Saying Good-Bye To The Starter Cook

Mini burgers starter special

Today, predictably, I was on starters again. The day began alright – I had my station nearly set-up, but then I was told to vac-pac big batches of three different types of soups. Did I mention I hate vac-pacing liquids? This job should have been completed by the cook on mains yesterday, but now apparently he was busy trying to get his station set-up and pawned the job off on me. Fair enough if he was actually busy, but he was playing around and I was busy too.

The head chef did not seem to be in the greatest of moods today, as predicted after his cheery demeanor yesterday. He was getting quite upset at one of the other young cooks about some order that was not received properly, and continued to give her flack all day. I felt bad for her, but knew I could very well have a day like that coming too. To lighten the mood, as soon as I finished vac-pacing the soups, I made up a sandwich for chef. He had joked yesterday that this was the ‘chef’s daily special’, as us chefs often walk over to the starter station to make a quick (sometimes odd) sandwich, especially when we don’t have time to sit down and eat a meal. A favorite combination is bacon, sausage, red onion, and garlic mayonnaise, so that’s what I made and I set it on his desk. When the door opened a few minutes later the triple-decker sandwich was gone, and he thanked me and seemed to really appreciate it. Brownie points for me. Sure, chef did pick on a few things I did today, but at the end of the day, he said he got reports back that I had done really well. 

I actually feel like I accomplished quite a bit today – on top of all the orders (during which I only needed help for the big dinner-time rush), I went through my entire prep list and completed all the small prep jobs that needed to be done – leaving myself in good shape for tomorrow. I sliced bread, cut lemons, filleted salmon, deboned mackerel, thawed shellfish, filled sauce bottles, went through my fridge, replenished my mise en place, etc. It was not quite as bust as yesterday, and the other cook was completing my bigger prep jobs – making onion rings, slicing ham, cleaning crevettes, cutting potatoes, etc. 

Unfortunately, the cook that was working on main courses with me was not in a good mood at all. He was cranky, and snapping at the other cooks, the chef, the servers, and the dishwashers. I had been warned that he sometimes gets like this – a conceited hothead, but I had never witnessed it myself. Today I did. Usually he is a joy to work with – someone that likes to have fun in the kitchen and chat. Today, he was not as cranky towards me as some of the others, but he was still crabby for the most part. And he seemed to think all of his jobs were more important than what we were doing. He complained that there were two of us on starters and orders were still taking too long to be completed, but he doesn’t realize that getting an order for eight sandwiches on top of two warm orders and three other cold apps as well as the sides and garnished for his mains takes time! I even had another starter special on – mini black pudding beef burgers with brie cheese on a toasted brioche bun with onion marmalade, garlic mayo, and sweet potato chips. And a dessert milkshake special for another hot summer day.

At the end of the day, he did admit and apologize for his crabby mood. Today was also the last day at work for the usual starter chef. I worked with him a lot and he taught me a lot - and was always very patient with me, so I will certainly miss him. So we are having a little good-bye party at the pub for him tonight.