OCCI Student Blogs

I guess after a long week three of cold platters it finely paid off. On Friday I received a Silver Medal. At first some people were confused why no one received a Gold Medal but with ACF competitions things work a little differently than most other events. Every platter is looked at and evaluated carefully by a group of master chefs and awarded a set of points in different categories. There are 40 points possible, to receive a gold medal one must get at least 35 points, a silver medal I believe is 31- 34.99 points and a bronze is 28- 30.99 points (however do not quote me on that). I can’t remember how many points I received but there is a silver medal up on my wall.

Chef Roberts told me to think about what I like to eat and make when deciding what to make for my platter and so I decided to go with a Mediterranean theme. The first main component was a poached duck breast terrine with olives, roasted garlic, capers and parsley. This was accompanied by a bird shaped cracker filled with sundried tomato humus. The second main item was a pheasant breast stuffed with pheasant thigh meat, pistachios and dried cherries all wrapped in pheasant skin. This was accompanied by a fresh summer vegetable “tart” made up of red and yellow bell peppers, white asparagus, peas and cucumber. And the third main item was a pate en croute filled with chicken liver mousse, chicken breast mouse and summer truffle. And it was accompanied by a yellow and orange bell pepper roulade filled with cheese and spinach. On the side was a fresh vegetable salad marinated in carrot vinaigrette.

I put in a lot of work in to this platter and am happy with the results. I’m not happy just because of the medal but because most of the things came out how I envisioned them. Sometimes it feels like I have some grand idea but when I attempt it, it just doesn’t work out at all. Granted my roulade did not turn out as nice as I hoped, but it was my fault for not rolling it tight enough. Also the pate kind of exploded in the oven and the chefs had to help me pieces the top back together to make it look presentable but I had never made a pate en croute before so it was a learning experience. I know that if I ever want to take gold, I have to be even more precise than I already am. Cuts have to be exactly the same size, layers have to be completely even and absolutely no holes in the meat. I know that it is possible, but I am not sure if I want to put myself through it. It’s very stressful and time consuming but if I had to go back I would have still done this platter.