Soup

The two categories of soup include clear soups and thick soups.  Some types of clear soups are chicken noodle soup, minestrone, and onion soup.  Some types of thick soups are chowders and bisque's.  Puree soups are thickened by the starch found in the pureed main ingredient, such as potatoes.  Puree soups are coarser than cream soups, but should be liquid enough to pour easily from a ladle.  Cream soups must be thick with a smooth texture.  They should never be boiled.  Both cream soups and puree soups are made with a liquid and either sachet d'epices or bouquet garni.  Then a pureed main ingredient, to provide flavor, is blended into this base.  The base of all clear soups is a stock or a broth.     

Buger Lab

The burger that I made was different than the usual hamburger.  Instead of hamburger meat, my burger was made out of Italian sausage.  This gave the burger a unique taste.  Another thing my burger incorporated was bacon.  The bacon was crispy and gave the burger a smoky flavor.  The most unique part of my burger was the fact that it included sauteed green peppers and onions, which were cooked in worshestishier sauce.  The final component of my burger was two different types of cheese, which were American and Swiss.  My marketing plan for my create a restaurant menu would look as such:  Here at the Veggie Villa we offer all vegetarian foods.  You won't find any meat here!  All of our waiters come with a friendly smile and a ready to please attitude.  We even have a takeout menu so you can enjoy all of your favorite vegetarian dishes in the comfort of your own home.  Your earthy side will come out when you visit our restaurant.  Feel green while surrounded in neutral and organic colors.  Our employees have a simple yet professional uniform.  They are required to wear clean black pants and a fitted dark green top.  Each employee is also required to wear a name tag so they are easily identified.  We have an active and frequently updated website that includes our takeout menu with pricing.  Please feel free to take our customer survey located on the website and let us know how we're doing!  Come in and dine with us today!    
My market plan for the burger lab would look as such:  Come try our Bacon Cheesinator today!  Cooked with seasoned italian sausage, American and Swiss cheese, crispy smoky bacon, and grilled onions and green peppers.  You won't regret this delicious burger, you just might not be able to finish this monster!  Only $7.99

Eclaires

There are three main parts of an eclaire, which are the dough, the creme filling, and the chocolate ganache.  The first thing we made was the dough.  The dough is not like a normal dough because it is much softer and more flexible than most doughs.  This dough was soft enough that it was able to be piped through a piping bag and onto a baking sheet.  The next thing we made was the creme filling.  After making the creme filling, we  baked the dough.  The next step in making the eclaire's was creating a chocolate ganache.  The ganache was made by melting chocolate with heavy creme.  Once the dough was finished baking, we piped the finished creme filling into the middle of the cooked dough.  After that, we finished the eclaire's by spreading the chocolate ganache over the top of them.  If I were to make eclaire's again, I would have made the eclaire's all the same size.  Some of ours were really big, while others were a normal size.  Overall, I enjoyed making the chocolate eclaire's.       

Dessert Sauces

The dessert sauce my partner and I made was a fruit syrup.  The fruit syrup included water, surgar, and cranberries.  If someone else was to make the fruit syrup we made, I would advise they put the syrup through a mesh strainer to make sure only the syrup is left, not the actual cranberry pieces.  The two fruit sauces used in lab were the fruit syrup, and the berry coulis.  A fruit syrup is cooked with the fruit, then the fruit is drained from the syrup.  Unlike a coulis, the fruit syrup contains more sugar, and water.  A coulis is cooked with the fruit, contains less sugar than the fruit syrup and includes lemon juice instead of water.  When the coulis is done being cooked, the fruit is blended into the sauce instead of drained.     

Syneresis and Curdling

Curdling is when cooked eggs or egg yolks in a sauce or custard cook unevenly.  This isn't the same as when milk curdles and becomes sour.  Curdling eggs can affect the quality of the product, but it is safe to consume.  Syneresis is when a custard is baked, and the protein of the eggs form a structure.  The baked custard takes on a golden color, and looks like gelatin.  This egg structure is soft and contains water within.  When it is cut or sereved some of the water may leak out of the structure.  This is also safe to eat.  A dessert sauce that could experience curdling or syneresis would be sabayon because it contains egg yolks.  To prevent curdling and syneresis from happening one must cook it on low heat and be patient.  

My Favorite Dessert

My favorite dessert is a grand marnier soulffe with a creme anglaise sauce.  I have been on six cruises, and the food is always amazing.  I had this delicious dessert on the last cruise I went on during spring break last year.  It was the last night of the cruise and I felt like ordering something different.  At the time, I didn't know what a grand marnier souffle was, but when I tasted it, I fell in love!

Pomegranate Poached Pears

For the pomegranate poached pears lab, we poached pears in a POM pomegranate juice.  First we simmered the POM juice with sugar and ground cloves.  Once the juice was simmering, we lowered the peeled bosc pears into the juice and let them cook for about 15 minuets.  The pears took on a ruby red color, and tasted delicious.