Always wanted to share my stories, so here I go, I like to call this one, cornstarch and crickets
Cornstarch
Definition:
flour from corn: fine-grained, starchy flour made from corn, especially used as a thickener in cooking
Dear Diary,
Toronto can be a humid place, working in a 100+ year old hotel in August is about as muggy as it gets. I was apprenticing at the King Edward Hotel in the late 1980's, no ac in the kitchen, it would literally rain from the ceiling at 2pm everyday like a predictable jungle storm.
I was working with a sous chef that brought me from a hotel in Markham , his name was Jaco he was South African and he was big...with a temper...in a good way..... sometimes. Jud Simpson was actually the chef at the hotel where Jaco and I worked and had a connection to Chef John Higgins at the King Eddy who helped me lock in the position.
Jud is the Exec Chef at the House of Commons in Ottawa now and has been since 1990. Jud and Jaco took me to Montreal when I was 15 years old to polish silver for the Salon Culinaire at the 'O' dome (this at the time was one of the biggest food competitions in North America) .....I remember going down the 400 to Montréal (one of those hot days I was describing) in July with the ac cranked and ice on all our food so it would survive the trip. We were all wearing toques and sweaters, quite a sight.
OK, I am way off track...so our kitchen was hot. I started to develop a bit of a problem one afternoon due to the heat while getting ready for dinner service and needed counsel from my sous chef Jaco. I pulled Jaco aside and explained to him that I was soaked from sweating but it was worse today because I tore the bottoms out of my boxer shorts while I was cleaning the cooler and I was experiencing something he referred to as "Crotch Crickets...you know when you walk the chafing makes a bit of a cricket sound."
Jaco was a bigger man as I had mentioned so he had been in my situation before. Well I am not sure about making a cricket sound but was thankful that he was able to help diagnose the problem. "What can I do to fix it"..."I am dying here" I told him. "No problem, look when we break before service go grab a handful of cornstarch and get in there and powder it up, you will be as good as gold".
This was it I had about half an hour to go before we broke before dinner rush so I went (gingerly) back to my section, the slightest contact and I was brushing tears from the side of my face. I have broken bones but this...this was more pain than I could take. Finally Jaco hollered out for everyone to break for 10 minutes before service. I hobbled to the pastry shop and as I was about to open the bin Elaine our GM sous chef started to chat me up and I got totally side tracked....finally Elaine went back to the GM and I grabbed a handful and made it to the men's change room.
So the first thing you learn about cornstarch is that it feels different from all other powders and flours, to me when I touch cornstarch it feels like fingernails on a chalkboard....flour on the other hand is absorbent. So after I "got in there" with the cornstarch I quickly realized that I had made a very wrong decision, see cornstarch is Not absorbent but flour is and I in my distraction grabbed flour, good old all purpose flour. So what happens when you make an error like this? Well I created what can only be described as dough ball, or gnocchi if you will.
This was bad.
I had no time to correct the problem and spent the rest of the night in line with a steady stream of tears running down my face. I don't think I ever told Jaco about the error I just sucked it up and pretended like everything was fine as best I could..skipped going for a beer with the guys that night and rode the subway home in shame, grabbed a pair of scissors and went to work.....I will never make a mistake like that again. That's why I prefer dry climates like Alberta...no "crickets".
By the way my perfectly polished platters helped Jud win Grand Gold at the Culinary Salon in Montreal.
Until next time, keep you knives sharp and your pans hot.
Chef
Monday, December 1, 2008
Chefs Resume Files
Some of you are not to sure of some of the cooking I have done in the past and I came across this great photo...circa 1997 taken in Pemberton BC. I was the Sous Chef on a Dinner train in Vancouver and this photo was taken on one of our charters to 100 mile house, a 4 day trip ...the 3716 is a steam locomotive. It was built for the CPR in October of 1912 at the Montreal Locomotive Works in Montreal, Quebec. We took about 60 guests on these charters, myself and 2 cooks completed breakfast, lunch and dinner starting about 5 am and ending our day about midnight. We always had a few hours after dinner service to kick back in the stewarding car and watch the scenery...breathtaking.
