In the Culinary world, a "BLACK BOX" is a container or neatly crafted box with mystery ingredients in it. I first discovered this in my first year of college at Conestoga College.
My delightful French Chef gave a black box exam. Immediately I thought it was just a plain old black box that we had to plate our dish in, to my dismay it wasn't. I was quite sadden by this.
I remember it was very normal ingredients.. protein, starch, veg, eggs, some sort of dessert portion of it.
In this black box in the picture, I received sirloin steak, egg roll wrappers, red pepper, tomatoes and purple potatoes.
What I came up with was Grilled sirloin steak, garlic roasted purple potatoes, fire roasted tomatoes, braised leeks finished with a tangy red pepper chutney and accompanied with a wild mushroom and shrimp egg roll. It was very good when we all sat down and tried it.
Confidence is key when competiting in these competitions and skills is also important. However if you don't believe in yourself to cook.. when are you ever going to take that leap?
-Jessica
