Had a little accident at work…..food processor related….yikes. I’ll be fine…..one handed typing sucks. 2 fractured fingers and a chunk of my ring finger missing….. Great way to “ring” in the new year.
Thanks to everyone at Overlake Hospital, my family and friends for helping out.
This isn’t going to stop me
Eric
(the phone on my camera sucks……..ta-da!)
My favorite days at the restaurant are Saturday and Sunday. Lunch isn’t served on the weekend so we don’t get to do our normal orders for food. During the week we’re allowed to order anything off the menu which is great but that means the line cooks are going to cook…..not me 
Sunday has now become my day to cook staff meal and I’m loving every minute of it. In between the list of prep work I do I get asked by Pepe or Terrance to make something for us to eat. Do you know how nervewracking it is to cook for other Chefs? Do you know how much restraint I have to use not to fire off fresh seafood and make it a $1,000 lunch for the crew? Terrance always says I can use whatever I want for staff meal but I know that if I use certain products I’m going to hear about it for a long time….”Eric, why don’t we just eat filet mignon and lobster???” Oh, you’re being sarcastic……right.
I try to keep it very simple when I cook and try not to take all day making it. I give myself 35 minutes total to prep it out and have it cooking, then if it needs to cook for an hour or two then I can work on something else. The first time I made staff meal I made a “Holy Trinity Pasta with a Smoked Paprika Chicken Medallions”. It went over great so they asked me to make staff meal the next week. I brought things back to reality and made a Puerto Rican style arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), that went over well too! Last weekend I made a French Onion soup with Veal Stock base and Crab Stuffed Mushrooms with a lemon thyme vinaigrette (pictured). I don’t know what I’m going to make this weekend but I have a few ideas. Staff meal is awesome, it’s the only part of the week where I can cook what I want.
The other cooks/chefs there make some pretty damn good stuff for staff meal. Chef Lee makes an amazing egg foo young as well as other authentic Chinese dishes. Sergio made ground Kobe Beef Nachos that were the best damn nachos I’ve ever had. Terrance made a simple angel hair pasta with tons of basil and mozzarella cheese…..drool! I think the reason I love staff meal so much is because I get to see what everyone eats when they’re at home…..you get to understand people a lot more when they cook food they like. Oh, and anything Chef Joe! makes is awesome. He plates everything individually……f’ing bad ass. STAFF MEAL!!!
Eric
Let me just start off this whole post by saying thank you to Chef John Howie (thanks for the greenlight!), Chef Joe!, Chef Terrance Nishihira, Chef David, Chef Lee (makes the egg foo young I’ve ever had), and Chef DJ MacIntyre for putting me in front of the Bellevue crew. Also, big thanks to the rest of the crew in Bellevue for being extremely patient with me while I stumble through the kitchen and also for showing me the correct/faster way to cut an onion….and so much more (thanks Sergio!)
The following happened on December 10, 2009.
Ok, so you want to be a Chef one day? Well, it’s going to take a lot of listening, not much talking, and a lot of patience with yourself while you do everything wrong…over and over again until Chef says, “looks good”. Another thing, you’re going to need to start from the bottom. That whole “Chef” thing doesn’t just happen overnight. It happens at 6:12AM when I’m leaving each morning to drive from Federal Way to Bellevue (34 minutes without traffic…with traffic about an hour).
Traffic is a little tough sometimes. If I can leave early enough then I can get past the massive crowd of cars that is going to work from Tacoma to Seattle……I split off around the Sea-tac area and get onto 405 and head up to Bellevue. I used to do this drive a few years ago when I worked right up the street from Seastar as a loan officer, but I’m not going to talk about that….this is a fun post!
