Erik.f.Dowell
Assistant Cook
GARDE MANGER FINAL BANQUET
This was for our lab final. What we had to do was to come up with a menu containing four items that would be served to the public (friends/family/coworkers/etc.) in a cold style of banquet. Meaning, no hot plates, no chaffing pans, nothing to keep items warm…all the food was to be eaten cold. In doing this, of course we had restrictions. We had to have a main gross piece item (gross as in large) so a pate, tenderloin, galantine, etc. With that we had to do a salad, and not like a caesar salad, or any kind of salad with lettuce, but a kind of salad that’s more like a shrimp salad, pasta salad, etc. With that we also had to do two passed hor d’oeurve items as well. With our main gross piece we had to accompany it with a sauce too. Also on top of everything, we were required to make a salt dough piece that represented our banquet theme. Each person’s menu was to have a specific theme to which it was supposed to be based upon. We knew about this project for the entire semester and have been working on developing what we would do for most of the semester, however really on started prepping and working on it less than a week prior to the event. The event took place on a Friday, we started prep as early as Monday.
For my banquet, I chose an Eastern Shore theme, representing my home town of Maryland…but of course..it was my interpretation on it. So I chose to do a Duck Pate En Croute as my main gross piece. With that, for my salad I chose a Scallop Ceviche, which I also put on a crostini to give it a base and a bit of a crunch, but could also eaten by itself. I also made a Spicy Vegetarian Sushi Roll, for this I wanted to do something for vegetarians and I took tofu and infused it with a strong chili pepper broth. So the middle of the roll I had chili infused tofu, cucumbers and avocado, topped with a siracha creme and a fried jalapeno! Next I made Crab Cakes with a jalapeno/pepperoncini tar tar sauce on top. I also made a ton of sauces because I love sauces, I love making sauces and I love to eat sauces, and I had to do a little tasting sauce bar. For this Sauce bar I made as mentioned before a Jalapeno and Pepperoncini Tartar sauce, a Siracha Creme, a Spicy Roasted Pepper Puree, and an orange/duck mayo. My salt dough piece was a duck, and for the salt dough item we had to paint or cover it with edible coloring..ie. beet juice, not just crayola style paint. I used spices to give it a more rugged affect for the duck.
Our show plate and main platter plate had to be decorated and covered in aspic gelee. So the plate has a layer of aspic underneath of the items presented. When aspic cools it forms a gel and is fairly firm. I decorated my plates with thin jalapeno slices and thinly sliced cucumbers.
This was a lot of work.
This was for our lab final. What we had to do was to come up with a menu containing four items that would be served to the public (friends/family/coworkers/etc.) in a cold style of banquet. Meaning, no hot plates, no chaffing pans, nothing to keep items warm…all the food was to be eaten cold. In doing this, of course we had restrictions. We had to have a main gross piece item (gross as in large) so a pate, tenderloin, galantine, etc. With that we had to do a salad, and not like a caesar salad, or any kind of salad with lettuce, but a kind of salad that’s more like a shrimp salad, pasta salad, etc. With that we also had to do two passed hor d’oeurve items as well. With our main gross piece we had to accompany it with a sauce too. Also on top of everything, we were required to make a salt dough piece that represented our banquet theme. Each person’s menu was to have a specific theme to which it was supposed to be based upon. We knew about this project for the entire semester and have been working on developing what we would do for most of the semester, however really on started prepping and working on it less than a week prior to the event. The event took place on a Friday, we started prep as early as Monday.
For my banquet, I chose an Eastern Shore theme, representing my home town of Maryland…but of course..it was my interpretation on it. So I chose to do a Duck Pate En Croute as my main gross piece. With that, for my salad I chose a Scallop Ceviche, which I also put on a crostini to give it a base and a bit of a crunch, but could also eaten by itself. I also made a Spicy Vegetarian Sushi Roll, for this I wanted to do something for vegetarians and I took tofu and infused it with a strong chili pepper broth. So the middle of the roll I had chili infused tofu, cucumbers and avocado, topped with a siracha creme and a fried jalapeno! Next I made Crab Cakes with a jalapeno/pepperoncini tar tar sauce on top. I also made a ton of sauces because I love sauces, I love making sauces and I love to eat sauces, and I had to do a little tasting sauce bar. For this Sauce bar I made as mentioned before a Jalapeno and Pepperoncini Tartar sauce, a Siracha Creme, a Spicy Roasted Pepper Puree, and an orange/duck mayo. My salt dough piece was a duck, and for the salt dough item we had to paint or cover it with edible coloring..ie. beet juice, not just crayola style paint. I used spices to give it a more rugged affect for the duck.
Our show plate and main platter plate had to be decorated and covered in aspic gelee. So the plate has a layer of aspic underneath of the items presented. When aspic cools it forms a gel and is fairly firm. I decorated my plates with thin jalapeno slices and thinly sliced cucumbers.
This was a lot of work.
Attachments
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Show Plate, Duck Pate En Croute, Crab Cake, Veg. Sushi, Scallop Ceviche..jpg -
Silver Platter banquet plate with food- Duck Pate en Croute, Crab Cakes, Vegetarian Sushi, Scall.jpg -
Crab cakes on platter.jpg -
Ceviche on crostini.jpg -
Sauce bar for the dishes served on platter.jpg -
Duck pate on platter 2.jpg -
Ceviche.jpg -
Silver Platter Design, with Aspic covering and thinly sliced jalapenos and cucumbers.jpg -
Salt dough after baking, 1 hr at 300 F..jpg
