Externship week four

Moving forward, moving faster...

It was the second week at Hang Out. This week was a week of driving. On Monday I brought my car to the service, as somebody hit a passenger door. The dent was really small, but noticeable and since my car is in lease, I had no choice but to repair it (through insurance). So I brought my car and they gave me a rental one for the time being. Tuesday I drove to work because I had rental car with unlimited mileage. Wednesday I drove rental car again, because I had to pick up my car after work. Thursday I had big plans to go to Costco and BevMo. Costco did not work that day, but BevMo did. Friday I was a bit late in the morning and instead of rushing for shuttle I decided to drive and go to Costco after work.

At work Tuesday was not
a great day at all. I had to work vegetable station and the lead cook there does not speak English. May be because of language barier or something else, but he thought that I am his new prep cook. That was not cool for me. I spoke with sous chef (she was not helpful) and with the chef. May be I was not clear enough or may be was not able to clear explain to him what I was looking for. My idea was that you do not need to attend a culinary school to be a prep cook. I asked him if possible to work on a dish from start to finish. On Wednesday I finally got a 'project' from the beginning to the end. On Friday the chef gave me a good evaluation for these two weeks and also said that it was miscommunication and now we are cool.

Monday
That day I worked with Shishito peppers. We received five boxes (big ones) and the chef said that he did not expect boxes to be that size. I had to wash them, then season with salt and oil. Close to the service I grilled them and served. Also there were a lot of small preparations for the vegetable station.

Tuesday
I suppose to be with protein team, however in the morning they said my help is not needed, so it was vegetable station again. The dish was mashed potatoes with garlic infused olive oil. I hoped at least to do this from A to Z. So I peeled 50 pounds of potatoes and steamed it till done. Lead cook was not able to explain the process and he was pissed off because of that. So he finished the mashed potatoes and I was standing and watching him (by the way he put way too much oil). After my break around 11:30 I was sent to help protein teams (finally!). The task was to sear trout on the flat top. Trout we received was already filleted so we cut each filet in three pieces. The task was to season it with salt and pepper and then sear one side only till golden colour and crispy skin. There were about 50 pounds of trout and it took approximately one hour to sear all of it. After that I was finishing cooking in the oven and serving it. After lunch we did clean up and prep for the next day.

Wednesday

Turkey meatballs with burrata cheese

Finally there is a project to do. That was turkey meatballs. We mixed ground turkey with fine cut vegetables (onion, celery, carrot), add salt, breadcrumbs, eggs, soy sauce, molasses, chopped herbs and mixed everything. Then it was a big task to form meatballs. I used an ice cream scoop to for it. There were 22 sheet trays with 40 meatballs on each (almost 900). For the service we baked them, plated on serving dishes and added burrata cheese on top (burrata cheese is very fresh mozzarella). That was an interesting day and I believe the chef was pleased with meatballs. After lunch I cut mirepoix for the next day and seared meat for braising for tomorrow.

Thursday

Tasting plate for squid dish

It seemed that the chef understood what I was looking for and I got another project. That time is was squid dish. I had to slow roast two cases (12 pints each) cherry tomatoes (first to clean them) with olive oil and salt. Then slice 12 bulbs of fennel and also roast it with salt, pepper, and oil. The last component was olives. We chopped them very coarsely and mixed with chopped parsley, sherry vinegar, and olive oil.  Squid was already cleaned, so all what I had to do was to open packages and let it drain. During service I sautéd squid on a huge flat top with oil. As the chef explain single layer of squid to the flat top and do not touch for 3-4 minutes, so squid will get caramelization. Then move it for another 1-2 minutes and done. To assemble I tossed squid with roasted tomatoes, roasted fennel, olives, and a dash of sherry vinegar, and served on the serving platers. There were a lot of steps and the dish was quite popular.

Friday

Tasting plate for steak
(plating was not mine)

That was quite relaxing day, except for the service time. I helped a bit with preparation in the morning. Cut mirepoix, chopped parsley, some other small tasks. During the service time I was plating a steak dish. Steak was grilled to get grill marks. My task was to finish steak in the oven (4 minutes at 400 F), then slice it on a bias, top with slow roasted tomatoes, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top with charred arugula. The dish was really popular and I had to move really fast. However steak was 'sold out' in 45 minutes and we had to take it off the menu. A few people noticed how sharp my slicer was (indeed it's really sharp). Another guy next to me was slicing turkey and he had to make a few movements. When I helped him after steak was over, I had to make only two. They believe that this is because I have expensive knives and not because you should sharpen knives often... I had an evaluation with the chef and he gave me great review and marks. And that was it for now. On Monday I am moving to another place for the next two weeks.

P.S. The recipes for turkey meatballs and squid dish are in work right now. I am going to include them in my externship manual and going to publish them soon...