Sweet, traffic was smooth and I’m here just in time! Wash hands! Say hi to Chef Lee and his wife Wai. Then do the secret handshake hello with Alvaro, Sergio, and Jose. I walk over to my station with my knife bag and set it down and pull out the equipment I’m going to use. 10 inch Chef’s knife, pairing knife, steel, peeler, and ruler. I walk over to Chef David’s station and grab a spatula then walk over to the dish pit, taking my knives with me, and grab two measuring cups….a 1 gallon measuring cup and a 8 cup measuring cup. I wash my knives and place them in a steel container then walk back to my station and drop the knives off. I wash my hands then I check out my list to see what I’m going to be making.
Right as I’m reading the list Chef Lee says, “the mini cream is for a banquet and we rented the ramekins so use them”. 240! This is going to take a while…..I walk over to the hallway and see the milk crates containing the ramekins and I start to pull them out of their containers but I notice they’re a little larger than the mini ramekins we normally use…..this is going to take a little while longer! Chef Lee tells me that if we can’t get them done today we will be able to finish them the next day (Friday). He tells me to finish the 21 vanilla and 7 mixed creme brulee’s first before I begin the mini’s.
I place the ramekins in 4 inch deep hotel pans then move over to the oven and make sure it’s on and at the right temperature then I start pouring the mix in. There are two varieties that we serve at Seastar. The vanilla which does not skimp on vanilla awesomeness (I’m not going to give you the recipe but let me just tell you it uses extremely high quality vanilla) and a mix of vanilla and chocolate pot de creme (again, high quality ingredients).
It’s 7:35 and the creme’s are torched and ready to go in the oven. I fill the pans with water and close the oven. Check out that torch!!!!
7:37, seafood is in for the raw bar. I grab all the recipes for the day that I will need (I can recite the creme brulee recipe in my sleep. My name is on the recipe book….it’s temporary tape so I know I can easily be replaced. When it has my picture on it I’ll feel a little more secure.
I go to the walk-in to get ingredients for the blue cheese dressing and coconut pie filling (it takes a long time to cook so I will do this first) . On the way I drop off the empty containers for the creme brulee mix…..I’ll have to make a lot more mix later! I grab all the ingredients for the blue cheese dressing and then Sergio tells me we need to put away the produce and arrange the walk-in refrigerator. It’s 7:43.
All the prep cooks converge on arranging the produce and making sure the product in there is clean and organized! It’s 8:01.
This picture doesn’t do it justice, it’s a lot bigger in person. There is also a walk-in freezer inside of this area. It’s 8:09 and I walk out as the lobster delivery has arrived. The crew from the line has arrived a little earlier than I’m used to seeing them, I forgot there were three banquets that evening. The dishwashers are here too so the clinging and clanging of dishes and pots has officially started! I walk back to my station to work on the coconut pie filling and blue cheese dressing.
It’s 8:29 and the coconut pie filling is on the stove and will be there until it’s ready….how long is that? Until it’s ready!
At 8:44 I check the creme brulee’s and stir the coconut pie filling while I start un-packing the ingredients for the 4 gallons of blue cheese dressing I will be making.
It’s now 9:09 and I’m done making the blue cheese dressing. I have three different ways that I can make this. Sergio, Chef Lee, and Pepe taught me different ways but I stuck with Pepe’s way, it’s easier for me.
It’s 9:10 and it’s time to rotate the creme brulee in the oven. This is my most nerve-wracking event of the day. It’s a balancing act and the first 5 times I did it I broke out in a sweat and my hands would shake. Now my hands just shake but the sweating is gone. It’s not a terribly expensive product and not the end of the world but I hate messing things up. A few drops of the mix falling out of the pan as I turn it means I have to spend more time wiping the ramekins individiually after they are cooked (time that could be spent on something else more exciting than wiping a ramekin because I messed up).
I start working on the 3 cups of Herb Gremolata. Lots of mincing on the way. This one takes a little time because the parsley has to be minced, washed, and dried. The oregano is fresh and each leaf has to be pulled off the stem….this is time consuming!
