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This week I was in the Canalside Dining room preparing stations, and serving tables. One of my jobs this week was to prepare croutons for the salad station in the dining room. 

The bread is being cut for Croutons, it has been diced and will soon be mixed with other ingredients.

These are all of the ingredients that will be mixed with the bread.

This is the bread mixed with the other ingredients, it will soon be spread out on a sheet pan and placed in the over

The bread is placed in the oven and cooks for around twenty minutes.

These are the ingredients that will be added to the bread after it is done cooking.

The bread has been mixed, baked, and mixed again with other ingredients, they are now Croutons.

Crouton Recipe:

 

In a bowl add together:

 

  • 1 ½ Gallons of Bread cut in cubes

  • 2 Cups EVOO

  • 1TBS Garlic Salt

  • 1TBS Salt and Pepper mix

  • 1TBS Onion Powder

  • 1TBS Garlic in Oil

  • ½ Pound Unsalted Butter Melted


 

Combine until fully coated. Then place on sheet pan with parchment paper and bake 300 degrees for 20-30 mins (until crisp) depending on the size.


 

In another bowl combine:

 

  • 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese

  • 1TBS Dried Oregano

  • ¼ Cup dried Parsley


Toss Croutons until coated evenly then store in a fish bucket with paper towels on the bottom. Cover when cool and put day dot on the top.

This week  I was in the Kitchen section of the Culinary Arts Department, during the week I made Jasmine Rice for the restaurant. 

Jasmine Rice ingredients

Jasmine Rice ingredients

Oil, Jasmine rice, chicken stock, Mise en place

Jasmine Rice recipe

Jasmine Rice recipe

Cooking Mise en place

Cooking Mise en place

cooking Mise en place until soft

Chicken stock and rice added

Chicken stock and rice added

Simmering

Simmering

The pot must be covered and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes

Finished product

Finished product

Jasmine Rice:

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1. Prepare the following and place together in a bowl

        1 Onion Diced 

       2 Stalks Celery diced

       2 Carrots diced

       1 Leek diced

      4 Tablespoons Ginger Minced

      4 Tablespoons Minced Garlic

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2. In a large Rondeau pot ass 4oz oil then saute the vegetables until soft

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3. Once soft add 4 cups Jasmine Rice and stir

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4. Add 8 cups Chicken Stock and bring rice to a boil and then cover air tight... Count to 100 Mississippi's and then shut off and let sit for 1/2 hour

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This was the first week of bakeshop. I would have to say bakeshop is not my strong suit, but it can still be fun, especially when you decorate cakes...

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On Friday I decorated cakes, it is always the funnest part of Bakeshop. I love letting my imagination run wild and put my decorating skills to the test, however for this, I kept it fairly simple. I started with a two layer, buttercream frosting cake, I always find it difficult to make the buttercream even though. After the  Buttercream was even, I rolled out fondant with some corn starch and a pinwheel, of course. I had to gently place the fondant over the cake, i'm not very good at that either, there were some cracks and tears in the fondant, so I went with the oldest trick in the book, covering up your mistakes. I melted some chocolate and poured it over the cake in an asymmetrical pattern, covering up the cracks and mishaps I had made. Once that was done I finished it off with some edible cake glitter.

 

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Angel food cake is truly sent from the heavens. When everything in the recipe flawlessly works to create something so decadent, the experience making it is worth everything. This week in bakeshop I was tasked with making Angel Food Cake, I had never made it before and was intrigued to learn how to make it for myself.

This week was spent in dining. I know, dealing with people is... Different, but it's even more fun when you have to serve the school's administration breakfast.

The silverware

One setup contains one spoon, fork, and knife. There are 8 seats.

Breakfast for Administration

Admin break gets cream, coffee mugs, sugar, place mats, and napkins.

Finished setup

A finished setup for Admin consists of a place mat, a napkin on the left, with a fork on the napkin. On the right, the spoon goes on the outside, with the knife facing left, on the inside.

When Administration comes in to eat, i grab the coffee and pour it in their mugs, except when I do that, all I can think about is me dropping the mug, or somehow pouring coffee on that person and getting suspended, because they can do that. After they are done with their breakfast, they leave, I clean the table, and set up for them to come in again for lunch. 

Beurre Blanc Sauce

All the ingredients needed to make Beurre Blanc Sauce.

Shallots, white wine, lemon

Step one in the recipe calls for shallots to be added in a pan with lemon juice and white wine vinegar

Butter and cream added

The white was cooked off, so cream was added, once it boiled butter was added

Finished sauce

Now that the butter has completely melted in the pan, the Beurre Blanc Sauce is done

Potato Encrusted Salmon

The salmon is to be tossed in the flour and covered with the potato mixture

Searing

Now that the potatoes are on the salmon, the potatoes and salmon must be seared

Gotta get both sides

Well you cant just sear one side of the salmon

Finished product

The sauce was made, the salmon was seared, now it has been plated and garnished with a touch of parsley

The real definition of 'kitchen' : A place where experiments take place, risks are taken, messes are made, and wonders are created.

 

 

 This week, hash brown salmon, with Beurre Blanc Sauce, of course.

Beurre Blanc Sauce

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1. In a medium size pot place in 2 minced shallots and cook with 1/4 cup white wine. Juice of 1 lemon.

