Care of my weekend I haven’t read more than a paragraph since Friday. But I have been reading, as I alluded to, in one of my weekend update posts, I have been reading a few books at the same time.
Of course, care of Ruhlman’s; “The Soul of a Chef” I decided to pick up his “The Making of a Chef.” In it Ruhlman is going through the first year of classes at the Culinary Institute of America. It follows him as he goes through his classes and the subtle transformation from Writer to Cook. I say subtle though I don’t think that anyone else would say that it was subtle.
Over the weekend I alluded to the fact that there are those of us that get it done and those that don’t. For cooks, all the world over, failure is not an option. Hung over, we show up. Sick, we show up. Short of dead, we show up. In his exploration, Ruhlman tells a story about a vicious snowstorm that threatened to keep him from school for a test. When he called the examining Chef Instructor, Ruhlman became stung when the Chef alluded to the fact that it was okay because he was not a real cook or chef. Subtly the Chef made the point that it didn’t matter the circumstance, cooks showed up. With his pride stung, Ruhlman too showed up and by doing so learned a very valuable lesson. One that will stay with him for life.
I’m not done “The Making of a Chef” yet. In fact it is currently in my locker at work as I was too tired to be bothered to bring it home on Sunday. Next week I will write some more about it.
I have also been reading “How I Learned to Cook; Culinary Educations from the World’s Greatest Chefs,” edited by Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Meehan. Reading how the likes of Ferran Adria, Mario Batali, Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Daniel Boulud and others came to learn to cook is as illuminating for a young cook (i.e. me) as reading Aristotle’s; “The Politics” is for Political Science students.
What I gleaned from all these different Chefs is that there is no true set course that leads one to the kitchen. As I’m pounding out this entry before I have to go to work I will regal you with more next week when I have some time.
I came to this book through another that I picked up entitled; “ If You Can Stand the Heat; Tales from Chefs and Restaurateurs.”
And of course I’m still reading Bourdain’s; “A Cook’s Tour.” All of these will be covered next week when I have some more time.
Anton Chekhov once said; “Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Message from Executive Chef
I received a great message from Executive Chef on my facebook account last night. It reads;
"I never got a chance to say you did a great job on Friday night and Saturday, and that I'm really proud of you. you were able to pull alot of things together in set up which definatley made us look like Super stars. thank you for all of your work"
And thats one of the reasons I love working for this man.
Oui Chef!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
"I never got a chance to say you did a great job on Friday night and Saturday, and that I'm really proud of you. you were able to pull alot of things together in set up which definatley made us look like Super stars. thank you for all of your work"
And thats one of the reasons I love working for this man.
Oui Chef!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Brunch, Grill & Celebration (file under Weekend Caper)
Yankees we truly were. I keep on repeating that because it is truly amazing what we accomplished. Without complaint. Without fail. We struggled, toiled, kept on going and got it done. Sunday morning at 8 am I awoke for the first time to discover that it was almost time for me to start working again. I finally started moving in earnest at 9. We had lots to get done.
It was absolutely gorgeous. The first Sunday in quite a while when it was beautiful. What that meant is that I had to get set for brunch and get the grill ready.
I was still going on adrenaline and the feeling of general euphoria for what we had accomplished. Executive Chef came in and you could see that he was tired. I have to say that I was truly amazed that he showed up at all and for me his stock went up yet again. For not only did he lead us through the battle of the past few days but he showed up on this day ready for more. Once I was certain that brunch was in good shape I started working on the grill.
I set up my station and prepped, corn and ribs, smoked turkey sandwiches, chicken skewers, burgers and nachos. Limited menu as my fryer was still over at the special venue from the night before.
The day started off slowly but then began to pick up steam. By the time that the rest of the team was finished I too was ready to drink some beer and revel but I had about another five hours to go before that could happen.
One of my regular customers came by and as we were speaking he remarked how what I did constantly was truly amazing. I don’t personally think it is all that incredible in the scheme of things. I mean we all have to start out somewhere though the last few days were truly inspirational. He told me that he had to run but that he was going to be back. You see the week before we had had a conversation about the state of world affairs and somehow landed on Cuba. He and I spoke about it for about a half an hour. Well on Sunday he told me that he was going to go for a bit but come back with something to reward me for my efforts. His kindness truly capped off what was an amazing weekend filled with some of the best Chefs in the country. Of which I still put my own, our Executive Chef just a little bit above. His leadership, his ability to reach inside you and pull out your best and allow you to shine to me is one of his best traits. But my regular customer, true to his word came back and handed me what he said was my tip from someone who recognized my efforts. I opened up the package to reveal a perfect specimen of a cigar – A Cohiba Churchill!
