Formal Restaurant Cooking week three (final)

Amuse bouche for family night
Arugula, peach, prosciutto, cheese

Final week at the school!

We came to the point of the final week. It was a really short week, we had three days only cooking at the restaurant and graduation ceremony on Friday. Even though we should not worry too much about making extra product, the chef asked if we could to make some product for two days of service. She asked to prepare some items which we could freeze. For our station these items were caramelized onion broth, meatballs, and corn soup.

On Tuesday we had a meatball 'party'. We planned to make half a butch of the meatballs. Right at the beginning of our shift we started to ground meat, mixing with vegetables and spices. Then added salt and pepper. After that I cooked small taster and it was spot on. I know that it was a coincidence to have perfect amount of salt and pepper from the first attempt, but felt good about it anyway. Then we formed meatballs, cooked them and during the service we simmer them with the sauce. A couple other stations struggled the same day to get

Formal Restaurant Cooking week two

Our small pot with onions
to caramelize (4.5 gallons of onions)

How long does it take to caramelize this pot of onion?

Second to the last week of Formal Restaurant cooking. It was short week, we had only four days because of Labour day weekend. The filling was that the program at the school was almost over, just a few days left. It did not mean that we were regret about our time here, but more anxiety to finish this big project.

During the week the appetizer station  was constantly the best:-) We worked very well together with John, also we had a great team in the morning shift. These guys usually done a huge chunk of prep work, and that helped a lot, we were more focused on the small details. We did our portion of prep work as well, don't get me wrong. The biggest advantage was that we worked as the team with morning guys, we all did not think only about our own shift and that's why

Contemporary Restaurant Cooking week three

The best piece of salmon
I have cooked during the class

The best way to deteriorate morale.

Trying to close gaps in the blog. It is really strange - it seems the week just ended, but then quickly realizing that that week was over long time ago and nothing was written about it in the blog...

Last week of rotation for the contemporary cooking was short. It was the week before summer break and everyone was tired already. Strangely, somehow it builds up, the tiredness. People are looking forward to the break and every extra step becomes difficult.

For me that week was not easy. Everything began with my bad mood. I realized that I had no feedback from the chef. He always demanded to prepare great food, seasoned to deliciousness. How I suppose to know if my food met his requirements or

Formal Restaurant Cooking week one

Mussels with caramelized
onion broth and fennel
sausage (from our menu)

The countdown begins...

That is our last block at the school - Formal Restaurant cooking. During this block we suppose to focus more on quality of dishes and on time management so the food should leave the kitchen on time. We have different chef-instructor for this rotation. Our previous instructor is going to teach morning class and we got an instructor from the morning class. For the first day it was a bit hectic, as she tried to micromanage every single aspect in the kitchen. Honestly, some people really need it, however they do not appreciate it. For me it was all right - she tried a couple times to teach me basics, but then she saw what I can do and since then there were not micromanaging for me. Yes, she comes once in a while with some constructive criticism, but she always has a point and I see it as an opportunity to learn and improve.

For this rotation John and me decided to chose

Contemporary Restaurant cooking week two

Fish course - shallow poach
sole with vegetables

The last cooking exam at the school...

The second week of cooking in the restaurant was not easier. It was again full of mistakes and miscommunication. We were consistently late. In the middle of the week we switched with John, so I started cooking proteins and he making garnishes and plated food. Same day we switched we had a menu change. The proteins were the same, there were some changes with garnishes and sauces. Beurre blanc for the sole dish was changed to plum sauce, asparagus for salmon was substituted for Romano bean salad, and chickpea stew was changed for faro salad. In a way it was good, as the new garnishes were easier to assemble and prepare. What was not cool is that for the first couple days when we switched, I was not able to help John with plating or finishing dishes, as all my attention was for proteins and I had no chances to learn how to make new garnishes. Ater couple days it changed and I helped him when it was required.

In the middle of the week

Contemporary Restaurant cooking week one

Chicken dish
the presentation is clumsy

The last two blocks in the school...

The last two blocks of the school are in the kitchen. Honestly, there were so many things going around, so I had no chances to find time for the blog, my apologies. Now, when the first block is over and I am on summer break, I am going to catch up and write notes for the blog for the last three weeks.

