Week 15: Where am I now?

This semester seemed to fly by! As Chef probably knows by now, I came into this class with almost NO knowledge of the kitchen. I was unaware of proper etiquette, handling of food and utensils, and the uses of each kind of food. This semester was simply an immersion into the world of food as well as responsibility. Being in the kitchen is truly a balancing act; you can't be wasteful, and you need to always be prepared and ready to roll with the punches. Although it is also important to avoid the punches at all costs!
So where do I go from here? My current plan is to start combining all of my skills and find something that I am passionate about. I know that I love music, helping others, computers, and certain aspects of working in a bar. Hopefully I can take all of my skills and apply them in my future jobs!

Week 14: Charcuterie and Garde Manger | Baking Bread

This week, we had our FINAL prep day!

Here is our plan from prep day. We had more details depending on who had which item and what they planned on doing. Sadly we couldn't do the cutting because the berries would go bad!

It was one of the craziest days yet, which Chef had warned us about. Although desserts seem sweet, they're actually evil (dessert puns). My biggest aha! moment today was that even if you're making a dessert filling, you CANNOT cut up berries or fresh produce a few days ahead of time!

Pic 1: Brett carefully measures out ingredients for event day. Although we couldn't do everything today, we tried to prep as much as possible! This was part of our kit prep.
Pic 2: The sad berries that we cut up. Luckily, we were able to give these to another group who needed them so as not to waste! We learned our lesson.

You can only do this with sauces or things where you're not keeping some of the berries whole. We learned our lesson though, and the rest of prep day went relatively smoothly! Lots of other groups seemed to be doing well too, however we did notice that today was the day of the most mistakes. Yikes!

 Pic 1: The other groups calmly panicking about the event. These guys did a great job with crepes. They couldn't prep much, but they got all ingredients together!
Pic 2: The beautiful creme brulee! This is one of my favorite desserts. They got them all ready and refrigerated today so that they can heat them the day of!

Our second day was THE SWEET ENDINGS EVENT! It was as crazy as ever, with just a hint of panic. Since we couldn't prepare anything but the crust on prep day, we had a MULTITUDE of items to get done today.

 Pic 1: Our summer table and decorations! We tried to incorporate the beach theme throughout. This was cute and brought people to our table!
Pic 2: Brett is sporting one of our summer outfits. We still tried to be appropriate for the kitchen, but wanted to give a fun vibe. What is ironic is that is was snowing the day before.

We managed to finish it all though, and we got pretty good feedback on our pies!

 Pic 1: Our restaurant was called "Life of Pie" (puns!). We used a refrigerated tin to keep the pies cold the whole time. People loved the strawberries hidden in the sign and table!
Pic 2: Our drink was a hit! We made a homemade blueberry simple syrup. Then we added ice, a blueberry, sparkling water, and a slice of kiwi!

The aha! moment happened when looking at other tables. For the desserts, one table even had an ice cream stand; this idea of a welcoming atmosphere truly drew people to their table and even made me want to come over!

This group had a cute idea with creating little swans! They were not too difficult to put together, and the guests loved them! The group got best presentation.

This week, I couldn't help but think about our weeks cutting vegetables. When we cut up our veggies for stock, it was okay to wait a few days in between using them. Fruit is completely different, however. It will go bad after being cut EXTREMELY QUICKLY, so you have to be careful and plan ahead!

Week 13: Salads and Sandwiches | Hors D'Oeuvre and Appetizers

Day 1 was EGG-CELENT! That's the only egg joke I'll say I promise. I just like to crack up at my own jokes.

**As a side note, we got best presentation for our last event! We were so excited, and the exact opposite of humble. Eh. It happens.

This was our first award, and the first of the table for ALL classes as well! We were so happy to get it, since we put so much work into the decorations! We also might have intimidated them into giving it to us.

We spent today's class learning a multitude of ways to cook eggs! Chef started by creating an omelet.

Here is the omelet that Chef made. I had no idea that the middle was actually not fully cooked egg! That's why it is the way it is; the inside is like scrambled eggs while the outside is folded and smooth.

Although easier than I had imagined, there were still a fair amount of steps involved in this dish. My aha! moment happened however when we switched to our own stations.


Caption: To the right, chef shows us the best way to crack an egg. When you crack it on the table, less shell gets into the yolk. Cracking it on the bowl causes shell to go inside! Who knew?

I was put in charge of the poached egg because I LOVE eggs benedict. I had no idea that you actually dropped an egg in water to do this. This seems sacrilegious to me... but it worked!

 Caption (Picture 1): An egg, sunny side up! He wanted it not overly cooked, just perfectly heated on both sides. Mikki took care of this, and after the second try it was perfection!

Caption (Picture 2): My beautiful poached egg. You have to slowly pour the egg from a bowl into the water, so that the white and yolk don't mix or break. They float around the water like aliens...


Day 2 revolved around the infamous Waldorf Salad! This salad is very simple, made from lettuce, apple, celery, and mayonnaise.

