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!
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| Maple Pecan Brownie Bomb |
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