Certified

Officially certified in culinary arts!

It means I have some basic level of competency in professional cooking, but it also means I have years of hard work ahead.

Thank you all for the love and support during this process. This blog has been a great accompaniment to my education.

However, I must now focus on developing my skills, offline.

Wishing all food lovers the best.
Happy Eating!

Picture: Special off-the-menu dessert platter at L’Espalier.

Valentine’s Day Prep Underway

This Valentine’s Day weekend (Friday – Monday) will bring 700+ covers to the restaurant.

Tons of preparations were churned out all through the week. Usually by dinner service time, the back prep area is cleaned up with sparse activity but this past week saw mad action from savory and pastry departments from both restaurants (L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre Back Bay are connected behind the scenes!). Think mounts of lamb saddles, beef ternderloins, produce, cookies, and cakes.

How have I contributed? Oh, only 10 gallons of ice cream. (Macaron and Meyer Lemon)

 

Dessert Menu

I have tasted almost every component of the following, and they are delicious.
Presented on large white plates, each dessert comes with a range of colors and textures, and key distinction — not cloying.

 

Apple tarte Tatin, kataifi nest, Earl Grey mousse, butterscotch cream; sticky bun ice cream

Tiramisu: epresso chicory curd, malt foam; cardamom mascarpone ice cream

Chocolate-praline gateau, blood orange fluid gel, wafer streusel; fruit of cocoa ice cream

Sachertorte souffle, panna cotta; vanilla ice cream

Aerated chestnut cake, chestnut curd, orange sassafras fluid gel, sesame oil foam; coconut lime sorbet

Compressed Asian pear, tonka bean mousse, chocolate canneles; pear jasmine sorbet

Chocolate banana macadamia bread pudding, creme anglaise; milk chocolate sorbet

Trio of assorted glaces

Jiho’s tasting for two

Work on the Sweet Line

Pastry department is indeed very different from the savory side. In pastry, the entire team works together as one unit where as savory walks around like Voltron — each unit operating on their own until the assembly during service. The staff’s work style, pace, and personalities are all different between the two departments.

Starting at 7am, the morning shift begins prep. From bread baking to cakes and sauces, a lot of elements are carefully produced. The dinner shift folks come in early afternoon, helps finish up the prep list, sets up for service, then do final plating during dinner service.

I love it when there’s a party and the composed plates lined up looking all nice. (This is also true of savory dishes but they were always sent off right upon completion, hard to photograph).

Cheese Plate
3 cheeses accompanied by apricot, candied walnuts, and French baguette

Party Dessert
flourless chocolate decadence cake, white chocolate powder, wafer crumbs, crimson berry sauce, panna cotta topped with orange foam, (and macaron ice cream right before service)

Pastry Week

With only 2 weeks left in my internship, I’m seizing the opportunity to gain some experience at our acclaimed pastry department.

A whole new process and a whole new set of required skills — perfect for my pursuit of “never-boring.”

Think plated desserts with 5+ elements, sweet treats with powders, foams, and the occasional liquid nitrogen.

Measurements and printed recipes. Definitely different from the savory side, but welcomingly familiar.

The Prep List Keeps Changing

Everyday, the prep list doesn’t seem to end and it keeps changing.

The cold station has a handful of dishes to churn out but the complete prep list goes on over 50 easily. The good news is not every single item has to be perform everyday. But the challenge is to properly communicate from day to day, and from person to person.

Since my first day on the station, the list has changed over 45%. How’s that for never boring?

I like making to-do lists and now it’s become a requirement. Btw, cooks don’t all have good handwriting. Knife skills = motor skills =/= hand writing skills.

Some Days Suck

I guess it’s like any job — some days just suck.

Mostly it’s people. I already know this and thank god I’ve had some experience dealing with people. All I tell myself constantly is to think positive. Getting yelled at twice a day is not so much fun, even if the yelling is not baseless.

I shall be more careful in how I treat people once I got to a senior status.

Salute to all the peeps laboring at the very bottom.

Schedule Rundown

Here’s the rundown of a typical dinner shift.

1:00pm — commence prep work for service

3:30pm — family meal

4:00pm — line area scrub down

5:30pm — service begins

9:30pm — (varies depending on the night), end of service breakdown

10:30pm — (varies depending on the night), final scrub down

There is also constant prepping for the next day and planning ahead and organizing.
There is no such thing as standing around idle.

Rethinking Seasonal Menus

I’ve said that I like restaurants with seasonal menus. I said that when I was just a budding food snob and I’ve said it in the context of exploring future employment opportunities. But now that I’m actually in a restaurant that offers a seasonal menu, I wonder if I should eat my words.

Case in point: 2 weeks into my internship, I’m becoming more apt at owning my station, and then the menu changes!

Okay, it’s not that dramatic, only one menu item changed but still, we’re talking about finally mastering a scallop dish — one that included 9 components and cross-talk amongst 3 stations to compose — and now poof! that dish’s gone! In its place, a cool octopus creation of a whole different set of 9 elements. It’s like, you don’t like boring? How do you like them octopus?

Honestly though, it’s really cool to witness the creative process of a brand new dish. Over the last couple of weeks, I got to see the trying, tasting, thinking, and playing of menus items. That’s the part I want to get to, if I can get enough of the basics locked down somehow.

More Caviar!

In addition to plating specific menu items, my station (cold) also contributes to select garnishes for the fish station.
One fish dish, for example, is butter-poached lobster in the chef’s tasting menu. The garnish cold station contributes to is caviar.

Here’s a conversation from last night,

“Caviar for lobster!” calls the fish chef.

“Caviar for lobster!” responds the cold station intern (me!).

10 seconds later,

“Caviar for the lobster!” calls the fish chef again.

“Caviar already on the lobster!” reply by me.

“MORE CAVIAR!” big chef bellows,

“You’re not in school anymore, put more caviar on! People pay a lot to eat here.”

Cool, eh? Next time you dine out at an expensive place, know that you do get a lot of good, expensive ingredients in your meal! At least you do at L’Espalier. (Totally brain-washed now…)