It ended up being delicious, however my aha moment was that the salad is only made of these four ingredients. Some chefs and restaurants add other tastes and foods, however the original had these simple ones!

Our perfect requisition (almost). We ended up changing some of our theme/ideas, but I think it will turn out great! The chocolate will be a fun touch too.

 Caption: Chef laid out all of the ingredients to make mayonnaise AND the salad! It is important to have everything ready so that you do not make the mayonnaise wrong and screw everything up. Mayonnaise is apparently very temperamental.

Here, chef is making the mayonnaise! He is describing how the oil is essential to add slowly, so that the whole dish is slowly mixed well.

 Caption: Slowly adding the oil to the mayo. When our group did this, we added it at the right speed as well and it helped to create a good consistency in the dip. It was also VERY tiring for Mikki to stir for so long!

Finally, here is the creation of the salad! It is important to chop the ingredients rather thinly so that every flavor can come through!

One connection this week was with our poached eggs. I realized that I am now able to make my very own eggs benedict (if I found the time during school.... so never)! I now have the skills and knowledge of how to make poached eggs as well as Hollaindaise sauce! I will have to try this out during finals week.

Week 12: Cooking Pasta | Cooking Eggs

Day 1 this week was our Pasta Palooza Prep Day! We began with picking our Sweet Endings event, which is (drum roll, please).... PIE! The only recipe we were given is below:

The pie dough recipe is relatively basic. We are considering doing a fruit pie, OR a heavy chocolate pie! With this recipe, we have lots of options which is good.

The rest of the day was primarily prepping for our pasta event. We had one "aha" moment, when we forgot to put an egg in the mushroom mixture, making it crumbly and hard to stay together. It turns out, every ingredient has a purpose! Who knew.

 Chef also wanted us to know the importance of covering dough to ensure that it does not dry out.

Here, the boys were stuffing the mushrooms WITHOUT egg. They had a hard time because it was such a bad consistency! Once we added egg, they were much easier to work with.

 ALSO on this first day, we learned how to roll the dough to the right thickness and cut it for each type of pasta. Mikki took over ours, and we made little individual strips so that the lasagna would be easy to roll up and already cut and ready to serve.

Above is Chef's demonstration on how to properly roll the dough. When you crank it through the machine, you have to be careful to not rip it, but also be aware that it will get longer as you increase the thickness number. When cutting, it is typical to make the noodle around a foot or less long in strips.

LASTLY, Chef showed us some fun things to do with the noodles we made!

To the left is an example that Chef showed us. We put a flattened basil leaf in the middle of two squares, then carefully put it through the machine. This would be a great way to make lasagna, so the top was pretty and had a great flavor when cooked!







 




Day 2 was our PASTA PALOOZA EVENT! I am happy to say that it went incredibly well, from preparation to cooking to tasting to the decorations.

Our group, or "mob". We got a great response from our guests with our theme and costumes. They loved the creativity and historical representation with Naples and the mafia!

We had to add some questionable items to the decor. As we explained to our guests, "a man earlier had a mushroom allergy". Everyone seemed to enjoy the aesthetic!

Once our lasagna was rolled and cooked, we wanted to make sure that it stayed warm. Our "aha" moment was putting a pan with boiling water on the stove, then taking two small bowls on the water and placing our lasagna pan over the top! The lasagna stayed hot until the end which was great, and a huge improvement from our last events.

Here is our covered and not-covered lasagna! We had one guest tell us that it was his favorite dish of the day. Guests were pleased that it stayed warm, thanks to our cooking method and stove-top setup. The extra cheese on top of the lasagna added a nice aesthetically pleasing touch.

 To the left is our final lasagna and mushroom on a plate, as well as our sign! The decorations went well with the food, and even the class "Italy" theme. Not only did people like the costumes, but we managed to stay in character as well.




In week 11, we learned the importance of measuring out all ingredients and laying them out BEFORE starting a mixture. We did this same thing with the filling for the lasagna and it ended up being a great idea. This way, once the cheeses were mixed, we were able to eye-ball if there were too many onions, mushrooms, or other ingredients.

Week 11: Cooking Potatoes | Cooking Grains and Legumes

Our group waiting for the potatoes to be done. They ended up taking much longer than expected! Luckily we had whipped potatoes though, which had simple steps after the boiling.

What a week! Our first day was our SURPRISE event day! (Chef, you are officially responsible for half of my weekly anxiety) The day actually ran relatively smoothly, which was a relief. Our group got "whipped potatoes", which go through a Tamis to get the right texture. I had no idea that you
could use a drum-sieve to get that texture; up until that point, I had assumed that you had to mash them to the right consistency. We put all of our dishes together and got to sample each one. I believe that the Latke (potato pancakes) were my favorite, second to ours of course. Also, salt is a potato's best friend.

Here are the many different kinds of potatoes that we made! There were different types, from Latkes to scalloped potatoes to those weird cookie looking potatoes on the left. What was great about this assignment was that each was made from the same kind of potato, yet there were so many different flavors and textures!