So, let’s begin. It was switch and our half of the class moved to the kitchen. That was rough, indeed. It was not the point that the cooking is very difficult. The dishes we were cooking were really simple. The problem is some individuals. Some people are extremely slow and have no sense of urgency at all. On top of that, one of my classmates was always in demand for the student workers help. Yes, we have student workers in the kitchen and they were helping for the really big tasks or when you are really behind. In my mind you should not

Formal Restaurant Service week two and three

After the shift, ready to taste..

The conclusion for the front of the house classes.

These were last weeks on the Front of the House. It was a really great experience and it was the second course at the school when I was sad that it's over. The first one was for the Baking and Pastry skills development. For me these two weeks (as well as the previous four) were quite smooth. There were probably a couple of days when we had a crazy amount of guests. A couple of days we had a normal number of guests, but the majority of them arrived almost at the same time.

One day on the second week the Dean visited us to see the class. He was very impressed with everything. Starting with our wine tasting during line up, the way the wine was analyzed by us (students). Then he saw the full dining room and

Formal Restaurant Service week one

the view across the road

Some conclusions about the front of the house experience.

We started another block - Formal Restaurant Service. The difference between contemporary and formal service in our case is not significant. The expectations are much higher, however the way we serve and the menu itself are the same. The expectations are that we are able to provide service to our guests at the higher level. It is more important that we follow three R rule (refill, replace, remove), we greet each table in two minutes, keep an eye on assigned tables. The ultimate goal is guests happiness with all aspects of the service.

The first week was quite hectic. I have no idea why it was quite difficult. On the day one my back server started the day by giving me instructions what to do and how to do it. You may imagine my 'happiness'. Unfortunately, the guy did not remember his duties and since that had an impact on my guests, I told him about that. Later on,

Contemporary Restaurant Service week two and three

Restaurant's terrace in the evening

How possible to meet people from Toronto at the school?

One more week where I missed the post.

It was our second week of the contemporary restaurant service. There was a change how we work. We are not doing the whole cycle for a table. Instead we were divided for front servers and back servers. The front server is responsible for sales to the table, for taking order, communicating with the chef if there are any questions. The back server is a helper and supposes to serve water, bread, remove dirty plates, mark the table for the next course, and so on. Also there were different workload starting that week. The front server served four tables and the back server provided support for two front servers. These positions are not permanent,

Contemporary Restaurant Service week one

Our restaurant inside

What is more important - good food or good service?

Somehow I missed posting here for a couple of weeks (again), so need to fix this. We started our restaurant classes, our last big block before graduation. The schedule changed dramatically - we have classes from Tuesday to Saturday, also the hours for the classes seem quite long from 2 p.m. till 11 p.m. The end time is approximate, the first week we finished around 11:30 p.m. every day.

The first week of service each of us had two tables and we were doing the whole cycle for our tables, starting with water, taking orders, bringing food, cleaning and resetting our tables. Honestly, I was scared about this class. The idea to speak with strangers, explaining the menu, trying to sell something was terrifying. Also there was expectation for us to know

Wine study weeks three

What is a good wine pairing?

Somehow found myself behind with the blog. The last week of wine study was less intense, than previous two. We had a quiz on Monday about European countries we had learned during week two and the final exam on Friday. The final was easy, as it was an open book exam. There were a couple of crazy questions, but it was not so bad.

On Monday we had a food pairing exercise in class when we were given six wines, bean soup puree (quite basic), and a tray with 25 different food items (cheese, bacon, pork, herbs, sour cream, and so on). The idea was to find best adds on to the soup, to improve it taste when you try it with wine.

On Tuesday, as a part of the class we had a lunch at the school restaurant with wine tasting. For each course (appetiser, main, and dessert) we had three different wines. The idea was to taste food with wine and find out which one is the best choice for the food item. Then we had to write a paper

Wine study week two / Introduction to the customer service

It's me in the service uniform

Can Riesling be sweet?

The week was quite busy. In addition to wine class I had another class for four days in the mornings - Introduction to Customer service. That class was a basic training for the waiting tables. In one short week, right after wine class we start our restaurant classes - half of the group will be cooking, the other half serving, after six week we will switch.

Wine class was about Europe. The biggest difference between New World and the Old one is labels. In New World the wine labels are straightforward - country, region, producer, grape type, vintage year. In the Old World labels are not so obvious. There will be the name of the region (sometimes just a village name), quality level (vin de table, Appellation d'Origine Protege, etc), maybe the name of vine - Chablis for example. Based on the region and village name you suppose to conclude the grape type or blend type.  Chablis is made with 100% Chardonnay in the region of Chablis. In case of

Wine study week one

Our first fly

Where wine produced in the USA?

