Same old

The past two weeks have pretty much been the same thing everyday. I arrive and spray and cut the cakes, then set up for lunch, then do lunch service.

Each day the cutting has gotten easier and less stressful, and although I enjoy letting my mind wander during the day, I am excited to get back to school (I'm sure some people may be in shock at this point). I'm excited for the regularity of the school day and the school week, instead of the tedium of standing on my feet everyday all day.

I've learned that I just want to be treated with respect. A most basic respect is all I really ask for. The people in the kitchen are generally rude towards me, even after I work so hard for them. It's frustrating to say the least, and I think it's taught me to be more respectful to those around me.

I know for certain that I will never become a pastry chef. It's too tedious, too stressful, and just not enough fun.

These last two days will probably (hopefully) go by quickly--I'll be interested to see what they have to say when I'm leaving. I seem to be an annoyance to them, but I also know they were talking about how when I'm gone they'll have much more work in the mornings.

T-minus 2 days.

Not much to report.

This week has been pretty much the same thing every day. I arrive and spray and cut the cakes; today I had to do 3. I started cutting at 9:30...and finished at 11:10. It's very time consuming and exact.

After that, I got to do service again. I've done it today and for the past 3 days, which is fun. Today I really had everything under control so that I wasn't so frantic.

Yesterday I was scolded by the executive chef of the regular kitchen for burning a creme brulee too dark. It was fairly scary, especially since I had just been told by someone else that I was doing it too lightly.

Another exciting thing was that Georges Perrier said hi to me. Well, that's how I like to say it.

I actually said "hello chef" to him, and he responded with "hi". Still, it was exciting.

Tomorrow is back to the regular menu for a day, so I'll get to make the tarts and the other cakes again.

Love/hate

Today was a day that I had a love/hate relationship with the pastry kitchen. When I got there there weren't any chef coats. Bad sign. Then I was assigned the task of cutting massive slabs of cake into precise 1"x3" rectangles. This usually would've been fine for me, but somehow my brain just wasn't working. Once I finished the cutting, I got to the part of my day that constituted the love part.

Stacey said she had to work on the creme brulee and lemon tarts, so she put me in charge of the line. The whole line! I was responsible for plating every single dessert that was ordered. This was a fun way to utilize my organizational skills--keeping track of everything that was going on. There are only 3 desserts available during Restaurant Week; they are lemon tart

creme brulee

le bec with vanilla ice cream

Amor at amada

In an attempt to try out some new restaurants during restaurant week, I went to Amada with Elizabeth today.

I was struck by the elegant design of the restaurant from the outside, and didn't even notice it was a restaurant at first. We shared the salchichón (thin salami) for an appetizer, then each had a pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin seeds, and each got different sandwiches. It's not an overstatement when I say it was the best sandwich I've ever had. French bread. Chicken. Bacon. Thinly cut lettuce. Tomatoes. Finely grated cheese. Creamy cheese sauce on bread. Deliciousness.

Elizabeth had a vegetarian sandwich with eggplant and hummus, which was more like a panini; she said it was delicious too. Along with our sandwiches came spicy french fries with some of the cheese sauce on top. The sauce was sort of like an improved version of the nacho cheese sauce.

For dessert was a chocolate custard with berries and a raspberry sorbet. Equally as delicious.

Of course we had to document the occasion, so here are some pictures.

Cruel

is how I would describe my night last night. Everything seemed to be in vast quantities, and even before I finished one task I was given another.

Example: I had to unwrap 360 mini tarts and lay them out on cookie sheets.

Another example: I had to move 20 trays of full creme brulees without spilling them. Some were still spilled.

I moved on from just cracking dozens of eggs to now separating dozens of eggs-last night's count was 81.

I think the night was also bad because I was bitter. I was told that a celebrity was coming to the restaurant, and that I might get to see him. [Clues: he is in a movie with an object I love, and he is in another movie in which he is alone in a city]. I then found out that he had cancelled his reservation, and only his mother and sister were there.

Cedric then told me he wanted me to work Monday too. I think he could tell by my response that I was not too happy...so he changed his mind.

The night ended well though, with a delicious Friendly's lava cake ice cream extravaganza. My mother made the comment that it was bizarre that I was coming from Le Bec Fin to go to Friendly's for dessert...but Friendly's was great.

