This year prep was a somewhat mixed bag. Overall, we were ahead most of the day, and finished up with about 45 minutes to spare before the guests began to arrive. I had a few sloppy/missing items on the list, so of course we didn't catch them until a bit further on in the day.
I had a few tense moments earlier in the day when I managed to mentally weed myself into not knowing what to do next. Training prevailed, and all went well. It was, as usual, a crazy amount of fun.
We ended up swapping around some major things in the 2 to 4 pm timeframe because we decided it would be better to assemble the Croquembouche earlier rather than later. It was a one hour assembly and took three batches of caramel to pull off (just wait until you see the picture!). It's a testiment to my fellow chefs and their experience that we were able to do something so large and complex in the middle of all of the other dishes and not completely break down sobbing.
If you want to see the steps that go into a menu like this, read on...
Dish numbers:
1) Cheese and Fruit Plate
2) Proscribed Terrine with Brioche
3) Smoked Wild Mushroom Soup
4) Onion Tarts with House Made Bacon or Smoked Bell Peppers
5) Scallop and Lobster Risotto
6) Maltaise-style Sauté
7) "Steak and Eggs"
8) Winter Vegetables with Harissa
9) Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs
10) Pomegranate Duck Salad
11) Turned Vegetables with Maitre d'Hotel Butter
12) Haricots Verts and Port Braised Shallots
13) Croquembouche
14) Crepes Suzette
15) Deep Fried Chocolate Truffles
10) defrost duck thurs pm
13) make pastry cream friday
13) make cream puffs friday
15) make truffle centers friday
15) freeze truffle centers friday
15) coat twice and re-freeze centers friday
11) make hotel butter friday
2) make brioche dough friday pm
1) make fougasse am
1) make some other kind of bread am
2) make brioche am
3) thaw base am
4) make puff pastry am
9) clean ribs am
10) make crepes am
10) make crepe cups am
10) reduce pom, into squirt bottle am
11) turn veg am
11) blanch and shock veg am
12) prep beans am
12) blanch and shock beans am
12) clean shallots am
9) thaw chicken stock for risotto am
14) make crepes am
14) prep orange etc for sauce am
6) slice/julienne veg 11 am
6) make gastrique 11 am
7) make steak sauce, into squirt bottle 11 am
8) make yogurt sauce 11 am
8) prep veg 11 am
3) rehydrate mushrooms noon
5) defrost lob stock noon
5) clean scallops noon
5) rehydrate lobster mushrooms, slice noon
5) make stock, adjust/add lobster stock noon
9) 375 for 1 hour in oven noon
10) clean salad noon
10) trim duck noon
9) braise ribs (2 hr or until tender) 1 pm
7) prep tuna 1 pm
4) sweat onions down, add creme fresh 2 pm
7) cut potatoes, into ice water, 60 mins 2 pm
7) make melon salad w/ gastrique 2 pm
4) slice/blanch bacon 3 pm
4) slice bell peppers 3 pm
7) saute potatoes, cool on paper 3 pm
9) cool in liquid 3 pm
9) strain liquid, reduce 3 pm
13) soften pastry cream w/ whipped cream 3 pm
13) carmel for puffs 3 pm
13) assemble 3 pm
13) spin carmel for garnish 3 pm
1) prep cheese 4 pm
1) wash/prep fruit 4 pm
2) wash frisee 4 pm
3) test base/adjust/add other flavors (Antigua) 4 pm
3) add mushroom liquid to soup 4 pm
4) roll/cut/dock pastry 4 pm
10) supreme oranges 4 pm
13) unmold 4 pm
12) braise shallots 5 pm
1) make cheese/fruit plate 5 pm
1) re-heat/adjust/put out bread 5 pm
4) pastry, onions, topping, thyme, 5 pm
6) make beurre blanc, into thermos 5 pm
13) check Croquembouche state 5 pm
------- SLOW DOWN! - CHECK ALL SETUPS ---------------
4) into oven @ 375-400 for 45 5:15-30
3) cream soup 5:30
3) sautee mushrooms 5:30
2) toss frisee w/ truffle oil 6 pm
2) put out terrine 6 pm
3) soup out, mushrooms on side for garnish 6 pm
----------------- ALL APPS OUT 6 -------------------
STEW:
8) make couscous in rice cooker 6 pm
8) stew veg, but sautee eggplant 6 pm
8) olives at end 6:30
8) harisa on side in ramkin 7 pm
"Steak & Eggs"
7) reheat potatoes (oven for 10 or so) 6:30
7) coat tuna in seeds, S&P 6:30
7) sear and rest tuna 6:30
7) slice and plate 7 pm
Matlaise Veg
6) sautee before 7
6) plate, sauce over, garnish black seasame & chervil 7 pm
Scallop Risotto
5) shallots, lobster mushrooms, rice, make rissoto 6:30
5) finish w/ lobster butter and parm. before 7
5) saute scallops before 7
5) plate 7 pm
----------------- ALL FISH OUT 7 -------------------
Duck Bowls
10) S & grains of paradise on duck 7:30
10) saute duck, into oven 7:30
10) remove duck from oven 7:45
10) rest duck, slice 8 pm
Turned Veg
11) reheat veg in pan 7:30
11) plate w/ butter on top 8 pm
Ribs & Risotto
9) re-heat in liquid 7 pm
9) make risotto 7:30
9) lemon thyme garnish 8 pm
Beans & Shallots
12) re-heat beans (in batches) 7:30
12) plate w/ shallots 8 pm
----------------- ALL MEAT OUT 8 -------------------
Make coffee
14) make sauce 8:30
14) warm service plate in oven 8:30
14) warm crepes in sauce 8:30
14) whipped cream garnish? 9 pm
15) 350 oil for 30 seconds or until brown before 9
----------------- DESSERT 9 ------------------------
Posted by dowdy at December 6, 2004 08:18 AM