Chef
The Pantry
I have attached a link to a great Alberta food website http://edibleprairie.com/ when we are looking for local inspiration this website is the best I have seen, great ideas and food stories from our community and around the province. I had a chance to meet with the editor Jennifer Cockrall-King in 2006 at the Cuisine Canada event in Winnipeg Manitoba. Very switched on and some great Alberta food leads to follow up on for sure.
Chef
Chef
Hello Team
Hello Team,
Welcome to our kitchen blog, I will try to send out information as I receive it and sometimes it could just be a recipe or a copy of our team schedule. I would like to include some guest chef items...from you, Roy Tam sent me a very cool article on Sous Vide cooking that was part of his research for Grappa and I will pass that along if he can help me find a internet copy....Oh did I mention that unlike you I am not a wiz on the computer so take it easy on me if I am not up on all my new technology lingo and I guess this isn't technically a blog but what the heck. If you have something that you would like to share please send it to me and I will add it to the mail out.
In this edition I have included a quick bit of info on my career we can call this "Chefs Resume Files" (I would love to see old cooking photo's of you or teams you have worked with in the past) I have included one of a dinner train I worked on in the late 90's. Also in a little something I will call "Dear Diary" a chance for me to tell some of the stories I have collected from 20+ years of burning and cutting myself. A collection of my top 5....food/cook bocks/restaurants etc.
The Kitchen Sink
Thanks to everyone for completing the Employee Opinion Survey, the results are in and I will be reviewing the data and comments with the sous chef team over the next week. Eric and I are very focused on making the kitchen a better place for us all to work, learn and grow.
Committees
At our last operations team meeting we discussed our employee committees and in the kitchen we are looking to replace Dan who held the role for a few years. Here is the deal, I would like anyone interested to talk to me about it and specifically here is what we are looking for from our representative.
A individual with vision for the hotel
Positive attitude that can bring solutions to problems to the table
Someone who would assist Dan -our GM in spreading messages and direction back to his/her fellow cooks
Enjoy building on positive energy and who would represent the hotel and our department at the highest level
I will be forwarding nominees to Dan on the 28th of November. Eric and I will be involved in your experience so we would like to speak with all that are interested.
Food Cost
Eric and I are looking at our cost of food and I want to challenge the whole team to do your part. If food cost in a hotel is 30% then that represents 1/3 of our cost right off the bat ...then turn on the lights buy some equipment and...oh yea hire some cooks and stewards...and servers. Then we need some gas to run the stoves, and replace them, buy plates, flatware and glassware. Hold on I am supposed to be talking about food cost right. Well all these factors contribute to our profitability, we are running a business and yes we have some control over all these expenses but the cost of food we as cooks have the most control over. Think about that cucumber that you put in your crisper at home....and forgot about it. 2 weeks later you go digging in the crisper looking for that last can of beer you were hiding from your roommate and you find the cucumber, your hard earned dollars, rotten. Crappy right?
Our opportunity here is simple, controls such as our daily cleaning schedule for the cooler is in place for us all to manage our inventory, rotate product and keep on top of rotation so we don't encounter these problems. Mistakes, when we are working on any task with food understand that these are dollars that you are dealing with, forecasting correctly the proper amount of food to prepare is what we were trained to do but often cooks can lose sight of the fact that it is one of our primary responsibility's. The other day I was thinking about how we are all over bio waste..we are almost too good and we need to think about the 3R's a little more, that cantaloupe that is not "Sexy enough" for the buffet is tossed in the bin when we could feature a great "Fresh squeezed" juice on the buffet...think about it....."Lorne recommends- Fresh pressed cantaloupe and carrot juice" we were trained to make these decisions and as a team we will look for opportunity's to capture every dollar we can.
Someone has my copy of Thomas Keller's French Laundry Cookbook, in one of the stories titled the "Importance of Rabbits" Keller explores why the first time he ordered rabbits from a small producer it helped shape his respect for food and waste. Keller explains that when he arrived at the farm he had to assist the farmer with the slaughter (this was a very tough experience dealing with a living thing). In our times we buy meats that are already dressed and ready for the plate, easy to lose sight of the fact that a great deal of respect has been shown to these animals prior to us placing them into an insert on line, getting an order for it, start to cook it and for that split second our concentration is broken and we overcook/over season/under season...etc. Well Keller tells a good story so if you have my copy (you know who you are...cause I do) drop in to the office and read it. Good Stuff.
