Externship week eighteen

One of the dish from this week

Moving forward, close to the end...

It was my second week at Crave (yes, I am late again, don't know why this time). Second week was better than the first one. I did less prep work and more cooking. Also it's easier to work now, as I know people better. That part of my externship (changing a kitchen every second week) was probably the most difficult.
Also the chef here is really good. He spends a lot of time in the kitchen and he is ready to share his knowledge and experience with other people. I like this environment, because it's impossible to know

Externship week seventeen

Everyday tasting at Crave

The gift from the above...

Unexpectedly I found out that there is a rotation this week for me. My internship at the Japanese place was just for one week. Actually it was a gift from heaven. I came to work like to a salt mine. The place I was moved to is quite nice. The majority of people are Mexican here, but they are different! They are friendly and ready to help



Monday
Worked with a receiver. Helped him to sort out all stuff we have received that day. Monday is usually the biggest delivery throughout the week. There were a lot of produce, meat, and some other stuff. After that we were working on prep. Delicata squash was the fist job. I would expect

Externship week sixteen

Temaki with spicy tuna

What you can expect in Japanese kitchen?

I apologize for finishing this post so late. The whole weekend was dedicated to sort all belongings we shipped from Canada. We finally received it here in SF, so we had to pick up our container, unload it, return the container to U-Haul and sort everything. The apartment is still remind a warehouse, but it's getting better.

About my externship. Last week there was another rotation and I am at the Japanese cafe called Atom. I was really excited about this place, because I love sushi and hope to practise how to make them. I was in a state of shock. Have you seen a movie Ramen Girl? It was not SO bad in the kitchen but close enough. I though that there is a standard on campus, but I was wrong. So what to expect from the Japanese kitchen? I would say Japanese attitude. If you are an intern in the kitchen you are

Externship week fifteen

Latkes we made on Friday

Back to the Root.

This week I moved back to the Root cafe just for three days. I supposed to be at a different cafe, but last Friday it was changed. It's a new feeling for me to be back at a cafe I was before. Everything is familiar. It looked like a break.

The chef was happy to see me as well as the team.

Externship week fourteen

A label we use

Last week at the Mexican cafe

This week was the last for me at the Mexican cafe. I was able to learn some dishes and the more important the spices to use in Mexican cooking. I will definitely try to cook something at home to try. Also the Mexican food in general are quite simple, so it might be a good idea to have a Mexican dinner or lunch.

Externship week thirteen

Is it easy to roll a burrito?

This week was really short for me (at work). I worked only one day - Friday. It was a new place again, this time the cafe name Masa. This cafe cooks Mexican food. I am excited to be here. I like some Mexican dishes and some of them are really simple.

The day started with a call I received from the chef. He missed me (?) and gave me a call around 7:20 when I was in a shuttle. Probably I should have let him know that I am a late bird:-) When I came to the cafe it was a bit chaotic there, however I managed to find a right person and be placed to work.

My day started from peeling butternut squash with peeler, then cleaning them from seeds, and cutting them in a bite size pieces. Actually this was the first time

Externship week twelve

Mint-chocolate macarons

How to make French macarons?

My apologies for finishing this post so late. Last Wednesday I left for Toronto and there was no access to the internet for me. The next post will be at the end of the week as I will be back to work on Friday.

The second week at the Big Table and it's going to be a short one. I am working three days only and then go to Toronto for a week. This week there is a new shuttle driver in the morning and second day in a row I want to kill him. It seems he was enjoying morning ride in the traffic, no sense of urgency. Instead one hour drive he did it in an hour and twenty-twenty five minutes. Yes, the traffic is bad in the morning, however the other drivers somehow were able to make it in an hour.

What was going on at work? Again, out of three days I was able to choose the stations for two. And guess what I choose?

Externship week eleven

Stuffed pepper (Serbian menu)

What do I want to do? 

