Student Drama…

I feel like I am in high school again. Except no acne and not in the closet this go around.

Just days before our demo, we found out that we had our first casualty. One of our classmates quit her externship, which means that she will not graduate from the program. She has returned none of our calls… very sad indeed to come so far and not finish. Not to mention a waste of several thousand dollars.

A few weeks after our group demo, we were still riding high from our success. For the four of us who went first, it was smooth sailing. For the second group – not so much.

Here is the gossip I learned…

The second group was not able to meet prior to the night before they were to go on because of scheduling conflicts. This is not good. From experience I can tell you that the group needs to know that demo kitchen inside and out – you need to know what equipment you need, how long it will take you to use it and finish your product and for God’s sake – you better make sure that you don’t pick the noisy mixer…

One of the students wasn’t even planning to show up the night before due to a massive hang over, causing a huge rift. And the student showed. finally. and drunk.

Apparently a drinking or substance abuse problem among chefs are as common as flip flops or… virginity at a Dungeon’s and Dragon gathering.

This student had to literally be dragged to school to complete the demonstration.

But they managed to do well. The presentation was great and the flavors were fanstatic. The only faults I noticed were that they finished way too early. Almost and hour, which cost them dearly in their evaluation. They also did not correctly write their recipes and I don’t know that they submitted a cost breakdown.

Later… I found out that one of my classmates is pregnant – with ANOTHER classmates baby!

We are also deep enough into this now that those classmates in romantic relationships are being strained to the limit. Breakups are possibly just around the corner.

This scares the crap out of me. The demmands of this lifestyle and career choice are very intense and the proof is all around me.

Group Demo

I am now in my final phase of culinary school. A phase III student.

In addition to my responsibilities as an extern at “Il Restaurant”, I had to make time to meet with my group about executing a 3-4 course meal in front of the president of the academy, various staff, and all of our classmates.

Sure the idea sounds like it could be fun – in concept. But we found out quickly that this is VERY serious business. This is our final impression on the school before we graduate.

The drama begins with picking our group – this is a big deal because you need to be sure that you are working with people who are committed to doing a good job – because your grade depends on it.

I was lucky enough to work with the guys I carpooled with and another very talented classmate. We were a very solid group.

The other piece of news that we found out was that deciding when to conduct your group demo is just as key as who you are doing your demo with. It was brought to our attention that the earlier you go – the less critical your evaluation is – because they are more sympathetic to that fact that it is the first demo and no one really knows what they are doing.

Very cleverly, we assembled our group and immediately reported our team to the academic dean and took the first slot. Of course this also meant that we would have much less time to prepare than our other classmates and it would be a nightmare trying to juggle our girst few weeks of externing with our school responsibilities but we decided that it would be worth it to be finished, which would mean that for the rest of the time, we would get to kick back and watch everyone else’s demo.

And a nightmare it was… it seemed like every moment that we weren’t in the kitchen at our externships, we were in the kitchen at school practicing.

The format is a s follows:

A group has 3 hours to describe and execute a menu in front of the school community.

The recipes have to be printed for the entire class in addition to budget breakdowns, as we are each limited to $250 to feed 13 people.

And when they say 3 hours – they mean it. A large part of the grade is making sure that you have accounted for every minute – dead time – or silence is unacceptable. Someone in the group has to make sure that something is being said for all three hours.

Once the menu is agreed upon, we then have to meet with the president of the academy for final approval.

After a few meetings, our menu was as follows:

Asparagus Soup with Goat Cheese Fondu and Crispy Italian Speck (prosciutto) served with a Puff Pastry Batton

Parmesan Flan with Green Vegetable Garnish and Anchovy Oil

Morrocan Inspired Lamb Ribs with Preserved Lemon Cous Cous and Pepper Creme Fraiche

Tomato Consume and Homemade Mozerella Salad

Cheesecake Timbale with Pineapple and Kumquat Compote

We knew we could pull it off but were not excited about the commitment required.

Everytime our group got together to practice, we would spend the first hour complaining about how much of a pain in the ass it was and how it was ruining our already non-existent lives.

