Cranky Day

This morning I wasn’t in my usual cheery mood going into work today. I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say I am not a happy camper when my sleep gets interrupted. That in combination with a rainy day and a headache, don’t make me very happy. I made a batch of chocolate mousse straight away because it was a popular seller lately and I wanted to have backup – only to discover we didn’t have enough cocoa powder. I made it anyway. Then I sorted out the sorbets – I needed to pipe some for the two wedding tastings today. The head chef sent the breakfast chef to scoop my sorbets for tonight for me before he left, which was nice. I sorted out the other things for my wedding tastings one for two people and one for six people – bread rolls, petit fours, and the desserts – three pavlovas, three brownies, and one Bailey’s cheesecake. 

Madeleines - the trickiest wedding petit fours to pull off. So temperamental in baking times.

Next I trayed the petit fours and weighed out bread, tried to make passionfruit rolls but then had to remake the jelly, cut up fruit for fruit flowers, prepped the wedding desserts, made bread rolls (tomato basil, fennel, maple oat), etc. 

I got ready for service – we were expecting 67 diners with the two tasting first, and a table of ten, a table of six, a five, and some fours, threes, and twos. Service didn’t go so smoothly. The chef on the pass was not happy, making the other chefs not happy, causing the waitress on the pass to be fed up trying to communicate with us while trying to train a new server. When the chef is mad, I find him hard to understand. SO I wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying to me. He said something to the starter cook about me helping him – he wasn’t mad at me, but I think was getting at he should be able to handle it on his own and I should focus on pastry? I’m not really sure. At the end of the night, all my pastry orders were done quickly and stunningly, even the table of ten by myself. It wasn’t all bad though, I got a few compliments tonight. First the starter chef (who is the old pastry chef) complimented my chocolate mousse and soufflés, saying they were perfect. Then I opened up my crème brulée drawer and he said, “Wait.” I thought he was going to tell me I did something wrong again, but instead he said they were cooked perfectly and cut very nicely as well. I also had several pastry questions about orders from servers toward the end of the night, and each time I was addressed as ‘Chef’. It’s weird to be called chef when you aren’t even done culinary school, but I like it!

Over A Hundred Desserts By Myself

Today I got into work and got my chocolate mousse on right away. Then I was told to bake and slice some bread for the lunchtime function. I also made three trays of passionfruit jelly. While all that was on the go, I weighed out my bread dough and began traying up the petit fours, knowing the function would run late and then I would be a bit pressed for time to get everything done. I am very glad I did that. Next I balled a bunch of ice cream and sorbet in preparation for the desserts for the function. Then I prepared lime foam, lime confit, and caramel spirals, but couldn’t finish them since the kitchen was being used for the function, and I needed the stove and blender. 

After checking on orders I was debating what, if anything, I could do as a small job before I got very busy with dessert orders. Then I got my pre-order for the kids’ table, which had adult desserts on it (not impressed) so I prepped that. Then I had to help plate the mains and flash the veg. The head chef was getting mad at the chef de partie for taking too long. Once mains were out, I finished prepping my desserts and put the crumbles in the oven. I served the kids’ desserts. Then I served the adults’ desserts once the mains were clear. I had my plates all lined up and managed to have just enough crumbles and just enough raspberry sorbet scooped. I had 19 crumbles, one cold crumble, one kids’ crumble, 8 crème brulée, two kids’ crème brulée, three kids' ice cream, one kids' ice cream and sorbet, one kids fruit salad, four adult ice creams and sorbets, and two vanilla ice creams. Not very difficult items to plate, but a lot to keep straight, The kids’ desserts were away first, so I got those out of the way in the back kitchen. Then a server came back and requested another sorbet and another crumble, saying these kids were all bratty and all had iPhones and whatnot and all the adults were very drunk despite it being midafternoon. Then I torched the brulées and began removing piping hot ramekins of crumble from the oven and onto plates. Then I had to top the brulées with sorbet, the crumbles with ice cream, and the bowls with ice cream and set them on the pass. 

Here is what gets my goat. I helped plate starters and mains when I had my own prep work to do. Then once they are gone, the chefs take off for a smoke. I am left alone to plate 44 desserts. It’s not that I cannot handle it, and I am impressed they leave so much trust in me to get that done without even sticking around to watch, but they could have asked if I wanted a hand. Finally, once I was nearly finished, the chef de partie asked if I was alright, then put some plates on the pass for me. But everything was plated by then. At least the three servers seemed very impressed with me and appreciative of me catering to all the requests. 

One of the cakes from one the functions today. Looks like a chocoholic's dream!

Of course once I got all the desserts out, it was already past my usual breadmaking time. I had to get a move on, and none of my petit fours were baked yet either. I got straight to it, rolling out bread (tomato basil, onion, and walnut spice), baking petit fours, cleaning up, etc. And as if I didn’t have enough to do myself, someone else asked me to do something for them, and one of the bar workers was ready to put me to work when he saw me standing idle for thirty seconds as I waited for one of the servers to get something for me from the bar. Of course now everyone in the restaurant was somewhat behind and the ovens were in use, so I had to wait and then use the other oven, putting my bread and petit fours further behind. 

Today, my cannelles didn’t turn out right. The tops were burnt, they were sunk, and the insides were hollow. It’s ironic because yesterday I was making the mix, as I had used the last bit and knew I would be busy today. The other pastry chef came along and told me I was doing it wrong, that the cannelles would turn out hollow if I did it that way. I said that’s funny because this is how I did it the past three times and they turned out fine. He proceeded to a lengthy explanation of why I was wrong, and could tell I was looking somewhat annoyed because then he said, I’m not trying to annoy you, and I said, I know but this is how I thought it was done all along why didn’t you tell me before? And now look whose method didn’t work out…. Now I was debating what to do. Can we do without cannelles, I know we have enough of the other petit fours, but cannelles are a daily thing. I didn’t want to show the chef because he was already in a bad mood and the mold was burnt and the pastry cook had told me they are expensive that’s why you can’t use the wrong method.’ I took the cannelles out and washed the mold, which came clean very easily. Then I showed them to chef and told him they hadn’t worked out today. Thankfully he wasn’t mad, just asked to see the mix. From looking at the cannelles, he determined there wasn’t enough egg for structure. I was impressed he could tell that just by looking as I had even tasted one, and I know quite a bit about pastry, and I was ready to chuck the mix out and start again. He told me to add two eggs and blend it up again. I thanked him, and they turned out perfectly. They were just done a lot later than usual. 

Then I still had to scoop the sorbet, cut another tray of brulée, and cut up pineapple for back-up fruit flowers. We had 67 diners in tonight – with two big tables, a table of 29, a table of 12, and a few groups of girls getaways. Luckily the first table was the 29 and it wasn’t until 6:30p.m. The good thing about big tables is they get a reduced menu and I get preorders. The head chef was prepping all the apps and a bunch of the starters in advance as well. When the first order came in I had to run downstairs to sort out the kids meals and cook them. Then I helped as more starter orders came in, and helped out with some veg as well. I messed up once when one of the goat cheese starts was supposed to be gluten-free, I remembered to leave off the melba toast and put two crotins, but I forgot the fried goat cheese ball was breaded and accidentally put that on, as I hadn’t really hear chef mumble. This contaminates the entire plate, but surprisingly he wasn’t really upset at me.

