Day 11: Competing Against The Next Great Chef... in Theory.

March is taking it's stand with a good showing of snow today. About half of the class didn't make it in. We put the next chapter on hold to tomorrow and decided that we would focus on a more casual food information day.

First up we presented our menus based on the "black box" items provided Chef. However, this menu was to be created with themes for each type of dish. Appetizer ~ Mussels (Indian), main menu ~ Salmon (Mediterranean), and Desert ~ three fruits (Light/Healthy). Here's what I came up with:

Appetizer:
P.E.I. Mussels Steamed
in a Madras Curry Cream Sauce

Main Course:
Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon with a Fig Sauce
Char Grilled Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant
Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Desert:
Strawberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry Pavlova
Drizzled with Meyer Lemon Coulis
and French Mint Leaves

Because we are creating menus, Chef wanted us to have a look at a menu from a restaurant called Apple Farm Dinners. The restaurant is located near Kansas City. The first restaurant began in 1946 and then expanded to another two restaurants in about the 70's. I think in total there are now four of these restaurants owned by the same family.

The menu from Apple Farm Dinners was used by Chef to show what not to do when writing menus. I do feel however, that for the time the menu was likely written, this is how most establishments presented their food to their customers. For example, Pork Chops (2) Center-Cut. "Some guests eat this every time they come here." As for typical diner type restaurants, dinners are usually served with a side and a salad or soup. At Apple Farm, all dinners are served with: potato, casserole dish, garnish, hot breads and apple butter, farm relish, apple farm fritter and salad: tossed green, frozen fruit or marshmallow. The pork chop dinner is priced at $14.95.

I've decided to do a bit of research on this restaurant. It is officially known as "Stephenson's Old Apple Farm Restaurant". What I do find interesting is that they are on Expedia.ca. The marshmallow salad listed on their menu can be found at cooks.com if you like that kind of stuff. Stephenson's is even listed in a travel guide under "places to eat". With all this fame, I wonder if Guy Fieri from the Food Network show Diner, Drive-ins and Dives will make an appearance to comment on their food?

When I read one of their dishes on the menu I laughed when I read that their recipe was published in Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I did a search on the web and found that it's true. In 1964 Better Homes and Gardens published a cookbook "Famous Foods from Famous Places, Specialty-of-the-House Recipes from America's Leading Restaurants". There is a three page article, as well as recipes from Stephenson's ~ Baked Chicken 'N Butter and Cream, Apple Dumplings, Green Rice, and Apple Fritters. I've sent an e-mail to a poster on a blog I found to ask if they can send me a copy of the article. I must tell you, that after all this interesting research, that I am looking forward to reading that 1964 article.

A few years ago, Swiss Knorr sponsored a chef competition called The Next Great Chef. In class today we watched two episodes from that competition ~ Ontario and British Columbia. The winner from each province then compete in the final for the title of "The Next Great Chef". Two finalist from each province must create a menu from black box items. In the Ontario competition, the chefs were presented with ingredients to create three dishes ~ appetizer, main course and desert. Based on the ingredients from the Ontario competition Chef asked us to create a menu. I guess this means we are competing against The Next Great Chef... in theory. I'll reveal what I created for my menu in tomorrow's post.

Today I signed up to volunteer at a catered fundraising event. I'm told that volunteering is great for networking as well as for my resume. I think it will be great for the experience. The fundraiser is to be held at The Scottish Rite which I'm told is in a historical building. I'm looking forward to my first "semi-quasi" job under the direction of the Chef from the Old Mill in Hamilton.

More reading and more menu creating is on the list for tonight's homework.