I guess it's high time I announced my new job situation. After taking a much needed break at home following my challenging and demanding job abroad; as well as taking a little bit of time for travelling, I am back in the workforce. It was actually less than a month that I was home before I began looking for work again, I just don't like to be idle for long. I've decided I will stay close to home for at least the next little while.
I found a nice, small-town Irish pub. It works from a scratch kitchen with a seasonal menu using as much fresh and local products as possible. There is a lot of room for creativity and fun in this kitchen. The environment is among the best I have ever worked in - supportive, understanding, and friendly. I like the people I work with and we all get along well. The hours are much more reasonable and flexible. The compensation is great. And the work is always fun. I suspect I will be happy here for awhile.
We are currently gearing up to launch a new summer menu, which I will have some input in. I am currently developing some summer dessert ideas!
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Black Box Challenge
How would it feel to have absolute free reign of a complete industrial kitchen's inventory - ingredients and equipment, and unlimited time to make something with it? Overwhelmed comes to mind. Delighted would too - if there wasn't a job on the line. I should probably explain myself.
Before even beginning my internship, I began to look for a job for when I went back to school. An opportunity recently came up, and I jumped on it. I was interviewed yesterday, only four days after getting home from my internship. The interview went well, and the sous chef asked me to come back today for a black box. For those who aren't familiar with the term, a black box in the culinary sense typically refers to a box of certain ingredients, usually unknown to the cooks until shortly before cooking with them, that are selected. Black boxes are common in competitions - each chef must use either some or all of the ingredients in the black box. They may have only those ingredients to work with, a limited pantry of staples, or an entire kitchen in addition to the black box items. It is essentially like the television show, Chopped.
So when I walked in, I was assuming I would get a basket of ingredients. Therefore, I hadn't prepped much the day before - didn't bring any recipes along with me because it would all depend upon the ingredients in my black box. So when I arrived and the sous chef began showing me around the entire kitchen, and where everything was, I was confused. I mean, I didn't have the job yet, so why show me everything? Surely I wouldn't need ALL of this for my black box. I soon realized there was no 'black box'. The entire kitchen was my 'black box.' They were just calling this test a 'black box.'
I was shown to mise en place on the line, bread, dry storage with pastry ingredients, pasta, flours, condiments, fridge with produce and dairy and meats, freezer with breads and meats, and more. I was quickly shown all the equipment as well, then set up in the banquet kitchen where there was only a teeny tiny work table, but a full stove, sink, and oven. It's kind of flattering being given the option of everything in the restaurant's entire kitchen, and being trusted alone in the back kitchen. I mean, I only have some school and an internship under my belt, and all they know about me is from my interview yesterday. I could burn the place down!
I would have preferred an actual black box, because the thing about me is, the hardest part about cooking for me is deciding what to make, especially with so many options. If you give me a specific job, I will get it done fast, but deciding myself? Well, I'm a sweet girl and they had an impressive shelf of chocolate, so I decided to stay familiar and go with dessert. Maybe playing it slightly safe, but comfortable. Anyways, I am good at memorizing recipes, but I haven't really baked in a while, so no recipes were fresh in my head and coming to mind - only a few from my internship, which were all in grams and I did not have a scale anyway.
So I winged it, and decided to make a quick batch of brownies, a chocolate mousse, a chocolate ganache, and some caramel. All recipes I had made before and could wing, I was familiar enough with amounts and procedures. Also, pastry is considered more difficult, and if I could bake, make mousse, and caramel in a reasonable amount of time, I figured it would impress. So I set to work as quickly as I could. All the while I was nervous as could be, and kept wondering; Am I working clean enough? Am I working fast enough? Am I asking enough questions? Too many questions? Am I taking advantage of product available to me? Am I using the proper tools for the job? Am I being ambitious enough? Am I second guessing myself too much? Am I driving myself crazy. Well, at least I knew the answer to one of those questions......
It all went well, I didn't really mess up or burn anything, I managed to figure out how to work the oven and stove (different models than what I have worked with before). It was my first time making the mousse entirely by hand. The first caramel didn't turn out quite how I had wanted, but I turned it into something else cool. The sous chef seemed impressed, the only critique he had was to add a pinch of salt to the brownies (I agreed, I hadn't added any). I will share my recipes tomorrow!
