My Sandwhiches Were Selling Like Pizza

I had fun selling small sandwhiches today. I was playing Sous Chef in Cafe du Juor so I had to take care a number of things durng prep. The Chef turned to me and says, 'we don't have anyone to work on the Deli station today, can you do Deli?' I didn't know what to do initially so I asked him want he wanted me to sell.

Cafe du Juor class operates the same way as a cafeteria except that we have to be a little more creative since some of the food are coming from various classes. There are some that we just have to serve, some we have to reheat, and some we actually have to re-invent. Re-inventing is quite a good exercise of creativity... we're forced to make money out of food that was previously prepared as something else or scraps of meat that we'd rather sell than throw in the garbage.

It's been fun so far! The stations we run are typical of a cafeteria too but we have a traditional station which features traditional french cooking from most of our classes.

The kitchen is designed for high volume production so it's quite convenient.

Typically, when we're one man down, we just close the station i.e. we normally wouldn't run the Deli station today.

Chef Freund trusted that I can handle it so I stepped up and said I can handle it. He gave me some scraps of Reuben and Turkey Breast.

He told me to make big sandwhiches so we can get them out faster since we don't want them back in our storage.

I asked him though if I can make mini open faced warm sandwhiches instead. The Deli is the 4th station. Before people line up for Deli, they'll be stopping by the Saute/Action Station, Traditional Station and the Pizza Station. By the time they get to Deli, they won't pick up anything that will be too filling.

So I prepared by snack size sandwhiches very simply. I made about 8 sandwhiches from 1 french bread, topped the Reuben with Thousand Island, Sourkraut and Swiss Cheese (which was the only cheese I had), topped the Turkey Breast with Swiss Cheese and White Mushrooms, ran them thru the toaster... and Viola! Gone in 60 seconds. My mini sandwhiches sold out like candies. People said they're a good alternative for a quick bite... but it didn't end up being so quick because they would line up for more!

That felt good. I thought that was a good challenge to make money out of 'scraps.' They were pretty good scraps.

Marinara Saves The Day!

My class for lunch production started last week. It's the class that makes the food and serves the cafeteria in school which covers around 400 heads in a one and a half hour lunch window. Usually we just use the stuff made by the students so there's really not a lot of cooking required. Although sometimes we do have to make some stuff from scratch.

I was assigned to make the soups today. I had it planned last week to Minestrone since normally there's enough cut-up vegetables from classes practicing knife skills. There was Goulash from the earlier classes too so I just had to chop the meat to smaller pieces and stretch the sauce to make more soup. I made the Goulash first because I just had to reheat some of the meat dishes made from the earlier classes, add some stock and herbs and season it. I wanted to make the Minestrone from scratch because it's best fresh. I had 2 hours to make it and that was more than enough time.

I've got what I needed chopped up so I will just have to wait till my vegetable stock is ready, cook my veggies, add the herbs and let it simmer for about an hour. The recipe says it will have to simmer for 1 1/2 hours to get all the flavors infused.

After I made my Goulash, I went back to the cooler to get my "mise-en-place-d" ingredients to make my soup... and guess what, they were gone. Somebody might have needed some vegetables for salad or another dish and just took them from the production cooler. I almost panicked. But I told myself, I can pull this off. The chef said though that I might not have enought time. It's 45 minutes before service and I have nothing. I may be able to chop everything again but I won't have enough time to simmer the soup and develop the flavors. My minestrone will be will taste like boiled vegetables.

20 minutes before service (crunch time), i had my vegetables ready... i still didn't know what to do. I had diced tomatoes and tomato paste on my workstation but how do I make it taste like it has been cooking for hours.

One of my classmates who was setting up the line said, 'If I were you, I won't even bother. Your soup won't make it to the line, you only have 10 minutes before the chef yells at you..." But I was persistent. Under pressure, I become more resourceful, not to mention creative (wink wink).