I went on to do my dessert orders – a lot of hot chocolate mousse soufflés, banana tarte tatins, and crème brulées. I prepped all the pre-orders in advance, but still got some orders on top of that and again got no help. Oh well ,there is something about sending out over a hundred plated desserts by yourself in one day that makes you feel very proud of yourself and feel like you really accomplished something today. And that you ran around and sweat buckets, but that’s an entire different story. As the executive chef said to me one day, “You don’t often get a pat on the back in this industry.” And it is true, none of the chefs said good job to me today, or you’re doing great. But at the end of the day, I always hear things through the grapevine from the friendly servers. They tell me the chefs talk about me a lot, and how they really like me, will be sad to see me go, I’m a really hard worker, etc. Maybe they’ll tell me that before I leave, but for now, at least I hear it through the servers.

Going Bananas

I was told to come in for noon again today. I actually hate being told to come into work later – sounds ironic – but I would rather get in early and know I can achieve everything and not feel rushed or stressed, and the first hour not everyone else is in yet so I get more done. But I feel like the head chef has ordered me to come in later, and I don’t want to disobey him. I managed to wait until 11:30 or so, then wandered in, trying to be unseen. It didn’t work.

I set up, then chef told me to scoop ice cream for the surprise function for forty people we had today. I got that done, then made up thirty-two crème brulées for our function tomorrow. Next he asked me to do him a favor and fill some molds with stuffing for the mains. Once done that I moved on to my big task of the day – making a huge batch of banana tarte tatin. The dishes were already lined with caramel, so I just had to slice up about ten hands of bananas, press them into the dishes, and top them with puff pastry circles and bake them. I was halfway through the bananas when I got the preorders for the luncheon – twenty-seven apple and berry crumbles, nine selections of ice cream and sorbet and one selection of sorbet. I put the crumble topping on the crumbles, then went to put them in the oven. The head chef had me help plate the main courses. Then I set up my dishes for desserts, and sent them off. Then back to the bananas.

Speaking of bananas......I remember this delicious banana waffle from my trip to the city :)

Yesterday one of the prep cooks who is responsible for putting away orders made two trips delivering me a bunch of bananas, and I began singing the theme song from the old television show, ‘Bananas In Pajamas’. She thought I was absolutely nuts, or rather, bananas, and then got upset with me for getting the song stuck in her head. Today she came in saying she decided to look up the show after all, since the song was still in her head and I was still singing. Some of the others there actually knew of the show and didn’t think I was bananas at all, though they did not realize the show was popular outside of their country as well. 

At that point it was nearly 3:00p.m. and I realized I had to get the bread done now; the puff pastry would have to wait. This is why I wanted to come in early – my only saving grace was the fact there were only seventeen diners in tonight, meaning less bread to make, less sorbet to scoop, and less petit fours to tray, and the first diners were not in until 7:00p.m. I baked the petit fours, made up my bread rolls (tomato basil, cinnamon raisin, cheddar chive), trayed more petit fours, cut out puff pastry, baked bread, scooped sorbet, baked the banana tarts, then did a good clean up. I had wanted to accomplish more today, but I had to prepare for service as it would be only me and the other intern covering apps, starters, potato, veg, and desserts, with the head chef on the pass.

Of course the first diners were late, giving me some time to make a prep list for tomorrow and go over lists. I had to plate a lot of starters tonight, which I am not used to doing but did alright. Desserts went smoothly as always, everyone ordered one, except the last table of two took a break after their main course and ordered a good half hour after everyone else. It is annoying to just be waiting on two people, not able to do anything else, but I was still home early.

Blast Chiller Broken

            Today I got in early because I had about four jobs I needed to get done straight away. I immediately got my pavlovas mixed up, and my brulée mix cooking. Then I put them in the oven together to bake. Next I got my dark chocolate mousse on the go and began to prepare for the wedding tasting for four people tonight. I got the chocolate brownies, the petit fours, the bread rolls, and began slicing fruit to decorate the pavlovas, saving some of the fruit for a fruit tray I had to put together today. Next I realized I had to sort out the sorbets for the tastings too. See, we have different sorbet flavors at weddings than we order in, as they are combination flavors. For example, the two sorbets for the tasting today were mango passionfruit and mixed berry. Well, we order in mango sorbet, passionfruit sorbet, blueberry sorbet, raspberry sorbet, strawberry sorbet, and blackcurrent sorbet, but the flavors do not come together. SO we have to mix them ourselves and pipe them into tall thin shot glasses. We try to keep some of each flavor on hand, but obviously they get used. We had only one mango and passionfruit and no mixed berry, so I had to mix up both and pipe them (I hate piping freezing cold sorbet).

            With that finished, I moved on to my daily tasks – petit fours, scooping sorbet, making breads (tomato basil, bacon, and mixed nut). Around this time we got a call about a last minute function in the restaurant tomorrow at lunch for forty people. Great, we already have one for fifty on Saturday, now another. So I had to prepare apple and berry crumbles for that, but luckily since it was such short notice we are not offering crème brulée as a dessert option so I didn’t need to worry about baking those. I did notice that the bar (where we usually get our crumble mix) had virtually none left, so I helped one of the bar workers make a huge batch of that. Then I got roped in to doing an order in the bar when he was upstairs and no one else was around. Oh, how I miss working the line in the bar (well, not really).

One of my breads of the day I saved for a coworker - she loves hers slathered with butter

Next I had a bit of time before service so I decided to make the caramel base for a big batch of banana tarts which I would finish assembling and baking tomorrow. I quickly got that into ramekins, finished preparing for the tasting, and set up for a service of fifty people tonight.

            Service went relatively smoothly, except when one of the servers came in with one of the madeleines saying it wasn’t cooked in the center. They asked me and I showed them the recipe I used and told them how long I cooked them, which was exactly the same as last time and that had worked out fine. I had even tried one myself and it seemed fine. Immediately the head chef went to cook a few more, at a higher temperature but for less time. They looked even lighter than mine and were in the oven less time, but he declared them cooked and sent them out. I have no idea what happened to mine, as I did them the exact same way as every wedding I have done, but it didn’t turn out to be a huge deal.

            At the end of the night I went downstairs and noticed the blast chiller did not seem to be working. It wasn’t cold at all. It seemed to be on and plugged in, and the kitchen porter couldn’t figure it out either. I knew it hadn’t been off long, since it wasn’t warm and items had been placed in recently, meaning it had been working then, but it didn’t seem to be now, and I couldn’t just leave everything in there like that to spoil. Unfortunately, it was completely full as well. Everyone else was gone, so I wrapped, vacpacked, labelled, and put away everything in the proper spots and left a note. The blast chiller has stopped working before, and they had to get someone in to fix it. I had to put away three batches of mashed potatoes, one potato casserole, a whole bin of boxty, 69 burgers, 33 chicken supremes, 20 chicken breasts, nine duck legs, two sauces, and a pan of parsnip chips. So I thought I was getting out early tonight, but that took some time so turns out not.

