Externship week fifteen

Latkes we made on Friday

Back to the Root.

This week I moved back to the Root cafe just for three days. I supposed to be at a different cafe, but last Friday it was changed. It's a new feeling for me to be back at a cafe I was before. Everything is familiar. It looked like a break.

The chef was happy to see me as well as the team.





Monday

Beef tender with grilled lime

 I worked with protein. Accidentally it happened that it was the only protein entree for this day. We supposed to have fish as well, but it was not delivered. We had grilled petit tenders of beef, marinated and served with grilled limes and garlic chives. The beef was marinated last Friday. I had to cut garlic chives. Beef tenders were grilled, just to get grill marks and finished in the oven. Limes were cut in halves and grilled. During the service time I finished beef in the oven, let it rest, sliced, and plated on serving dishes. Service time was quite intense, since we had only one protein entree.
After lunch I work on pork patties. Minced pork was already mixed with aromatics and seasonings. All we had to do in to form balls and then flatten them on the sheet trays,

Tuesday

Squid ink risotto with
scrambled eggs

Together with another guy we worked on a complex dish. It was squid black ink risotto with scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. He made risotto, I was making scrambled eggs and we assembled individual plates for our guests. It was fun to do it this way. Scramble eggs were not difficult at all. Sautee shallots and garlic, add salmon, add liquid eggs, season with salt and pepper, add scallion, move eggs on the flat top until they are cooked.  During the service we had about 45 intense minutes and the it was very quiet.
In the morning I had to marinate chicken for tomorrow. I made marinade with chicken stock, apple sider vinegar, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.
After service I cleaned station where we were working. The last task for the day was to dice mushrooms using machine.

Wednesday

Latkes ready for baking

Was the last working day this week. The day was easy, quite unremarkable. In the morning I worked on latkes. Cauliflower, apple, cheese latkes were on the menu. We had to mix them well and tried to cook to get seasoning right. After the first two attempts the chef said more salt, more eggs, and more duck fat. The third one was right. The big decision was how to cook them. There were two options: in the oven and on the flat top. The chef decided in the oven. The very young sous-chef was not in agreement. She cooked just one latkes on the flat top and went to see the chef. When she came back her face was not happy, but she did not share the details. Latkes were cooked in the oven.
During the lunch time I deep fried vegetarian balls in the oil. At the beginning it was a disaster, they fell apart in the hot oil. After we added more flour everything was fine and the balls had a nice shape.
After the service we cleaned up a little bit (this kitchen is not crazy about cleaning) and left for a long weekend.