I decided to walk into the spice rack hoping to find some powdered herbs thinking that it'll be easier to incorporate flavors that way. I decided to pass by the cooler to get some tomato paste and Marina sauce was in sight! It was made in the earlier class and it was labeled 'General-Use.' I tasted it and viola! Just what I needed.

So I ran to my station to sweat my vegetables, dumped in the marinara sauce and poured in my vegetable stock, when it started boiling, viola! I have my Minestrone ...ala minute! It did taste like it's been simmering for hours because the herbs were already infused in the marinara sauce. All I had to do was throw in some salt and pepper and make some chiffonade of basil to add some freshness to it.

I was able to get my Minestrone right on time. Thanks to the left-over Marinara sauce. My soup was saved and so was my day. Whew! I didn't get yelled at. In fact, the chef loved it. He asked me to save the little that was left after service.

My Mousse Cake

My firt plated dessert in class - A mousse cake.

*Somthing I'd make again when I need to get my mind off something, this will definitely keep me busy.

We've made a number of desserts in class but we haven't really been plating. We had one day to experiment and I got excited with this one. It lacks a little bit of finesse though. But I think it's not so bad.

The mousse cake can be deconstructed and each layer can be a dessert on it's own. I love it!

In preparation for the cake assembly,
we started baking various cake components in class:
To line the sides of the molds: Joconde
To fill the mousse cake: Banana Cake
To line the base of the pan: Choc Hazelnut Feuilletine
To fill the base of the cake: Chocolate Mousse
To fill the top layer of the cakes: Caramel Mousse
To finish the top of the cake: Chocolate Gellee















Biscuit Joconde
5 oz Almond Flour
6 oz Granulated Sugar
1.5 oz Cake Flour
7 oz Eggs
3.5 oz Egg whites
1.5 oz unsalted butter

Total batter weight: 1# 8oz

Method
1 - In a bowl of mixer fitted with a whip, combine the almond flour, 5 oz of sugar, cake flour and half of the eggs. Whip the mixture for 2 minutes. Stop the machine, scrape down the bowl, then whip for 3 more minutes

2 - Gradually add the remaining eggs. Whip on medium speed for 5 more minutes.

3 - In a clean mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and remaining sugar to medium peaks.

4 - Remove the bowl of almond mixture from the machine and fold in the melted butter with a spatula

5 - fold in 1/3 of the whipped egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whipped egg whites. Do no over-mix

6 - Spread the batter over a silicone baking mat placed on a sheet pan. Level it carefully with a long offset spatula

7 - Bake at 450F until the jaconde bounces back when lightly pressed approximately 6-8 minutes

*Jaconde may be decorated by chocolate flavored Tuile batter.















Banana Cake
7 oz Cake Flour
6 oz Sugar
3/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
*Triple sift dry ingredients
------
5 oz butter
8 oz bananas
2 oz eggs
1 oz sour cream
1 vanilla

This cake is made using a 2 stage method, again this is done by pouring the liquid ingredients in the creamed batter in 2 stages.

Notice that there’s a great percentage of sugar here. Sugar acts as a tenderizer by breaking protein or gluten strands

Method:
1 - Use the food processor to blend together bananas, sour cream and vanilla

2 - Add eggs when the mixture is smooth

3 - Triple sift all the dry ingredients

4 - Aerate dry ingredients then add butter and still until dough consistency is reached

5 - Prepare the mold by lining it with parchment, putting a parchment on top, spraying it again and flouring it. Ensure that all the flour is taken out before the cake batter is poured into the mold.
This ensures that the cake will not stick on the mold when baked

6 - Add bananas, vanilla and sour cream mixture into the dough and stir until smooth












Chocolate Hazelnut Feuilletine

To make the bottom lining of the cake ring, simply mix together pate a glaze, hazel nut or any nut butter and Feuilletine. this creates a nice nutty and rich crust. Be careful however that hazel nut or any nut butter can be very hard with refrigerated so try not to put too thick of a base.


