Internship: Day 12, 11/09/05

Wednesday was a good day. The lunch crew was in a good mood as there wasn’t a lot of prep to do. T brought in a mix CD with some music especially for me (he’s pretty much the only one there that shares my musical taste) and we listened to it while we were getting ready for service. That was really nice.

Lunch was steady, busier than Monday but not crazy. I feel like I’m getting better and better with the hot side dishes, but I also feel like I have a long way to go.

After service I did some basic prep work, including prep for Bouillabaisse.

No more word on the potential hiring-on, so I haven’t a clue what’s going on with that. My fingers are crossed for the best.

Internship: Day 11, 11/07/05

Monday was fairly hectic to being as there was a lot of prep work to do. Apparently Saturday was really busy and there wasn’t must left at the end of dinner service. We got it all done, though, and the actual lunch service wasn’t too bad. I’m getting in earlier than T so I get to start setting up by myself, and I’m slowly getting the hang of it. I worked the hot side through service, and I feel like I did pretty well.

After lunch I went to work cutting up pork bellies into thirds to prepare them for use in the pork belly sandwich for lunch as well as for the dinner entrée. Once they were cut, I seasoned them with salt and pepper and took them upstairs to sear. The dinner crew was doing a lot of prep work on the service stovetops, so I had to go all the way up to the pastry kitchen. There was also only one pan available so I could only do one belly at a time; that made the process more time-consuming, but I like hanging out in the pastry kitchen. While I was searing, I got to try some Meyer lemon chiboust that was really good—light and creamy. I also talked to S about the Halloween buttercream—she said it’s a basic Italian buttercream, but that I can copy the recipe if I want. I need to remember to do that. I seared the pork bellies until they were golden, brushed them with marinade, and stacked them into hotel pans to be braised later on. They were actually really pretty with their golden skin and flecks of green herb from the marinade. I’ll have to try the sandwich for lunch sometime.

I also got to taste the fruits of my sauerkraut labor—J was cooking it up while I was working on the bellies. He informed me that there will be more kraut to do shortly. Oh, the horror!

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Chiboust: A custard made originally as the filling for the gâteau Saint- Honor, consisting of pastry cream lightened with Italian meringue and stabilized with gelatine.

Definition compliments of CDKitchen.com.