So Not Artistic

My sister—a studio art major in college—got the artistic genes. I am definitely lacking in that department. I've always been much better with words...I've loved writing ever since I was in kindergarten, and back then, the illustrations that went along with my stories were always pretty crappy. Now I just take pictures!

Much of Garde Manger is about presentation—making food look pretty, designing platters, and creating decorative elements that aren't even meant to be eaten. This stuff, like show pieces and aspic platters, is time-intensive and pretty old-school. Few modern chefs do any of it anymore, and I have to say I agree with them—focus on the food, people. Still, I have learned some cool but pretty-much-useless-to-me techniques this week, like how to carve this apple bird:


We made aspic platters before in Garde Manger I, but that time we worked in groups and this time in GMII we each had to present our own individual platter. These things are such a pain to make that one little cafeteria-tray-sized platter took the entire 5-hour morning of class. We each had to print out a picture that we would replicate on our platter. Chef S. advised us to pick a "cartoony" design, because they are simpler to trace and have less intricate details to worry about.

I certainly took his advice and chose a picture of the cutest animated character ever, Nemo. Aspic, if you remember from last time, is just gelatin bloomed in water. You make different colors using natural dyes—for Nemo's orange body, we just pureed a bunch of carrots with water and strained it. I poured a white aspic background (made from gelatin and bechamel sauce), then traced this picture of Nemo onto my platter and then filled in with orange. Each time I used a new color—for the eyes, mouth, etc—the platter had to go back into the walk-in cooler for it to set before I could trace and cut out the next layer. You have to pour the aspic really carefully or it will bleed into the other colors. For the tiny sections, like the eyes and lines on Nemo, I used a squeeze bottle. Patience is definitely required.

Cut-out of the original Nemo photo that I printed out

My finished Nemo aspic platter

Who would ever serve food on this? I have no idea. But Nemo did turn out pretty decent (in this photo you can't even see the parts where the colors kind of bled!). I would love to never make another aspic platter in my life, but alas, we have to do it again next week for part of our practical. Tomorrow, we are doing ice sculptures, and I am legitimately freaked out. Can you imagine me trying to make something pretty out of ice with a chainsaw???

Earlier in the week, before getting into all of this stuff, we did make some great food. I really like Chef S.'s teaching style—he never assigns recipes and gives us free reign to make pretty much anything given his loose parameters. On appetizer day, he gave us an hour to make him one appetizer and one amuse bouche, the one-bite "gift from the chef" that usually starts off an upscale meal. We could use any proteins and ingredients in the kitchen. I made this salmon ceviche with (made-from-scratch!) spicy mayo for my appetizer. Yes, I made dreaded mayo, even though I hate it. Adding a bunch of Sriracha does make it more tolerable, and it goes really well with fish—hence why it's a staple at sushi bars.

I guess I am a tiny bit more artistic when it comes to plating because Chef S. really liked my presentation—the cucumber design was inspired by the tuna tartare that I made on Valentine's Day, and I topped the ceviche with thinly-sliced scallions:


Then, for my amuse bouche, I made a crab salad using a little bit of the mayo and served it over a thin slice of avocado in this pretty Chinese soup spoon.


Once we had presented and discussed our dishes, we thought it was time to start cleaning the kitchen and go home. But Chef S. told us that we now had to clean off our plates and make him a second appetizer. We could use some of the same products, but it had to be an entirely different dish. Fortunately, I had saved my spicy mayo and some of the crab leftover from that tiny crab salad. My first thought: crab cakes!

Being from Maryland, they've always been one of my favorite dishes. My mom also loves them, so I dedicate this appetizer to her. I bound lump crab with just a little bit of the spicy mayo and panko bread crumbs, then added seasonings and finely-chopped scallions (if you can't tell, they're one of my favorite ingredients—I think they improve almost any dish!) Then I formed the mixture into little patties—I wanted these to be appetizer-size mini crabcakes—and pan-seared them until each side was golden-brown. I must say, they were awesome. I finished off the plate with a simple cabbage slaw and dots of spicy sauce.

Mom, these are now my signature crab cakes and I will make them for you soon!