Menu Wars

Menu wars is a competition in our Food in Lit. class where we are put into 2 teams and we create our own mini restaurant. We spend time perfecting our recipes, and creating a presentation that follows whatever theme is that we choose. My initial reaction is hard to determine as I missed the intro to what it was, so I was mainly just confused on what I should've been doing during the first 2 days. My team was Natalie, Lucas, Aidan, Emma, Sawyer, Sadie and I. Natalie was our team leader. Everyone chose their recipe before I had, so I made a quick decision of Pasta e Fagioli, an italian classic soup. Our original theme was comfort foods, but as we all had such different themes with different regional origins, so we decided to go with "comfort foods around the world". My impulse decision to make the soup was actually very successful, as it was such an incredible soup to perfect. It's so hearty with those tender veggies, and the spice from the hot italian sausage mixed with the parmesan cheese was incredible. My original thought of how it would be made/presented was this down below.

This was my reflection of trial 1:

I chose my recipe because I absolutely love this soup, it's so comforting but also hearty. I did tweak some things, such as less pasta, more broth, half hot sausage and half sweet sausage. Next time I definitely need to cut celery more, use less of it, entire can of broth, same amount of everything else though. Prep was cutting all veggies, process was measuring everything before I started so that it could be very chronological.

These were the team notes from trial 1:

amount of starch is a lot, amuse bouche/appetizer

don't make things look like a plop on a plate

sawyer more consolidated

aidan use biscuit cutters

more sauce emma

mine is a little too salty, all components need to be tiny, cut smaller?

lucas good job you're a "work horse", we all need to do more cleaning 24/7

sadie salad is so good, dress it with balsamic glaze not balsamic vinegar, dress over rather than toss

7 plates + maybe 2, 7 judges

team of 7 don't overstuff

lucas way too salty

use much less salt

chef grace is in love with my soup!!

Here is my reflection of trial 2:

Prep was the same as last time, just less celery and more onion. I used mini shells instead of elbows, and around 3/4 of a cup. I also chopped down the sausage into tiny bitesized pieces. I had to use at least 5 cups of broth, but it was super yummy this time, and I didn't add any salt as the cheese and sausage have so much. I got really good reactions to my soup, especially because now that we tried everything in order of how it will be served (at least we thought we did, the order changed). Working as a group was hard, we didn't really help each other as much as we should've and that's going to drag us down in the long run. I need to focus on being efficient with my time, and the moment I'm done with my dish I need to be helping others because we don't have that much time. My only edits for next time would be using only hot sausage, more broth, no red pepper flakes, no salt.

Making the menu was a task and a half, to say the least. It was hard to have 6 people working on 1 canva at the same time, but the real issues came when we couldn't figure out how to print it. Once we finished the menus it was 10:12, only for us to realize that the font we decided to use was decently illegable, so Natalie (our team leader) remade them! We had decided on this "rustic" feel for our menu, as that gives off a sense of comfort, but we joked that it looks like the colors of a Cheesecake Factory menu. What our team did was also make sure that every piece of our restaurant went together, specifically the food. Each dish was tried in order, and if something didn't taste right, we'd alter it and then almost "rebuild" our work.

Our roles didn't really exist in our group, we all kind of just worked on our own to start with, which clearly wasn't going to work if this was a competition that depended on time management. The final competition consisted of lots of teamwork and help from each other. I made my introduction for my meal on the spot, which is what I do because my career is acting (lol), but my improvisation worked out in the end! They all really enjoyed it, as well as both of my teachers.

Reflection of Menu Wars day:

I was super stressed the entire time, and my team was going first. Some of our recipes were just a lot of waiting, so it became a source of stress. I had a lot of trouble plating my soup, as we couldn't "overfeed" the judges, but they also needed enough components of the food, and it had to look presentable. I should've taken more time in the beginning plating, as it could've helped with timing. Our team had gone about 7 minutes overtime, as we were taking the time to plate Emma's dish, which was a pasta that had to be delicately placed. I am proud of my team, and how our dishes came out. They were all delicious, but our work system just didn't help. It was super fun, but I was sweating in the kitchen the entire time, hoping that it all went to plan. I think the 2nd team had an advantage as they didn't have to give their dishes until after us, so they could've started at the same time as us and then also used their own time to excel their dish. That team decided to also use outside money to buy garnishes and pink aprons, but we decided against using any money for this as we wanted it to really be comfort and rustic, like mom's cooking.

I've had a lot of progression in the kitchen, as I went from someone who had no idea on how to cook, to someone who can make meals. I think the most that I had actually cooked before this class was homemade chicken nuggets, but even those didn't turn out so hot. I've made a lot of things in this class, with range and variety. It's taught me a lot, but showed me a passion that I had no understanding of prior. I now cook at home, or eat my "projects" from in class for dinner if I have extra (I usually do). I've also improved as a food writer. I started this class out not really understanding what food writing even was. I would think about cookbooks or scripts for those food shows, not novels and documentaries on food politics. Food in Lit. really expanded my understanding about the culinary world/industry, and I thought it was so simple! Little did I know the true challenges within this industry, but it's insightful for me to learn about it. I've utilized these skills outside of this class, at home or within other classes, as it's lessons that have a lot of literary importatance.

⬅ This was from my first time making the recipe, using lots of celery, and too much salt. It still tasted great, but it could have been better.

⬅ This was draft #2, and it came out beautifully. I used only hot sausage and skipped the red pepper flakes, cut everything small, and used 1/2 a stalk of celery.

This was the first way I had plated the soup, but the bowls were too big, and I would add a parmesan wedge to garnish the top. ➡

This was my final soup! The color was much richer, the veggies were more tender, and it was so delicious. ➡

Ingredients- Pasta e Fagioli (original recipe)

1 tablespoon olive oil

16 ounces sweet bulk Italian sausage

½ stalk celery, diced tiny

½ yellow onion, chopped

¾ cup dry mini shells

¼ cup tomato paste

6 cups chicken broth, or more as needed, divided

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 cups chopped Swiss chard

1 (15 ounce) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained

¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus additional for serving, or to taste

Directions

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir sausage in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add diced celery and chopped onion. Cook until onions are translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add dry pasta; cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste until evenly distributed, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in 3 cups broth; increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir in red pepper flakes, oregano, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Add more broth if needed.

Place chopped chard in a bowl. Cover with cold water and rinse leaves; any grit will fall to the bottom of the bowl. Transfer chard to a colander to drain briefly; add to soup. Cook and stir until leaves wilt, 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in white beans; continue cooking and stirring until pasta is tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in grated cheese. Serve topped with additional grated cheese.

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