7.21.2010

my own top chef adventure

thursday evening i took my practical midterm.  it was very much a top chef type of experience.  we got to the kitchen and were given our ingredients and our menu for the evening.  we had a preview of the menus so we knew the items that we were going to make, but we didn't know what ingredients we would have available to us.  i got raspberries in my bag and we had to make a fruit galette, a creme anglaise sauce, and some kind of garnish for our plate.  all in 3 hours.

i was really worried about the time limit going into it because i hadn't had much time to practice.  however, it ended up not being a big deal at all.  i had my production schedule planned out really well and ended up being ahead of schedule for most of the evening.  i ended up only presenting about 15 minutes earlier than i was supposed to, but only because there were still people in front of me.

in the end i made a raspberry ginger galette with toasted almonds, a ginger creme anglaise, an orange liqeuer chantilly cream, and a caramelized sugar garnish.  i also added a sugared blueberry to the plate when i was finished.  i used writing chocolate, raspberry preserve sauce, and my creme anglaise to decorate my plate and the end result was beautiful.

when we presented our desserts, we took them in to chef amy and chef jerilyn and served them just as you would in a restaurant.  they evaluated the appearance of our plates and then sent us away while they were tasting.  after they tasted our food, they brought us back in for an evaluation of taste.  i got rave reviews on my plating and my flavor elements, so i was quite happy with what i put out.  in the end, it was a fabulous time and i am now much less scared for the final.

the written exam also went really well and i am very pleased with my overall performance so far.  8 more weeks to go and this week is chocolate!

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