He looked right at me and shook my hand and told me to make sure that I enjoy it. And I will. But it was the perfect cap to a weekend that I feel defines who I am and what I am here to achieve.
I would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to everyone of us that worked through this weekend and achieved greatness. Way to go guys and girls. I’m giving you all a big pat on the back. We displayed what we are and what we can achieve. AND I COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD.
Charles de Montesquieu once said; “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.”
Executive Chef you displayed your greatness this weekend and allowed us all to be great as well. This is a memory I will cherish forever.
I left my house at 6:45 am on Friday. Arrived at work at 7:30 am. I did not leave work until 10:30 pm on Sunday and through it all I found out that I am truly meant to be where I am. THANK YOU CHEF! OUI!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
It was absolutely gorgeous. The first Sunday in quite a while when it was beautiful. What that meant is that I had to get set for brunch and get the grill ready.
I was still going on adrenaline and the feeling of general euphoria for what we had accomplished. Executive Chef came in and you could see that he was tired. I have to say that I was truly amazed that he showed up at all and for me his stock went up yet again. For not only did he lead us through the battle of the past few days but he showed up on this day ready for more. Once I was certain that brunch was in good shape I started working on the grill.
I set up my station and prepped, corn and ribs, smoked turkey sandwiches, chicken skewers, burgers and nachos. Limited menu as my fryer was still over at the special venue from the night before.
The day started off slowly but then began to pick up steam. By the time that the rest of the team was finished I too was ready to drink some beer and revel but I had about another five hours to go before that could happen.
One of my regular customers came by and as we were speaking he remarked how what I did constantly was truly amazing. I don’t personally think it is all that incredible in the scheme of things. I mean we all have to start out somewhere though the last few days were truly inspirational. He told me that he had to run but that he was going to be back. You see the week before we had had a conversation about the state of world affairs and somehow landed on Cuba. He and I spoke about it for about a half an hour. Well on Sunday he told me that he was going to go for a bit but come back with something to reward me for my efforts. His kindness truly capped off what was an amazing weekend filled with some of the best Chefs in the country. Of which I still put my own, our Executive Chef just a little bit above. His leadership, his ability to reach inside you and pull out your best and allow you to shine to me is one of his best traits. But my regular customer, true to his word came back and handed me what he said was my tip from someone who recognized my efforts. I opened up the package to reveal a perfect specimen of a cigar – A Cohiba Churchill!
He looked right at me and shook my hand and told me to make sure that I enjoy it. And I will. But it was the perfect cap to a weekend that I feel defines who I am and what I am here to achieve.
I would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to everyone of us that worked through this weekend and achieved greatness. Way to go guys and girls. I’m giving you all a big pat on the back. We displayed what we are and what we can achieve. AND I COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD.
Charles de Montesquieu once said; “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.”
Executive Chef you displayed your greatness this weekend and allowed us all to be great as well. This is a memory I will cherish forever.
I left my house at 6:45 am on Friday. Arrived at work at 7:30 am. I did not leave work until 10:30 pm on Sunday and through it all I found out that I am truly meant to be where I am. THANK YOU CHEF! OUI!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The Odyssey (file under pulling off the Miracle of August 16, 2008) Part 3
Dateline: Saturday, August 16th, 2008, 7:30 am. I had been at work for 24 hours straight. I had experienced my first bout of sleepiness somewhere around 5. But it was nothing that smoking; laughing and working couldn’t get me through. It wasn’t so much physical tiredness but rather mental fatigue. The only thing I knew how to do was to keep working. In a short hour or two more of our team would return and we would get to full speed.
Pastry Chef went home just long enough to take a shower and brush her teeth. By the time that she had returned we were all ready to go through the 12 hour push to greatness.We had pulled around the refrigerator truck earlier in the evening and around this time started planning out how we were going to execute. We now had less than 12 hours until the start of the event and we had lots to do. Not only did we have to make sure that the food was ready but we had to make sure that the plan we had was workable both for the food and the set up. Again this is why we’re the Yankees I kept on thinking.
9 am, our team had reassembled. Volunteers started to slowly filter in and we had of course assembled a plan that was workable. Along with a couple of others I made sure that the truck was ready so that we could optimize our performance once the event started. We used all available space to execute on this journey. The floor space of our sister restaurant was turned into a production line and three of the biggest jobs were assembled here and then put into the “refer” truck.
