FARM FRITES!

took part in d FRAM FRITES INTER-COLLEGE COMPETITION last saturday.. 27/3/2010.. I HAD LOADS OF FUN!!! I WANNA JOIN MORE COMPETITION!!

i made rose shrimp thai salad with crinkled fries and crinkled fries wrapped in pandan chicken.. [i hafta use ONLY crinkled fries and turn it into a dish.. theme was asian contemporary cuisine]

my first cooking competition as junior chef... AND I WON A CONSOLATION PRICE OF RM100!! i cant believe i actually beat more seasoned chefs!!!! hahahahahaha XD

seriously.. i really felt d adrenaline rush when i joined d competition.. AND I TOTALLY LOVED IT! i didnt sweat at all during d entire competition.. until judging time.. hahahahha!

i had quite an audience dat day.. rite in front of me were a group of outsiders who were attending d pastry class.. lol.. even d photographer said m like celebrity chef.. hahha! i was having fun!

d head judge said i need to improve my plating.. which i totally agree! first time wey.. kelam kabut a bit.. hahahaha! but m glad chef amir asked me to join.. THNX CHEF FOR D OPPORTUNITY! competitions really push me to my limits.. and dat really helps me to perfect my journey to perfection~ ;)

overall.. it was an enjoyable day and experience... wud i join more cooking competition? SURE BRING IT ON! it doesnt matter if i lose or win.. i juz love d adrenaline rush! LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH!!!

dats all for now~ =D

grilled beef with aromatic red wine reduction, sauteed mushrooms with buttered zucchini and capsicum puree, pomme au gratin et horseradish

last 29/3/2010 was my last assessment day.. we hafta cook beef..

supposedly i wanna make grilled tenderloin with bordelaise sauce.. but.. i didnt have my beef stock.. so.. last minute improvise to red wine reduction sauce with herbs.. frankly.. not a fan of wine for my sauce...

made potato gratin.. if i have proper equipments and perfect ingredients.. i cud make better gratin.. but i think d taste was ok.. horseradish has a very sharp flavor but i subtle it down with d cream.. taste quite good~

the mushrooms... sauteed with some butter, garlic and thyme.. dats it.. and buttered zucchini.. i need to season my zucchini nxt time.. zucchini has a bland flavor.. i shud have knwn dat.. nvm.. nxt time i'll season it~

capsicum puree was d easiest thing to make... juz roast d capsicum whole.. and puree it.. i prefer not to add so much flavor to it.. coz i feel dat d capsicum is sweet by itself.. but chef said its better if u add some flavors to it.. i think it depend on wat u r serving/ur dish..

beef.. i think.. i need to be a lil' more careful with my beef's doneness..

overall.. i finished d first! hahahaha! i guess d farm frites competition really boost my competitive spirit! hahahahaha XDD.. i'm done within...... say.. 1 hr and 15 mins? hahahah XD

dats all for now!

-naddo-

-signing out from grilled beef....-

chicken mousseline in beet root ravioli, cream of spinach and oven dried tomatoes

last 15/3/2010.. it was our assessment day.. i tried to do things outside d box by making chicken mousseline in beet root ravioli with cream of spinach and oven dried tomatoes.. taste was good.. but apparently i cant serve my main course in a bowl? i agree on my portioning.. dats my bet coz i dont have a bigger mould to make my ravioli.. so.. it appears a lil' smaller.. the cream of spinach was not wat i expected it to be.. i thought they r gonna provide me with baby spinach.. but ended up with some asian spinach which were so fibrous.. but i pulled it off newayz.. the tomatoes were a flop in d sense of color.. we were given unripe tomatoes instead of d ripe red ones.. but nevertheless.. the taste overall was good..

the not so good part, i got cut down marks literally to zero with my food presentation, portion and sum other stuff.. i forgot.. so there goes my f-ing 9 marks! this is wat happens when i tried to go outside d box.. i really dont get it.. y cant i serve with the bowl??!! its different! chef said he wants us to serve on a platter/dinner plate.. bcoz we r serving main course.. but... its so boring... i wanna do sumfink different.. hm~ juz not my day dat day~ its ok.. i've analyzed my mistakes and i'm amending them.. :)

the beet root ravioli was not wat i expected it either.. i shud puree d beet root and add more to my pasta dough to intensify d color.. my chicken mousseline was ok.. so.. hm~

overall... i'm not dat satisfied with my marks.. i dont knw d overall points.. but if i were to do it again.. i wud do d most perfect chicken dish! its ok.. better fail now and learn from it than fail later on and regret on it~ =D

-naddo-

-signing out from chicken... -

BAA BAA... ROAST LAMB~

first of all.. i think i shud be reading some photography books... seriously... i'm quite bad at taking food pics.. heheh ;P

the classes are getting ever more challenging week after week... I LOVE IT!!

last class, which was on the 1/3/2010.. we hafta cook lamb... of all the things.. LAMB RACK! holy mozzarella... it was the toughest thing i've ever handled in my whole entire culinary life!.. for a first timer... i think.... i did quite ok... juz average rating... i definitely want to practice more and needed them... ;p

this time.. i made persillade lamb rack served with jus, roasted summer vegetable, carrot puree and Moroccan couscous..... i tried to be a lil' creative by serving the lamb with some appetizer.. supposedly... but it didnt match well with the lamb.. but the chef said my idea was good! yay! =D

personally.. i think i need to upgrade my level of presenting the food.. definitely.. and i also need to learn how to manage the ingredients even if they dont provide most of the ingredients in the fiche technique... item86 is a norm in our kitchen.. but juz sometimes.. ;P

time management i think i have improve a lot.. as well as the organization of my workplace.. for dat.. i'm quite proud of me self.. heheh XD.. overall.. i think i can improve my way of organizing and managing my menu! i knw i can do it! LEARN IT, LIVE IT, LOVE IT! J'AIME CUISINE!