Last week the chef at Root asked me if I want to stay for one extra day and work on Monday there. She had a Serbian menu and she wanted me to work that day. I did. As a result my rotation happened on Tuesday and not on Monday as usual. The new place Big Table is quite busy, there are 600-800 guests on average for breakfast and 1200-1500 for lunch. The chef is a nice guy, very knowledgeable, hope to learn something here.

What was new for me is that I was asked what I want to do. It was great to be able to choose station I would like to work with.

Externship week ten

The interior of the cafe

Things are getting better...

Second week at the Root cafe and it's almost the middle of my externship. Last week I got an updated schedule for my externship. Two cafes were added. I don't know much about one of them, but the other is an Asian cafe and I am very excited going there. It seems I have adjusted myself for the work schedule and what is more important for the work environment. There are some rules which I don't like (taking lunch break at 10 in the morning when there is no food and I'm not hungry) but there are no strict control how you follow rules. Which makes life

Externship week nine

Working in the cold room,
feels like a North Pole

Where do you prepare cold dishes? Right in the cold room.

New place again for me. This time it's a cafe named Root. Don't sure about the name of the cafe and where did it come from. The chef is trying to play everything very simple, but with some sophistication. Anyway, it seems she know what she is doing and she is a nice lady. The manager of the cafe is not nice. Likely for me I saw her probably three times during the week.

Root is the only gluten free cafe at Google. There is no single item with gluten on premise. The chef is GF. I do not care much about gluten, but it is interesting to see what they are doing to substitute common ingredients. The cafe is opened only for lunch and that makes life quite easier.

Externship week eight

A typical menu for a day

Indian food the continuation...

That was the second week of my externship at the Indian reastaurant at Google. This week was slightly easier. It seems for me there work load was less than the week before. That in turn allowed me to pay more attention on what was going around, to ask more questions. Also I was able to finish my project at this place, to re-write recipes for one day menu in the CIA standard and then to cost all these recipes.

Externship week seven

An example of food served 

Indian cuisine...

This week is another rotation for me, this time this is an Indian food. The place I will be working at is the only place serving food restaurant style at Google (all other cafes are serving food buffet style). The curriculum for the next two weeks are very interesting and I am very excited about it. At the end of the next week I have to take a test, to show what I have learnt during these

Externship week six

Guess what they are doing? 

BA Catering the continuation...

The second week in the BA Catering. This week was more interesting than the first one. I was able to cook at the event and move a little bit beyond chopping vegetables in the kitchen. I should probably clarify about vegetables. I do not mind to do a prep work in the kitchen, I understand that this is foundation in preparation of any dish (you can not cook if you did not cut your vegetables). It would be great to move forward and do something more than simply cut vegetables for other cooks.

Externship week five

Zucchini stuffed and ready to be
cooked tomorrow

BA Catering this week.

This week there was another rotation for me and I have moved to Bon Appetite Catering. This department is quite different from cafes I worked before. There is no fixed time for service, but there is time to complete orders for different parties according to requests.

Monday
Monday was a bit relaxing as to compare with the previous four weeks. At the BA Catering that day was not busy. Also there was a new feeling for me as no time for a service. In the catering there are orders to be filled and all of them have different time. In the morning I made crostini. I had to slice thinly 12 baguettes, then season them with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and roast them in the oven. My next project, was

Externship week four

Moving forward, moving faster...

It was the second week at Hang Out. This week was a week of driving. On Monday I brought my car to the service, as somebody hit a passenger door. The dent was really small, but noticeable and since my car is in lease, I had no choice but to repair it (through insurance). So I brought my car and they gave me a rental one for the time being. Tuesday I drove to work because I had rental car with unlimited mileage. Wednesday I drove rental car again, because I had to pick up my car after work. Thursday I had big plans to go to Costco and BevMo. Costco did not work that day, but BevMo did. Friday I was a bit late in the morning and instead of rushing for shuttle I decided to drive and go to Costco after work.

At work Tuesday was not

Externship week three

Flatbread ready to be served

Starting learning tricks in the kitchen

This week was a rotation week, so I worked in a new place. This is a remote addition to the main campus of Google and located about 7 minutes drive from the main part. The number of guests are much smaller and I like it. Not because it means less work, but because there is no excuses for low standards. However, the low standards completely depends on the chef. If the chef allows it, you can do nothing.