It’s 9:45 and I stop to check the creme brulee, and add more water to the pot holding the coconut cream mixture. Back to mincing! It’s 10AM and the health inspector is making his rounds with his flashlight, camera, and even speaking Spanish to the crew….totally blew me away. Gremolata is done, I’m slow with mincing but I just want to make sure it’s uniform so I don’t hear about problems later. Also, I need a different knife for this….the Chef’s knife isn’t cutting it……..hahahaahahaahaa cooking joke or something…….alright not funny…yikes.
I take the Gremolata to the walk-in then make this little video at 10:22AM.
It’s 10:30AM, Chef David starts breaking down the cuts of fish for the sushi bar.
Start working on the Wasabi Sambal Olek Cocktail Sauce. Check out the creme brulee at 11:00 AM and it’s done so it’s time to pull them and let them cool before transferring them to a sheet pan and place in the walk-in so the line cooks can burn sugar on them later on tonight.
I wish I could have shown you the disasters I have had with these creme brulee’s. They are brutal to learn at first but I have the hang of it now……after a few hundred or so!
11:05, the meat guy is here to take Chef Lee’s order. It’s 11:15 and the cocktail sauce is done. Tranfer, label, and take to the walk-in.
At 11:25 I transfer the creme brulee’s then get them ready for 60 mini’s to go in the oven.
11:47, the mini’s are in and I walk over to Chef Lee to see if there is something else I can work on. He gives me some coconut pie crust and asks me to weigh 3 ounces from the batter then wrap it in a place them in a pan. At 12:36 I finish.
At 12:37 Chef Joe! drops off a Seared Ahi burger on my work station and asks me to try it…….Try it? I’m going to eat the whole thing!!!
12:41, I’m done eating (I eat fast..) and I go snap a picture of the line while they’re in the middle of lunch rush. I don’t know where to go that won’t get me run over so I snap a quick picture and get the hell out of there fast!
I start working on four pounds of pico de gallo for Chef Lee. I get my ruler and my 10 inch Chef knife and start my precision cutting action. This was one of the first salsas I worked on at Seastar. The first time I made it Chef Terrance walked up and told Chef Lee that it looked wrong……it was served for staff meal the next day and never saw the light of day……he handed me the ruler and said 1/4 inch means a 1/4 inch……
The first round of mini’s are done at 1:45 so I take them out of the oven, let them cool, then pour in another 60 into the ramekins then place them in the oven. At 2:22 the coconut filling is done so I pull it off the bain marie and place it on ice so it will start to thicken up even more than it already has.
At this point I’m starting to ask if anyone else needs anything while I’m finishing up the pico de gallo……4 lbs…….precision cuts…..takes forever!! I feel like I’m going so slow sometimes but it doesn’t matter, as long as the product looks great and tastes great then time doesn’t matter……I know one day the time thing will come into play more but for now it’s all about getting things right.
Pico is done at 3:00PM. I walk around and ask the other guys if they need me to help them out with anything. I check the mini’s and they’re not done yet so I start sweeping and cleaning my area. The cleaning thing is becoming a lot more easy for me. My mind travels at 1,000 MPH and sometimes I try to do too many things at once which leads to a messy work station……Nobody at Seastar appreciates that so I have done my best to keep things as clean as possible. Someitmes it’s tough, flour everywhere sometimes!
3:25 PM and the second round of mini’s are done. I cool them, transfer, and clock out and run out the door so I can get home, shower, and wait for Mindy to get home so we can go back to Seastar for dinner. I get home at 4:45PM and do a couple things around the house and then Mindy and I head out the door. We arrive at Seastar at 6:45PM.
Erik, the director of wine/sommelier, greets us with a little bubbly…A Duval-Leroy from Champagne, France. I need to start learning this whole wine thing…..
Jim, the server, greets us and Chef Joe! comes by the table to say hello. We talk a little bit and I start explaining the menu to Mindy. I look at it and notice that I have prepped a lot of the things on the menu…..I’m feeling pretty good.
