Ah. Finally I'll be back in the kitchen. Today I start the A La Carte cooking class at the Chef's Table. We'll be learning the art of cooking on a fine dining line. So, we should have access to different ingredients that we have not worked with before because of the cost. Venison, foie gras, wild boar, lobster, etc.
My group have been out of the kitchen for 5 weeks now and we all agree that we are more than ready to get back into our chef jackets and play with knives and fire. ;-)
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
Operations Management
This class has been a complete waste of time. I mean. You go in thinking that you are going to learn something about starting and managing a restaurant, but you come out not knowing any more than you already knew from other classes that you've been in. Oy! I'm not happy and I'm someone is going to hear about it. Too late to help me, but maybe it will help other students down the road.
So, there's an Excel class as part of the "financial analysis" piece to this class. There is not much finance and little to no analysis. The instructor sits at the front of the class and literally tells us each keystroke to make. Go to cell A1 and type in the name of your restaurant, etc. I mean. He leads us through the building of templates that we will us for our project to show projected sales, expenses, etc. How stupid is that!?!?!
This same instructor teaches a lot of the classes in the BA program. So. I'm thinking to myself, if this is an indication of what the BA classes are like, I would never consider NECI for my BA. There are schools that have stronger academic programs for hospitality.
So, there's an Excel class as part of the "financial analysis" piece to this class. There is not much finance and little to no analysis. The instructor sits at the front of the class and literally tells us each keystroke to make. Go to cell A1 and type in the name of your restaurant, etc. I mean. He leads us through the building of templates that we will us for our project to show projected sales, expenses, etc. How stupid is that!?!?!
This same instructor teaches a lot of the classes in the BA program. So. I'm thinking to myself, if this is an indication of what the BA classes are like, I would never consider NECI for my BA. There are schools that have stronger academic programs for hospitality.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Breathe
My last quarter (we call them modules, mod for short...so that was Mod 3)was really busy and I was drained. We had long days scheduled in the kitchen combined with some very involved projects that I spent my time out of the kitchen working on. So, I haven't posted much here. :-(
Mod 4 started out pretty easy for me and my 4 classmates. We had table service at Chef's Table, which is from 3PM to close. Our projects for the class were really easy. I made it through another table service class without spilling anything on anyone. Yay! We were able offer a table side dessert on our last 2 days. We had a cart set up for making Bananas Foster. The only problem with it is that our instructor priced it at $10 per person with 2 min order of 2 per table. Let's see, $20 for 2 bananas and some cheap liquor...I don't think so. Okay, so you get to watch someone light things on fire at your table. Still, not worth the price. We actually managed to sell one on our last night...but we didn't hold them to the 2 order minimum.
I ran a drink special when I worked my stint at the bar. The restaurant manager liked it so well that he is going to put it on the regular drink menu. How cool is that!?! It was a Spiced Cranberry Sunrise....spiced cranberry syrup, orange juice, ginger ale, and white rum. I had to give up the recipe for the spiced cranberry syrup.
Today I'm starting a new class. It's Operations Management. It's a pretty basic introduction to restaurant management. I think we have to actually prepare a business plan for a restaurant concept as our project.
Just 48 more classroom days until I'm off to my second internship. :-)
Mod 4 started out pretty easy for me and my 4 classmates. We had table service at Chef's Table, which is from 3PM to close. Our projects for the class were really easy. I made it through another table service class without spilling anything on anyone. Yay! We were able offer a table side dessert on our last 2 days. We had a cart set up for making Bananas Foster. The only problem with it is that our instructor priced it at $10 per person with 2 min order of 2 per table. Let's see, $20 for 2 bananas and some cheap liquor...I don't think so. Okay, so you get to watch someone light things on fire at your table. Still, not worth the price. We actually managed to sell one on our last night...but we didn't hold them to the 2 order minimum.
I ran a drink special when I worked my stint at the bar. The restaurant manager liked it so well that he is going to put it on the regular drink menu. How cool is that!?! It was a Spiced Cranberry Sunrise....spiced cranberry syrup, orange juice, ginger ale, and white rum. I had to give up the recipe for the spiced cranberry syrup.
Today I'm starting a new class. It's Operations Management. It's a pretty basic introduction to restaurant management. I think we have to actually prepare a business plan for a restaurant concept as our project.
