A hard day's night...
Friday, December 15
The day started with busy preparations for the opening of brunch at 11:30 am at the school. I had front of house and had to transform the usual lecture area into a dining room area, take the orders, work with the kitchen to expedite the orders, and interact with guests, who were mostly friends and family members of students. Our chef for the course, was the "expeditor" in the kitchen, calling out which orders were on order and which orders to fire. At one point, the head chef, sous chef and another chef from Pure Food and Wine came to eat, which I was thrilled about and anxious that everything would be ok for them. I put pressure on the kitchen, in a fun way, by letting them know that the chefs from Pure Food and Wine would be eating their food and it better be perfect, which it was for the most part. It was quite the deal for anyone coming to the brunch as they could eat anything they wanted off the a la carte menu and most had three courses such as a salad, omelet made to order with baked fries/vegan reuben sandwich/waffles with fruit, and dessert. in addition to there being baskets of warm savory and sweet muffins on the tables. After the orders of the brunch guests were completed, we took orders from staff. It was quite the intensive and hectic period but it was fun and we all learned something I believe.
Right after this, I went into preparations for Friday Night Dinner, which included cutting the slabs of chocolate cakes into small molds and covering them with warmed ganache. I was mostly focused on preparing the dessert for service but also did other duties such as searning some greens for the entree.
The chef in charge of the Friday Night Dinner is an expert in plating and catering large events, and before service, she went around to each station area to figure out how to best plate things and show people how they should be set up in order to expedite 100 orders quickly and effectively so that all plates are consistent and beautiful.
All plates we served were absolutely beautiful and the food delicious. I helped at different points in the line, especially when they needed more " senior" experience (most people assisting had just started in the chef training program), which in this case is someone who would know what to do with little instruction and would be confident in their actions. So, we created the salads in beautiful layered vertical molds with mache green on top, coulis circles all around this (in two different flavours and colours) and tiny brunoise dice (1/8) of small vegetables around the dish. Absolutely stunning! I also worked on final plating of the entree with the teacher. My dessert turned out lovely you may be happy to hear, with the mini chocolate cakes with the chocolate ganache put into the oven just before service. We first put down on the plate a pomegrante reduction sauce, then the cake, then some pomegrante seeds in the sauce around the cake. Then, on top of the cake, we put some creamy coconut ice cream and a sesame tuille in the ice cream. Beautiful and delicious!
After the meal, we went out to the public for the usual intro after the dinner, where the host introduces the head chef and students, and the public has the opportunity to ask questions. One woman asked what type of careers we had after the chef's training program and do the students specialize in certain areas. The head chef said that the students are given training in a wide range of areas so they have a solid base and can go into a variety of areas such as private chefing, catering, restaurants, teaching, etc. She used me as an example and said "For example, Caroline made all the desserts tonight and when I first asked her to take this on she said baking was not really her thing but would give it a try. " One man in the audience said that the dessert was absolutely delicious and asked if he could have another serving. After we exited, I came back to reward this appreciative audience member and give him another serving. So, after cleaning, which is always part of the cooking at our school, I left the school around 11:30 pm completely exhausted but satisfied after two intense days.
The day started with busy preparations for the opening of brunch at 11:30 am at the school. I had front of house and had to transform the usual lecture area into a dining room area, take the orders, work with the kitchen to expedite the orders, and interact with guests, who were mostly friends and family members of students. Our chef for the course, was the "expeditor" in the kitchen, calling out which orders were on order and which orders to fire. At one point, the head chef, sous chef and another chef from Pure Food and Wine came to eat, which I was thrilled about and anxious that everything would be ok for them. I put pressure on the kitchen, in a fun way, by letting them know that the chefs from Pure Food and Wine would be eating their food and it better be perfect, which it was for the most part. It was quite the deal for anyone coming to the brunch as they could eat anything they wanted off the a la carte menu and most had three courses such as a salad, omelet made to order with baked fries/vegan reuben sandwich/waffles with fruit, and dessert. in addition to there being baskets of warm savory and sweet muffins on the tables. After the orders of the brunch guests were completed, we took orders from staff. It was quite the intensive and hectic period but it was fun and we all learned something I believe.
Right after this, I went into preparations for Friday Night Dinner, which included cutting the slabs of chocolate cakes into small molds and covering them with warmed ganache. I was mostly focused on preparing the dessert for service but also did other duties such as searning some greens for the entree.
The chef in charge of the Friday Night Dinner is an expert in plating and catering large events, and before service, she went around to each station area to figure out how to best plate things and show people how they should be set up in order to expedite 100 orders quickly and effectively so that all plates are consistent and beautiful.
All plates we served were absolutely beautiful and the food delicious. I helped at different points in the line, especially when they needed more " senior" experience (most people assisting had just started in the chef training program), which in this case is someone who would know what to do with little instruction and would be confident in their actions. So, we created the salads in beautiful layered vertical molds with mache green on top, coulis circles all around this (in two different flavours and colours) and tiny brunoise dice (1/8) of small vegetables around the dish. Absolutely stunning! I also worked on final plating of the entree with the teacher. My dessert turned out lovely you may be happy to hear, with the mini chocolate cakes with the chocolate ganache put into the oven just before service. We first put down on the plate a pomegrante reduction sauce, then the cake, then some pomegrante seeds in the sauce around the cake. Then, on top of the cake, we put some creamy coconut ice cream and a sesame tuille in the ice cream. Beautiful and delicious!
After the meal, we went out to the public for the usual intro after the dinner, where the host introduces the head chef and students, and the public has the opportunity to ask questions. One woman asked what type of careers we had after the chef's training program and do the students specialize in certain areas. The head chef said that the students are given training in a wide range of areas so they have a solid base and can go into a variety of areas such as private chefing, catering, restaurants, teaching, etc. She used me as an example and said "For example, Caroline made all the desserts tonight and when I first asked her to take this on she said baking was not really her thing but would give it a try. " One man in the audience said that the dessert was absolutely delicious and asked if he could have another serving. After we exited, I came back to reward this appreciative audience member and give him another serving. So, after cleaning, which is always part of the cooking at our school, I left the school around 11:30 pm completely exhausted but satisfied after two intense days.
posted by Caroline at 9:42 PM
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