28°- 50° Wine Workshop & Kitchen: The Kitchen-Creating New Dishes

A work in progress 'Watercress Vichyssoise with Smoked Haddock'

So, over the last 12 months, once or twice a week, Paul (Head Chef) has excitedly walked in to the office asking for some scrap paper, usually followed by "quickly!".
Then throughout the week he produces these lists of ingredients that he has seen and wants to use. He often asks whats missing, or "it just needs something else....what about this herb, or that vegetable?". There is also always a drawing of his idea and how he sees the dish plated. So today I'm going through with Paul his process from start to finish on how he comes up with dishes for his menu.

Pauls ideas come from previous dishes he's done, seen, eaten or just an ingredient he wants to use. They of course depend on a number of factors; seasonality, availablity (if it goes on the menu, he needs to make sure it's available everyday) and of course, price. He then phones a number of suppliers to get the best possible price, and samples sent to him.

This is when he gets his scrap piece of paper and starts coming up with ingredients that would go well with it.
He also starts thinking of how to plate it (all dishes are dressed a certain way, the waiters are trained to put them down the way Paul plates the dish), the service of it (does it need a jug or a specific bowl, whilst taking in to account that Xavier doesn't want it too fine dining in style) etc

A tester of the dish, usually in the afternoon, is then cooked off which he gets all the chefs to try in order to get feedback from them. He decides what he likes and doesn't, what needs to change, be added or removed. Once he's happy with it he then has to price it per portion to ensure that it fits in with our pricing and concept.

Following this, he teaches the chefs how to execute the dish. This involoves creating a recipe to make it consistant, how to actually cook it, mis en place they need prior to service, quantities to order, show them how it should look, taste and really get them to understand the dish.

Quite often during this process Paul will test the dish by selling four or five of them as specials to regulars to get their feedback before he puts it on the menu.

Once this is all done, it is then worded for the menu and programmed on to the system.

The photo at the top is his latest idea. A starter of Watercress Vichyssoise with Smoked Haddock for the lunch menu.
He wants to replace the French Onion Soup that is now too heavy for this time of year. Its nearly there. We're just discussing (politley arguing) how to serve it!....He can't let go of his 3 star background!

Below are photo's of another recent dish he did, a Pithivier of pheasant with braised baby gem lettuce. He did some as a main course and the day after smaller starter sized portions. He confit'd Pheasant legs (meat stripped off the bone) and mixed with chopped mushrooms and herbs. This was wrapped in pheasant breasts then wrapped in spinach which was wrapped in a pancake and cooked off in puff pastry. It's a true pleasure working here watching Paul creating dishes (and tasting them!)