Before even beginning my internship, I began to look for a job for when I went back to school. An opportunity recently came up, and I jumped on it. I was interviewed yesterday, only four days after getting home from my internship. The interview went well, and the sous chef asked me to come back today for a black box. For those who aren't familiar with the term, a black box in the culinary sense typically refers to a box of certain ingredients, usually unknown to the cooks until shortly before cooking with them, that are selected. Black boxes are common in competitions - each chef must use either some or all of the ingredients in the black box. They may have only those ingredients to work with, a limited pantry of staples, or an entire kitchen in addition to the black box items. It is essentially like the television show, Chopped.
So when I walked in, I was assuming I would get a basket of ingredients. Therefore, I hadn't prepped much the day before - didn't bring any recipes along with me because it would all depend upon the ingredients in my black box. So when I arrived and the sous chef began showing me around the entire kitchen, and where everything was, I was confused. I mean, I didn't have the job yet, so why show me everything? Surely I wouldn't need ALL of this for my black box. I soon realized there was no 'black box'. The entire kitchen was my 'black box.' They were just calling this test a 'black box.'
I was shown to mise en place on the line, bread, dry storage with pastry ingredients, pasta, flours, condiments, fridge with produce and dairy and meats, freezer with breads and meats, and more. I was quickly shown all the equipment as well, then set up in the banquet kitchen where there was only a teeny tiny work table, but a full stove, sink, and oven. It's kind of flattering being given the option of everything in the restaurant's entire kitchen, and being trusted alone in the back kitchen. I mean, I only have some school and an internship under my belt, and all they know about me is from my interview yesterday. I could burn the place down!
I would have preferred an actual black box, because the thing about me is, the hardest part about cooking for me is deciding what to make, especially with so many options. If you give me a specific job, I will get it done fast, but deciding myself? Well, I'm a sweet girl and they had an impressive shelf of chocolate, so I decided to stay familiar and go with dessert. Maybe playing it slightly safe, but comfortable. Anyways, I am good at memorizing recipes, but I haven't really baked in a while, so no recipes were fresh in my head and coming to mind - only a few from my internship, which were all in grams and I did not have a scale anyway.
So I winged it, and decided to make a quick batch of brownies, a chocolate mousse, a chocolate ganache, and some caramel. All recipes I had made before and could wing, I was familiar enough with amounts and procedures. Also, pastry is considered more difficult, and if I could bake, make mousse, and caramel in a reasonable amount of time, I figured it would impress. So I set to work as quickly as I could. All the while I was nervous as could be, and kept wondering; Am I working clean enough? Am I working fast enough? Am I asking enough questions? Too many questions? Am I taking advantage of product available to me? Am I using the proper tools for the job? Am I being ambitious enough? Am I second guessing myself too much? Am I driving myself crazy. Well, at least I knew the answer to one of those questions......
It all went well, I didn't really mess up or burn anything, I managed to figure out how to work the oven and stove (different models than what I have worked with before). It was my first time making the mousse entirely by hand. The first caramel didn't turn out quite how I had wanted, but I turned it into something else cool. The sous chef seemed impressed, the only critique he had was to add a pinch of salt to the brownies (I agreed, I hadn't added any). I will share my recipes tomorrow!
 |
| Maple Pecan Brownie Bomb |
Thursday, October 02, 2014
My New Job
Since I began a new job recently, you will probably be seeing some posts from me with a slightly different style. I have started a new cook job, preparing the three daily meals, as well as desserts, baked goods, and snacks, on weekends at a senior home caring for twenty-seven residents. This is a good starting cook position, as it is not as stressful, busy, or demanding as a busy restaurant kitchen. This job requires me to make larger batches of homey comfort foods, and ensure I keep plenty of small sweet treats and healthy snacks around. The types of dishes I prepare are certainly not fancy, exotic up-to-date dishes, but rather simple, basic, old-fashioned dishes - such as meat and potatoes, with steamed vegetables.
So you will definitely be seeing some basic, big batch homey dishes on my blog, as well as good, simple, old-fashioned desserts, cookies and muffins. The chicken pot pie I featured on Monday is one example of such a dish.
So you will definitely be seeing some basic, big batch homey dishes on my blog, as well as good, simple, old-fashioned desserts, cookies and muffins. The chicken pot pie I featured on Monday is one example of such a dish.
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