Finally the day arrived… and I would love to say it went off without a hitch but that would be a lie. Three hours is a long, long time to have to talk about pureeing asparagus, roasting pepper marinade, where kumquats orginated, etc.

But after two hours, we were bored with being nervous and just had to move on.

My soup started off strong – asparagus were blanched to perfection, given all the practice I had doing it every day at the restaurant. Vegetable stock was as tasty as veg stock could be, goat cheese fondu perfect and creamy. 

Where things went wrong…

Once the asaragus were blanched, they need to be pureed. Because asparagus are so fiberous, they need to be pureed HARDCORE – preferably in a robo coup and even then it might need to be passed through a foodmill or tamis to ensure a smooth texture. Here is where I learned a very valuable lesson. This was my dish and I would be responsible for it, regardless of who I put in charge. We were assigned student assistant during the demo, and it just so happened that our assistants were strong students who had always done well in all of classroom activities so my instruction was simply “Please puree the s$#t out of this so it’s smooth…” and with that I returned to the classroom to resume the demo. When I got the nod from my classmate who returned the soup in the pot I requested so I could heat it, season and serve.

But just as I was about to serve, I noticed chunks in the soup and fearful that my times was up and that I had no alternative but to serve as is, I served it. Big, Big mistake. Fibers were all throughout making it almost inedible, despite it’s very inviting presentation.

One by one, we presented our dishes until finally, we were DONE!

We then had to be evaluated in front of the entire audience, which I was not expecting but the president of the academy was very pleased with us. The criticisms were, in our opinion minor – certain elements could have been explained more but he told us that our demo was excellent and informed the rest of our class that we had set the bar very high. Our recipes perfectly written, our costs very well prepared and on budget, our timing perfect, the tastes and presentention of each dish very well done.

The instructor gave me some greif for my soup, where I took the opportunity to ask if it would have been appropriate to stop the demo to finish the soup according to the way I intended the dish to be and he said that I abolutely should have, which I should have known. I should have pureed it again or passed it and this is were I learned that I need to be in control of my dish until the very end. If I had been an executive chef at a restaurant and served it to a paying customer, I couldn’t have said to them, “Well I put this person in charge of it, it’s their fault.” – my name is on the door and therefore it was my mistake.

Thankfully, and perhaprs because it was the first demo, he said “but I’m not going to kill you on it… I’m simply going to numb you…”

Thank you chef…

Luckily, I also prepared the dessert with one of my teammates, which the chef described as excellent.

All in all, it was a very, very good demo and chef was very pleased with us. He told us we set the bar very high. Perhaps it seems like I’m bragging. I am.

We were going to get so drunk later that night…

Wah…Wah…Wah…

Warning… there will be spelling mistakes… and I can’t be bothered to fix them…

It’s been a ridiculously long time since my last post despite several big developments.

The hours have been long and the heat – unforgiving – even more so in a kitchen.

If you are out having a leisurely meal at some cute cafe with your friends, laughing, drinking, dining and casually mention to them how hot it is - take just a moment to think about the poor bastard who just made your meal in same heat with the additional degrees added from 12-24 running gas burners, 2-6 ovens set at 500 degrees and running around in a chef coat in search of chives for your garnish or a freakin’ stainless steel bowl to mix your mixed green salad. Then go back to enjoying yourself and your meal … it’s the only thing that makes this torture worth while.

Days off are precious. So much so that for the last several weeks, I just couldn’t see myself thinking “you know what would be awesome to do instead of sleep or lounge around on my ass… update my blog that no one reads…”

But while in between therapists, I feel compelled to expound upon the last few weeks. And it’s a dousey… so much so that I am going to need to make a series of posts.

Stay tuned…

Day Off

Today has been the sweetest day off ever.

After stuffing my face on burgers last night, I slept until nearly 1:00 p.m. and treated myself to Carribean food today. It was everything I hoped for.

Tomorrow is going to suck but I can’t afford to think about that right now or it will ruin the rest of my night. Breakfast service at 6:00 a.m. On the up side, I get off at 3:00 p.m. and don’t have to go in until 3:00 p.m. the next day. So it’s almost like another day off.

T.G.I.M.?

