Bela - Bela Munisipality 28th - 30th September 2011

The week was hectic. We had been preparing for the function we had known would be overwhelming. The dishes we would prepare would be easy enough like beetroot salad, potato salad, egg mayo, garden salads, etc.but how much of it we needed to make to satisfy the clients...they brought there own Tupperware to dish food but we stopped them from doing so for the sake of portion control. I was working mainly in the cold kitchen to make sure i have my knife skills down to great efficiency and I've been doing quite well. its just that without help every now and then it tends to get hectic when you get bombarded by toasted sandwiches. my prep would eventually dire down since it is used by other sections in the kitchen, because they don't feel like cutting there own prep.Over all I could keep up most of the time but eventually I asked a couple of the students to help out while i do toasted's the whole time... I got to make my own salad dressing that was basic but good for a guest order. I'm trying to now work at one place more often to try and remember the skills in each section much better...

Preparing equipment for Mbizi 20 September 2011

Today we helped out in the main kitchen with the little morning order rush but as it died down we started cleaning and gathering the equipment that is being sent there tomorrow. Alon and i where the only chef students that went to Mbizi to help out with the setup of the tent and space...while i was in the kitchen  I worked in all the sections helping out where I could. I made toasted's, chips, vet koek fried eggs and Oats for the cresh.

Créme Brûlée

Créme Brûlée

1.      Heavy  cream                                                  1l

2.      Vanilla essence                                          2 tsp

3.      Granulated sugar                                      120g

4.      Egg yolks                                                         10

5.      Granulated sugar                                    extra

·        Heat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius

·        Heat up cream and vanilla in a pot.

·        Mix egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has desolved.

·        Add the craem to the egg mixture (hot to cold method)and mix gradually.

·        Strain the custard and pour into molds or bowls.

·        Bake in a water bath for approximately  45 to 50 min.

8 September 2011 DEEP Spring Cleaning

We weren't really psyched for that day but we worked really hard. Alon, Juan and myself were really getting down and dirty in the scullery. We took out the equipment, the shelves, the tables, the basins, the fat trap and even the draining pipes. We washed the walls and scrubbed out the hardened dirt out between the lining of the tiles  with butter knives. Once we were done we couldn't believe what we had done the place looked almost brand new. we then started on the equipment outside, the basins we cleaned so well that you now could see your reflection in them. The old P.V.C pipes were so white after using bicarb to clean the pipe inside and out.the tables we scrubbed as hard as we could and they now look much better then before. we cleaned the fat trap and its pipes. it took us the whole day to clean all of that and we did the baking section as well.

Academy Cooking 6+7 September 2011

The last two days have been kinda amazing, we have been making deserts for the guest house that is absolutely delicious and quite easy. We have made savory flan pastry to make this dry pastry shells to be filled with a lemon curd that i made today(7 September 2011). We also made creme brule'e witch i loved making and was very delicious. we each made our own batches and used a water bath to bake them... Funny thing is that creme brule'e is basically baked custard, never knew that. Today was mostly guys against girls and we made it a dark and light  competition. On the guys side Juan and I made a dark chocolate rum mouse and on the girls side, Lorinda and Shorty, they made a white frangelico mouse... We piped it into PVC cylinders to make a round shape one side light and the other side dark, we made a biscuit base for the mouse out of melted butter and tennis biscuits... i also learned that the heavy to light method is a rule in pastries... We made meringues on both days but the were the bases for Pavlov's. We made small ones yesterday and large side plate sized meringues. i haven't done so much in two days we made so much pastry shells chocolate mouses and meringues... so tired but so eager to do more.

31 August 2011

Yesterday was pretty fun we had alot to prepair for a cheese and whine show. lilandi and i were making pastie and pastry sauce  the whole day (07:30 - 14:30). We were all on split shift(students) so we started again at around 16:00 and heated up all the snacks tha we had made such as:

haloumi pane'd cheese (deep fried)
prawns in a blanket.
cous-cous shapes.
cheese platters
different types of Quiches
billtong
different dips and sauces we made
different desert logs that we mad
different round cream cakes
spinach samosas
prawn chips
jalapeno's
The whole night was a success, the organization made about R18 000 and there were about 85 people and they loved all the food. We concluded the night and we left at about 21:30...
 that's a total of 13 hours we worked.

Strawberry & Blueberry Sauce 31 August 2011

Strawberry & Blueberry Sauce

Makes:  1liter

Strawberries                           500g.

Blueberries                             500g.

Lemon juice                           30ml.

Sugar                                       250g.

Remove all stems and leaves from the berries and wash them off.

Blend all the berries in a blender till puréed.

Push the puré through a double mesh sif into a mixing bowl.

Add all the lemon juice.

Add sugar to taste.