Reason number one of why I won't be a prep cook at Cafe C_____ this time tomorrow.
The first day at Cafe C_____ was fine: typical first day jitters left me with two substantial cuts, one on each hand. I managed to do pretty well, enjoyed myself for the most part, loved the hectic lunch time pace in which we did 147 covers in just over two hours. Primarily I was prepping vegetables and salad greens. See, Cafe C_____ does not actually serve fresh food. The food is prepped for re-heating the shift prior. In other words, dinners are prepped at lunch, lunches are prepped at dinner. If you order french onion soup, it was made last night - at best. Most of the date labels I saw on things went back anywhere from 3 to 5 days.
One specialty of the house is what I will refer to as 18-hour quail. I am not familiar enough with the recipe to say exactly what goes into it, but the marinate is fairly simple. Pull a case of frozen quail from the freezer and leave it in an 80 degree basement for 18 hours, then cook and serve. Sound good? Consider the natural sauce that is created by sitting for so long. Salmonella and campylobacter. Not exactly healthy.
Reason 1) It Should Be Fine.
At 2pm on Tuesday, the sous asked me to pull the quail from the freezer and leave it on a counter near the walkin fridge. Done. The next morning, when I went to pick up the lunch items for prep, I noticed the quail was still on the counter, surrounded by flies, and at room temperature. I informed the line cook that the quail had been sitting out all night. Not a good sign, he agreed. When he told the head chef about it, she shrugeed and said, it should be fine.
Reason 2) Nothing Is Particularly Clean.
In the 20 some odd hours I've logged, I have not seen a dish or utensil or piece of equipment sanitized. The service bins are coated with a black grime. The once white cutting boards are scarred and deep brown. Plastic cutting boards are about $20. Buy Some.
Reason 3) Cooling Soup Next To The Dish Pit.
Yesterday, the head chef made a 5 gallon pot of black bean soup, then took it off the stove and left it too cool next to the dish pit. That I noticed, there is no magical fucking force field around the dish pit, but there is a 4 foot radius of standing water around it. I imagine the soup got a good portion of soap, dead food and mildew spalshed in for flavor during the hour or so that it sat.
Reason 4) I Am, At Last Check, A Human.
Today, having finished my workload more quickly than expected, I asked the sous for something to get started on. She called over the head chef, and they began to have a conversation about what HE could do, as though I wasn't there and did not have a name anyway, so who gives a shit about the guy?
Reason 5) I Would Never Eat At The Restaurant. I turned down food each day for the above reasons.
I could go on, but I think my case is strong enough. Not every kitchen will be as clean and by-the-book as CCA, and few chefs will win congeniality awards, but I draw the line at 18-hour quail. I will find a job at a restaurant that at least makes an attempt to keep its customers safe from food borne illness. I'll also find a place that does more than reheat food.
Yes, I'm a little disappointed by the experience, and left a little jaded, but thems the breaks. You know what? Fuck them. I proved something: I love working in a busy kitchen, a kitchen being slammed with orders. And when all hell is breaking loose, I get shit done.
Today was also day one of Skills Final. Pork chop with Chasseur, broccoli, pommes duchesse and tabouli salad. It was a good day. My partner this time around was Jessica, one of the handful of women in the class. I haven't received the scores yet, won't until tomorrow, but our chop was cooked perfectly, even though the grill marks weren't perfect. And we put out the best tabouli salad in the class, by a long shot.
Tabouli salad is pretty bland stuff by the book. Bulgar wheat, tomato concasse, cucumber, parlsey and mint. Mix it all up, take it to chef. Blah. I thought we could keep the tabouli and vegetables layered, molded in a dough cutter. Our tabouli stood about 4 inches high, perfectly layered, with a final tumbling of tomatoes and cucumber around it. To spice it up a bit, I made a garlic and parlsey infused olive oil (boil olive oil for a few minutes with anything, cool it down, and it will take on any flavor you want) to drizzle around the plate. It was a pretty dish, it tasted perfect, and chef loved the presentation. Overall, I expect us to get a 97 or 98 on this part of the final. Tomorrow is salmon poached in court boullion, tourned zucchini, rice pilaf and a cous cous. The cous cous is a free for all dish, and right now I'm thinking roasted red pepper chutney. Jessica has a recipe for an apricot something or other, so we'll see what we end up with.
Tomorrow is our last day with Chef Jackson and Associate Chef Dylan. I'm glad to be moving on in the program, but I'll miss them. For the next 6 weeks I'll be in butchery at the North Campus,waist deep in blood.
