Externship week five

Zucchini stuffed and ready to be
cooked tomorrow

BA Catering this week.

This week there was another rotation for me and I have moved to Bon Appetite Catering. This department is quite different from cafes I worked before. There is no fixed time for service, but there is time to complete orders for different parties according to requests.

Monday
Monday was a bit relaxing as to compare with the previous four weeks. At the BA Catering that day was not busy. Also there was a new feeling for me as no time for a service. In the catering there are orders to be filled and all of them have different time. In the morning I made crostini. I had to slice thinly 12 baguettes, then season them with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and roast them in the oven. My next project, was
stuffed zucchini for tomorrow. I had to half thirteen (compare to the quantities at the previous places seems like nothing) zucchini, scoop the seeds and some flesh from inside, season them and roast a little bit (just to soften them a bit). Then I quartered button mushrooms, and sautéed them with onions and the  flash and seeds from zucchini. After that I mixed it with breadcrumbs and stuffed zucchini. The last project for Monday was to slice some deli meat (salami, mortadella, caponata, roast-beef).


Tuesday

Moon cakes unwrapped

Plated moon cakes

Another quite relaxing day, even though busier than yesterday. In the morning I had to julienne 2 gallons red onion, 2 gallons red bell peppers, and 2 gallons sliced mushrooms. These vegetables for tomorrow for pizza. Then I cut about 15 baguettes. We made garlic bread from 4 baguettes and the balance we will be using for cheese platters. The last task for today was moon cakes (I have never heard of these). These are asian cakes with pastry outside, lotus seeds paste inside. They are tasty, but too sweet for me. Also there salted egg yolks inside, in the middle of paste and that was definitely not my cup of tea. So all these wonderful cakes I had to unwrap (they were in a plastic bowls, wrapped individually), then cut for eight pieces each and plate on the platters. The total number was 140 for me and another 80 I left for the pm shift because my time was over (even worked extra 12 minutes and the system refused to clock me out - call supervisor).

Wednesday
It was a boring day. In the morning I had to finish cutting moon cakes (about 80 cakes) and the rest of the day I was dicing vegetables. One case of zucchini, one case of yellow squash, one case of eggplants, one bag of carrots, one bag of rutabaga, one case of fingerling potatoes. I did not have enough time to cut a case of yams, left it for somebody to do. Indeed it was unremarkable day, even nothing to take picture.
Also received a friendly (indeed) reminder to clock in on time after lunch. On Tuesday I was one minute late. My sous chef said he is cool with it, but the system monitored by HR. Today I was late again (ups, I did it again:-) so I decided to skip clock in after lunch. The system reminded me about that when I clocked out after my shift. Will try simply ignore the stupid machine tomorrow.

Thursday

Grilling sliders outside

Was a good day. In the morning I had to slice limes, lemons, and strawberries for flavoured water for drink. Then I moved to sliders for burgers. I had to took them from the boxes and line up on the sheet trays. The problem was to find sheet trays. There was a shortage of them, because of many events. Also due to really high volume we had a few temps (temporary people). For me it was good, as we were not as busy as Wednesday. Around lunch time I helped to complete an order for a party. After lunch I grilled sliders outside and it was the best part of the day. I had to grill them to get nice marks. We will finish cooking tomorrow. Even though there was hot outside, it was a great change.

Friday

Salad plated for a big party

Was an easy day this week. In the morning I had to make spiced ketchup (take ketchup and add sriracha sauce until it's spicy enough), then I had to do the same with aioli. The next task was gremolata. Chop garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. Mix everything together. Then we had to plate salads for 300 guests party. We had to mix salad greens with dressing, then a layer of the dressed greens on the plate, a layer of roasted vegetables (the veggies I cut Wednesday and they were marinated), another layer of greens, another layer of vegetables, on top of this crumbled feta  cheese. Then it happened that I had a discussion with the chef. He explained how the catering at the Bon Appetite works. Also we discussed what I want to do next week. I am not sure that it will be only what I want, probably something else as well. After lunch I cut some vegetables and did some small tasks.