 We also made an easy-to-understand version of the recipe, as shown below.

We have found this year that planning is our friend. Our first step for the potato project was to write out the instructions in an easy-to-follow fashion. This made everything after go much faster.

On the second day this week, we learned how to create pasta dough. It takes at least a day for dough to set so that it is the right consistency (or doughy-ness), which is why we prepared ours today. This way, we can set up our lasagna on prep day instead of doing EVERYTHING on event day! We learned that making dough is an exact science. You have to make sure that everything is prepared....

Here is our layout for the dough. Chef's approval was needed, and given! It was nice to have everything out before starting.

Above and to the left are steps in the dough making process! Above is chef's layout of the dough ingredients, so that nothing goes un-mixed. The other step was mixing in the wet ingredients into the dry, in the middle, and slowly stirring it to get the dry into the wet, like sand on a beach! 

then you combine all of the wet ingredients, all of the dry, and mix them together! Not everything is super complicated after all (;

We also got our requisitions back for the pasta event! (as shown below)

The few mistakes on our requisition were as follows: 1. We need to homemake our tomato sauce, so we found a new recipe to do just that. 2. Instead of Mozzarella, he suggested we use Jack! 3. Instead of a dessert for our side, we will do stuffed mushrooms. Yum!

One thing that we were able to use this week from a previous week was a concept from week 9, as well as a popular bedtime story: slow and steady wins the race. It is easy to get flustered in the kitchen, however as soon as you start "hurrying" in any process, something is bound to go wrong. When we made our pasta dough, we were sure to measure everything out properly, lay it out to visually double check, and then have Chef come by and check as well! We still went as fast as we could, but we made sure to focus on quality over speed.

Week 10: MEP for Vegetables and Fresh Herbs | Cooking Vegetables

The first day this week consisted of expanding on our knowledge of cutting vegetables. We learned how to dice and Julienne carrots and onions (The best part of this day was that the food we prepared went to the local soup kitchen).

Our tools of the trade. Also, never EVER use a peeler on a cutting board. Cutting board = cutting. Peeler = NOT CUTTING.

Learning how to mince garlic correctly! It was interesting to see how you can pound it gently and cut the tip off to easily get the outside skin out of the way!

I need to remember to have the root of the onion facing away from my body, otherwise I end up cutting it completely wrong. Oops. It was a great learning day, however. We also learned that it is not the smartest idea to have two knives lying out on a board at the same time, or two people chopping on the same board. These are common safety practices. Play safe, kids.

The second day was focused on experimenting with acids and bases when using vegetables. Rather than simply cutting them and working with water or chicken broth, we used various acidic and basic liquids to see what happened to the veggies. I was astonished that the pH property of liquid could affect how the vegetable reacted so drastically.

This week, we really focused in on the idea of taking your time to achieve greatness in the kitchen, similar to what we learned with our event days in the past. Although it is a fast paced atmosphere, it is always better to take it slow than make a huge mistake and cost a restaurant (or Chef) money!

Proper knife-sharpening method. Chef taught us to get the right angle and then go down slowly, always away from yourself, or other people! People don't like to be cut or poked with knives.

Week 9: Steaming and Submersion Cooking | Braising and Stewing

Monday this week was our prep-day for the Meat Madness event! Luckily, this day went WAY smoother than the previous one. For this busy day, we had every step laid out and ready for  the coleslaw, ribs, sauce, and beverage!  We spent the majority of the time creating the sauce, as well and getting completely prepared for creating the slaw on the event day.

Miss. River's BBQ sauce! We mixed and cooked this the day before event day. This saves us time and energy on the busy day.

Before all of this, however, we also learned how to make sausage. It's about as unpleasant as you would expect.

**Creating the sausage. Not for the faint at heart. He pounds the meat through the grinder to make the meat soft for inside the intestine/stomach.

Although it was satisfying to see the intestine lining fill up, I am not sure that my calling is in sausage making.

Chef's face kills me here. He loves this. He made sure to do this at a slow pace so that he did not overfill the intestine, however he wanted it even all around.

The meat for sausage-ing.

Day Two this week was Meat Madness... and it was just that. Madness. I do believe that this day was far more successful than the last event for a few reasons. First of all, we were more prepared with our dishes and decorations.

Our Restaurant's sign/name! The name was created since our restaurant is on the Mississippi River, and we had ribs. Classic.

This group actually won the title for best looking table! Their decorations were cute, and completely fit their theme. We can all learn something from fiestas.

We had everything ready to serve hot and cold, as well as the table set up ahead of time and looking attractive to the public.

Still very proud of our table (: We had the St. Louis arch in lights over the table, which many guests enjoyed!

We could have been even more conscientious of the flavor of our water, however, and the heat of the ribs toward the beginning and end.


This week, we learned the importance of time management and planning, as chef told us at the very beginning of the course. Although it is easy to let things get too crazy and just try and go with the flow, it is always important to be COMPLETELY over-prepared for any events or days that may come your way.