12.07.06

Cooking for Co-Workers

Posted in The Story at 11:45 am by Chef Matt

Last night started out much the same as any other night. The kitchen greeted me with the usual hellos and sounds of frantic preparation. There was a catering order that was about to go out the door, and the last-minute hustle to make sure that there was enough food for everyone, that all the dishes had been made and that nothing was being left behind as the van was loaded up is just part of the job. I was quickly plunged head-first into the mad preparation for this order, but as always, we got it all out on time.

After that first bout of craziness, I settled down to prepare my station for the dinner schedule ahead of me. Things had somewhat returned to normalcy on Tuesday night from the hectic ravages of Saturday night, but it was still busy at times. I went about preparing food expecting a “busier than average” Wednesday night since everything is now a little bit heavier than normal thanks to the review.

Here’s us settling down to family meal There’s the chicken, next comes the rice.

Only this time, there was something added to my list of preparation. I was asked to make the “family meal” for the first time.

Family meal is the food that is prepared for the staff each night before service begins. We don’t have time to eat while we are serving the customers, so at about 5:15 or so, there is food made up for everyone so that we are not all working on empty stomachs until 11 or so… Usually the meal involves some form of chicken and rice - cheap, fast and not too many complaints, except when it has been done too many times in a row.

At first I took it as an honor that they would ask me to do this - that I was trusted enough in my cooking skills to feed everyone there - but I had no idea what I was going to do. You can ask my wife, I usually like to scan through tons of cookbooks and magazines looking for the perfect recipe or inspiration before I get started cooking something. The thought process I put into food prep is usually a long and thorough undertaking. I know I will have to get better at this “on the fly” style of cooking as my career evolves, but as it is, that is how I come up with ideas. Lots of thought and consideration goes into what I make.

Of course I was going to go with a variant of chicken and rice, since I didn’t know what else we had available to us. I came up with idea for chicken cutlets that I could flour and pan-fry and then top with something (the plan was still developing in my head) when I realized I had limited stove top space. My boss then offered that I try something a little less ambitious, as there was limited time. I began asking what ingredients we had that were available to use (since I didn’t want to use up a supply of something we desperately needed) and I was surprised by how little I had to work with. In the end though I whipped up some chicken with a vegetable sauce that I pureed and reduced, and even though it needed a little extra salt, most people seemed to think it was pretty good.