The first week of wine study class and the first week of the last (fifth) semester at the school. Time flies. Did not expected that it will be so fast. Wine class is harder than I expected.  There are A LOT of information, indeed too much. Every time we try to limit it amount a bit, we have an answer from the instructor 'haha, class with major in wine have to know much more'. It's true.

During our first week of study we learned about different types of wine (I thought there are two - red and white. LOL) how grape are grown, the general steps in wine production and some other technical details. We also studied wines of USA. It was a surprise to learn that in the USA wine is made not only in California, but also in

Baking week three

Cheesecake made on Wednesday

How to make a great sorbet?

This was our last week in Baking and pastry skills development. The chef was probably happy to get rid of our class. For me it was sad to go. I did enjoy this class and all these great products we made. I feel that I learned quite a lot. On our last day I told the chef

Baking week two

Coconut cream pie

What is the most important in bread?

That was our second week in Baking and Pastry skills development. The week in general was really good, except for Thursday, when the chef was extremely bitchy and barked at everyone. I go bollocking for using a wooden board to cut salami. I tried to say that it was ready to eat food and the cutting board was from the hot side, not from the baking shop. He yelled at me and all I could do was to say 'yes, chef'. Other than that the week was good. The chef struggled with our class, he did not expect to have so many people who do not pay attention and doing what seems easier for

Baking week one

Chocolate hazelnut cake

How difficult is to make pie dough?

We started Baking and Pastry Development skills last week. This is school practise - send bakers for three weeks to the kitchen and send cooks for three weeks to the baking side. Our instructor welcomed us on the 'bright side' (he calls kitchen 'dark side'). Baking shop is very different from the kitchen side. It has different mentality. You have to use exact measurements and for large volume they are grams and ounces (or pounds), not spoons or cups. As soon as you form your product and place it into oven you are not able to change anything, it's done. In the kitchen you can adjust seasoning, add some flavor, and so on. Our instructor is really

Garde Manger week two

One of our plates from Friday

Salt perception on the same product when it cold or hot...

The second week of Garde Manger was even more intense, but interesting. We made a lot of forcemeat (galantines, terrines, pates) and we made very interesting flavours.

Monday was the sausage day. All class was busy making sausages. I made sweet Italian sausages. Before I mixed seasoning I asked the chef if the recipe is accurate in terms of salt. I remember making similar sausages in meat fabrication class and the recipe was really off for the amount of salt. The chef said the recipe isfine. So I made sausages as per recipe and it was over seasoned. Later I realized why did this happen. I was making half a recipe and used full amount of spices and salt. I poached them first and then grilled. The poaching

Garde Manger week one

Our piggy for the class

Why knife skills are so important in Garde Mange?

This week we started a new block - Garde Manger. This block is all about cold buffet, appetizers, and different techniques for preservation. We are going to make sausages, pates, and some other exciting dishes. The instructor for this block is extremely knowledgeable about the subject and very passionate. Also he is very open minded and understandable. His position is that mistake could happen, but you should analyze your mistake and learn from it, to avoid the same or similar mistake in the future. Garde mange is all about presentation. As a result knife skill

Cuisine of Asia week three

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu

Cuisines of Asia is over!

The final week of Asian cuisine class. I was so happy that this class is over. It has been probably the biggest disappointment for the whole school so far. The instructors for the two pm classes did not do great job. The main idea for the whole block was that we are not going to be experts in Asian cuisines anyway, so why to bother. It's true that this is not feasible to learn a cuisine even for one country in three weeks. However, looking back I guess that Cuisines of Europe was the heaven.

Cuisine of Asia week two

Miso marinated Black Cod

The continuation os Asian cuisine.

We continued our 'trip' in Asia. This week we started with Korean cuisine. Then we moved to Japan and finished in Vietnam. It seems the class in general is not well organized. Our production is consistently low. We have too much time to prepare these dishes, and our class is only 13 people. The sister group is 20 people, what they are going to do is a big question.

Cuisines of Asia week one

The dish of the day on Friday:
Lion Head Meatballs

Chinese cuisine...
As we finished our short 'trip' in Europe and Mediterranean our next destination is Asia. The first stop was China, or to be more detailed Chinatown in Oakland. On Tuesday, the first day of class, we went to a field trip. We visited Ranch 99 Chinese grocery store in Berkeley, Dim Sam Palace Chinese restaurant in Oakland, Koreana Plaza market Korean grocery, and Chaat and Market an Indian store and cafe in Berkeley.
This field trip was interesting, but we spent way too long time at grocery stores. Our instructors needed to buy some ingredients for class and we got 45 minutes time to discover unfamiliar ingredients. In a normal day, when I do grocery shopping it rarely takes 30 minutes for me. Here I got 45 minutes, and I did not buy anything.
Dim Sam Palace was

Cuisines of Europe and Mediterranean week three

Sauerkraut with sauasages

How to chose the menu?

