Last Restaurant Service...

I can't believe it's the last restaurant service of our school year. We've done 7 in total! All of them were a lot of work, hectic, but a fun learning experience - only that it's about 30 % of the reality of the real working kitchen - something we will all encounter in the coming months!


A great ending with a nice menu....enjoy the photos!


Amuse Bouche by Rosella and Dionysis : Carré de duos de poivrons
(Duo of bell peppers, pickled quail egg topped with trout eggs)

Yellow and red peppers, agar jelly

Trout eggs

Final presentation:

Hors d'oeuvres by Yiyu, Natalia, Joppe and Matan: Le tout chataigne en multiple d'épices
(Chestnut three ways with its spices)

Marbled chestnut

Final presentation

                              

Poisson by Isabel, Roberto and Me: La mer en écume du fruit de sa passion
(Seabass with its fruit of passion)

Marking the bar (seabass)

Final presentation

Viande by Carolina, Maniko and Sinan: Médaillon de selle d'agneau, Shitake et superposé de légumes
(Lamb medallion, layered vegetables and Aubergine crisp)

Ail confit

Layered vegetables

Final presentation

Super sad of having been done with restaurant service, but now onto more professional work!
Hope I survive! :)

Noël in Hong Kong

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day!
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas lunches and dinner, and were able to spend it with families and friends.


As for me; a very close family friend invited me to showcase culinary skills that I acquired during my time at Ferrandi. I know I'm fresh out of culinary school and am no superstar Chef but I thought 1. why not do something I love for Christmas and 2. take on the challenge?


I devised an 8-course tasting menu (including dessert) and decided to test my concept of east-meets-west food, a Fusion of Franco-Chinese ingredients. The number of people started out as 12 but last night I cooked for 16.


I was to prepare the meal in the hosts' home and was lucky enough to be assisted by a number of helpers, one of them my sous-chef and my right hand. I went to the local market (Bowrington) to buy all the produce for the next day and ordered the fish and seafood beforehand as during Christmas time it's hard to find a good amount of fresh produce (for such a large meal). I assisted in the location of the meal within the household, which ended up being outside, the place settings and the types of dishes and cutlery I wanted to use. 


It's funny...looking back, I really felt like a Chef in a kitchen, it was hectic at moments especially during the final dressage (plating), making sure the plates and most importantly the food was warm, plates were clean, making sure they were sent at the same time (or almost) so you can imagine the waves of waiters in and out of the kitchen and me trying to put the final pièce de resistance - e.g. dill leaf and the waiters just wanting to take the dish for the guests and me calling them back and telling them it wasn't finished...ahhhh i loved it all! I wanted to say Mais c'est pas possible! haha


The beautifully lit and set dinner party (for 16)

My kitchen for the night, all decked out with pots, pans, equipment even the oven we use at Ferrandi (the double dry and steam oven) and station for plate warmers

Before the guests had dinner, they sat down for hors d'oeuvres...

Now, the Menu and the pictures...

(Note: I was so busy plating at each course that I did not take the pictures, but someone was kind enough to do so but I realized they were also taken in such a rush so apologies for not showing the most accurate pictures of what I created)

Amuse Bouche: Emulsion d’Asperges Vertes, Poitrine de Porc Marinée    

(Emulsion of Green Asparagus, Marinated Pork belly)

Entrées:

Espuma d’ Homard, Crevettes et Tomates  

(Espuma of Lobster, Shrimp with Blanched Tomatoes)

Duo de Foie Gras, Salade Vinaigrette et Carpaccio d’Agrumes   

(Foie Gras Two-way, Vinaigrette Mesclun and Carpaccio of Citrus Fruit)

To Refresh the Palate

Sorbet au citron 

(Lemon sorbet with grated apple)

Poissons

Homard Poché, Sauce Bisque  

(Steamed Lobster, Shellfish Bisque)

1 comment about this photo: We had already sent 16 dishes of lobster (the much nicer lobes) and this was just for the picture, so the lobster bits are the tail ends. Apologies!

Filets de Bar, Purée de Vitelotte  

(Filets of Seabass, Sweet Potato Purée)

                                                                           

Viande

Magret de Canard, Tofu et Champignons Braisés 

(Duck Breast, Braised Bean curd and Chinese Mushrooms)

2 comments about this photo: 1. the braised mushrooms and tofu are not in the picture and 2. after putting the cucumber slices on the left, I decided to replace them with the absent mushrooms and tofu that I originally put below the duck breast. Apologies once more!

Desserts

Mille-feuille aux Fruits de Saison 

(Thousand layer cake with seasonal fruits)

Crème Brulée à la Vanille 

(Vanilla flavored Crème Brulée)

Lisa's famouse Crunch Cake (To die for!)

Don't forget the wine...oh the wine :)

2000 Cristal Champagne

1992 Puligny Montrachet, Bourgogne for Entrées and Poissons

1983 Chateau Cheval Blanc, St Emilion - Bordeaux for Viandes

1988 Chateau d'Yquem, Graves - Bordeaux for Dessert

I was surprisingly not nervous or anxious but felt excited to prepare a full dinner inspired by my culinary experiences at Ferrandi, Paris and abroad. For every course, I even went out to the guests and described the dish. It was my very first time and I enjoyed it all the way through. By the end, I felt a sense of satisfaction of having prepared the most 'gastronomic' meal I have ever prepared in my life. 


Obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement and some things I wasn't happy with but I am very proud of myself as a first-timer and want to relive these moments whether hectic or not again and again and again :)

Sixth Restaurant Service

We've arrived at our last week of school (of the year 2010) at Ferrandi and our last restaurant service of the year as well. We'll have one more when we get back in January but for me I already feel a bit nostalgic...
It was a bit different this week; though dinner service was the same. Please see lunch service details below.


In any case it was a smooth run in the end and I will miss the hecticness of the kitchen during the holiday season! In the mean time, our sixth restaurant service at Ferrandi. 


Amuse-Bouche: Raviole de Romans, bouillon au lait de poule
(Mini-Ravioli with cheese, tomato and cilantro; milk foam)

Entrée: Tartare de Daurade, Carpaccio d'Agrumes, et son Sorbet Coco
(Tartare of sea bream, Citrus carpaccio and Coconut sorbet)

Poisson: Saint-Jacques en Coques lutes et Beurre Blanc au Noilly Prat
(Scallops served in its shell, Foie Gras and julienne carrots, celery, leek accompanied by a Noilly-Prat based Beurre Blanc)

-- Apologies for lack of quality picture (I forgot to take a picture of my own dish and had to resort to phone pictures instead)


Viande: Hamburger de Canard aux Pommes et Espumas de Foie gras, Condiment de Tomate, Pommes Pont-Neuf et Oignon Frit
(Duck hamburger with Foie gras espuma, Condiments of Potato chip, onion ring, lettuce and vinaigrette and Tomato confit with mustard seeds)

On Thursday, our lunch service was prepared for a banquet of about 80 people, so our group (Anglo B) prepared the Entrée and Poisson course while Anglo A prepared the Amuse-Bouche and Viande course.

Amuse-Bouche: Marbré de Volaille, Champignons et Gelée Truffée

(Marbled Cake with chicken, mushrooms and Truffled jelly)

Viande: Jarret de Boeuf sur Quinoa aux Petits Légumes, Croustille de Noel au coulis Rouge et Vert

(Beef knuckle on a bed of Quinoa with vegetables, Christmas crisp, Red and Green coulis)

Fifth Restaurant Service

December has come (already?!) and we pulled through our fifth restaurant service with snow flakes falling outside, seeming so calm and then next thing you know you've got to send 11 dishes at the same time then 12 right after and you're missing the dishes themselves or your sauce hasn't reduced enough!

As calm settles in, here are the pics!


Amuse Bouche: Escabèche de Lapereaux, Crème Glacée à la Moutarde à l'Ancienne by Roberto
- Escabeche (type of Mediterranean marinade) of Rabbit, Grain of Mustard Ice-cream with Pumpernickel bread

Making 'perfect' quenelles

Entrée: Ravioles de Canard et Champignons, Bouillon de Foie Gras by Rosella, Dyonisis and Me

- Duck and Mushroom Ravioli, Foie Gras emulsion

Sauteed (in duck fat :) Shitake and Pleurottes mushrooms

Making the ravioli pasta...

Plating à la minute

In the end...

Poisson: Paella by Isabel, Yiyu, Maniko, and Sinan

Some of the ingredients...love the colors!

Plating...

Final presentation...

Viande: Jarret de porc braisée, farci de joue de cochon, fricassée de lentilles vertes du puy, salade de pousses by Natalia, Matan and Joppe

- Braised pork knuckle, stuffed porc cheek, fricasse of green lentils, and salad

Oh my god...this is heaven!

With more porc (smoked bacon)...of course

A brief moment of non-crazyness in the kitchen...'making' toast before the hectic lunch service :)

As a treat, Chef made us some tapas from the left-overs for prep for tomorrow's regional meal! An overall good (but hectic, as always day)...only 2 more to go... :(

Red potatoes and fresh and pan-fried foie gras 

Roll it out

Today was a short day but that doesn't mean we can sit back and relax, on the other hand, the next 3 days will be quite exhausting with Restaurant service Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon and the Regional Menu: Alsace on Friday; not to mention being Chef of the Week, making sure all the produce is in the fridge, everyone has what they need, making sure everything is cleaned up and put back at the end of the day as well - but you really can't do it without the rest of your group who support you and have your back throughout the whole process, without them it would be impossible!


Before tackling dense recipes for the public, we continued on to our next group of foods based on puff pastry. Puff pastry is light, flaky dough that is made by repeatedly layering pastry dough and butter to form a thin dough that puffs in the oven. It takes several "turns" to make the puff pastry perfect with letting it rest 10-15 minutes between turns, meaning rolling it out and folding it into a book (the basic recipe for a mille-feuille as well). The puff pastry dough is then cut accordingly - either rectangle or circle, the ingredient is added in the middle and another puff pastry is added as the cover alongside egg wash to make that nice brown glaze all around. 

The first was an allumette au fromage (rectangle pastry) which is a puff pastry baked in the oven with a layer or cheese and Sauce Mornay in the middle. I'm not a big fan of cheese but it generally turned out well.

                   

                                      

The second was a 

Petit Pâté (a round puff pastry) stuffed with a mixture of ground veal and pork, egg yolk, salt and pepper, Madeira wine and minced shallots - it reminded me of a Shanghainese Dumpling! Yum! It was my favorite of the two.

I apologize for blogging a very short entry but need my rest for the next 3 days, starting with our second dinner service tomorrow (and most probably an absent entry tomorrow). A big good luck for Group B, get some rest, and I know we'll do great! See you on the other side!