When Chairman Mills finally arrived I went outside to see if our rolling racks had arrived. The delivery guy informed me that we had in fact not had any in the order. We NEEDED these racks in order to organize the food effectively. I went to find Executive Chef to let him know that we didn’t get the rolling racks. He quickly sprang into action and we found ourselves with the racks in less than an hour.
For some of the things that we were making we were waiting for ingredients. Time was our only enemy at this point. Once the regular delivery time had passed I went to A and suggested that it was time to start calling to ensure that we could get everything done. He called the first supplier to find out that there was no order placed. I then thought that it might be the other supplier who he then called and sure enough it was. Crisis averted and the delivery man showed up about an hour later.
It would seem that the plan that we developed at around 5:30 am between Executive Chef, K, A, J and I was coming to fruition. As more volunteers came we found ourselves going from station to station ensuring that the work was getting done effectively and in the manner that it needed to get done. It made me feel good to know that we were able to execute even with less bodies than we should have had.
Efficient as we were, somewhere around 2pm we found ourselves in the enviable position that we were able to slow down and actually assemble a plan on how we were going to execute stations. Which volunteers were going to be where, etc. This time gave us time to recharge our batteries and get ready for the big push that was to start at around 4pm.
When you have that many bodies floating around it is easy for things to go wrong. THEY DID NOT! We all knew what had to get done and we made sure it did. BEAUTIFULLY! Looking at our faces you would never have guessed that some of us had been working solid since 7:30 am the day before. At this point it was 33 hours into the shift and it was time to make that push.
4pm. With the floor plans in hand we started to set up the stations. This included putting out chaffers. Having the utensils. Assembling the food. Knowing where everything was and where everything was going. The time to cook had come and looking around I was proud of everyone there. I was especially proud of Pastry Chef and the others, like myself that had chosen, after all we were not forced, to stay because THE JOB HAD TO GET DONE!
5pm. Final checks! Figure out runners. Syntax. Make sure everything is ready to go. It was and so were we.
5:45. Start moving food to stations. Make sure that the Celebrity “Chefs” had everything they needed in order to have a successful service. It would be my job to make sure that all the stations and Chefs were okay throughout the service. This could mean making sure that food is delivered at the stations, people have water, the ability to go to the washroom, cover a station, whatever it was, it was one of my jobs to make sure we were smooth.
6 pm. Start time. Everyone in place and time for the event to begin. My feet at this point had blisters on the heels of about one inch long by an inch and a half wide. I had to ask Executive Chef if it was okay for me to put on my running shoes as I was limping in order to avoid the pain that was rushing through my heels. Naturally he said no problem.
7:10 pm. Everything is beyond smooth. Walking from station to station it was clear that everyone was having a great time and basically enjoying themselves. Yankees I kept thinking.
8:30 pm. Getting ready for the next step. Figuring out the best way to tear down. Assigning jobs, etc. Sure enough at 9 pm we knew what we were doing and in all it took us about an hour and a half to tear down.
11pm. Time for the Yankees to celebrate their WORLD SERIES win. We kicked ass. We more than kicked ass, we showed why we are what we are. We showed what we were made of. We showed how it is supposed to be done. I looked around at the whole team and was reminded in the most beautiful way why I had chosen to do what we do.
11:30 pm. DRINKS ALL AROUND. In what felt like a truly remarkable day it felt fantastic when each of the people that we had worked with made a point of telling us how incredibly we had pulled off the event. It should have made Executive Chef proud to know that his team had overcome the obstacle. Faced the mountain and scaled it with grace, poise and skill.
12:30 am. Back to the restaurant to see one of the greatest DJ’s perform.
4:30 am still celebrating. Drinking and carrying on.
5:30 am. Watching as the F.O.H. staff carried out closing duties.
6:15 am. Go to bed after being on my feet since around this time on Friday morning.
The next post will cover what came next.
YANKEES I SAY!
Albert Einstein once said; “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” AND WE DID!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Pastry Chef went home just long enough to take a shower and brush her teeth. By the time that she had returned we were all ready to go through the 12 hour push to greatness.We had pulled around the refrigerator truck earlier in the evening and around this time started planning out how we were going to execute. We now had less than 12 hours until the start of the event and we had lots to do. Not only did we have to make sure that the food was ready but we had to make sure that the plan we had was workable both for the food and the set up. Again this is why we’re the Yankees I kept on thinking.
