Mise en Place: A Small Walk In A Chef's Clogs

4:30 am: My terrible little Samsung alarm begins to sound with a tune that really should be something you fall asleep to. Actually, all it has really done is make me angry with chirping birds and running water. I hit the snooze button 5 or 6 (thousand) times. I'm not ready.

5:15 am: AHHHH! I'm going to be late at this rate! I thrust myself up and hop in the shower. I make 2 Vi Shakes, grab my chef coat and my bag and out the door.

6 am: On the road again. My husband and I live in the country and I drive an hour to work. I actually find that it's a good buffer time between waking up and playing well with others. I'm not what anyone close to me would call a morning person. In fact, all morning people remind me of the 'case of the Mondays' lady from Office Space.

7am: Turn the equipment on and start my prep list.

  When I was a baker, I worked from 8pm to 6am by myself. It gave me control of where everything was and how my night was going to go. It was a great time of reflection for me. When I came to a full kitchen line, I realized silent, alone moments were very few and far between. The kitchen is so loud that I wonder if anyone in the dining room can hear us yelling for runners or making calls to the expo line. There are only 2 hours in the morning that you can truly be alone with your craft.
  Mise en Place means Everything in it's place. A good chef/restaurant sets par levels and makes a good prep list. Knife work is my favorite. Cutting vegetables for a high volume restaurant will definitely give a new chef practice, but it really is more than that. I never feel more connected to the food than when I'm holding it's raw ingredients in my hand and I never feel more accomplished than when I present the finished work.
  I don't mean to glorify the work. Food Network paints a beautiful picture and I'm all for it if it means people will show interest in good food but lets be clear, it is no cake walk. It is standing on your feet, cutting not a few oranges but 50, slicing 30 onions not 1, eating standing up, drinking shakes because you can eat them faster, a substantial callus on your index finger from holding your knife for several hours, stifling heat and smelling like a fryer at the end of the day. That's not even the half of it!
  Prep is so important. It is how every customer can get their meal in 10 minutes or less. Prep means that your food is on the brink of being cooked. Every cut counts. If you are good with a knife, then you will waste little. Coring strawberries verses cutting the leaf end off so you can save just a tiny amount of strawberry. Did anyone's parents ever tell them that every penny counts? Well in a restaurant, literally every penny counts. Appearance is important. Even if you aren't the type of consumer to complain, you notice when your food has no love put into it. Love is the most important because EVERYONE notices when there was no love in the kitchen.
  All the crazy has a flow to it. We have our own language. Like a surly band of pirates [laughs]. We come in, do hard work, clean up, have a few drinks and hit the sack but it all starts with prep. Everything in it's place.

Faux Sho: A Story of Cauliflower Proportion

  So let's discuss the importance of cauliflower, shall we? I have to say that in my childhood I ate a lot of vegetables and still thought cauliflower was awful. Of course, I may have been eating it from a freezer bag, cut into florettes and chillin with some broccoli. If I had to guess, I would say THAT was everyone's beef with this veggie. But come on! Everyone deserves a second chance!
 Cauliflower was first cultivated in Egypt 2,500 years ago. It has made its way from Asia, to Europe and the U.S. It can be grown in most conditions. I had an epic fail in the garden a few years ago and the only survivors? You guessed it. The cauliflower.
  When I was first married, I thought I was going to pull my hair out trying to get my husband to eat veggetables. Hate isn't even the word for squash. I took it as a challenge. I assured him that it wasn't the food's fault. It was the way it was prepared and all I had to do was find a way he liked to eat things. To be a good sport, I tested the theory on myself with my nemesis, cauliflower. I read and researched and got out of the box. I discovered "faux rice" in a low carb cookbook I had and was not immediately convinced. I then discovered faux fried rice and it occurred to me that I had never tried any alternative to regular old cauliflower. I have since used it as a thickener in soups, prepared it as a gratin, pureed and roasted it. I look at it as a fairly blank slate that you can do quite a bit with.
  Potassium: I ran cross country in high school. We practiced through hot, dry summers and cramping was pretty much a sure thing. Potassium helps prevent muscle cramping and bananas have a lot, so my young friends and I decided to eat bananas before a 6 mile run in 111 degree weather. It was bad. It was bad and shameful. With all that said, cauliflower is a great source of potassium, as well as vitamin C and folic acid. This stuff even fights cancer!
 

 

 Give it a shot. Get a box grater or grater attachment on a food processor and shred that cauliflower. I saute it afterward, add pineapple, fish sauce, soy sauce and egg and you got faux fried rice!

  The evidence is there. Cauliflower Kicks Ass!



Sam and Harry's

   I can certainly reminisce on a magnificent number of moments which lead me to the decision of becoming a chef, but I have to admit Sam and Harry's in Washington D.C. was my moment. It was February 2001, I was a junior in high school in D.C. for a National Youth Leadership Forum and my mother had come along for the first week to get me settled . My nomination came from Col. Ken Brady who was my JROTC instructor back in California. I really looked up to Colonel. He was a very intelligent man with amazing stories. He told me just before I left for my trip to go to Sam and Harry's and try the lobster bisque. He told me the Presidents have all eaten there.
  As a kid, I always loved standing on a stool in the kitchen helping my father make biscuits or pickle the cucumbers and carrots from our garden. I was always drawn to being a good cook. Like most 16 year old kids, I had never experienced fine dining.
   In a few words, this restaurant blew my mind. It was as if I stepped into the 1960s. The walls were draped in red velvet with gold trim and we were greeted by a man in a tux. At this point I was getting those nervous giggles wondering if I could guess which fork to use. Our server was the most articulate person to ever approach me at a table in my life to that point. I was left speechless.
  'What on Earth is this place??' It was like sitting at a table on a stage in the middle of a ballet watching the way the staff moved. The bisque was simple. Delicate and sweet and just slightly grainy.
As I sat enjoying the experience, I realized that I was different now. I had peaked over the fence and there was no going back. I had fallen in love with restaurants. Not just the food but the challenge. The details. Realizing that food is science. It's a literal and metaphorical chemistry. How do I create something great, stand by my principles and make people fall in love with it too?

This Blog is my shout out to all you eaters and dieters, you food loving diners. This is about FOOD. It's about healthy food, buying local, eating local, trends and many other food related subjects from a young chef's perspective.
Stay tuned for recipes!!!