Jack Burke

Sensory Results

This week’s lab had lots of great seafood flavors with different levels of acidity and textures. The oysters were so cool to learn more about, since I have only had one oyster in my life. We did a martini-style oyster and a grilled tomato-cucumber oyster. Each had great tastes and flavor, with the martini one being especially delicious. The tomato oyster had just a touch too much acidity to it, but the added crunch of the cucumber was really nice.

For the shrimp & fennel bisque, I did not strain it enough, so it still was pretty chunky. The vegetables may not have been completely softened either, which both contributed to a chunkier soup. The taste was really good, the texture was just lacking the classic bisque texture.

Our pasta vongole was really great, as it is a dish that is really uncommon. The clams had a wonderful taste to them, however our sauce was too acidic. I think adding a touch less lemon juice and cooking off the wine some more could contribute to a better flavored sauce.

Sustainability Analysis

Our usable waste, weighing in at 30.9oz was due mostly to our mise and the typical scraps that come with a mise. LeanPath, a food waste-prevention company approximates this waste costing $0.07/oz, meaning $2.16 was wasted on this waste.

Our unusable waste, weighing in at 35.7oz was due to unusable fish shells and our tomato container. LeanPath also approzimates this waste costing $0.07/oz, meaning $2.50 was wasted on this waste.

I think for me and my group, our overall performance was much better than last week. We only wasted in two categories which I would say is really great. Our waste was also much lower than last week. In lab, we definitely were all more aware of our waste, and made sure we were practicing proper waste practices such as separating our waste properly and communicating with each other to eliminate unnecessary waste.

I think next week that I will personally pay more attention to my waste, as I think overall we are doing well, but my personal performance could be better. I would like to pay attention to when I am tossing unusable waste that I am trying hard to use up all of it to avoid excess.

This week, the WACS Sustainability Certification mostly influenced my lab this week, because I feel that I was much more understanding of the different categories of waste especially when it comes to seafood.