Today was our practical final in Food Production 3 at Pulaski Tech’s Arkansas Culinary School. For the first time, we served a dining room of guests, who chose items from our own menus. We worked in groups of three on a menu of two each of appetizers, entrees and desserts.
The dish I made for service — coffee- and pepper-crusted pork loin with red eye orange/maple gravy, rice pilaf, caramelized Brussels sprouts and a poached egg on toast.
Not having come from the restaurant industry, this was a unique opportunity to experience what it would be like. It was awesome.
Last week, our chef had us work individually to produce our best three-course meal, from which he would choose the best appetizers, main courses and desserts. We ended up making my Wide-Eyed Pork Loin today, using a full-size loin rather than the tenderloin I used in the home-cook recipe at the link. It worked out great!
I served it with a rice pilaf that included omelet-style ingredients (mushrooms, tomato and peppers) and caramelized balsamic Brussels sprouts, as well as a fantastic last-minute throwback to my original recipe: toast and a runny, poached egg. Yum!
Our group of three was one of several groups in the class offering a complete three-course service. My teammates also turned out an amazing set of goods: raspberry vinaigrette salad, fried cheese dip balls, candied bacon rice crispy treats, and a pineapple glazed poundcake. I didn’t get a chance to see much of the other groups’ goods (we were slammed!), but what I did see was beautiful and well executed.
On August 15, I’ll be back in classes again, this time for a semester of mostly 6-hour labs, plus one classroom class. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope to see some of you on campus, too!
My fall schedule:
- Garde Manger
- Food Production 4
- Banquets and Catering
- Restaurant Industry
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