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
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