9 am, our team had reassembled. Volunteers started to slowly filter in and we had of course assembled a plan that was workable. Along with a couple of others I made sure that the truck was ready so that we could optimize our performance once the event started. We used all available space to execute on this journey. The floor space of our sister restaurant was turned into a production line and three of the biggest jobs were assembled here and then put into the “refer” truck.
When Chairman Mills finally arrived I went outside to see if our rolling racks had arrived. The delivery guy informed me that we had in fact not had any in the order. We NEEDED these racks in order to organize the food effectively. I went to find Executive Chef to let him know that we didn’t get the rolling racks. He quickly sprang into action and we found ourselves with the racks in less than an hour.
For some of the things that we were making we were waiting for ingredients. Time was our only enemy at this point. Once the regular delivery time had passed I went to A and suggested that it was time to start calling to ensure that we could get everything done. He called the first supplier to find out that there was no order placed. I then thought that it might be the other supplier who he then called and sure enough it was. Crisis averted and the delivery man showed up about an hour later.
It would seem that the plan that we developed at around 5:30 am between Executive Chef, K, A, J and I was coming to fruition. As more volunteers came we found ourselves going from station to station ensuring that the work was getting done effectively and in the manner that it needed to get done. It made me feel good to know that we were able to execute even with less bodies than we should have had.
Efficient as we were, somewhere around 2pm we found ourselves in the enviable position that we were able to slow down and actually assemble a plan on how we were going to execute stations. Which volunteers were going to be where, etc. This time gave us time to recharge our batteries and get ready for the big push that was to start at around 4pm.
When you have that many bodies floating around it is easy for things to go wrong. THEY DID NOT! We all knew what had to get done and we made sure it did. BEAUTIFULLY! Looking at our faces you would never have guessed that some of us had been working solid since 7:30 am the day before. At this point it was 33 hours into the shift and it was time to make that push.
4pm. With the floor plans in hand we started to set up the stations. This included putting out chaffers. Having the utensils. Assembling the food. Knowing where everything was and where everything was going. The time to cook had come and looking around I was proud of everyone there. I was especially proud of Pastry Chef and the others, like myself that had chosen, after all we were not forced, to stay because THE JOB HAD TO GET DONE!
5pm. Final checks! Figure out runners. Syntax. Make sure everything is ready to go. It was and so were we.
5:45. Start moving food to stations. Make sure that the Celebrity “Chefs” had everything they needed in order to have a successful service. It would be my job to make sure that all the stations and Chefs were okay throughout the service. This could mean making sure that food is delivered at the stations, people have water, the ability to go to the washroom, cover a station, whatever it was, it was one of my jobs to make sure we were smooth.
6 pm. Start time. Everyone in place and time for the event to begin. My feet at this point had blisters on the heels of about one inch long by an inch and a half wide. I had to ask Executive Chef if it was okay for me to put on my running shoes as I was limping in order to avoid the pain that was rushing through my heels. Naturally he said no problem.
7:10 pm. Everything is beyond smooth. Walking from station to station it was clear that everyone was having a great time and basically enjoying themselves. Yankees I kept thinking.
8:30 pm. Getting ready for the next step. Figuring out the best way to tear down. Assigning jobs, etc. Sure enough at 9 pm we knew what we were doing and in all it took us about an hour and a half to tear down.
11pm. Time for the Yankees to celebrate their WORLD SERIES win. We kicked ass. We more than kicked ass, we showed why we are what we are. We showed what we were made of. We showed how it is supposed to be done. I looked around at the whole team and was reminded in the most beautiful way why I had chosen to do what we do.
11:30 pm. DRINKS ALL AROUND. In what felt like a truly remarkable day it felt fantastic when each of the people that we had worked with made a point of telling us how incredibly we had pulled off the event. It should have made Executive Chef proud to know that his team had overcome the obstacle. Faced the mountain and scaled it with grace, poise and skill.
12:30 am. Back to the restaurant to see one of the greatest DJ’s perform.
4:30 am still celebrating. Drinking and carrying on.
5:30 am. Watching as the F.O.H. staff carried out closing duties.
6:15 am. Go to bed after being on my feet since around this time on Friday morning.
The next post will cover what came next.
YANKEES I SAY!
Albert Einstein once said; “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” AND WE DID!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The Odyssey (file under pulling off the Miracle of August 16, 2008) Part 2
I have been a part of a lot of things in my life that have made me proud. Since joining the kitchen in January I can tell you that I have never been more proud of us as a unit or brigade then I was during the Miracle of August 16, 2008.