Walking Into A Mess

As I’ve mentioned before, I hate having two days off and walking in having no idea what my section will be like. First thing’s first, I glanced at the prep list left for me. From the looks of things, there wasn’t much for me to do, but I didn’t necessarily believe it. Next I glanced into my two refrigerators – the one in the pastry prep kitchen and the one in the service kitchen. I understand that no one else is going to put everything in the exact same spot I would – I have my own OCD organization to my kitchen – but there are general spots. Not much was in the correct spot, and even in the wrong kitchen, so I had to go searching.

I wanted to begin working on something, but wasn’t sure what to do and couldn’t even get my basic daily jobs done (scaling bread, scooping sorbet, traying petit fours) because I had no idea how many diners we were expecting tonight and none of the other chefs were in yet. So I read all the function sheets and notice bulletins to prepare for this week, and made my lists  - three wedding tastings and a large function were upcoming. I also made croutons, which I knew needed to be done.

Next I attempted to sort out my section. Here are some of the things I had to fix: labels – wrong dates or missing labels, cheese tray – not properly wrapped, some cheese dried out, too much blue cheese cut, mislabeled cheese, wrapped brie stored improperly and prepared incorrectly, sauces – improperly stored, crème brulée – incorrectly cut and stored in the wrong container and not wrapped, fruit – too many fruit flowers prepared, put in wrong location, too much fruit cut, fruit not properly rotated, passionfruit roll – completely ruined, sweets cut the wrong size, items stored in wrong fridge, items not ordered, etc.

This may be difficult to see - but they are the caramel spirals for the delice dessert. Usually they have to be made to order because it is too hot in the kitchen to store them and they collapse. Tonight I was practicing making them, and am becoming quite good at them. 

In between fixing things, I went on to scoop sorbet, tray and bake petit fours, make bread – which was quite difficult once I discovered we had no yeast and none had been ordered (tomato basil, cranberry almond, cheese onion), make financier mix, make delice chocolate, make caramel, make white chocolate and lime ganache. Then I knew I would have a lot to do tomorrow so I also prepped vanilla and lime crème brulée and chocolate mousse to make first thing tomorrow. 

I cleaned up and set up. For some reason we had six people in the kitchen with only thirty-six diners booked, so I knew I would only need to focus on pastry and not helping out with apps, starters, or veg. So I had a few small prep jobs I could do during slow points in service. I managed to slice delice chocolate, assemnble more delices, roll more passionfruit rolls, slice fruit, assemble a tray of fruit flowers, cut two full blocks of cheese, and make a bunch of caramel spirals. It seemed like no pastry orders were coming in at all – the first one must have come in after 8:00p.m., when service began at 6:00p.m. After that they were fairly slow, until they finally became steady near the end of service, and I actually ended earlier than usual. Plus got a lot of prep done in the evening!

Days Off

Again, a day off. We get two days off a week – usually they are two days in a row, so regardless of what the days are, it feels like a bit of a weekend. But sometimes they are not two consecutive days. Some of the chefs almost always get the same two days off every week, and others get different days each week. Lately I have been getting Monday and Tuesday off every week, quieter days, which is fine by me. It really all depends on what is going on at the estate, how busy we are, and how many staff we have though. Sometimes days off get shuffles around a lot, and sometimes some of the chefs only get one day off a week. We have to make sure we have enough staff on who know how to cover the many different sections we have. Technically, no one is supposed to work seven consecutive days, but sometimes it does happen that days off get spread apart. I myself have worked nine days in a row, as one week I had Monday and Tuesday off, and the next week I was not off again until Friday and Saturday (you have to pay to get the actual weekend off). But I have also been off Friday and Saturday, worked Sunday, and off again Monday and Tuesday. You just take the breaks when you can get them.

Here are a few examples. When our bar starter chef left, we had to ‘borrow’ one of the chefs from upstairs to work in the bar until the new chef started. This changed around everyone’s hours in both the bar and the restaurant. Recently we had two chefs from the restaurant leave, one expectantly, so we have been short on staff there and working long hours. That’s why I have been upstairs so much lately. On top of that, the sous chef got two weeks of vacation, so now we are really short on staff in the restaurant and some of the chefs are only getting one day off per week. As a student intern, they are required to give me my two days off a week. I feel bad for the chefs who have gone five weeks in a row with only one day off, and offered to come in on a day off, but apparently they have gotten flack for that in the past, so I must take my two days. They tell me I am technically working more hours than I should be already – that my days should be more like eight hour days, but I really don’t mind it. I am here for the experience and the hours.

I think pretty much every kitchen bends the rules for time off and working hours and whatnot, but that’s just a reality of kitchens. It may be law, or written in an employee handbook, and technically we could file complaints, but no one ever does because that’s just how kitchen life works and we expect it. I mean, I knew what I was signing up for getting a culinary degree,, and I don’t regret it. It takes a certain type of person to be a chef – not everyone can work the long hours and consecutive days, and holidays, and weekends, and late nights, etc. It takes some serious dedication. I don’t really get the breaks I am entitles to, but that is partially my fault. I choose not to take frequent breaks. They know I don’t smoke, but if I asked to step out for five minutes, I could. I just don’t feel the need to. Don’t know if that makes me a workaholic or just nuts, but I love what I do and you don’t survive this industry without passion.

You mean, there is a world outside the kitchen???

Restaurant Pastry Mise En Place

Today I had a day off again, after a very busy week alone on the pastry section in the restaurant. So today I will share some of my responsibilities on this section. I have a few things I must do every day – which is scoop out enough bowls of sorbet (I choose a different flavor everyday) for tonight’s diners and keep them in the pastry service freezer. I have to bake one tray of fananciers and one tray of cannelles for the petit fours, then I have to put them on a big tray with the other petit fours – enough for two per person. So I cut up the marshmallow, nougat, and ganache into squares and place them along with homemade lollipops into little paper wrappers on the tray. Then there are the bread rolls, which I make in large batches – minimum of two per head, and three different flavors. I also have to make the special cranberry bread for the starter section. Other daily tasks include the usual cleaning, labelling, and organizing, setting up station for service and cleaning down afterwards, ordering ingredients, and occasionally making up fruit platters for the spa as requested.

There are six different desserts that can be ordered, along with basics such as ice cream, sorbet, and fruit salad; and once in a while there are wedding tastings, like yesterday's, to prep the bread, petit fours, sorbets, and several desserts for. The six main desserts are Banana tarte tatin, Vanilla and lime crème brulée, Mojito of lime confit, Hot chocolate mousse soufflé, Dark chocolate and passionfruit delice, and Cheese plate. Each one has many different components to prep for and all the mise en place must be ready, enough prepped for service in the evening. I know how many diners will be in, but I never know how many of each dessert will be ordered. Is it possible all forty diners could order the banana tarte? Yes. Is it likely? Not at all. So I make estimates, and am usually fairly correct, but it changes from day to day – one day I sold a lot of crème brulées, the next day, only two. Here is a list of misen en palce I must have done/ready every day.

