ISCAHM – Group Practicals! Week 14

No chefs, no faculty assistants, and no recipes. It was just us and the food.

Last week, I was asked to set up 4 cooking stations for Chef Manoj during our Asian Kitchen day.

Every station was complete in terms of cooking equipment and little did anyone know that it was going to be a contest.

Each group made 10 portions of everything. The winner goes home early while the losers stay.

Chef Manoj created this setup in preparation for our group practicals. The very next day, we went into the kitchen as a team and created the dish that was asked of us. No chefs, no faculty assistants, and no recipes were allowed inside the kitchen. It was just us and the food.

During our practicals, the operation was smooth. Everybody knew what was their job was. Nobody got into the weeds and surprisingly, the kitchen was quiet. You could hear the exhaust fan blowing.

During this time, I was put in charge of seasoning the soup.

There were actually 4 of us tasting and seasoning it. The soup was a minestrone. This was actually a good learning experience for me since I have never seasoned something that calls for 50 portions. It took me around 30 tablespoons of soup to get the right seasoning and that was me alone. I technically drank 1 and a half portion of soup. Seasoning for 50 portions was a big challenge since most of the time I season a maximum of 5 portions when I cook at home. Luckily, I have the other 3 who were there to help in adjusting the seasoning. I got big help from Kat, Ces and Kim.

It wasn’t only the operation that was smooth but the service too.

The chefs graded us in terms of performance, taste, presentation, and team work. And guess what, we got the highest grade among the other sections.

YAY!

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