Due to the fact that first of November is a vacation day in France, and the day after we had restaurant service, we had to work double on this Wednesday to make all the prep on time. These three days Wednesday-Friday started very early and were exhausting but now that I had some rest I can write about it. This service I was the “chef de partie” of the meat station. Wasn’t the hardest station that service because the fish dish this time had 26 different elements and was defiantly more complected but we were all girls station, had to deal with all the stocks and I had a hard time managing it. Chef had very high expectations from me after last restaurant service when I also been the “chef de partie” and this is why he put me in charge again but it was harder, I’m not sure I lived to the expectation and it was a crappy feeling. We didn’t have to send as much plates as we thought because people preferred the other group’s dish. I don’t blame them, our dish was pretty straight forward and simple. Didn’t even look that good on the plate to my opinion and it’s another thing that made me feel not so satisfied with the outcome. Anyway, this is the results and then the details of the making of some of the dishes.
Menu that the guests got. I stole it when we were invited to a table that asked to see the chefs.
The menu with explanatory pictures:
Coquille saint jacques snackées, condiment café-réglisse, fleur de bourache
Cocktail de chair de tourteau émulsion de crustacés, guacamole et crème de tacos
Feuillantine de boudin noir façon pastilla, purée de citron
Tarte fine de saint-jacques, beurre blanc à la vanille
Filet de rouget juste poêlé légumes d'automne, jus de persil
Filet de Daurade, gratin de courgettes, sauce vierge
Echine de porc panée, dés de petits légumes au poivre vert, pomme de terre grillée
Selle d'agneau farcie, cannelloni de légumes, espuma de chèvre
The pass ready with some of the example dishes for the chefs to taste before service begins
In the middle of service, Chef Stephan yelling the orders
This is the huge kitchen, while everyone's working
Coquille saint jacques snackées, condiment café-réglisse, fleur de bourache – Scallop snack with black condiment and a purple flower.
Wednesday morning we hadn't had anywhere to cook, everything was taken so we had to use the pastry lab (!) to prep for the dinner service. It was very uncomfortable. The scallops are being cracked open and cleaned
Black radish is sliced very fine and the purple flower, I think with an oyster flavor
The black condiment made from: black olives, soy sauce, tamarind, garlic, ginger, licorice, coffee, orange juice, squid ink. Mostly tasted like olives.
Pretty simple but very nice looking amuse bouche.
Pretty
Cocktail de chair de tourteau émulsion de crustacés, guacamole et crème de tacos – Crab meat salad with guacamole
The crabs
Most of the time Elizabeth was just peeling these crabs.
Empty shells
The dish put together
Didn't get the taco bits in it, but I also didn't taste the final result.
Feuillantine de boudin noir façon pastilla, purée de citron – Campignon tart with blood sausage and cider, granny smith slice and a “brick” pastry.
It a thin pastry dough ready to use.
The blood sausage hmmmmm
Fried and then pureed with cider and some other stuff
Rob plating
Champignon heads only are sliced per order!
Barbara on the mandoline station
Before the mushrooms are put in a rose shape
Topped with Cepes flour. Blood sausage is so good. I really liked it.
Tarte fine de saint-jacques, beurre blanc à la vanille – Raw scallops tart with a vanilla-butter sauce.
This is whatever was under the scallops, don't remember what exactly
First day presentation
Different presentation the next day
Filet de rouget juste poêlé légumes d’automne, jus de persil – Red mullet filet with parsley juice, fish cream sauce and autumn vegetables
Roasted red pepper
Broccoli flowers
Red onion confit
Pork belly
Some bitter lettuce
Baby corn, fresh
Crosnes, Japanese artichoke that looks like warm
Dried morilles mushrooms
Crazy mise en place with all the different elements, some cooked, some raw, cold and warm.
Plating
The most complected station
Finished product. There's also a carrot, bruxelles sprout, mini eggplant, jerusalem artichoke, shallot, garlic, lemon puree, some flowers and herbs, grapefruit and olive oil
I love these kind of dishes!