The first day at Cafe C_____ was fine: typical first day jitters left me with two substantial cuts, one on each hand. I managed to do pretty well, enjoyed myself for the most part, loved the hectic lunch time pace in which we did 147 covers in just over two hours. Primarily I was prepping vegetables and salad greens. See, Cafe C_____ does not actually serve fresh food. The food is prepped for re-heating the shift prior. In other words, dinners are prepped at lunch, lunches are prepped at dinner. If you order french onion soup, it was made last night - at best. Most of the date labels I saw on things went back anywhere from 3 to 5 days.
One specialty of the house is what I will refer to as 18-hour quail. I am not familiar enough with the recipe to say exactly what goes into it, but the marinate is fairly simple. Pull a case of frozen quail from the freezer and leave it in an 80 degree basement for 18 hours, then cook and serve. Sound good? Consider the natural sauce that is created by sitting for so long. Salmonella and campylobacter. Not exactly healthy.
Reason 1) It Should Be Fine.
At 2pm on Tuesday, the sous asked me to pull the quail from the freezer and leave it on a counter near the walkin fridge. Done. The next morning, when I went to pick up the lunch items for prep, I noticed the quail was still on the counter, surrounded by flies, and at room temperature. I informed the line cook that the quail had been sitting out all night. Not a good sign, he agreed. When he told the head chef about it, she shrugeed and said, it should be fine.
Reason 2) Nothing Is Particularly Clean.
In the 20 some odd hours I've logged, I have not seen a dish or utensil or piece of equipment sanitized. The service bins are coated with a black grime. The once white cutting boards are scarred and deep brown. Plastic cutting boards are about $20. Buy Some.
Reason 3) Cooling Soup Next To The Dish Pit.
Yesterday, the head chef made a 5 gallon pot of black bean soup, then took it off the stove and left it too cool next to the dish pit. That I noticed, there is no magical fucking force field around the dish pit, but there is a 4 foot radius of standing water around it. I imagine the soup got a good portion of soap, dead food and mildew spalshed in for flavor during the hour or so that it sat.
Reason 4) I Am, At Last Check, A Human.
Today, having finished my workload more quickly than expected, I asked the sous for something to get started on. She called over the head chef, and they began to have a conversation about what HE could do, as though I wasn't there and did not have a name anyway, so who gives a shit about the guy?
Reason 5) I Would Never Eat At The Restaurant. I turned down food each day for the above reasons.
I could go on, but I think my case is strong enough. Not every kitchen will be as clean and by-the-book as CCA, and few chefs will win congeniality awards, but I draw the line at 18-hour quail. I will find a job at a restaurant that at least makes an attempt to keep its customers safe from food borne illness. I'll also find a place that does more than reheat food.
Yes, I'm a little disappointed by the experience, and left a little jaded, but thems the breaks. You know what? Fuck them. I proved something: I love working in a busy kitchen, a kitchen being slammed with orders. And when all hell is breaking loose, I get shit done.
Today was also day one of Skills Final. Pork chop with Chasseur, broccoli, pommes duchesse and tabouli salad. It was a good day. My partner this time around was Jessica, one of the handful of women in the class. I haven't received the scores yet, won't until tomorrow, but our chop was cooked perfectly, even though the grill marks weren't perfect. And we put out the best tabouli salad in the class, by a long shot.
Tabouli salad is pretty bland stuff by the book. Bulgar wheat, tomato concasse, cucumber, parlsey and mint. Mix it all up, take it to chef. Blah. I thought we could keep the tabouli and vegetables layered, molded in a dough cutter. Our tabouli stood about 4 inches high, perfectly layered, with a final tumbling of tomatoes and cucumber around it. To spice it up a bit, I made a garlic and parlsey infused olive oil (boil olive oil for a few minutes with anything, cool it down, and it will take on any flavor you want) to drizzle around the plate. It was a pretty dish, it tasted perfect, and chef loved the presentation. Overall, I expect us to get a 97 or 98 on this part of the final. Tomorrow is salmon poached in court boullion, tourned zucchini, rice pilaf and a cous cous. The cous cous is a free for all dish, and right now I'm thinking roasted red pepper chutney. Jessica has a recipe for an apricot something or other, so we'll see what we end up with.
Tomorrow is our last day with Chef Jackson and Associate Chef Dylan. I'm glad to be moving on in the program, but I'll miss them. For the next 6 weeks I'll be in butchery at the North Campus,waist deep in blood.