Just 48 more classroom days until I'm off to my second internship. :-)
Monday, October 23, 2006
Ice Carving
In Garde Manger class, we produce all of the food and displays for Sunday brunch at the Main Street Grill. We spend 4 days preparing foods such as canapes, salads, terrines, pates, omlet station, a roast for carving and some hot foods. We also do presentation items such as aspic platters (decorative work on platters using a very thick geletin) used for serving the terrines and pates. We also do an ice carving every friday afternoon. This week we decided to carve a moose, Bullwinkle specifically. Rocky was one of the aspic platter designs.
(In this picture, Chef John is using the dremel to create handles for moving the sculpture.)
(In this picture, Chef John is using the dremel to create handles for moving the sculpture.)
Friday, October 06, 2006
Line Cook at Main Street Grill
Okay, so I've been in this new class for 1 1/2 weeks now. The restaurant, "Main Street Grill", is open 6 days a week, so I only have one day off and it's filled with homework, laundry, etc. I've already completed most of the stations, which are pantry (that's soup & salad), sandwich & pasta, and saute. Tonight I start on the grill and my final station will be the fry station.
We've had a good demonstration of what position in the kitchen is the most important. It is not any of the chefs or cooks or servers. It's the dishwashers. We have one really good dishwasher who normally busses and runs food for servers, it pays better (servers share tips with bussers) than washing dishes. But, when he is washing dishes we never run out of saute pans or pie tins (used for heating stuff in the oven) and he always picks up the dirty saute pans that we drop into hotel pans as we use them on the line. It's so nice and things run really smoothly on the line. Last night was not such a night. The other dishwashers cannot seem to keep up with the dishes and they put the pans off to last, not a good idea. Nor do they pick up the used saute pans so I frequently made trips to the dish pit with dirty pans. At one point, just happened to be during a rush, we had no clean saute pans or pie tins and I needed to get orders into the oven and cooking on the stove top. Incidentally, I ended up having two orders fade from my short-term memory into the black hole only to be rememberd when the chef wanted me to plate them. Ooops! I managed to get them out, but it was more of a rush than it needed to be.
Note to self. Pool tips and share them with the dishwashers. It's financial incentive to work smarter and faster. (NECI does not do this.) Always treat them with respect and remember to thank them for a job well done!
We've had a good demonstration of what position in the kitchen is the most important. It is not any of the chefs or cooks or servers. It's the dishwashers. We have one really good dishwasher who normally busses and runs food for servers, it pays better (servers share tips with bussers) than washing dishes. But, when he is washing dishes we never run out of saute pans or pie tins (used for heating stuff in the oven) and he always picks up the dirty saute pans that we drop into hotel pans as we use them on the line. It's so nice and things run really smoothly on the line. Last night was not such a night. The other dishwashers cannot seem to keep up with the dishes and they put the pans off to last, not a good idea. Nor do they pick up the used saute pans so I frequently made trips to the dish pit with dirty pans. At one point, just happened to be during a rush, we had no clean saute pans or pie tins and I needed to get orders into the oven and cooking on the stove top. Incidentally, I ended up having two orders fade from my short-term memory into the black hole only to be rememberd when the chef wanted me to plate them. Ooops! I managed to get them out, but it was more of a rush than it needed to be.
Note to self. Pool tips and share them with the dishwashers. It's financial incentive to work smarter and faster. (NECI does not do this.) Always treat them with respect and remember to thank them for a job well done!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Taste and Flavor
My first rotation this time around is a class called "Taste and Flavor". It includes a wine class and a nutrition class, which is more of a food science class, along with a lab in which we explore what we learn during our lectures. The basis of the class is the 5 basic tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami (a Japanese word meaning savory or meaty). These basic tastes are all sensed by the receptor cells on our tongue. We've learned how they affect each other, for instance salt increases umami and reduces sour, bitter, and sweet. Well, if something is both sweet and sour or sweet and bitter, salt then reduced the bitter or the sour making us able to perceive more sweet.
All of this will eventually get us to a place where we are better able to make adjustments to "balance" tastes on a plate.
Flavor is actually taste + texture + aroma. We aren't really allowed to use this word in class. The chef instructor calls this the "f" word. I've noted that he as used it several times, but I still am bridling my tongue. We are to be specific when describing food in terms of the taste, texture and aroma. I will have a prototype of my final dish which I will complete on Monday. I have not a clue what I'm doing and won't even be able to think about it until Thursday when I sample and am assigned a wine to serve with said dish. YIKES!
All of this will eventually get us to a place where we are better able to make adjustments to "balance" tastes on a plate.