I look forward to your ideas and suggestions on this matter.
Until next time, keep you knives sharp and your pans hot.
Chef
Welcome to our kitchen blog, I will try to send out information as I receive it and sometimes it could just be a recipe or a copy of our team schedule. I would like to include some guest chef items...from you, Roy Tam sent me a very cool article on Sous Vide cooking that was part of his research for Grappa and I will pass that along if he can help me find a internet copy....Oh did I mention that unlike you I am not a wiz on the computer so take it easy on me if I am not up on all my new technology lingo and I guess this isn't technically a blog but what the heck. If you have something that you would like to share please send it to me and I will add it to the mail out.
In this edition I have included a quick bit of info on my career we can call this "Chefs Resume Files" (I would love to see old cooking photo's of you or teams you have worked with in the past) I have included one of a dinner train I worked on in the late 90's. Also in a little something I will call "Dear Diary" a chance for me to tell some of the stories I have collected from 20+ years of burning and cutting myself. A collection of my top 5....food/cook bocks/restaurants etc.
The Kitchen Sink
Thanks to everyone for completing the Employee Opinion Survey, the results are in and I will be reviewing the data and comments with the sous chef team over the next week. Eric and I are very focused on making the kitchen a better place for us all to work, learn and grow.
Committees
At our last operations team meeting we discussed our employee committees and in the kitchen we are looking to replace Dan who held the role for a few years. Here is the deal, I would like anyone interested to talk to me about it and specifically here is what we are looking for from our representative.
A individual with vision for the hotel
Positive attitude that can bring solutions to problems to the table
Someone who would assist Dan -our GM in spreading messages and direction back to his/her fellow cooks
Enjoy building on positive energy and who would represent the hotel and our department at the highest level
I will be forwarding nominees to Dan on the 28th of November. Eric and I will be involved in your experience so we would like to speak with all that are interested.
Food Cost
Eric and I are looking at our cost of food and I want to challenge the whole team to do your part. If food cost in a hotel is 30% then that represents 1/3 of our cost right off the bat ...then turn on the lights buy some equipment and...oh yea hire some cooks and stewards...and servers. Then we need some gas to run the stoves, and replace them, buy plates, flatware and glassware. Hold on I am supposed to be talking about food cost right. Well all these factors contribute to our profitability, we are running a business and yes we have some control over all these expenses but the cost of food we as cooks have the most control over. Think about that cucumber that you put in your crisper at home....and forgot about it. 2 weeks later you go digging in the crisper looking for that last can of beer you were hiding from your roommate and you find the cucumber, your hard earned dollars, rotten. Crappy right?
Our opportunity here is simple, controls such as our daily cleaning schedule for the cooler is in place for us all to manage our inventory, rotate product and keep on top of rotation so we don't encounter these problems. Mistakes, when we are working on any task with food understand that these are dollars that you are dealing with, forecasting correctly the proper amount of food to prepare is what we were trained to do but often cooks can lose sight of the fact that it is one of our primary responsibility's. The other day I was thinking about how we are all over bio waste..we are almost too good and we need to think about the 3R's a little more, that cantaloupe that is not "Sexy enough" for the buffet is tossed in the bin when we could feature a great "Fresh squeezed" juice on the buffet...think about it....."Lorne recommends- Fresh pressed cantaloupe and carrot juice" we were trained to make these decisions and as a team we will look for opportunity's to capture every dollar we can.
Someone has my copy of Thomas Keller's French Laundry Cookbook, in one of the stories titled the "Importance of Rabbits" Keller explores why the first time he ordered rabbits from a small producer it helped shape his respect for food and waste. Keller explains that when he arrived at the farm he had to assist the farmer with the slaughter (this was a very tough experience dealing with a living thing). In our times we buy meats that are already dressed and ready for the plate, easy to lose sight of the fact that a great deal of respect has been shown to these animals prior to us placing them into an insert on line, getting an order for it, start to cook it and for that split second our concentration is broken and we overcook/over season/under season...etc. Well Keller tells a good story so if you have my copy (you know who you are...cause I do) drop in to the office and read it. Good Stuff.
I look forward to your ideas and suggestions on this matter.
Until next time, keep you knives sharp and your pans hot.
Chef
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