As I said in the previous post we had to pull off 23,000 canapés and set up the site for a massive event of 1000 people who were all paying good money for a good cause and expecting great food.
After the pep talk from Executive Chef sometime after midnight our Saturday kicked into high gear. We had a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in. Though I had been at work since 7:30 am on Friday morning I was still in pretty good shape. All of us were in fact. Here I would like to tell the story of Pastry Chef J.
Some food concepts by their very nature are extremely difficult to accomplish and Pastry Chef J had a difficult task in front of her. She had also been at work since around 7:30 am and was working on what effectively was a cheezie. But it was a cheezie that was made through an extremely difficult and arduous process that saw her working non stop for about thirty hours before taking a break. Step by step she worked as hard as she could to figure out how to make this concept work. After all it was simply a recipe and a concept and needed to be reworked and retooled in order to make it work. Her tenacity and force of will ensured success. Every once and a while I would walk over to what effectively became her test kitchen to make sure she was okay and ask if she needed anything. She just kept pushing. Working. Toiling to make this recipe and concept work. I was proud to see what she accomplished under difficult and trying circumstances. She displayed for all of us to see a work ethic that is very seldom seen and she did it all with good nature and humour.
The rest of us found ourselves working on all kinds of elements to make sure that we got everything done. There was the 1200 bread cups that I found myself working on because S was working on something else. The only thing that was a little annoying about the bread cups was that we were only able to make 76 at a time. Each batch was taking approximately 30 minutes from assembly to taking them out of the oven. When S was done working on what he had been he took over for me so that I could move on with E to the Quinoa salad and Smoked Turkey. I guess it was somewhere around 3 am when we got that started.
With a few beers and a few laughs we literally soldiered on and kept pushing to get done what we had to. There were the 1000 mini pizza doughs. The Foie Gras which had to be rolled. The 1000 chicken lollipops. 1000 mini Kobe burgers. 1000 mini salmon burgers. Shrimp had to be peeled, deveined and readied for a la minute preparation. There were the chicken pieces that needed to be cut for bacon wrapped chicken. There was the pork stuffed lychee and shrimp that needed to get done. Truly there was no shortage of work.
Approximately every hour we would assemble to have a quick status report and a smoke. Around 3 am we decided to order some Chinese food to give us a little boost of energy and a quick break to recharge our batteries.
Executive Chef could have gone home and caught some sleep but instead like a battlefield general he stood right there in the lines with us. Working along side us. Seeing his face, for me anyway, made it a little easier to do what had to get done. I had a new level of respect expose itself for him as we worked diligently through the night.
When we saw that someone needed help we would jump in and help. It was truly a team effort. We were the equivalent of the Yankees and we were proving it throughout the night. If there was a problem or an issue we all worked through it or jumped in to help where we could. It was remarkable by anyone’s standards.
At one point E and I were working on the Salad dressing for the Quinoa. My body was functioning perfectly but my mind was a little less than stellar. While trying to do some simple math I found myself transposing digits. Thankfully Executive Chef came along at just that moment and saved my ass.
The sun began to rise and the Miracle of August 16th was about to come together. A moment we could all be proud of.
George Bernard Shaw once wrote; “A miracle is an event which creates faith. That is the purpose and nature of miracles. Frauds deceive. An event which creates faith does not deceive: therefore it is not a fraud, but a miracle.”
This day created faith. For me anyway.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
As I said in the previous post we had to pull off 23,000 canapés and set up the site for a massive event of 1000 people who were all paying good money for a good cause and expecting great food.
After the pep talk from Executive Chef sometime after midnight our Saturday kicked into high gear. We had a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in. Though I had been at work since 7:30 am on Friday morning I was still in pretty good shape. All of us were in fact. Here I would like to tell the story of Pastry Chef J.
Some food concepts by their very nature are extremely difficult to accomplish and Pastry Chef J had a difficult task in front of her. She had also been at work since around 7:30 am and was working on what effectively was a cheezie. But it was a cheezie that was made through an extremely difficult and arduous process that saw her working non stop for about thirty hours before taking a break. Step by step she worked as hard as she could to figure out how to make this concept work. After all it was simply a recipe and a concept and needed to be reworked and retooled in order to make it work. Her tenacity and force of will ensured success. Every once and a while I would walk over to what effectively became her test kitchen to make sure she was okay and ask if she needed anything. She just kept pushing. Working. Toiling to make this recipe and concept work. I was proud to see what she accomplished under difficult and trying circumstances. She displayed for all of us to see a work ethic that is very seldom seen and she did it all with good nature and humour.