The final week in the Cuisines of Europe and Mediterranean. For this week we had four days of normal classes and Friday was our special project. For the special project we had to prepare the menu of the country chosen on day one by drawing. It had to be a full menu - how it would be in the country. We were not allowed to cook any dish we prepared during our class. Our country was Morocco. We chose really simple menu, which was easy to execute and it paid off. The chef said we were the best team, the menu was Moroccan, very traditional.

During the week we finished Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary), cooked English Islands menu, and had Scandinavia and Russia for

Cuisines of Europe and Mediterranean week two

Our pizza oven

What is the biggest mistake in making stew?
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I have just realized that nothing was posted about week two in Euromed class. Last week was short and crazy. Monday was day off, but the rest of the week I worked for a French Bistro bootcamp and my day at the school was about 14 hours every day. The positive is that next Friday a pay check will be deposited to my account, however it won't be as fat as I wish:-)
That week we finished cooking Italian food, then we had France for two days and on Friday we started the central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary). Also there were a

Cuisines of Europe and Mediterranean week one

Paella cooked on Thursday

What is the key to make a great paella?

As we finished Cuisines of Americas we moved to the Europe and Mediterranean. Our instructor is really great, she not only extremely knowledgable in this region, but she also very passionate about teaching. The downside is her temper. Sometimes she is not happy with the class and makes everyone miserable.

Cuisines of Americas week three

Very Mexican ingredients

How the South America develops ceviche and like dishes?

The last week of Cuisines of Americas. To the many words in Spanish this week has brought addition for Portuguese words as well. I was really surprised to learn, that there were Japanese influence in the South America, and that is why there are so many dishes representing quick marinated raw seafood.

Cuisines of Americas week two

Our buffet on Friday

New things I learned...

The second week of the block. It was a bit strange. At the beginning I think there was excitement and probably too much of it. By the Wednesday we thought that everything is going to be an easy sail and we failed. Wednesday was the worst day for this block. But we were able to pull together and finish strong.

Cuisine of Americas week one

Our first buffet after
externship

Back to school!

After five months of externship it's great to be back to school. We got another five jackets with the name on it. Strange that we did not get pants, only jackets. After four days of classes I would say that our group is different as to compare to the first year. People have changed during the externship. We also lost a couple of individuals, probably not the most cooperative ones. The group now is really a team, not a bunch of individuals on their own agenda. As a result it is much easier in the kitchen and we are more productive.

Externship week twenty two

Cioppino from the menu this week

Final week of the externship...

That was the final week of my externship and it was quite unremarkable. I worked this week at the Big Table. The choice was mine where to work and I chose this cafe because the chef is a cool guy and also I had a hope to sneak in the closed cafe and work there. My hope did not come true, I believe because of security (my badge was not approved for that zone). The chef was too busy with other projects and seminars, he was almost always away. The manager of that cafe gained too much power and now she is playing bossy lady.

The whole week for me was full of jumping from one station to another throughout a day. Help this station, then help that station. Literally having nothing to do after

Externship week twenty one

Duck confit

How to make the perfect duck confit...

This week I was back to the HangOut one of my favorite cafe on campus. I was there in September 2013 and now when I had a choice where to spend my last two weeks I chose this place without doubts. The chef is the same (this was the main reason I came back), the food are really interesting. Some dishes we made this week are:  slow roasted leg of pork, crab Singapore style, leg of lamb, fresh pasta with mornay sauce with saffron.
Here is a recap of

Externship weeks nineteen and twenty

Composed salads on buffet

Is it good idea to make mayonnaise in a blender?
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Yes, that's right. These two weeks were short for me (three days off for Christmas, and two days off for the New Year), so I decided to combine these weeks in one full working week. Also these two weeks I am working at the same place - Crave. So it will be total four calendar weeks at this place. It feels good. I like the chef, people are nice here. Also because I am here for a long time, finally I got a station to be in charge of. It's the salad bar, which is quite easy and does not involve much cooking. In addition to the salad bar this station