The chef at this place is great. He is the youngest executive chef at Google at 26. He is almost all the time in the kitchen, constantly paying attention that everything is done as he wants it. He has no problem to clean a spill, or wipe a table.

So what did I do during this week?

Externship week two

The reality to be at a busy place.
.
Second week at the same cafe. On Monday I attended orientation for all new employees of Bone Appetite. It was from 9 to 3. We were told how great is the company, what are the core values of the company, what we suppose to do and not to do, and so on. It was really interesting to know about some issues and the best part that it was 'on clock', which means paid time.

Tuesday was back to the kitchen. The whole day was devoted to the prep work. Morning started from broccoli. There were about five cases to cut florets off the stems. Then there were five boxes of corn to clean, break in half, and roast. A team leader prepared chipotle butter to serve with the corn. She started to beat butter with wire whisk attachment. Very politely I asked if there is a paddle attachment in the house. She said they are the same. Less then two minutes later there was a huge piece of butter inside whisk attachment (to my deep satisfaction). I did not asked any more questions on that. About 15 minutes before service I was told that due to miscommunication the compound butter was not mixed with corn prepared for the service, so I had to

Externship week one

My knife after six boxes of eggplants

Externship - welcome to a real world of cooking.
.
The first year at the school is over and now it's time for the externship. Last Tuesday I started my externship at the Bon Appetite @ Google. Bon Appetite is a large company providing catering service for corporations, colleges, and another big organizations. That kind of service is beneficial for the business, as you do need to take care for many aspects related to the food production, starting from kitchen organization, purchasing, hiring qualified people, and so on. Yes this convenience comes at a cost, however for the big business is easier to absorb the cost.

My externship at the Google will be during the next five months. It will be a bi-weekly rotation between different cafes located on the main campus at Mountain View. For the first week I was placed to the one of the most busiest cafe Yoshka.

On Tuesday I spent about

Day one hundred thirty two

Our pulled pork burger and
coleslaw

The burger day!

It was a Friday and it was the last day of classes in 2013! Officially I have finished my first year at the Culinary Institute of America. On Tuesday I am going to start my externship at Google and will be back to the school in January next year.

On Friday we supposed to cook pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and potato salad. We discussed and decided to drop off potato salad and instead to make fried pickles. The chef gave us another dish (as we were not busy), which was salmon sandwich on a flat bread with iceberg lettuce salad.

Pork sandwich was good, as we dry rubbed pork butt with salt, sugar, and spices and smoked it overnight. On Friday we check it and

Day one hundred thirty one

Pasta with a lobster, asparagus, and
shiitake mushrooms

Pasta with a lobster, what can be better for a lunch.

This short course is going to the end. We have one more day left to cook lunch. After that we are going for the externship.

In the morning our chef was in a really bad mood. That was related to the fact that yesterday a few people did not do exactly what he was asking for and somebody even tried to argue with the chef. In the class we found quotation on the board 'I have never learned a single thing while I was talking'.

The production for our group was quite easy. We suppose to make spaghetti and meatballs, however the class doing fish sent us lobster meat and our dish was changed to a lobster pasta with shiitake mushrooms and asparagus.

The most time consuming task was to make a sauce. We used

Day one hundred thirty

Chicken Pot Pie with Buttermilk Biscuits

Secrets to make great biscuits.

Two days left before the externship. Today was the last day I worked at the school this year (I will return in January after the externship). There is a strange feeling, it seems I am going to miss the school unless during the externship will be extremely busy. Will see.

Today our team made a chicken pot pie with buttermilk biscuits. The idea of the dish is strange for me. A chicken pot pie is a soup, yes it is a thick soup, what's  the point to put biscuits in that soup? This I can't understand. I would rather keep them on

Day one hundred twenty nine

Guess what was the dish of the day?