I have two things that I want to try for appetizers. I watch Alvaro prep these stuffed calamari all the time and I have been waiting for a few weeks to try it so I order them….it’s spicy and I love it. Also, we order the deviled eggs, both varieties!
Putaportiwon’s Crispy Calamari Poppers
Tender calamari is stuffed with spicy ahi tuna, fried crisp,served with zesty slaw, grapes and lime.
Seastar Deviled Eggs
Spicy, creamy deviled eggs are topped with Truffled Ahi Tartare or Citrus Salmon Gravlox.
Erik has paired a couple wines for us to play off the deviled eggs and the spiciness of the calamari. I’m an idiot when it comes to wine so I forget to write the choices down. Yikes.
Mindy and I go over the menu and we have decided what we wanted. She’s going to eat the Lemongrass Seared Salmon with Szechuan Shrimp and I’m going to eat John Howie’s famous cedar planked salmon with smoked brocolli. We order and Jim asks us if we want a salad. I say, “uh, sure…….”. He says, “try the Five Spiced Smoked Duck with Walnuts and Chevre. Jim, that was a genius call my friend.
This is the best salad I’ve ever eaten. This is the gold standard for me from now on when it comes to salads. Why is it so good Eric? Try it for yourself then let’s talk. Amazing.
Mindy and I polish off the salad and just as that is happening Jim brings us the main course. I look at the dishes and I get a little shiver. I have just realized that I work at an amazing restaurant. I knew this before but sitting down at the restaurant is different than working in the back all day preparing the food. I rarely get to see the finished product in the prep area so seeing all these components come together is very surreal. I’m almost to the point of pinching myself……
Cedar Plank Roasted Red King Salmon
Pacific NW red king salmon seasoned with Chef Howie’s famous rub, roasted on a cedar plank to impart a subtle woodsy flavor, served with smoked broccoli and citrus rice.
Lemongrass Seared Salmon with Szechuan Shrimp
Flash-seared king salmon, sticky rice, red Thai curry sauce, sweet onion, bell peppers, onion and spicy Szechuan seared white gulf shrimp.
Mindy’s favorite thing to eat is Thai curry so she loved the dish. The salmon was perfect and the curry had the right amount of heat for her. The cedar plank seasoning was amazing and I’ll never eat brocolli that isn’t smoked, it just doesn’t match up to applewood smoked brocolli.
We’re in a little food coma at this point but we press on. Jim brings over the dessert menu but I already know what I want. I started the day making it so I order the mixed creme brulee with the chocolate pot de creme and vanilla cream. I’m looking over the menu and I see the truffles that I help Pepe with but I read the menu and it says, “take these home”. Alright, I will!
Jim, brings the last course to us as well as an espresso for me and a coffee for Mindy. We had to pick up a friend in Tacoma that night that was flying to Vietnam in the morning so the day was going to last a little longer than I thought.
Have no fear, Creme Brulee is here!!!! Nice to see you again! I made this little guy this morning so it’s nice to see the food follow me from start to finish. I’m so happy at this point and then Jim comes to the table and lets Mindy and I know that the meal has been taken care of by the Chef. It’s nice having perks Chef Terrance comes by the table and says hi to us then tells me not to call in late tomorrow…..haha.
We leave with a little bit of chocolate. We get home at 9:45 then leave to pick up our friend who has that flight tomorrow. I’m still in a little bit of a haze over what just happened. I work at a great restaurant…how did this happen?!?!?! Right off the bat! Crazy. I’m feeling pretty good about myself and the experience I just had with Mindy at Seastar. It was her first time there and my first time sitting in table to eat. Fantastic! The best part is we get to do it again soon at Chef John Howie’s new restaurant……John Howie Steak. It’s going to be epic!
I woke up the next morning and went to work. The first thing I did was start working on the mini’s again…..I had 60 of them in the tray then one of the trays toppled over…..10 of the ramekins broke…..they were rented…..I feel like a complete moron….I just mastered these things and now this!!!!! Oh well, it’s all part of this whole “Chef thing”.
