CHEF INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS
Communication between FOH and BOH was great. We are improving every week.
I was supposed to cook this week, but another teacher of mine, Dr. May, requested me as a server. She brought her family, a party of 10. 10!!!!!!! I was a bit nervous. But I had a system and it all went very well. Six out of the ten ordered bison and Marie cooked them perfectly. At some point I will cook for service, possibly week 10.
CHEF INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS Communication between FOH and BOH was great. We are improving every week.
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This week we took a field trip to Anodyne Coffee Roaster. Anodyne is a local coffee roaster. We are blessed that we have a few roasters here in Milwaukee. It was fantastic!! I am a bit of a coffee geek. We did an abbreviated version of a coffee cupping and took a tour. We got to see and smell the green coffee and the coffee as it came out of the roaster.
We also did a "Blind Basket" challenge. I made a Vegan Mushroom Risotto with Caramelized Onions. Although I did not have the proper rice, the dish was ok. Chef Alissa is putting it on the menu week 10. I was the host this week. The first day was really slow so I did not have much to do. The second day was the complete opposite. I did more food running and table clearing than hosting. But service went really smoothly. We sold out of all of the meat dishes. Hopefully we can keep this up. This week I was the Sous Chef. Sous Chef is extremely difficult. It looks like all you do is call out tickets, wipe plates and add a little garnish. You are a coach and a cheerleader. My first day was very difficult. One of my classmates seemed to be offended by my style and basically snapped at me. I really had to examine what I did. I did not do anything other than what I was supposed to do. I later found out that she was frustrated before I even walked into the room. The second day went much, much better.
Chef Instructor comments: Chef and I had a really good talk. She told me that she would not have allowed me to be Sous Chef if she did not believe I could not do it. We also talked about the concept of “sometimes it’s not what you say, but how you say it”. I was a server this week. That is hard work!!! I am afraid that I was a bit neglectful. Also my timing was a bit off. Knowing when to place the order for the next courses really does take more than one day to learn. But I think I did ok. But everyone seemed to enjoy the food. I had one dish that wound up being complementary, the bison was overcooked.
Chef instructor comments: We did a good job, but the kitchen need to work on timing and the servers need to know their table numbers and be more patient. This was a very difficult week. I was the only student that had anything removed from the menu. The couscous bowl was taken off of the menu. I do understand why. The original recipe was completely different than what was presented. The final product was ok. We added curry, yogurt and squash. The original had pomegranates, sweet potato and feta cheese. I think the dish would have been better warm. Cold squash just isn’t good. However the dish that Chef Alisa had me make was much better. I made a ratatouille for the pasta dish. It was really good. I thought of something to add that might make it even better. I will have to try it next week. I just have to learn to relax and remember that this is a time for me to learn.
Chef Instructors comments “Keep your chin up” “Remember this was not your recipe and we changed a lot of things”. I have a hard time hiding what I am feeling and Chef Alisa noticed that right away. This week was a brand new experience. I have never planned a menu or served in a restaurant. This week we talked about service expectations, FOH set up, Micros training and recipe research. Every Monday we will prep for two days of service. Service will run from 12:30-2:00. We will post all of our recipes on docshare . Every week we will change stations in the kitchen. The stations are: pasta, fish, pizza, meats, salads/desserts. Also each week there will be a different student Sous Chef. We also went over all of the china that we are using for service. The proposed menu is: Artichoke/Red Pepper dip, Caramelized Onion dip, Salami Chips, Butternut Squash Soup w/ Ginger Foam and Green Apple Slaw, Mixed Green Salad, Pasta with Ground Turkey, Bison, Mashed Potato, Halibut, Stuffed Chicken Leg, Bread Pudding, Pumpkin Torte and Warm Chocolate Cookie.
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AuthorKimberly-baker and food history enthusiast! Archives
March 2015
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