This event was a success in my opinion. I went into this event not really liking the menu theme simply because I do not like seafood that much. Our Menu was Sushi for appetizer, salmon cakes and sautee’d broccoli for entree, and fruit smoothies for dessert…It was a weird combination, but it turned out really well.My favorite dish was the fruit smoothie. They consisted of orange juice, frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, and a little honey…It was hard to believe that they did not contain any dairy product! Overall the under the sea event went very smooth and I am really looking forward to our April fools event!
First Event: Heart your Heart
Overall, the event was very successful! From the decorations to the dessert everything was done just in time. The culinary science class is very small so we had to be efficient in preparing everything. For appetizer we made a spinach and cranberry salad; it had a sweet and tangy balsamic dressing that was wonderful. We prepared a vegetable lasagna for the entree that was absolutely amazing! I love meat , but honestly I could not tell it was vegetarian! Lastly for dessert we served a variety of fruit with a chocolate sauce and whipped cream for dipping. The meal was beautiful, tastey and thank goodness was served and everyone seemed to love it! Everything went smoothly even though we only had about six people plateing the food.
I am really looking forward to the next event I believe the theme is going to be “under the sea”. I am looking forward to working with seafood. Overall, I really enjoyed this event and hope we have larger turn out for the “Under the Sea” event!
wellness wednesday love your heart
I thought that the love your heart event went over very well! I didn’t know what to expect but when I walked into the classroom that had been set up like a restaurant I got butterflies in my stomach. The room looked amazing like I was in a completely different place. I loved the red and pink everywhere and I thought the center pieces that were vases with the conversational hearts in them was a fantastic idea. I’m in the culinary class so my main focus was the food and I thought everything we made had a distinguished taste that lit up the palate. The lasagna had a great look to it and turned out to be extraordinary. With all the vegetables in it you would never know that meat was missing. The salad’s dressing made the dish and brought out the tanginess of the cranberries. My favorite part of the meal was the chocolate sauce for the fruits. The sweetness of the fruit and the bitterness of the chocolate sauce complimented each other so well. When it came to clean up every plate came back empty. It looked as if everyone licked their plates clean. After this first event I look even more foward to the next two wellness wednesday’s!!
- JSU Culinary Student Ryan Harries
Culinary Science 132
My name is David Stanton.I am in my last semester at Jacksonville State.I chose to take Culinary Science with the other 18 credits have this semester.I wanted to take this class to increase my knowledge in cooking.I plan to make the most of this course.I plan to become better at my knife skills, and my overall knowledge of food preparation. I want to gain more knowledge in the field of culinary.There are just so many areas involved in culinary arts. Presentation skills is the most important skill to learn because if the food does not look appealing more than likely people will not eat it.
David Stanton
Expectations of Culinary Science 132
Hello my name is Sarah Jones and I am a Junior under the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Major. It is hard for me to describe how excited I am about this class! I am employed at the Victoria in Anniston as a prep cook and there are so many things I need to learn for my job. I would love to go to culinary school but it is just not possible right now, so this class is what I need to get the basic understanding of culinary arts! The main thing I am excited about is knife skills! I never knew the way you cut something could be so important from chop to dice to mince I cannot wait to perfect them all! Also I am really looking forward to cooking things I have not had the opportunity to work with before. I also am excited about learning terms! I know that sound silly but at the Victoria you have to know those foreign sounding words that just mean something simple. When I first heard ”Mirepoix” I said Oh Lord help me… Then I realized it is just a mix of onion, celery, and carrot, what could be simplier? I am really looking forward to learning anything and everything possible about culinary science this semester and I have a feeling I am going to walk away from this class with smile, and hopefully a perfect dice! : )
Event 3
OMG….. Event 3 was fantastic. I was so amazed at how all of the students came together and put on a great show. It seems as if everyone has had previous culinary training. We are all amateurs, but our work is far from the beginning stages.
The food was great, and healthy. I really enjoy eating the food prepared by the students because i know it is healthy. We served an entire meal around 620 calories. You can get that amount of calories in a 3 piece fried chicken dinner at KFC minus any side items and desserts. Did that shock you? It should. At JSU, you will never have to worry about eating something high in fat, cholesterol, or sodium. We pride ourselves on serving the best alternative to ordinary cooking.
Plus, our teacher Ms. Waits will not let any unhealthy dish leave the kitchen. Our prep team, decoration team, and serving team all worked great together.
I wish this couse was much longer than a semester.
Malcolm Dailey
Willy Wonka
In my opinion event 3 was the best event we have ever done! As a class we were more creative and more open to new ideas this time around. I also think the reason why this event was such a success is because we are all really excited and into the decorating and the food preparation with the “Willy Wonka” event. I’m glad wer picked a theme that was more playful and fun, and not so uniform. I loved it when Vanessa came out into the room dressed in here oversized costume, I thought it was hilarious! The table decorations were awesome; after helping with the center pieces I decided to use that idea for christmas. The dessert came out fabulous on the plate, im really glad Sarah was there to help with the PIE POPS.
- Alicia Harris
Willy Wonka– Vanessa Harris
Our last event was Willy Wonka themed. Now, let me tell you, that I thought that every one of my classmates that had voted for the Willy Wonka theme had taken a slight bump to the head. Most of us are going to become dieticians. So… where exactly does a candy-themed meal fit into healthful choices? But, as I was about to learn– the whole point of our Quantity Foods class was to show that the impossible can be done. In this case– the “impossible” was serving up a 3 course 600 calorie candy centered meal, that didn’t skimp on flavor. Oh– and by the way– we’re doing it with red meat and blueberry pie.
Mmm hmmm. Back to my “bump on the head” theory.
It wasn’t easy, definitely not automatic, but it was a success. Our “88-calorie Tomato soup”– as it became named, was a hit, as were the beef shish-ka-bobs. A Mediterranean trick on meat-service, the shish-ka-bobs allowed us to serve a red meat in a visually pleasing manner, yet keep the ADA recommended 3 oz portion size. I don’t think any of the guest really noticed they weren’t getting the customary “Americanized” big-beefy dinner. Portion control was again the factor that allowed us to serve Violet Beauregards’ famous blueberry pie sensation– for about the same calories!
Vanessa Harris
Willy Wonka Event
This event was a lot easier because we had done it twice already but it was more work with all the fun decorations. I personally made the quote banners for the event. I am not a creative person so I ended up staying up all night working on them. I was on the appetizer team this tie a round. We were in charge of the tomato soup. Which was an easy recipe, but it required opening 10,000 cans of tomato puree. After I contributed to the tomato soup I ironed the table clothes and then dished out potatoes to the plates. This was a busy event but a good one. Everyone seem more organized, this was the best event.
Amanda Lemley
Willy Wonka
Even though I wasn’t at the event, I did help out with the decorations and the prep. The theme for this event was Willy Wonka. We based our menu on the scene where Violet steals the gum and it tastes like different parts of a meal. Our appetizer was tomato soup; our appetizer was like a roast beef; our side dish was ranch potatoes (which wasn’t in the movie), and our dessert was blueberry pie lollipops. I was on the side dish team and we prepared the ranch potatoes. I was there during the test run and got to try them. I really liked them.
From what I heard, the event turned out really well. They said the decorations were awesome. I’m glad everything went well!
Leah Couch