We have today the dish of the day and it was a ramen noodle soup. As our chef said, this is the first time as he remembers that the Reuben sandwich was oversold. Usually the Reuben sandwich is the most popular dish of the day. Obviously that was not the case for today.

Preparation for our ramen we started yesterday - the chicken and pork stock was made during the class. During my work I took care to strain the stock and chill it and place into a refrigerator. Today we used a guidance from the book Momofuku by D. Chan.

A pork belly was prepared (also was cured yesterday). Regrettably we

Day one hundred twenty eight

Calzone with salad and tomato sauce

What is Calzone?

Today was an interesting experience for me. It was the first time since I have started the school, that I came to class having no idea what we are cooking. There was a discrepancy between a production grid and recipes package. The dish we had on the grid was not in our package and vise versa. My sous chef was not able to get in touch with the chef and clarify this.

What we found is that production grid was right and our dish is calzone with mushrooms, spinach, two types of cheeses, green salad on the side and tomato sauce. That was a relief at least to know what we are cooking, but what the heck is calzone?

I found out that a calzone is an Italian dish,

Day one hundred twenty seven

Our Sandwich

TGFI - sometimes it should be TGFiO (thanks God Friday is over).

Somehow it slipped from my memory and only today I realized that there was no post for Friday.

You know, sometimes there is a feeling in the morning that the day is going to be bad. That was Friday. I had to wait shuttle to get to school for 15 minutes (suppose to be 10 max, usually less). Then I had issues to print timeline for the day. Then during breakfast (second day in a row) there were no smoothies (I know sounds horrible, but here is breakfast class, so it should be some and I like them).
The rest part of the day at the school was like this, we were late with our food for lunch. We had issues in the team.

Our dish was pretty easy - grilled chicken sandwich with jalapeño cheese and cabbage coleslaw.  My timeline was not right, simply because the fact that chicken breasts for the sandwich we had to fabricate from the whole chickens. So at the beginning of class we all jumped to

Day one hundred twenty six

Conchiglie with pesto sauce
and pan fried scallops

Compare the lunch cookery with the breakfast.

Today we have switched from the breakfast cookery to lunch. After the first day, it seems I like it more. I still like the food we prepared for breakfast, however there are a few good points about lunch. The first one is that I returned to the 'normal' schedule, or better to say to the schedule of the last seven months (for me normal one is to wake up at 8 or 9 am). Second point is that the service for lunch is very intense but much shorter. We serve lunch for 45 minutes only, after that time we plate the balance of the food to the buffet. A not so good point is that we have lunch from 10:30 till 11:00. I'm not hungry at that time, so may be this is opportunity to loose some weight.

We have a new teams for the lunch cookery. Today our team cooked pasta (conchiglie) with pesto cream sauce, assorted tomatoes and pan seared scallops. The recipe for 60 people called for tomato concase or halved cherry tomatoes. Yesterday we did not

Day one hundred twenty five

Egg in a whole

The end of breakfast class!

Yes, today we have finished our short breakfast class. Tomorrow we are going to start lunch class. Breakfast cookery was really interesting, we made a lot of new and interesting dishes. The only negative (or inconvenient to be precise) point is the necessity to wake up before 4 am in the morning. The class started at 4:30 am and breakfast starts at 6:30 am. Tomorrow I can sleep till 6 am and I do believe it will be like weekend.

Today was a special project day for us. Each team had to come up with a menu for today. We planned the menu according to the stations assignment. It was our responsibility to request all necessary ingredients and to cook our menu for the customers (students and staff). At the end of the class we had a practical for breakfast class - everyone suppose to prepare

Day one hundred twenty four

A recipe to make perfect waffles.

We had second to the last day for the breakfast cookery. Our team made country style fried chicken and waffles. For me it was a strange way to serve it together, however it seems to be a classical American dish. The majority of people specifically asked for chicken and waffles on the same plate, some even asked to pour maple syrup onto chicken as well. I would prefer my waffles with whipped cream and berry coulis (and I had it for the breakfast).

Other teams made also interesting dishes: eggs benedict on polenta cake; corned beef hash; house cured picnic ham; crepes.

