Competence Revisited
A few days ago I was chopping onions, just like my previous post. The onions were going through the human food processor and ...
Ouch.
I looked down to see that I had sliced off the tip of the knuckle on my left index finger, the one that is supposed to be guiding my knife.
Shock? Yes. Pain? A little. Laughter?
You fucking bet.
I pulled the sliced skin off of the cutting board, threw away the affected prep, and went and wrapped my fingertip in a compression bandage and a fingercot. Bleach down the board, and back to work.
You can look at it two ways. Either I'm just a poser professional, or I'm just a professional that still has a lot to learn. I prefer the latter. In the meantime, as the fingercot swelled up with blood, I was wondering where the guy from room service was, the one that seemed to get queasy at the mention of blood.
Banquet Season, Competence and the Joy of Superglue
Banquet SeasonSo 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.
CompetenceOne 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 SuperglueLast 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 KitchenSo 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.
The Seasons
One of the most beautiful things about working in professional restaurant, as opposed to your kitchen at home and shopping at your local megamart, is the beauty of the seasons. Beautiful local products go into season and then go out of season, which is the only way food should be enjoyed.
Asparagus? Out of season.
Morels? In season.
Softshell crabs? In season.
Peaches? Just beginning.
Matsutake? A few months away.
Going into the walkin and seeing fresh heirloom summer squash is just such a happy thing. With new things coming into season all of the time, it's easy to forget the things that have gone out of season. But I'll be reminded again when they come into season next year.
In the meantime, I'll be waiting for my tomatoes in my windowbox to come into season ...
Rabbits in GreenlakeThe other night I was having a conversation with some cooks about the fact that rabbits are running wild in the Greenlake area of Seattle. All I could think about was Daffy Duck in a hysterical voice yelling "Wabbit Season!" Makes me want to get a rabbit trap and go cruise around the Greenlake area. Apparently they're so docile that they'll hop up to you for handouts of food.
I'm just helping with the animal control problem.
Plus there would be a new spot on the menu for "Greenlake Free Range Rabbit." Yummy.
This week in Hell's KitchenBye bye Andrew, bye bye Jimmy. No real surprises there ... now we're left with Ralph, Michael, Elsie and Jessica. I have to admit, I'm rooting for either Elsie or Jessica. Although Ralph and Michael both look like they have better chances than Elsie or Jessica, I don't like the idea of someone who has professional experience winning Hell's Kitchen. The whole point of the show is that Ramsay can take someone with little to no kitchen experience and turn them into professionals. Having Ralph or Michael win would cheapen the whole thing (ironic statement considering the subject matter).
Add to that the fact that Michael seems to have been hanging out on the pastry station every single night that I've closely watched him. To me that's frickin' lazy. He has advance notice of what's coming in the kitchen and he doesn't have to work as hard (let's face it, the pastry station is usually not that difficult. Intricate, maybe, but not too difficult).
Of course, if I ever got on the show, my opinion might change ...
You know it's going to be a bad day ...
You know it's going to be a bad day when you walk into the kitchen and see half cooked eggwhite all over the side of the walkin door, the heatlamp and over the mise on the grill station.
That was my 4th of July morning, after I had:
1) Worked all day Sunday
2) Drove right after work down to Portland for the blues festival
3) Went to a blues party in Portland
4) Left the party at 5 in the morning to get back to work in Seattle
Ugh.
The exec, he's a laid back guy, fun to be around, but when people keep on ordering shit with EGG WHITES ONLY modifiers and you're out of a whole lotta shit that you need because the holiday weekend has fucked you, you're going to have some issues.
To add insult to injury, we did 120 covers, with 27 of them being on ONE ticket! It's supposed to be a laid back holiday weekend, based on what's happened in the past. Well, not today.
That big top ticket was about, I shit you not, a yard long.
Time to be really pissy at the servers since we told them to ring in the table as they got the orders. Because of that ticket we were in the weeds for the next hour and a half ... because they were also ringing in orders for other tables.
Thank god I had my laptop and was playing some upbeat music or I would have just collapsed.
To make up for shitty Monday, on Tuesday I did get to play with a lot of things that made me happy. First, our produce order came in and we had watermelons! I had been dreaming about watermelon sorbet for the past few weeks since melon season had started and this made me happy like you wouldn't believe. Then to add to that, I had been making duck confit this past week. Cured it on Friday, cooked it on Sunday, and made one of my favorite dishes on Tuesday - cassoulet.
For those of you not in the know, cassoulet is a wonderful rustic french dish, a white bean casserole with onion, bacon, sausage, thyme and, or course, duck confit (the traditional garnish). We didn't sell any of it as a special, but I didn't care. I took two servings of it home with me ... I had it for dinner on Wednesday and Thursday nights. About the only thing better than that is, well, I don't really know. Cassoulet, when properly done, is one of those perfect down home dishes that is just lovely.
I take a good cassoulet over bad sex any day (fie to those who would say that even bad sex is good sex ... they really haven't had bad sex then). Hell, depending on the gal, I might even take a good cassoulet over good sex.
At least I don't have to cuddle with the cassoulet.
