized and executed in a timely fashion. We pulled together and did really well! We made pad Thai, fried rice, chicken satay, and peanut sauce. We also served up a whole roasted pig! We cut up a fully intact, dead creature, and yet again I found myself somewhat disgusted by it. I think it was extra difficult because it had a face! A face that could stare at you. Moving on…! On Monday we fired up and unveiled all our Asian creations onto all 3 classes of students. Lots of raving moans and satisfied groans were to be heard…Today was spent prepping for our tasting menu event next week.
The theme that we are focused on is an ‘out of the box’ breakfast. So each team has to come up with different dishes based on what a tasting menu consists of: hot/cold appetizers, meat/fish/chicken dishes, vegetarian dishes, and dessert. All together it will be a 10 course meal. I was assigned to the ‘hot appetizer’ wing with my teammate Robert. We decided to come up with a Swedish-inspired dish: crispy salmon rolls with fresh fennel and guava butter sauce. We had all day yesterday to test out the dish and price the ingredients (right down to the salt and pepper seasoning.) Each team has to cost out their own dish and place an order for what is needed. Our entire class budget for the entire meal is $1500. Thankfully because our dish is simple and easy to make, it comes out to about $1.34 a plate. Normally that would sell at a restaurant for about $12. Its just amazing to see the high markup for these dishes. So finally we tested out the salmon crisp rolls and they turned out amazing! We probably made 4 different versions before we arrived at a final choice.
So tomorrow is a prep day for Friday, the last buffet of the school year! We’re doing a Mediterranean buffet. I’m really excited about it and it’ll surely be adding more elements to my Middle Eastern foods repertoire. I promised to bring my own falafel recipe, which will be fun to share with the class…
hello top chef!
i found your site while searching for advice on how to sear tuna. i had it for the first time at a restaurant in dc recently, and wondered if i could recreate it. there werenʻt any directions on your site- is there a reason for that? do you think you will do that once youʻve graduated? iʻm sure your training couldnʻt possibly be given away by advising readers- it looks so intensive! all the other sites i looked at had inspecific directions. so i just went ahead. came out with the dressing more blackened than seared, but it still was good enough for me eating alone tonight!
i love all the brilliant and very attractive pictures of food on your site. however, i sympathize with difficulty cooking something with a face. i am pesco-vegetarian (i eat fish but no other animals) and i used to cook in a bar where i had to prepare or help prepare meat dishes from scratch- i did it cuz i loved the place but i did not enjoy that part of the job!
i admire you for following your dream!
nicole
Posted by: the.wild.geese | June 27, 2007 at 07:34 PM
Well Chef Top, it's almost over. You made this term alot of fun, I wish we could do it again! Remember your always welcome in my kitche (we'll whip some humuus and falafel)! Good luck on your externship and I'll see you at graduation.
"the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom"
-Blake
Posted by: Chef B | July 03, 2007 at 11:59 AM
I wish I could edit my post ! I just woke up and spell check doesn't work in the morning!
Posted by: Chef B | July 03, 2007 at 12:01 PM