Culinary School - Q4 Week 2

American Regional

January 17-18, 2011

Mid Atlantic

Menu: This week we are in the Mid-Atlantic region. Our Menus include: Vichyssoise, Scallops with Mushrooms and Asparagus, Shaker Style Turkey Cutlets, Potato Croquettes, Spaghetti Squash, Green Beans, and Ginger Pound Cake with Warm Cranberry Sauce.

I really like working with this team. We all work well together.

The Food: I thought the Clams Casino looked good. If I weren’t allergic, I would have given it a try. I think it is imperative that a chef samples everything they serve. I liked the Vichyssoise. But, I like Potato Soup a lot. The Scallops got a nice sear on them, although Marc struggled with them at first. The oil we used for the Croquettes was not hot enough so they didn’t turn out as well as they could have. The Turkey Cutlets were yummy. I wish that Thomas had given himself more time to cook the meat and make the gravy. Even though it tasted good, there were ingredients left out of it. I was pleased with how the spaghetti squash and green beans turned out. I love both of them and enjoyed eating them after our critique. The ginger pound cake was really delicious! We all collaborated on it. We made a whipped cream and added some of the cranberry sauce to it and used it between the layers on the plate.

Summary: I think as a team, we really need to work on our timing and plating presentation. Our plating has been kind of all over the place. We really need to give more thought to how things look rather than just tossing food onto the plate to get it done.

Vichyssoise

Scallops with Mushrooms
and Asparagus

Shaker Style Turkey Cutlets
with Green beans and
Potato Croquettes

Shaker Style Turkey Cutlets
with Spaghetti Squash and
Potatoes Parmentier

Ginger Pound Cake
with Warm Cranberry Sauce

My Teammate Jose

Our table after our presentation
to Chef Jim