As per feedback we received the best dish for the breakfast was ours - chicken and waffles.

Chicken was marinated overnight in

Day one hundred twenty three

Our fruit platter

The secret of making smoothie. 

It was easy day, except for the fact that I did sleep very bad and in the morning had a real problem to open my eyes. Right after the class I rushed to the dorm to have some sleep. 40 minutes made a huge difference, the rest of the day was not so harsh.

Today our team were responsible for fruit platters, juices, smoothies, and muesli with cured pineapple. Among the interesting dishes cooked by other teams are: crab cake with egg benedict, spinach and parmesan cheese souffle, and cinnamon rolls.

We were taught how to cut fruits and how to handle them, so the fruit plate will look great. When you cut fruits (pineapples, melons, watermelon...) it's better to use slicing knife, as it is thinner and easier to skin fruits. Also when

Day one hundred twenty two

Finished doughnut

Do you know how to make doughnuts?

Apologies for writing this post with delay again. Somehow it slid out of my mind. I mean completely (probably I have MDD).

I did not know about it before last Friday. Our team made doughnuts and funnel cake. Other teams made pork belly, chiliquiles and some other standard dishes for breakfast.

Doughnuts and funnel cake we made from scratch. We started dough on Thursday and finished product on Friday. Making dough was not difficult at all. For baking you should be precise in you measurements and everything will be fine.

I expected that we will be

Day one hundred twenty one

Weird thing on a buffet today

Everything on a buffet table is edible, check it...

Another day of breakfast class. Today was not remarkable. Our team cooked potato (hash brown and Macaire potato) and meat (maple bacon, chicken-apple sausages, Burgundy sausage patties).

There were some interesting dishes cooked by other teams. Crab and avocado omelet, French toast, and creamy risotto with orange segments. Crab and avocado omelet was delicious.

Our team production indeed was not remarkable. Chicken sausages were already made, we had to blanch them in water and then fry to get some colour. Burgundy sausage patties also  were super easy. We made meat mixture

Day one hundred twenty

Quiche Lorraine pies finished and
ready to be cut and served

Going to the 'dark side' for the traditional Quiche Lorraine.

Second day of breakfast cookery. Today was a little bit different how it felt to wake up so early. A little bit tired, however was able to fall asleep yesterday at 10 in the evening. That was almost a record for me (days when I struggled with jet leg do not count).

Our team have done some baking today. Our chef called this 'go to the dark side'. We made Quiche Lorraine, which is traditional French savory tart with onion, bacon, cheese and custard. We managed to make it really good. There were good appearance and taste.

Other teams made

Day one hundred nineteen

Block of butter we
had to clarify today

What is the biggest amount butter to clarify so far? 

Back to the school after the summer break. This time we are doing high volume production cookery. This short block will be split in two parts: seven days breakfast and seven days lunch. For our group the first part is breakfast. The most difficult part is that class starts now at 4:30 in the morning. One day is done, six more to go.

The big difference for this class is that we have six groups and every group cooks something different every day. Our group has cooked egg benedict today (poached eggs, served on English muffin with a slice of Canadian bacon and sauce hollandaise).

Other teams cooked: ham and cheese omelette, asparagus fritatta, has brown potatoes with bacon, buttermilk biscuits with country gravy, fruit platter and smoothies.

As per our chef instructor for the first day we did

Day one hundred eighteen

My plate on the practical

What is the main point during a practical? Do not panic.

It was the second term practical exam yesterday. The task was easy - cook one menu in two and a half hour. There were six menus and by the draw it was determined what you suppose to cook. My menu was chicken consommé, beef stew, fresh pasta, green beans, and assorted vegetables (rutabaga, turnips, and carrot).

It was interesting, but the night before I had a dream of making fresh pasta. The pasta was only in one menu. When I draw this menu, the first thought was that I do not remember exact ratio for the stew. How much wine, or stock you need, so I went by instinct.