Restaurant week starts today, so the next two weeks should be very busy and not as much fun. And less pictures.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

so here are a bunch.

Wendy

White chocolate curls for Wendy

Chocolates in the chocolate room

Another apple-almond tart

St. Nizier (flourless chocolate cake)

View of the cart all put together

(even though I hate this picture I thought I had to include it)

Yesterday (Friday) I got to the kitchen and was shown how to check the numbers of people coming for lunch/dinner for the next few days. There are still reservations open! Come to Restaurant Week!

After that, Stacey asked me if I knew how to do everything and felt comfortable with everything. I thought she was just checking in, or wanted to quiz me on the things I'd learned. I said yes, and she then said, "Ok, well I'll be in the other room if you need me, so just give me a holler".

She let me do all the cakes by myself! I glazed, decorated and garnished all of the cakes for the cart: the Wendy, the Gateau Le Bec Fin, the Matilde, the Costa Rica, the Tart de fruit de moment (Fruit tart), the St. Nizier (the coffeecake was already finished).

It was fun to just work at my own pace, not really having a deadline other than finishing the cakes before dinner service. I certainly worked more slowly than she normally does, but I still got it all done.

I also made 60 mini tarts for the dessert buffet, and lined 5 tart shells for today's dinner service.

After watching Julie and Julia again last night, I've decided I'm going to do a modified version of that project. Not attempt to do one a day, or even one a week, but just to document how each recipe goes and how it turns out.

I've also decided that I am going to have mini cooking classes! I know that some of my friends enjoy eating what I make, and I bet they'd enjoy learning how to make it too. Possible topics are bread making, fresh pasta making, cake glazing and decorating, and ice cream making.

Frostbite, weird eggs and...

GEORGES PERRIER. Yep, I saw the man himself! He was so dressed down I didn't know who it was and tried to get by him...until I heard him address the other chefs and kiss them on the cheeks. He, of course, did not acknowledge my existence, but it was still fun to see him.

I got to the kitchen and first thing I got to glaze the cakes on my own (Wendy and Le Bec). Here are freshly glazed cakes. The glaze is heated up and then poured on the cake; some is then scraped off with an offset spatula.

I decorated the Wendy, Le Bec, and for the first time, the Matilde! This is a berry cake-mousse-gelatin thing. My job was just to pile the berries (in a specific order) and glaze it.

I then made my tart, apple-almond. [Today I was told that my tart looked 'very nice'. Before it was only 'nice'. I guess I am improving!] I never showed the machine that peels, cores and slices the apple, so here it is:

I had to pull many, many frozen cakes from the freezer, and I literally lost feeling in my fingers. It was not a fun experience.

I also had to measure out some eggs, and in the process ran into some bizarre eggs. The first was one with two yolks, which I compared to twin chickens that didn't hatch? That's all that makes sense. The other egg I can across was fairly gross. It was a normal looking egg, but in the inside there was a blood spot. Apparently this was an egg that was fertilized but then killed. I guess with all the eggs I've cracked I was bound to run into something gross.

Remember to make reservations for Restaurant Week! Even if it's not at Le Bec Fin, there are so many fun restaurants on the list. I am hoping to go to one, if not all, of Jose Garces' restaurants. Any takers?

A little more freedom...

Today I got to do a variety of things all by myself.

For starters, getting all the glazes ready at the beginning of the day. I had to melt them down to get them ready to glaze the cakes, not too big of a task. I didn't get to do the actual glazing (it's very exact; my arms aren't that steady), but I got to decorate the Le Bec and Wendy all by myself.

Le Bec

Wendy

I still struggle with placing the gold leaf...and often feel bad when I mess up and waste some. At least I'm trying.

Then I made my tarts of the day: 2 apple-almond. I am considering making these after my junior project as a little business, but the almond flour alone is $7 per pound (unless I buy 25 pounds!).

I measured out ingredients for more almond cream and more buttercream. Next week and the week after is Restaurant Week! $35 for dinner and $20 for lunch. Because of these weeks and the high volume (500+ per day), we have been preparing some of the cake. There will only be three options for dessert: Le Bec cake with ice cream, lemon tart, or creme brulee. Chef Cedric says he would like 20 frames of Le Bec, with each serving 85, ready by this Sunday. He also says these will only last one week....eek.