The rest of us found ourselves working on all kinds of elements to make sure that we got everything done. There was the 1200 bread cups that I found myself working on because S was working on something else. The only thing that was a little annoying about the bread cups was that we were only able to make 76 at a time. Each batch was taking approximately 30 minutes from assembly to taking them out of the oven. When S was done working on what he had been he took over for me so that I could move on with E to the Quinoa salad and Smoked Turkey. I guess it was somewhere around 3 am when we got that started.
With a few beers and a few laughs we literally soldiered on and kept pushing to get done what we had to. There were the 1000 mini pizza doughs. The Foie Gras which had to be rolled. The 1000 chicken lollipops. 1000 mini Kobe burgers. 1000 mini salmon burgers. Shrimp had to be peeled, deveined and readied for a la minute preparation. There were the chicken pieces that needed to be cut for bacon wrapped chicken. There was the pork stuffed lychee and shrimp that needed to get done. Truly there was no shortage of work.
Approximately every hour we would assemble to have a quick status report and a smoke. Around 3 am we decided to order some Chinese food to give us a little boost of energy and a quick break to recharge our batteries.
Executive Chef could have gone home and caught some sleep but instead like a battlefield general he stood right there in the lines with us. Working along side us. Seeing his face, for me anyway, made it a little easier to do what had to get done. I had a new level of respect expose itself for him as we worked diligently through the night.
When we saw that someone needed help we would jump in and help. It was truly a team effort. We were the equivalent of the Yankees and we were proving it throughout the night. If there was a problem or an issue we all worked through it or jumped in to help where we could. It was remarkable by anyone’s standards.
At one point E and I were working on the Salad dressing for the Quinoa. My body was functioning perfectly but my mind was a little less than stellar. While trying to do some simple math I found myself transposing digits. Thankfully Executive Chef came along at just that moment and saved my ass.
The sun began to rise and the Miracle of August 16th was about to come together. A moment we could all be proud of.
George Bernard Shaw once wrote; “A miracle is an event which creates faith. That is the purpose and nature of miracles. Frauds deceive. An event which creates faith does not deceive: therefore it is not a fraud, but a miracle.”
This day created faith. For me anyway.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The Odyssey (file under pulling off the impossible beautifully) Part 1
We had a lot to get done. It may have taken Odysseus ten years to get home and we surely had enough to do but we only had thirty six hours to pull of a miracle. Could it be done? Surely, one must understand that what separates cooks from other professions is that failure is not an option no matter the circumstances. Things have to get done. And this truly is the story of overcoming adversity with grace and showing the true spirit of cooks.
I arrived at work at 7:30 am on Friday morning. I decided to finish the chapter of Ruhlman’s “The Making of a Chef” before I started my day. With a coffee and a cigarette I quickly finished the chapter and then changed into my whites. I knew what was before us and knew that we all had to show up with our A, B and C games all at the same time in order to pull off what was nothing less than the culinary equivalent off Hammurabi’s climbing of the Alps with Elephants.
The first thing that I started working on was Sunday’s brunch. L and I knew that we were behind the eight ball and as such made sure to get as much done as humanly possible to off set the loss of some of our cooks and to make sure that Saturday went as smoothly as possible.
So starting at eight I figured that between L and I we should be able to knock off brunch by around eleven. By the time E, D and L arrived I had knocked off a couple of the salads. Executive Chef came in and I gave him a brief update as to where we were and how we were progressing. By around 12:30 we did in fact knock off most of brunch and we all started preparing the Mise en Place for Saturday’s event.
Conceive for a moment if you will what 23,000 canapés looks like. The event was going to take over the whole site. We were charged with making recipes taste good that none of us had ever seen before let alone done. We all were laughing and carrying on trying to make the best of the situation.
It was at this point that tragedy struck. Head Chef got a call saying that his grandmother, the woman who effectively raised him, had passed. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my condolences to him and his entire family not just for myself but for all of us that work with him. As such Head Chef was going to have to go. This left Pastry Chef J to take care of one of the most difficult canapés of the event.
The day kept moving and time seemed to be at warp speed. Slowly but surely we all were knocking off everything that we could. When Chef J arrived we were all well on our way. All of us had been assigned our own things to do. But in the absence of our “jail birds” we started looking at what needed to be accomplished and just started doing whatever we could. To my mind it was incredible. We simply put our heads down and worked. No complaint. No arguing. Just working beautifully. I kept on saying throughout the day and the night before; “That’s why we’re the Yankees.” And I truly believed it.