Eric
School, work, catering gigs….oh my!
So things at work are moving along quite nicely. I asked for more shifts and they gave them to me, which is a great sign, and I have a few things in the works to bring you into the restaurant for a look to see what I do on a daily basis and also check out the menu! I have more stuff on the way for you with Chef John Howie’s restaurants so stay tuned! Plain and simple, we talked about my blog, he digs the idea and is going to let me do my blogging thing (click) at all of his restaurants
I have two more weeks left in the quarter for school then it’s a well-deserved break then right into quarter #3 where you will see the other side of Eric…..my baking and pastry side. Baking and pastry isn’t something I really like too much but it’s part of the big picture so I have to learn the basics. I’ll be taking introduction to baking and pastry as well as a Spanish class……..I think I’ll do ok in the Spanish class
I was hired for a catering gig this past Friday. After work I drove home, picked up my stuff and headed over to the gig. It was a group of guys that wanted me to cook for them. They’re old friends and one of them ended up being a French Chef from New York. I didn’t get a chance to really snap pictures but I did snap one of the meat and cheese course that I prepared for them.
The theme was Italian, so I chose all Italian meats , cheeses, and olives for this course. The next course was a small caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomato, and a chiffonade of basil served with a light red wine vinaigrette. For the next course I prepared a marinara on cappelinni pasta. Then came a light salad with a rosemary, thyme, and light lemon vinaigrette with toasted pine nuts. For the main course I served a veal parmesan with cabernet sauvignon pepper sauce with pan sauteed yellow and green zucchini with fingerling potatoes baked in a thyme infused olive oil covered with sel de mer. For dessert I served an espresso sorbet with candied lemon zest and a mini-tiramisu served in a ramekin. Lots of stuff but I had most of it prepped the day before and just fired off the meal at the house in about 45 minutes total. I had a lot of great compliments and suggestions and I’m just waiting for the next opportunity to do it again!
I have another busy week ahead of me so I’m not sure how many posts I’ll be able to get out. I have class on Mon/Tues. then I’m working a banquet for Seastar on Wednesday then normal work through Sunday with a catering gig for Seastar on Saturday evening. Busy busy! It doesn’t even feel like work. I don’t know why most of this stuff is happening to me but I’m not going to stop and ask questions. Let’s keep this going!
I bought a few new books over the past few weeks so I’ll let you know what they are so you can buy them for yourself……they are amazing!
Also, I have a few weeks off for a winter break so get ready for some madness!!
Eric
Picture taken in Seattle next to Sip on 5th Avenue.
I have had a crazy few weeks and things are about to get a little more intense. I’ve been working my ass off to make myself a great chef one day and while I’m not even close to where I want to be I am seeing progress with myself. My training wheels of standard cuts are about to start speeding up (I can look at cuts and tell you what size they are without measuring….took a few thousand cuts but I’m there now……the speed is coming!) and my knowledge of what size pots and pans to use for recipes is starting to come quicker as well (you might think that’s something stupid but it makes a huge difference when there are 5 pots on the burners and there can’t be a sixth one because the pot you chose is too big and will not let one of the other Chefs cook what he needs…..frustration with the new guy!).
I think the most interesting thing about all of this is that I have three different Chefs tugging at each other.
I have the cooking blog chef that can do no wrong….Nobody can tell me what to do because it’s my blog and it’s the food I make….muah hahahahahahaa! People hire me to cater for them, I make some money, and advertisers coming soon!!!! WORLD DOMINATION!!!
Then I move over to school Chef and I have lots of confidence there but there is a lot of biting my tongue and holding back my opinions about things…I’m there to learn, not teach. When I see someone doing something wrong I don’t say anything because when I do something wrong I don’t want to hear it either…funny how that works. I pay to be there.
Then I have at work Chef…..when I’m at work I probably say 15-20 words total throughout my shift. I’m very quiet there and I try to look around and learn as much as I can so I can apply it to the two other Chefs I have created in my own head. I get paid to learn the ways of Seastar, that’s it. Create their product, which is a great product, and do things the best way for the customer…not me….the customer!
