Culinary Competition

[Kuyuk]

Hey, I'm entering into a culinary competition (ACF- Category K if it matters).

What it means is I have to break down a piece of meat (going to use a whole duck), and I need to present 4 (identical) plates in 60 minutes to be judged.

It sounds not-so-hard, but you have to bring ALL the tools (except two tables an oven, and a stove, also, you have to provide all your own sanitation stuffs).

So, I'll be throwing ideas around here and I'd like (intelligent) responses that may help me. i.e. "I dont think that would taste good with that BECAUSE..", not "That sounds yummy!"


Anyway, the first idea I have is seared duck on a wild rice risotto, mushroom duxelle with thyme and carmelized butternut squash, garnished with a butternut squash tuile, and a mushroom demiglace sauce.


Plating: Tuile put down first, as it's shaped triangular, but cooled in a cone, so two ends of the base form a circle.

Bed of risotto down in middle of that, duxelle on top of that off to the right side(so it's visible)
Carmelized butternut squash pieces around the edges, and the duck on top.


Thoughts?


K.

[Edited on 7-30-2005 by Kuyuk]

[HarmNone]

Sounds delicious to me! Good luck in the contest. :)

[longshot]

There's a great cook book a friend of mine had in college.

It's called, "A man, a can, and a plan".

On second thought, maybe you're a little beyond this book...

[HarmNone]

Since I'm not familiar with all these ingredients, I'm assuming there's an element of color expressed here. Seems to me that would be important.

[Back]

4 identical plates? Wouldn’t a cornish hen be a better pick? Hey, its not duck, but how are you going to cut a duck into four identical pieces? Unless you go breast only. Even then.

Your recipe does sound good, though it reminded me of the Turduckin... a cajun delight.

[Brattt8525]

Why not stuff the turkey with the duxelle? you could wrap that or make some sort of gravy/drizzle or some form of cheese to top it off. Looks good though.

[Amber]

I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing your conception using tuile here. If I understand correctly, you're not utilizing the traditional tuile shape but are making it more like a cornecopia and stuffing that with the risotta etc? If so, I'd have to give that concept a thumbs down.

Also, are you planning to debone the duck? The rule of thumb I was taught was that anything served with a sauce overpour is to be deboned in the kitchen. I know that doesn't always hold true (think applebees' ribs) but the reasoning is that most people have an aversion to getting messy while dining out.


Third consideration is color. Have you actually prepared this dish as described and plated it? If so, were the colors visually appealing to you? How would you feel about changing your risotto to a wild rice and spinach risotto to add a bit of green?

[Terminator X]

Make me sammich!

[TheRoseLady]

It sounds great after I learned what Duxelle and Tuile are. I cook meatloaf and fried chicken, some of those terms are beyond me.

duxelle-Finely chopped mushrooms that are cooked in butter with shallots and wine. When cooked dry, duxelle make a good filling. Duxelle are also flavored with fresh herbs and brandy or Madeira.

tuile-[ TWEEL ] French for "tile," a tuile is a thin, crisp cookie that is placed over a rounded object (like a rolling pin) while still hot from the oven. (There is also a special tuile mold, over which the hot cookies may be placed.) Once cooled and stiff, the cookie resembles a curved roof tile. The classic tuile is made with crushed almonds but the cookie can also be flavored with orange, lemon, vanilla or other nuts.

[Kuyuk]

<<<<I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing your conception using tuile here. If I understand correctly, you're not utilizing the traditional tuile shape but are making it more like a cornecopia and stuffing that with the risotta etc? If so, I'd have to give that concept a thumbs down. >>>>


Tuiles dont have to be a specific shape (think a spoon shaped tuile stuck in a scoop of ice cream) So I'd like to use it to "hold" the shape of the risotto(which should be slightly runny), as well as giving a crisp snap element to the dish (adding texture), as well as being made from components of the dish(squash), it should also be orange. And trying to make the shape, think of a street cone, cut off most of one side, leaving the ring at the bottom and a spike on one side coming straight up. So it'll add height to the dish as well. (not too much though)


<<<Also, are you planning to debone the duck? The rule of thumb I was taught was that anything served with a sauce overpour is to be deboned in the kitchen. I know that doesn't always hold true (think applebees' ribs) but the reasoning is that most people have an aversion to getting messy while dining out. >>>

I have to break down a duck from a whole duck into whatever parts I needed. I planned on making the duck legs deboned, but kept in shape (yes, do able, though tricky, may have to use string and remove it when plating), and for the breasts, I planned on having them be statler's, which just means having the first bone of the wing in. Easily removable, it's usually just kept for visual appearances.


