Week 2-4 of Superior

OH man its been a pretty good first few weeks in Superior Cuisine, first week was a blast and the second to 4th week is still going strong. The next few dishes that we had for practical were pretty interesting in their own sense. Honestly I should have blogged sooner when the thoughts and memories of the dishes were a lot fresher in my mind. Something however still remains quite fresh in my mind when Chef Benoit introduced to us agar agar. Agar agar is a type of gelatin developed through algae. What was most interesting was the fact that it could hold its temperature so you could serve food warm yet still remain as a jelly. The way that he had shown us was to combine something that was warm yet there was an element of cold at the same time. He lined the bottom on a plate with lobster bits mixed with tomato, then a layer of lobster stock mixed with agar agar and finally finished off with a nice cold layer of Vichyssoise. All of this had to be done quite quickly or else the lobster stock would set and cool down, which would defeat the purpose of serving something hot yet cold at the same time. Another memorable class was the one where we had to make a turkey roulade, instead of making the traditional one he showed us another method of rolling turkey meat with stuffing within it. He took two thin slices of turkey meat and laid them so that part of it was touching one another. Added the stuffing to the meat and then rolled into a ball and with the plastic wrap tightened it, tied and made sure no air would get inside. As for the cooking method he would take the turkey ball poach it and then give it a sautee so it would obtain color. Again I do apologize that I should have wrote my blog sooner when the memories of everything else was fresher.

Classes aside my memories still remember all the workshops that have past quite clearly still. Since the last time we have gone through work shops 202 to 204 each was quite interesting and fun. As usual I'd go through my normal routine of smacking my head against the desk for a few hours trying to come up with something to do for the workshop. After a while I'd come up for a few ideas, usually the protein first and then I'd go to the sauces and garnishes then decorations. What I have been finding lately is that after I come up with a few ideas, I need to have a discussions about it with a classmate or previous classmates. Generally after I have this discussion it helps me rethink the dish that I wanted to create and rethink the process of whats to be done and the plating. For workshop 202 we had to create two appetizers, I made Beet sticks with quenelle of roasted eggplant, roquette and a parsley chive vinegrette. The other dish I made Artichoke Fricassee, sauteed mushroom and asparagus with garlic snail. In this workshop things were going pretty decently, the major issues that this workshop had was that my tuille didn't get enough color and that my plating could have been stronger.

In workshop 203 the task was to produce an appetizer and a main course. For my appetizer I did a crepe layered with quail and mango pineapple chutney, as for the main dish leeks cooked in cream, carrot puree and sauteed cod with a mango pineapple beurre blanc. This workshop proved to be fun for me, the main issue in this workshop was again my plating. At this point I've noticed that my flavors and my techniques are all there its just that my plating still needs a lot of improvement.

Workshop 204 was really fun since the chef decided to put us into groups, this was also the HACCP(Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) workshop. HACCP is a system that instructs and creates awareness of food safety. Going by the workshop name we all had to work by the HACCP rules and standards, which means food can only be kept either at 4°C or cooler if not then at 60°C or higher. Anything between those temperatures is considered the danger zone, a zone which it ideal for bacteria to flourish. The group that I had was a pretty good group, we came up with ideas quickly and one member (Denise) even dared to take on the pigeon(which we were warned about how its cooked and how we were be massacred if it was cooked wrong, Denise however cooked it spot on). I did however learn that You should not server chutney as an amouse bouche. We didn't really have too much difficulty with this since we had a group of 4. One thing however after we all had finished plating, the chef gathered us with ours dishes and said from now he he expects nothing less than what we've shown him.

With what the chef had told us for Workshop 204, I hope that I can continue this trend of improvement and reach the level that I hope to achieve before the end of this session. I also hope that my plating will improve, I'm told it just takes time but I'm hoping it happens soon!


Beet sticks with quenelle of roasted eggplant, roquette and a parsley chive vinegrette
-Too bad I forgot to take a few pictures before presenting to the chef


Artichoke Fricassee, sauteed mushroom and asparagus with garlic snail
-Garnish type 1


Artichoke Fricassee, sauteed mushroom and asparagus with garlic snail
-Garnish type 2


Leeks cooked in cream, carrot puree and sauteed cod with a mango pineapple beurre blanc


Crepe layered with quail and mango pineapple chutney


Crazy Jelly dish the Chef made with Agar Agar


Sadly I do not have any pictures for Workshop 204 right now, but I am working on getting those pictures.

Week 1 of Superior

Alas I am starting to really update my blog HURRAY! So the first week of Superior has finished and we are now going onto the second week of classes. So far up to this point we've done two lessons + practicals and one workshop. The first lesson was pretty simple and we pretty much learned a few techniques on making garnishes for our plates in the future. We were shown how to make tempura, deep frying other vegetables and how to make savory tuilles. The practical was nothing too crazy for our first day back into the kitchen, especially mine since I have been in the production kitchen for the past 6 months. We were allowed to work in groups, so i grouped up with Nicholas and we did pretty good for the first class. The second day of class wasn't so bad either, we did a spiced Pollock with turned artichokes and a eggplant charlotte stuffed with brunoise of vegetables (peppers, zucchini and onions). The first day really helped set the mood to be back in the kitchen but the second day really started to get our engines going. Surprisingly it went by pretty well, the chef had nothing bad to say about my vegetables or fish. Only thing was that my plating was plain and simple, Chef Benoit said that its okay for now but he wants to see more complexity in the future. Then we had our first workshop day, for some reason I was brutally nervous and just could not get a good nights sleep before that day. First thing in the kitchen was Chef Benoit showing us how to cook up the calamari dish, after that we could go on and proceed to doing the workshop. As nervous as I was I went straight to get all my mise en place done and before I knew it I was working faster than what I had predicted. As the time ticked away I thought maybe I could have done some more and told myself that for the next workshop I will try something more complex. At around 6:15pm was when we were to all serve our main courses and clean up. The Chef decided to do a group evaluation instead of a solo one on one chat about each of our dishes. He picked a few out and explained why they didn't work and why not to do something like that. He also picked out a few that were on the right track and some elements that we could try and use for future workshops. After wards I asked the chef what he thought about my dish, he told me that the garnishes were alright but the meat should have been presented in a different manor. He showed me how unstable the meat would be to be stacked up like that. (refer to my veal picture under) Overall I feel that my first week back from not being in class for so long as been pretty good. Even with that I'm gonna work harder and try even harder so I can continue to do well.


Chef's Dishes from Demo 2





My Dishes from workshop 201