All of these Chefs are me and one day I’ll be able to bring them together. Who knows, I might just like having three personalities in the kitchen, it’s probably a good thing
Just so you know, I’ll be out of town for a few days so I don’t know how the internet thing is going to be until I get there so don’t expect anything from me until Saturday……I do have a surprise for you though so stay tuned. Also, my mom is on a cruise in Europe right now so she’ll be back in a week with tons of pictures and she said she bought me a cookbook in Rome so that’s pretty damn cool. IxaRiveraCooks: WORLD TOUR!
Eric
Fuzzy picture taken at the Waterfront Grill with that amazing dessert. I’m hilarious…..Mindy laughs.
At Seastar there are probably 3-4 languages spoken between everyone there…….Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and English but there are a few words that everyone understands. BEHIND YOU, CORNER, HOT, TIMER!!! They all mean something and are all very important. Even if you can’t really understand what the hell the person is saying a lound yell means MOVE or WATCH OUT!
Oven to my work station, about 20 feet. 450F baking sheet with 49 cookies on it times 4 and extremely hot!!! I walk with it in my hands and the first thing I say is, “HOT”. Everyone looks around really quickly to see what it is and they each make a decision, stay put, move, or help out. The majority of the time it’s stay put and don’t move, which is the best choice.
I have this little mobile cart that I use to go from my work station to the walk-in refrigerator and I put all the stuff I’ll need on it for the next 2 or 3 recipes I’m working on. When I’m walking with my cart I have to yell, “CORNER”, when I’m coming close to a corner…..simple yes, but it’s very important that everyone knows I’m coming around that corner because if they don’t they’re going to eat a stainless steel cart or I’m going to eat 10 gallons of crab bisque if I’m not careful.
Walking behind someone…….BEHIND YOU!!! There is a lot of slicing, cutting, and pounding that goes on and if someone is cutting and they shift without knowing someone is behind them then they can cut themselves or you. So say something dammit!
There are more words and things that I’m learning as the days go by but it’s cool to yell things at work. I like yelling.
Eric
(Photo taken at the Waterfront Grill in Seattle, WA….post coming tomorrow…epic post)
So here I sit here in my Chef Pants, not kidding.
I started an online class through school that is for sanitation and safety. I’m not very happy that I have to take it considering I have all the permits I need already but the school requires me to take the class anyway…..so blah.
Wash your hands……wash that properly……..throw that gross crap away………ta-da!
At work, I have my own binder that store my recipes for my prep work….it even has my name on it I think things are going pretty great and I haven’t heard any problems come up with the food I have worked on so things are going great! I just need to get faster which is starting to happen. I started getting lists with 2-3 things but now I’m up to 4-6 which is awesome!
My knife cuts are starting to impress the hell out of me. I never thought in a billion years that I would be able to cut perfect squares….I know, it sounds weird but I don’t focus on perfect or pretty so when it happens I’m always surprised. Cool stuff! I’m going to start saving my daily prep lists and then post them on here so you can see what I’m up to. Unfortunately, I can’t post the recipes because they’re not mine but you can always visit the restaurant. I might not be there but if there is a sauce, salsa, or a larger dish that has some sort of base then there is a good chance that I prepped it or the other 5 prep cooks…..yeah, we’re a busy restaurant.
I have to finish one more question on this online thing so I’ll be back tomorrow later in the afternoon after work to post my recap of Lobsterpalooza at the Waterfront Grill……..A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
Eric
(Taken outside of the Showbox a few nights ago)
5 lbs. onions 1/4 inch dice, 2 lbs. green bell peppers 1/4 inch dice, 1 cup fresh thyme-leaves only minced (that’s about 150-175 stems of thyme), 25 gallons crab bisque, 200 cookies cut 1 1/2 inches by 4 inches then placed on a baking sheet……garnished with fancy sugar……….then baked, cups and cups of minced parsley…….if it’s on the list then I’ll do it!!!