Banana Tarte Tatins made in large batches

Banana Tart Tatin: banana tartes baked, caramel sauce made, coconut ice cream ready.
Vanilla and Lime Crème Brulée: brulée baked and cut, fruit flowers cut and assembled, exotic fruit pearls made, passionfruit cut, mint leaves picked, brown sugar for bruléeing.
Mojito of Lime Confit: lime confit made, mint and lime white chocolate ganache in piping bags, dark rum crumble made and blitzed, lemon sorbet ready, mint sugar made, lime foam made, crisp mint made, chocolate slice made and cut.
Hot Chocolate Mousse Soufflé: mousse mixture in piping bags, vanilla ice cream ready.
Dark Chocolate and Passionfruit Delice: passionfruit emulsion made, biscuit baked and sliced, chocolate mousse made, chocolate toffee made and sliced, caramel made, passionfruit roll and cream made and assembled, delice assembled.
Cheese Plate: golden raisin chutney, pickled celery, plum compote, croutons sliced and baked, blue cheese parfait made and sliced, spice bread made and toasted, cheddar and gubbeen cheese sliced, goat cheese torte made and baked, brie cut and wrapped.

So some desserts have many more components than others, but some components take longer to do than others. The bottom line is, all must be ready. It is fairly quick and easy to whip up a batch of chocolate mousse for the soufflé every day, but banana tartes takes quite a while to make and are done less often. Things such as chocolate slice, passionfruit emulsion, and lime confit are five minute jobs, but take time when you have a lot to do. Simple tasks such as picking meat, slicing fruit, slicing cheese, and cutting croutons can be done during service, especially during the start or on quieter days. 

In addition I have to make sure all my tools are ready – doilies, blow torch, caramel pin, ice cream scoop, spatulas, spoons, trays, etc. I also have to make the petit fours when I run out, so usually about once a week I make a big tray of marshmallow, nogi, and ganache, all of which are long and tricky tasks.

A Wedding Tasting

Today I actually did go in later – chef’s orders. I couldn’t stay away too long though, although I didn’t have a whole lot to do since I prepped so much the past few days and only thirty-six were booked tonight, I did have a wedding tasting to prep for. I began with setting up my station, then getting what I needed for the tasting – three chocolate brownies, three Bailey’s cheesecakes, mango passionfruit sorbet, champagne sorbet, some petit fours, some madeleine mix, and a bunch of bread rolls. The tasting was for six people – the bride, groom, plus both sets of parents. 

Next I made spice bread croutons, cut a tray of crème brulée, baked and trayed the petit fours, made blue cheese parfait, assembled a tray of fruit flowers, did my bread rolls (tomato basil, parmesan thyme, and raisin walnut), made crispy basil garnish, and cut passionfruit. I didn’t really make much today, no need to, just topped up what I needed. Then I cleaned up, set up, and made sure my wedding tasting desserts were ready – the cheesecake requires a swirl of whipped cream and a chocolate stick, and both require chocolate sauce on the plates. I did the chocolate sauce and cream in advance, because I thought this is what the pastry cook had told me, and there was a big controversy with chocolate sauce going missing at some other tasting….(luckily I was off that day). Anyway, when the time for the tasting came, all was going well except apparently two of the steaks for the mains were both cooked medium, when they had requested medium, medium well, and well done. They then asked to taste just another piece of beef cooked medium well, but the chef said no, that wasn’t what they had requested to taste. All this caused the desserts to be delayed quite a lot, and when the time finally came, the pastry cook said I had to redo the chocolate sauce and the whipped cream, and basically I had done everything wrong. Thanks for telling me this in the first place, I never did a wedding where they served the cheesecake, and when we serve brownies that is not how we serve the ice cream with it. “Doesn’t matter,” he says, “This is how we do it here.” Shouldn’t the wedding tasting be exactly like the wedding???

Wedding tasting petit fours

Other than that service went relatively smoothly – the final number was forty-eight and all tables of two except for two. It was really quiet, and then I would get five orders at once. I hate nights like that. Aside from this, I found myself standing around a bit during service, because I really had nothing to do or prep. I relabelled everything on the pastry section, but that didn’t take too long. 

Very Busy Day In The Restaurant

Today we were expecting eighty-one diners, probably the most I have ever done. The thing that was different about tonight was that is wasn't mostly groups of two, it was a group of ten, nine, eleven, eight, seven, three, three, four, two, two, six, or something like that (not in that order). I had gotten a lot of prep done yesterday to prepare for today, but figured more backup wouldn’t hurt, and could always lay over into Sunday (busy again) and Monday and Tuesday (when I suspected I would be off again).

I got in bright and early and got my two major jobs done and out of the way while the kitchen was still fairly quiet – another big batch of chocolate mousse and a batch of white chocolate mint and lime ganache. While making those (it took me longer as the juice press is still missing – I even asked the head chef this time and he couldn’t find it either) I also made quadruple batches of lime confit and lime foam. Then I moved on to passionfruit jelly and passionfruit emulsion for back up. I baked and trayed up the petit fours. As I was doing this (actually, right when I was finished) the pastry cook came up and told me I had cut them too small. The other day he told me they were way too big, so I scaled them down. Now he says they are TOO small. I asked him to show me the correct size. He said the other day he told me to cut them small because he hadn’t made more and didn’t want me to run out. Today he said I could cut the marshmallows really big since I had a whole new tray of them. No, that’s not how it works, kitchens strive for consistency. Same size every time. Not bigger or smaller depending on how lazy you are. Just like I don’t use a little lime foam instead of a lot because you didn’t make more.  I weighed out the bread recipes. I scooped out fifty sorbets. I baked some goat’s cheese tortes. I ensured I had things prepped for the wedding tasting tomorrow. I made the delice caramel. I stole some crêpe scraps from the starter cook (whoops, not a prep job!).

You know there are a lot of diners in when you prep this many petit fours.....we don't even have any trays bigger than this. It JUST fits them all.

I had finished stuff for the day, my bread was rising and almost ready to bake, and I was moving on to making milk chocolate biscuits and getting the fruit platters for the spa ready for tomorrow (as one was added for 10:00a.m. and I wouldn’t be in yet at that time) when the pastry cook came in and said, “Oh shit. How much bread did you make? That won’t be enough. We count on two per head. I’ve told you this before. I can’t keep an eye on everything you are doing.” No, you told me full three full batches unless forty diners or less, then half batches are suffice. And the two times I ate there I only ever got offered one bread roll. With six other courses, who needs two? So he made me whip up another batch even though they wouldn’t have time to rise, I was in the middle of three jobs, and I really needed to start cleaning down and get set up for service. I quickly did this. At the very end of the night, when everyone else was gone and I was finishing my cleaning, I saw a server chuck over forty of my bread rolls into the garbage. INTO THE GARBAGE. This is definitely one of those ‘I told you so’ moments. I think I know how much I need to prep, even if I am only the intern. Did I run out of anything tonight? No. Really, the garbage? I feel like they could do something with them, I know bread is best the day it is baked, but even put it in bags and offer it free at the front desk to guests. Or would that cause them to spend less money dining on the estate? I don’t know.

