You've been ruined by Paula Deen's version of a biscuit

I surprisingly had a much better day than I was expecting. As my brother can verify, this morning I was not feeling well at all and was not really looking forward to the physical demands of my internship (I'm on my feet for 8 hours straight without a break, and when you're tall and constantly leaning over a table, your back starts to hurt as well). Also, a friend of ours was shooting a commercial at our house for the day and I wanted to stick around and watch (which my brother had the pleasure of doing). Don't get me wrong though, I love my internship....I just don't like the pain that comes with it.

So, I arrive to work and despite still not feeling well, I respond to everyones, "Good morning. How are you?" with a, "Fine. How are you?" This morning though, Chef Hopkins was in the building (he and I hadn't been there at the same time since my first day of work) and as I was about to head to the back of the kitchen, he says that he wants to speak to me. I felt like I was being called to the principal's office.

We went out into the actual restaurant and sat at one of the tables near the bar. That is when Chef Hopkins gave me my first real assignment. I am to come up with HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) notebooks for the Cryovac and Low Temperature Cooking recipes. So, in addition to what I do in the kitchen every day, I have to meet with Jason and Woody (the executive sous chefs) to find out what recipes I need to make a HACCP plan for, research state and federal laws for these recipes, and make booklets for each method.

Back in the kitchen, I had planned to finish up the Lambs Quarter from the previous few days, but David informed me that today was a special day and the line would not need Lambs Quarter. Today, we were hosting an Author Dinner. People had paid $105 to come to the restaurant, get this author to sign their book and tell them how important they are, and to eat the food that we prepared for them. This is much easier than a regular service because all the customers are getting the same thing.

David showed me the recipe that we would be making today, "Benedictine Spread". It's essentially a cucumber cream cheese spread. I started prepping the ingredients while David began making the family meal for the day (pictured at the top of the post). I peeled and seeded the cucumbers

and then grated them over a strainer to remove all the water from the cucumber.

The cucumber had to drain for a couple hours, so I got to chopping the onions for the spread. While chopping the onions, I couldn't help but think of the Flight of the Conchords song "I'm not crying" where a recently broken-up with guy gives reasons for his tears, one of which being "I'm not crying, I've just been cutting onions....I'm makin' a lasagna.....for one". If there was a device that could take all of the songs that pop into my head over the course of my shift and put them into a playlist, it would be one crazy playlist varying from Disney songs to classic rock to rap.

Back to the spread. We combined the drained cucumbers and finely diced onions with fresh whipped cream cheese to make the spread.

I figured that this would be some sort of appetizer on a cracker or as a dip or something. I was kinda right, it was going to be an appetizer, but we would be making them into bite-sized sandwiches. We were to make a sandwich with the spread and butter the outsides of the bread so that they could toast it on the griddle at Holeman & Finch.

From this stage, we cut the crust of the sandwiches off (which was a tasty snack for me, David, and whoever happened by that wanted some), cut each sandwich into three strips, and put them in the fridge to chill so that the spread wouldn't melt when they're toasted on the griddle. Because of all of this, I didn't think that I was going to get to see the finished product before I had to leave for the day. Luckily though, I snapped a quick picture of a batch on the cooling rack before I headed out.

Now that we were done with our contribution to the Author Dinner (and now that David had left for the day), my new task was to break down a new delivery of fennel for storage and to peel garlic for the line. After finishing the fennel and having 15 cloves of garlic left to peel, it was only 5:30, so I was going to have time to fill. Right as I thought this, Chef Hopkins called me over to another station. He said, "Ben, when your finished, I want you to fill these torte shells for tonight's dinner." I gladly accepted the task and rushed to finish peeling garlic.

Chef Hopkins showed me how he wanted me to fill the torte shells that the pastry chefs (that's right, we have two of them) had worked all day to make. "I cannot express to you the importance of delicacy while doing this." The pressure was on. There was no margin or error. If I broke one torte shell, we would not have enough for everyone at the dinner. I had to spoon a delicious cheese/bacon/herb mixture into the shell and spread it on the bottom, and I can truthfully and gladly tell you that not a single one broke!. Can you tell which ones were done by an award winning chef and which ones were done by an intern?

Eventually Chef Hopkins poked his head around the corner to check on my progress and said, and I quote, "Excellent!"
Now for the finishing touches. I had to place sliced tomatoes on top of the torte. Chef Hopkins told me to be generous with the tomatoes because the tortes would be baked again and the tomatoes would shrink.

unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to see the finished product or even start on the second batch of empty torte shells before I had to leave for the day, but I'm sure that they were exquisite.

As I was working on the tortes, Chef Hopkins was moving around the kitchen, checking everything to make sure that it was perfect. He was checking some biscuits that the pastry chefs had made and were skeptical of. "These are great! Just what I was looking for. These are store-in-a-tent, travel-in-a-boat-across-the-ocean biscuits. Real biscuits. You've been ruined by Paula Deen's version of a biscuit." I couldn't agree more chef.

Till next time,

Ben

368 hours left