Happiness is Becoming A Kitchen Ninja: Day 1

Friends, your good friend Sarah finished her first day working under a 3 Michelin star Chef yesterday.  I am so tired and so happy, I just have to write down a few things I remember from yesterday before I forget.

 

I put in a 12 hour day doing all the things that students in the kitchen do:  I used a mandolin to shave about 650 brussel sprouts into salad.  I pulled leaves off at least 500 stems of thyme.  I cut up 10 pounds of butter into 1cm cubes so that the Chefs cooking on the line had them ready to use.  I prepped pears for sauté in pear liqueur, pear cider, pear vinegar and cinnamon sticks, to be finished with brown butter.  I made sugared demi-sec grapes, prepped in a simple sugar syrup.  I learned how to make the “everthing” crumble that is served over the smoked salmon (hint: it tastes like an Everything New York Bagel and is used for counterpoint crunch on the salmon.  Super cool!) 

 

I learned how to properly label containers of food in multiple coolers---and the specific names of each of the coolers.  The labels, which are simply masking tape and black Sharpie markers, have to be the exact same size, with perfectly squared off tape.  The date format has to be “11-23” or “11/23” instead of my usual 23NOV2013 which I use in my medical compliance world. If your labels are not perfect, you go back into the cooler, and you make them all over again, and you make sure they are perfectly aligned and square.  The labels.  Even the labels in this kitchen are perfect, every day, every time.  And if you walk into a cooler and something is NOT labeled, your job is to go in every day and label everything that is not.  Your job is to take the Fuji apples/brussel sprouts/lemons/pineapples/leeks/ broccoli/purple broccoli and all of the other 400 things in the produce cooler and put them into smaller bins (labelled perfectly, of course), so that the older produce is always used first, and so that space is used perfectly.

 

Chef expects us to never leave a towel on the counter---those belong hanging on your apron, perfectly folded, of course.  Chef expects us to work “clean” which means that even if you are picking leaves off of thyme, you must put that thyme on a tray, and you must have a little “hotel pan” (metal pan) for the stems you already plucked and will throw away.  You must make sure your work station is clean, clean, clean, without little leaves falling everywhere.  You must wipe down, wipe down and wipe down again, always, over and over, to make sure your food does not touch other people’s prep.  You must never, ever forget to clean your knives and work area and take a new board if you work with raw meat or fish, and you must clean, clean, clean in between every new task you take on. 

 

I learned how to scrub down a kitchen, including where the garbages are.  This kitchen scrubs down the entire place multiples times a day, so it is not like there is garbage stuck on from months ago, but it is not pretty to climb in and under the under-counter cubby hole spots where 3 different garbages are, and to scrub them out.  Not only do you scrub them out, but you have to scrub in one direction every time, so that even the stainless steel scratches are in alignment and not circular.  Then, after scrubbing, you wipe it down with a towel, so there are no spots of water….under the counter, where the garbages are.  THAT is how detailed the cleaning process is.

 

Garbages are not so bad, though, compared to cabbage. My worst moment was whenI learned how to not just chiffonade cabbage, but to shave it with a knife.  Let me just tell you, Friends, I got that wrong, so very wrong, as my cabbage was cut just a little too thick, even though I thought I had proper technique.  Three different Chefs tried to help me---including the Chef de Cuisine.  This is a moment where your breath stops, the kitchen gets quiet as they all wait to see if you can hack it and what Chef says to you, and you just listen and watch and try your very best to hold the knife just right as he watches you, throws your cabbage in the trash and says (in a very patient way, but also expecting excellence), “Do it again.”  And so, I did.  But I got it wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and so I did it again.  And again.  And again.  And again.  And I will go buy myself new Japanese knives and 4 heads of cabbage in order to practice, practice, practice this in my New York apartment so that I get it RIGHT and become, as Chef says, “The Kitchen Ninja I am going to make you into by the time you leave,” as he pats me on the arm and gives me a look that makes me know he means it, and he will.  The grin on my face could not have been bigger.  I want to be a Ninja.  I want to make him proud, and I want to hold up my place on the team and make them feel they can count on me.  I want to make myself proud, too, in mastering these seemingly simple tasks and making my cabbage (which goes underneath the actual food people eat and it not even anything you would eat)---perfect---every day, every time.

 

This was my first day.  I am learning the basics as they all assess my skills (which are sorely lacking).  I speak menu, and I can judge the execution and flavor of dishes pretty well given the 20 years of business travel and meals I have enjoyed, but my execution needs a lot of work.  I am lucky, so very lucky, to be with a team that absolutely loves what they do and know how to inspire me to be the best I can be.  I am so very tired, and I am so very happy.  Today I am so thankful for the team at La Belle Vie, Haute Dish, Restaurant Alma, Dakota, I Nonni, Red, Bar La Grassa, and Moto for letting me into their kitchens and teaching me so many things so that I could have this chance.  Without them, I would not be here, having the little dream of my life happen.  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever forget the good people who help you on your way, and never, ever, ever forget to thank them for it, Friends, because they did not have to help you, but they did, and that is awesome, and that is wonderful, and that is a gift.

Friends, when you do what you love, even scrubbing down the garbage areas and shaving cabbage is a joy, because you become proud of the work area and the work that you do.  This is me.  I am well on my way to being a Kitchen Ninja.  First, though, I am going to practice my cabbage shaving, so wish me luck with that.

 

Sending lots of love from New York, and counting the moments until I am back in the kitchen,

Your Good Friend Sarah