Quiet Prep Day

Today was a fairly short and easy day for me. I was working in the castle again, doing prep work for the three upcoming weekend weddings. So my workday only ran from 9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m., and was definitely not hectic or stressful. I showed up at 8:30, early as usual, but none of the other prep cooks had arrived yet. No bother, I headed up to the kitchen where the breakfast cook was midway through what seemed like a rather slow breakfast morning. He is very friendly, and chatted with me besides just asking the typical, what's it like where you are from, questions.
Prepping for three weddings at once, especially several days in advance, can be challenging, but we had lists and were organized in what needed to be done and when. I began with trimming and peeling (yes, peeling the tough bottom skins) from four cases (that’s like, thirty-six bunches) of asparagus for a cream of asparagus soup. This is a slow and monotonous job, and requires standing leaning over a counter for far too long. It’s harder than it sounds – you need to get all the fibrous parts off, without making the stalks too thin so they won’t turn to mush. Next, I moved on to traying up the desserts for the petits fours trays – raspberry jellies, cranberry white chocolate fudge, white chocolate flaked truffles, and Belgian dark chocolate truffles. 

Petit fours

Maybe someone read my post from yesterday, because staff lunch was better today. Well, actually, it’s probably because I was eating in the castle rather than the lodge, which tends to be a bit better, as there are breakfast leftovers to be had. Today there was a lightly dressed garden salad, fruit salad, stewed apricots, burgers in creamy mushroom sauce, and fries of course, as well as leftover croissants and a few pastries. After lunch I scooped the flesh out of a bunch of baked potatoes and made crushed potatoes with garlic and spinach, then roasted and peeled red peppers. Then I helped out with some odd prep and cleaning jobs. Other items being prepped that day were sliced plum tomatoes for an appetizer, celeriac soup, tomato and red pepper soup, ratatouille, vegetable sides, smoked chicken phyllo tartlets. It may seem like today I was put to work with a bunch of tedious odd jobs, and to tell you the truth, I was. But I by no means feel like I was being taken advantage of as an intern, because these prep jobs are necessary for functions, and the other cooks and chefs I was working with were doing the same jobs.
One thing about working in castles – they aren’t warm! This may be nice on hot summer days, but with a typical moderate climate and a cold rainy day today, working in the castle basement was freezing! I was happy to go to the upstairs kitchen where it was warmer for the odd job. Even the oven didn’t warm up the place. I also got to chat with the breakfast chef, who let me try his brown bread when I complimented the smell. He even buttered the piece for me. I was glad, because it was delicious, and staff supper back at the lodge was spicy chicken wings, gaufrette potatoes (fancy-shaped fries) and creamy coleslaw.