Day twenty-three: There is no “I” in team

Posted on | July 20, 2009

I have a great work ethic.

See, I run my own business. And, I learned that it pays to get the job done, done properly, and done on time.

If not, I would have starved to death long ago.

But a lot of people don’t have my work ethic. Which is why I never like to work in teams.

Like the team I am working in at school.

“I got to college age, my parents suggested, why don’t you go to cooking school instead of going to a traditional college? I said that’s not for me. That’s ridiculous.”
~ Mario Batali

My team for this term consists of myself, Mama, and Mr. Big (both of whom I introduced a few posts back). And our big project is a lunchtime live fire simulation. Part of this project consists of actually cooking food to order. And part is filling a notebook with 50+ pages of recipes, plating designs, costing analysis, and so on.

For this project, we are required to design a menu with sixteen recipes. Yesterday, my team agreed we would all bring in recipes for the entire menu today so we could pick and choose which ones we wanted to do.

Mr. Big didn’t bring in any recipes. Mama brought in two South Beach Diet books which Mr. Big glanced at with great disdain. I brought in twenty-four recipes (I brought in extra’s as back-up).

“Hey, didn’t we agree we were all bringing in recipes?”

“I didn’t bring any.”

“I know.”

So, of the sixteen recipes we decided to make, fourteen are recipes I researched last night. For hours. One is from the South Beach Diet book Mama brought in. The second will be something Mr. Big suggested. He has promised to bring the recipe for it tomorrow.

We’ll see.

“I ended up turning down a full scholarship of music at the conservatory to pay to go to cooking school.”
~ Emeril Lagasse

This episode got me thinking. See, normally, the way I manage group work is I simply take charge of the project. And I do the lion’s share of the work myself.

This way, I can make sure everything gets done.

As you can see, I’m already doing the lion’s share of the work. And I have already offered to manage the notebook.

But, you know, my being at school now is different than when I went to university. Then, it was about the grades and I worked very hard to make sure I graduated with honors. This time, however, it is entirely about learning to cook. I already have my degree, so I certainly don’t need a certificate. Which means the grades are meaningless to me.

So I think I’m going to try something new. This time, I’m not going to be the project manager. This time, I will focus on simply doing my fair share.

Heaven help me!

“I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead. Not sick, not wounded: dead.”
~ Woody Allen

Today, we had a vegetable cutting challenge (one each leek, fennel bulb, and carrot). I took the leek, Mr. Big took the fennel bulb. And Mama took the carrot.

When Mr. Big and I finished our vegetables, we helped Mama with hers. We came in second. And had second choice of the fish we would cook.

We went for the halibut.

Now, before we made the halibut, we also made sole en papiotte (every team did this project). As well as our fish, we all used the vegetables we had cut. But we all seasoned our fish differently. I seasoned mine with white wine, minced tarragon, and butter. Mr. Big seasoned his with butter, beer, and anchovies. Mama put cherry tomatoes in hers.

I liked mine best. But I would; I’m especially fond of tarragon.

While the sole was cooking, we made the halibut.

Mr. Big got a great and simple beer batter recipe from Motorcycle Chef (Remember her from the first term? If not, go to the start of the blog and enjoy her salty quotes): Equal parts corn starch and all purpose flour mixed with enough beer to make it liquid, but not runny. And, of course, seasoned with salt and pepper.

He got that on condition we would give her some fried fish. We did.

While he made that, I cut up the halibut. And Mama made the tartar sauce.

Then Mr. Big made fries to go with the halibut while I battered and deep fried the halibut pieces.

Fish and chips. Delicious.

And sometimes, just sometimes, the team does work.