Around the same time, the cook came to inform me there were thirty-one girls’ getaway diners, who dine on special packages, meaning they have reduced menus and I would need a lot of crème brulées and soufflés. Well, it’s a little late now to be asking me if I need more crème brulée made, luckily I didn’t. Also apparently all girls’ getaways get sorbets, not soups, and he told me the fifty I had prepped (which I thought was more than enough) wouldn’t be enough and I should do twenty more. 70 sorbets with only 81 diners. Really? Some get soup, some get neither. At the end of the night, there were at least twenty-five of those left too. I did save two jobs for the beginning of service when it is slow – I always try to save at least one easy, compact, mind-numbing job so I am not just standing around – picking mint for the brulée and mojito garnish and separating doilies for dessert plates. 

Service went smoothly for such big numbers. I am used to dessert orders of two or four, which are easy, even if you get a few in a row, they are staggered enough it is simple to pull off. Even an order of ten isn’t so bad. But an order of ten followed by an order of eight. And all the girls’ getaways do pre-orders, so I have several dockets staring me in the face, and I have to wait until they are called. I would just rather receive the docket when the order is away, I don’t like having them in advance as they confuse me. Plus sometimes they change their mind anyway. It’s not so bad with big orders because you are bound to have at least one tarte or soufflé, both of which take seven minutes to bake and in the meantime you can prep the brulées and mojitos and delices. But making nine other desserts in seven minutes takes longer (and requires more space) then prepping one or two other desserts in seven minutes. Sure I can easily make a brulée and a mojito while the tarte cooks, but can I do four cheese platters, three mojitos, two brulées, and a delice? Needless to say, I did have some help (except for the eight-top, as everyone had deserted me by then), but I also helped plate a bunch of these starter orders when they came in. 

Getting Lots Done

This morning I couldn’t sleep so I got up early and got to work – ready to get a lot of prep done. I was in fine shape for today, only needing to top up a few things for the twenty-six diners booked; but tomorrow we were expecting anywhere around one hundred people, and Sunday would be busy too, complete with a wedding tasting to worry about as well. I wanted to get a lot done today so I wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow and could just top things up as needed. I began with my two major jobs – making a big batch of vanilla and lime crème brulée and chocolate mousse. It would have gone faster if I hadn’t spent so long looking for the juice press, which I did not find in the end and had to use my hand to juice the limes. But the new cook was nice enough to help me with the mixing part, a two-person job, and I got those in the oven and moved on to the mousse. During this, I put all my food orders on the board for the weekend, something I am not used to worrying about since I am not usually in charge of a section. It’s somewhat stressful – what if I forgot something or run out of something? Speaking of stressful, I had a mini moment of panic mid-morning when I realized my fridge was not running – it was plugged in and pressing the on button did nothing. I asked a chef de partie, as the head chef was not around, and he couldn’t solve it either. Then the head chef walked in and was all ready to get a knife and fuse out, until he realized the fridge had been set to ‘zero’ and only turns on if set at a number. It must have been bumped. Luckily I noticed quickly and the fridge was not off for long. 

Next I got my petit fours done, cut up a tray of brulée, assembled some delice desserts, rolled some delicate passionfruit rolls, cut up delice biscuit, cut up delice chocolate rectangles, scooped my sorbet, and made up my bread rolls for today (tomato basil, triple cheese, and fennel) when I finally managed to convince someone to bring the big bag of flour upstairs for me. By this time I felt I had accomplished a lot today, but seeing as the first diners were only in at 6:30p.m., and only two until 7:00p.m., I tidied up and assembled the fruit flowers. I needed some for service today, but I could assemble them to order if I absolutely needed to. I gave my pastry kitchen a good scrubbing, then set up in the service kitchen. 

Today was slightly different in that the head chef was going to be on apps/starters/potato/veg, and the chef de partie was on the pass because there was a new cook in doing mains, though he isn’t fully trained yet. I’m not used to working with the head chef on starters, but I helped him out in plating dishes, especially when five tables of two came in at once. He assumed I basically knew everything on starters, and I managed to pull this off. Service was slow at first, as always, and although the chef didn’t seem to mind standing and chatting with me, I always feel I could and should be getting something done – even if it’s not pressing, I can get that far ahead. So I took some bread from the freezer, quickly thawed it by putting it on top of the oven, and thinly sliced it. When I need more croutons for the cheese platters, I can bake them as they are ready to go. I finished this just in time for when we got busy.

Croutons for the cheese platters

I feel I am set for the weekend. I have plenty of banana tartes made up, enough chocolate mousse for the soufflés, plenty of crème brulées and fruit flowers and garnishes, many delices assembled and backup of everything to make them, a lot of garnishes for the cheeses done, so I just have to worry about topping up, making a few things for the mojito dessert, and making the fresh breads, petit fours, and scooping sorbet. Which always takes longer the more diners we have. 

Pastries For A Function Too

Today I got into work for 11:00.a.m. The head chef had told me to come in for noon today, but I knew I had a meeting with the executive chef midday that may take an hour, so I came in at my usual time anyway, I mean I was awake nonetheless. He got ‘mad’ at me, but I was straight to work and had lots to do and still didn’t get everything done that I could have/wanted to today.

We had a function to cook for with around thirty people, who were supposed to be in for twelve but were much later and that put the head chef in a bad mood straight away. He had me bake and slice the bread for the function, then I went straight to work making white chocolate and lime ganache. While this was on the go and I was back and forth between kitchens, I scooped out tonight’s sorbet (strawberry), weighed out the ingredients for the breads (tomato basil, pine nut, and mustard), and prepped the petit fours. I was waiting for the pre-order for the function to come in so I would know how many of each dessert to prep. Finally it came in as eleven apple and berry crumbles, two crème brulées and four selections of ice cream. Turns out I didn’t need to make the big batch of crème brulées yesterday after all, but the leftovers go on as a special in the bar. I scooped out the vanilla ice cream balls for the crumbles, the raspberry sorbet balls for the brulées, and the vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream balls for the selections of ice cream, then topped the fruit mixtures with crumble topping. 

Petit fours like I tray up everyday - in the back the blueberry fanancier and cannelle are baked fresh daily.
In the front there is a marshmallow (flavor changes all the time) and a lollipop.

I was wrapping brie for the cheese platter when the group actually arrived, and the order changed slightly – one more crumble and one of the ice cream selections turned out to be a sorbet selection instead. I finished my task since I was hands-deep in it, then prepped this new order, thankful I hadn’t yet froze the remainder of the apple berry mix. Next thing I know, they were telling me the desserts were away. Thanks, no one even informed me the starters or mains had gone out, and I assumed I was just prepping the desserts, not plating them since I was told to get them ready and leave them in the kitchen. So I quickly put the crumbles in the oven to heat, and prepped the rest of the desserts, then sent them out, then got on to my other prep work.

By this time it was nearly time for me to make the bread rolls, as I had to start slightly early to ensure they would be done and proofing by 4:00p.m., which is when I was meeting with the executive chef to talk about internship stuff. He had picked the date and time not me, and although it wasn’t the handiest, I understand he is very busy and it wasn’t totally inconvenient for me. I cleaned up and asked the other pastry cook to take care of my bread in case I wasn’t back in time, but he basically dismissed me as in “You better be back on time.” Chef took me to a private room in the lodge and told me all about his culinary journey, education, philosophies, etc., but that’s another story for another time.

