Day 18: Five Weeks and Still Going Strong.

I am already in the fifth week of school and have been managing to keep up. The days are long with school and then home and other activities. I can't believe that next week I will finally be in the kitchen and that we will have gone through our text book ~ all 35 chapters. I handed in my resume and cover letter ahead of time to keep my nights free to finish off writing the recipes in my cooking bible for when I'm in the kitchen. I will also need my nights to work on my last project ~ my business plan for a business in the food services industry.

Today we moved to another classroom because the advance class and the food basics class were doing their exams ~ which means that they are preparing a meal to be marked/critiqued by chefs from their programs and a guest chef. Today's guest Chef was from The Paramount Restaurant in Niagara Falls. Yesterday the classes worked on their mise en place and today half the class put their plates together to be marked. They all worked hard and of the few plates that I saw I thought that they looked great. One of the cooked in my opinion had what looked like beautifully cooked scallops. In ten weeks I'll be getting my mise en place completed and pull together my final plate for judging. But I still have a long way to go before that!

In class today we cover chapters 26 to 28 ~ Sausages and Cured Foods, Pates, Terrines, and Other Cold Foods, and Food Presentation and Garnish. I've never made sausages or cured foods. Chef said that we would get the opportunity to make Gravlox. This is cured salmon made by using coarse salt, sugar, white pepper and fresh dill sprigs. The course salt draws the moisture out of the fish and is also used with the sugar to cure (preserve) the salmon. The white pepper and fresh dill sprigs provide additional flavour to the fish.

We will get the opportunity to make a basic mousseline. The mousseline will be the farce (stuffing) used in a pork loin. The mousseline is like a pate in texture. The ingredients used in a basic mousseline are: chicken meat, lean veal, fish or shellfish, egg whites, heavy cream, salt, white pepper, cayenne and nutmeg. The terrine is based on mousselines. To make a terrine, you layer the mousseline with other ingredients such as vegetables like carrots, asparagus, peas. red peppers, etc. The shape of a terrine is like a square loaf of bread. When you serve the terrine, you cut it like slices and this when you see the layers in the terrine that have been created by alternating the mousseline with other ingredients.

Food presentation and garnish will play a large part in the plating of our food. I am looking forward to the creative aspect. If you have ever seen any of the food network shows such as Iron Chef or Top Chef you'll understand how creative one can get with plating. We all eat with our eyes first before we eat with our mouths. If it doesn't look good, then our expectation is that it won't taste good. If it looks beautiful, we imagine that the taste will be amazing. In a classical arrangement, the main food item is in front, with the vegetable, starch and garnish at the back of the plate. Which ever arrangement is chosen, the main ingredient is the highlight with sauces and garnishes usually on the plate around the main item.

We ended the day with Chef asking us to design a buffet to be used at a wedding reception. My take on the buffet was to design one that is somewhat simple and easy to manage. Buffets are usually self serve so should not be confusing as to what sauces go with which food and related items should be kept together for flow. Foods should be selected to ensure that they don't loose moisture or dry out ~ especially those foods that need to be kept hot with the use of chaffing trays.

Two more days and seven chapters left in the textbook to review and then we will be in the kitchen! The chapters remaining deal with baking. This is what we will begin with in the kitchen.

Homework tonight is to review chapters in the textbook and continue working on my business plan project.