-naddo-

-signing out from BAA.. BAA.. ROAST LAMB~ -

DUCK IT!

the name of my creation dish is rotissez le canard with orange gastrique sauce, served with fusion pilaf rice, sauteed asparagus in le gras de canard and braised cabbage. [8/2/2010]

it was a hectic day! ppl keep taking all d duck's breast.. till there's lil' left! i was about to change my menu dat day but was lucky enuff to get a piece of a duck's breast.. lol~

started off with briefing on how to make our dishes better by our lecturer.. then proceed to collecting our ingredients.. ingredients.. i dono y majority of d ppl in my class hafta collect A LOT OF ingredients juz for one pax.. they took like wat... ingredients for 8 pax??! like.. wth~ =.=" so we kinda ran out of many things dat day.. coz evry1 so 'kiasu'..

ovreall.. i think i overdid my duck's breast.. but d marination was good.. the pilaf was good too.. juz dat i shud have removed d cinnamon stick earlier.. my pilaf was a bit spicy~

bout d cabbage.. i asked d chef how to rectify it.. he said acidity helps to preserve d purple color of d cabbage.. hm.. i shall look into that.. but i wont use any alcohol based vinegars.. maybe use normal vinegar and lemon perhaps.. :)

anyways.. dats all for now.. i'll try to keep dis blog updated.. m kinda bz nowadays.. but no worries.. i will update it~ :)

till then.. AU REVOIR!

-naddo-

and the dish is.........

i forgot to upload d name of my 1st dish.. well its actually pan fried sea bass in aromatic oil with buerre blanc sauce, served with glazed carrots and duchesse potato.

pretty long huh? i also thought so~ LOL~

m cracking my head to create a name for my nxt creation dish.. we will be serving duck and pigeon??! m not so sure about d pigeon... but m juz gona be prepared for it anyways.. usually wat they gave in d fiche technique, they ended up giving incomplete ingredients... *sigh* which frustrates me even more! but becoming a chef.. one must always be prepared to create a dish even when u have the least ingredients.. after all.. cooking is not juz about d ingredients.. its about using wat u have and create a scrumptious meal! bonne chance to me nxt week! =D

well.. i'm thinking of sumfink french for my dish name.. i asked mum bout it.. she said it sounded pretty fancy, but she wont try them out.. i think she's a neophobia [a person who is afraid to try new food.. juz studied it dis afternoon.. lol] but.. i think m gonna go for it! m taking d chance and risk.. and we'll see how it goes.. =P

about d recipe for d duck and pegion.. m pretty confident with my selection.. hopefully it worked out dat day! *cross fingers*

aite dats all for now! bonne nuit! a bientot!

p/s: i juz gotten my result for my 1st Year End exam... i got 17.44/20.. its okay~~ but i was expecting a better result.. it dropped by 0.47 pts from prev term 2 result tho.. which m quite disappointed bout it~ hm~ anywayz.. wats done is done.. lets focus on Year 2 now! hopefully can maintain dis grade! ;D

-naddo-

1st day as OPT B chef

first day as an opt b chef... wow.. quite a challenge~ lol~ basically i forgot some of the things.. but generally... i survived d day~

the ingredients were not fully given to us today.. so.. i cant really do much bout my plating.. coz things like tomatoes, peas and etc were not issued by the storage staff.. so.. i work with wat i have..

i made few mistakes.. there were few terms i cant identify.. well.. 1st of all.. it was my 1st class of d term.. 2nd of all..we were not briefed last week.. dat was not our fault nor the chef's.. the system was not upgraded.. 3rd of all.. there were new terms dat we've never seen b4 or used b4.. so yah.. dat explains..

i messed up with the sauce.. i tot beurre blanc = beurre meunierre.. lol.. so the chef tot my dish was sauceless~ hahah! i made butter sauce instead of white sauce!!! haih~ pretty dumb mistake.. but oh well.. we learn from mistakes~ ;) next mistake.. i pan fried d fish.. it was perfect till i turn it over.. AND THE SKIN CAME OFF!!! like wtf!! so yah.. flesh was perfect... skin~ NOT! =.= *note to moi.. keep d pan super hot and coat moi fish with flour b4 pan-fry*

but overall... i think my dish was ok and definitely can improve better.. chef said my portions are good.. juz d sauce and fish skin.. heheh ;P

aite dats all for now.. till next blog.. *wow.. i hafta update my blog now.. lol.. i didn't even update d other blog as much as i did with dis blog.. lol~*

-naddo-