Taste of the Florida Keys

At FCI, one of the requirements for graduation is the completion of a creative menu project.  The basic quidelines for the project are that the menu should have some sort of a theme, serve four people, include at least 4 courses, contain photos or drawings of each course and include food costing for the entire menu.  I considered many themes; some better than others.  The one theme that I really thought would be great just turned out to be a much bigger project than I thought wise to try and tackle for this project.  It was a menu that would demostrate all the compoents of taste and the vocabulary that we use to describe those tastes.  I have found it odd that there is really a very limited vocabulary in the culinary world to descibe how a particular dish tastes.  When you think about the thousands of volumes that have been written over the years about wine and how different varitials and vintages taste, you just wonder why there are not similar books on taste.   The closest I can find is a book by Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky titled "Elements of Taste". 

In the end, I chose to go with something that was familiar and special to me ... the Florida Keys.   I created a menu that featured all the foods that I associate with the Florida Keys.  I used recipes that I created myself, as well as recipes that I found in cookbooks or dishes I had in restaurants and modified those to use some of the classical French techniques that I have learned at FCI. 

Amuse-Buche, Stone Crab Claw with Green Mango Sauce

Mangrove Snapper Ceviche

Horseradish Encrusted Mutton Snapper

Spiny Lobster Brasied in Truffle Butter

Key Lime Soufflé

If you care to see/read the entire project you can download a PDF of it by clicking on the following link.  It is a rather large file, so I would suggest only downloading it if you have a broadband internet connection.
Download taste_of_the_keys_final_version.pdf

Comments

[Mark Hallman]

Nice job. Where did you find those ingredients in NYC?

[Jeff]

That looks good enough to eat! I'll have that when you get back to the keys. BTW, the poons are rolling!
Congradulations on graduating with honors!