Once upon a time, behind a cubicle far, far away, I couldn’t wait for Friday. Paychecks, weekends, take-out, the occasional gay bar. All the things a man lives for.

Now I find that weekends at a restaurant… suck. hard.

They’re busy, physically demmanding and late. I still love the feeling after service – but it is hard to get pumped up, walking in. At least for me.

Monday night was pretty mellow. Orders came at a slow and steady pace so no one was incredibly overwhelmed. Maybe one really busy point but it has certainly been worse.

But because I am who I am, I do have minor issue with a few things that can be considered annoying about being the new guy at the bottom of the totem pole.

1. People from other stations help themselves to your mise en place, sometimes throwing things off for you. For example, every day I peel a crap load of asparagus and baby carrots for my station, making sure that it is full and that I have available backups to get me through service. Suddenly, someone from the pasta or meat station will need to take some of my vegetables as garnish – so through the night, it they have a lot of orders for that particular dish that requires it then they need of lot of my stuff, putting me at risk of running out in the middle of dinner rush. Of course, I have learned to anticipate this now but it means that I have to almost double my prep, which means coming in a little earlier until I can get a little faster.

2. I am often responsible for mopping the floors. Sometimes sweeping and mopping. New guy crap, I suppose…

3. I am also called upon frequently to make runs to the lower level walk-ins or to one of the sister restaurants for pick-ups. More new guy crap. On the plus side, I noticed that I was having difficulty keeping my pants up during one of these said-runs the other day. Who have have thought that working with food would help keep weight off? Don’t get too excited – I’m no Usher. or whoever is ripped these days…

What also makes Monday special is that Tuesday is my day off. So tonight I treated myself to Five Guys and a cab home instead of the bus. Take that, loose pants…

Despite the frustration, I thought about this on the ride home – a year ago, this was a pipe dream for me. I wouldn’t have dared quit my desk job. It was not practical – not the safe thing to do.

Six months later, I am in the processing of completing a classical, French culinary arts degree AND expanding into Northern Italian cusine. I’m amazed.

That being said, I am seriously debating on whether or not to unplug my phone tomorrow so no one can call me or leave me a voice message. I need time to miss them.

Sunday Cool

Today was my seventh night in a row of work. Today was also the night sous chef had off so it was just me, another guy who is in culinary school at the Art Institute and sous chef’s second in command, who was a former graduate of the program I am in at L’academie.

I actually to meet with my group today to review and come up with a menu and plan for our group demo, which is our final project. We are the first group on and time is approaching way faster than it should be but we had a good first meeting. I know we are going to do well – it’s just that it is another responsibility on top of a very demmanding schedule. But it was great to see my classmates again – particularly, my carpool brothers. I missed our rides a great deal – always inappropriate. always tons of laughs.

I’m still adjusting. It’s hard for me not to hate people for having a traditional work schedule. On my way to “Il Restaurant”, I saw people hanging out in the various circles in Washington, laughing, being with friends, having lunch. This used to my life. I used to have leisurely weekends to hang out – or at least clean my apartment. Both of things are ancient history now.

So today we were without sous chef and while he is a great guy, things were much less tense today. We were moderately busy but a slight winddown from the Thursday – Saturday service. We did good work and once again, Ieft feeling like I kicked ass.

Tuesday is my day off and as God is my witness, I will have it. I am armed with a number of excuses this time around in case a certain sous chef even thinks of taking it away. I am still waiting on him to make good on his promise to make it up to me for last Thursday.

In The Weeds

I am now two weeks deep into my externship and I can notice a difference in my performance. A big difference. Don’t get me wrong, it is not without some criticisms but much more often than not, I am getting the feeling that they appreciate what I’m doing and that feels amazing.

This has been a good month for “Il Restaurant”. Business has been steady. and VERY busy. Many times, we have been what is commonly referred to as “in the weeds” – this means that the tickets are coming faster than orders can be complete and the build up becomes insane to the point where you are moving at a speed you never thought you were capable of to finish everything.

One such day was last Thursday – a day I was supposed to have off but I received a voice message from the sous chef on Wednesday night that Thursday was supposed to be crazy busy and they could use my help.