The meeting lasted around forty-five minutes, and I got back just in time to put my breads in the oven. Then I made chocolate biscuit and cannelle mix quickly, cleaned up, and checked what I needed for orders. Then I set up for service, and at the beginning of service when it was slower, I sliced up fruit for assembling fruit flowers tomorrow. I used to kind of stand idle during that time, unsure of what to do or not realizing I could use that as bonus prep time. Service went well, we did around fifty diners tonight, and one group of seven. By the time that dessert order came around, everyone had left me. I finished orders, cleaned up, and by that point I had put in another twelve hour plus day.

Picking Up On Pastry

I am always a bit nervous going into work after two days off, especially when I am basically in charge of a section. Because I never know what kind of shape it will be left in, if there is a lot to do, or if it is organized the way I like it. I had spent a considerable amount of time last week cleaning and organizing, so I hoped it wasn’t messed up again. I also know yesterday was busy and short-staffed so there could be a lot to do today. I found the list left for me, which thankfully didn’t have too many jobs. I also knew the cook who had been covering pastry for me doesn’t tend to come in until about an hour later, so if I had any questions I couldn’t ask him until then.

I began with weighing out my four bread doughs, a necessity for every morning, and putting bowls in the freezer for scooping sorbet later and choosing my flavor of the day – pineapple. Then I decided to get straight to the first few jobs on my list – making a quadruple batch of chocolate mousse (my favorite) and making lime confit. Next came making a different type of chocolate mousse, which the other cook had to demonstrate for me, prepping the petit fours, scooping the sorbet, vacpacing and freezing stuff, cooking goat’s cheese tourte, etc. Next, I was getting ready to clean out my fridge (it got pretty disorganized in the past three days) and start my breads soon, when the cook informed me I needed to make three liters of crème brulée mix for twenty-five crème brulées for a function tomorrow, as well as prep fifteen apple and berry crumbles (luckily the mix for this was already made up). I think the function is being held at lunchtime, not during our service time, but it is more restaurant-type food than bar food, and this is two examples of desserts served at weddings. So I prepped those then began my breads – tomato basil, apple fennel, bacon cheddar, and cranberry knots for the starter section (which two cooks showed me different ways to form them, both saying their way was better).

Apple berry crumbles like the ones ready for tomorrow

Once my breads were done I did some cleaning and organizing and also had to assemble some delices for tonight’s service and set up the station. It was not so stressful tonight even with nearly fifty diners because we had another cook come in for service to help, so I could basically concentrate on pastry and even got some more cheese cut and all my labelling and cleaning done

Peaceful Day

Today was a nice day. I was off and it was much warmer and sunny. I went for a walk and worked on some stuff here at home. Not much else. Sometimes we just need quiet, lazy days to rest. Currently I am reading a book about a woman whose first occupation fails and she moves to a tiny town and opens a bakery. It is a good read. If I’m not reading cookbooks, I am still reading about food in some way.

The novel I am currently enjoying

Some Updates

Another day off. After working only five consecutive days, I was slightly surprised to have another two off, but found I was quite sore from pulling some long days and appreciative of the day of rest. What did I do today? I slept in, did yoga, watched some more Masterchef, went for a walk, skyped my parents for a long time, worked more on my internship portfolio, and finally found the mail I have been missing for weeks now. I was waiting on some mail from my mother, and had asked several of the chefs several times. So this time I inquired at reception, who checked, but then offered to let me look. I checked all of the cubbyholes, knowing my mail has been placed in the wrong one before, and found it! My mom included some appropriate food and kitchen-related stickers on the envelope for me. :)

            Staff meal situation update: chef was not happy about the meal again yesterday (beans, chicken, and chips). The cook argued only eleven people came for staff meal, and the chef said “They still aren’t animals and need to be fed!” So they made up a menu for the week. The menu still, for the most part, does not suit my fancy, it is still heavily meat and potatoes, but at least there should be some better quality and more variety.

            My situation update: I am doing very well lately. I only have twenty-three days left here, and although I am excited to be home, I am not anxiously counting them down. Work has been quite enjoyable lately – it’s still challenging with long hours and stressful situations, but I have really begun to find my footing and have opened up more to the other cooks. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve been in my zone lately – put on the pastry section in the restaurant, which puts a lot on the line, but yet is more laid back, for me anyway!

Mail from my Mommy

A Quiet Sunday???

Today I was working in the bar for a change, as it was a busy Sunday, none of the staff upstairs were off, and the other intern was off and wouldn’t be in the bar today. For a Sunday, it was relatively quiet with only about 230 covers all day (only, I know that’s still a lot), so we had the chance to get other things done as well. There was one cook on starters, one cook on mains, and one cook on the pass helping out when needed, plus me on pastry and as the runner - I had to step in a few times to help out, but nothing major. We didn’t have a lot of prep to do either, as we always ensure we are well-prepared for Sundays, so I was kind of looking around for odd jobs or getting ahead.

I began with setting up the pastry section, dicing up some shallots for the mains cook, making a big batch of mashed potatoes, making sweet chili mayonnaise, cooking garlic potatoes, slicing goat’s cheese, vacpacking, chopping lettuce, washing salad, making egg salad mix, cleaning, etc. My big, self-induced task of the day was cleaning out the big walk-in fridge, which needs to be done every few days and it was time again. I volunteered because I actually do not mind that job at all. That took a while, and I kept getting interrupted with dessert orders and what not. There was a lot of labelling to do, rearranging, and taking inventory so we would know what prep needed to be done.

Lamb Wellington trial with ratatouille and lamb sauce

Today we had a starter special of a chicken tortilla wrap, a main course special of pork belly, and a lemon tart dessert of the day. A few events of the day: the pass cook making up the dish of the day for tomorrow – lamb wellington with ratatouille, and making a special plate for me for dinner, then leaving the main components of his prep all over the place for me to have to clean up, asking me to make fried eggs for dinner when I was busy and told him the breakfast chef had said my fried eggs were, well shit.

At the end of the night the others had left again and I was waiting on a last dessert order, again. After which I headed upstairs to the restaurant, as I know what it is like to be left alone on pastry, to see if the pastry cook needed any help with final orders. He was on his last order, but I helped him wrap up and clean down so he could get home faster. We talk a lot since I am essentially going to be taking over that section for a bit as the head chef is off for two weeks. He said Tuesday will be really busy and didn’t understand why I had that day off, so I offered to come in if he needed me, even if just for service. The server that was there said I was just, “too good”. The pastry cook thanked me for helping him clean up and told me to ‘do something exciting’ on my day off tomorrow. I asked him if sleeping counted and he said no, so I told him I would try.

Bigger Groups, Longer Orders

Another day on pastry. We went from having 24 booked, to 44, to 60, to 80, to 32, to 41, and finally, 43. It doesn’t bother me too much how many people we have to feed, I just want to know so I can prep things accordingly. I began by scooping the sorbet – passionfruit tonight. Then weighing out the bread ingredients. I had to make three big batches of bread, because apparently any number over 40 people and you need a big batch instead of a half batch. Half batches make 20-24 rolls each, but the pastry cook told me guests get two rolls each. Whenever I ate there, I was only ever offered one roll, but he told me that’s because I’m too skinny???