My job as a prep cook is in full-swing at Seastar. I can almost lift things off hot surfaces without flinching! The blisters are becoming calluses and my knife is becoming much faster. I am still behind the pace of the other guys but I am starting to nail the recipes given to me and I don’t have as many people giving me their two cents before I finish something……it’s not a bad thing at all it’s just their experience vs. things I have learned along the way.
School taught me how to slice an onion. Seastar taught me how to slice it much faster. Two different techniques that are correct but one is much more efficient when you’re being paid to do something instead of paying to do something. I am struggling a little bit with class because of that, the pace is horrendously slow but I try to be patient with it. I’m not there to teach another student how to do something faster, I’m there to get my degree. That may sound a little harsh but I have different reasons for going to school than most/all of the other people there. I’m not going to get into it but let me just say this…..I owe it to a few people to make all of this happen.
My school issued chef knife isn’t holding up very well to all of this work. It chipped the other day and I fear it might have to be retired in another month. It’s not a big deal because I’m not thinking about replacing it with an expensive knife or anything like that. This won’t be the first time I’m going to replace a knife and it certainly won’t be the last. I laugh a little because a bunch of the guys in class are talking about all the different expensive knives they want to buy but the only thing I think is……who gives a shit, as long as it’s sharp then it’s fine with me.
I sharpen my own knives and I have gotten pretty good at it. Very unforgiving! A simple knick to the skin will send blood spurting out like it’s a scene in The Shining. It pisses me off when I knick or slice my hand because the first thing I think about is that I will have to wear gloves until the cut is healed. The reason why I cut myself is because I lose concentration for a second and that’s all it takes. It’s like a wide receiver in football that thinks about running before the ball is in his hand….he drops it, the crowd boos….I’m a Seahawks fan so I know this feeling. There is so much going on in a kitchen that the level of focus just to cut a celery root on a slicer then dice into 1/8 inch squares requires a bunch of focus. You either mess up the cuts and have to do it again, cut your hand, or you succeed and move onto the onions.
My second day at Seastar I was asked to cut up a pico de gallo that was going to go on a garnish for some sushi. I was just finishing up with mincing the jalapeno when one of my Chefs walked up to me and told another Chef, “Do you see what I see???”. The other Chef said, “yeah, it’s too big”. Then the first Chef said, “he needs to make it again and we’ll use that for staff meal”. Off by less than an 1/8 of an inch on all the cuts. I have a ruler next to me cutting board that was given to me and it’s out at all times. It’s one thing to do cuts for myself at home and at school but when a customer is paying for the food then you better be right.
All this repetitive cutting is making me much more efficient with my knife. I can look at something then send the 10 inch blade down and then it comes out exactly how I wanted it to. Yes, it takes me a second or two extra than the next guy but when the product is done I don’t have Chefs telling me I was off. They say good job and let me move on with my list. I get my own list of things to do now. The first week and a half I would be assigned to work with someone else but now when I come in I have a list of 4-6 things that I work towards then when I’m done I ask around to see who else needs help. It’s so cool finishing the list early but I know that the things I’m finishing aren’t really ground breaking things either. Making dressings, soup bases, sauce bases, and the first few steps to finishing a component on a dish……I get it….I prep and I love it.
Sorry for the long rant. Normally when I see posts this long my A.D.D. kicks in and I skip to the next one so I completely understand if you don’t get this far. Anyway, school tomorrow……have to finish some recipes.
Eric
Scary Maximus/Minimus!
I got my first paycheck as a cook in a restaurant today! Of course I had to go celebrate so I went over to the Pork and Gourds event at the Queen Anne Farmers Market. Maximus/Minimus is shutting down the pig for the season so I had to order my last pork maximus of the year.
