Jack Burke

Sensory Results

This week’s lab had some mixed emotions from me, as I appreciated the levels of creativity I achieved, but I felt as if I came ill-prepared for some of the lab and that is on me. I definitely should have done more research into the Steak Tartare, as ours was good, but it could have been much better if I payed more attention to when we seasoned the tartare, and various plating methods. I was happy with the plating of the tartare, but I would have appreciated looking at more before coming in to lab.

I think I focused extremely on the steak, which was nice in that both of my steaks came out very well in my opinion, I did tend to lose focus on other dishes while in the process. I will say that the diced potatoes I fried up came out very tasty, despite having to finish them in the oven.

All-in-all, lessons were learned this week, but each dish had very pleasant different levels of textures and flavors. Some flavors were leaning a little basic, so I hope to experiment more with each dish soon to play around with their flavor combinations. I did like the variety of textures however.

Evaluation of Techniques

For our methods of cookery, I believe that searing gave my steak the best flavor. I simply let it rest during lab, and then pan seared in a large cast iron skillet, and basted with sage butter. The crust was very nice, but the interior was cooked just right to medium-rare for me. I definitely think I need to experiment more with how done to cook steaks, because if I ever serve steaks at a restaurant I want to be able to serve any type of steak to any doneness.

Our ingredients for the week, tartare, was not my favorite dish we have done. I did appreciate getting to try it as it is something I have never had before, I was not a huge fan of the dish. That also comes down to our seasoning levels on the tartare, which could have been much better. I loved getting to use the smoke gun to infuse some smoke flavor into the tartare, which cut some of the vinegar-y taste of the tartare. After some research I have found some ingredients that I’d like to add to my tartare next time, such as fish sauce, nori, hot sauce, and more (Decker 2025).

Conclusion

I am hoping to improve my research skills in the next lab, as I seemed rush last week when researching and it definitely showed in my work this past week. I did enjoy getting to learn more about cooking steaks and how to prepare a tartare, and I hope to further my knowledge on each so as to gain more experience with each ingredient and method of cookery.

Works Cited

Decker, F. (2025, February 4). 12 ingredients to give steak tartare a flavor boost. Tasting Table. https://www.tastingtable.com/1775048/ingredients-steak-tartare-flavor-boost/