On the one hand, I was a bit flattered that they considered me helpful and wanted my support when things were getting tough – one the other – and this side was much more dominating – I was miserable that such cherished time off was now being taken away. I am still VERY green and my mind or body has not gotten used to this insane new schedule.

I leave my apartment at 1:45 p.m. every day, arrive at 2:15 or so before my 3:00 p.m. shift has to start.

I typically stay until 11:15 p.m. or later during the weekends.

Get home between midnight and 1:00 a.m.

Stay up and watch T.V. until about 3:00 a.m.

Sleep until noon

Watch more T.V. until 1:45 – and then repeat

I should admit here that prior to this, I have never – ever in my life – had a job that required me to stand – certainly not for such a long perid of time. My arms, feet and bag have no idea what is going on – but they are not happy about it.

So this particular Thursday, my former day off, I spend eyeballs deep in request. Apparently, everyone in the world decided to order dessert at the same time. I literally had plates lined all over my station and a portion of the sous chefs, who I share a space with.

The restaurant offers five desserts, each with about 4-4 garnished and decorations. I was moving like an insane person – choclate sauce, scoops of gelatto, biscottis, tarts, cheesecakes, fruits compotes and powdered sugar were everywhere and who came to my rescue during this desperate time – NO ONE.

Perhaps it was a test to see how well I coped with the pressure. I actually overheard someone say “Damn, I haven’t seem a dessert beatdown like that in a LONG time” – apparently not enough to help out.

But I mainted my cool and moved at a respectable speed and one by delivered my plates

“nice plates” said the sous chef as they were placed on the table

and eventually, it was over.

I know it sounds corny but I felt like amazing. It was one of the biggest rushes of my life so far. I was “in the weeds” – deep, deep in the weeds and I survived.

That night instead of focusing on my stolen day day off, I wanted to rock. I wanted to party. It was mignight and I was ready to hit the clubs or bars – anything or anyplace I could celebrate.

Of course I did none of those things. I went home and watched TV but I was still riding high.

It so strange – the roler coaster of emotions – every day I wake up, tired and not wanting to go in, slightly miserbable when I arrive and work through prep but then during service and particularly AFTER service, I feel amazing.

The New Kid

It has been a while since my last post. Phase II has now officially ended and Phase III is in full force.

Our last week week was full of exams and the last day, we had a wrap up, which included a giant sushi boat from a company that works out of our school. Delicious.

I was a little dissapointed that some of our classmates didn’t show up on the last day since it was supposed to be our farewell. We socialized, ate sushi, talked about our externships and said our goodbyes to the chefs and staff at school. We also took our class photo, which was fun.

I am now externining at a restaurant in DC. For now, I’ll call it “Il Restaurant” (yes, it’s Italian). Gaining an externship was actually much harder than I anticipated. It seems that many places either are not hiring or simply cannot devote the time to showing a newbie the ropes.

The staff at “Il Restaurant” is small. Very small. Many times, it is only three of us in the kitchen – the sous chef, who handles the sautee and grilling, the second in command who handles the pasta and yours truly, who now handles cold salads and appetizers (Garde Manger).

I have been at it for only four days and already I feel that this is going to be an extremely long six months. Not because the place is awful. In fact, I am really enjoying it though I am exhausted all the time. My hours are basically 3:00 p.m. to close, which leaves very little time to socialize before or after. For those who thought I was bad about keeping in touch before – things are about to get much, much worse.

The only exception is Wednesday breakfast. We are a hotel restaurant so we offer breakfast every day. I have to be there at 6:oo a.m. and work until 3:00 p.m. – the kicker is that this is a shift that I basically handle ALONE. They assured me that it is nothing to worry about and as long as I could fry an egg and make some bacon, everything would be fine.

But is it ever that simple? The answer is NO. F$%K  NO…

Thankfully for the first time, one of my co-workers offered to come in and show me the ropes – where everything could be found, etc.

Breakfast was busy and I was a panicy mess. Lots of custom requests that were apparently “unusual” for breakfast.