Chef J had scheduled his vacation some three months before. And of course no one could have anticipated the events of the previous couple of days. After finding out about Head Chef’s loss I approached Executive Chef and let him know that I was in for the long haul. That I was going nowhere. We had work to get done and I could not justify something as silly as sleep when we had so much to do.
Friday went smoothly. We had some volunteers come in to help. Later in the day most of our missing cooks had been sprung without the aid of L’s cake bomb or Pastry Chef J’s cake with a file in it. We then went from full speed to warp speed. At around midnight Chef J was getting ready to go. Executive Chef came into the kitchen and gave us a pep talk. Looking around the room I was thrilled to see the faces that I did. Executive Chef gave all of us in the room the option to go home. He said you can stay or you can go. Three people made the decision to leave. The rest of us looked at each other and basically without words; “Soldier on.” And we did.
The next post is going to cover what I know term as; “The Miracle of August 16, 2008.”
Frederick Douglass once said; “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” To my mind, the struggles of this past weekend revealed true progress for our kitchen.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
I arrived at work at 7:30 am on Friday morning. I decided to finish the chapter of Ruhlman’s “The Making of a Chef” before I started my day. With a coffee and a cigarette I quickly finished the chapter and then changed into my whites. I knew what was before us and knew that we all had to show up with our A, B and C games all at the same time in order to pull off what was nothing less than the culinary equivalent off Hammurabi’s climbing of the Alps with Elephants.
The first thing that I started working on was Sunday’s brunch. L and I knew that we were behind the eight ball and as such made sure to get as much done as humanly possible to off set the loss of some of our cooks and to make sure that Saturday went as smoothly as possible.
So starting at eight I figured that between L and I we should be able to knock off brunch by around eleven. By the time E, D and L arrived I had knocked off a couple of the salads. Executive Chef came in and I gave him a brief update as to where we were and how we were progressing. By around 12:30 we did in fact knock off most of brunch and we all started preparing the Mise en Place for Saturday’s event.
Conceive for a moment if you will what 23,000 canapés looks like. The event was going to take over the whole site. We were charged with making recipes taste good that none of us had ever seen before let alone done. We all were laughing and carrying on trying to make the best of the situation.
It was at this point that tragedy struck. Head Chef got a call saying that his grandmother, the woman who effectively raised him, had passed. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my condolences to him and his entire family not just for myself but for all of us that work with him. As such Head Chef was going to have to go. This left Pastry Chef J to take care of one of the most difficult canapés of the event.
The day kept moving and time seemed to be at warp speed. Slowly but surely we all were knocking off everything that we could. When Chef J arrived we were all well on our way. All of us had been assigned our own things to do. But in the absence of our “jail birds” we started looking at what needed to be accomplished and just started doing whatever we could. To my mind it was incredible. We simply put our heads down and worked. No complaint. No arguing. Just working beautifully. I kept on saying throughout the day and the night before; “That’s why we’re the Yankees.” And I truly believed it.
Chef J had scheduled his vacation some three months before. And of course no one could have anticipated the events of the previous couple of days. After finding out about Head Chef’s loss I approached Executive Chef and let him know that I was in for the long haul. That I was going nowhere. We had work to get done and I could not justify something as silly as sleep when we had so much to do.
Friday went smoothly. We had some volunteers come in to help. Later in the day most of our missing cooks had been sprung without the aid of L’s cake bomb or Pastry Chef J’s cake with a file in it. We then went from full speed to warp speed. At around midnight Chef J was getting ready to go. Executive Chef came into the kitchen and gave us a pep talk. Looking around the room I was thrilled to see the faces that I did. Executive Chef gave all of us in the room the option to go home. He said you can stay or you can go. Three people made the decision to leave. The rest of us looked at each other and basically without words; “Soldier on.” And we did.
The next post is going to cover what I know term as; “The Miracle of August 16, 2008.”
Frederick Douglass once said; “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” To my mind, the struggles of this past weekend revealed true progress for our kitchen.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
“Chef, I need Bail!” (File under Words that all Chefs hear at least once in their careers for 2000 please Alex)
So last Thursday I went into work to discover that we were a few men down at a time that we certainly could not afford to be a few men down. At first I thought that it was just a joke so I continued along my day. The first joke was on me as I ended up showing up for work three hours early. Though it ended up being a good thing.
