#kitchen wisdom

In fact I'd say that if all the work I've done my entire career, this was the best work.  The hours and the working conditions left some things to be desired... but the actual work was the best!

But... on to my day...

I crawl out of bed about 11am... the wife already being long gone on her day of work... grab a small meal and play on the computer for a while.  This was before I tumblr'd so that was mostly facebook, web comics, google news and the like. 

Then I'd get dressed, shaved and washed up, grab my knife kit, and head to work.

The shift I worked at that time was 2-10:30.  I walked in the door about 2, the entire PM kitchen shift with me.  We all had a short meeting with chef where he told us about expected business (we expected about 150 that night which wasn't slow, but certainly wasn't busy either) and decided specials and such, then I went to prep.

I'd grab all the prep from the night before and set it up on my station so I could take stock of it and decide what I needed to get done before we opened at 5pm.

 I was off the day before and whoever had worked for me had left me well stocked on veg and sauces, but I needed to do a LOT of butchery, and the like.  I also needed something to go with the sheep's head fish that Chef got in for a dinner spec, and something to go with the Lamb that was to be an appetizer special. Sheeps head fish, by the way is a weird looking fish... it has teeth that almost look human... the fish it tastes closest to (in my experience) is probably rockfish.

While looking through the cooler for my ordinary prep I found some leftover farro from a banquet function that I could use for the lamb... just needed to jazz it up with a good sauce, grill off a 2 bone portion out of the chop, and the 3 elements on the plate (plus a garnish) would make a good small appetizer.

I also found some leftover roasted mushrooms which I decided could be turned into a risotto for the fish.  I still need a vegetable component, and a sauce (at the very least) but it's coming together.

Back on the line I butcher all the fish first, about 5 lbs of salmon, already butchered into sides that needed to be fabricated into 6-7 oz portions for the regular menu... 30 lbs of whole sheeps head fish that needs to be broken down and fabricated.  THen 3 whole tenderloins I need to peel and clean and cut into 7 oz fillets.  Then 2 whole new york strips I need to clean and cut into 14 oz portions.

I pass the fish I've just butchered to the Sautee cook, along with all the stuff he needs to make his rosotto... he in turn passes me veg prep, whipped potatoes, polenta cakes, and some other odds and ends of prep in return.  It's a tradeoff that works well for both of us.  Although I have to get his sauces ready too since Chef is busy today.

I look at the clock and see that I have about an hour till open, and I need to heat up 3 sauces, make 4 sauces from scratch.

I put reductions for my three butter sauces on the stove first, then some miripoix to caramelize to make some kind of improvised jus for the lamb, then start the risotto.  

My re-heat sauces easily heat in the background as I prepare two different butter sauces for my counterpart's fish, and one plain butter sauce for use on the line to flavor the veg.

The bartender is more than happy to give me a dose of cheap cherry brandy for make a cherry jus for my lamb, and after that deglazes my pan with the mirepoix I add some demi-glace that the hotel's saucier made for general use.  Some finishing touches (including some cherry juice) and WHAM!

I whip butter into each of my three reductions in turn, and then turned them each into the sauce they were meant to be.  I also throw one serving of lamb on the grill for the servers.

Chef walks by (finally) and warnes my the chicken jus that was made yesterday was thin and under-seasoned.  I tell him I noticed and it was already fixed.  He sticks a tasting spoon into by saucepan, tastes it, nods slightly in approval and walks off without another sound.   As I am finishing my sauces I heat up a serving of the farro for my lamb plate.  I put the farro and lamb on the plate and set it up for chef who will garnish and sauce it, and set it up for the servers.

10 minutes till open and i've got all my ducks in a row, I walk over to the front of the line where my 1 serving of the lamb spec, one serving the soup of the day, some cold salad special I am not interested in, and one serving of the sheep's head fish are set up to show the morons servers today's specials.  

Chef tells them about each of the specials in turn so that the morons servers can (at least in theory) sell them appropriately.  Once that's done, the vultures servers descend upon the 4 plates like locusts to get a taste of the food... apparently it's good.

We open up and, un-surprisingly, it's pretty slow that first hour... a few burgers from the bar... a couple of steaks... ONE lamb... incompetent servers unable to sell my delicious food... I make a note to smack them around later... figuratively... probably not literally smack them... probably...

About an hour and a half in we start getting SLAMMED... apparently some big meeting got out, and they had dinner plans somewhere else, but it was canceled or somthing so we get a lot of business we weren't expecting at all, and it comes all at once.

I have 10 steaks, 12 burgers, and 7 lamb specials on the grill all at once many with different cook temperatures (i.e. rare to well-done).  I momentarily curse the foul servers for selling so many Lambs while I'm this busy...

The next hour is a blur for me as a move at top speed rushing to get everything out both on time and correctly... 

We ran out of steaks at one point i had to clean and cut some on the line in a hurry while still continuing to do all my other work.  I glance up at my counterpart to see he's doing the same with some of his prep that "should" have lasted the night, but didn't.

I rush a plate to my expo and realize... I've caught up... there are no more tickets... I breath a sigh of relief, then more tickets come in... rat bastards...

After another hour at a more medium pace it's over.  I begin to clean up and realize my prep is wiped out.  Tomorrow will be a hard day of prep.  Before I even get a chance to ask, the boss who controls overtime like I hawk gives me permission to roll in early tomorrow.  

I spend a lot of time scrubbing my (at this point) very messy line, when I realize there is exactly one serving of lamb left, I cook it up to mid-rare for myself while I'm cleaning.  I offer half to my sautee wingman, but he's already chomping on a burger and says it's cool.  The cold side cooks can go fuck themselves.. this is hot-side lamb.

I go home... do a short workout and shower.  Basically i have about 30 min left with the wife before she goes to bed.