Thrilling 😛
Filet de Daurade, gratin de courgettes, sauce vierge – Fillet of Sea Bream, zucchini gratin, sauce vierge. I have no idea what is this vierge.
I love dorade
Cute tomatoes
The vegetables
The dorade dish
Changed presentation for the second day of service
Manuella kept eating the pine nuts as they were frying. Hard to resist.
Echine de porc panée, dés de petits légumes au poivre vert, pomme de terre grillée – Pork shoulder sous-vide for 14 hours then breaded and fried, vegetable ratatouille, grilled potatoes, pork juice reduction.
Making the veal stock with pork feet in the oven
The pork feet
First day we didn't have enough time to cook everything as it should. The stock was cooked just 6 hours or so
Next day we had an overnight stock which is a lot better
Potatoes cooked with the skins
Clarified butter
Olive cutting the potatoes to slices
The pork with pepper grains, salt and olive oil in the sous vide bags
Same thing like the stock. First day we only cooked the meat for about 5 hours, next day we put it overnight for about 14 hours and came out a lot better, soft and tender
Pork out of the bag
Was cooking in steams for a long time, 70 degrees only. very moist and tender
Cutting out rectangles
Cutting the peppers to nice squares
Also eggplant and courgettes
Ready to be fried
Every vegetable cooked separately
Then all mixed together with sweated onions
Making the sauce, the onions and carrot sweating in butter
trimmings of the pork are added and colored
red wine added and reduced
The stock poured in little by little until the sauce has a nice consistency
Bread crumbs made from, well, bread!
Breading station, with dijon mustard instead of egg wash
My station cooking full gas!
The grilling potatoes, yes with the clarified butter 🙂
The ratatouille is reheated with the strained sauce and some butter
First day presentation
Second day presentation
A little weird no?
Selle d’agneau farcie, cannelloni de légumes, espuma de chèvre – Saddle of lamb filled with spinach, cannelloni of vegetables and goat cheese foam-sauce liquid thing.
Fresh pasta making for this dish
courgettes for the cannelloni filling
Plating over steams. Nice idea but stupid also, because then they don't have a place to cook on the stove and they have to go to our side in the kitchen, not so practical
Wrapping the lamb with pork cual
After searing goes to the oven with thyme leaves and garlic
Zeina and I were communicating timing, moving plates to the "pass"
How can anyone resist a fresh cannelloni?
After two services were over, our group stayed in the kitchen for another 3 hours to prep for the next day regional meal lunch (next post). So we were kinda dead that evening, legs are soaring from standing so much time and just tiered, thinking about the next day’s 7:30AM in the kitchen. This is when Alissa flirted with a french guy from another class and got herself a whole black forest cake! We had to wait until we finish cleaning our kitchen for the second time this day to feast on this wonderful treat. It was also Barbara’s birthday so double celebration!!
The black forest cake
Eating it like animals
Can 14 people finish a huge cake in less then 10 min? We had our doubts
But it was gone before we knew it!!
Lovely Anglo A enjoying the end of the shift, what a relieve!
Wow
VERY NICE FOOD AND PLATING!
The second presentation of the Raw scallops tart.. Actually of all the dishes.
How does the Japanese artichoke taste? Is it like the Jerusalem ones?
And a silly question: I saw this guy in a suite and it made me think, who are the waiters in your restaurant?
I agree with Shlomo – WOW!
ההגשה מדהימה ובטח הכל נורא טעים ושוב בכל מנה מושקעים כל כך הרבה שעות, מוצרים ועבודה שזה פשוט מדהים ואז אוכלים בדקות ספורות
Hello there again! I am getting really excited about starting in Feb.
By the way, how do you make the “emulsion de crustacés” to be so bubbly like mousse and stay on top so long without loosing its bubbles? Did you use a texturizer like lechitin? Thank you!
yes, lectine was used as far as I know (wasn’t my group though)
good luck in Feb. 🙂
[…] but the black curry doesn’t do it for me, not now and not when Chef Sebastian tried to copy it in our restaurant service back in Nov’ […]