There were a few differences between the first term and the second term practicals. For the first tir we were allowed to use recipe cards. There were only two

Day one hundred seventeen

The day before practical...

That was quiet day. In the morning I took written exam. There were 100 questions related to all subjects we have studied so far (the culinary fundamentals, food safety, product knowledge, meat identification, seafood identification). Actually the written was easy. I have not received grade, however I am sure it will be above 90%.

Also there was final for the college writing. It was three parts: questions, short essay, and grammar test. The grammar test was probably the hardest part. There were 50 sentences and each of them have some kind of error. The task was to identify the errors. The good things that it was multiple choice, the bad thing is that 50 sentences were too many. Finally it's done. Will see grades later on.

Tomorrow is the second term practical for me. I have spent a lot of time going through the menus (six of them) and preparing my timelines for each menu. Everything should be fine tomorrow.

Day one hundred sixteen

Today's plate

What is a perfection?

The last day of A la carte cooking class. That was the shortest class so far, only eleven days of cooking (also arguing and fighting in the kitchen). In spite of the short time, I feel that the knowledge we receive  in this class exceed greatly what we got from the previous one. Tomorrow it will be written exam for me and on Wednesday is practical.

Today our menu was:
Grilled Mahi Mahi with Pineapple Salsa
Basmati Rice Pilaf
Sautéed Spinach
Grilled Vegetables
Chicken Consomme
Seasonal Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette.

I was responsible for the grilling fish and the rice pilaf. What I found out today, it that we had a plenty of time. Indeed, I had an extra hour. It was too early

Day one hundred fifteen

Our plate 

Some days are better than others

TGFI so glad about it. Unfortunately it was the worst day for the last two weeks. There was no common sense in people's work. That in turn created a chaos for the whole day. We were late with our food as well. At the end it was a huge relieve that the day was over at the school.

Our menu was:
Pan-fried Pork Cutlets
Sauce Chasseur
Braised Cabbage
Macedoine of Vegetables
Spatzels
Cream of Tomato soup.

I was doing the sauce and the vegetables. The idea of vegetables was interesting. Start with mushrooms and shallots sauté until golden

Day one hundred fourteen

Our plate today

How to prepare a perfect roast beef

Today was the first day of the last menu cycle. For our team it suppose to be the easiest menu, however we had a really busy day.

We prepared:
Roast Beef
Sauce Marchand de Vin
Potatoes au Gratin
Tomatoes filled with Duxelle
Endive a la Meuniere
Minestrone soup

In addition we had skills evaluation test and everyone made chicken consomme. Mine was under-seasoned the chef said more salt (such a surprise:-).  Will put more salt on practical.

For the main menu I coked Sauce Marchand de Vin and the roast beef together with

Day one hundred thirteen

Our plate for today

Making puree of asparagus soup.

The last day for this menu rotation. Today we were a vegetarian team. Tomorrow it will be our last menu for the A la cart cooking.

Today we cooked:
Ravioli Bercy with egg yolk
Millet and Cauliflower Puree
Sautéed Seasonal Green Vegetable
Beurre Noisette
Cream of Asparagus Soup.

Today was not a great day. We were back to the  arguing days and were not able to find a consensus. Result was obvious. Our dish was ok, but not great. Pasta dough was a bit too thick, the filling (ricotta and spinach) was a bit rough because of undercooked spinach. Sauce Beurre Noisette

Day one hundred twelve

Our plate today

How to make perfect fresh pasta.

We are getting closer to the practical. Today we have met with the proctor of the practical. I have a really great chef for the practical. Also there are going to be a series of skills assessments for the next few  days. Tomorrow each of us should grill a steak with a sauce Béarnaise.  Probably there will be also a consomme to make.

Today our team cooked the following menu:
Saute Chicken, Sauce Fines Herbs
Glazed Carrots
Buttered HaricotsVerts
Fresh Pasta
Manhattan Clam Chowder
Mixed Greens with Blue Cheese Dressing.

We were short today for one persone. He did not show up. As the chef said

Day one hundred eleven

Our dish of the day

Shallow poach fish. What you should pay attention for?