2. Once wine is gone, add in 1 quart of heavy cream

3. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer for a minute 

4. Whisk in 1lb of cold butter until emulsified

5. Remove form heat and season with salt and pepper

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Beurre Blanc means "White butter". Beurre Blanc is an emulsified sauce made from white wine, shallots, and butter. Almost all sauces can be brought back to one of the five mother sauces, but Beurre Blanc Sauce is something totally different, it is it's own sauce, not based in any of the mother sauces.

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Beurre Blanc Sauce was apparently made by accident by the chef "Clémence Lefeuvre" at the beginning of the 20th century, she intended to make a Bearnaise sauce but forgot egg yolks and Tarragon.

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The Salmon in this recipe was seared, what that means is that the salmon was cooked on both sides, not really to cook persay, but to brown. This was done by adding a lot of oil and heating the pan to a very high temperature to brown both sides of the salmon.

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Dry heat cooking is the exclusion of moisture when cooking. The salmon made for this blog post was made with the dry cooking method, just place a salmon on a hot surface and hope that the building doesn't burn down, that doesn't usually happen though.

Cranberry Nut Sour Dough

Recipe

White whole wheat flour

1 pound, 12 ounces of white whole wheat flour is needed in a 20 quart mixing bowl

Salt

2 ounces of salt are needed in the mixing bowl

Whole wheat flour, bread flour, salt

Mixing bowl containing Whole wheat flour, bread flower, and salt

Yeast

2 ounces of yeast wrapped up

Honey

4 ounces of honey are needed in a 4 quart bucket

Water and Honey portioned

4 pounds, 2 ounces of water and 4 ounces of honey in a 4 quart bucket

Dried Cranberries portioned

2 pounds of Dried Cranberries in a 2 quart bucket

Rye flour

1 pound of Rye flour needed in a mixing bowl

Rye flower, water, and yeast starter

Rye flour, 1 pound, 2 ounces of water, and 1/2 ounces of yeast are mixed in a mixing bowl then placed in a 5 gallon container to expand

Cranberry dough setup

Finished setup, ready to be made in the morning and served in the Canal side Dining Room

Bakeshop, that means desserts, cookies, and dough. Dough is my Specialty in bakeshop... I guess, so here is how to make Sour Dough with a starter.

Recipe for Cranberry Sour dough:

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1 lb 12 oz WHite WHole Wheat Flour

4 lb 8 oz bread flour

2 Oz  Salt

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2 oz yeast

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4 lb 2 oz water

4 oz Honey

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2 lb dried cranberries

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1 lb rye flour

1 lb 2 oz water

1/2 oz fresh yeast

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Directions:

In a 5 qt. mixing bowl with a paddle, dissolve yeast in cool water, add in flour blend 1 min medium speed, scrape down 5 mins longer on medium speed. Place in a 3 gallon container and cover, place next to setup on 20 qt. mixer stand.

 A Sourdough starter is basically flour and water that feed yeast and make it grow, that is why a small amount of it is in a big container, it will eventually expand into the container then it will be used to make the bread for the next day. The starter will be mixed in with the ingredients in the 20 qt. mixer, then it will be put in the proof box, cut and portioned, perhaps proofed again, then baked and served at the restaurant. Yeast loves to grow, and giving it a closed container for it to exhale CO2 and subsequently inhale it, makes it triple in size sometimes.

Créme Brulee. A very delectable dessert to make, and a quite interesting food to make.

Simply put, Créme Brulee tastes good, that's all that really matters, right?

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Créme Brulee is made from Eggs, sugar, and cream, lots of cream. The eggs and sugar is mixed together, then all that cream is dumped into it, that's basically it. Browned sugar is a good topping for Créme Brulee, when i was making it for this assignment I burned the sugar with a torch, that was fun, i mean... Don't play with fire kids, and that's how you save someone's life. 

Créme Brulee 

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Egg Yolks - 1pt

Sugar - 1 Cup

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Heavy Cream - 2Qts

Vanilla Beans - 2 Split and scraped into cream

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Vanilla Extract - 2Tsp

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Directions: 

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Place Cream and Vanilla Beans into sauce pot over medium heat

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Meanwhile, place yolks and sugar in a 5qt mixed with paddle attachment

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Beat on lowest speed for 3 minutes, remove bowl from mixer 

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Gradually add hot cream to yolk/sugar mixture, blend with rubber spatula, do not create air bubbles

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Pour through strainer, add vanilla extract, portion custard into Ramekins using a 6oz ladle

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Place sheet pans in oven, pour hot water to fill sheetpans

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Bake at 300 approx. 45 minutes until custard is firm and set

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Remove from oven and water, cool then cover and day dot

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I can say I learned one thing in the kitchen this week. Risotto is mushy and sticky, but still good. Risotto is made from Arborio Rice, a rice that is known for it's high starch, making it dense and chewy. Arborio Rice originated in Arborio, Italy, but is also now grown in Arkansas, California, and Missouri. Risotto is made differently from other recipes like Rice Pilaf, in that they have portions of 2:1 (2 parts water 1 part rice) and Risotto is typically 3:1 with chicken stock or red/white wine. 

 

Many variations can be made on Risotto including Butternut Squash Risotto, Turkey and Leek Risotto, and Beef Barley and Steamed Broccoli Risotto.  

Materials

Butter, Garlic, Onion, Aborio Rice, Chicken stock, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper

Rice w/ garlic and onion

Sauteed Garlic and Onion with Aborio Rice added

Rice added with chicken stock

Sauteed Garlic and Onion, with Aborio Rice and chicken stock being slowly added

Chicken stock added

All of the stock has been added one scoop at a time, now it must thicken

Finished product

Finished Risotto with Parsley

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