Next I got straight to work – made chocolate mousse, passionfruit emulsion, white chocolate and lime ganache, cannelles, fananciers, assembled delices, made chocolate biscuit, plated the petit fours, made the breads – black olive, maple walnut, and apricot today, glazed the ganache, cut the biscuit, etc. Then I still had over an hour until service time, as our first table wasn’t even booked until 6:30p.m., so I asked the pastry cook if I could make some more mixes to have on hand in the freezer. I would have just gone ahead and done this myself, except when I am covering the pastry section he is on starters and watches me like a hawk for some reason, correcting things I do that aren’t even wrong and contradicting himself. I also had a question about one of the recipes. He told me it is easy to make and there was no need to make it now – just make it when it runs out. The head chef heard him say this to me and said, “Yeah, that’s his way of doing things. Wait until you are in the shits, and then worry about it.” SO then I did not have much to do until service time or during the start of service when it is fairly quiet.
I cleaned down, made tomorrow’s prep list, looked to see what needed to be ordered, thought of some more bread flavors to try in the future, went over what I found in the freezer yesterday with the pastry cook, etc. But service was still so slow at the start, actually all night is was fairly slow and steady. We had two tables of nine, two tables of five, one table of three, and six tables of two. Usually most of our tables are two, so nine is a big group. I helped with a lot of the starters tonight, and did some apps and veg. I impressed myself by doing twelve dessert orders at once when they came in. This is also the first night every single diner ordered a dessert!

Passionfruit jelly rolled around passionfruit cream. A tedious and delicate job,
but a beautiful component to the delice dessert when done right.

At the end of the night, everyone else had left and the mains cook was about to leave. He asked how many tables I was waiting on. I only had two left but they were a table of five and a table of nine. He asked one of the servers for the orders, and the two orders came in at once, so he helped me plate them. I would have been fine on my own but the desserts do get out faster with two people, and other stations have help during smaller orders so I guess fair is fair. He also may have been feeling a little guilty for all the times I stayed to help him vacpac. He even cleaned the pastry oven for me, but didn’t stay to help clean the rest of my station, although I had helped him clean his. Overall, service was fairly relaxed as the strict starter chef was off. I have been asked if I mind being the only female in the kitchen among three or four guys, and I discovered that, no, I really don’t. If anything it makes me feel proud and empowered. 

The other intern and I have been getting along really well lately, at home and at work. She is from the same school as me and we room together but don’t necessarily see a lot of each other between our schedules, even if we do work in the same place. She has been down in the bar lately. She has been putting on dessert specials and asking for my feedback and giving me samples, and in turn I let her taste some of my things in pastry. We check in with each other. We can even vent our work frustrations to each other, because we understand each other!

Pastries In The Freezer

Today I was on pastry in the restaurant again, and we were expecting a whopping nine people tonight, which actually turned into fifteen. So I didn’t have a whole lot of prep to do, but wanted to be productive today. I began by scooping up tonight’s sorbet – mango, and setting up my station. When one of the other cooks was in, I got him to help me make the vanilla and lime crème brulée, as the pastry cook told me to make sure he explained it to me (I had never made it before) and parts of it are a two person job. I learned one really neat trick here – since custards tend to have air bubbles from the eggs and cream and all the mixing, if you lightly blow torch the top of the mixture in the pan right before baking, the air bubbles disappear and you don’t get that ‘eggy; texture on top after the mixture is chilled. While making the brulée, I also multitasked in cutting the sponge base for delice and making more chocolate topping for the delice.

While keeping an eye on the brulée, I weighed out the ingredients for my bread rolls, and got the baked petit fours ready and trayed up the other petit fours. Then I rolled some more passionfruit jelly rolls, which is a tedious and delicate job. I went to deliver the petit fours to the service area, and met one of the dining room managers polishing silverware. She must have been bored, because she stopped me to chat for a while, which I didn’t mind since she was asking about my experience here and I really haven’t talked much with this server, plus I wasn’t too busy today. Come to think of it, I’ve had a few servers ask me today about my experience, as they are beginning to realize I only have a few weeks left. For the most part, I have been greatly enjoying it, and I tell them this, that I enjoy working, don’t mind the long days, really wanted to travel, am not too homesick (sorry Mom), will be happy to be home (or back to school) but will miss it here too. The servers all seem to compliment me, and the particular one I was speaking with today said she heard I was just “brilliant” in the kitchen. All this talk really boosts my confidence and makes my internship all that more valuable.

Once I finished my chat, it was just about time to make bread. Today I chose to make tomato basil (a standard), mixed herb (parsley, basil, and rosemary), and oat and honey. When the server came around to ask what today’s bread flavors were, she was delighted to hear some new ones instead of the standard old bacon, onion, cheese. However, one of the other chefs said, “She’s just showing us up. I like my standard bread rolls. They are handy.” And the server said, “Well obviously she thinks of these things before she comes into work.” To which he said, “Well I have more important things to think about.” All in good fun.

A little taste of home? The other intern made a 'traditional' dish from back home - poutine.

I had all my jobs done for the day and did not want to overprep for tomorrow, as I was still in quite good shape and things can spoil quickly. Although now I wish I had because we went from 25 diners tomorrow to possibly 60. But I decided to continue my cleaning and clean out the pastry section in the walk-in freezer. 
Then, since our first diners were not booked until 7:00p.m., I made some more stuff to freeze and have on hand. That way I wouldn’t need to worry about it at all on busy days. I made cannelle mix, pickled celery, golden raisin compote, and plum chutney to vacpac and freeze. We also had to make twenty fruit skewers for something tomorrow. Service went very smoothly, and I was gone by 10:15p.m.

Cleaning Up Pastry

Today I got in early for a grueling, busy day on the pastry section in the restaurant – not. We began with only four people booked for dinner tonight, which turned into eleven people, which then turned out only to be nine people, of which only five ordered a dessert. Easy day.

I was working in pastry by myself today, and only had a few things on my prep list. It is nice to get ahead, but there is no point in overprepping things if you won’t be busy the next few days as they get old and will just have to be thrown out. I began with blitzing crumble for the mojito, then organizing my station by topping up the croutons, banana tarts, and cheeses. Next I assembled one tray of fruit flowers as the garnish for the crème brulée and cut up a bunch of passionfruit for that as well. I moved on to the cheeses – slicing a bunch of cheeses to prep for the cheese platter, and making hot wrapped brie as well. Then I moved on to cutting one tray of crème brulée. I baked the petit fours, experimenting by using strawberries and raspberries and blackberries in the fananciers instead of just blueberries, to which the head chef said was nice, but the reason they tend to stick to blueberries was they had the best sweet-to-tart balance. I tasted them all and decided he was right, but it never hurts to experiment. I trayed up all the petit fours and prepped the blueberry sorbet for tonight. Then it was bread time. Today I made cranberry raisin, walnut, and mixed seed – sesame, flax, and pumpkin, as well as the cranberry buns for the starter section. 