I got to build Le Bec frames with Stacey; she measuring the buttercream (which is delicious) and I placing the cakes. All the cakes are frozen and stored in huge freezers; these are then pulled out when needed and glazed, garnished etc.

I attempted to take some pictures of the kitchen before anyone was there this morning, but then Stacey walked in and I felt weird taking pictures. Here are a few:

Count for how many for lunch and dinner

Make a reservation for Restaurant Week! I (might) be able to come say hello, and you would get a delicious meal for not too much money.

Numbers

Yesterday was an interesting day at Le Bec Fin.

103 people had reservations for dinner, with 18 in a private party. For Le Bec Fin in January, their slowest month, this was about normal. I was expecting a great amount of hustle and bustle in our kitchen by the time it was dessert, but that wasn't really so. Hmm.

A quick overview of the way dessert works: there are 7 cakes on the 'cart'. These cakes are there everyday, no matter what. Along with the cart, there are other special cakes, souffles, etc that are added to the menu some days. There are also a la carte desserts, like creme brulee or brownie. The desserts on the cart literally are on a cart that gets wheeled around to the guests. Since most guests order the expensive tasting menu or the grand degustation (!), and the dessert cart is included, not much gets sent to the pastry kitchen to be prepared. So, after waiting for any excitement, I realized that that's just not how it works.

I arrived to the kitchen around 3 and was assigned the task of preparing all the extra things for the cart. Here's where the numbers begin:

3 jars marshmallows

3 jars pat de fruit

3 jars nougat

3 jars biscotti

3 jars meringue

3 plates vanilla sable

3 plates chocolate sable

3 plates almond cookies

3 bowls rice krispie treats

3 bowls macaroons

12 plates chocolates

3 plates madeleines

3 plates financier cookies

Needless to say, it took a long time to get all those things ready.

After that, I helped Chef Cedric place all of these things on top of the cart.

Then, more numbers.

112 eggs

12 pounds of butter

15.4 pounds chocolate

8 pounds sugar

I am very good at cracking eggs with one hand now.

Final project for the night was learning how to make white chocolate curls with Cedric. He taught me how to temper the chocolate, and we then got to work on the cooled granite counter.

He spread the chocolate on the plastic sheets, rolled over them with a rolling cutter, and I rolled them up.

When these are unrolled, they form small triangular curls used for garnishes.

I was on the receiving end of a number of snide comments on the part of some of the sous chefs, but that seems to be part of being at the bottom of the food chain.

Tart mania

A first: I slept through my alarm. Somehow I still managed to get there on time.

The train station was snowy. It was a good winter day.

Today when I arrived at the kitchen, I was informed that it was my job to make the three tarts for the day. I have been practicing all week, honing my skills--but this was a leap of faith on their part to let me make them all by myself.

Step 1: prep station with apples, dough, pie rings, etc.

Step 2: fill pie rings

Step 3: fill with almond cream

Step 4: line with apples

Step 5: glaze and garnish

After the tarts, I got to help decorate the Gateau Le Bec Fin cakes and the Wendy cakes. Later on, I also got to decorate the Costa Rica cake.

It's clear that I don't quite have the hands for chocolate, at least not yet. It is very breakable and has to be put down just so, and I end up either breaking it or touching the cake with my hand somehow. Hopefully practice makes perfect.

Other highlights of the day:

I made 80 mini tarts for the dessert buffet

I was allowed to plate desserts for lunch! Still a low-level job, but I garnished all of the plates with fruit and chocolate.

I am now scheduled to work Saturdays from 3-10 and have Mondays off. It's an interesting tradeoff, but I don't know how much I'll like it.

So far, so good...

I have decided to start this blog to document my day to day life in the pastry kitchen at Le Bec Fin. Thanks to henry for the idea.

Highlights so far:

a delicious coffeecake.

a conversation with Georges Perrier's wife (still no sighting of the man himself).

sleeping in until 7:35.

Not so great things:

being the complete bottom of the foodchain, ie spending all day measuring things on a tiny scale.

standing up for 6+ hours straight with no seat or food.

I am bringing my camera tomorrow to document some of my creations, so check back for pictures...