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Menu Wars is something I've been looking forward to this whole semester. This was a challenge where we competed on two teams (restaurants) to create tasting menus to be scored by a panel of judges. I was honored to be chosen as a group leader for our restaurant, soon-to-be called "The Current."
Although each member (Julia, Stella, Audrey, Justin, Kyle, and I) created our own dishes, I sent out a few emails to everyone and eventually came up with a theme connecting all of our dishes: coastal fare. I knew I wanted to make dessert to close out our menu, so I did a raspberry Oreo tiramisu recipe inspired by Beauty and the Beast and the Disney parks. I put this dish through quite a few revisions.
I really liked designing our team's menu in Canva and the whole print-lamination process. As group leader I tried to get everyone in on the work so they'd have something to feel proud of. Seeing our restaurant come to life in folding the napkins and washing everyone's serving dishes was so rewarding come the actual day of Menu Wars.
I was actually glad our group was serving second, because although we had to keep our food warm for longer, we had more time to relax before introducing our dishes and also, judges tend to "save" points for later. I kept an eye into the restaurant room as each dish was tasted so that I'd know when to clear. I thought I'd feel a little nervous talking about "The Current" and my tiramisu, but it was actually not bad at all.
The best feeling I think, was when I got a plate of food from the caf to bring to my Stats class (because Menu Wars ran through first lunch), and I was stopped by Ms. Cirino in the hallway. I expected her to tell me to bring my food back into the caf, but instead she gave me good job thumbs up and told me how much she enjoyed my tiramisu.
The front page of our menu for the judges.
Menu Wars teams.
In Round 1, Chef suggested I use demi-tasses for plating rather than a traditional baking pan, which made the portion both smaller and prettier as a final dessert. I couldn't get a great pretty slice out of the dish, which is why I'll change the plating of the dish. Chef, Kyle, Jules, and Justin tried my tiramisu and Justin's feedback was that the texture was more cakey and this made the layers more stable. Jules said it was "gas" but use more Oreos. Making the ladyfingers from scratch went well, although they were a little fat after piping. On the second day, we didn't have mascarpone for the cream so I was standing around for a while before Chef told me to use a light cream cheese instead. In the midst of this I forgot all the raspberry-ness so the end product was not complete. The tiramisu came out pretty well in the end, but I got a few helpful tips I need to implement: sweeten the coffee, soak the ladyfingers in more coffee, and remember the raspberry.
In Round 2, I got feedback to definitely soak my homemade ladyfingers in way more coffee than I originally did because the cookies were still dry. Even though scaling down the recipe and building it in the little mug ramekin was tricky because the cream was very thick, the cook went pretty well. I'll have to soak the ladyfingers in more coffee and lighten the cream with less mascarpone and less sugar. "Super light and fluffy" - Ms. Herzog! I got positive feedback on the plating but I need to balance the flavors and textures better. I spent the rest of the time communicating with group members and doing dishes to get them ready for next week. This process of making ladyfingers thrice in total and really tweaking small details made my final product much more satisfying. I think tiramisu is a widely-loved dish so even with my mistakes I got a lot of praise.
Ms. Herzog's photo of my tiramisu, served!
I was SO happy when we found out the next day that "The Current" won this semester's Menu Wars! I loved working with my teammates and setting up this little faux restaurant. This was the type of assignment I really wanted to spend all of my time on because it was so unique and fun.
Folding the airy ladyfinger batter.
Coffee, cream, mascarpone, and raspberry jam set up for layering.
Ladyfinger cookies out of the oven.
Center shot of layering process with ladyfinger soaked in coffee and cream.
Finished tiramisu cups before garnish.
Me, cleaning the sides of each cup with a wet towel.
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