week 4 Kitchen
This week I rotated in the kitchen through Garde Manger, AM hot foods, Pastry, PM hot foods and the omelet hot action station, which was part of AM hot foods. I learned a lot and it was very interesting how each area worked and how the other positions I have already been trained in relate to the different areas in the kitchen. I am sure I could have learned more in each area if I had more than one day there but it was sufficient enough and I got to ask as many questions as I wanted.
Garde Manger was very labor intensive.
I trained with Adrian, who showed me how each day was set up on paper and how it was completed through the day. The morning consisted of filling up breakfast fruit plates to par, checking lunch pars and filling them, making fruit cocktail for a conference group of 60 people, and changing the containers from breakfast when it was over. Most of the afternoon, I prepped cantaloupe, honey dew and pineapple for the next few days. Then I cut romaine lettuce for the salads and used one of the biggest salad spinners I have ever seen. Once the list is done for the day the shift is over.
AM hot foods started at 6AM, went through lunch and ended around 3:30PM. The hot action station, in the hearth, was where I was trained. I followed Tony, who walked me through the omelet station, waffle and fresh juice setups. After setting up, I made two fresh juices, mixed fruit and celery-cucumber. The rest of the hearth is set with fresh berries, waffle toppings, and oatmeal toppings. I had many egg white omelet requests and found that they are more difficult to make than whole egg omelets. At 10, Breakfast is broken down and Lunch is set up. Wednesday’s hot action station includes fresh hot sandwiches made to order. The choices of pastrami, ham, turkey, and roast beef were available. I found many vegetarians asking for veggie sandwiches and a few people complaining about the lack of protein and overabundance of carbohydrates and starches. The shift ended around 3:30 after cleaning up the hearth.
I had a lot of fun in Pastry. I have always been interested in desserts and pastries and it was fun to see how everything was prepped and how to make a few recipes. While I was there, I sheeted frozen pastries for breakfast, made muffins, scones, macaroons, and devils food sheet cake. Margaret, the executive pastry chef, was impressed with my quick conversions. I also assisted in lifting a giant cake for a bat mitzvah on Saturday. I was a little nervous moving such a large cake. Baking is another time consuming area. The muffin mix was very quick, however, scooping the muffin mix into the pans and putting on the topping took a little longer. I also had not worked with a pastry bag in a while so piping out macaroons defiantly took a while. It was fun using 20 quart, 30 quart, and 60 quart mixers, as I have not had much experience with them.
Friday night really started in the afternoon around 2. Tim showed me what to do for the evening. I put frozen hors d'oeuvres on sheet trays for the bat mitzvah and another party on Saturday. Some had to be browned in the deep fryer. Then I breaded 80 chicken breasts with panko porcini breadcrumbs. I then cooked off the chicken and put it on sheet pans to be finished in the oven the next day.
Saturday the hearth was closed because the restaurant was installing sneeze guards. The breakfast buffet was set up in one of the ballrooms, and I was in charge of the omelet station. Jose showed me how to set it up at 6AM. At 1030, breakfast was over and I broke down the station. After the cart was restocked for the next day, I helped prep vegetables for the next day. I cut 10 pounds of zucchini, yellow squash, and button mushrooms. Then I julienned onions and rewrapped lunch items for the cafeteria. I then helped plate entrees for the two events. The shift ended at 4 but I had to stay until all plates went out, around 4:15. It was a very long 10 hour day with no lunch break.
This week was fun with a few exceptions. I really enjoyed working in Pastry. The other areas seemed not worth the hassle-- too much work in very little time.