Day twenty-eight: Trial by fire

Posted on | August 6, 2009

Welcome to chef day where we learn how to talk like a real chef and act like a real chef.

The idea is to get us cooking like a real chef.

Oh dear.

“C is for cookie, it’s good enough for me; oh cookie, cookie, cookie, starts with C.”
~ Cookie Monster, Sesame Street

We started the day with a primer on chef-speak. Here is what we learned:

All day: How many left is there to do? As in, “How many chickens all day?” If there are ten orders for chicken left to be filled, then the answer is “Ten chickens all day.”
On the fly: An item is needed immediately. As in, “Soup on the fly,” meaning we need that soup now!
In the weeds: You are in trouble. As in, “I’m in the WEEDS, here.” You typically say this when you have too many orders and not enough time.
Fire: Start cooking. As in, NOW.
On order: A food item is coming. As in, “Three soups, on order.”
Order in: A ticket (where the orders are written) has just arrived and the items needed are being announced. As in, “Order in: Two soups, three chickens, a vegetarian, and a grill.”
Hold: Wait. As in, “Hold the burger.” This is often used when an accompanying item (like the side order of fries) is not ready yet.
86: We’re out. As in, 86 the polenta (a problem I was about to experience).
Walking: Servers are taking food out. As in, “The grill and two burgers are walking.”
Set: Prepare side dishes in advance. As in, “Set my burgers.” Someone (hopefully) will prepare the buns and fixings and sides so the grill cook can just plop the burgers on top.
Order up: Your food is ready.
Back of the house: The kitchen.
Front of the house: The dining room.

“Never eat more than you can lift.”
~ Miss Piggy

And off we went, into the kitchen, for our very first lunchtime live fire simulation.

Now, off the bat, the chef told us not to plate anything we would not serve. If we had followed his advice, there was damn little here I would have plated.

Bother.

“By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect ‘Hungry’.”
~ Gary Larson, The Far Side

I was responsible for the hot station. Which meant I made the fried chicken and served it with gravy, served and garnished the corn chowder, served and sauced the three sliders, and served the mac ‘n cheese.

Mr. Big made the corn chowder and a nasty, gritty corn chowder it was. I have no idea what went wrong, only that something went very wrong indeed.

The side to the chowder was supposed to be sautéed red bell pepper polenta. I made the polenta yesterday to give it time to set. And it turned out fine. It was Mr. Big’s job to sauté it today but it just would not crisp up for him so he 86ed it.

The sliders were terrible. Mama made some very nice meatballs, then seriously overcooked them. And the tomato sauce, oh, that terrible sauce. It was just tomatoes with raw garlic. Not sautéed garlic, mind you, but just raw garlic. I can’t imagine what she was thinking.

My fried chicken was fine, but greasy because I just didn’t think to drain them on paper towels before plating (an oversight I never would have done at home). Thank heavens the mushroom gravy was good. Even so, it needed an emergency thinning with cream if I didn’t want people to eat it with a knife and fork. And I did not!

And my poor mac ‘n cheese, which started life so beautifully, broke, leaving a thin film of fat on top. Too much heat.

As for Mr. Big’s salmon, that mostly turned out nicely (beautiful grill marks if a bit raw inside) but his monte cristo sandwiches were unevenly cooked (some burned bits, some raw bits).

Finally, poor Mama. She did a nice job tossing and plating my spinach salad with the papaya seed vinaigrette. But she got so flustered organizing the tickets that, depite the fact that I was responsile for the largest number of dishes, I spent a fair amount of time just waiting for my orders.

“Give me liberty or… OOOooo… A jelly donut!”
~ Homer Simpson

Tomorrow, we get a bit more prep time, then help the group that is going through their live fire by washing dishes and the such. Then, on the next day, we get to do another live fire (every group gets to do two in the hopes that we will have learned something from the first).

I hope to make a new corn chowder and a decent tomato sauce. Both, today, were truly frightening. Then, when we do our next live fire, I am going to take Mama’s position (Sous) and manage the tickets myself.

Cross fingers.

Comments

2 Responses to “Day twenty-eight: Trial by fire”

jennywenny
August 6th, 2009 @ 5:25 pm

I remember doing this in my intermediate class and it was seriously intimidating! It always seems really easy until your team has to actually do it. Well done for keeping it together!
Paz
August 9th, 2009 @ 6:25 pm

What an experience you’re getting! I have to come back and read your other entries. Good reading.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Best,
Paz