Timeline:
Day 1
1. Quiz
2. Discuss Mystery basket / Lunch
3. Trip to Anodyne Coffee
Day 2
Veteran’s Day / No Classes
Day 3
1. Check for ingredients
2. Prepare dishes
3. Tasting
4. Critique
5. Notebooks
This week we had a break from service. Our Chef instructor took us to Anodyne Coffee Roasters for a field trip. We were able to able to see how the process works for Anodyne. It was interesting to see how clean the roasting / packing area was compared to what other roasters or manufactures have. Steve spoke about the importance of having only the freshest coffee beans that they could make available to the roasters so that the end product was consistent. Steve also spoke about the rise of chefs pairing these artisan coffees with specific dishes on their menu and as an opportunity to make a last impression. We went through a process called cupping in which we smelled for the aroma of the coffee dry, steeped the coffee and then smelled it wet. We then tasted the coffee by slurping it and throwing it against all parts of our mouth to get the full character of the coffee. The entire experience was very similar to wine tasting. The final day of class we were allowed to use whatever ingredients we could find to compose a dish. I chose to do seafood bisque. The overall critique was that the sherry was too strong and that I needed to find another way to bring flavors to the dish before calling it deconstructed. I disagreed to a degree as most seafood bisques have the seafood ground up into the dish and my seafood was whole and added at the end, but I took the critique to mean that I needed to deconstruct it more.
Day 1
1. Quiz
2. Discuss Mystery basket / Lunch
3. Trip to Anodyne Coffee
Day 2
Veteran’s Day / No Classes
Day 3
1. Check for ingredients
2. Prepare dishes
3. Tasting
4. Critique
5. Notebooks
This week we had a break from service. Our Chef instructor took us to Anodyne Coffee Roasters for a field trip. We were able to able to see how the process works for Anodyne. It was interesting to see how clean the roasting / packing area was compared to what other roasters or manufactures have. Steve spoke about the importance of having only the freshest coffee beans that they could make available to the roasters so that the end product was consistent. Steve also spoke about the rise of chefs pairing these artisan coffees with specific dishes on their menu and as an opportunity to make a last impression. We went through a process called cupping in which we smelled for the aroma of the coffee dry, steeped the coffee and then smelled it wet. We then tasted the coffee by slurping it and throwing it against all parts of our mouth to get the full character of the coffee. The entire experience was very similar to wine tasting. The final day of class we were allowed to use whatever ingredients we could find to compose a dish. I chose to do seafood bisque. The overall critique was that the sherry was too strong and that I needed to find another way to bring flavors to the dish before calling it deconstructed. I disagreed to a degree as most seafood bisques have the seafood ground up into the dish and my seafood was whole and added at the end, but I took the critique to mean that I needed to deconstruct it more.