Flavor is actually taste + texture + aroma. We aren't really allowed to use this word in class. The chef instructor calls this the "f" word. I've noted that he as used it several times, but I still am bridling my tongue. We are to be specific when describing food in terms of the taste, texture and aroma. I will have a prototype of my final dish which I will complete on Monday. I have not a clue what I'm doing and won't even be able to think about it until Thursday when I sample and am assigned a wine to serve with said dish. YIKES!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Day Trip to Stowe
Yesterday my roommate and I took a day trip to Stowe, VT. It's only about a 15 mile drive from Montpelier, for for some reason I never made it over there during my first year at NECI. It's a cute little town. The Von Trapp family, of Sound of Music fame, moved to Vermont and settled in Stowe in 1938. The Trapp Family Lodge there draws a lot of visitors, but I didn't bother to go see it.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Half Way There
I completed my internship when I clocked out last night. This has been a great experience and really served to reinforce what I learned at school as well as adding to the knowledge. I'm so surprised at how quickly my first year of school has gone by and am looking forward to starting my second year. Orientation is September 6th followed by a sanitation review and welcome back dinner. I'll get my class schedule for the first quarter during orientation.
For now, I'm concentrating on packing my belongings so that I can load them into my car and drive back to Vermont in just a few days.
For now, I'm concentrating on packing my belongings so that I can load them into my car and drive back to Vermont in just a few days.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Shrimp Scampi with Angle Hair Pasta
This was a special that we ran during lunch at the Inn on Biltmore Estate last week. Mmmm.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Biltmore House
I've let too much time pass between postings. I am still at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, on internship. I will have completed this first internship in just a couple of weeks. Wow, 6 months sure has gone by quickly.
I have learned so much and been able to apply the techniques that I learned at my first 6 months of school at NECI. I am looking forward to moving on and completing my second 6 months of classes at NECI. Following that, I have another 6 month internship before I finish my culinary education.
I have an apartment lined up in Montpelier for my second term. I will be sharing a 2 bedroom apartment that is very close to Main Street, where most of our classes are, with my classmate Maimai (pronounced like my-my). She is from the Philippines and is in the Baking and Pastry program at NECI.
I finally took this picture of the Biltmore House on my day off yesterday. I had a photo tour assignment for school that I wanted to include this in.
Enjoy!
I have learned so much and been able to apply the techniques that I learned at my first 6 months of school at NECI. I am looking forward to moving on and completing my second 6 months of classes at NECI. Following that, I have another 6 month internship before I finish my culinary education.
I have an apartment lined up in Montpelier for my second term. I will be sharing a 2 bedroom apartment that is very close to Main Street, where most of our classes are, with my classmate Maimai (pronounced like my-my). She is from the Philippines and is in the Baking and Pastry program at NECI.
I finally took this picture of the Biltmore House on my day off yesterday. I had a photo tour assignment for school that I wanted to include this in.
Enjoy!
Monday, June 12, 2006
Cheese & Fruit Platter
I was on loan to the Bistro this evening and one of the things I did while I was there was put this cheese and fruit platter together for a group dinner.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Jelly Bean
This may look like a donkey to you and me, but to the lambs he spends
his time with, Jelly Bean is a life guard.
I went on a field trip with some other interns here at Biltmore. We
spent the day with Dr. Ted, the VP of Agriculture. He took us to the
west side of the property where the majority of the cows on the estate
are raised. The estate raised lamb also hang out here. There's about
15 acres of grapes for the winery, grapes grown here are Chardonnay,
Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, Biltmore
has a nursury here where they have all sorts of plants for the garden
and yard being grown in plastic nursery pots. These plants are
available for visitors to purchase at the gardens by the mansion on the
estate.
Anyway, back to the donkey named Jelly Bean. He protects the lambs from
coyote and dogs, which are their most likely preditors in this area. I
learned that donkeys don't like dogs or coyotes, so it's in Jelly
Bean's nature to keep them away from the lambs. Who knew?!?!
his time with, Jelly Bean is a life guard.
I went on a field trip with some other interns here at Biltmore. We
spent the day with Dr. Ted, the VP of Agriculture. He took us to the
west side of the property where the majority of the cows on the estate
are raised. The estate raised lamb also hang out here. There's about
15 acres of grapes for the winery, grapes grown here are Chardonnay,
Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, Biltmore
has a nursury here where they have all sorts of plants for the garden
and yard being grown in plastic nursery pots. These plants are
available for visitors to purchase at the gardens by the mansion on the
estate.
