Back To The Restaurant

Today I got into work knowing I would be working upstairs in the restaurant, but not knowing which section. I was slightly nervous, as I have only worked in the restaurant three times, and it has been a good two months since my last shift there. I mostly get scheduled in the bar or at the castle. Since two of the chefs were working in the bar today (it is a busy Sunday, as usual), and they also needed to train the new guy to work orders on the starter and pastry section (the job I had kind of taken over in the past month), they needed an extra hand upstairs. Chef told me I would need to handle all the dessert orders tonight. I was happy he said desserts, as pastry is definitely my favorite for many reasons, and also because I already knew how to plate most of the desserts. But I was still slightly nervous, knowing we were expecting to do around eighty covers tonight and it had been awhile since I had done any desserts there. 

Chef went on to say that today I would be working with the cooks on mains and starters to do prep work, as they needed more help, but for service I would need to know and complete pastry. He then asked me how long I was staying here (my internship goes until October 1st) and said I would be expected to know everything about the pastry section by the end of the week. No pressure. See, one of the cooks upstairs is leaving (why do so many people leave this place?), so they need another cook to cover. I am not taking over his main course section (thank goodness) but rather the cooks are kind of rotating around as they do and I will be on pastry. I wouldn’t say pastry is the easiest, but definitely the simplest section for me to take over. I am wondering if this decision has anything to do with my chat with chef the other day, where I told him pastry is where my heart lies, and although I am enjoying learning the savory side of things, pastry still remains my favorite and likely what I will turn my career into. So anyways, basically they want me to be fully trained on the pastry section as soon as possible, and take that over, just as I had with the starter section in the bar so quickly. I am happy with this decision, happy to be on desserts, and I know I won’t be ‘stuck’ here because the restaurant is not open every day, so I should still have the opportunity to do weddings and such. I am flattered they chose me for this section, and expect me to be able to take it over in such a short amount of time. It tells me that they really have confidence in my abilities and think I am a good worker, flexible, and reliable. It would be kind of nice if they asked if I was ok with these decisions, but in this industry (especially as an intern) you just kind of take what they throw at you. As one of the other cooks said when I told him I was being placed on breakfast shifts in the lodge as something different this week, “You seem to be the one they use the most around here.” And he didn’t mean it in a bad way either, he meant it as a compliment how I am so flexible and able to take on many different roles.

One of the new dishes I learned today - the cheese plate

So first thing I familiarized myself with the tastings we had tonight – in addition to the eighty diners, we had two groups come in for tastings for their wedding menu for upcoming weddings. One was a group of two (just the bride and groom) and the other was a group of six (the bride and groom along with both sets of parents). One had two different desserts and one had three different desserts. Luckily, I have worked enough weddings that I was familiar with all the desserts, and I just had to get them ready (we keep supplies on hand in the freezer in individual portions for tastings). I helped the breakfast crew clean up so we could get into the kitchen faster, then went to work with the chef on mains. First he had me prep for the tasting main courses, tasks I also already knew how to do, then prep for some of his main courses, like make duck parmentier. Then he had me attempt to tourne courgettes, which basically means carve them into football shapes. We used to do this with potatoes in culinary school to make seven-sided pommes chateau. I could never get the hang of it. I can remember four of us going through a fifty pound bag of potatoes, and out of them, chef would say three of them were perfectly tourned and the rest could be used for mash. Needless to say, I wasn’t very good at tourning courgettes either, but the cook was very patient with me and told me to keep practicing, when really I was just making more work for him.

When he ran out of jobs for me to do (he wasn’t as busy as chef thought), and after giving me a sample of my weakness – pork belly, I helped out the starter cook by making a marinade for rabbit legs. It was one of the strangest recipes I have ever followed (handful black peppercorns, handful juniper berries, one bay leaf per leg, four garlic bulbs, half bag rosemary, half bag thyme, rock salt). I could not find any rosemary or thyme, and was told there was no produce order coming in today. Then the cook told me I had to go to the herb garden to pick it, something I knew existed but had never used before. I liked going out to nature to pick my own herbs, but during the process, something odd happened. I was almost done, when my finger brushed against something that looked like a mint leaf, but felt like thorns. When I went back inside, it began to sting and look red with white blisters. I washed it off, but it kept burning, and still burns now. I think it was a nettle.

Next, I decided to go work with the pastry cook, since I didn’t really have any other jobs to do and I wanted to learn as much about this section as I could as quickly as possible. He had me do some jobs I was already familiar with – make fruit flowers, cut passionfruit, cut cheese, etc., but also make some chocolate mousse and caramel, and showed me how to set up the station for service as well. He also gave me samples of some of the petit fours he had made, and I love it when I get to sample things. After insisting I go for a supper break, he showed me how to get ready for service.

Service was slow for me at first, as of course desserts are the last orders to come in, so I helped plate some of the appetizers (oriental salad with smoked chicken and orange dressing today) and the starters. Then he showed me how to plate each dessert order, and I filled the rest of the orders while he helped on other sections. Service went quite smoothly, and at 10:15p.m., when all main courses had been sent out and we were just waiting on several tables for dessert, we began cleaning. But the head chef told me to go home, knowing I am on breakfast shift tomorrow morning. I said I could finish the pastry orders, but he insisted, saying I needed my rest!