In addition, no one mentioned that on top of service, there would deliveries that needed to be checked signed for, our dish washer was off so when I was able, I needed to keep load up the dish washer so dished would not pile up and were clean for lunch then at 10:00, prep for lunch service began and I had to prepare the salads and cold appetizers for lunch and then there was a list of prep items that needed to be complete for dinner service.

According to my co-worker, I did really well. She said that if I were a disaster, she would have come in again to help me next week but she was definately not coming in.

I think they find it amusing how easily freaked out I am by this whole experience. After only four days, I find myself on the verge of tears at the slightest request, which they assure me will only get better.

In a small kitchen, everything is fast paced. I really am learning a lot and even thought I have no idea how much I am getting paid right now, I must admit, I am having a ball. I am really doing this.

My former life and career seems like decades ago.

The staff is cool – they seem friendly and helpful. Of course, I think I am going through the “new guy” test with everyone so right now often times, they will chat and joke around with each other while I attend to my station quietly. Occasionally, they will chat me up or I will try to engage so they know I am interested and happy to be there but this is a rite of passage.

On top of this, soon I will need to start focusing on my group demonstration for school. As part of the final phase of the program, we are broken intogroups and once a month, will lead a group demonstration where we will prepare a four course meal in front of the entire class.

The rumor was that the first group would have it the easiest because they knew we were still learning. So my group and I signed up first. I realize now this might have been a MISTAKE! When I am not at work, all I seem to doing is sleeping. Certainly not cleaning my apartment or cooking. But at least we will get ours over with and then all we have to do for the next six months, is watch other groups demo. Smooth sailing.

Hopefully, I will gain more confidence and speed in weeks to come.

I need to shower and get to work. Pray for me. I can only imagine that as we approach the weekend, things are going to get more busy.

From Hell

This past Friday was our second practical exam of this phase and it was designed “to break us”.

It was complete chaos – more courses than ever before. Doughs, sauces, pastas – all needed to be made and prepared from scratch. and within three hours.

As usual, I came up with a gameplan the night before, which completely fizzled as burners become non-existent and ingredients, pots and pans started to vanish.

The menu was:

Seared salmon medallion with a scallop cream sauce over fresh angel hair pasta

Duck Breast a l’orange with sauteed potatoes, asparagus and provencal-style tomatoes

Strawberry tartlette

I delivered late by 10 minutes and wish that I could say it was worth it but my pasta was overcooked, though salmon and sauce were simply described as “good”

Duck breast was also overcooked (for the French – it would have been fine for everyone else)

Tart shell was good – pastry good but “runny”

Not my best work. Chef’s words.

Still, we all knew this exam was going to be a nightmare. and it was even worse than that. But I took a little pleasure in even being able to produce everything (give or take a few minutes late…)

I later learned that three of my classmates cried (and they were not all women if that’s what you are thinking…) and one had a near breakdown. This was humbling – to say the least.

Just when I was about to leap into the deepest depths of despair, my tax return arrived and I was able to console myself the only way I know how (which is impressive on my budget) – retail therapy.

Gift 1: A brand new set of cookware that would make any middle to upper-middle class housewive jealous.

Gift 2: A cast-iron pot for any braising or stewing needs I may have. and there will be some…

Gift 3: Wireless-internet. Finally. I am typing AND watching TV at the same time. The american dream.

Gift 4: New sweat pants. Three of them.

I also owe some people some money. and will be able to pay them back. this time.

Externship Woes

About two weeks ago, I did a stage at my first choice restaurant and I think it went well. I made pasta, made a brine for chicken, diced some jalepeno and sliced some pancetta.

A few days ago, I learned that they can’t take on more staff.

I also staged at another very well known restaurant that ended up being a complete waste of time. I chopped parslet, removed some meal from oxtails, and peeled some carrots, then stood in a corner of the kitchen for hours and “observed” everyone working. At the end of the night, I learned that they too, did not feel they could take on another person in their small kitchen. I wonder why it took chef nearly 10 hours to come to this conclusion. If I am going to be rejected, I would at least like for it to be done quickly so that I have the rest of the night free.

I am supposed to meet with another chef this week and it might be promising. He seems to be a very nice guy.

I need to get it sorted out soon. Real soon.