Finished in Belfast

Ham Hock , Pickled Veg , Apple , Sourdough

Thornhill Duck Breast , Winter Fruits , Roast Root , Blackberry Jus

So I have recently finished up my placement in Belfast and beginning to start working again back home and also planning and preparing for my move to Miami in march .I have had my placement visit and I am getting around to finishing off the last bit of my project which is needed to obtain a pass which to be honest I’d rather work for another six months and not have to write it but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Overall I found the experience great and exiting, obviously it had its ups and downs but it has now come to an end.

I feel as though I have achieved the aims which where set out for the module and in some cases supposed them.  It was a great experience for me to work full time in the kitchen because being a full time college student five days a week I find you cannot really get the hands on experience you would get while in the kitchen. I know most of the student work full time over the summer holidays and part time during the college year but it doesn’t compare to working five to six sometimes even seven weeks, week in week out.

Herb Crusted Halibut, Salt Baked Carrot,  Figs , Beets

I can take a lot away from my time at the Culloden estate and spa. I’ve made friends and meet interesting and new people with different outlooks on food and theories on what good food should be and how it should be presented to the customer. I have also learned a lot more about gins whiskeys and wine because of the time I spent with house sommeliers and front of house personnel which I have done courses with over my time spent in the hotel which comes in handy when selecting wines for menus which needed to be written and planned before I left the hotel to return home.

Pithvier of Smoked Duck , Pomme Puree , Onion , Carrot& Orange

While I was at the hotel there were days during November that were very quiet like ever restaurant before Christmas which were the days where I done a lot of experimenting and tried out new thing for the upcoming menu. A lot of research went it making unmeltable sorbets that could be light on fire and remain cold on the inside and hot where the flame was just light. This idea came about after I watched a documentary on Heston Blumenthal were he made a dish to resemble his grandads sitting room around Christmas were the fire was lighting and his granddad sat in his leather arm chair drinking whiskey and smoking a cigar.

Lobster, Sweetcorn, Fennel, Shellfish Custard Tart

Although I had Heston’s recipe I didn’t want my sorbet to resemble his so I had to tweak and find through trial and error a balance so that the sorbet still held after being light on fire but at the same time have a balance of ice crystallises to a smoothness which all sorbet should have. The recipe which I came up with was for an unmeltable Christmas pudding sorbet great around Christmas time.
Nicholas Murphy 
Culloden Estate & Spa
Mitre Resturant

Heston's Blumenthal The Fat Duck Cookbook