The bread rolls I made today

Once my rolls were proofing, I had everything I needed prepped for tomorrow, so it was time to move on to deep-cleaning, which the pastry kitchen hadn’t seen in a while and desperately needed. I went through the refrigerators and labelled and wrapped everything. Then I took everything off the ten shelves in the kitchen and cleaned off containers, relabelled them, and threw out anything old, while making the shelves shine. Then I scrubbed down the entire kitchen until it shone and it looked awesome. I didn’t really have anything else to prep, and wanted to keep busy and be productive. By this time it was time to set up for service, not that there was much set-up to do with so few people in.
Since service was so quiet and slow, with a group of two and one in at 6:00p.m., and a group of two and four in at 6:30p.m., I did help with apps and starters and veg but it wasn’t really necessary. I just did mini jobs in between waiting for dessert orders to come in. I cleaned out the pastry section in the walk-in fridge downstairs, which also really needed it, made a few things for chef on the starter section, made prep lists for the next two days, reviewed recipes for tomorrow, cleaned the sink, etc. It was different and a bit nerve-wracking working alone in a two AA Rosette restaurant with the two head chefs, but service tonight was fairly laid-back. At the end of the night, the head chef had an extra cooked duck breast and potatoes and veg for the two he thought were coming (but ended up dining in the bar), so he offered them to me, and made sure I was “ok with all the orders” before leaving. I finished up, cleaned up, and was shocked to discover it was only 8:30p.m.

So I headed down to the bar, which doesn’t stop orders until 9:00p.m., and offered to help them start cleaning up so we could all get out earlier. Maybe I’m just crazy, not taking an early day and running while I can, but I’m sure they appreciated it. I put away some soups and sauces, organized the walk-in, vacpaced some items, wrapped and labelled things, then cleaned down the entire kitchen. We were all out of there by 10:00pm.

Productive In The Bar

Today I was working in the bar as there were only two others scheduled and the restaurant upstairs only had thirteen people booked for tonight. I was there early I guess, because no one was around, so I set up the pastry section, beginning by making more strawberry compote and defrosting apple mix. I was going to put together the welcome baskets, but there were none. Next I asked the mains cook if I should do prep for him or for the starter section. We were expecting a quiet day, much quieter than the past few days, and we didn’t have a lot of prep to do. He showed me how to fillet plaice, but we both agreed he would be faster and more efficient at it, so I moved on to jobs on the starter prep list.

I made garlic mayonnaise, Marie Rose sauce, and balsamic dressing. I made two large trays of garlic potatoes, a huge batch of chicken sandwich mix, a bagful of bound prawns, a big bucket of veg of the day, and sliced three hams, all the while doing dessert orders. That was pretty much it for the starter section, so then I supreme fifty chicken breasts for the mains section. In the evening I began cutting up ribs, but could not finish the batch as not all of them had defrosted fully yet. I also filled ramekins with apple crumble mix. I was cleaning the back kitchen down so we could get home early once service ended, when the head chef asked me to come upstairs and help – though I know they weren’t busy, to be fair, neither were we. So I did some dessert orders, then was sent back down to help clean up the bar so the two bar cooks could get home, then went back upstairs to finish pastry orders and get instructions from the pastry chef, who I could be covering for the next two days while he is off. I don’t really care where I am – just tell me where I am working and please try not to switch me around so much! I finished up there, and cleaned up, and it was still fairly early. So I offered to help the mains cook in the restaurant vacpac some things again. He didn’t have too much, and seemed very appreciative. People notice and remember you doing these little favors for them, and I only had to stay ten minutes later to do it.

Ensuring I have all photos I need for my internship portfolio -
I had not yet photographed the chicken main course from the restaurant

No one was in a really bad mood today, but no one was particularly cheery either, and because we weren’t overly busy and I was doing mostly mindless prep jobs, the day did drag on a bit, though I do feel I got a lot done.

Staff Meal Repeats

Today I went for another walk – down past some fields of sheep and some horseback riders. It was a lovely country walk. I also worked more on my internship portfolio, caught up on some more Masterchef, and did some chores around the house.
Today I will talk a bit more about staff meals. I understand kitchen staff are busy, trust me, I’ve been there. And I understand we can’t go way out of budget to make staff food, and try to pick simpler foods that will please everyone. But lately I have been hearing a lot of the other employees complaining about staff meals, calling them ‘dreadful’, ‘rotten’, or ‘ just edible’. This is not good. This is not what we want to hear at all. We are serving amazing food in a restaurant holding two AA Rosettes and a bar continuously doing over 300 covers a day and memorable wedding ceremonies. Yet we cannot even serve our own staff some decent food?

I wish there was more I could do, but usually making staff meals is not part of my responsibilities in the kitchen, and suggestions aren’t always taken well. Usually chef dictates what to make – either stuff we have on hand in the freezer (which apparently only gets ordered for staff, so why do we keep ordering such crap?), such as frozen battered fish, sausage rolls, chicken curry pies, burgers, frozen lasagna, chips, etc. Mostly fatty, fried carbs and meat. Or we serve staff leftovers – leftovers from service the day before and leftovers from functions. I didn’t think this was totally kosher, but we do it. I was taught in school and in my food safety courses that any food leftover from a buffet table is thrown out – no questions asked. It has been sitting there too long, has not been kept out of the temperature danger zone, and you have no idea who has touched it. Furthermore, this food was prepped in advance so is already old and suffering from quality, and should not be cooled and reheated another time – it just isn’t safe. We make a big batch of mashed potatoes in the bar every morning for service throughout the day. I wouldn’t think it would be great to serve the same batch of mash from 12:00p.m. until 9:00p.m., but not only do we do that, we chill it at the end of the night and use it for staff meals the next day. One day, one of the chef’s pulled a bag of unlabelled chicken from the freezer, and said, “I don’t know what this is or what it is from, but we will thaw it and use it for staff tonight to get rid of it.”

Staff lasagna

For lunch today, staff meal consisted of mixed vegetables, roasted baby potatoes, chicken legs in sauce, and pasta in sauce. I used to get excited every time I saw vegetables, but now I am getting sick of the same old frozen mixed vegetables, and today they were absolutely drowned in butter and salt. Potatoes seem to have to be a staple at every meal here, but again, there are thousands of ways to prepare potatoes so we could mix it up a bit more. The pasta is always the same – penne in a rich sauce with a few diced veggies – and is the only vegetarian option presented. The meat is the only thing that changes, but goes in short rotation – chicken, pork, turkey. The sauce is always the same – a very salty sauce made from stock base that you can definitely taste. Furthermore, I have seen the breakfast cook cook the meat first thing in the morning, then set it aside (usually at room temperature) since during breakfast service he wouldn’t have time to attend to it and lunch comes right after. Not only is this not safe, it makes the meat very dry and tough.
The head chef complained about what the cooks made for staff meals the other day – which he said were the same things every day in rotation (roast turkey, roast pork, fried fish, potatoes). He said, “I can order in anything at any price to make these staff happy. But you are too f-ing lazy and not imaginative enough and just make what you want!”