Wow, such a nice number of the day 111....

Today we cooked the same menu for the second day. We rotated  though and our team cooked the following dishes:
Shallow Poached Sea Bass with Clams, Bacon, and Pepper
Pommes Frites (French Fries)
Ratatouille
Buttered Asparagus
Corn Chowder
Caesar Salad

I was responsible for the shallow poached fish and asparagus. The fish was a tricky dish. First of all it was shallow poach. Small amount of poaching liquid is heated in a pan, then we had to start with clams (otherwise they won't open), then fish. After adding fish you need to

Day one hundred ten

Our short ribs. Delicious!

Braising. What is important in the process?

Somehow I just realized that there was no updates since Friday...

On Friday it was a new menu for all teams. Our team cooked the following:
Braised Short Ribs
Parmesan Risotto (A la Milanese)
Jardiniere vegetables
Caesar Salad
Puree of Broccoli Soup

I worked on Risotto, Caesar Salad, and helped with Short Ribs. We were able to make a perfect ribs, many people said that it was great. Also we got a couple of

Day one hundred nine

Our plate (final version)

Guess what is the best 'selling' dish? 

Today our team cooked the following:
Vegetarian Chili
Annatto Rise
Tortilla Chips
Puree of Lentil Soup
Mixed Greens with Fire-Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette.

Our dishes were good, very tasty. In some way I start changing my opinion about vegetarian cooking and food. What was really surprising for me, is that our dish was sold out in 25 minutes. We 'sold' more than any other team today. The reason for this (I think) is that we have the same menu for the fourth day in a raw. The only dish that is changed every day is a vegetarian one. I think people are bored with the same fish, poultry, and meat and whant to try something

Day one hundred eight

Our plate today

Back to the fundamentals...

Today was a new day and the new menu out of four days rotation. Our team cooked the following today:

• Beef Stew with Assorted Vegetables
• Roasted Garlic Puree Potatoes
• Gaufrette Potatoes
• Chicken Consomme (today garnish was vegetables cut julienne)
• Mixed Green Salad with Honey-Poppy Seed - Citrus Vinaigrette.

Gaufrette potatoes is a waffles of potatoes (cut on special mandoline). When you cut them cooking method is deep frying. The result is a crispy potato chips with waffle pattern. We used a couple per plate as a presentational garnish.

Roasted garlic puree potatoes is a way to

Day one hundred seven

Our tasting plate today

Making noodles from squash...

Second day in A'la cart cooking. Today our team prepared:
Poached salmon with sauce Béarnaise
Boiled parsley potatoes
summer squash noodles
chicken consomme

Our tasting plate was good, we were able to present it almost on time. Chef's feedback was mostly positive.

I made these squash noodles. Was a bit confused at the tasting, as the chef said less color during cooking. I understood it less color - less cooking. They were

Day one hundred six

Our tasting plate, chicken is somewhere on a plate

 Plating - can you lose your main component?

Today we have started a new block A'la cart cooking (Skills III). This block is a preparation for our practical, which is about two weeks away. The dishes we are going to cook is basically what we did in Fundamentals, but in a larger scale. We have the same menu (actually four of them) for the next four days and four teams are going to rotate around this menu. Then we will have another menu for the next four days and so on.

Also today reminds me good days back to the Fundamentals, when I was a team sous chef. This is not because the 'power' I have, but because we have the same class sous chef we had then and one more team sous chef, so it's really looks like old team working together. And yes, we have

Day one hundred five

Arugula and watermelon salad

Presentation is a key.

TGFI! And finally it's the end of the block, the last day of Banquet. Unfortunately it was not the best and easiest block, however it's over and I look forward to studying A la cart.

Today it was our menu. We prepared salad with arugula, watermelon, feta cheese, pine nuts, and balsamic dressing with a drizzle of faux balsamico on top. For the main course we made grilled lamb chops, with cous cous, grilled asparagus, orange bell pepper, and arugula-mint pesto. For the vegetarian option we had grilled portobello mushroom filled with sun-dried tomato and peas risotto on the bed of lentil puree (to have a complete protein).