Chocolate Mousse

- I like it rich!
1# chocolate
4 oz butter
6 oz yolks
8 oz whites
2 1/2 oz sugar
8 oz heavy cream

Caramel Mousse will go on top of the torte

Cool thru an ice bath. When the caramel is cold enough, stir in gelatin, cool further then stir in the whipping cream

If the mousse becomes too thick because the gelatin has set prematurely, the mousse can be reconstituted by heating the mixture to melt the gelatin back or by adding more cream.

At this point, only the Gelee to finish the cake is missing. The mousse cake has to be frozen first before being finished to make sure there will be no ridges when gellee is applied

















Chocolate Gelee:
1 cup water
1/4 cup Valhrona[R] cocoa powder
2 ounces Valhrona[R] bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier[R]
6 sheets gelatin, softened in 6 cups cold water

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the reserved cooking liquid (in this case water), cocoa powder, chocolate and Grand Marnier to a boil. Reduce the heat, whisk in the gelatin, and simmer until dissolved and well combined, about three minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Pour on top of the frozen mousse cake.

Work fast as this will set immediately. Don't make ridges.

Now that's busy! Keeps your mind off of what worries you. Something I would make for when I'm stressed out.

A Striving Artist, For Now

Sometimes I get this morally disturbing impression from other people. I get questions or even unsolicited opinions about shifting gears, "trying-too-hard" to do what I want, be a "striving artist" and practically live in poverty, instead of staying economically comfortable in the globa corporate arena where I used to belong. I must be out of my mind to throw away a budding career out the window and venture an unfamiliar path with nothing but will.

Opnions like such bothered me. I almost had second thoughts. Just when I thought, packing my bags and going home is an option... I found these lines, strangely in the postscript of a cookbook, "Thus to be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great..." -G.W.F. Hegel

I guess I will just have to withstand the challenges for now. There are a lot. But there should also be a lot of ways. I'll find them out. I know that doing what I want will later help me earn a living, or rather, not just a living but A FORTUNE.

It's less stressful that way too... earning your fortune from what you want to do, and something that you're great at rather than waking up every morning, whining about how I don't want to go to work and spending the day at work and hating it more.

Like most artists, I have the discipline, the intensity and the passion to perfect my craft. But I also have the business sense to market and sell it. I want to be rich. I think soon I will be. Sure, money doesn't make you happy. But it helps!

For now, I will have to admit, I'm a striving artist, but it won't be long till I become, a thriving one.

My most embarassing moment: It's a sign!

and still going... for the last 2 weeks, I barely had sleep trying to finish 2 portfolios and getting ready for my practical finals. It was tough... so tough... I broke down... IN CLASS while making my Genois!

I remember when I was 'younger' I would write on those slam books and not have anything for my 'most embarassing moment.'

Now I have one. Breaking down and crying... in class.

I cried not because I didn't know what to do, I cried because I was so tired from staying up all night, practially all week to finish my portfolio and prepare for my finals.

I cried because I was late for class on the day of the practical final and I let my chef instructor down.

I cried because I wasn't at my best.

I cried because my genois collapsed on me the last minute and I ended up with a thin dense unedible cake instead of a light spongy one.

I had to step out of the class. I had to breath.

I was embarassed. I've had worse professional experiences before. How come this one seems to hurt the most.

For a shor while, I began having doubts about my goals. Why do I even subject myself to this? It hurts so much, not to mention it's physically challenging.

And then it came to me... I wouldn't feel this way if I didn't care.

So I did care. In fact, I cared so much. It's a sign. I'm passionate about this. I was so concerned about doing well, it hurt when I failed.

It only means one thing. I'm on the right track. This is for me. I do want to be a chef. I want it so badly that it hurts.

I should be grateful for experiences like this. I'm being molded. I'm being taught.

God does have unique ways of getting His message across.