Making the Chef

Banquet Season, Competence and the Joy of Superglue

Banquet Season

So now comes the timer of year that is banquet season. In the little hotel that I work in, that means practically every day has at least one if not two or three banquets going on during the day. Great for business but it means that I'm busy. Very busy.

Yesterday I pulled a 15 hour shift. I went in for my normal pantry shift (made worse by the fact that someone had left the dessert mise en place out through the evening ... I didn't get caught up until around lunch was over) and then it was time to prep for the banquet. I got home at about 11ish or so and all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep. This morning, I got up and went in for a brunch shift. Oooh, the couch felt nice and comfy when I got home today.

I have a few friends that are massage therapists. I wish I lived next door to one of them ... or that one of them lived with me. My back (and feet for that matter) could use a good working over.

Competence

One of the nicest moments in any job is when you achieve a level of competence that you can see and appreciate. The other day I was slicing onions with my chef's knife, moving at a speed where my knife was a blur. I looked at how fast I was dissecting the onions and smiled to myself and thought, "I'm a professional." I could look away, carry on a conversation, think about something else, and still move at the same speed. It's the mark of a good cook that you can do that.

Similarly this morning, I had 4 tickets in the window. Two deuces, a single, and a 9 top. Although the 9 top had come in first, there were items on it that hadn't finished prepping. The exec, who was acting as my second, got to work on prepping them out. Instead of starting on the 9 top, I pushed out the duces and the single, making sure those customers got their food in a timely manner. When the exec had the items prepped, we fired the 9 top while other tickets were raining in. By the time we got caught up with the tickets, the last ticket time was 18 minutes. Since some of the items on that order are about a 10 minute fire, it wasn't really that bad ... actually pretty good. I was happy with my performance.

The Joy of Superglue

Last night while prepping the banquet, I was using my slicer (which the sous calls my little sword) and I gave myself a good gash on my left thumb. I don't mind cutting myself ... in fact, I think that each of my knives isn't quite really happy with itself until it's drawn it's first blood from me. That means that my sashimi, butcher and tourne knives are eager for blood, and they'll have their chances.

In the meantime my thumb had turned into a gusher. I took some time out to put a bandaid and a finger cot on it (it resembles a miniature condom, hence the nickname "condom"), but within a few minutes, it had completely filled up with blood. Plan two was a bandaid, pressure wrap and a finger cot, which worked pretty well. However, looking for a more permanent solution, I went out and got some superglue and glued the flap of skin back into place. It's the best solution to be had and considering that superglue was developed as a temporary suture device during wartime, I'm surprised that I hadn't used it until now It's finding a permanent spot in my knife kit.

Hell's Kitchen

So they 86ed Elsie this week. Not surprising since she couldn't keep up with the work, but what was nice was to see Ramsay's personal side come out this week. You saw a compassionate side, evidence that he could nurture someone when they needed to be nurtured (after he had broken them, at least) and how he didn't want to give up on Elsie, even though, in the end, he canned her.

As a final note, I am borrowing a copy of Ramsay's A Chef for All Seasons (a play on words for A Man for All Seasons) and it is absolutely beautiful. The recipes are elegant, well balanced and thought out, and they represent a refined and yet simple approach to cuisine that is very grounded in seasonality. Pea soup with cream and morels? A wonderful late spring dish. I knew he was good based on his reputation and with a chat with a friend who had worked for him, but I had no idea that he was that good. He's not just hype. He's the real deal.

posted by LindyChef @ 11:18 PM