In general our menu was good and well thought. The food was tasty and we were able to present them on time. What can be improved? A little bit less dressing on the salad arugula did not take much dressing. The lamb was grilled as

Day one hundred four

Our buffet today, love this salad with duck confit

Faux balsamico, how you can do it?

The second day of the menu. Today I was responsible... I was a floater, so basically I was not responsible for anything, only to help other guys when they need help. Our team worked on lamb, beans, stuffed tomatoes, and kale. First thing in the morning we fabricated lamb roasts. We split in half three legs of lamb and made six roasts. We tied them with garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Then we seared them and placed into slow oven (around 190 F) for two and a half hours.

The rest of the time I was working on some preparation for tomorrow. I made a vegetable stock and faux balsamico. Stock is not so interesting, so let's talk about

Day one hundred three

Poached salmon (we used sugar snap peas today)

New exciting menu.

Today we have the last menu scheduled for us. It will be the menu for tomorrow as well, and then, on Friday, we will cook ours menu.

The menu today included:
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Salad of Frisee, Endive, Watercress, and Duck Confit with Sherry Vinaigrette
Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with White Beans
Baked Stuffed Tomatoes
Sauteed Swiss Chard
Deep Poached Salmon with Beurre Blanc
Tourne Parsley Potatoes
Sugar Snap Peas
Potato Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce
Grilled Vegetables

Our team was responsible for the slow poached salmon, tourne potatoes, and sugar snap peas. It was interesting to see how some task people find daunting. Tourne potatoes was a

Day one hundred two

Our sampling plates for today

Making a puree soup right consistency

Second day of the same menu. We have two more menues till the end of the week, two days we will be cooking menu as per course guide and on Friday it will be our menu project, four teams will cook each own menu. Very excited to see cooking on  Friday.

Today I made a corn veloute. This is basically a thick soup or sauce, depends on the use. We used it as sauce for a wild rice quinoa cakes.

To make a veloute you sweat vegetables (onion, leak, celery - no dark vegetables, as you want light color). Then you introduce blond roux (flour cooked in fat). When roux is hot, add stock in small increments, whisking constantly so there will be no lamps. Add sachet for a flavor and simmer for approximately 20 minutes to develop flavor and cook off the raw taste of flour. Then you add corn

Day one hundred one

Our buffet today (view from salad side).
It seems quite ordinary:-(

Creamy Black Peppercorn Dressing.

New week and a new menu.

Today our menu was:
Senate Bean soup
Romain salad with creamy Black Peppercorn dressing
Roast breast of duck with tart cherry duck jus
Orzo
Haricot Verts with pearl onions and mushrooms
Beef stew with battonet of carrots, and white and yellow turnips
Buttered fresh pasta
Wild rice cakes
Corn veloute
Succotash
Seasonal mushrooms

Our team cooked soup and made salad. My project of the day was salad. I had to start to cut romaine lettuce and put it into ice cold water to revitalize it. The next step was to make a mayonnaise, as nobody ordered it (or it might happen on purpose). The challenge was

Day one hundred

Candied pecans are yummy. 

Time flies. It was day one hundred yesterday ('business'). Time goes so fast. In less then one month there will be written exam and after that second term practical, when we have to cook one of the six menu. The difference between first term and second term practical is that this time there will be no such things as recipe cards. We suppose to remember dishes and cook them without any auxiliary material.

Yesterday was Friday and it was second day of Southern menu. Mine responsibilities were green salad with candied pecans. It was the first time I made candied pecans. Green salad was more familiar for me:-)

To make candied pecans you blanch them first in boiling water for one minutes (really short period of time kust to warm them up a bit and make them wet). Then you toss pecans (or other nuts you want to candied) with powdered sugar mixed with spices of your choice. I had a mixture of cayenne pepper and salt with powdered sugar. The idea here is to create instantly a sirup which will cover nuts evenly. In the next step you have a choice. You may bake these nuts or