Portugese sausage from a local company produced from cleaned feral pigs, pork skewer and chicken skewer meat glazed with foie gras honey mustard
I took Wade, Sonny, Michelle, Andrew, and Anicea. I asked them to guess what I was thinking after eating all three. I wanted to know how close or accurate they would be, testing them to see how much they knew me and could anticipate what I would say.
Wade went first; he got it after a few tries. Sonny, the same. I wasn’t surprised since they have been around me and have given me many of their dishes to taste and critique. When that happens, they can anticipate what I will say already; that’s the difference between someone giving me something one time, ten times, a hundred times, or a thousand times; they just know how I will critique it.
Michelle is our pastry chef. She didn’t get it but, then again, between us it's almost always about the sugar level, composition, and presentation. Most of all, did she capture the main ingredient she was focusing on.
Anicea has been with us for almost three months now, so I didn’t think she would get it and I was correct. Andrew has been making sausages for me in the morning. It was a surprise that he got all three because he is the day-time receiver and doesn’t really create specials for me, but since he has been feeding me more of our sausage creations, he got it.
The Portuguese sausage was about the texture. It tasted good, but it was loose -- almost mushy -- and I look for a certain "bounce" to a sausage. The chicken tasted better with the foie gras sauce. It made the chicken flavor stand out while it made the pork meat taste livery and gave it a funky smell.
I told Anicea, a Junior Sous Chef, actually I reminded her "this is the reason you came here to work, to get inside my head and think like how we think, so you can one day make some wonderful things happen for yourself."
~AW