Today I helped make a veal stock that we started yesterday then turned it into a demi-glace today. We also made a few salad dressings and a thai soup that is to die for. I’m starting to get through my list a little quicker which is really nice…..a lot of that has to do with learning where everything is located. Do I go to the walk-in refrigerator for this is or is it in dry goods? Sounds simple enough but sometimes we use some ingredients that I’m not really familiar with or even heard of. Today’s new ingredient: Pickapeppa Sauce! Never heard of this stuff before but it smelled damn good and it was a small component in a much larger sauce.
One of the things I keep looking forward to is my bosses concoctions in the kitchen. He is from Hong Kong and has worked for the owner of Seastar for 18 years. Everyday he has something up his sleeve for lunch or for us to try before/after lunch. Today was a fantastic egg foo young which was like no other egg foo young I had ever had….probably because it was an authentic recipe. Amazing! These little off the side experiences and tips are starting to make everyday seem like Christmas morning for me. I don’t have to cook! I can just sit back and watch the masters do it and learn from them!
Eric
Tom the Pom loves my new Chef coat.
I worked along side Chef DJ MacIntyre from the Seattle Seastar a couple of times for school events. We talked a little bit and he asked me to come in for a banquet then he referred me over to the Bellevue location because they had more time available for me. Just like that, I’m working in a restaurant!
I do prep which consists of getting everything ready to cook for lunch and dinner. Lots of cutting, sauces, stocks, and just about every other finishing or beginning component to a dish. We’re not the rock stars, we’re the guys that put the elbow grease in and get dirty…..well, especially me since I”m pretty clumsy in the kitchen.
One of the things about being a prep cook that I wasn’t prepared for was the hours I would work. My whole schedule was based on evenings but that’s not when prep cooks work! I wake up at 5AM on Thursday-Sunday in order to get to work by 7AM then my shift goes until 3PM. It’s pretty cool because I have the rest of the day to do stuff but by the time 9PM comes around I’m tired. I don’t complain about it because there are other guys there that work 3-4 doubles a week at different restaurants so if I come in there and say, “I’m tired”, I’m sure I would catch a lot of flack.
The first thing I did that was a very smart move when I started there was just shut up. Nobody wants to hear about my blog, trips, or school. I know that’s a little harsh but I didn’t want to come in and be the guy that was there to show up anyone. I’ve been in school for about a quarter and over the last ten months I have taken cooking seriously. There are guys that I work with that have been doing this over 20 years and they put me to shame when it comes to everything in the kitchen. They say something and I say, “ok…..let’s do it!”.
I was cutting onions on the first day and I was quickly stopped and told a different way…..a much quicker way! Being in the restaurant a few days taught me something about school…….they’re defnitely are teaching us the classical way to do things which equals slow. Slow can be good but when you have to chop up 5 pounds of onions that need to go into a sauce that will make 5 gallons…..well……that school slicing technique doesn’t work. Mincing garlic by hand? That’s hilarious! It’s called a Robot Coupe and it’s a food processor that’s on crack! Dump in about 5 pounds of garlic and 10 minutes later you’ll have nicely minced garlic. I can’t tell you how many hours I practiced mincing a shallot…….guess what, Robot Coupe. Let me go back a little bit with this…..it’s not about quicker….it’s about smarter….it’s about managing your time in the best way possible. I get paid to do this so why do I need to finely mince shallots the school way when I could do it in 3 minutes in a Robot Coupe and work on something else.
Seastar is busy. They post their food costs for the year and I hear about the previous nights and they are always busy. Bellevue is the king of the eastside and is quickly growing into what I call The Beverly Hills of the Northwest. It’s where things happen. Microsoft is starting to put their name on every skyscraper there and there was a new shopping mall that was built called the Bravern that houses Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, and just about everything else I can’t afford……I can’t even afford to window shop there.
So here I am…..low man on the totem pole at a great restaurant. I wanted this and I got it. It’s a great start and I look forward to waking up everyday and going to work. Mix it with school and this blog and now I’m living this whole culinary thing to the fullest extent.
Good stuff!
Eric
