Dinner is on me Essay

Andrew Bourgeois

Cula 111

Dinner is on Me

            When first handed this assignment like many, I too thought I would not learn much.  As it turns out with many college student assumptions I was again wrong.  It is no surprise that I learned from this experience the real surprise is how much I learned.  I now realize how difficult it is do plan and design a menu but it has proved a rewarding experience. 

            Right off the bat the first thing I learned is how hard it is to create a menu.  As expected I brushed off this project for the most part only thinking about it on occasion.   Once buckled down and focused on creating a menu I learned how hard it is to create a balanced four course meal.  Everything in the menu must be taking into moderation.  A good menu would not be over sweet or over salty, a good menu would not be over heavy with foods with a lot of cream instead balanced.  I decided on a Cream of spinach soup followed by a Spring Mix Salad.  For the main course I choose a Pork Tenderloin with a Blackberry Black Garlic Glaze served with some Broccoli tossed in a garlic butter sauce and my own sweet potato casserole recipe. And for dessert I had made a strawberry cheesecake in a glass with macerated strawberries.  The meal was executed well but only after a few minor hardships

            I easily learned after about five mints in the grocery store the importance of a shopping list. I had a pretty good understanding of what I needed to buy but the process could have gone smoother.  I believe I went back and forth from the dry food area to produce at least 3 times.  The mental stress involved recalling all the ingredients I needed to buy was quite great.  What I learned most from this is how easily it could have been avoided.  The best way to learn is by mistakes and this mistake caused great stress.  This however, was negligible to the cost of the grocery bill, to a working man $68.54 cents may seem not to0 shabby, but to a college student it was rather hefty. 

            The next step of learning happened when I began to prep for the dinner.  Luckily I was smart enough to prep the food the two days before the actual meal.  Cutting the pork and putting it in the marinade was necessary, but making the soup, salad and dessert saved me a lot of stress. Still while in the process of cooking I figured out better ideas on how to proceed, after everything was finished and I made a giant mess of course.   A good example of this was the cheesecake in a wine glass, I was layering my ingredients into the glass and when the time came to do the filling I used two spoons and spooned the filling into the glass.  This was serviceable but it would have been much easier and cleaner to have put it in a piping bag.   Another thing I thought of doing after I already finished was with the salad. I had mixed the feta cheese and the walnuts into the salad but they all fell to the bottom of the bowl I was mixing in.  It probably would have helped presentation wise for me to sprinkle the cheese and walnuts onto the salad right before I poured on the dressing.  These are just a few of the many minor things I could have done to minimize stress and maximize effectiveness.

            The next stage of learning came from the actual dinner itself.  I had invited six guests and the starting time of the dinner was at around 6 o clock on a Wednesday night.  The pressure to get the food out on time was insanely great, I had no idea it would be that intense.  Luckily I managed to push through and get the soup out right at the start at about six o clock.  The next challenge was prepping the main course while getting the salads out for everyone but at about 6:10 I was able to get the salad’s out.  Stressing out and giving 110% I was able to squeeze out my main course meal at around 6:30.  Once that was out the rest was rather easy because I had already finished the desserts earlier that morning.  This was easily my best idea. I was able to get the desserts out as soon as my guests finished eating at about 6:45.  Being able to get the entire service period done in less than one hour was something I thought near impossible.  I am glad I was able to do so my guests commented on that and that brightened up my day.  One of the best parts of the night was actually doing the dishes afterward.  It was a welcomed change of pace to the stress of cooking even thought I spent a solid hour washing the dishes built up. 

            The other comments my guest made helped me see a few things my main complaint was my soup.  It was a cream of spinach and it wasn't bad it just lacked a serious kick according to my guests.  Being a Cajun myself I was inclined to agree but I choose to try to keep it as traditional as possible.  This taught me you should take who you are feeding into consideration. 

            This dinner project was something that caused a whole mess of stress but looking back id have to give this project a thumbs up.  The stress causes was a good type, it drove me to try and put out a good food product.  I defiantly have a lot more to learn before I can do this over and over again like many of the older students at this school do.  I am thankful that we were forced to get our feet wet; it is good to have a taste of what we are getting ourselves into.  The stress involved is what culinary major’s live for because it is worth it when we see our guests eat our food and smile, when we are not busy stressing over the next course.