As I walked in the door and went to get my coffee M was working the pans at our sister restaurant. I thought this is kind of strange and when he started telling me his tale I thought that it was a joke.
I then walked through the kitchen and asked what the hell was going on. Though I was hours early I was told that I should get into my whites and we would talk about what was going on. I was seriously concerned at this point that something was going on. Chef J pulled me outside and explained as best he could what was happening. He again told me to get into my whites.
Now my mind is racing as to what could possibly be going on. It would seem that J, R, W, A and Chef B were arrested on Wednesday night because they were drunk and disorderly. I thought to myself that it makes a little sense that cooks would be drunk. It also makes a little sense that cooks might be disorderly every once and a while. I mean we need to blow off steam too, right?
Well the plot thickened when I found out that they had been setting off some fireworks and this got an enormous police response as the fireworks sounded like gunshots. So, sure enough, J, R, W, A and Chef B found themselves in police custody. Chef B called Head Chef to explain what was going on and as I got to work Executive Chef was already at court trying to get his cooks out.
Naturally we all made little jokes to ourselves. Perhaps L could make a cake bomb and spring them. Perhaps the pastry Chef could make a cake with a file in it. Of course the humour was a way of masking both our concern for the work that had to get done and for the welfare of our cooks. We wondered about the food and whether they were bitching about it. Which one of them was going to become Bubba’s new wife. All in good nature of course.
Anyone that is familiar with my blog and some of the tales of say, I don’t know, Anthony Bourdain, among others, would know that every once and a while cooks can get a little rowdy. Naturally, it is a busy time of year for the courts, so it took another day to get our cooks out. But they did finally show up and we got to work on what was going to be a Herculean struggle to complete 23,000 canapés for the next day as we had an enormous function for charity that was taking over the whole site.
The clock was running and so were we…
A good omen was that the party for 81 people that we plated Thursday night was the absolute best party that we plated all year. It was fast and furious and with no mistakes. It truly made me proud to see us all step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. It was a sign of things to come.
In “Kitchen Confidential” Anthony Bourdain writes; “In mot kitchens, one’s freakish proclivities matter little if at all. Can you keep up? Are you ready for service? Can I count on you to show up for work tomorrow, to not let the side down? That’s what counts.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
As I walked in the door and went to get my coffee M was working the pans at our sister restaurant. I thought this is kind of strange and when he started telling me his tale I thought that it was a joke.
I then walked through the kitchen and asked what the hell was going on. Though I was hours early I was told that I should get into my whites and we would talk about what was going on. I was seriously concerned at this point that something was going on. Chef J pulled me outside and explained as best he could what was happening. He again told me to get into my whites.
Now my mind is racing as to what could possibly be going on. It would seem that J, R, W, A and Chef B were arrested on Wednesday night because they were drunk and disorderly. I thought to myself that it makes a little sense that cooks would be drunk. It also makes a little sense that cooks might be disorderly every once and a while. I mean we need to blow off steam too, right?
Well the plot thickened when I found out that they had been setting off some fireworks and this got an enormous police response as the fireworks sounded like gunshots. So, sure enough, J, R, W, A and Chef B found themselves in police custody. Chef B called Head Chef to explain what was going on and as I got to work Executive Chef was already at court trying to get his cooks out.
Naturally we all made little jokes to ourselves. Perhaps L could make a cake bomb and spring them. Perhaps the pastry Chef could make a cake with a file in it. Of course the humour was a way of masking both our concern for the work that had to get done and for the welfare of our cooks. We wondered about the food and whether they were bitching about it. Which one of them was going to become Bubba’s new wife. All in good nature of course.
Anyone that is familiar with my blog and some of the tales of say, I don’t know, Anthony Bourdain, among others, would know that every once and a while cooks can get a little rowdy. Naturally, it is a busy time of year for the courts, so it took another day to get our cooks out. But they did finally show up and we got to work on what was going to be a Herculean struggle to complete 23,000 canapés for the next day as we had an enormous function for charity that was taking over the whole site.
The clock was running and so were we…
A good omen was that the party for 81 people that we plated Thursday night was the absolute best party that we plated all year. It was fast and furious and with no mistakes. It truly made me proud to see us all step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. It was a sign of things to come.
In “Kitchen Confidential” Anthony Bourdain writes; “In mot kitchens, one’s freakish proclivities matter little if at all. Can you keep up? Are you ready for service? Can I count on you to show up for work tomorrow, to not let the side down? That’s what counts.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
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