Day twenty-two: I am saute cook
Posted on | February 22, 2010
I am hot. The kind of hot where even your scalp emanates heat, just like in the comics. My hands smell like fish and, of all things, salt. There is a bruise on the back of my right hand and another, about three times the size, on the inside of my right arm.
And hungry as I am, what I really crave is something to drink. Something cold. Icy cold. That clinks.
I am back from school and my first day cooking in the school restaurant for a paying public. Here are all the things I worried about: Dropping food, burning food, serving overcooked food, serving the wrong food, and serving (and this is a big one) raw food.
Lemme get something to drink and I’ll tell you all about it.
Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family
Okay. I’m sitting here with a mango lassi in my hands. I just popped two Advil to try to combat the mild, but damnably persistent migraine I have had since last night. I washed my hands, then held my wrists under icy, running water. This is an old trick to help you cool down. And I am feeling a lot cooler. But, then I shed my pants five minutes ago and turned on the air conditioning immediately after. So you might want to take that advice with a grain of salt.
I could do with something to eat (I cooked all day and never got around to eating), but I think I’ll wait and make the husband take me out to dinner. It’s time for someone else to do the cooking. So about my day …
I slept like a rock; I wasn’t really nervous at all. Although I did get to school early in the hopes that I could get a head start on the prep. But, no, the Chef forbade me from entering the kitchen until the earlier class was out. Bother. Mama was front of the house today, so I helped her get the restaurant organized until I was allowed into the kitchen.
Might as well be productive.
An ear of corn never has an odd number of rows
When we were allowed into the kitchen, the other half of our class – the students who had been working the kitchen last semester – told us everything they had prepared and what was left to do. Then they left and we were allowed, finally, to get to work.
Other Guy, who was Sous Chef, was responsible for setting up the line. You should have seen my station: It was as perfectly positioned and fully stocked as if I had done it for myself. Which meant I only had to worry about prepping food.
So I got to it.
Now, everyone said the earlier class had pretty much done everything and that we would have nothing to do. Well, that may have been true for some of the stations, but it wasn’t true for mine. Yes, plenty was done (and done well, for which I was grateful) but there was plenty that was not done.
I used every minute of my hour and a half to get it done.
Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator
There are three people on the line: The grill cook (Make-Up Girl), the pantry station (Gawky Guy), the saute cook (me). And, of course, there is the Sous (Other Guy).
Make-Up Girl is incredibly nervous. I’m a bit excited, but not really nervous. Just anxious to do a good job. The guys? Well, you know guys. Even if they ae nervous, they won’t let you know.
The Chef demonstrated each of the stations. I had so much prep to do, I missed the demo’s for salad and Sous (sous did the appetizers), and only caught the tail end of the grill station demo. But, of course, I saw the saute demo.
I cooked three things: The fish dish, the vegetable dish, and a second vegetable dish that was served with the fish.
The fish dish worked like this: Get the fish started on the burner, then, when the presentation side was pretty, turn it over and finish it in the oven.
The vegetable dish that went with the fish was cooked when the fish was in the oven. Once it was finished, then the fish was pulled out of the oven, slathered with compound butter, and popped back. Then, as the butter was melting, the vegetables were plated. The fish was then pulled out of the oven once again and plated with the vegetables.
As for the vegetable entree, it was wave after wave of vegetables cooked on a burner and finished with their own compound butter.
It was also my job to help the Sous with the appetizers. These were easy; they were either fritters that only needed a quick fry or soup that was simply poured into a bowl.
Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D (although it is added to other foods, such as milk)
So how was it?
Fun!
Sometimes busy, sometimes boring. At my busiest, I had seven fish and two vegetable entrees going at the same time. But often it was only two or three dishes at once.
And sometimes, it was no dishes.
At one point, our Chef took over my station for a few minutes, leaving me with nothing to do. When I asked him if I had done anything wrong, he said he thought I needed a hand. But I think he just could not stop himself; he was loving it.
And here is the annoying part: It took us longer to prep and clean than it did to cook. By far. In fact, I’d guess we spent loosely four hours doing prep and clean up and only two hours cooking. And that’s a generous estimate when it comes to the cooking part.
I’d rather it was the other way around: Four hours cooking and two hours in prep and clean up. Cooking is where the fun is!
Blueberries are the second most popular berry in the United States
I know what you are wondering: What about my fears?
Well, I didn’t drop any food, didn’t burn any food, never served any overcooked food, never served the wrong food, and never served any raw food.
But there is still tomorrow!
Comments
4 Responses to “Day twenty-two: I am saute cook”
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February 22nd, 2010 @ 7:33 am
You make the point that so many diners simply do not appreciate; good food takes time – not the cooking time, but the prep time. Unfortunately that part of our work is invisible and unappreciated. I try to remember that while I put just as much love into the prep as I do the cooking and presentation. We KNOW what we put into it -and that’s what makes it special. Keep on cooking!
February 22nd, 2010 @ 8:28 am
Fun! I’m glad your first day went well. It sounds like everyone has learned to work together. Yay!
February 22nd, 2010 @ 2:40 pm
Hooray! I knew you’d do well.
February 23rd, 2010 @ 10:14 pm
awesome post! congrats on a job well done!! are you going to FCI?