<<<Third consideration is color. Have you actually prepared this dish as described and plated it? If so, were the colors visually appealing to you? How would you feel about changing your risotto to a wild rice and spinach risotto to add a bit of green?
>>>>


I've prepared all the parts separately(except the tuile, havent tried that yet). The risotto should be bright orange(think pumpkin), I think I'm going to do traditional risotto (Arborio rice) instead of wild due to time restraints, duxelle is blackish, duck is caramel color, tuile is a darker orangish.

I'd rather not add spinach to the dish because it would add too much bitter, since I would have to cook it to add to the risotto.


Also, I need to think about nutrition behind the dish, it should be fairly good. Granted not everything is great when eating out.

Duck is duck, protein, fatty.

Tuile is carbs, not a whole lot more, a touch of protein.

Risotto is carbs and vegetables (butternut squash). I plan on using canola oil and vegetable stock to make it vegan(even though the dish as a whole has meat on it)

Duxelle is healthy. Vegetables, a bit of wine, herbs, a touch of butter.

And I may make the duxelle a bit runny to use it as a sauce, to eliminate time making a sauce, and to eliminate a lot of excess planning and prep work come time of the competition.

Thoughts please!

K.

[Leetahkin]

Come make it for me, I'll try it and tell you what I think :D

Oh wait, I hate mushrooms.
Sorries, I don't speak culinary, or I'd try to help.
But good luck!

[Kuyuk]

Feh, anyone want to sponsor me in the competition? I gotta fork out 50 for the entry fee, and then buy all the food (several times) to practice. Just spent $150 on it. Had to buy plates, and then I bought (round one) of practice foods.

Any sponsors? I'll send you a picture. ;p

K.

[Kuyuk]

Alright, here are some preliminary pictures I've taken before my competition. It's in about two weeks, I'm still changing a lot of stuff.

Note; these plates werent made for pictures, they were made because my family was hungry, so they're not all meticulously cleaned up. give me your imput.


That small hole in the tuile is supposed to come out, but the tuiles didnt bake correctly. They were too thick, so the centers didnt become crispy. 3 out of 5 of them collapsed.

Duck breast, forbidden rice (I'm going to make risotto for the competition, only because I'm a retard and used all my forbidden rice) mushroom duxelle, and hidden is some saute'd spinach, which I didnt care for.

K.

[Ylena]

That... just doesn't look appetizing.

It sounds GREAT in your description. I know you said you didn't plate this for competition, but even so, I have a hard time seeing how that's going to work.

Your initial diagram looked a bit more like a horn of plenty - more horizontal than the picture. I think you'd be better off with less elevation and a wider tulle "plate" area.

[Hulkein]

Looks like puke leaking out of half a face.

[longshot]

Yeah... it reminds me of that one urban legend/chain letter where the women dies because she was masturbating with a lobster, and thousands of baby lobster eggs exploded out of her snatch.

I bet it tasted fine though...

That really looks... not that delicious. The colors of the duck look terrible.. Kind of remind me of old squid in a Chinese food place and the tuile has a bile like gross color to it. It's probably great tasting but... gah... It's gross looking.

- Arkans

[Versus]

That looks more like duck crap than duck breast. I'm sorry, it sounded lovely in the description but the presentation needs work :-(

[Kuyuk]

Hehe. Thanks for the honesty, though the depiction of lobsters +vagina were just over the top :rofl: I'm workin on the looks. The colors from the lighting and flash from the camera didnt do much help. I can definetly see the problem there.

The rice is going to be bright orange, not black, I'm making a risotto and not using the black forbidden rice. That may help some things, it'll also eliminate the wierd looking orange shit on the plate. The duck will be a lot nicer as well, going to leave the bones in for the duck legs and there will be a whole duck breast on a plate, not like a third (as I had to do for this dinner, due to the amount of people).


Thanks again for the opinions! :)


K.