Anyway, back to the donkey named Jelly Bean. He protects the lambs from
coyote and dogs, which are their most likely preditors in this area. I
learned that donkeys don't like dogs or coyotes, so it's in Jelly
Bean's nature to keep them away from the lambs. Who knew?!?!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Plated Event for 27
I worked a catered event Thursday (5/11) evening. This was a plated event for 27 persons, we made extra salad just in case. I put the salads together myself, so took this photo for my portfolio.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Mary's Little Lamb
On my last day at Inn on Biltmore Estate, I got to put together the special. I was given rack of lamb. The special ended up being: Herb crusted rack of lamb, potatoes anna, grilled asparagus, and rosemary-red wine demi.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Kitchen Garden
I'm scheduled to work in the kitchen garden on the Biltmore estate today. The garden supplies fresh vegetables to the 4 kitchens on the estate. Of course, there is heavy rain, thunder and lightning this morning. Perfect. At least I won't get sun burned! ;-) I didn't bring boots, so will sacrifice an old pair of tennis shoes to the mud.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Garlic Mayo
I was reading from my copy of Culinaria Spain and learned that the invention of alioli (you've no doubt seen the French word aioli on menus) is credited to the Roman emperor Nero. The original creation was a combination of garlic and olive oil. The addition of egg used to be frowned upon, but now is widely used. I'd like to continue the frown! ;-)
Here's the original version:
3 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 cup olive oil
Lemon juice to taste
Pound the garlic and salt to an even consistency, using a mortar and pestle. Then add the olive oil drop by drop at first, increasing to a thin stream and stirring constantly until a thick paste is formed. Add lemon juice to taste.
I'm sure this could all be done in a food processor, but since mine is in storage I will be attempting this the old fashioned way the next time I get a day off. News to follow.
Here's the original version:
3 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 cup olive oil
Lemon juice to taste
Pound the garlic and salt to an even consistency, using a mortar and pestle. Then add the olive oil drop by drop at first, increasing to a thin stream and stirring constantly until a thick paste is formed. Add lemon juice to taste.
I'm sure this could all be done in a food processor, but since mine is in storage I will be attempting this the old fashioned way the next time I get a day off. News to follow.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Line Cook
I was able to fill all of the orders that came in during lunch without having to get the sous chef to help me. :-) He told me that they've been taking a lot of heat for not getting orders out in a timely manner. The goal is to fill an order in 13 minutes or less. I filled all of my orders in under 11 minutes. It was fairly slow, so that helped!
Now that I passed that test, I'm moving on to another station, working the employee cafeteria. I'll get to spend more time with my knives getting more efficient at slicing, dicing, etc. :-)
Now that I passed that test, I'm moving on to another station, working the employee cafeteria. I'll get to spend more time with my knives getting more efficient at slicing, dicing, etc. :-)
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Inn on Biltmore Estate
I spent my first week at the Inn mostly cutting various fruits and vegies. I told them I needed to improve my knife skills, so it's all good. Today I trained on the al a carte cooking line (filling orders from the dining room and room service). I'll be on my own Monday, YIKES! Not really, the Sous Chef will keep me from drowning if I get in over my head. Phwew!
Friday, March 10, 2006
Asheville, NC
I began my drive down here mid-day Monday and arrived Tuesday evening. I had originally set out with the idea that I would stop off near DC and visit the Smithsonian for a few days. As I started my journey, I thought it wiser to get to Asheville and find a place to live. I did find a place and I will be moving in later today. Yay!
It is so beautiful here! The color has not returned yet from winter, but I look forward to watching it return. There are already blossoms on trees and daffodils blooming. I have not been to Biltmore Estate yet, but I'm sure the 50k tulips they have planted there have broken through the ground and will be ready for their debut next month during the festival of flowers.
It is so beautiful here! The color has not returned yet from winter, but I look forward to watching it return. There are already blossoms on trees and daffodils blooming. I have not been to Biltmore Estate yet, but I'm sure the 50k tulips they have planted there have broken through the ground and will be ready for their debut next month during the festival of flowers.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Outta Here
Today is my last day of table service and the last day of my first 6 month residency at NECI. After class today, I will be taking the contents of my dorm room (except what I need for tonight) to storage so that I can leave here early tomorrow morning...I'm taking a dorm mate to the airport in Burlington (about 45 miles from here) way early.
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